Interview and Excerpt with Deb Peterson

I am so lucky to have Deb Peterson visiting with me today. I've read her book Shadow of the Witte Wieven and couldn't put it down.  Her main character Aliyana Rosa Montijo was exactly the type of kick-butt woman that I wish I was.  As an undercover DEA agent, she was willing to put her life on the line for her country. Not too many people are given that opportunity and Aliyana didn't think twice about it. In addition, Deb Peterson's story has a great paranormal storyline where ghosts and the Bermuda Triangle are a face of life.  So when I had a chance to interview her...well, you could say I jumped at the opportunity!
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What’s your favorite thing to do to relax? Pull up a rocking chair under the shade of our big, old tree, look out at the pastures filled with horses, and visit with family and friends.

If you could go back in time to when you were seven years old, what wisdom or advice would you pass on to yourself? Get over the shyness already…


For what are you grateful? Have a seat, it’s a long list! 
First and foremost, I am grateful for my family, for their unconditional love and support. I am grateful for this beautiful nation in which I live and for the freedoms we enjoy. I am also very grateful for those who defend it. (I LOVE our veterans). And, of course, I am grateful for the opportunity to write the stories bouncing around inside my head and seeing them published. 


At what age were you the happiest? What triggered such joy? I have had “happiest moments” at every stage of my life. I had a wonderful childhood filled with unique adventures many kids don’t ever get to have. Covering all of those would be a book in intself. Of course, nothing compares to meeting the love of my life, getting married and together raising five exceptional kids. The birth of each is recorded as a “happiest moment” in
my life. And now the grandkids are coming. I have three, beautiful, unparalelled bundles of joy that bring an abundance of laughter and sunshine into my life…need I say more?


Now about you as an author…
Did anyone in your life influence you or encouraged you to be a writer? (teacher, family member, friend) My main supporter and personal cheering squad is my husband. I began writing books years ago without much success.  I did have a few “positive” rejections that praised and encouraged.  But then, after finding out my youngest child was dyslexic, I decided to put the writing on hold so that I could homeschool her instead of placing her in special ed (the school district’s answer to the problem… yeah, no thanks.) Then once she started college, (she’s brilliant, by the way), my husband nudged me back into writing.  


What is your favorite aspect of writing? Allowing my imagination to invent… I love coming up with all of the intricacies and the twists and turns of the plot. 
 

Your least favorite? Editing… I am forever missing something important and marketing isn’t  too high on my list either…


What aspect of writing would you most like to improve on?
I can’t think of a single aspect that I wouldn’t want to impove
upon. I strive to make each of my books better than the last.


Do you have any “must haves” with you while you’re writing? I “must have” instrumental music. All different kinds, to fit all different scenes in the book. I don’t think I could write without it.


What have you learned the most from being in the writing
business?  Patience…

BLURB:
Despite a contract on her head, lone Drug Enforcement Agent, Aliyana Montijo must ferret out a mole and stop the assassination of top DEA officials, as so ordered by the Colombian drug lord she seeks to take down. The task is a
daunting one, for there is no one she can trust. No one that is, until she encounters a most unlikely ally. 

Former seventeenth century captain of the Dutch West Indies Company, Wolfaert Dircksen Van Ness, now from a parallel
dimension, encounters the beautiful agent during an unearthly storm in the Bermuda triangle. Drawn to the Spanish beauty he rescues, he pledges his assistance, despite her reluctance to accept either his help or his heart.

Can Wolf bridge both space and time to claim the woman he loves?

 
Excerpt:

She took a deep breath, cleared her throat, and said, “All right, I think I’m ready to hear it now.”

“Hear it?” asked Wolf as he raised a brow.

 “Your explanation to all of—this,” she said as her hand swept across the totality of her environment.

 Wolf shrugged, clasped his hands together, and leaned forward. “I can’t see where there is much need for an explanation. You crashed into the sea and in an effort to avoid my ship, compounded the problem by slamming into one of the many rocks the lighthouse is meant to divert you from.”

Aliyana held his gaze--and her silence--for several long moments giving him ample opportunity to continue. When he didn’t comply, she sighed in resignation, nodded her head, and swung her legs off the bed. The action  garnered his instant attention and he leaped to his feet in order to assist her. She held both hands in front of her chest to halt his progress, turned her head, and leaned away from his arms despite the wave of dizziness that assailed her. “I can do this by myself, without any assistance from you, thank you very much.”

“Don’t be absurd, Aliyana,” Wolf countered. “You can’t even hold yourself steady while seated.”

“Then perhaps the doctor or a member of your crew can help me instead,” she replied through clenched teeth. “Because, right now, I really don’t want you to touch me. Therefore, would you be so kind as to call one of them for me or shall I holler one of the names out myself?”

Wolf let loose with an exasperated sigh, shook his head, and while looking heavenward, muttered, “Temperamental wench!”

Her mouth dropped as she drew in a deep breath. Before she had chance to make a retort of her own, he swooped her up into his arms, shifted her weight a little more comfortably, then caught and held her gaze. “Do you want to use the facilities or do you need to throw up again?”

She lifted a brow in disdain. “Again?” she asked as her temper rose even higher. So much for the charm, she had assigned him earlier. “But you just said I didn’t throw up!”

“Are you going to answer the question, or are you not?” he quipped, ignoring her comment altogether.

“Ooh! Tu' eres el hombre más exasperante que he tenido la
desgracia de conocer!” she huffed as she folded her arms and slammed them hard against her chest.

“Sorry?” His eyes danced with sudden merriment, while his lips
twitched in amusement. “I didn’t quite catch all that!”

In response to his mirth, she once again clenched her teeth. She could feel her cheeks flame as she jerked a pointed a finger toward his chest. “I said, you are the most exasperating man I’ve ever had the misfortune—”

The moment she drove her finger forward, her words abruptly ended and so did his mirth. Aliyana touched the tip of her tongue to her lips as she stared at what she could see of her finger. She slowly withdrew it from inside his chest, gazed at the digit, repeated her actions once more, and then gazed into his sky-blue eyes.

“Aliyana,” Wolf whispered. “Don’t be afraid of me. This isn’t what you think.”

She struggled to make sense of this new quandary. Her bewildered gaze shifted to his arms that still held her fast, traveled their length, and then rose to his face. Her lovely eyes, filled with such delightful indignation a moment ago, now held
a trace of apprehension.


“Who are you?” she asked in a voice just audible to his ears. “Better yet, what are you?” 

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Thank you again Deb Peterson for stopping by and sharing a bit of your book with us.  Shadow of the Witte Wieven is available in ebook and paperback. If anyone hasn't already bought the book, they can purchase it at Amazon, Barnes and Nobel, as well as the Inkspell website: http://www.inkspellpublishing.com/4/post/2012/01/shadow-of-the-witte-wieven.html