Featured Interview With Nancy M Bell
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Hi Everyone, I was grew up in West Hill on the outskirts of Toronto but have lived in Alberta for over 25 years. I love the west but I do miss the Muskokas and cottage country in Ontario. And the lakes, oh my I miss those lakes. I have 5 cats, 2 dogs and 3 horses currently, but as I work for an animal rescue in Calgary there are always foster animals joining the pack. My books inevitably include horses and dogs as either catalysts to drive the plot forward or as minor characters. In A Step Beyond, the big grey stallion Alim steals a lot of scenes. The Longview Romance series centres around Storm, a rescue dog who helps bring my two main characters together.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
As young as three I remember knowing the story of Tonka Wonka the Great One off by heart because my grandmother used to read to us every night before bed. That and the beginning paragraph of Black Beauty are among my earliest memories. I’ve been scribbling words on paper for as long as I can remember. Poems, short stories, random ramblings…I still have them, written in a childish cursive hand. My first publication was in the local newspaper the Scarborough Mirror while I was in grade school. They published a short story or two of mine.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I love Charles de Lint, his urban fantasy mixes Celtic mythology with the every day world. Mercedes Lackey is another favourite and just for a change Patrick Taylor’s Irish Country series. I read most everything except horror and thriller. There are enough monsters in the world today with my giving them extra power by reading about them. I’m inspired by the world around me and my connection to it. The dynamics of relationships and the courage and generosity of heart of the animals who share out world.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
Dead Dogs Talk is the second in the Alberta Adventures series. The first is Wild Horse Rescue where Laurel Rowan and friends defy the rules to save a band of wild horses from being rounded up and shipped for meat. Dead Dogs Talk features the same group of characters trying to save some dogs from a dog fighting ring and expose a group of puppy mills. It’s not all doom and gloom and there is some angst and romance involved. Not to mention the glorious backdrop of ranch life in southern Alberta. This is work in progress, anticipated release date is September 2020. It’s taken me almost a year to bring this work to fruition. Laurel and her friend Carly are out checking cattle in the fall when they come across an injured dog near a gravel range road and then another dog nearby who didn’t make it. Carly’s brother Chance comes reluctantly to the rescue. He harbours unrequited feelings toward Laurel and is running with a rough crowd, but he does show up and takes Laurel and the dog to the vet clinic. Showing a softer side reminiscent of the boy Laurel used to count as a close friend, he gives the injured dog the name of his childhood Darby.
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