Of Gaea Page 26

  Ari let him chatter on the walk back. She had no doubt she would love the land. She always connected well with natural environments. It was the people she was worried about.

  After millennia without Gaea, would they really accept her presence without waves? Who would listen to a young girl that claimed to be the Goddess reborn? Who would truly believe?

  She wasn’t naïve enough to believe all the Tainted and Pure were dead from one little skirmish. What influences did they have in Sparta? And would she really be as safe as everyone insisted she would?

  She was about to find out. Whether she wanted to or not. This was only the beginning.

  And so we’ve reached the end. A first book is scary stuff and there’s so much I should say, and yet, I don’t want to bore anyone with a long winded speech.

  Chiefly, I need to thank Melissa and Lana from Girls *Heart* Books. Their patience and prodding is the only reason I even considered publishing to begin with. I never thought I could. Thank you girls, for believing in me (even when I didn’t.)

  Anna, who is a supreme, chiefest of editors must be congratulated for making it through the poor (initial editing) of the book. She is worth her weight in diamonds. (I would have said gold, but gold is just not valuable enough.)

  Beta Readers, and Bloggers that participated in the ARC readings and reviews I also thank you for your time and your love.

  I am always forever grateful to my family, who, showed admirable restraint when I was a little more than difficult to deal with. Thank you for not burying me in a shallow grave. Or feeding me to pigs.

  Well, I made it.

  I never thought I would get here. After a year of writing, revisions, editing and rewriting, it’s finally done. Writing a book is scary, serious business.

  Thank you everyone who has made it to this page. You mean the world to me.

  A lot of thought and research went into Of Gaea. And a lot of instances where the characters told me how they were going to do things instead. But that’s the fun part of writing. It’s never exactly as I imagine it to be.

  I love Greek mythology, and I’m so happy to be able to write from an inspiration of Gaea. The Goddess of the Earth really isn’t featured directly as she’s usually passed by for the more common Pantheon. While I didn’t use any story of her directly for writing, the heart and soul of her remain.

  All the names littered throughout have a meaning. Some of the more traditional Greek are harder to say (I practiced in a mirror several times and I can’t even say them half the time) but I felt it added more to the story to have that essence in there.

  A quick list:

  Ariadne – Very Holy

  Alissandre (Sasha) – Warrior

  Kleisthenes – It’s actually a variation of Cleisthenes, a man, who is credited with reforming the Constitution.

  Ghita – Pearl

  Lyris – Lyre

  Eryx – Greek Mythology – the son of Poseidon and Aphrodite

  Damia – To Tame, or subdue (It actually has several variations, this is my selection.)

  Leonidas – Lion like. (And I’m sure everyone has seen 300, by now.)

  Thalia – Flourishing (Or Muse of Comedy)

  Miera – Light

  Nasya – Immortal

  Erelah – Holy Messenger

  Erabos – Offspring of Chaos and brother to Nyx

  There are some character names I didn’t add to this list as they’re appearing in the second book. I’ll include them there since that will have more of their life in it rather than just a brief mention of.

  The location is partly created and partly from my childhood living in Virginia/Maryland mountains. I loved living there. The Blue Ridge Mountains are truly beautiful in any season and I definitely encourage the tourism! It is seriously a great place to go. While Highland Valley doesn’t truly exist there is a small town in the mountains close to Ohio that is very, very similar.

  Civil war buffs would have noticed all my street names, save two were named after great men of the civil war. It’s actually common in that area; we’re proud of our history. And I think it’s important to tease the mind with the familiar.

  I hope this story turned out every bit as good as you wanted it to. I tried to make it realistic but full of magic and possibilities as well. Life is all about the possibilities and what we do with them.

  Hopefully the second edition – Of Sparta will be available soon. I look forward to sharing that instalment with you. Until then, may Gaea protect you.

  Once upon a time, long, long ago, Victoria was born in sunny Florida, except it wasn’t sunny; it was the middle of the night. Midnight actually, well, two minutes past, but she tried really hard for midnight.

  Victoria has been to twenty one schools in her lifetime. With all the continual switching around, she’s relied on her imagination for friends and books for close companions. In high school she remained apart from the whole and spent most of her time in the library either reading or writing.

  Currently, Victoria has set down roots in New York with her family. She still reads and writes every day. She finished her debut novel Of Gaea in the spring of 2013 and is working on the sequel and many other projects.

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