Teresa D'Amario

For those who aren’t familiar with Carina Press, they offer some of the most amazing and most unusual stories published today.  These are some of their first authors visiting here with us, and I have to say, if this is what they have to offer, I’ll be going back for more Carina books.  Carina has single handedly brought back not only amazing fantasy romance, but also some great westerns as we saw earlier this week, and now, Native American tales. 

So join with me and welcome

Liz Fichera, the Author of Captive Spirit.

I believe that we can thank Stephenie Meyer and the mega-popularity of her TWILIGHT SAGA for the growing popularity of Native Americans in mainstream books and film.  And unless you’ve been hiding underneath a rock, you’ve probably heard of the very talented and supremely hawt, Taylor Lautner (aka Jacob Black), who claims some Native American ancestry (specifically Ottawa and Potawatomi) through his mother.  Definitely add me to the ranks of Team Jacob!

I adore books with Native American characters, legends, epic themes, rugged settings and, of course, a love story.  These are also the type of books that I love to write. 

CAPTIVE SPIRIT is my historical romance debut from Carina Press.  It’s very much a modern-day love story set in the Sonoran Desert at the dawn of the sixteenth century among people known as the Hohokam Indians.  The Hohokam also vanished from the desert around 1500 and no one knows why.  Cool, huh?  This is the little piece of intriguing history that inspired me to write CAPTIVE SPIRIT. 

Here’s a tease:

Aiyana isn’t like the other girls of the White Ant Clan. Instead of keeping house, she longs to compete on the Ball Court with her best friend Honovi and the other boys. Instead of marriage, she daydreams of traveling beyond the mountains that surround her small village. Only Honovi knows and shares her forbidden wish, though Aiyana doesn’t realize her friend has a secret wish of his own…

 When Aiyana’s father arranges her marriage to a man she hardly knows, she takes the advice of a tribal elder: Run! In fleeing, she falls into the hands of Spanish raiders and finds herself being taken over the mountains against her will. Now Aiyana’s on a quest to return to the very place she once dreamed of escaping. And she’ll do whatever it takes to survive and find her way back to the people she loves.

When I wrote CAPTIVE SPIRIT, for some reason I saw Adam Beach in my head when I wrote Honovi’s character, probably because I’ve had a super major crush on him since his SMOKE SIGNALS days, which also happened to be written by a fav Native American author of mine, Sherman Alexie.  If Taylor Lautner had been a little older when I started writing CAPTIVE SPIRIT, who knows? I may have channeled him instead.  J

I still think Adam Beach is all sorts of hot, especially in this photo of him decked in deerskins, and he happens to be an incredibly gifted actor.  I didn’t have a specific girl in my head when I wrote Aiyana’s character, but I must say that the Carina Press artists nailed her perfectly on my book cover, right down to her unusual green eyes. 

I keep the first chapter and book trailer for CAPTIVE SPIRIT on my web site. 

Today, I’m also giving away one free digital copy of CAPTIVE SPIRIT to someone brave enough to leave a comment or ask a question.  The winner will be announced on this blog tomorrow morning.  Don’t be shy. I don’t bite.

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Liz Fichera is an author from the American Southwest by way of Chicago.  She likes to write stories about ordinary people who do extraordinary things, oftentimes against the backdrop of Native American legends.  When she’s not plotting her next novel, you can find her on Facebook or her blog, discussing writing, books, hunks du jour, LOST reruns or the best brands of chocolate.  Please visit her web site because it can get real lonely in the desert: http://www.lizfichera.com/.

CAPTIVE SPIRIT is available through Carina Press, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever digital books are sold.

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