Interview of Alana Lorens' characters from Voodoo Dreams.

 Are you ready for VOODOO DREAMS?

Linda Jennings here for KDKA-2 in Pittsburgh, sitting with two local lawyers, Brianna Ward and Evan Farrell, who have recently returned from a visit to New Orleans—I’d say vacation, but it sounds like more of a nightmare!  Isn’t that right, Brianna?

Brianna: I don’t know if I’d say it was a nightmare, exactly, but—”

Evan, breaking in: I sure as hell would. Have you ever been in a swamp? I don’t mean a soaked back yard out in Indiana Township, I mean a swamp, with mosquitos the size of hummingbirds and long, twisty vines hanging everywhere. And gators…”

Brianna, in an odd voice: Yeah. Gators.  *she takes a deep breath*

Linda:  But I thought you went to go to Mardi Gras. You know, Bourbon Street, parades, bling, parties, that kind of thing. Worst you can get from all that is a hangover. Sometimes a really bad, bad painful hangover. *rueful grin* No swamps in town. So, how did that come about?

Evan *looks at Brianna* : Because some people are stubborn as a big old rock.

Brianna:  It’s true we went to enjoy Mardi Gras. Well, we weren’t even “we” then. I went down and he went down, but we weren’t together.

Evan: Not till we got to the bed and breakfast.

Brianna: Right. The last person I wanted to see.

Linda: I understand you’d just lost a big case to Evan’s law firm, isn’t that right, Brianna?

Brianna *glares*: Thanks so much for announcing that to the general public.

Linda:  Sorry. Just looking for context. But Evan, you ran into her at the B&B and thought she needed a date?

Evan: What? No! She just kept getting herself in trouble! First she met this sleazy guy at the airport—”

Brianna: Copper wasn’t sleazy!

Evan: Yeah? Fine. He was worse. He was a voodoo priest.

Linda *with a disbelieving laugh* Voodoo. Really? In the 21^st century? Surely that doesn’t exist any more. If it ever did.

Evan: They’ve got a whole museum there all about it, with snakes and stuffed dead animals and zombis and everything. Check it out if you don’t believe it. And this Copper Delacroix was one hundred percent for real.  *eyes Brianna* He caught her with a riddle and dragged her in.

Linda:  And you had to follow her. A real knight in shining armor. *wide smile*

Brianna:  *rolls her eyes* He’s a meddling fool, you mean. Just because he used to be a cop…

Evan: Oh, really? That’s what you think? Next time I’ll let the gator eat you.

Linda: *completely oblivious to the undercurrent* Next time? Well that’s great that you’re planning a return visit to the Crescent City. I remember the year I went there for Mardi Gras…well, now that I think of it, there’s a lot I don’t remember about that visit. I had a couple of those Vieux Carre cocktails, and then suddenly it was Monday. Huh.  *gets control of her little memorial walkabout there* Right, but we’re here now. No one died, right?

*neither one of them reply*

Linda *a little surprised* :  Oh. Well. Moving on. Lawyers in love? Who’d believe they even have hearts? Am I right?

Evan *getting up* We’re done here.

Brianna: So done. Come on.  *they walk off the set*

Linda: *fumbling a little* Well, wasn’t that special? Traveling anywhere to get away from the Pittsburgh winter is something on many people’s to-do list—stay tuned for a round up of quick weekend getaways with Barbi St. James. Back in five!”

***

VOODOO DREAMS by Alana Lorens

When her big trial goes bad, corporate attorney Brianna Ward can’t wait to get out of Pittsburgh. The Big Easy seems like the perfect place to rest, relax, and forget about the legal business. Too bad an obnoxious—but handsome—lawyer from a rival firm is checking into the same bed and breakfast.

 Attorney Evan Farrell has Mardi Gras vacation plans too. When he encounters fiery and attractive Brianna, however, he puts the Bourbon Street party on hold. He’d much rather devote himself to her—especially when a mysterious riddle appears in her bag, seeming to threaten danger.

Strangely compelled to follow the riddle’s clues, Brianna is pulled deeper into the twisted schemes of a voodoo priest bent on revenge. To escape his poisonous web, she must work with Evan to solve the curse. But is the growing love they feel for each other real? Or just a voodoo dream?

Excerpt:

Brianna snatched a triangle-folded paper from her bag and dropped it onto the table between them. It sat there, looking fairly harmless. Evan studied it from the top, from the side, not seeing any sort of wire or other device that could cause a shock.

“It stung me. Like a jolt of electricity.”

 “You said you ‘saw’ something. Was that when you touched it?”

 “Look, it clearly wasn’t real. I don’t want to think about it.”

Frustrated, he took matters into his own hands, literally. He reached for it, ready to draw back when it zapped him. But it didn’t. He cocked an eyebrow at her.

 “Just throw it in the trash,” she said.

In the trash? I don’t think so. Not after this whole scene. Something’s going on here. If there’s a threat or danger of some kind, we’ll report it to the police and move on. He spread the white sheet flat.

Thickly-inked black letters jumped out at him.

WHAT YOU SEEK IS WITHIN YOUR GRASP.

YOU MUST PASS THROUGH DANGER

WHERE SAND BECOMES WATER

AND THE GREATEST PERIL IS TO BE ALONE.

THE PRIZED POSSESSION OF YOUR ENEMY

IS YOUR KEY TO THE CITIES OF THE DEAD.

FIND THERE THE BLOOD-RED FLOWER.

MAKE YOUR SACRIFICE

TO SHOW YOUR PURITY OF HEART.

THEN WILL YOUR DEBT BE SATISFIED.

“What the hell kind of crap is this? Where did you get it?” Mystified, he read it again. But the words didn’t make any more sense the second time. Or the third.

VOODOO DREAMS is FREE!!! December 17-21 

at Amazon.com 

Alana Lorens dreamed for many years of being a spaceship captain, but settled instead for inspired excursions into fictional places with fascinating companions from her imagination that she likes to share with others. She has been a published writer for over thirty years, including seven years as a reporter and editor at a newspaper in Homestead, Florida, with a list of eclectic publications from horror to tech reporting to television reviews. She writes urban fantasy and science fiction under the name of Lyndi Alexander. The Elf Queen, her first novel, was released by Dragonfly Publishing in July 2010; the series continued with The Elf Child, The Elf Mage and The Elf Guardian. She’s now working on the space opera Horizon Crossover series, and a YA trilogy, The Color of Fear—the first book, WINDMILLS, was published by Zumaya Publications this summer.  Writing as Alana Lorens, she produces romance and romantic suspense, including the Pittsburgh Lady Lawyer series, CONVICTION OF THE HEART, SECOND CHANCES, and the latest, VOODOO DREAMS, released by The Wild Rose Press in October 2013.

She is a single mother of seven, with two special needs children at home with her in Pennsylvania, and she volunteers at her local shelter for domestic violence victims, believing in every person’s right to be safe.

For more information, see Alana’s website and check out her Facebook page to become a friend!  Happy holidays to you and enjoy!