TESS RIDER
  • Home
  • Books
    • Bring Me to Ruin
    • Before My World Turned Blue
  • Blogs
    • Gluten Free Romance
    • The Life Romantic
  • About
    • Contact
    • Media Kit
    • Privacy Policy
  • Newsletter

The Life Romantic

IN PURSUIT OF GREAT ROMANCE

Hearst Castle ~ Part 1: Dreamy memories

3/2/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
In a few weeks I'll be making a short trip down the California coast to San Simeon to celebrate birthdays with some of the ladies in my family. Destination: Hearst Castle. The romance and drama of the castle perched in the hills overlooking the Pacific Ocean has always appealed to me. A few years ago, my husband and I visited the famed estate of William Randolph Hearst. Here are some of my favorite moments from that tour (2013). I think it could be fun to set a romantic thriller here. What do you think?
0 Comments

Emerging from hibernation

2/19/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Picture
So it's not quite spring yet, but I'm finally emerging from my post-Christmas hibernation. I haven't been idle, however. During my self-imposed solitude and social media blackout, I officially finished the first draft of book three in my Haunted Hollow series. Actually, it's a novella and a novel. But more about that later.

Who else out there thinks spring can't come too soon? And what do you like to do during the cold, wet winter months to keep from getting cabin fever?

Speaking of coming out of hibernation, I discovered inspiration for a new character in the "bear doctors" of the Pomo Indians who populated Northern California for ten thousand years before the arrival of white Europeans. He'll be bringing a new perspective and a new mythology to the world of the Haunted Hollow. 

But this new character needs a name. 

    Vote for my new male character's name. He's Pomo Indian, a charismatic leader for his people, strong as a grizzly with a chip on his shoulder, and a potential future hero. 

Vote
0 Comments

Early History of my fictional town, Radley's Hollow

1/12/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Long before Jamison Donovan Radley settled in the area that eventually became Radley’s Hollow, California, the Pomo Indians lived there. The Pomo built their villages along the Russian River in fertile valleys thick with oak and madrone forests. They hunted elk, bears and mountain lions. Despite exploration of California's coasts by European sailing vessels, from the 1500's to the early 1800's the Russian River Valley and its inhabitants remained unchanged.
In the early 1840s, Jamison Donovan Radley, heir to a wealthy East Coast family, set up mining and logging operations in what will eventually become west Sonoma County. In 1847, he founds Radley’s Hollow, but not without tragedy. His beautiful second wife, Madison, is mysteriously murdered. Her ghost will haunt the town for the next three hundred years.
Picture
Picture
Known as a place of dangerous visions and unstable power, the Pomo treated the hollow Radley’s Hollow is named for as a sacred place. They warn JD Radley that settling near it will lead to catastrophe. Undaunted, JD is drawn to the hollow and to the secret buried underneath it. It’s thanks to that secret that JD becomes an extremely wealthy man and launches an empire. Losing his wife is just the beginning of the price he and his descendants will pay for treading where no human should go.
0 Comments

Moody photos for a moody day

1/8/2017

0 Comments

 
These wet, winter days make me think of gothic romances and moody cemeteries. Here are some moody, gothic photos I took at our local Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, CA. Incidentally, the cemetery is as lovey in rainy, gray weather as it is in the sun, and is a great place for picnics and walks. 
0 Comments
    Newsletter

    Tess Rider

    writes romance at the crossroads of the paranormal, science fiction, and fantasy. She lives with her wonderfully eccentric husband in an equally quirky Victorian in the San Francisco Bay Area. An avid cat lover in search of her next cat, Tess is a huge fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Doctor Who. She’s an accountant by day, a novelist by night, and an artist at heart 24/7.

    Books ~
    Available in eBook format at all major online retailers.
    Click books for buy links.
    Picture
    Picture

    Archives

    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    April 2016

    Categories

    All
    Afro-Caribbean Religions
    Alameda
    Art
    Books
    California
    Cats
    Cemeteries
    Day Of The Dead
    Events
    Excerpts
    Fantasy & Urban Fantasy
    Fashion
    Giveaway
    History
    Romance
    Science Fiction Romance
    Seasonal
    Sonoma County
    Steampunk
    The Fae
    The Haunted Hollow
    The Life Romantic
    Travel

    RSS Feed

© 2019 Therese Rittenbach | PRIVACY POLICY | 
  • Home
  • Books
    • Bring Me to Ruin
    • Before My World Turned Blue
  • Blogs
    • Gluten Free Romance
    • The Life Romantic
  • About
    • Contact
    • Media Kit
    • Privacy Policy
  • Newsletter