Off the Beaten Track: Is Time Travel International?

 

This week we welcome the gorgeous Pamela DuMond, talented writer and lady of many talents. In grade school Pamela stuttered and was bullied. Reading became her refuge. At age twenty she conquered stuttering and started talking. Her brother swears she hasn't shut up since.

Pamela discovered Erin Brockovich's life story, thought it would make a great movie and pitched it to a production company. Erin Brockovich the movie was nominated for four Academy Awards. Julia Roberts won an Oscar for portraying Erin.

Pamela writes romantic YA thrillers—The Messenger (Mortal Beloved, Book One)—and sexy comedic Cupcake mysteries. Cupcakes, Pies, and Hot Guys is the latest in the series.

Pamela is also a chiropractor, cranio-sacral therapist and cat wrangler. Besides writing, she loves reading, the beach, yoga, movies, animals, her family and friends. She lives in Venice, California with her furballs.

Thanks Alli Sinclair for having me on your fun blog!

I’m a huge fan of YA novels. I’m also a huge fan of Last of the Mohicans, the 1992 movie featuring a young, very buff Daniel Day Lewis as Hawkeye, and the perennially gorgeous Madeline Stowe as Cora.

The IMDB description: “Three trappers protect a British Colonel's daughters in the midst of the French and Indian War.”

My description: “An epic romantic action-adventure historical fiction movie that makes every woman with half a heart break into goose bumps and pinch herself repeatedly when Daniel Day utters what is perhaps the most romantic line, ever.

“You be strong, you survive... You stay alive, no matter what occurs! I will find you. No matter how long it takes, no matter how far, I will find you.”

Ack! Kill me now. Instead of that, I decided to write my own version of that story.

My book, The Messenger, (Mortal Beloved, Book One) is about Madeline (yes, named after you-know-who) who travels hundreds of years back in time to a bloody war between the Natives and the colonists.

INFINITY. LIFE. DEATH. REBIRTH. Some souls are meant to be together. But pursuing true love can be not only dangerous but, deadly.

Sixteen-year-old Madeline’s cheated death once. She was but a baby in a booster seat in her mama’s car when they were rammed off a tall, Chicago parking garage. She lived. Her mama disappeared. But when Madeline’s shoved in front of a speeding commuter train she believes death has claimed her.

Maybe. Maybe not.

My Samuel

Madeline wakes in the warm, dead body of a girl who was slain moments earlier in a brutal raid on a colonial outpost in Rhode Island during King Philip’s War in 1675. She quickly learns she has time traveled hundreds of years into the past to claim her birth right as a MESSENGER — a soul, who if properly trained, can slip through time’s fabric at will, delivering messages that could change one life or many.

My Madeline

But falling into a forbidden love with her soul mate, Samuel, a Native boy, attracts the wrong kind of attention.

Rumors of witchcraft and spying could get them killed. Worse - deadly HUNTERS, dark-souled predators as well as skilled time travelers, crave Madeline's powers. Can Madeline find the way back to the future in time to save herself and Samuel?

This book was a blast to write, but also tough, as I had to do so much research into a time period and a war I knew nothing about. I picked Rhode Island to be the location of the colonial garrison as the state has high bluffs overlooking the Atlantic. (Figured I could use that in a romantic scene!)

Rhode Island at sunrise

I chose King Philip’s War as I didn’t want to completely rip-off Last of the Mohicans. I discovered it is America’s ‘forgotten war’—very few people know about it. It’s also considered America’s bloodiest war in terms of casualties. The outcome stripped the East Coast Natives of pretty much all their land; their rights and many were even sold into slavery. The balance of power between the colonists and the Natives completely shifted at the end of this conflict.

I also learned more about the colonists. They left Europe to pursue religious freedom and be able to own land. In turn they religiously persecuted the Natives, even pitching Native babies into river waters to see who was pure and who was possessed by demons. The pure babies would float. The babies with demons would drown. Cruelty and stupidity are also ‘international’ and not practiced by one race or culture.

Years ago while traveling in Portugal with my BFF we stumbled across the churches, castles and the “Romeo-Juliet” story of Portugal. I decided to set book two in the MORTAL BELOVED series in 14^th Century Portugal during the true historical story of Prince Pedro and his beloved, Inez. When his father the King and his advisors killed Inez, Pedro lost his mind in his quest to bring the traitors to justice. My characters, Madeline and Samuel, will play out their own romantic saga in medieval times filled of castles and kings, nobility and gypsies, intrigue and deception. Let the games begin!

Bussaco Forest, Portugal

And if you’re interested, here’s a link to the book here.

If you'd like to watch a video of my mystery series, here.

Off The Beaten Track: Chasing the Waves in Portugal’s Tipi Valley

This week's Off The Beaten Track contributor is the Australian journalist, Heather Jacobs. For the past 16 years before joining Ogilvy PR in April as an editorial specialist, Heather Jacobs has been published in a diverse range of publications including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Sun-Herald, IF magazine, Media and Marketing Asia, and New York based photography magazine, PDN. Specialising in writing about advertising, media and marketing, she has held staff positions on Ad News, New York-based TVC production magazine, Shoot, B&T and Campaign Brief Asia and Australia. In 2006 she had a non-fiction book published under the CareerFAQs series, advising students how to get a job in advertising. Passionate about travel she has lived in Japan, London, Vietnam, and New York and travelled throughout Europe, South-East Asia, South America and Mexico – where she had a fake Mexican wedding at a hippy commune. She is currently working on a novel set in India, although she’s still angling to go there for ‘research’ purposes. You can find Heather at her wonderful blog http://ilovebondibutiliveinrosebay.blogspot.com/.

 

“Look upstairs and paddle,” instructs one of the ridiculously good-looking Portuguese surf instructors, both of whom are named Ricardo. I paddle furiously, and I’m up on my bright blue foam board, arms stretched out in the warrior pose before falling headfirst into the whitewash.

I lived across the road from Bondi Beach for over a decade but it took a trip to Portugal to get me on a surfboard for the first time. When I first booked into the Algarve Surf & Yoga Retreat – better known as Tipi Valley – in the Western Algarve, the southern most region of Portugal, at the bequest of my friend Selina, a keen surfer from the UK, I was more interested in the yoga. I agreed to give surfing a go, since it was part of the package, and had so much fun that I wish I’d tried it years earlier.

The ecologically sustainable company was started by Australian surfer/sailing instructor, Laurie Quirk and built with the help of WWOOFers (Willing Workers on Organic Farms). It’s in a stunning valley on the Costa Vicentina Natural Park, the largest protected natural park in Europe, which has 74,000 hectares of rolling hills, cliffs, rocky coves and beaches.

While the Algarve has a reputation for being overrun by tourists, the fact that we are a one-hour drive from the nearest international airport, Faro, and the lack of five-star resorts means the area retains its charm. We share the beach, which is framed by volcanic cliffs, with a handful of Portuguese and Spanish families.

There is a Tipi onsite. Built from 12-foot eucalyptus poles cut from the property, it sleeps six, has a floating wooden floor and is furnished with single beds, rugs, a lounge, and Moroccan lamps. Selina and I are in the breakaway tent, which has twin beds with pink chenille bedspreads, and mosquito nets. The camp sleeps a maximum of 10 with a smaller Tipi and two canvass tents.

There are seven other guests who have come from Ireland, the UK, Portugal, and the United States. We do an hour and a half of yoga each morning before breakfast and then head to the beach for the surf lessons. Our yoga teacher is Cherie, who teaches a Kundalini-based Hatha yoga.

The surfing lessons are outsourced to the Odeceixe Surf School (pronounced O-de-shaish), which is run by David who has lived in the area all of his life. Since both our instructors are called Ricardo, David tells us we can call one Ricardo uno (one) and the other Ricardo dos (two). The first is a former body-boarding champion for Portugal and the second is a lifeguard and volunteer fireman.

A couple of hours in the surf has us feeling ravenous. Lunch is at a café overlooking the beach where we have fresh seafood, Portuguese custard tarts (pastel de natas) and glasses of Vinho Verde, a sparkling green wine native to Portugal.

Dinner is delicious meals prepared from organic vegetables grown on the property but after a few nights in, we organise a group outing in nearby Aljezur with Laurie, David, and Ricardo uno. Pont’A Pe is a charming restaurant by the river with blue-chequered tablecloths.

We tell Milton, the restaurant manager and our waiter for the night, that we want a typical Portuguese meal and he serves up a feast: clams steamed in garlic, fresh sardines, barnacles, roasted chicken in piri-piri sauce, sweet potato, sea bass I was asked to pick from the restaurant’s aquarium. Mussels in garlic and white wine sauce, and carne de porco à alentejana, a Portuguese twist on surf and turf – fried pork, potatoes and clams. For dessert Milton brings out a tray of pastries and crème caramel and shots of Medronho, which is also known as Portuguese firewater.

After dinner we visit a 10^th century Moorish castle, now in ruins, climbing the steep cobblestone path by the light of the full moon to admire the sleeping village of Aljezur with its whitewashed houses and red tiled roofs.

Another memorable meal is our farewell dinner. In Australia, BYO – or bring your own – usually refers to a bottle of wine, but David brings his own barnacles to the Taberna do Gabio in Odeceixe. We have creamy sheep’s cheese, anchovy paste, olives, fresh bread, and carne de porco à alentejana. Barnacles are not my favourite Portuguese delicacy – they kind of taste like a chewy squid – but considering David got up at dawn to scrape them from rocky cliffs washed by treacherous waves, I eat as many as I can.

At the end of the meal, Selina and I have a final glass of Portuguese firewater, and promise to return to this beautiful part of Portugal with its delicious food, gorgeous beaches, and warm and hospitable people, as soon as we can.

Photos by Cherie Bousfield