Dark Moon - Debut Novel by Maggie Tideswell
A
spell-binding novel of love, murder and the supernatural.
Chance
meetings can have far-reaching effects. Loved ones may not be who they seem. The
line between comprehension and confusion is thin – particularly when one’s
thoughts are being manipulated by another.
Set in beautiful Cape Town,
South Africa, Dark Moon is the story of love and betrayal and misplaced loyalty.
Storm has a choice to make, but is her information and perceptions reliable?
Isn't she being unduly influenced? Trevor is an attractive man, but he is an
expert at bending people to his will. Then there is Jarred... In Storm's words,
"One knew what to do with her, but he didn't love her. The other loved her, but
had no idea how to treat her." One wanted to control her, and only one wanted
her as his wife. Storm finds herself, her friends and every one she holds dear
in mortal danger. What can she do to neutralize the evil that is following
her?
In Dark Moon, the eternal triangle takes an innovative twist into
the occult. Riveting plot lines will have you guessing from chapter to chapter -
you won't be able to put it down until the dramatic ending. Read it on a stormy
night, and you'll find yourself jumping at things that go bump in the night.
Nothing
is as it seems… The
story Dark Moon is based on one that started about twenty years ago. Every day
we meet new people, but who is to say which of those meetings will impact our
future and in what way. It is difficult to say how long it actually took me to
write Dark Moon. I work in a very haphazard sort of way. I never have less than
three stories going at the same time. I get bored easily so I’ll work on story 1
until that happens, then I move on to story 2 until I get fed-up and go back to
story 1 and then I’ll skip to story 3 and so I carry on. And then I had a period
of 3 years in which I didn’t write a word – didn’t even do editing or plotted
new story lines. Nothing. Zip. Nada. But at a guess, I would say if I added the
time together, it might have been about 2 years, maybe 2 and a half. And the
incubation periods in between seem to do wonders for inspiration. It started out
as a straight forward, sickeningly soppy, love tale, but it is amazing how a
story tells itself. It soon became clear that this tale needed more oomph, and
resist as I might, the witchcraft element would not be excluded. The Trevor
character was also a weakling to start with, but the story demanded he become
something else completely. This character, more than any other in the book,
personifies the notion of ‘nothing is as it seems’. We all wear different faces,
pretend to be something other than we are, but in Trevor’s case, his faces were
like day and night. I loved writing the Trevor character. I had to be cautious
when I incorporated the witchy bits to the story, though. I didn’t want my
wondrous tale to turn into something like Harry Potter, with people calling
themselves witches and wafting wands about and sparks flying, nor did I want to
turn it into a textbook on the craft. People are strange and there will always
be somebody out there who will actually try out the rituals and stuff. So, for
the sake of safety – and my sanity! – I couldn’t describe anything fully. Less
is more in my opinion. I wanted to draw the reader into the rites, without
anybody being able to copy anything and causing themselves or anybody/thing
around them any harm. A little knowledge is dangerous, you know. Thank you to
Mark Knox for the wonderful cover art and splendid video trailer that completed
the growth of Dark Moon. And a special thank you to All Things That Matters
Press for publishing Dark Moon.
My Review
(copy provided by author)
I was VERY confused when I started this book ~ we have a LOT going on, and many point of views. There were things that took place that I felt I just flat missed ~ and flipped back to make sure I hadn't skipped, as I felt they were of pretty significant importance. There are many characters who are playing important roles, and I really didn't feel it was defined WHO they were initially, which had me scrambling to figure out what the hell was going on.
The story itself is actually pretty interesting, and I loved the concept, but to be totally honest I was lost 1/2 the time...I read pretty fast, so I had to slow myself down, but it was just confusing to me. I really liked Storm & Jarred, and wanted the story to focus more on just THEM...for me this wasn't a win.
But that's the beauty of Fiction, right?
What works for one us might not work for the next,
and what doesn't work for me, you might love?!
It's more than obvious the author put her heart into the book ~ and the occult references & scenes are awesome. So if you like that kind of thing, I'd suggest checking it out!
I was born in South Africa and have
lived here all my life. South Africa is a great place to be. I have been married
to my husband, Gareth, for more than 30 years. We have three grown-up children
and two grandchildren and a a cat called Felix. He doesn't answer to that name
though, so he is mostly Cat or Lovy or Sweetie. He knows when he is spoken to
and answers back.
I have been writing for many years, but only
now started getting my work into
print.
Follow
me on
Twitter@lunamags
Click the
button for my blog, Maggie's Post, or follow the link
below
http://maggiestorm.blogspot.com/
This is the link to All Things That Matter Press websitehttp://allthingsthatmatterpress.com
Here is the link to my YouTube book trailer
Follow
me on facebook by clicking on the 'like' button on my page
here
If
you would like to buy Dark Moon from inside South Africa, go to kalahari
here
http://www.kalahari.com/books/Dark-Moon/632/42728694.aspx
If
you would like one of my books with a personal dedication go
here
Website: http://maggietideswell.weebly.com
Thanks for the intro to this new to me author!
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