Guest post Jennifer Loiske
Please meet Jennifer Loiske, author of paranormal adventure!
What if…it is all real…
Magic has always been a part of my world. When I was a child my grandma used to read my future from the cards or from my hand. Usually it was about good luck and meeting a boy, and truth be told, young as I may have been, it was more like a play than something I really believed in. Later, years after she’d passed away, I started to remember this and that about our time together. The little things she said, things she did everyday. You see, even if she might have not been a true believer, she sure had a pinch of magic in everything she did. Maybe it was then when my path was decided, maybe it happened sometimes later, but be as it may, magic came into my life. Lured its way in my stories, making my mind create a world full of fantasy. A world where little girls and boys could create a storm out of whisper, where dark forces were always waiting their chance to beat the light, and where anyone could be a hero, no matter where they came from or how strong they were. So in a way, I could say, the McLean Twins series, had been in me for years before I started to write it. The protagonists, Shannon and Ian, born out of my own experiences, from the people I know or have known. The father, Connor, being an incarnation of my childhood fears, and Simon, being the loyal friend who always stood by me no matter what stupidity I invented. But how did the fantasy world around them was born? By accident, I could say. A couple of years ago I was invited to a birthday party in England’s countryside. Close to a place where the legend of Robin Hood and his Merry Men took place. An old rectory, made of grey stone, surrounded by a forest, so mysterious that my imagination took over me in seconds. While most of the guests were sipping champagne, I took photos, wrote notes. Lots of notes, and walked around the property with a satisfied smile playing on my lips as my mind was silently already writing the story. After I went back home, the hard work started. Organizing my messy notes by putting them all on a wall next to my workspace I started to Google. I Googled pictures about the forests in Oxfordshire area, anything spell related, the history of the witches, things about demons, anything I could think of that could help me with my story. And the note wall grew…and grew…the piles of papers on my desk were huge, and my laptop was crying for help as I’d crammed it so full of files…and then I stopped. I knew it was time to let the story brew, to forget all the details for a while and do something completely different. I started to do night walks. I believe the impossible. That there is so much more than meets the eye, so what better place to let my imagination run wild than a nightly forest. I absorbed its atmosphere in me, the sounds, the ‘what ifs’ as I sat on a rock and let my gaze wander…seeing things that were beyond the current beliefs. Driving myself to a state where a rock was not just a rock, but a troll curled to a ball, fast asleep on a moss. The wind dancing on the treetops was not a wind, but a demon trying to lure me with it. With a wild imagination as mine, it didn’t take much to ‘see past the obvious’. When my hunger for ‘out of this world’ kind of awareness was satisfied, and my mind was calm again, I went back to my writing.
I played with myths and beliefs, adding supernatural creatures, such as spirits and demons in my story. I dug into the world of ancient witchcraft, following the path of some of the history’s most powerful witches. I added a family legacy and a promise of a better day inside my storyline, so that even in the darkest of moments there was always a glimpse of hope. After all, McLean Twins series is juvenile fantasy; suitable for age 12 and up children. So in spite of it being a mixture of dark fantasy, mythic fiction and urban fantasy, it never crossed the line. And so one day, not so long ago, the first part, Black Diamond, was ready. And before I knew it, my fingers were flying on the keyboard again, taking my teenage witches deeper and deeper into the adventurous world I’d made for them. Forcing them to fight against evil and learn the truth about the power of a family, whilst my readers were biting their nails off and waiting impatiently for the next part to be published…
Currently there are two books available in McLean Twins series. Black Diamond, Book One, and Demon’s Touch, Book Two, The final part of the series, Black Coven, will be out in autumn 2015.
What if…it is all real…
Magic has always been a part of my world. When I was a child my grandma used to read my future from the cards or from my hand. Usually it was about good luck and meeting a boy, and truth be told, young as I may have been, it was more like a play than something I really believed in. Later, years after she’d passed away, I started to remember this and that about our time together. The little things she said, things she did everyday. You see, even if she might have not been a true believer, she sure had a pinch of magic in everything she did. Maybe it was then when my path was decided, maybe it happened sometimes later, but be as it may, magic came into my life. Lured its way in my stories, making my mind create a world full of fantasy. A world where little girls and boys could create a storm out of whisper, where dark forces were always waiting their chance to beat the light, and where anyone could be a hero, no matter where they came from or how strong they were. So in a way, I could say, the McLean Twins series, had been in me for years before I started to write it. The protagonists, Shannon and Ian, born out of my own experiences, from the people I know or have known. The father, Connor, being an incarnation of my childhood fears, and Simon, being the loyal friend who always stood by me no matter what stupidity I invented.
But how did the fantasy world around them was born? By accident, I could say. A couple of years ago I was invited to a birthday party in England’s countryside. Close to a place where the legend of Robin Hood and his Merry Men took place. An old rectory, made of grey stone, surrounded by a forest, so mysterious that my imagination took over me in seconds. While most of the guests were sipping champagne, I took photos, wrote notes. Lots of notes, and walked around the property with a satisfied smile playing on my lips as my mind was silently already writing the story. After I went back home, the hard work started. Organizing my messy notes by putting them all on a wall next to my workspace I started to Google. I Googled pictures about the forests in Oxfordshire area, anything spell related, the history of the witches, things about demons, anything I could think of that could help me with my story. And the note wall grew…and grew…the piles of papers on my desk were huge, and my laptop was crying for help as I’d crammed it so full of files…and then I stopped. I knew it was time to let the story brew, to forget all the details for a while and do something completely different. I started to do night walks. I believe the impossible. That there is so much more than meets the eye, so what better place to let my imagination run wild than a nightly forest. I absorbed its atmosphere in me, the sounds, the ‘what ifs’ as I sat on a rock and let my gaze wander…seeing things that were beyond the current beliefs. Driving myself to a state where a rock was not just a rock, but a troll curled to a ball, fast asleep on a moss. The wind dancing on the treetops was not a wind, but a demon trying to lure me with it. With a wild imagination as mine, it didn’t take much to ‘see past the obvious’. When my hunger for ‘out of this world’ kind of awareness was satisfied, and my mind was calm again, I went back to my writing. I played with myths and beliefs, adding supernatural creatures, such as spirits and demons in my story. I dug into the world of ancient witchcraft, following the path of some of the history’s most powerful witches. I added a family legacy and a promise of a better day inside my storyline, so that even in the darkest of moments there was always a glimpse of hope. After all, McLean Twins series is juvenile fantasy; suitable for age 12 and up children. So in spite of it being a mixture of dark fantasy, mythic fiction and urban fantasy, it never crossed the line. And so one day, not so long ago, the first part, Black Diamond, was ready. And before I knew it, my fingers were flying on the keyboard again, taking my teenage witches deeper and deeper into the adventurous world I’d made for them. Forcing them to fight against evil and learn the truth about the power of a family, whilst my readers were biting their nails off and waiting impatiently for the next part to be published…
Currently there are two books available in McLean Twins series. Black Diamond, Book One, and Demon’s Touch, Book Two, The final part of the series, Black Coven, will be out in autumn 2015.
About the Author: Jennifer Loiske lives in Finland in Naantali, which is a small sunny town on the southwest coast. She is a Teen/YA paranormal fiction author, with four exciting series available worldwide. McLean Twins series for teen readers, Immortal Blood series for mature young adult readers, Blood Hunters series, also for mature young adults, which is a follow up for Immortal Blood series and is created by the readers’ requests, and The Shape Shifter series for anyone age 16 and up. Jennifer’s stories are full of creatures of the night. Vampires, demons, witches, shape shifters…but even if they are mostly fiction you can find a hint of a truth in every story. Jennifer loves to research so every time she gets an idea of a new story she does a crazy Google session looking for places, old myths, names, folklores, magical items…anything that could spice up her story and make it more real for the readers. Jennifer is also part of Authors For Charity, an international author alliance, and team member in Epilepsy FI magazine. She is a pre-school teacher by profession.
Author links: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorJenniferLoiske https://twitter.com/jenniferloiske https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5821849.Jennifer_Loiske http://www.amazon.com/Jennifer-Loiske/e/B0054QIXPY https://jenniferloiske.wordpress.com