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Twilight Zone Day, Time Travel, and Me by Jina Bacarr

May 11, 2016 by in category Jina’s Book Chat tagged as , , , , , , , , , , ,

Twilight Zone.

Did you hear the eerie music when you read the title?

Two of my favorite TZ episodes dealt with time travel.

Civil War.

And medicine.

Cliff Robertson in “A Hundred Years Over the Rim” (a father time travels to the future to save his ill son with modern medicine) and Kevin McCarthy in “Long Live Walter Jameson.” (check out an interesting filming note on this one). A professor knows history better than he should because “he was there.”

When I set out to write my Civil War romance, LOVE ME FOREVER, these two TZ episodes crept into my story line in a fun and interesting way: my time traveling heroine is a part time EMT and history teacher; she helps the Union Army physician hero in his fight against “germs” and how to combat disease back in 1862.

And yes, she knows exactly when the battles take place and does her best to save lives. But can she change history? If she does, will she lose the man she loves?


How do TV shows affect your writing?

Do shows we loved as kids have an even more powerful effect on our writing?

I think so.

LOVE ME FOREVER is proof of that.

What TV shows have affected your writing?

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Till next time…

Jina


Civil War time traveler, belle…and spy: Love Me Forever from Jina Bacarr on Vimeo.


She was an imposter – a time traveler back to the Civil War in 1862 from Jina Bacarr on Vimeo.

 
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Soldier, Nurse, Spy: The Women who won the Civil War

March 11, 2016 by in category Archives tagged as , , , , , , , , ,

March is Women’s History Month.

Writing women back into history. Many times we forget the Civil War wasn’t fought only by men, but women, too.

Did you watch the recent PBS Civil War mini-series “Mercy Street?”

I was glued to my TV every week watching the fascinating story of a Virginia hotel turned into a hospital for both Union and Confederate wounded in 1862.

What did you think of Mercy Street?

I enjoyed watching the story unfold and how it paralleled my Civil War time travel romance, Love Me Forever, which also takes place in 1862 Virginia. It was like watching my pages come alive with Civil War medicine, a visit from Mr. Lincoln, hoop skirts, women’s roles in both the North and the South, and of course, hot romance.

What I loved so much about that show was the prominence of women’s roles during the Civil War and how they changed nursing with their daring and willingness to tread into what was then a male profession.Like Mercy Street, I have two heroines:

Liberty Jordan, a time traveler from the future who goes back to Antietam dressed as a Confederate officer.

Pauletta Buckingham, a Tennessee belle and a spy bent on revenging the death of her beloved, a Texas Ranger.

An odd couple in every way. One is a strawberry-blonde, the other raven-haired. One believes in the Union; the other will do anything for the cause. One is in love with a man she can’t have…the other is engaged to a man she doesn’t love.

But these two women have one thing in common: believing in women’s equality. Here my time traveler, Liberty in LOVE ME FOREVER, questions her involvement in the war with belle Pauletta Sue.

“Liberty couldn’t stop questioning how she got mixed up with this crazy secesh woman and her insane scheme. She’d never seen a woman so passionate about a cause, so truly believing what she was doing was patriotism. The war had unleashed a fire in her, and the more Liberty understood about the protected, delicate lifestyle these women led, the more she knew a great movement was underway that went beyond their cause.

It wasn’t until 1866 that the American Equal Rights Association was founded, but this was the beginning of the movement leading to women’s freedom and that she could understand. What bothered her was that Pauletta Sue was on the losing side of the war and because of that, she might not benefit from the changes women embraced afterward. She worked so hard at her cause, Liberty believed she deserved better, but the belle wouldn’t listen to her.”

I love how these two women bond over the course of the story as did Union Army nurse Mary in Mercy Street with belle Emma. But as much as I enjoyed the series, I kept hoping they would touch on the role of women in the ranks. Brave women who fought and often died as soldiers because they believed in their cause. I’m hoping the series will be renewed and we’ll meet up with a female soldier in Season 2.

My hero, Major Flynt Stephens, a Union Army physician, ponders the idea of female soldiers when he finds out his Rebel prisoner is a beautiful woman (Liberty).

“The Rebel prisoner was a female.

Would his nurse give her away? Or was she waiting for him to say something? He couldn’t. He felt a stirring within him, something he didn’t want to admit, that brought a hardness between his loins. Did he dare imagine that a beautiful woman existed under all that blood and dirt? He’d heard stories about women enlisting in the army, both North and South, and fighting as men. A good set of teeth to rip open a bullet cartridge, a trigger finger that worked, and a firm handshake was all that was required to join up. It was no secret the promise of a steady paycheck was often the reason behind such reckless female behavior.

That didn’t solve his immediate problem.”

Women Soldiers in the Civil War from “Love Me Forever” from Jina Bacarr on Vimeo.

We will soon see women in combat roles in the Armed Forces. Imagine how proud the women soldiers in the Civil War would be knowing they paved the way…

~Jina

LOVE ME FOREVER is available on Amazon

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Royal Dare: What happens when a Princess bites into that poison apple

February 11, 2016 by in category Archives tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Getting clean ain’t easy…even for a princess.

—————–  
If you’re a princess, most likely your fairy godmother warned you about messengers bearing big, red shiny apples.

Who can forget Snow White…

But in the end she found her prince after eating the poisoned apple.

Sometimes princesses are influenced by the wrong people. Take Princess Violetta in ROYAL DARE. She was desperate to be thin and win her crush…but it led her into drug addiction. Her poison apple.
 
Meth.
————— 
This month I tackle a serious subject in ROYAL DARE (The Royals of Monterra, Kindle Worlds).

Addiction to drugs is a major problem — not just for the addict but for those in their world. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to go to rehab, or what happens afterward, Royal Dare takes you into that world.

Even though my heroine is a princess, she’s not immune to the horrors of meth and how difficult it is to get clean.

Princess Violetta meets some interesting people in rehab and hears the story about an old cloth doll and how she helped an addict face her demons. There are funny moments, too, like seeing our princess with a toilet brush cleaning bathrooms, and tearful ones–when a girl who is a “cutter” and addict calls the hotline manned by our princess threatening to kill herself and Violetta is the only one who can save her.

Royal Dare is for anyone who is an addict and wants help, and for those who love them.

Thank you for listening.

~Jina

Royal Dare (The Royals of Monterra) is available on Amazon Kindle

Born a princess, Violetta of Monterra is living the fairy tale. She has everything she wants. Designer purses and shoes, a party lifestyle and she’s as thin as a smartphone.

She’s also a meth addict.

If she doesn’t get clean, she’ll lose everything. Her title, her family. Her soul.

Learning how to survive in rehab is only the first step to gaining her sobriety. Once she finishes the program, the real challenge comes when Violetta goes back to her fancy Swiss boarding school. His name is Chace. Her first crush . . . and the guy who got her hooked on meth. Trusting him won’t keep her sober.

Then there’s Troy, the new hottie in school. Can he save her from relapse? And from losing everything precious to her before she goes down that rabbit hole for the last time?

Royal Dare (The Royals of Monterra) is available on Amazon Kindle

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I finally get to be a Princess thanks to Kindle Scout

January 11, 2016 by in category Jina’s Book Chat tagged as , , , , , , ,

I’m finishing up a novel for Kindle Worlds “The Royals of Monterra” called ROYAL DARE — more info coming as we launch January 21, 2016.

I owe this wonderful opportunity to Kindle Scout — I met Sariah Wilson, a fellow Scouter, and when Amazon approached her about turning her novel “Royal Date” into a Kindle Worlds project, she invited Scouters to write for her KW.

I’ll update this page as I get more info — for now here’s the LINK and banner re: our Facebook launch on January 21, 2016  6-10 EST

Thanks to fellow Scouter M.R. Pritchard for this fab banner 
Her Monterra novel is called “Forgotten Princess.”

And here’s a video I made a while back about wanting to be a princess!

~Jina

The story of the princess and the stilettos…and how she found her prince — a poem told in rhyme and pictures.
Photos: Dreamstime.com
Music: Fairytale Waltz Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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Christmas during the Civil War in 1862 from “Love Me Forever”

December 11, 2015 by in category Archives tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


Christmas during the Civil War in 1862 from “Love Me Forever” from Jina Bacarr on Vimeo.

Christmas is the time of year when we put aside our differences and celebrate the joys of the season.

Even during the Civil War.

No better place to do that than Rosebriar Plantation on Christmas Eve 1862.

The beautiful antebellum house in Virginia has been turned into a battlefield hospital after the Battle of Fredericksburg with Union Army surgeon, Major Flynt Stephens at the helm. There they treat the wounded from both the North and the South.

There’s also a mystery afoot in the major’s eyes. He swears there are two women playing the role of his fiancée and the mistress of Rosebriar.

Identical twins.

But which is which?

Liberty (his lady in gray and a time traveler).

Or:

Pauletta Sue (belle and spy).

I hope you enjoy this excerpt from LOVE ME FOREVER, my Kindle Scout winner.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

~Jina

==============

December 24, 1862

Christmas Eve
Later that evening . . .

Flynt placed the metal star at the top of the Christmas tree.
Behind him, he could feel the stares boring into his back. Men from both sides lay huddled together in the great hall of Rosebriar, each one believing it was his tree with his Christmas star.
North or South.
He smiled. Wasn’t it Dickens who said every man should keep Christmas in his own way?
That was as it should be, he thought, stepping down from the ladder and standing back to admire the fifteen-foot-tall pine tree the soldiers had erected in the main receiving room. Peace on earth. For now. The yellow flag Flynt hung outside the grand house ensured every soldier knew it was a hospital and both Union and Confederate wounded lay inside. The fresh red,   white, and blue candles glowed brightly and the small net bundles filled with nuts and golden apples hung on the boughs of the tree. Someone had made a strand of beans and strung it around the bottom. Glass ornaments, round and blue and silver, hung on the top branches.
New-fashioned ornaments he’d bought on a whim back in medical school before the war. Who could have predicted this horrible conflict? And its casualties. Outside, a heap of amputated feet, legs, arms, and hands lay at the foot of an oak tree a few yards from the main house, waiting to be taken away.
Light, melting snow covered the pile.
But the weather was turning clear and mild.
He prayed that was a good sign and next Christmas would be different, though talk was the country was discouraged after the devastating Union loss two weeks ago at Fredericksburg. The people didn’t want to continue the war. If Burnside and the other generals couldn’t pull off a victory soon, he doubted if the government would get the support it needed to go on with the war.
That meant supplies.
Field hospitals were in want of fresh food, especially fruits and vegetables, causing cases of scurvy to break out. Rosebriar, on the other hand, had more than enough stored food and wood and, thanks to Pauletta Sue, the wounded benefited. They had fewer deaths and less cases of typhoid. It amazed him how a few changes in procedure saved so many lives.
Flynt let his gaze wander over the soldiers brought into the hall, most reclining on straw mattresses. Some had spent days in tent hospitals, lying on the frozen ground with only pine or twigs underneath their blankets. Every man able to sit up or raise his head was brought in to enjoy the Christmas celebration.
He’d never forget the look on the men’s faces when Pauletta Sue went around to each wounded soldier and gave him a small glass filled with brandy, insisting on using as many clean glasses as possible. Aunt Fairinda raised a ruckus in the kitchen, but she calmed down when she saw the men smile. He could still hear the hushed voices of his cook and the other servants oohing and aahing over the tree, saying it was just like the old days before the war started. Even Old Dan shed a tear. Surprised Virginia folk knew how to do up Christmas right, he’d said, like Tennessee folk.
And the singing.
Flynt’s heart warmed to the voices of the wounded men lifted up in the chorus of a popular holiday carol. Pauletta Sue’s light soprano rang out loud and clear. She sat at the pianoforte, her fingers skipping over the keys, turning her head and flirting with every man who caught her eye. He stood in the corner, watching her. Wanting her. His glance moving up and down her body, taking in her deep green silk dress covered with black velvet trim spread out around her, setting off her ivory-skinned beauty like emeralds surrounding a precious pearl.
The perfect mistress of Rosebriar.
Every man in the room envied him.
The real question on his mind was, was this Pauletta Sue from Tennessee?
Or his lady in gray?
It didn’t take him long to find out. Somehow, when he wasn’t looking, he swore they’d switched places. The two women were playing games with him. The lady in gray tended to the soldiers earlier, then the real Pauletta Sue took her place to entertain the officers.

 
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