Author Jamie Haden tells how she came to be a published author. Her latest release
Illuminate-Alive, She Cried is available now in print and on Kindle. You can get it here:
http://goo.gl/g6qKF (it is FREE to Prime users)
A few years ago, I was at the library with my daughters
doing research on Native Americans when I asked them to check out a book. It
was springtime, a beautiful day, and the last place they wanted to be was inside
a public library watching me take notes. When my oldest said there was nothing
at all that interested her, I laughed and told her I would write something. She
certainly didn't think I was serious, but I must have been because a few months
later, I had a 90,000-word novel on my computer. That was a few years back, and
now I am thrilled to say the second book in The Talisa Santiago Series is now
in print.
In
Illuminate-Alive, She Cried, I wanted to create a world that was wholly
different from anything my daughters had ever known, a place removed from
society, entirely void of cell phones, computers, television, shopping malls,
restaurants, theaters and the like. A remote Indian reservation deep within the
Great Smoky Mountains was the ideal setting for the backdrop of a novel that
would divulge the mystery of Native American spirituality, deep-rooted beliefs,
secrets, dangerous desires, and communications with the spiritual.
As
I wrote Illuminate, I only told my daughters bits and pieces of the manuscript
and promised they could read it in its entirety if it ever made it to print.
Their copies are now in the mail, and I can't wait for them to open the book,
hold it in their hands, and read the written word I created for them. That will
make it all worthwhile.
About the book: Some say the concept of rebirth is
simply a metaphor for living a better life, a holier life. For seventeen-year-old Talisa Santiago, such a resurrection is anything but a metaphor. It is her
reality.
Talisa knows she can communicate
with the spiritual world. She is the granddaughter of a shaman and going
between two different worldly dimensions is something she realizes she is
destined to do. However, what she doesn’t count on is what fate has in store
for her.
After surviving the first hurricane
of the season on the island where she lives, Talisa learns that her life is in
grave danger. She must leave immediately and retreat to live with a secretive
clan of Indians on a remote reservation deep within the Great Smoky Mountains.
Her
blood brothers, three shifters who have the desires of both man and animal, surround her, promising everlasting friendship and protection. Now, Talisa will
put her life in their hands, depart from her mother, and begin the journey of a
lifetime. However, the majestic mountains hold many secrets and danger lurks in
the night. There are evil tricksters everywhere that want her dead. As Talisa
falls prey to the confusion of her own sexuality, she unleashes an untamed
passion that may get them all killed.
About the author: Jamie
Leigh Haden is the author of Spirit
Seeker, a young adult fantasy. Jamie lives and writes near the seashore in
North Carolina. She has a Bachelor's degree in philosophy. Jamie is currently
working on An Unimagined Life, the
sequel to Illuminate-Alive, She Cried.
Visit her official site:
!
to the back of cereal boxes. Today you will find her with an
", is available now on Kindle and Nook.
and II 
are available in real-hold-in-your-hand paperback from Comfort Publishing. The short story takes its inspiration from my epic.