Category: Treasured Secrets

Pompeii - The Lost City

6/15/2015

Another travel experience that influenced my stories. Enjoy.

The city of Pompeii, once a thriving metropolis, was nestled nice and close to Mount Vesuvius, the very volcano that killed the city’s occupants and buried it beneath tons of ash in 79AD.

Dean and I explore Pompeii 1989. Back then there was very few restrictions of what we could or couldn't touch.

In 1989 my husband and I visited the extraordinary excavation site. Despite visiting Pompeii more than 25 years ago I still have vivid memories of exploring the remains of that ancient city. The lack of air and moisture created by the mountain of ash that fell upon the city ensured the objects that lay beneath it were preserved in extraordinary condition. What we saw was fascinating and macabre at the same time. It was an incredible reminder of the power of nature.

Ancient Pompeii is believed to have been founded in approximately 6th century BC. When it was destroyed, some 160 years later, it was reported to be nearing a population of 11,000 people. During excavation, archaeologists used plaster to fill in the empty spaces that once contained bodies. This ensured they could recreate the exact position of the person when they died. They found men, women, children, babies, dogs, cats, monkeys and numerous other species that died within minutes of that fateful volcanic eruption.

It's hard to believe this Pompeii street was built nearly 2000 years ago.

This ancient Roman city was forgotten for over 1500 years. Wiped clean by the hand of God. It was discovered by accident in 1599 when digging commenced to divert the Sarno river.

However, the architect, Domenico Fontana, found the nature of the fresco’s he discovered too promiscuous and promptly covered them over again. It wasn’t until 1738 that the ruins of Pompeii were rediscovered and finally excavation began.

The volcano is said to have erupted for 6 hours, spewing some 25 metres of ash and rock onto the city. What they have recovered is simply extraordinary and allowed archaeologists to piece together a story of the city that once was.

The House of the Faun. Remains of Pompeii.

I feel completely blessed to have shared this wonderful experience with my husband, I only wish we'd had more than one day exploring this amazing piece of history.

Whether its modern day or ancient, I find history fascinating. I swear I must've been an archaeologist in another life. It's amazes me how these experiences influence my writing. I love going back there with my stories and I hope my readers enjoy the journey too. Treasured Secrets is an action adventure story based on a missing 13th Century treasure. Download your copy today.

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed another one of my travel experiences. Follow my blogs and come escape with me. Here's my previous travel blog if you're interested.

Treasured Secrets

Some secrets should remain hidden forever.

Sunken Treasure. Sharks. Shipwrecks. Sex. Evil bad guys and delicious food. What more could you want in an action adventure novel. Grab your copy of Treasured Secrets today. http://amzn.to/1OLqzSW.

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Tuscany - and the horrific event that inspired my trilogy

4/16/2015

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People often ask me where I get ideas for my books from and sometimes it amazes me what instigates that initial spark. Over the next couple of weeks, I'll blog some of the experiences that inspired my 'Treasured' series of book.

In 2011 my husband surprised me with a trip to Tuscany for our 20th anniversary. We had 10 wonderful days exploring this fabulous region and we stayed in a 700 year old villa called Villa Pandolfini in Signa, a little village just a fifteen minute train ride from Florence. Our spectacular historic villa with extremely high ceilings, magnificent frescoes and original antique furniture was surrounded by vineyards and olive-groves and offered an extensive view over Arno Valley. This incredible villa was the perfect place to set my author brain into action and consequently features prominently in Treasured Secrets.

Our rooms were overflowing with antiques.

Villa Pandolfini Signa Tuscany Italy

It was a visit to a little church in the medieval area of Florence that catapulted my creative writing ideas into overdrive. The Church of St Apostoli was built in the 11th century and is very insignificant compared to the many more grand churches in this historic city. This church is located in the Piazza Del Limbo, a nondescript concrete plaza, so named as it was once the cemetery for unbaptized babies.

The floor inside the church is inlaid with a beautiful marble mosaic, but the aspect that caught my interest was an oval door in the mosaic floor. Our guide informed us that this was where they threw the bodies during the plague of 1348. (Whether or not this was true, I still don't know). But I do know that there were so many bodies that they didn’t have time to give the deceased proper burials. Of course, in doing this, they actually contributed to the spread of the disease, by literally feeding the rats. Sixty percent of Europe’s population died from The Black Death - some fifty million people.

"Die Pest in Epiros" ("The Plague in Epirus") a copper engraving by Pierre Mignard (1610-1665) depicts a bubonic plague epidemic.

As soon as our guide mentioned this horrific event, my head was spinning with ideas of entire families being wiped out and long buried secrets. Then I began to wonder what happened to all their precious possessions. By the time we were on the plane home, I was drafting the bones of a story.

That idea has blossomed into a trilogy with the first book Treasured Secrets available now.

TREASURED SECRETS...
Some secrets should remain hidden forever.

One of my favourite highlights of Tuscany was the food and wine. So much so, that Rosalina, my character in Treasured Secrets is a chef and throughout this series she tantalizes the reader with many fabulous meals.

I like to consider myself as a method writer, so consequently, I cooked, photographed, wrote about and of course, devoured every one of these delicious meals too. I loved this aspect of these books so much that I've created Rosalina's Treasured Treats cookbook.

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Christmas Island where magic happens...

3/18/2015

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Christmas Island is barely a dot on a map North-West of Perth, Western Australia. 63% of the island is designated National Park and its nearly overflowing with complex flora and fauna unique to this island. The island has only been inhabited since 1888 so that makes Christmas Island one of the youngest communities in the world.

The entire island is a wildlife sanctuary excellent for bird watching, nature lovers, anglers and scuba divers.

There is so much to explore both above and beneath the water, but in 2010, I went there specifically for the scuba diving. Although I love my diving, I get sea sick. To combat this I go in search of diving that doesn’t require a big boat trip to get to the dive sites. Christmas Island was the perfect choice. The island is actually the tip of an ancient volcano that rises about 5 miles up from the ocean floor. So literally metres from the shoreline, divers can explore the drop-off that plunges dramatically into the abyss.

On our second day of diving, I experienced one of the most magical moments of my life.

With my husband as my dive buddy, we dropped into the water and gradually cruised down Perpendicular Wall, which is exactly what it is. This dive site is a fathomless vertical wall bustling with enormous coral fans, hundreds of colourful tropical fish of all shapes and sizes, eels that dart out and disappear just as quickly, and of course sharks, turtles and stingrays.

About 40 minutes into our dive, my hubby indicated he was nearly at his air limit. He’s what’s known as an air pig - in that he consumes his air way too quickly. I was a tad annoyed about this as I had at least another 20 minutes of air time remaining. But as every good dive buddy knows, you stick with your partner. So together we gradually floated toward the surface.

This is when the magic happened.

At our decompression stop, a four metre long whale shark came over to check us out. Whale sharks are the largest known fish species and can grow up to 12 metres long and weight as much as 21 tons. They have very large mouths but thankfully for us, they are filter feeders and mainly eat plankton.

I thought this 'baby' whale shark was going to eat me.

Dean and I were so lucky, because not only did this friendly fish cruise around us for a good twenty minutes or so, but as the rest of our dive party were below us, nearly every picture they took of the whale shark had us in it. It was a special moment for everyone. At one point the whale shark came so close to me, with its mouth wide open, that I thought he was going to swallow me whole. Just the surge in the water as it passed was enough to feel it’s immense size.

I feel completely blessed to have experienced this rare, close encounter with a gentle giant of the sea.

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed one of my travel experiences that influenced a scene in my upcoming book Treasured Secrets.

You can check out a few more of my travel blogs, HERE.

Some secrets should remain hidden forever.

Treasured Secrets the first book in an adrenaline fuelled new series with sexy sassy characters, exotic locations and action-packed adventure is available for pre-order now. You can learn more about it here.