UFI welcomes Anne Hope Author of The Dark Souls Series. Thanks for Joining us!!
Life is Stranger Than Fiction: Underground Cities
By Anne Hope
Being an author of paranormal fiction requires not only an overactive
imagination, but an open mind. Every time I begin writing a new book, I always
ask myself the same question—what if? What if the old legends are true?
What if supernatural creatures once existed? What if they left evidence of this
existence behind?
In my every day life, I am pragmatic, even skeptical. But when I put on my
writer’s cap, all that changes. I suspend my disbelief and open myself to the
improbable, the impossible. Suddenly, all those strange, unexplained accounts
that would normally make me snicker become the very source of my inspiration. I
spend hours scouring the Internet in search of them, the crazier the better.
Today, the topic of choice is (drumroll please): The mysterious, underground
tunnels that span the globe.
In my Dark Souls series, the Nephilim have constructed a series of
subterranean tunnels they call the catacombs. These catacombs allow the Nephilim
to hide their existence from mankind, as well as travel to all corners of the
earth undetected.
Not possible, you say? If such an elaborate network of tunnels existed we’d
know about it, right?
Well, maybe we do.
Hidden tunnels have been uncovered all over the world. Apparently, there are
tunnels that run for thousands of miles beneath the South American continent,
dating back to the days of the Spanish conquest.
In Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, extensive tunnels snake beneath the streets,
rumored to have been used by Al Capone for smuggling.
In California, a high-ranking naval officer discovered a huge network of
tunnels spanning the west coast.
In Central Asia, someone claims to have found a subterranean city, home to a
civilization of over twenty million people. This society apparently extends
throughout all the underground passages of the world.
Stranger still is the story of a group of explorers in Arkansas, who claim to
have uncovered a tunnel illuminated by a green light, where they met a race of
beings who stood over seven-feet tall.
And let’s not forget the famous Shanghai Tunnels in Portland, Oregon, where
the first book in my Dark Souls series is based. These tunnels are a major
tourist attraction, hinting at the city’s dark and seedy past. Reading about
this underground maze is what convinced me to use Portland as the setting for
Soul Bound.
More recently, geologists discovered massive canyons and valleys hidden
beneath the glaciers of West Antarctica. One is said to plunge more than six
thousand feet below sea level.
Still, I have to say the winner is Brazil, where an explorer says he gazed
through a tunnel near Rio Casdor and met a gorgeous woman who looked twenty, but
claimed she was over two thousand years old!
At this point, my muse is performing a happy dance, whirling around in my
head along with all those ideas, all those possibilities. All I have to do is
weave these magical threads through the story I’ve already imagined and, voila!
I’ve created a fictitious world rooted, to some degree, in reality. For me,
that’s what good paranormal fiction does. It explains the unexplainable, takes
all those unanswered questions and offers a solution.
People often ask me how I come up with the stuff I write. My reply is: by
combining research with imagination. I take all these fantastical articles I’ve
read and tweak them until I have the perfect backdrop for the story I want to
tell. No matter how farfetched these concepts are, they add a touch of realism
to my books and anchor them to the world we know because—as the famous saying
goes—life is stranger than fiction!
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Anne Hope is the author of emotionally intense romances with a twist—a twist
of humor, a twist of suspense, a twist of magic. All her stories, however, have
a common thread. Whether they make you laugh or cry or push you to the edge of
your seat, they all feature the redeeming power of love and the heart's
incredible ability to heal.
Anne's passion for writing began at the age of eight. After penning countless stories about enchanted houses, alien girls with supernatural powers, and children constantly getting lost in the woods, she decided to try her hand at romance.
She lives in Montreal, Canada, with her husband, her two inexhaustible kids, a lazy cat and a rambunctious Australian Kelpie.
Anne's passion for writing began at the age of eight. After penning countless stories about enchanted houses, alien girls with supernatural powers, and children constantly getting lost in the woods, she decided to try her hand at romance.
She lives in Montreal, Canada, with her husband, her two inexhaustible kids, a lazy cat and a rambunctious Australian Kelpie.
Find Anne and her books
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Soul Thief
Dark Souls #0.5
Soul ThiefDark Souls #0.5
"Born to hunt and destroy...until the light of one soul reawakens his own."
Adrian knows he once possessed a soul, but it abandoned him the day he was murdered. The day he was reborn as a Rogue, shunned by humans and hunted by his own kind. By night he feeds the darkness inside him by finding and snuffing out corrupt souls, perfectly content to live as an outcast-until a random act of violence unites him with a woman who makes him feel.
Angelica Paxton believes everyone deserves a second chance. Even her rescuer, a mysterious stranger with hypnotic powers, an unsettling ability to invade her dreams, and a shocking secret. Much as her body wants to succumb to Adrian's seductive charms, she can't. Not without breaking his newly awakened heart.
Adrian swears to protect Angie from his kind, even if staying by her side means volunteering at the center where she works to reform the very souls he has vowed to crush. Even if it means abandoning the shadows for the light. Even if that light exposes the darkest threat he's ever faced. One from which he is powerless to save her...
Warning: This book contains flying subway cars, a woman in jeopardy, a relentless villain who'll stop at nothing to get what he wants, and a dark, sexy hero who could very well haunt your dreams and steal your heart.
Soul BoundDark Souls #1
The one man she wants is the one man destined to destroy her.
Sooner or later we all end up dead. Jace Cutler doesn’t have the luxury of staying that way. After receiving a fatal stab wound, he awakens in a hospital room in Portland, Oregon, with no memory and a big hole where his soul used to be. Worst of all is the glow. Everyone is surrounded by a strange white aura he hungers to possess, none more compelling than the one enveloping Dr. Lia Benson.
Lia has always been ruled by reason, refusing to put stock in such nebulous things as destiny. Until Jace dies in her arms, then miraculously comes back to life. Whenever he’s near, her soul responds and her body burns. And she’s consumed by odd dreams she’s convinced are Jace’s lost memories.
When Lia is kidnapped, Jace tracks her and discovers a shocking explanation for who—and what—he is. Something no longer human, a dark legacy that until now has lain dormant within him. Something that could destroy the one woman he’d sacrifice everything to protect.
Soul Deep Dark Souls #2
"Save her life or save mankind. His choice could cost him his soul. "
For nearly two centuries, Marcus has been the Watchers most faithful soldier. Sworn to protect humanity, driven by an unrelenting compulsion to atone for past sins, he has rarely found a compelling reason to question his mission, let alone defy his leader.
His partner, Regan, is his exact opposite, an enigma he longs to solve. A free spirit and reckless to a fault, Regan acts first and thinks later. Her smart mouth and tender heart have fascinated Marcus for decades, but the Watchers strict vow of celibacy has forced him to ignore the sizzling attraction between them. Until now.
When Regan goes rogue to protect a very special little boy, Marcus is forced to make an impossible choice commit an act of treason or watch the woman he secretly loves die.
Hunted by enemies and allies alike, Regan and Marcus run for their lives, fighting to thwart an age-old prophecy and guard a boy whose destiny may very well be to destroy the world or save it.
Warning: Contains violent battle scenes, angels with twisted agendas, nail-biting suspense, intense emotion, burning-hot sexual tension, and a sexy, stubborn hero who would rather face death than admit what s in his heart.
Soul ChaseDark Souls #3
A man she'd die for, a world she was born to defend... Only one can survive.
For twenty-five years, Adrian has mourned the loss of his soul mate, Angie. He's content to live as an outcast...until a series of abductions forces him out of seclusion and into the arms of the very woman he loved and lost. Angie's reincarnation, Emma.
Emma is on the run, hunted by soulless creatures whose one goal is to possess her soul. They have taken everything: her home, her identity, her mother. Left with no other choice, she must trust her fate to Adrian, the enigmatic stranger who comes to her rescue. An immortal being whose illicit touch makes her blood burn and awakens an inexplicable desire in her heart.
Emma follows Adrian to his isolated community in Arizona, where she is assailed by visions of a past life. As passion ignites and her enemies close in, Emma is drawn into a world where nothing is what it seems and where love could prove the greatest weakness of all.
Warning: Contains a dark, tortured hero, a hunted woman who can't remember loving him, a nasty villain hell-bent on destroying the world, and a timeless love story you won't soon forget.
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