Local author incorporates area into book
Signing copies of a book in a place that appears in the book sounds well… fictional.
But, in actuality, that’s exactly what Cindy Lynn Speer will be doing this weekend at the Borders bookstore in Uniontown Mall. The local fiction writer, who is a native of Brownsville, will sign copies of her new fantasy novel “Blue Moon” on Saturday from 1 to 3 p.m.
“Of special interest might be the fact that the novel is set in southwestern Pennsylvania – Mather, Searight’s Tollhouse, Uniontown, and Cooper’s Rock are all featured,” Speer said.
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From the book:
“Once, there came a time when magic and science could no longer co-exist, and so the world of technology and the world of magic were sundered. All creatures and places of magic and myth were sent away to live on a magic driven world, leaving us behind forever.
Or so we thought. In modern times, a being so evil that his very memory was wiped from the minds of all living creatures has returned.
He wants to reunite the worlds using the very stone that separated them, and he knows exactly where to get it: from his ex-wife.
Libby Halstead barely escaped being tortured and murdered by the man who promised to love and cherish her.
Hiding the stone, waiting for the day when he will come for it, it is little wonder she has a hard time trusting anyone. But soon the battle lines will be drawn, and she will have to learn who she can depend on, and who has their own plans. Her possible allies include Alex Kincaid, a man who has no memory of his past, Zorovin, a dragon searching for his son and Sierra, who wants to leave this world for the world of magic, no matter what the cost.
For one night, magic returns to this world. Slag piles become castles, monsters long forgotten return, elves come from over the seas to do battle. It is a tale of things magical: mythical creatures, the longing for wonder, and love.”
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Speer said she has been in love with books since she was little.
“My mother would read me bits out of whatever she was reading – anything from James Bond to “Star Trek” to Andre Norton,” she said. “It encouraged me to imagine, to daydream incredible things. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t making up some fantastical story filled with spies and dragons…or a time when I didn’t love books. “
“When I write, I want to incorporate something of wonder, something of magic or myth.”
Speer said her first novel, “Blue Moon,” combines her love of folklore and Arthurian legend as well as her love for southwestern Pennsylvania.
She added that in her next novel, “The Chocolatier’s Wife,” she’ll be combining fantasy with a murder mystery.