The Writer’s Tool: The Red Siren by MaryLu Tyndall

This week, the

is introducing

Barbour Publishing, Inc (January 2009)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

M. L. (MARYLU) TYNDALL grew up on the beaches of South Florida loving the sea and the warm tropics. But despite the beauty around her, she always felt an ache in her soul--a longing for something more.

After college, she married and moved to California where she had two children and settled into a job at a local computer company. Although she had done everything the world expected, she was still miserable. She hated her job and her marriage was falling apart.

Still searching for purpose, adventure and true love, she spent her late twenties and early thirties doing all the things the world told her would make her happy, and after years, her children suffered, her second marriage suffered, and she was still miserable.

One day, she picked up her old Bible, dusted it off, and began to read. Somewhere in the middle, God opened her hardened heart to see that He was real, that He still loved her, and that He had a purpose for her life, if she'd only give her heart to Him completely.

Her current releases in the Legacy of The Kings Pirates series include: The Restitution, The Reliance, and The Redemption, and The Falcon And The Sparrow

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Lady Faith Westcott has turned her back on God and on man. Having witnessed the hypocrisy in the Church of England, her older sister's abuse at the hand of her husband, and her own mother's untimely death in childbirth, Faith has determined never to marry and to gain enough wealth so she and her two sisters will never have to depend on man or God again.

To that end, though a lady by day, she becomes a pirate by night and begins her sordid career off Portsmouth when she attacks and plunders a merchant ship commanded by the young Dajon Waite. Humiliated at being defeated by a pirate and a woman no less, Dajon returns home without cargo and ship, and his father expels him from the family merchant business.

After a brief sojourn into debased society, Dajon rejoins the Royal Navy, where he finds comfort in the strict rules and redemption through his service to others. Three years later, he is sent to the frontier outpost of Charles Town, South Carolina to deal with the pirate problem. There, he connects with his mentor and old friend, Admiral Westcott, who has just arrived with his three daughters.

Much to Dajon's utter dismay, Admiral Westcott, who is being called away to Spain, asks Dajon to be temporary guardian of his three lovely daughters. One of the ladies seems familiar to him, a striking redhead who immediately sends his heart thumping.

Faith recognizes Captain Waite as the buffoon whose ship she plundered off Portsmouth. Yet, he appears no longer the fool, but instead a tall, handsome and commanding naval officer. Despite her immediate attraction to him, she labels him the enemy, but sparks are guaranteed to fly during the next few months when independent, headstrong and rebellious Faith falls in love with God-fearing honorable, rule-following Dajon-especially when Faith continues her pirating off the Carolina coast while her father is away.

Will Dajon catch her? And what will this man of honor and duty do when he does?

If you would like to read the first chapter of The Red Siren, go HERE

This post is late because of computer issues I've had with my laptop. Late Monday, the hard drive crashed. I had already asked MaryLu to post in place of my review. But now I'm trying to get this up on my husband's laptop--so toally different from mine. And as I'm sure you've noticed, it isn't as complete as usual. But this is the first time I've had the time to get this done. I'll come back and fix things when I'm back on my own computer.

So here's MaryLu. I'm glad we can welcome her back to The Writer's Tool.

Thank you, Margie, for hosting me and my new release, The Red Siren, on your blog! Here’s a few facts about me that may help your readers get to know me a bit better:

I’d rather sit on a warm tropical beach and watch the waves lap over the shore than do about anything else in the world.
My husband and I have 6 kids and 4 cats.
I grew up without a father.
I’d rather eat buttered popcorn than any other snack.
I received my first contract on the very first book I wrote.
I’ve only been writing seriously for five years.
My husband and I were both unbelievers when we got married.
My husband had a road to Damascus salvation experience that knocked him into the Kingdom.

The idea for The Red Siren came to me while I was walking on a hill behind my house. (A place I often go when I need to pray or think). I’d been doing some research on female pirates. (Yes, female pirates existed.) In fact, there were many of them throughout history. I wanted to write a story about a lady pirate, but I wanted to center it around a spiritual theme. As I was walking and talking this over with God, he clearly brought the parable of the sower to the forefront of my thoughts. In case you aren’t familiar with the parable, it’s the story of the sower who scatters seed over four types of ground: the wayside, the rocky soil, the thorny soil, and the good soil. The seed represents Gods Word, and the soil represents different types of people who hear the word. The seed on the wayside is quickly snatched away by Satan. The seed on the rocky soil has no depth, no roots and the person quickly falls away from God when tribulations come. The seed on the thorny ground begins to grow, but the cares and pleasures of this world make it unfruitful, and the seed on the good soil, sprouts, grows, and produces a good crop. So I decided to use the last three seeds in the parable as themes for the three books in my Charles Towne Belles Trilogy.

Faith Westcott, the heroine in The Red Siren, represents the 2nd seed that falls on the rocky soil. She grew up as a believer, but her faith was shallow and when a series of tragedies struck, she walked away from God and decided to take things into her own hands. To rescue her and her sisters from forced marriages, she decides she must acquire enough wealth so they can live independently and choose their own husbands. Back in 1718, women didn’t have many options to acquire wealth outside of marriage. At least not the kind of wealth she needed. So, what does this stubborn, independent, courageous woman do? She becomes a secret pirate by night. Of course she does, wouldn’t you? LOL. Well, perhaps not all of us would be so daring. But her plans come to a screeching halt when she encounters Captain Dajon Waite, a British Naval officer sent to Charles Towne to quell the recent surge in piracy.

Book 2, The Blue Enchantress (August 2009), is about the seed that falls on the thorny soil and is the story of Hope Westcott who is lured away from God by her desperate need for male attention and love. And book 3, The Raven Saint (January2010), is about the third sister, Grace Westcott, a woman desperate to spread the good news of the gospel, but who finds herself kidnapped by a mercenary determined to sell her to a Spanish Don.

I love to center all my novels around strong spiritual themes. It is my hope that people who read them are not only entertained but that they are drawn closer to God in the process. God Bless you and have a wonderful day!