Thank you, Publisher's Weekly, for the great review of my new book!

Nina Milton. Midnight Ink (midnightinkbooks.com), $14.99 trade paper (432p) ISBN 978-0-7387-4382-0

At the start of British author Milton’s unsettling third Shaman mystery (after 2014’s Unraveled Visions), a group of 10 people, all “keen to explore shamanism,” climb to the top of Glastonbury Tor to celebrate Midsummer Eve. When Alys Hollingberry, who has been dancing nonstop, suddenly collapses, Sabbie Dare phones emergency services. Another participant says it’s too late (“I saw her spirit go”). On the day of the inquest, Alys’s grieving husband, Brice, receives a strange email (“The Tor needs no sacrifice. The utter waste of blessed life signals doomsday”). It’s signed Morgan le Fay. Since Brice doesn’t want the police involved, he asks Sabbie’s help in identifying Morgan le Fay and figuring out this person’s connection to Alys. Meanwhile, a priest alleges that Alys took drugs during the celebration on the tor that may have led to her death.

 Milton puts an intriguing New Age spin on the traditional English mystery.

In The Moors by Nina Milton

 Murder in the English countryside

The rain-drenched moors near shamanistic counselor Sabbie Dare's home have become the scene of a chilling crime. When Detective Sergeant Reynard Buckley shows up suggesting her new client, Cliff Houghton—a wounded, broken man—has something to do with the body of a young boy found buried in the moors, Sabbie believes Cliff is being set up. Continuing the therapy she'd begun with Cliff, Sabbie uncovers repressed memories hearkening back to a decades-old string of abductions and murders. But after another boy is abducted, only Sabbie can prove Cliff's innocence . . . and find the real culprit before any more lives are shattered.

This was another random library pick but it couldn't have been more different to Forever Yours!

I have to be honest, I don't have much faith when it comes to shaman's and druids and things of that nature but that didn't stop me really enjoying this book.

I was hooked from the first page to the last and was carried along by the tension, the plot twists and the protagonist who I felt connected to from the very beginning. It's very dark as it centres around child murders and certainly isn't for the faint hearted but I will be keeping an eye out for more by Milton and would very much recommend this.

5/5

http://www.victoriajanewrites.blogspot.co.uk/

Please welcome Nina Milton to Author Talks!

Nina Milton is a British writer of children's books, short fiction and now crime stories. She's won many literary competitions, including the Crossroads Competition, Kent Festival Prize, and the Wells Literary Short Story Competition. 

You can visit her blog and follow her at BookLikes: Sabbie Dare and Friends, and win her title on BookLikes. 

Have you always wanted to become a writer? How long have you been writing?

When I was five, my infant school teacher Mrs Marsden read a story to the class. It might have been the fable 'The Mouse and the Lion', but I can't really remember. Then she asked the class to write a story. I was dumfounded. For the first time I realized that the books I loved had actually been written by real human beings. Before that, I believe they must have fallen from some sort of story heaven. It was a revelation - from then on I was scribbling down stories all the time.

I started to write a novel at the age of fifteen. It was chock full of angst and I never finished it. I then took to writing short stories, which I began publishing a few years later in women’s magazines. Once my children were at school I made a big push to start some children’s stories.

Your first published works were books for children, you also enjoy writing short stories, and now you focus on crime novels. What’s your favorite genre to write?

I do love writing crime. I love the mystery aspect, trying to puzzle the reader while keeping them on the edge of their seat. I stay awake at night, trying to sort out all the permutations of each novel. I’m not sure I value that as much as the actual writing, though...the creating of strong characters, for instance, or the creation of a lyrical ‘voice’ for the narrative, but perhaps I should.

A revelation has been writing a series; the characters become so entirely real, and their lives, past and present, open out. I’ve had such fun writing my shaman ‘sleuth’, Sabbie Dare. She’s like a younger sister to me now.

The second installment of your mystery series is out, Unraveled Visions has been released in UK on October 5. Congratulations! Can you tell our readers more about the title and A Shaman Mystery series?
  

In the Moors was the first of the Shaman Mysteries published by Midnight Ink last year and available online and from bookshops and libraries as a paperback or hardback large print book. It’s   also an ebook and available on Kindle. Unraveled Visions continues to follow Sabbie’s adventures as she runs a therapeutic shamanic business in Bridgwater. She’s still seeing Rey Buckley, the maverick cop she sparked with in book one. And she’s still as cock-eyed and gutsy as she was in the first book, even though, yet again, her investigations hurtles her towards a dark and menacing place.

The idea for my Shaman Mysteries, and In the Moors in particular, came to me when Sabbbie Dare. She walked right into my head and  spoke directly to me - sort of - ‘hi, Nina, I’m Sabbie, I’m 28 and I’m a shaman, which means I walk in the spirit world to help my shamanic clients. I love my job, but sometimes very strange people come into my therapy room...’

Sabbie gains the strength to get through life with her pagan beliefs, but still struggles over the memories of her difficult childhood which left her as a very angry young teenager. But she has an open heart, and is adept at inviting trouble into her life. In Unraveled Visions, a gypsy is looking for her missing sister and a neighbour is terrified of her husband and as aways she has a hard time keeping away from danger. As she says in In the Moors I’m the sort of person who has to poke their finger into all the holes marked, ‘do not insert’.”

Before A Shaman Mystery you wrote books for children. Was it difficult to switch to another genre and audience? A Shaman Mystery is quite dark.

I loved writing for children, and, once I’ve found the voice to my main character, I don’t really notice much difference between writing for adults and children - apart from the amount of swearing! I’m certainly hoping to write more for children and young people in the future. In my books for eight to thirteen year olds, I still have a central mystery to the story.

The Shaman Mystery series will continue to have a dark, atmospheric edge. Sabbie has a mysterious past herself, which she’s only just beginning to unravel.

How do you invent the story? Does it happen spontaneously or is it a long lasting process?

Like most writers, I’m fascinated by the way ideas, characters and entire scenes drop into a writing place in our heads, which becomes increasingly real to us. Characters seem to appear from nowhere, or from a muse, as the ancients would have it. They have conversations in houses that don’t exist, or stand gazing out from headlands, the salt spray on their lips, while the writer is actually under the shower.

I call it ‘walking in your imagination’, because you can travel to any place or time or the mind of any character you chose. In this slower state of thinking, you naturally enter the relaxed, twilight world where vivid imagery flashes into the mind’s eye and we become receptive to information. To create this sort of trance state, hypnotists use a swaying crystal, therapists use a soothing voice, and shaman use the beat of a drum - Sabbie Dare uses a drum to enter her otherworld.

Writers, on the other hand, mostly use their legs. As far apart chronologically as Dickens and Drabble, writers are known to swear by the afternoon walk, disappearing after lunch to walk in the woods, allowing the beat of their stride and the beauty of the surroundings to let their minds drop into the world of story.

In my experience it doesn’t much matter where you walk (although scenery can be inspirational in the most surprising ways), but it’s important to walk alone. I have beautiful Ceredigion countryside to walk through, and I use that a lot when I’m creating new stories. Once the characters are talking to me, I start serious plotting; making charts and lists and timelines and investigating possibilities. I also spent time plotting carefully. I don’t dry up half as often as I used to nowadays.

Do you consult the crimes you want to put in your books with the police, detectives, doctors?

I have two very friendly and helpful relations who are in the police force and keep me up to date with things. And I know a lot of shamans, as I’m a druid myself. I’m also in touch with people in the medical profession and have a good grounding to start with as I was a nurse before I became a full-time writer.

Which authors influence your writing and your works?

I actually like reading contemporary fiction which contains mystery at the core, like  Kate Atkinson, Patrick Gale, Ian McKewan, Sarah Waters, David Mitchell and Kazuo Ishigor.

But I also love crime, of course, especially Raymond Chandler, PG James Francis Fyfield and Elly Griffiths, to whom my work has been compared (Library Journal).

Do you prefer writing novels or short stories? How is the process different?

I’ve just been writing a degree-level course about writing short fiction for the Open College of the Arts. But yes, writing short stories is very different indeed. You need a tighter timeline (hours, preferably) less characters (two, preferably) and a single core theme - the cleverer the better.

I have to say I’m more comfortable writing 100,000 words than 1000, but inbetween my crime fiction I can’t help be drawn back to the genre. My favourite short story writer at the moment is Geoffrey Ford and my most recent short stories can be found in the anthology Unchained (Tangent Press) available from Amazon uk.

What are the best and the worst things about being a writer?

The best thing is the sheer creativity and the way you can lose yourself in the writing when it’s going well. The worse thing is sitting on your butt for so long! (Especially when the sun’s shining.) It’s good to get out, meet other writers, go to events.

You’re participating in “Books Are My Bag” which supports local bookstores and writers. Is it easy to be a writer nowadays? How can readers support local authors?

Yes, if you’re in the UK on the 11th October, I’ll be launching Unraveled Visions the 2nd Shaman Mystery Novel from Midnight Ink in a Bristol bookshop - Foyles in Quaker’s Friars - as part of the Books are my Bog weekend. I'll be there from 2pm to 7pm at this drop-in event, signing my new book, and reading from it. I'll also be holding a short workshop for writers. So if you’re around do come to meet me, check out my writing, and also meet a lot of other Bristol writers.

What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not writing?

Gardening. I love growing veg and I would love growing flowers, if I could get the hang of it! I also love transforming the things we grow into food, and I’ve just been part of a project for writers who bake. The book is out now on Amazon; it’s called Bake, Love, Write.  

If not writing than what? Who would you like to be if you couldn’t be a writer?

I would have loved to be a dancer. Maybe a ballroom dancer. The idea of swirling gracefully around a floor to a rush of beautiful music is tantalising. Sadly, I don’t swirl gracefully. I trip over my feet and crash onto the parquet. 

What are you reading now?

I’ve just finished The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt, which deserves every bit of praise - characters who are real and unforgettable and deep, clever Theme with a brilliant twist towards the end. I’m now reading Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie which carefully explores themes of race and belonging. Not such an exciting read, but a very meaningful one.

Paper books or e-books? Why?

I do own a Kindle and I do use it, but you can’t beat holding a book in your hand.

What are your favorite books?

Please recommend some must read titles for our readers.

I couldn't put The Hours, by Michael Cunninham, down, It's the perfect accompaniment to Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. It is also a great achievement in itself. Written somewhat in the Woolf style, it moves deftly, never making a shortcut, through a single day in the lives of three women. 

In 1923 Virginia Woolf, living in countryside Richmond, but longing to go back to London, is setting out to write the first words of her new book, about a woman holding a party. In 1951, in Los Angeles we meet a woman with a small son and one on the way. Laura Brown is reading Virginia Woolf, struggling with her husband’s birthday cake and contemplating suicide. In 1990  in New York, Clarissa Vaughan a middle-aged woman with a grown daughter and a female partner, is planning a party for her friends, to celebrate her early love’s recent literary award. But Richard has AIDS and doesn’t want a party in his honour. I saw the film before reading the book, but the book itself is the revelation. Stunning.

What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Get yourself a writing buddy; someone who can read your work and comment honestly, and someone who has fallen into all the writing pitfalls you’re likely to encounter. It should be someone who can buy you a consolitary drink when there’s bad news and join you in champaign cocktails when there’s good news!

What are your favorite quotes?

Show, don’t tell - Chekhov said…

Don’t tell me the moon is shining;

show me the glint of light on broken glass…

Characterization - Ernest Hemingway said…

A writer should create living people; people not characters. 

A character is a caricature.

Description - Proust said…

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes,

but in having new eyes…

Follow those three pieces of advice and you’ll hit the ground running.

What’s your favorite writing and reading spot?

(our readers would love to see some photos).

My garden (the bench where I sit is just out of the picture), my office, and the countryside I walk in.

Thank you, Nina!

And here's a surprise from Nina Milton: 

enter the giveaway to win Unraveled Visions!

You can find Nina Milton's books on BookLikes:

and more on Nina Milton's author page. 

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Photos courtesy of Nina Milton.

Crime fiction now  IN THE MOORS is the first in the SHAMAN MYSTERY SERIES featuring the shaman SABBIE DAY; this is the first of the series and is out now,published by Midnight Ink. The follow-up is due out in the autumn of 2014.

The idea for In the Moors , my first crime fiction novel. came to me one day, in the guise of Sabbbie Dare. She came to me fully formed and said; “I'm a young therapist, a shaman, and sometimes I do get very strange people walking into my therapy room. Honestly, I could write a book about some of them...”

Sabbie Dare walks between worlds...trying to help her shamanic clients while living a self-sufficient life in the sleepy town of Bridgwater, England. She’s mourning the loss of her hens to a fox when a detective called Reynard walks into her life. Rey likes to play his hunches and expects Sabbie to help him nail her client, Cliff Houghton, who has become the prime suspect for a horrific child killing after police find him lurking in the moors where the body was found. Cliff’s shamanic otherworld reveals dreadful secrets to Sabbie, shedding light on a spate of crimes that terrorized the area twenty years before. When a second child goes missing, Sabbie tries to piece together all the fragments she’s gained from her shamanic journeys. Although she’s sure of Cliff’s innocence, trying to prove it, and find the missing child, becomes a threat to her own survival. Always an optimist, Sabbie can’t help remaining cheerful and determined as she hurtles towards a dark and certain place of death… 

In the Moors is set around the Somerset Levels and in Bridgwater, and the story opens  when a body is found buried in the moors. Detective Sergeant Reynard Buckley is sure that Sabbie Dare’s new client, Cliff Houghton—a wounded, broken man—has something to do with the chilling crime, but Sabbie believes Cliff is being set up (although she really fancies Rey Buckley). Continuing the therapy she'd begun with Cliff, Sabbie uncovers repressed memories that hark back to a long forgotten string of murders. After another boy is abducted, only Sabbie can prove Cliff's innocence . . . and find the real culprit before any more lives are shattered.

I was delighted that IN THE MOORS got good reviews, both in magazines like Kirkus Review and on the internet. The Library Journal gave it a starred review.

I  love the puzzle-solving element to writing crime fiction. I stay awake at night, trying to sort out all the permutations of each novel. I’m not sure I value that as much as the actual writing, though...the creating of strong characters, for instance, or the creation of a lyrical ‘voice’ for the narrative, but perhaps I should.

At around that time, I’d been on a walk with my son on the Somerset Levels. As we hiked along, the day became gloomy and we were almost lost because each field on the levels is surrounded by water; rivers,dykes, rhynes, ditches and canals. We came upon the areas where they extract peat industrially; huge chunks like empty back swimming pools are cut from the earth and they slowly fill with water becoming reed beds and marshes. I thought that would be a great place to bury a body.

Sabbie gains the strength to get through life  with her shamanism and her pagan beliefs, but still struggles with the memories of her difficult start in life. She has an open heart, and is adept at inviting trouble into her life - which bodes well for the second book in the series!

In the Moors was released in the US in 2013 and the new will be out in the UK in October. but you can reserve your copy now on Amazon. 

Join me on my vibrant blogsite,  http://www.kitchentablewriters.blogspot.com where I offer students and other writers some hard-gained advice on how to write fiction.

I have read many mystery/crime novels, but In the Moors is a hugely original take on a well worn genre.

Sabbie Dare is mourning the loss of her hens to a fox when a detective called Reynard walks into her life. Rey likes to play his hunches and expects Sabbie to help him nail her client, Cliff Houghton, who has become the prime suspect for a horrific child killing after police find him lurking in the moors where the body was found. Oh, I forgot to say, Sabbie is a Shaman who walks in the otherworld! Cliff’s  otherworld reveals dreadful secrets to Sabbie, shedding light on a spate of crimes that terrorized the area twenty years before. When a second child goes missing, Sabbie tries to piece together all the fragments she’s gained from her shamanic journeys. Although she’s sure of Cliff’s innocence, trying to prove it, and find the missing child, becomes a threat to her own survival. Sabbie gets too invoived and you can just watch as she hurtles towards a dark and certain place of death…  

This young shaman heroine is a fascinating character and the beautiful descriptions of her "journeys" into the spiritual world, which help to move the plot forward, seem authentic. A very well plotted and at times fairly dark story....it really kept me gripped and I thoroughly recommend In the Moors. The atmosphere is eloquent, fast pace and surprising ending.

Reading about shaman practices was interesting, Nina has done her research.

I look forward to the next one.