A Diary’s House: Where True Love Endures

 

A Diary’s House is about adventure, lost love, and the hope that dreams, even those in the final years of life, can at last prevail. It is of a young boy’s attempt to become a man, the once-lost secrets of a diary, a sweeping romance which transcends time and place. It is more than a boy’s journey into manhood, but the mysteries of so many lives unknowingly intertwined, now brought together in a climatic ending; all from the engrossing world embedded in a forgotten diary; a diary of a woman.

 

Born in the vast and looming mountains of North Carolina during the 1870’s, Landon Hampshire always remembered the folklore and legendary tales his father told him during his early childhood; about the people of the Kituhwa (Cherokee) and the birth of this tribal nation – an enchanting story he could never forget. Incorporating the aid of an eccentric old French trapper (old man Montague), Landon and his friends set out on an adventure, their initial intention is to discover treasure and become men. But what Landon will eventually come to discover is more than he ever bargained for.

 

Landon didn’t realize his boyhood adventure would yield the incredible journey he ultimately experiences – going down the mysterious and mystical Randola River.  At the base of the river is an island even more mysterious than the Randola itself.

 

The island releases many of its mysterious, yet even many more are created when Landon discovers, on the island, a diary of a young woman who lived forty years prior during the 1830’s (Trail of Tears). The diary entries are hopeful, though haunting. It reveals, in intimate detail, the life and dreams of this very special young girl who is turning into a woman of beauty and adventure, her love for a Cherokee boy, and the trials she will ultimately face. Her story unfolds through the reading of her diary, and Landon suddenly finds himself caught up in a sweeping, empowering world of re-invention and ultimate redemption.

 

 

C. David Murphy

 

I am a writer; first and foremost. Anyone who reads my works will instantly know this.  I have found no greater joy on this earth than to be close to God and nature; exploring the serenity of landscapes, waterfalls, epic mountains, meadows and grasslands. To sit on those spots of earth and write to where my imagination will take me yields a tremendous amount of peace and serenity.. To create characters with true and genuine emotions, feel their heartbeat thru every word I write; their trails, their hopes and ambitions; to breathe life into their eyes and see their soul become one with me and the reader is absolutely amazing. I simply love to create on that venue and canvas; to affect change in the lives of others. It is my hope, when someone picks up my stories and reads the full weight of them, that somehow I have affected change in their lives, brought them to places they could never have imagined before, and moved them to believe in humanity again – to go out into the world and create ‘goodwill towards all’.

 

The Diary’s House is C David Murphy’s first digitally published novel.  He is also the author of two Shakespearean-style genre plays In the Years of the Ages and Hildengrass. He is currently finalizing his next novel, When Tomorrow Never Comes and The Chronicles of Good and Evil – Dracula’s Lair / The Darkest Tower, both due out later this year. Also, the sequel to A Diary’s House is in the works – The Long Journey Home due out the first part of 2013.

 

Follow Blog / Twitter / Facebook / Goodreads

Buy Amazon /Barnes & Noble /Smashwords / Kobo

Tell us a little bit about your book and have you published before?

 

This novel has been through quite a journey to get to this point, and it nearly didn’t make it to publication. About a decade ago, the original manuscript was sent to a variety of publishers with some viable interest for publication, but I decided to wait on it for awhile. I suppose there were some things that I needed to do with it, but also I didn’t think the timing was right – now I do. ‘A Diary’s House’ is based in the mountains of North Carolina just after the Civil War. It relates the life of a young boy (Landon Hampshire) growing up in his youth and trying to become a young man. The diary he discovers reveals the secrets of a world nearly forty years before. Through this diary he becomes more than a witness on the generations of life, the bounty of love, what true love really means, and the rekindling of lost love – but he finds himself living within its boundaries as his own life unfolds. The diary is of a young woman who lived during the times of the Trail of Tears, how she fell in love with a young Cherokee boy, the troubles and trials that this would present, and the endurance of love throughout all times. It turns into a sweeping romance which transcends time and place. It’s more than a boy’s journey into manhood, but the mysteries of so many lives unknowingly intertwined, now brought together in a climatic ending; all from the engrossing world embedded in a forgotten diary; a diary of a woman.

 

This book is my first publication, but there are certainly more to come…

 

 

Will this be the only book in the series?

 

An interersting question – the novel is actually the first of three in a series. I initally had only a sequel, but in review of the storyline threads, character developments and setting placements, it’s just not conceivable to go with one sequel, but to continue on with two prominent installments. The next will be called ‘The Long Journey Home’. It will encompass the early life of Landon Hamsphire as he discovers love to be a most complex thing; not easily defined, and that such a definition can easily sway and alter through one’s life. It is about 20% complete at this point.

 

Are you currently working on anything else?

 

My next novel ‘When Tomorrow Never Comes’ will eventually have a sequel novel as well.

 

‘When Tomorrow Never Comes’ is complete – just a few tweaks here and there. It is a family drama with real and viable circumstances. The compelling nature of this story tests the very will of the ‘James’ family in ways they could never have imagined – before actually falling into a tragic world for survival. It’s an American family tale which should resonate with a large audience base. You discover how lives can change and alter in ways that are very, very unscripted. It’s based on a true story – a relationship novel with many layers.

 

The third novel in the pipeline is -

 

 ‘The Chronicles of Good and Evil – Dracula’s Lair/The Darkest Tower’ (which is in it’s final edits) is the beginning of a series of books. It is the galactic struggle for humanity. A Christian fictional novel – its composition turns visionary and will provoke the debate on how humanity should travel and how the age-old war between good and evil is truly universal. Timing placed aside, it is a story which will resonate into today’s world – very much so. I wanted to create a form of Christian ‘superhero’s’, if you will, a legion of angels. I believe it is a provocative tale which delves in the real life and times of Dracula, the true battles of Satan and God, and how attrition war for humanity still greatly affects us today. I am truly excited about this novel.This book will be a series of books, perhaps as many as seven in all.

 

 

Do you have any advice for authors wanting to publish? (Why did you choose to go indie? If this applies – If not why traditional)

 

Don’t short-change your writing or don’t get to full of yourself. Always know where you are, who you are, how your writing skills stand up and what you need to do to improve them anytime during your journey – through your entire writing career. If you get settled, then you lose the basic passion for the reasons why you do what you do. Self-evaluation is the key; prudent, discerning self-evaluation. Knowing this part of yourself and your writing is very critical.

 

As far as Indie vs traditional publishing – I’ll answer it this way: The biggest factor is that there is now a concrete avenue for writers under the ‘Indie’ autonomy which gives the writers the necessary freedom to ‘test’ their works in the open market. Before, you had to wait weeks, if not months for publishers to go through the ‘snail-process’ of accepting or rejecting your work. If, after you are successful in this venue, then you are looking at months, perhaps years before your work is exposed to the general public. There are also greater bounds for success in the ‘Indie’ process, though the arena might be convoluted with a vast array of entries for the readers to choose from. The reader now has the freedom to choose what they like and what they want to read.

 

What is your favorite writing snack?  

 

Oh goodness! Anything quick – don’t want to defer too much time away from writing, especially if I am in the middle of a scene. Probably similar to what I am having now – a granola bar…

 

What gets you in the mood to write?

 

That’s an easy one: music. Music with symphonic, instrumental elements in it. I listen to the type of music which best fits the coming scene I am writing. I suppose music perhaps is my conduit, but not my particular muse

 

Who is your favorite character and why?

 

It would have to be the main character in ‘A Diary’s House’ – Landon Hamphire. This is the beginning of his world, and in essence, it is the beginning on a series of books. This novel deals with his earliest years, the times of his youth, which can be a perilous time – the fancies and joys within his own imagination which lead to a most unforgettable journey. In some respects it is the most important of the three novels because, not only does it set the table of how his character is formed, but also elements within this novel are the woven backbone for many of the elements in the proceeding novels. As with life, many things prevail in our youth which will ultimately have a very large sayso in the person you later become. Landon Hampshire is no different.

 

Favorite book of all time?

 

Probably my favorite novel (or short story) is ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens. It is a truly poignant tale about the sympathy needs for all of humanity. And it is told through the real and powerful characterization abilities of Charles Dickens. Such a story should really move everyone to do more for humanity. It truly expresses the real need for humanity to guard against apathy, and also to appeal to the charity in all of us for the less fortunate. It held a striking impression on me growing up, and it brought to life this story to the point that I have read it numerous times. 

 

 

I think breakfast says a lot about a person, what is your perfect breakfast? 

 

Well, I suppose my perfect breakfast would be lean, high protein with good fiber thrown into the mix (don’t forget orange juice). Three eggs, sunny side up, with two or three pieces of lightly buttered double fiber toast. I’m not sure what that says about me – I hope thats good!

 

Do you have a favorite period of time that you like to write about or would like to live?

 

The time just after the Civil War caught my fancy for this particular book. I just felt it would be the perfect time period for ‘A Diary’s House’. With regards to setting backdrops to my works, I’d like to think I can be diverse and utilize a variety of times and places in each work that I write. ‘When Tomorrow Never Comes’ is contemporary, whereas ‘The Chronicles of Good and Evil’ is set in Romania around 1471 or so. Each place and time carries its own weight and importance within human history. It would be no less in what I write. I try to use a pivotal time and setting; one that will ultimately bring out the best novel possible.

 

As far as where I would like to live – I suppose I live in the times that I am in – that is how God planned it for me. It’s my journey and my personal responsibility to find out truly what my destiny, according to his will, ends up being. I never really think on the terms ‘if I had lived two hundred years ago’. If so, then my life would have been entirely different and I wouldn’t be on the path that I am on…

 

 

Please tell us in one sentence why we should read your book!

 

Because there is real passion in ‘A Diary’s House’; and the soul and breath in which the life of the novel lives within – the end result is a breathtaking story of love, the longing and yearning for redemption, and the deep connections of true love which are finally brought together in its very climatic ending.  

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us today and I see a huge writing career ahead of you!

Okay fans, be sure to pick up this book it is FANTASTIC and on sale for only $0.99 right now get it HERE