Jun 13, 2014
Kelsey Miller has written a well thought out article about whether we need Auschwitz to be around in order to remember what happened.
Do we? Do we need something of a physical nature to remember all that happened? Some people do. I’m sure the survivors don’t but if we don’t have a physical reminder, is it possible for those who deny the holocaust even happened to win the narrative? If the lie is told often enough, it is believed by enough people for it to become the truth.
Interesting, yes?
In September 2001 I went to the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC. It was a chance to pay respects to my dear friend Mrs Elephan (my next door neighbour when I was a child) and who was an Auschwitz survivor. I was no longer ten years old but thirty six and knew of the horrors of the Holocaust. I was not prepared to meet it face to face. Everyone should go to a Holocaust Museum to remind yourself of what hatred can do and
if left unchecked (as it was in Nazi Germany), the results are devastating.
As someone who has touched on War and the Final Solution in my first novel “In the Blood of the Greeks” – I was intrigued (If you can call it that) when I saw a box car – opened ended. I was intrigued because one of the scenes I wrote was of the village priest being sent to sit in one with the Jews. I have researched the holocaust ever since I was given the book “I am Rosemarie” Marietta D. Moskin. It was given to me by Mrs Elephan and it had a profound effect on me. That scene in the box car, I thought, was well researched.
I stepped into that boxcar, stood in the middle of the boxcar and closed my eyes and imagined what it might have been like. I freaked myself out and almost gave myself a panic attack because it seemed so real. That night I went back to where I was staying and rewrote that scene. That was only after a few seconds. I cannot begin to imagine what it must have been like for those poor unfortunate souls who were imprisoned for days in one and their final destination was Auschwitz.
Do we need Auschwitz? I believe we do.
Do you? You decide after you read the following article – “Saving Auschwitz: Is It Really Possible”
Jun 8, 2014
In the second novel “Where Shadows Linger” opens up as Eva and Zoe have arrived in Australia and are living in a migrant hostel. The following article with photos is a good way to showcase what it was like.
The National Archives in Canberra has launched a new photographic exhibition giving an insight into life in Australia’s migrant hostels.
The exhibition was drawn from a collection of 20,000 photos handed to the archives by the Department of Immigration.
Curator Amy Lay says 50 images are featured.
“We found the hostels were the most evocative sets of photographs so lots of people had experiences they could relate to … they brought back lots of memories,” she said.
Migrant hostels were set up around Australia after World War II to support the Commonwealth Government’s push to boost the population.
Hundreds of thousands of new arrivals to the country stayed in them – in some cases briefly, in others for months or years.
View more photos and read article
Apr 12, 2014
I received this email today (and with Blaire’s permission) I’m posting it because it has moved beyond words. A writer writes to tell a good story and along the way, if/when a reader is moved by that story, we don’t usually know it unless we (the writer) is told. When I received this email, I was overcome with emotion.
For those that haven’t read my novels, one of my characters Eva Lambros had undergone “conversion” therapy – a horrendous treatment to make her stop homosexual thoughts and acting on them (far more complicated than that line but that’s the basis of it). It was considered a mental illness.
It’s a medical “procedure” being done today to many men and women. It is not against the law. As of yesterday this procedure was not banned by the state of Illinois (as one example).
Please take a moment and have a read of Blaire’s email (posted with her permission)
Reading this series has been such an experience for me. I’m 29 now. I started reading this series when I was about 16. It started with Out of Darkness.
As you have expanded the details through the release of later editions, you have been able to capture what it was to not only be in a war torn country but to be lesbian women in that time period. One of which underwent torture to cure her “illness”. You have been able to somehow step into those shoes. And let the readers experience a sliver of what so many on this earth have gone through. Be it straight, gay, Christian, Jewish. It doesn’t matter. You have captured every character you have written with integrity.
I have been able to relate to your characters. Especially Eva. Your books have helped me heal in a way. The struggles she went through and continues to go through and her ability to overcome them have helped me in overcoming my own obstacles. You have been able to capture those struggles as they would have occurred. Almost exactly.
I essentially grew up with this series. And I am so excited to see what adventures await Stella and Tessa. And to see where life takes Eva and Zoe as they continue their journey. Thank you for continuing to write about these characters I have come to love.
Blaire
Feb 28, 2014
Here’s one of the most beautiful posters I’ve seen. It’s created by Calli and it’s about my fiction series “Intertwined Souls” with Eva and Zoe.
The models used are Penny and Kat Cavanaugh. Penny is Zoe and Kat is Eva. The photo of the two is part of a photoshoot shot by KT Jorgensen during February.
Book 1 In the Blood of the Greeks is available for a limited time for free
Book 2 Where Shadows Linger – is available in print but a revised version will be online for free for a limited time mid April
Book 3 Hidden Truths is available in print and ebook formats now
Book 4 Awakenings is available in print and ebook formats now
Check out the book trailer for Hidden Truths
Feb 22, 2014
The amazingly talented Angela Pavlica and Rosa Alonso have teamed up to create the book trailer for the Intertwined Souls series book 3 “Hidden Truths”
If you haven’t had the chance to read book 1 in the series “In the Blood of the Greeks” – the revised/additional chapters version is now online for free for a limited time before it’s sent to the publisher! Check it out now
HIDDEN TRUTHS
Book 3 Intertwined Souls Series
In the third book of the Intertwined Souls Series, Hidden Truths continues the journey of two extraordinary women, Eva Muller and Zoe Lambros, from war-torn Europe to Post-War Australia. It’s 1950 and Eva and Zoe have settled in Australia, but events from their homelands beckon them back to Greece and Germany. Along the way, they are reunited with family and friends and are forced to contend with their own haunted memories and unexpected revelations that tests their courage, strength, and faith.
