December 2024 Quarterly Newsletter

Dear friends,
 
It’s been a busy few months since my last newsletter. My time has been spent editing book six of the West Series, Deliverance and travelling. For the second time this year I headed to the northern hemisphere, this time to Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Scotland, and the Lake District. I’m constantly drawn to that part of the world. It might be because of the Scandinavian blood pulsing through my veins. I could only have received it from the Viking raids on the east coast of the UK. The main percentage of my Viking blood is Danish with a small amount of Norwegian. The reason I know this is that I had my DNA tested. It’s interesting what you learn about yourself.

When I travel, I’m looking for places to set stories. Faroe Islands, Iceland and Scotland didn’t disappoint. The Lakes District was beautiful, too, but the rugged, dramatic scenery of the other places grabbed me. With a population of just under 400,000, Iceland is experiencing a surge in tourist numbers. They’ve climbed from 500,000 a year to 2.5 million. They’re frantically building hotels to accommodate the influx, but money needs to go into the airport, which is struggling to cope. If you ever decide to visit, you won’t be disappointed though as it was spectacular.
The Faroes, with its population of 55,000, was quieter and less crowded, which I preferred. They also have a small airport, and I can’t see how they can cope with many tourists. Firstly, the airport only takes small jets. It’s challenging to get around unless on a guided tour, and they don’t have the infrastructure for staying remote. But I think it puts them in the enviable position of controlling their tourism numbers.

From a writer’s perspective, I found the Faroe history fascinating. They were first settled by Irish monks in the 6th century, but the Norse began arriving in the early 800s. The islands became part of the Kingdom of Norway in 1035. In 1380, Norway and the Faroe Islands joined the Kingdom of Denmark. The administration of the Islands gradually shifted from Norway to Denmark. In 1814, the Treaty of Kiel dissolved the union between Norway and Denmark, leaving the Faroe Islands under Danish sovereignty. The Faroe Islands were administered as a Danish county from 1816 to 1948. In 1948, they became self-governing under the Home Rule Act. The Faroese people are proud they have autonomy over their internal affairs, speak their own language and are ahead of the rest of the world in fish farming. There is much to love about the place. What grabbed me besides the scenery was the Selkie folklore stories, and by the time we left, a seed was sprouting.

From the Faroes, we travelled to Scotland. It’s only a couple of hour’s plane journey and a popular destination for Faroese as a shopping destination. What I found interesting was that Scotland, Ireland and Iceland also have Selkie stories. All with a similar theme: seals coming ashore and changing into humans. The stories about selkie and human interaction grabbed my attention. The selkies are supposed to be friendly and helpful to humans but can also be dangerous and vengeful—those traits alone give scope when writing. They’re depicted as attractive and seductive in human form, and many stories involve selkies having romantic or sexual relationships with humans, sometimes resulting in children. Selkies can be tricked or coerced into marrying humans, usually by someone who steals and hides their seal skin, preventing them from returning to the sea. Such marriages are often unhappy as the selkie longs for the sea and may eventually escape once they find their skin. The Legend of Køpakonan is a Faroese story about one such selkie trapped in an unhappy marriage. She bides her time until reclaiming her skin and returning to sea. Her human husband, however, hunts her seal husband and children down, killing them. She seeks revenge and curses the people and their descendants.

The selkie stories stretch the imagination, and I’m playing with a modern theme with an undercurrent of fantasy/shapeshifting. The selkie stories are so believable that it’s hard not to believe they’re real. Perhaps they are! More about Shattered Façade later.

The West Series continues with the fifth book, Resurrection, released in September. This one is set in Scotland (it seems I can’t help myself with location). The blurb for those interested:
Alana West is starring in a movie about the Jacobite Uprising. Filming is almost complete when a world pandemic sees the film crew in lockdown at a farmhouse in the small town of Drumnadrochit on Loch Ness.

Fergus Frazer hosts cast members and is shocked when he meets Alana. She is his wife’s doppelganger. Elspeth died six years ago, and the perpetrator is still at large. When the police pull another female body from Loch Ness and learn how she met her fate, Fergus becomes their number one suspect.

Initially, at odds, Fergus and Alana give in to the chemistry that draws them together. However, forces are working behind the scenes to keep them apart, and when Fergus ends up in custody, Alana must unravel past and present events to clear his name.

It seems the West family attract trouble wherever they travel. A reviewer of Resurrection said: The best yet! Don’t miss the series. Available through Amazon: Destiny, Providence, Redemption, Survival and Resurrection. Coming soon: Deliverance, Tempest and Reckoning. Stay tuned for release dates.

If you’re looking for an action-packed adventure series set in Peru, Australia and the US, I have my two-book series, El Alto and Return to Alto. And for those who love horses: Racing Dream, Racing Time and Racing Fate. The racing series is in South Australia. And I haven’t forgotten you car enthusiasts: Second Chance, set in the Flinders Ranges. All my books except the El Alto series are stand-alone, suspense stories with romantic elements. The El Alto series is an adventure love story.

I can’t believe where the year has gone, but here we are again, looking down the barrel toward Christmas. I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year.
Until next year--
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Suzie