IN GRAVES BELOW Spotlight
Today, I'm shining a spotlight on In Graves Below, the first standalone paranormal romance I ever wrote. May 3 is the book's publication anniversary.
The story came about because Amazon invited S.E. Smith (Susan) to participate in the Kindle Worlds program. Authors opened a story universe to other authors, and Amazon handled the details. I was flattered beyond belief when Susan asked me to be one of the inaugural authors for her worlds of Magic, New Mexico. Especially since up to that point, I'd only written scifi space opera romances.
IN GRAVES BELOW Story Origins
In Susan's world, the magical town of Magic, New Mexico was founded in the 1700s as a safe haven for people who were different. As in, witches, werewolves, vampires, dwarves, and anyone else looking to live and let live, and enjoy each other's company without caring who—or what—they are. There's plenty of good fun in Magic.
This got me thinking about what the people who already lived there thought about this new town. Which led me down the research path (my favorite journey!) to find out who was in the area in that era. Various native indigenous tribes called west Texas and southern New Mexico home, but so did the Spanish conquistadors. They swept through and set up missions, more often than not enslaving the natives to build them.
Therefore, to dovetail with Susan's history, I created an earlier alliance between two historical but long-gone tribal groups. Their shamans and spider women foretold the coming trouble and convinced their people to move west. There, they magically claimed land and hid from the would-be conquerors. They thrived for a while, but time has a way of changing things. Today, the once proud clans have dwindled to one family.
In Graves Below stars Idrián Odair, the last shaman. Someday, when my to-be-written list is a little more manageable, I plan to write a second book in this mini-series.
