Book Title:  Blue Girl on a Night Dream Sea by Ginny Fite

Category: Adult Fiction, 274 pages

Genre:  Suspense/Paranormal/Time Travel

Publisher:  Black Opal Books

Synopsis

Sometimes the last person you save is yourself. Elena must take her city back from terrorists. Hana must save her tribe from the wrath of a ruthless king. They’re stronger together. The problem is they’re 4,000 years and 6,000 miles apart. Wounded during a terrorist attack, NYC police commando Elena Labat wakes from her coma aboard a Phoenician boat on the Mediterranean Sea to find a young girl lashed to the mast. The girl is Hana, who has trekked across Bronze Age Lebanon with Danel to prevent a king from destroying her tribe. Elena knows she must save Hana. And Hana must escape the barbarians who abducted her before she can find Danel and go home. Slipping in and out of unconsciousness, Elena teaches Hana everything she can, protecting her from barbarians, a priestess, and a king. But Elena’s family needs her, and she can’t stay in the past. Hana will have to succeed on her own.

 

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Praise

 

Blue Girl on a Night Dream Sea is a combination time-travel fantasy, a historical thriller, and a modern-day suspense. Well written, fast paced, and intense, this one will keep you glued to the edge of your seat all the way through.  – Reviewer Regan Murphy

Expertly combining the past and present, science fiction, and suspense, Fite weaves a tale that will keep you enthralled from beginning to end. – Reviewer Taylor Jones

 

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Author Interview

 

I’m so thrilled to be interviewed by you, Leslie. I’m happy to talk about my fifth novel, Blue Girl on A Night Dream Sea, with people who love reading. Let’s just jump in!

 

How did you do research for your book?

 

At the time I began thinking about Blue Girl on A Night Dream Sea, I was following a Dutch archaeologist on Facebook who posted photos of amazing Bronze Age mosaics and frescoes. It was a natural leap for me to look for more information on Cyprus, Lebanon, and Crete, which led to articles on ancient goddesses.

One thing always leads to another. From there, I discovered the Phoenicians, a Bronze Age civilization that sailed the Mediterranean Sea 4,500 years ago and built Byblos, Tyre, and Sidon in what is now Lebanon around the time of the great dynasties in Egypt, long before the Greek and Roman civilizations rose to power. From there, being a total nerd, I researched ancient writing systems. Good thing the Internet provides a world of information.

From an ancient fragment of Ugaritic writings called The Rapiuma, I found a reference to the goddess Anath and her eyes of lapis lazuli, and that gave me Hana, the blue girl, known for her rare blue eyes like the goddess.

Then I came upon moving stories written by women Iraq war veterans, and in a documentary, I heard an accomplished woman explain how she was haunted by “hiraeth.” It’s a Welsh word for homesickness tinged with grief for a home you never had.

Shortly after that, Elena Labat, Iraq war veteran now New York City police commando, appeared and told me her story.

 

Where do you get inspiration for your stories?

 

Really from everywhere. Something I observe while I’m driving, an item I read in the paper, a comment I overhear waiting to pick up my dinner at a restaurant. Everything goes into the crockpot in my brain, which cooks up ideas on a low simmer for a long time without my paying attention to it.

One cue for BLUE GIRL ON A NIGHT DREAM SEA that stands out came from my husband, who was talking about the Queen of Heaven. I had to look that up. My research led me to think about how religions formed and what it might have been like to live in the world before religion was codified, before national boundaries were set the way they are now, when all people identified first with their tribes and clans. After that, the story took over.

 

If you could put yourself as a character in your book, who would you be?

 

I would be Abirami, the wise old fisherman who helps Hana find a way into Sidon through a crack in the city wall, who later crosses the Mediterranean Sea with her to rescue her friend Danel, and who finds a way to be useful no matter what mess they find themselves in. We all need helpers and guides in our lives, and one with a self-deprecating sense of humor could be very useful.

 

What’s your writing schedule?

 

I write every day, even on weekends, in the morning for about four hours. It’s like any exercise. If I don’t do it, I get cranky. I don’t always write a part of the same novel day after day, though. I have several projects going at once and I drop into the one I woke up thinking about. Sometimes I know exactly which sentence I’m going to start with. Sometimes I read over what I wrote the last time to get me back into that space. Novels are about 80,000 words long when they’re done. So that’s about 150,000 words written, and 70,000 words deleted. It’s a long process. You have to be determined to get through it!

 

If you could go back in time, where would you go?

 

I would love to see the world before there were asphalt roads, tall buildings, and electric lines everywhere. But I don’t want to live without flush toilets and toilet paper, so I could only go for a few hours at a time by teleportation. If that could be arranged, I would like to be transported to Crete when they were first painting their vivid frescoes on wet plaster in the king’s palace. From there I would whisk off to the caves in France where prehistoric people are painting images of people hunting bison and gazelles on the walls, and finish my travels watching Monet paint his water lilies. Then I would teleport home to dinner in my comfortable chair in front of a wide screen to watch a streaming movie!

 

Thank you Ginny for chatting with me and sharing some of your thoughts about your book and other things.  I hope everyone picks up a copy of your book soon!

 

About the Author

Ginny Fite is an award-winning journalist who has covered crime, politics, government, healthcare, art and all things human. She has been a spokesperson for a governor and a member of Congress, a few colleges and universities, and a robotics R&D company. She has degrees from Rutgers University and Johns Hopkins University and studied at the School for Women Healers and the Maryland Poetry Therapy Institute. Her three murder mysteries, Cromwell’s Folly, No Good Deed Left Undone, and Lying, Cheating, and Occasionally Murder, are set in the rolling hills of Jefferson County, West Virginia. No End of Bad, a thriller, was released in June 2018. She resides in Harpers Ferry, WV.

Website  ~ Facebook  ~ Twitter

 

 

Giveaway

 

Prizes: ​ Win one of two $10 Amazon Gift Card courtesy of Ginny Fite, author of BLUE GIRL ON THE NIGHT DREAM SEA (open to wherever Amazon.com delivers) (2 winners) (ends Dec 27, 2019)

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