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Nancy Lee Badger loves chocolate-chip shortbread and wool
plaids wrapped around the trim waist of a Scottish Highlander. Her stories
tempt you with the clang of broadswords, and the sound of bagpipes in the air. With
her notebook at hand, and her camera ready to capture the next example of a
perfect ‘turning of the caber’, Nancy can be spotted at various Highland games
and festivals ‘soaking up the culture’.
After
growing up in Huntington, New York, and raising two handsome sons in New
Hampshire, she moved to North Carolina where she writes full-time. Nancy is a
member of Romance Writers of America, Heart of Carolina Romance Writers,
Fantasy-Futuristic & Paranormal Romance Writers, Triangle Area Freelancers,
and the Celtic Heart Romance Writers.
Why Time Traveling Hunks-in-Kilts?
A reader recently asked me why I decided to write
another Scottish time travel romance. My
Lady Highlander, though the first in my Kilted
Athletes Through Time series, is my fourth Scottish time travel. My answer was
this: sometimes the characters write the story. I am not saying I have no
control. I like historical novels…to a point, but I wanted to do something
different.
Since I have attended Scottish Highland games and
festivals from Canada to Georgia, I wanted to incorporate their festive
atmosphere, mouth-watering foods, hunky men in kilts hefting telephone poles,
and bagpipe-playing rock bands ‘bringing down the house’. Historically
inaccurate as some things might seem, such as the kilted hottie with a cell phone
in his sporran, adding real history to my stories blends the best of two
worlds.
The early seventeenth century was a world of upheavals
and grim tales of hunger, piracy, battles, and death, but the people always
found time to celebrate the harvest (Samhain) or the coming of spring sunshine
(Beltane). Many of the feats of strength I see at modern-day games came into
being quite naturally. The longbow competition, the hammer throw, and even wrestling
are reminders of battle scenarios.
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| Turning the Caber |
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| Seven Nations |
Today’s ‘battles’ are quickly ended, and toasted with
a glass of ale, or a dram of Whisky. Why not show the battles and swordplay in
my book, then remind my readers that they can see examples of these at Highland
Games held around the globe.
My Lady
Highlander Excerpt:
The fist landed
on Bull’s left cheek, slamming his head against the tree. He saw stars, and his
stomach lurched. As the dizzy spell worsened and his knees buckled, he wanted
nothing more than to vomit on Niall’s boots. A rustling of branches and a
flurry of Gaelic curses in a woman’s voice brought his head up.
Izzy? No!
“Leave him be,
ye ornery, loud-mouthed, son of a defiler. He saved yer brother’s life, and
this is how ye repay the man?” Izzy said, and walked slowly toward Niall.
Bull stared,
shocked and worried that she’d left her perfectly good hiding place for him.
With a smile on her heart-shaped face, her beauty was like the sun after a
storm. Moonlight sparkled in her stormy eyes. Groaning, as she raised the sword
he’d hidden with her, and rested the tip on the curve of Niall’s left pectoral
muscle, Bull wanted to laugh.
Or, cry.
“She’s too close
to him,” Bull muttered.
Her womanly
fragrance of flowers, pine and moss, eased his body and calmed his stomach.
Struggling to stand, he wished he could take her place. It should be him, who
held a sword to Niall’s chest.
Her eyes flitted
sideways, watching Bull rise and lean against the tree, then she turned back to
Niall. He could grab the sword out of her hand, any second.
“Izzy, love. Why
didn’t you stay hidden?” Sucking in more air, Bull’s voice croaked.
“The wildcat has
risen from her den. What’s this ye say? Who be defiling who?”
My Lady Highlander is available at:
What’s next
for you?
I was invited to join nine other authors in a boxed set titled ‘Ten Timeless Heroes’. Readers new to my writing can try My Honorable Highlander, which is in the boxed set, and is Book #1 in the Highland games Through Time series. I am also currently writing the second book in my new series, in between visiting Scottish Highland festivals.
10 Timeless Heroes
Nancy Lee Badger’s My Honorable Highlander is one of the books where magic & destiny unite lovers across time and space in this epic collection of award-winning, chart topping tales. From sweet to sizzling romances, 10 Timeless Heroes has a little something for everyone. Over fifteen hundred pages!
Amazon http://amzn.to/RuFTub
What
is your idea of the perfect ending to a day spent at a Scottish Highland
festival? One person’s comment will win an ebook copy of My Lady Highlander.
Contest ends. April 26th. (Please remember to leave your email address in some form so we can contact you if you win.)
Connect
with Nancy Lee Badger
Blog http://www.nancyleebadger.blogspot.com
Website http://www.nancyleebadger.com
Twitter https://twitter.com/NLBadger
Facebook http://on.fb.me/KMGS4z
Goodreads http://bit.ly/Vd1Usg
Amazon Author Page http://amzn.to/13ICHLq
Website http://www.nancyleebadger.com
Twitter https://twitter.com/NLBadger
Facebook http://on.fb.me/KMGS4z
Goodreads http://bit.ly/Vd1Usg
Amazon Author Page http://amzn.to/13ICHLq
Thank you for being our guest today, Nancy!!
17 comments:
What is your idea of the perfect ending to a day spent at a Scottish Highland festival? After everyone is done having a great day of games then we celebrate with music, dancing and great food and drink!
Books sound GREAT!
These books sound great!! Thanks for sharing!!
Congratulations and great news, Nancy. Time travels are my favorite. :)
Setting in the heather having a midnight SNACK !
Virginia Smith :-)
Cuddled up with my handsome husband laying under the stars
These are great ideas! Keep them coming! Thanks for having me here today.
Nancy Lee Badger
The perfect ending to a day spent at a Scottish Highland festival would be curling up with my hubby with some wine and just talk about the day. swolfe_63@yahoo.com
Anything that involves a Highland hunk in a kilt!
Perfect ending would be a hunk in a kilt taking me back to his time to live in his castle. Of course he is also a smart Scot who has installed bathrooms and showers.
Cuddled up with my kilted man (w/o his kilts or anything else, of course, at this point)
lindalou@cfl.rr.com
Perfect end to festival: settling in while the breeze cools ya blowing through trees(preferably in the Smokies) good food with cool drink, and friends joining in for the Ceilidh with fiddles, bagpipes, drumming and singing from Albannach, Border Collies, Etc
Dawn
Looking at all the goodies I bought
GREAT post, Nancy! Your book sounds fabulous. Thanks for mentioning 10 Timeless Heroes as well. Such a blast working with you all! *Waves hello to Vonda and the Fierce Authors*
Cheers,
Sky
Thanks so much for being our guest, Nancy!
Hi, Sky! Thanks for dropping by!
Thanks, everyone, for your fun comments!
My idea of a great evening after the festivities of the day are through is to sit down to a great dinner containing all those foods you mention in your stories. Bannock, Bridies etc.
Great excerpt. The book sounds like a winner. Good luck with sales.
Congratulations, Dawn!! Nancy has chosen you as the winner of her book. Thanks so much to everyone who commented!!
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