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<\/a><\/p>\nLacuna, a bit of realism, a bit of magic<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I am a big fan of Neil Gaiman. I love his book Stardust, and the movie as well. I was delighted to discover its extras included a behind-the-scenes interview with Neilhimself. He talks about how he came up with the idea for the story: He\u2019d been playing with using a wall, on which one side the world was mundane and the other magic. On a drive one night, he saw a shooting star and wondered what would become of the star if it landed on the other side of the wall. Stardust was born.<\/p>\n Fantasy authors take normal ideas and twist them onto their sides. I have a concept I\u2019ve done that with in Passages<\/em>\u2014lacuna.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lacuna is a real thing\u2014it\u2019s a gap or an unfilled space. The word is most widely used for bones, but it can be a gap in anything. By letting my hero Quinn be able to use<\/em> lacuna, Passages<\/em> becomes a science fantasy\u2014a world where both science and magic work. In fact, J. C., my gracious host for this post and one of my fabulous critique partners, first pointed out to me that I had combined the two.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Readers have their preferences and so do writers\u2014I can\u2019t imagine a story without some magical aspect. Perhaps Maya Angelou says it best:<\/p>\n \u201cIf you are always trying to be normal you will never know how amazing you can be.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Excerpt from Quinn\u2019s point of view:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cKeep going. Do the cross-leap,\u201d she gasped, \u201ceven if I black out.\u201d<\/p>\n Hell. What else could I do? With the guard cursing behind us, I flung an arm around her shoulder and trotted along the corridor. We dissolved.<\/p>\n Fully immersed in the accelerator\u2019s energy, I could make connections to any destination once I visualized it\u2026but my mind jumbled. No image came. Do the cross-leap.<\/em> I mind-linked with Graen. Her trips appeared and I snatched the vision of the island. West of here at fifteen degrees longitude. North, sixty degrees latitude. No direct course between this Conducer and another, but that made it harder to trace. I merged two segments\u2026shortened another, and in a split second my mind cranked out the jumps. Our molecules flew apart.<\/p>\n We hurtled through space on a trajectory manipulated from a map\u2019s coordinates, and I held to the transference as if our lives depended on it\u2014because, judging from the Blackguard\u2019s shouts, they did.<\/p>\n The tingling in my body ebbed. I collapsed with Graen into the leaves at the edge of a wood. Frigid air surrounded us under a sky speckled with starlight. Aarde\u2019s golden moon, Roamer, hung on the horizon, about to set. Behind a rocky outcrop on the adjacent hilltop, the faint glow of pink meant Misha, the red moon, was rising. It was at least an hour before the dawn we\u2019d left behind on the mainland.<\/p>\n Graen hadn\u2019t moved, but neither had I. I tightened my arm around her and applied pressure to her bleeding neck. Her steady breathing comforted me as I listened to the stillness. Had the \u2019torg guard followed? We\u2019d never had witnesses to what I could do before. According to Graen, our people\u2019s way of rearranging particles for movement\u2014into the near space gaps of Lacuna, or far space travel like cross-leaping\u2014marked us as aliens on this well-secured planet.<\/p>\n And Aarde banned outsiders. If the Docga\u2019s \u2019torg minions discovered us, it\u2019d land us beds in jail until we could be deported to an off-planet detention center.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Follow the Passages<\/em> Blog Tour to read more science & fantasy tidbits!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Blurb:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cFind someone you can trust.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n For decades, Eve and her fellow electorgs\u2014part human, part machine\u2014have worked on the quiet planet of Aarde, beating back toxic spores that threaten to poison the native people. When the new commander halts work right before a deadly spore release, Eve frantically plots to protect the villagers she considers friends and family.<\/p>\n On the run after an ambush, Quinn holds a secret that nearly got him killed. If only he knew what\u00a0it was. Though the attack scrambled his memories, Quinn is sure of one thing\u2014he can\u2019t trust the electorgs. But they know information he desperately needs to puzzle out who wants him dead, and why.<\/p>\n With the fate of life on Aarde in the balance, the logic of joining forces with Eve overrides Quinn\u2019s fears\u2026and erupts into an attraction that could prove fatal for both of them.<\/p>\n Because the planet\u2019s commander might just be Quinn himself.<\/p>\n Passages<\/em> is on preorder & sale for .99 through February 5th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n Amazon<\/a> | Kobo <\/a>| iBooks<\/a><\/p>\n Add Passages<\/em> to your Goodreads<\/a> shelf!<\/p>\n Amazon: https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B01N1ZDIHC<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n Kobo:\u00a0 https:\/\/www.kobo.com\/us\/en\/ebook\/passages-18<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n iBooks:\u00a0 https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/book\/passages\/id1192779904?mt=11<\/a><\/p>\n GoodReads:\u00a0 https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/33805801-passages<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Author bio:<\/p>\n Before kids, Laurel Wanrow studied and worked as a naturalist\u2014someone who leads wildflower walks and answers calls about the snake that wandered into your garage. During a stint of homeschooling, she turned her writing skills to fiction to share her love of the land, magical characters and fantastical settings.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When not living in her fantasy worlds, Laurel camps, hunts fossils and argues with her husband and two new adult kids over whose turn it is to clean house. Though they live on the East Coast, a cherished family cabin in the Colorado Rockies holds Laurel\u2019s heart.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Find Laurel at:<\/p>\n Website<\/a>| Twitter<\/a>| Facebook<\/a> | Pinterest<\/a>| Goodreads<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Website: www.laurelwanrow.com<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Twitter: https:\/\/twitter.com\/laurelwanrow<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Facebook Page: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/laurelwanrowauthor<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Pinterest: https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/laurelwanrow\/<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n