New Release With A Bit Of Family History

www.laurirobinson.blogspot.com

People often ask me which is of my books is my personal favorite. I usually answer with the one I’m writing now. That is the truth, mainly because that is the story I’m most focused on, however, each book has something special about it. Whether it’s how the story came to be, the research behind it, a character that reminds me of someone, etc. etc. Saving Marina, which will be released February 1^st, is no different. This book is special because of my family history. 

I’d heard for years that there were ‘witches’ in our ancestry, but didn’t think much about it. All families have ‘skeletons in the closet’ and tidbits that may have grown into ‘wives’ tales’ over the years. It wasn’t until my son was exploring Ancestry.com and told me that my eight times great grandmother was arrested as a witch during the Salem Witch Trials that I took a deeper note of all those family stories, and the Salem Witch Trials. 

During that tremulous time, which lasted less than a year, fear engulfed many communities, and along with that came self-preservation. People accused others of witchcraft in order to simply protect themselves. There are many theories behind the witch trials. Some I read amazed me, others were staggering, and then there are those that, although incredulous, seem understandable considering the time period and the beliefs and ways of life back then. 

My ancestor’s name was Elizabeth Dicer, and though I dug up as much material on her as I could, there isn’t much. It seems she was arrested after accusing several others of being a witch—which wasn’t uncommon. From my understanding, it was late in the year when she was imprisoned, and cold. Her son-in-law, whose name was Richard Tarr, (my paternal grandmother’s maiden name was Tarr, and Richard would have been her several times great grandfather) petitioned the courts to release not only Elizabeth, but several others because they would never survive the cold winter in the jail which had no heat. Just the previous month, The Court of Oyer and Terminer, which had been specifically created to try accused witches, had been overturned, or dissolved, by the Superior Court of Judicature which specifically outlawed the use of spectral evidence in any of the hearings. Richard obtained Elizabeth’s release by paying her bail and promising to return her to the courts for a set upon hearing date the following spring. Between the date of her release and trail date, additional changes and orders came about which led to the end of the accusations and trails, therefore Elizabeth, as well as several others, never needed to return. A few years later, monetary reparations and public apologies were granted to some families for false proof and wrongful deaths.

Although I used my family history and Richard Tarr’s name in my story, I did not use Elizabeth’s premise. Marina, my heroine, has her own reason for believing she is a witch. 

I certainly enjoyed writing a story set during the Salem Witch Trials, and had lots of fun writing a series set during the Roaring Twenties, but westerns will always remain my favorites. Both to read and write. I’m excited to share I’ll have three of those released in 2016. April will bring Western Spring Weddings, an anthology including my story, When a Cowboy Says I Do. June will bring Her Cheyenne Warrior. My November title is yet to be determined, but it is a Christmas tale set in Colorado. 

So…is there an old wives tale in your family that has proven true?

About Me by Lauri Robinson

Hello! It’s my turn to tell you a bit more about myself, which, for many authors, is their least favorite thing to write about. Creating others is so much more exciting. So, here it goes…

My parents, (in this precious little photo), lived in a small town called Embarrass, Minnesota when I was born. I was the seventh of eight children and the second of two daughters. Yes, having six brothers was an eventful life. We moved to Kansas when I was ten and that’s where I met and married my hubby. That was also where I fell in love with cowboys of all kinds—not just Little Joe Cartwright, who by the way was my first boyfriend, he just never knew it. 

My husband and I migrated back to Minnesota after my parents had. We came to visit them for Christmas and never left. My husband fell in love with all the hunting and fishing. Our three boys were raised in Minnesota and two of them are married and now raising their families here in Minnesota. This is my husband and our four grandchildren. 

With a degree in early childhood education, I taught preschool for many years before becoming the director of a child abuse and neglect prevention program. It was during that time that I started writing. My husband likes to take credit for that. We were up north at the ‘hunting shack’. No, I’m not a hunter, although I do own several guns and have a conceal and carry permit, but that another story. I went to the hunting shack back then to make sure the boys ate more than beef jerky and potato chips for a week. My husband wanted me to go sit in the deer stand with him. I told him that I couldn’t because I had a good book I wanted to finish. Somewhat sarcastically, he said I should write a book because I’d read so many of them—which was true, I’ve always been, and still am, an avid reader. I told him that I would write one—and started it that very weekend. It took five years to get it published, and it is now off the market. Thank goodness! I’ve learned so much since then!

During those five years, I switched to a job where I worked part-time in order to help take care of my father, by then he was suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease. He was a wonderful man and a great story teller. While taking care of him he shared many memories with me that I used in writing “A Wife for Big John” set in a lumber camp in the late 1800’s. This is me and my dad. He died a week before I ‘sold’ that book. 

I continued to write and sold several more books to the Wild Rose Press before selling my first one to Harlequin in 2009. In 2011 we discovered my mother had cancer and I left my job to be able to accompany her for chemo treatments. She is who I got my love of reading from and was my first beta reader. She was also my biggest fan and my toughest critic. I loved brainstorming stories with her. Six short months later she passed away. Here’s my mom and two of my grandchildren.

I now work part-time for a senior care company and dedicate my other days to writing. My favorite genre to write and read is western historicals, but last year when my Harlequin editor asked what other era I’d like to write about, I quickly answered the roaring twenties. I’m excited to say that four books based in that era will be released in 2015. This year when she asked if I had another era I’d like to try writing about, I explained how my eight times great grandmother had been imprisoned as a witch during the Salem Witch Trials. She told me to write up a proposal and send it in. It was accepted and that is the book—a romance novel set during that time—I’m currently working on.

The one last thing I need to mention is our granddog Bear. Our youngest son ‘moved back home’ last year

with his dog. We love having them live here (he works construction and is out of town a lot) but I know a twenty-something son doesn’t want to live with his parents forever. I tell him he can move out at any time, but the dog stays. This is Bear on his birthday this July. We gave him one hundred tennis balls at once. He was in his glory!

There you have it. Lauri Robinson in a nutshell. The only two things I may have forgotten to mention are that I’m a huge Elvis fan. Our guest bedroom is known as Heartbreak Hotel. And I love watching Nascar—either live or on T.V.

My soon to be released book, The Wrong Cowboy, has been given four stars and the K.I.S.S. (Knight In Shining Silver) hero award from R.T. Reviews.   

Thanks for reading a bit more about me today. If you’d like to, I’d be honored to connect with you elsewhere:

www.laurirobinson.blogspot.com

https://www.facebook.com/lauri.robinson1

https://www.facebook.com/authorlaurirobinson

https://twitter.com/LauriR

Story Idea by Lauri Robinson

www.laurirobinson.blogspot.com

This post isn’t all about cowboys or the west. I hope no one minds. 

My son received a genealogy software program for Christmas last year and we all enjoyed the tidbits of information he found while researching our family heritage. Some of it was new, other bits we’d heard about from other relatives over the years. The most significant probably being my 8 times great-grandmother was imprisoned in 1692 for witchcraft in Salem.

Her name was Elizabeth Austin Dicer and she was married to William Dicer. Her trial records have not survived according to the sites I’ve found, and she lived in Gloucester, not Salem. However, the women accused in Gloucester were divided between the Salem jail and the Ipswich jail. She was part of a group of women whose families petitioned for them to be released from jail in November 1692 because the conditions were so horrible. They promised to return in June. It appears none of the women were made to return because around that time is when the wife of Gov. Phipps was accused and the entire fiasco was called to a halt. 

Her son-in-law is who petitioned Elizabeth’s release. His name was Richard Tarr and was married to Elizabeth’s daughter also named Elizabeth. My paternal grandmother’s maiden name was Tarr and her line of grandfathers leads directly to Richard. From what I’ve discovered Elizabeth Dicer may have been a bit of a crotchety person who accused others of witchcraft prior to her arrest. 

As we now know, the entire fiasco was a tragedy that could have been avoided with a bit of education, but times were different back then—not so long before then they’d believed the world was flat. 

Last month while attending the RWA conference in San Antonio I had lunch with my wonderful Harlequin editor. She’s is from London and it was our first in person meeting, which was a joy. During our discussion, she asked if there was another era I’d like to explore. (My series of books set in the roaring twenties will be released in 2015.)

I told her about Elizabeth Dicer and a plot for a romance story ‘lightly based’ on her plight that had been tumbling around inside my head. She said to write up a synopsis and send it in. I did that last week, so now I wait to see what the rest of the historical team thinks. Writing in a somewhat uncommon era has its benefits and downfalls. It can be looked upon as something new and unique, but readers may not want to embrace reading stories in a time period different from what they’ve come to know and love. I’m guilty of that myself at times.

I have no idea if Harlequin will give me the go ahead on my story or not, until then I will focus on a couple other works in progress where the heroes are cowboys. Such as my next release (November 1^st) which is appropriately titled, The Wrong Cowboy.

One mail-order bride in need of rescue! 

All the rigorous training in the world could not have prepared nursemaid Marie Hall for trailing the wilds of Dakota with six orphans. Especially when her ingenious plan—to pose as the mail-order bride of the children's next of kin—leads Marie to the wrong cowboy! 

Proud and stubborn, Stafford Burleson is everything Marie's been taught to avoid. But with her fate and that of the children in his capable hands, Marie soon feels there's something incredibly right about this rugged rancher and his brooding charm…. 

Meet Anya Novikov aka Tanya Hanson...

First of all, I must thank my fellow Sweethearts for letting me switch my Stetson for a Puritan cap today. And introduce my other self, Anya Novikov.

                                           

 .

You see, my years teaching American Lit obsessed me with the Salem Witch Trials, an obsession that morphed into a Young Adult novel. The Circle Girls: Once Upon a Witch has just been released. Not only is my YA my debut, it’s also debuting an entirely new Young Adult line of inspirational romance: Watershed Books. Anya is excited and terrified both.

 So what about the book?

                                         

While Anya has used real people and events from 1692, the story really explains how we all “witch hunt” today. It’s set in a prep school in 1992...my editor’s suggestion not only to coincide with the 300th anniversary of the terror, but also to keep me grounded from today’s constantly-changing technology. (These fictional kids have the first cell-phones, but that’s about it.) In a kind of dream-scape scenario, a modern-day girl Delli Willis finds herself back in time during the Witch Trials every time she falls asleep.

                                 
 She’s a fifteen-year old Puritan girl named Deliverance Wyllys. Both girls meet intriguing young men in dark woodsy places. Other parallels emerge. Both see firsthand in their own times how finger-pointing, bullying, peer-pressure, scapegoating and lack of personal responsibility get people in trouble. And got innocent people killed. During a nine-month period in 1692, twenty blameless people were executed as witches in Massachusetts Bay colony. Nineteen were hanged and one man, Giles Corey, was crushed to death over many hours. He never confessed, so that his heirs would not have to forfeit his property.

                                   

 

Hundreds, including a four-year old girl, were imprisoned. Cotton Mather, a respected churchman, added loops to the ropes by claiming that “spectral evidence” (e.g. visions or “shapes” of the accused) could be
used against them if they weren't anywhere nearby.)

                                       

And it all boiled down to misunderstandings of nature and vexations between friends and neighbors.

Belief in witchcraft was rampant during this time. Why? People had little scientific knowledge. A farmer had to find a reason when his herd of cows perished from a mysterious illness. Today we know about contagious germs and viruses. But back then, he’d remember a fight he had with a neighbor, or the dirty look somebody tossed him, and...wow. That person had somehow cast a spell on that herd. And so on and on it goes.

Especially when Puritan parents who’d raised their children properly couldn’t believe they’d act up or cause problems. Yet a group of bored girls started it all...

Despite the tragic loss of innocent people, Salem today kind of regales its witchy past. Police cars wear witch logos, the high school mascot is “The Witches”, and sporting events are played on the historical site of the hangings. There are lots of Wiccan and New Age boutiques, and tons of Halloween kitsch especially in October. Yet the Salem Witch Museum of narrated tableaus presents extremely accurate portrayals of what actually happened.

                                     

One of my favorite authors Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem. His ancestor Judge Hathorne presided over many of the trials, such an inherited horror that Nathaniel  added a “w” to the family surname.

One reviewer has said The Circle Girls: Once Upon a Witch is a book both young people AND their parents should read. The Wordsmith Journal gave it 4 1/2 stars. So maybe you’ll give it a chance!

Blurb:

An ordinary California teenager, Delli Willis finds herself in some kind of dreamscape whenever she drifts off to sleep. 1692, in the hotbed of the Salem Witch Trials. There, she’s Deliverance Wyllys, struggling against accusations and suspicion as well as the appearance of a mysterious dark-haired young man with strange tales of his own.

Back in her own world, parallels with the past abound. She meets a real-life mysterious neighbor, handsome Gabriel. Is he her present? Her future?

Or her past?

She’s eager to share him with her circle of friends but fingers point, jealousies surge. Lies cast, sides taken. A modern-day witch hunt collides with 1692 in ways Delli never dreamed. Standing up to bullies tightens Delli’s faith in God, Who pulls her through some trials of her own.

  Buy link:

Anya's site: