UFI welcomes Elaine Calloway Author of Water's Blood. Thanks for Joining us!!
The
Setting for Water’s Blood - Ins and Outs of New Orleans
By
Elaine Calloway
When I first began to draft the Elemental Clan
Series, I immediately knew the Water Elemental story would need to be set in
New Orleans. For one, the Crescent City makes an ideal backdrop for any
paranormal tale. But growing up there and experiencing my share of hurricanes,
I’m more than familiar with the powerful force Water can be.
Setting Brooke and Alex’s story in my hometown was a
given, but New Orleans is more than the tourist highlights or what people hear
about--Bourbon Street, the Quarter, a swamp tour to see alligators. Those
things only skim the surface of a beautiful city with many faces.
Like an intricate tapestry, New Orleans has many
unique pieces that weave together to make a whole. The Victorian Uptown homes
with oval glass doors and ornate trim; the eclectic shops and eateries in the
Garden District; the Lake Front and its green rolling levees; the cemetery
district with crypts above ground.
I chose one of my favorite areas, Mid-City, to set
Water’s Blood. Cemeteries and neighborhoods are adjacent to one another, a
factoid I incorporated into the plot. Every street is shaded by a canopy of
ancient live oaks draped in Spanish moss. The shotgun homes appear small from
the street, but extend back for a city block, with all rooms connected from a
main hallway that stretches from the front door to the back door. Mid-City was
the ideal spot for Brooke, Alex, and Ella.
Cemetery
Photo:
Mid-City
neighborhood:
Mid-City
shotgun house:
For the antagonist Fallen Angels, I picked the
French Quarter because of the abundance of black wrought iron in the
architecture. The Quarter also contains Bourbon Street, long known for its decadent
ways and excess living. The setting seemed ideal, and this was a way to
incorporate natural architecture trends into the story.
Readers have mentioned that the streets of New
Orleans come alive in Water’s Blood. My hope is that, even if you have never
experienced the Crescent City, that you get a taste for her culture and beauty
when you read Water’s Blood.
To connect with Elaine Calloway online or learn more
about the Elemental Clan series, visit her on the Web at www.elainecalloway.com.
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Book Two, RAGING FIRE, will be released summer 2013.
Water's BloodThe Elemental Clan #1
Nature’s Elementals—Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water—have lived for countless millennia. Disguised as humans, they are charged with one mission: protect the innocent from fallen angel clans, who reap human souls and force them to do their bidding.
Brooke, a Water Elemental stationed in New Orleans, broke the rules once—she mated with a human. For her indiscretion, she is forbidden to share a life with her loved ones: NOPD officer Alex and their half-breed daughter, Ella.
Now Ella is about to turn sixteen, and the local clan of fallen angels is determined to snare her soul by Halloween.
Brooke broke the rules once by allowing love to interfere with her mission. Now she and Alex must put consequences aside to break the rules again—if they wish to save their daughter’s soul.
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