Serendipity and Guardian Angels with Author @LiviaQuinn #RB4U #Romance

Two weeks ago I was trudging up a flight of steep steps in Penzance, United Kingdom, dragging my thirty pound suitcase and my IT FELT LIKE fifty pound backpack. My friend and I got to the front door of the B&B finally breathing a sigh of relief. We were four hours early but we'd sent an email to the host advising her of that so we planned on dropping our bags and getting right to the sightseeing since we only had two nights in Cornwall and wanted to make the best of it.

Well, best laid plans and all that…the door was locked and the sign read "our for the day". WHAT?!!! Once again, we realized how hampered we were not to have internet, phone or GPS in the UK. I was kicking myself for the fourth time when a woman started up the adjoining steps toward the adjacent B&B.

My friend asked if she happened to know our host or how we might contact her. Aneliese was from Australia and was so delightful. She offered to let us park our bags in her room next door, leave a message for our host, and then proceeded to give us the lowdown on how to get around in Cornwall on the bus system. She save our patooties as we'd been unable to get good information about the buses in Penzance. On her advice we took a bus that took us all around the coastline of Cornwall from Penzance to Lands End to St. Ives.

This happened again and again, when we were lost, needed a little direction or flat out needed rescuing. It's the same everywhere. Whether you're traveling or at home. Downtown in your local community or on the internet, I find people are always willing to lend a helping hand.

I've experienced this so much in the last months since I've had vision problems and was struggling to get my books ready to meet a deadline. People stepped up to help edit, fit me in for covers and give advice on promo and strategy. 

It feels good to look ahead and see a full four months of books releases. Ridge, the first book in my rebranded Men of Honor series just went live https://bookstoread.com/ridge and the sixth book in my paranormal series, Blood Moon, is up for preorder in the Moonlight Magic box set for just $0.99 for a limited time with nineteen other fabulous authors. 

Now, our friends in my neighboring states are hurting because of the hurricanes. I invite you to be a part of the recovery efforts which take a very long time. Thanks.

Eclipses: Are You Superstitious?

A total lunar eclipse is just days away on April 15, 2014, and will be visible in North America. The totality phase will last 78 minutes, beginning at midnight west coast time and 3am on the east coast. 

This photo shows Lucien Rudaux's painting of how a lunar eclipse might look from the moon. The only sunlight is refracted through Earth’s atmosphere at the outer edges, causing the moon to look red.

This eclipse launches a cycle of four consecutive Blood Moons, known as a tetrad lunar eclipse series. Dates to watch for are April 15, 2014, October 8, 2014, April 4, 2015 and September 28, 2015. To give you an indication of how rare tetrads are, there were none between 1600 and 1900. In this, the 21^st Century, there will be 9 sets of tetrads.

A lunar eclipse happens when the Moon, Sun and Earth are all aligned exactly, with Earth sandwiched between Moon and Sun. It can only happen when the Moon is full.

Some ancient cultures interpreted lunar eclipses as the moon being swallowed by an animal. For the Maya it was a jaguar, in Egypt it was a sow, and in China it was a three-legged toad. Others thought a demon swallowed the moon. The lunar eclipse was viewed as a portent of evil or disaster. Even today, many see it as a sign of doom. A prominent religious leader wrote such a book, saying this eclipse period is apocalyptic.

Ancient people were superstitious. It’s easy for us to say they didn’t know the science behind eclipses, but is that an accurate assumption? Look at the precision in such astronomical systems as the Maya calendar, which calculated planetary movements for hundreds of centuries into their future. The Dogon people of Mali, West Africa had a complex understanding of astronomy and stars, as did many others.

Here are some definitions according to the Merriam Webster Dictionary online:

ASTRONOMY: The scientific study of stars, planets, and other objects in outer space.

ASTROLOGY: The study of how the positions of the stars and movements of the planets have a supposed influence on events and on the lives and behavior of people.

ECLIPSE: The total or partial obscuring of one celestial body by another.

LUNAR ECLIPSE: An eclipse in which the full moon passes partially or wholly through the umbra of the earth’s shadow.

TETRAD: An occurrence of four total lunar eclipses in a row with intervals of six lunations (semester). (According to Wikipedia.)

The photo above shows the Blood Moon Eclipse that rose during the Fall of Constantinople, when the Byzantine capital fell to the Ottomans. The siege lasted from April 5, 1453 to May 29, 1453, and the eclipse was on May 22, 1453. It was considered a prophecy fulfilled at the time.

Most people have an opinion about eclipses, one way or the other. Do you see them as omens, purely scientific events, or a blend of the two? Even knowing the science behind them, you may still see them as omens.

I'm currently editing a story I began writing in 1998. The moon, eclipses and rare lunar events feature heavily... it takes place at a castle on an isolated island off the south coast of Ireland...

For authors, eclipses can add elements of suspense, danger, and paranormal excitement to our stories. Have you used an eclipse in any of your books?

GEMMA JULIANA is a multi-published author who lives in an enchanted cottage in north Texas with her handsome hero, brave teen son and a comical dog who is really a human in disguise. She loves making new friends and hearing from readers. Exotic coffee and chocolate fuel her creativity. She writes romance, mystery and suspense with a splash of the paranormal.

Gemma’s books are available on Amazon.  

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