(Mortal Beloved #1)
Publication date: December 26th 2013
Genres: Time-Travel, Young Adult
“All the excitement of OUTLANDER if it was a YA series.”
THE MESSENGER is optioned for film/TV.
Sixteen-year-old Madeline’s meant to fall in love with Samuel in every lifetime. But she meets him for the first time when she accidentally time travels into the past—hundreds of years before she’s even born.
Their relationship is forbidden—Samuel’s half Native, Madeline’s white. Every rendezvous they share must be secret. Each moment they spend together tempts the odds that they’ll be discovered and brutally punished. But their love is fated—and they musk risk it all.
Danger intensifies when Madeline learns she’s in the past not only to fall in love, but also to claim her birth right as a Messenger—a soul who can slip through time’s fabric at will. She can bring messages that change one life or even save many.
Deadly Hunters, dark-souled time travelers, crave Madeline’s powers and seek to seduce or kill her. Can Madeline find her way back to the future in time to save herself and Samuel?
Continue reading Madeline and Samuel’s romantic saga in…
The Assassin (Mortal Beloved, Book 2) — publishing early 2015.
The Seeker (Mortal Beloved, Book 3) — publishing fall 2015.
Goodreads
Amazon
B&N
Hi Pamela! Can you tell us a little about your latest book?
Madeline’s a sixteen-year-old girl from present day Chicago, who suffers from anxiety and panic attacks stemming from a car accident she was in with her mom. Her mom’s body was never found and it was assumed she abandoned her family. On the anniversary of the accident, Madeline’s dad gives her a mysterious handbook made by her mom filled with grave etchings, photos, memorabilia, and family trees. But she wants nothing to do with it.
The next day she’s out with her friends waiting on the el train, when she’s pushed onto the tracks in front of an oncoming train. She blacks out and wakes up—bloody and battered—wearing colonial clothes: she’s the sole survivor of a Native attack on a colonial settlement. When she spots Samuel— a beautiful, mixed-race, young man tear around the burning buildings and disappear into the forest. Except for the hot guy—this has to be a nightmare—right?
Wrong. Madeline’s time-travelled to 1675, during King Philip’s War between the Native Americans and the colonists. She’s here to be mentored by the Medicine Woman and claim her birthright—to be a MESSENGER—a person who can slip between the folds of time delivering messages that could save the life of one person, or perhaps, many. She tries to live as a young colonial woman, falls into a forbidden love with Samuel, and soon discovers there is another breed of time travelers—dark-souled, deadly Hunters who crave Madeline’s new powers and seek to seduce or kill her.
Can Madeline find her way back to the future in time to save herself and Samuel?
What inspired you to write it?
I wanted to write a YA story that had the romance of Twilight, but the action-adventure of The Hunger Games. A story where the heroine was emotionally scarred as well as scared. When she learns she is not only a time traveler, but is tasked with delivering messages and being she has to confront her fears, grow and step up if she wanted to not only survive, but be with the young man she falls in love with.
How did you come up with the idea for the cover?
Hah! This is my third cover for The Messenger. The first was very pretty - an ancient map with a compass. I quickly decided it was too ‘middle-grade’ in tone. The second cover was beautifully designed, and featured a stock image of a girl running through a forest. Unfortunately, I spotted the same stock image girl on about fifteen other covers.
When the book was optioned for Film/TV, I hired Regina Wamba at Mae I Design to do a photoshoot with model Jenessa Andrea for three books in the Mortal Beloved series. Now Jenessa will be the face of Madeline in the Messenger in this series, and we won’t be seeing the same stock photo on another Mortal Beloved book.
If it was made into a movie, who would you like to play the main characters?
I used to think Shailene Woodley before she took the role in Divergent. So now—I really don’t know. I love Natalie Dormier, but she’s in her early thirties. So I’m willing for your readers to give me suggestions as to young actresses who they adore who could fill Madeline’s shoes.
What is it about this genre that appeals to you so much?
I write YA, NA, and comedic mysteries. Everything I write has sweetness, romance, some tears, mystery and a little action-adventure.
YA feels very immediate and fresh. It’s not weighed down with unnecessary words. The stories feel more intimate, heartfelt, and approachable. After I finish the third book in the Messenger series, I have a YA stand-alone that I’m dying to complete and publish. It’s contemporary crossed with Magical-Realism. I have no idea if I should self-publish it, or look for an agent. I’m torn.
What made you want to become an author?
I’ve always written. I wasn’t sure what venue I should write in. I tried non-fiction, screenwriting—nothing really stuck. When a woman I knew got a three book deal with a large press, I thought, ‘Hmm. I should try writing a novel.’
How do you come up with character names?I named Madeline in The Messenger after Madeline Stowe who starred in one of my favorite movies, The Last of the Mohicans. I wanted a timeless, classic name for Madeline’s love interest as she would meet him in so many time periods. Samuel is a classic name as well as my grandfather’s name.
I named my heroine in my Cupcakes book after my Bernese Mountain Dog - Annie.
Name one of your all-time favourite books?
My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares. A drop-dead, gorgeous love story with a re-incarnation theme.
Who, or what, inspires you?
My readers inspire me. Moments in life that bring you great joy or sadness inspire me. Music inspires me.
Where is your favourite place to write?
Seated in a comfy chair with my laptop resting on a rickety tray table in my living room.
What is your favourite movie that was based on a book?
The first three Bourne movies starring Matt Damon.
Name two of your favourite authors.
Ann Brashares
Robert Crais
If you could have a dinner party with any authors from any time in history, who would you choose and why?
Shelly Fredman who writes The Brandy Alexander Mystery series—because I’ve had dinner with her and she is hilarious. Anne LaMott who wrote Bird by Bird, my all time favorite book on writing. And I’m going to have to go with Ann Brashares who wrote Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants as well as one of my favorite books — My Name is Memory.
Tell us a random fact about yourself.
I make and give a healthy dinner every night to the homeless screenwriter who lives behind my building.
Who would play you in the movie about your life?
Sixteen-year-old Madeline’s meant to fall in love with Samuel in every lifetime. But she meets him for the first time when she accidentally time travels into the past—hundreds of years before she’s even born.
Their relationship is forbidden—Samuel’s half Native, Madeline’s white. Every rendezvous they share must be secret. Each moment they spend together tempts the odds that they’ll be discovered and brutally punished. But their love is fated—and they musk risk it all.
Danger intensifies when Madeline learns she’s in the past not only to fall in love, but also to claim her birth right as a Messenger—a soul who can slip through time’s fabric at will. She can bring messages that change one life or even save many.
Deadly Hunters, dark-souled time travelers, crave Madeline’s powers and seek to seduce or kill her. Can Madeline find her way back to the future in time to save herself and Samuel?
Continue reading Madeline and Samuel’s romantic saga in…
The Assassin (Mortal Beloved, Book 2) — publishing early 2015.
The Seeker (Mortal Beloved, Book 3) — publishing fall 2015.
Goodreads
Amazon
B&N
Hi Pamela! Can you tell us a little about your latest book?
Madeline’s a sixteen-year-old girl from present day Chicago, who suffers from anxiety and panic attacks stemming from a car accident she was in with her mom. Her mom’s body was never found and it was assumed she abandoned her family. On the anniversary of the accident, Madeline’s dad gives her a mysterious handbook made by her mom filled with grave etchings, photos, memorabilia, and family trees. But she wants nothing to do with it.
The next day she’s out with her friends waiting on the el train, when she’s pushed onto the tracks in front of an oncoming train. She blacks out and wakes up—bloody and battered—wearing colonial clothes: she’s the sole survivor of a Native attack on a colonial settlement. When she spots Samuel— a beautiful, mixed-race, young man tear around the burning buildings and disappear into the forest. Except for the hot guy—this has to be a nightmare—right?
Wrong. Madeline’s time-travelled to 1675, during King Philip’s War between the Native Americans and the colonists. She’s here to be mentored by the Medicine Woman and claim her birthright—to be a MESSENGER—a person who can slip between the folds of time delivering messages that could save the life of one person, or perhaps, many. She tries to live as a young colonial woman, falls into a forbidden love with Samuel, and soon discovers there is another breed of time travelers—dark-souled, deadly Hunters who crave Madeline’s new powers and seek to seduce or kill her.
Can Madeline find her way back to the future in time to save herself and Samuel?
What inspired you to write it?
I wanted to write a YA story that had the romance of Twilight, but the action-adventure of The Hunger Games. A story where the heroine was emotionally scarred as well as scared. When she learns she is not only a time traveler, but is tasked with delivering messages and being she has to confront her fears, grow and step up if she wanted to not only survive, but be with the young man she falls in love with.
How did you come up with the idea for the cover?
Hah! This is my third cover for The Messenger. The first was very pretty - an ancient map with a compass. I quickly decided it was too ‘middle-grade’ in tone. The second cover was beautifully designed, and featured a stock image of a girl running through a forest. Unfortunately, I spotted the same stock image girl on about fifteen other covers.
When the book was optioned for Film/TV, I hired Regina Wamba at Mae I Design to do a photoshoot with model Jenessa Andrea for three books in the Mortal Beloved series. Now Jenessa will be the face of Madeline in the Messenger in this series, and we won’t be seeing the same stock photo on another Mortal Beloved book.
If it was made into a movie, who would you like to play the main characters?
I used to think Shailene Woodley before she took the role in Divergent. So now—I really don’t know. I love Natalie Dormier, but she’s in her early thirties. So I’m willing for your readers to give me suggestions as to young actresses who they adore who could fill Madeline’s shoes.
What is it about this genre that appeals to you so much?
I write YA, NA, and comedic mysteries. Everything I write has sweetness, romance, some tears, mystery and a little action-adventure.
YA feels very immediate and fresh. It’s not weighed down with unnecessary words. The stories feel more intimate, heartfelt, and approachable. After I finish the third book in the Messenger series, I have a YA stand-alone that I’m dying to complete and publish. It’s contemporary crossed with Magical-Realism. I have no idea if I should self-publish it, or look for an agent. I’m torn.
What made you want to become an author?
I’ve always written. I wasn’t sure what venue I should write in. I tried non-fiction, screenwriting—nothing really stuck. When a woman I knew got a three book deal with a large press, I thought, ‘Hmm. I should try writing a novel.’
How do you come up with character names?I named Madeline in The Messenger after Madeline Stowe who starred in one of my favorite movies, The Last of the Mohicans. I wanted a timeless, classic name for Madeline’s love interest as she would meet him in so many time periods. Samuel is a classic name as well as my grandfather’s name.
I named my heroine in my Cupcakes book after my Bernese Mountain Dog - Annie.
Name one of your all-time favourite books?
My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares. A drop-dead, gorgeous love story with a re-incarnation theme.
Who, or what, inspires you?
My readers inspire me. Moments in life that bring you great joy or sadness inspire me. Music inspires me.
Where is your favourite place to write?
Seated in a comfy chair with my laptop resting on a rickety tray table in my living room.
What is your favourite movie that was based on a book?
The first three Bourne movies starring Matt Damon.
Name two of your favourite authors.
Ann Brashares
Robert Crais
If you could have a dinner party with any authors from any time in history, who would you choose and why?
Shelly Fredman who writes The Brandy Alexander Mystery series—because I’ve had dinner with her and she is hilarious. Anne LaMott who wrote Bird by Bird, my all time favorite book on writing. And I’m going to have to go with Ann Brashares who wrote Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants as well as one of my favorite books — My Name is Memory.
Tell us a random fact about yourself.
I make and give a healthy dinner every night to the homeless screenwriter who lives behind my building.
Who would play you in the movie about your life?
 |
| photo credit: david_shankbone via photopin cc |
Sandra Bullock or Debra Messing.
Tell us an interesting fact about where you live.
Venice Beach, California is a crazy-pants place to live. It’s helicopters and crime and the beach and coffee houses and boutiques and a mix of celebrities, artists and loony people. I love it.
What are your (writing) plans for the future?
How much time do you have? 1. I’m finishing The Assassin (Mortal Beloved, #2) and publishing it early 2015. I’ll write and publish The Seeker (Mortal Beloved, #3) later in 2015. 2. I’m finishing Cupcakes, Diaries, and Rotten Inquiries (A Romantic, Comedic Annie Graceland Mystery, #6) I have three other series I want to write new books for as well as the YA stand-alone.
Tell us one thing that's on your bucket list.
I’d love to live in Italy or Spain or someplace gorgeous for a couple of months.
Favourite myth / fairytale?
The Ugly Duckling.
Who/What did you want to be when you were a kid?
I wanted to be my dad’s secretary, and a ballerina. I did eventually work-part time for my dad when I was a kid, but sadly I never became a ballerina. ;)
Pamela DuMond is the author who discovered Erin Brockovich’s life story, thought it would make a great movie and pitched it to ‘Hollywood’.
She writes romantic comedic mysteries, romantic YA time travel and New Adult romance.
Her book The Story of You and Me was a Quarterfinalist in the Amazon Breakout Novel Award (ABNA) 2014 in Romance.
Cupcakes, Pies, and Hot Guys was a Quarterfinalist in ABNA 2013 in Mystery .
She’s addicted to TV shows — The Voice and Reign. The movies Love Actually and The Bourne trilogy (with Matt Damon — not that other actor guy,) make her cry ever time she watches them. (Like — a thousand.)
When she’s not writing Pamela’s also a chiropractor and cat wrangler. She loves reading, the beach, working out, movies, TV, animals, her family and friends. She lives in Venice, California with her fur-babies.
She likes her coffee strong, her cabernet hearty, her chocolate dark, her foods non-GMO and she lives for a good giggle.
Goodreads
Facebook
Twitter
Website
Tour-wide giveaway (INTL)
A signed copy of The Messenger
20$ Amazon Gift Card
3x ebook copies of Part-Time Princess
3x ebook copies of The Story of You and Me
3x ebook copies of Cupcake, Paws, and a Bad Santa Claus
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Tell us an interesting fact about where you live.
Venice Beach, California is a crazy-pants place to live. It’s helicopters and crime and the beach and coffee houses and boutiques and a mix of celebrities, artists and loony people. I love it.
What are your (writing) plans for the future?
How much time do you have? 1. I’m finishing The Assassin (Mortal Beloved, #2) and publishing it early 2015. I’ll write and publish The Seeker (Mortal Beloved, #3) later in 2015. 2. I’m finishing Cupcakes, Diaries, and Rotten Inquiries (A Romantic, Comedic Annie Graceland Mystery, #6) I have three other series I want to write new books for as well as the YA stand-alone.
Tell us one thing that's on your bucket list.
I’d love to live in Italy or Spain or someplace gorgeous for a couple of months.
Favourite myth / fairytale?
The Ugly Duckling.
Who/What did you want to be when you were a kid?
I wanted to be my dad’s secretary, and a ballerina. I did eventually work-part time for my dad when I was a kid, but sadly I never became a ballerina. ;)
She writes romantic comedic mysteries, romantic YA time travel and New Adult romance.
Her book The Story of You and Me was a Quarterfinalist in the Amazon Breakout Novel Award (ABNA) 2014 in Romance.
Cupcakes, Pies, and Hot Guys was a Quarterfinalist in ABNA 2013 in Mystery .
She’s addicted to TV shows — The Voice and Reign. The movies Love Actually and The Bourne trilogy (with Matt Damon — not that other actor guy,) make her cry ever time she watches them. (Like — a thousand.)
When she’s not writing Pamela’s also a chiropractor and cat wrangler. She loves reading, the beach, working out, movies, TV, animals, her family and friends. She lives in Venice, California with her fur-babies.
She likes her coffee strong, her cabernet hearty, her chocolate dark, her foods non-GMO and she lives for a good giggle.
Goodreads
Website
Tour-wide giveaway (INTL)
A signed copy of The Messenger
20$ Amazon Gift Card
3x ebook copies of Part-Time Princess
3x ebook copies of The Story of You and Me
3x ebook copies of Cupcake, Paws, and a Bad Santa Claus
Great interview, ladies! And thanks for hosting today, Suzy! :)
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