Hi, lovelies! It gives me great pleasure today to host Barbara
Casey and her new book, “The Nightjar's Promise”! For other stops on her Goddess Fish
Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the images in
this post.
Be sure to make it to the
end of this post to enter to win a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card!! Also, come back daily to interact with Barbara
and to increase your chances of winning!
Thanks for stopping
by! Wishing you lots of luck in this
fabulous giveaway!
The Nightjar's Promise
by Barbara Casey
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GENRE: Fiction/Mystery
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BLURB:
Jennifer
Torres, one of the three FIGs (Females of Intellectual Genius) who is a genius
in both music and art, is the last to leave the closed rehearsal for her
upcoming performance over Thanksgiving break at Carnegie Hall when she hears
something in the darkened Hall. Recognizing the tilt of the woman’s head and
the slight limp of the man as they hurry out an exit door, she realizes it is
her parents who were supposedly killed in a terrible car accident when she was
15 years old.
Devastated
and feeling betrayed, she sends a text to Carolina and the other two
FIGs—THURGOOD. It is the code word they all agreed to use if ever one of them
got into trouble or something happened that was too difficult to handle. They
would all meet back at Carolina’s bungalow at Wood Rose Orphanage and Academy for
Young Women to figure it out.
As
soon as they receive the text, because of their genius, Dara starts thinking of
words in ancient Hebrew, German, and Yiddish, while Mackenzie’s visions of
unique math formulae keep bringing up the date October 11, 1943. That is the
date during World War II when the Nazis—the Kunstschutz—looted the paintings of
targeted wealthy Jewish families and hid them away under Hitler’s orders. And
as Carolina waits for the FIGs to return to Wood Rose, she hears warnings from
Lyuba, her gypsy mother, to watch for the nightjar, the ancient name for the
whip-poor-will.
As
they search for “The Nightjar’s Promise” and the truth surrounding it, Carolina
and the FIGs come face to face with evil that threatens to destroy not only
their genius, but their very lives.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT TWO:
The
sudden loud clash of cymbals resounded across the stage and reverberated throughout
the empty seating gallery bringing forth the image of the pitiful souls living
in the dark, dank underground of Grand Central Terminal. The cacophony of sound
created by a syncopation of strings, brass, and percussion filled the famous
Hall of Carnegie until, on cue—the conductor’s gimlet eye—Jennifer gently
raised her violin to her chin and began playing the soulful music she had
created filled with emotion expressing fear and passion, heartbreak and
sadness. It was the final movement—the third in her fugue of The Wish Rider. It
was the movement that revealed the love Dara’s mother felt for her daughter
and, once again, her heart-rending disappearance.
Images
of that horrible underground dungeon and the invisible, forgotten downtrodden
who existed there flashed into her thoughts, the memory of rancid and damp
earth smells, the long-forgotten deteriorated red train car with the number 61
painted on its side in bright yellow, and Dara—sitting on the torn, broken-down
sofa, alone, knowing her mother had left her—again.
Note
after note, altering tempo and timbre, volume and pitch, Jennifer’s fingers
tenderly, almost magically, caressed the neck of her violin, while the
horsehair-stringed bow amplified the heart-felt passages, penetrating the very
souls of all who listened. Jennifer was aware of nothing or no one. There was
only The Wish Rider. Then, one by one, other instruments joined the principal
violin—the string section, the woodwinds, and the brass, and finally the
percussion. After reaching a crescendo, Jennifer once again picked up the
melodic theme, this time in legato—slowly, softly, mournfully, until the notes
disappeared—just like Dara’s mother—into haunting silence.
The
Hall was hushed. The conductor, slightly disheveled, his arms now limp by his
sides, smiled. They would be ready for their Thanksgiving performance. As
before, no one spoke to Jennifer. They knew not to. After all, she was a genius
with an unpredictable if not strange and prone-to-violence temperament—a FIG.
She would remain turned inward, listening to the notes she had created and
seeing the images until they were no more.
Not
wanting to disturb her, the other musicians quietly packed up their instruments
and followed the conductor quickly off the stage. Only Jennifer remained behind,
still listening to the heart-breaking music, knowing what each note meant, lost
in her “other” world. Liz, the graduate student at Juilliard who had been
assigned to assist Jennifer with her needs while she was a student there, would
be waiting outside for her no matter how long it took. She would make sure she
got back to her room safely.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GUEST POST:
Using Historical Facts in the F.I.G. Mysteries:
Dara Roux, abandoned when she was 7
years old by her mother. Exceptionally
gifted in foreign languages. Orphan.
Mackenzie Yarborough, no record of her parents or
where she was born. Exceptionally gifted in math and problem-solving. Orphan.
Jennifer Torres, both parents killed in an
automobile accident when she was 16. Exceptionally gifted in music and
art. Orphan.
The
Nightjar’s Promise
is the fourth and final book in The F.I.G. Mysteries, and it was probably the
most difficult and emotional one to write. The series begins with The
Cadence of Gypsies, when Carolina Lovel takes the three F.I.G.s (Females of
Intellectual Genius) to Frascoti, Italy, just before they are to graduate from
Wood Rose Orphanage and Academy for Young Women. Her purpose is to keep her
three students from getting into any more trouble with the headmaster, but to
also to help her learn the connection between the Voynich Manuscript, the most
mysterious document in the world, and a letter that was given to her on her
18th birthday when she learned that she was adopted. What they discover are
Gypsies.
In
Book 2, The Wish Rider, it is Dara who needs to find answers;
specifically, why her mother abandoned her all of those years ago. With the
help of Carolina, Mackenzie, and Jennifer, her search takes them to a secret,
terrifying world—a sub-culture—beneath the Grand Central Terminal in New York
City.
The
Clock Flower,
Book 3, is Mackenzie’s story. As she struggles to exist in a world that no
longer has Dara and Jennifer and Carolina within touching distance,
circumstances take her to an ancient world in China where she almost loses her
life when she discovers her own truth.
In
each of these books, I researched the historical subjects (the Voynich
Manuscript and Gypsy culture, the underground of Grand Central Terminal,
ancient Chinese beliefs and immortality) that related to each story and to each
F.I.G. Jennifer’s story, however, was different in that she already knew what
happened to her parents and why she was placed in Wood Rose Orphanage. That would
all change when she discovers that what she thought she knew—that her parents
had been killed in a horrible car accident—was wrong and her life is being
threatened. This shocking realization takes Jennifer and her three best
friends—Carolina, Dara, and Mackenzie—on a dangerous journey connected to
Hitler and World War II.
As in
my nonfiction books for adults, such as Velvalee Dickinson: The Doll Woman
Spy; Kathryn Kelly: The Moll behind Machine Gun Kelly; and Assata
Shakur: A 20th Century Escaped Slave, it is critical to be authentic and
accurate when referencing historical facts in fiction. It is what makes a novel
credible and more enjoyable to read. And, strangely enough, it adds a depth of
emotion that would otherwise be lacking.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR BIO:
Originally
from Carrollton, Illinois, author/agent/publisher Barbara Casey attended the University of
North Carolina, N.C. State University, and N.C. Wesleyan College where she
received a BA degree, summa cum laude, with a double major in English and
history. In 1978 she left her position
as Director of Public Relations and Vice President of Development at North
Carolina Wesleyan College to write full time and develop her own manuscript
evaluation and editorial service. In
1995 she established the Barbara Casey Agency and since that time has
represented authors from the United States, Great Britain, Canada, and Japan.
In 2014, she became a partner with Strategic Media Books, an independent
nonfiction publisher of true crime, where she oversees acquisitions, day-to-day
operations, and book production.
Ms.
Casey has written over a dozen award-winning books of fiction and nonfiction
for both young adults and adults. The awards include the National Association
of University Women Literary Award, the Sir Walter Raleigh Literary Award, the
Independent Publisher Book Award, the Dana Award for Outstanding Novel, the IP
Best Book for Regional Fiction, among others. Two of her nonfiction books have
been optioned for major films, one of which is under contract.
Her
award-winning articles, short stories, and poetry for adults have appeared in
both national and international publications including the North Carolina
Christian Advocate Magazine, The New East Magazine, the Raleigh (N.C.) News and
Observer, the Rocky Mount (N.C.) Sunday Telegram, Dog Fancy, ByLine, The
Christian Record, Skirt! Magazine, and True Story. A thirty-minute television special which Ms.
Casey wrote and coordinated was broadcast on WRAL, Channel 5, in Raleigh, North
Carolina. She also received special
recognition for her editorial work on the English translations of Albanian
children’s stories. Her award-winning science fiction short stories for adults
are featured in The Cosmic Unicorn and CrossTime science fiction
anthologies. Ms. Casey's essays and
other works appear in The Chrysalis Reader, the international literary journal
of the Swedenborg Foundation, 221 One-Minute Monologues from Literature (Smith
and Kraus Publishers), and A Cup of Comfort (Adams Media Corporation).
Ms.
Casey is a former director of BookFest of the Palm Beaches, Florida, where she
served as guest author and panelist. She
has served as judge for the Pathfinder Literary Awards in Palm Beach and Martin
Counties, Florida, and was the Florida Regional Advisor for the Society of
Children's Book Writers and Illustrators from 1991 through 2003. In 2018 Ms. Casey received the prestigious
Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award and Top Professional Award for
her extensive experience and notable accomplishments in the field of publishing
and other areas. She makes her home on the top of a mountain in northwest
Georgia with her husband and three cats who adopted her, Homer, Reese and Earl
Gray, Reese’s best friend.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CONNECT WITH BARBARA:
Website:
Blog:
Email:
barcafer@aol.com
BookBub Author Page:
Goodreads Author Page:
Goodreads Book Page:
Amazon Author Page:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BOOK BUY LINKS:
Amazon Kindle eBook:
Amazon Paperback:
Barnes and Noble Paperback:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GIVEAWAY INFO:
Barbara will be awarding a $20 Amazon or B/N GC
to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.
**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a
purchase is made, I may receive a small commission to help support this
blog. This does not cost you anything,
it just helps pay for all those awesome giveaways on here.**
Barbara ~ Good morning! Welcome back! It is always a pleasure to have you here! Congrats on your new book and good luck on the book tour! :)
ReplyDeleteHi Ally, I have been looking forward to visiting with you and your bloggers again. Thank you so much for your continued interest in The F.I.G. Mysteries. All best to you ~Barbara
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteHello! Thanks so much for sharing your book with us. Always fun reading about another book to enjoy.
ReplyDeleteThank you for stopping by, James. I hope you enjoy reading THE NIGHTJAR'S PROMISE.
DeleteWho is your favorite author? Congrats on the release.
ReplyDeleteHi Bernie, thank you for the congrats. I never know what to answer when someone asks me who my favorite author is. I enjoy so many. I have a tendency to steer toward some of the UK authors, and a couple of my favorite American authors are Dan Brown and John Grisham. It is a great question, and it always makes me think.
ReplyDeleteI love a good mystery, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThank you, Victoria. It is so nice to have you following my tour again.
DeleteI enjoyed the excerpt, thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteIt is so nice to hear from you again, Rita. Thank you for following my tour and your interest in THE NIGHTJAR'S PROMISE.
DeleteGreat excerpt and giveaway!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Cali. I hope you get a chance to read it. I appreciate your interest.
DeleteThis sounds like a cool read.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you stopped by, Debbie. Thank you for your interest.
DeleteI love the blurb.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Leah. I am glad you stopped by.
DeleteQuite the interesting blurb! I'll need to catch up with the series
ReplyDeleteI hope you do. There are 4 books in this series, THE NIGHTJAR'S PROMISE being Book 4. Thank you for commenting.
ReplyDeleteI love the blurb! I've put the book on my reading list. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteYou are so welcome. And thank you!
ReplyDelete