SEELIE KAY: Postcards from The Ledge: This week in The Loft: Author Augustina Van Hoven!

Joining me today in The Loft is author Augustina Van Hoven. Augustina writes paranormal romance. Whether it’s traveling through a crack in time, interacting with the dead, or meeting the supernatural creatures living among us, her characters find love in unexpected places. When she’s not writing, she likes to work in her garden or in the winter months, crochet and knit on her knitting machines. Augustina was born in the Netherlands, but currently resides in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and three cats.

Author Augustina Van Hoven

S: Good morning, Augustina. Thanks for joining me in The Loft today!

When it comes to writing romance, do you consider yourself a dreamer or a realist?

A: I’m definitely a dreamer. I always ask the question, “What if?" I think I can sum it up with a line from the movie made of my favorite musical, Man of La Mancha. “Perhaps to be practical is madness or maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it ought to be.”

S: Life as it ought to be. That's a great vision for a writer.

How did you meet your current partner? When did you know he was “the one?”

A: I met my husband in high school. I had a strange dream the night before in which I met someone special and his friends. There was only one person I recognized, a boy named Dale. I looked him up the next day. Through him, I met all the others. I knew Stuart was the one when I set down a copy of "Lord of the Rings," my favorite book, and it turned out to be his favorite as well.

S: That sounds like a relationship that was meant to be.

If you had to do it all over again, would you still choose to write books?

A: I’ve always loved writing. All through school, I wrote short stories and poems. The only thing I’d change is to try to get published earlier.

S: What inspires your stories?

A: Many of my stories are inspired by music. I hear a line in a song and my mind starts building a story around it.

S: What’s the best advice you have ever been given?

A: Write every day and don’t stop until the book is finished.

S: That's something I need to put on a sign and post over my desk.

What inspired "The Discovery?"

A: This story was inspired by the song, "The Rain, The Park, and Other Things," by the Cowsills. The song talks about a man who meets a girl with flowers in her hair sitting in the rain in a park. The song is about the hippie movement of the sixties. I knew there was a different story in it and it kept playing over and over again in my mind until I realized the girl was actually one of the water fae.

S: Is there anything special you would like people to know about "The Discovery?"

A: The story is part of The Tovenaar series. Have you ever wondered why all cultures on earth have the same myths and legends? Men who can turn into animals, men who drink the blood of others, elves, fairies, magic? It’s because these things are real. The Tovenaar series explains who these people are, where they come from, and why they’re here.

Here's the blurb--

Humans aren’t safe in Avalyn’s paranormal world, but to one man, that doesn’t matter…

Karl Hansen’s greatest skill—besides his ability to develop illegal concoctions—is his instinct for survival. When Karl’s position as head chemist in a drug cartel looks like it might turn deadly, he goes on the lam. Karl’s working as a barista in a small Oregon town—legal concoctions this time—when he meets Avalyn. He’s felled by her, fairy wings and all. She vanishes into the mist, and he’ll brave any danger to find her.

Saving fellow refugees from the hidden magical world is all that matters to Avalyn of the water Fae. She is on a mission to help the shifters, vampires, elves, and other members of this community who have managed to escape that dangerous world. Then she meets Karl. Though they see each other only once, and only for a moment, she cannot get him out of her mind. But he’s human. He’ll die. Is she willing to spend the rest of her immortal life alone?