I can personally recommend Heaven’s Gate to anyone looking for a great story about what happens when our energy leaves our bodies at the moment of death. I personally know this author and she has the background and expertise to make her story totally believable. This was a great interview. You will find the link to Deborah’s book at the end.
Quickly, give us the title and genre of your book and a short tagline:
The title of my novel is Heaven’s Gate.
Heaven’s Gate is a fiction novel about a young man who finds the location of heaven’s gate by tracking energy as it leaves the body at the moment of death only to discover that someone is collecting the energy and preventing it from getting to its intended destination. His discovery leads him on an adventure of action, mystery and enlightenment as he uncovers the true purpose of life.
Who is your intended audience and why should they read your book?
My intended audience is everyone. But particularly: anyone who likes to challenge their thinking about life’s energy, traditional religious beliefs and the purpose of life, anyone who is intrigued by the culture and traditions of First Nations peoples, and anyone who enjoys a good adventure with a bit of science fiction and medical drama intermingled throughout. Everyone should read this book because not only will they be entertained with adventure, complex family relationships, romance and mystery; they will be left thinking about the possible origin and purpose of life long after they close the cover.
How did you come up with the title of your book or series?
The title was not pre-planned. The story sort of named itself when Simon, the main character discovered what he believed to be a portal from which life energy flowed to and from earth. He made the connection to his finding when he described his adventure to Henrietta, his boss. The second the words were out of his mouth and on to the page, I knew that was the right title for the book!
Tell us a little bit about your cover art. Who designed it? Why did you go with that particular image/artwork?
I designed the cover myself. It is the picture of waterfalls, intended to be Mullen Stream Falls, the prime location of the story, with an open doorway or gate into another dimension at the bottom of the falls. The cover merges the setting of the story with its underlying theme. I blended the two photos together using Photoshop.
Who is your favorite character from your book and why?
Although the main character is Simon, it is Galen Thomas, the physician who discovers how to capture life’s energy as it’s leaving the body that I like the most. I had the most fun developing him. He is kind of a good/bad guy with lots of complex feelings and emotions. He is brilliant and caring but also has a bit of a God complex. His intentions are mostly good, but he gets his morals mixed up from time to time. If he was real, I would want to know him and I would be intrigued by him.
How about your least favorite character? What makes them less appealing to you?
My least appealing character would have to be Devlin, the main villain in my story. Devlin is an arrogant, cheating, underhanded, greedy individual who is driven by self interest. He has no value for human life and on Simon’s quality of energy rating scale, would rank very low.
If you could change ONE thing about your novel, what would it be? Why?
You know, I don’t think I would change anything. In many ways the book seemed to write itself. I had a moral that I wanted the reader to reflect upon and the story wove itself into a tapestry of action and mystique that I hope leads the reader to that end.
What other books are similar to your own? What makes them alike?
I have been told by two separate reviewers that as they read my book they immediately thought of Dan Brown’s “ DaVinci Code” and James Redfield’s “Celestine Prophecy”. In a way I guess it’s a marriage of the two. Simon travels around the town and surrounding communities unraveling clues to destination of life’s’ energy after death and in the process traverses through many dangers to uncover the true purpose of life. Life’s energy and how it evolves to a higher level is an underlying theme which was really a premise in Redfield’s work as well.
Do you have any unique talents or hobbies?
Nothing too unique in the grand scheme of things, but I do love to take pictures and dabble in Photoshop.
How can we contact you or find out more about your books?
I would love for you to visit my webpage: : www.deborahleitch.com. Heaven’s Gate is available in both paperback and digital versions. You can purchase it through: Amazon, Kindle, Kobo, Sony, Barnes and Noble or Smashwords.
What can we expect from you in the future?
I am currently writing my second novel: “Holy Water”. It is the story of young visually impaired girl and her family who escape to the mountains of British Columbia in an effort to avoid a plague that threatens to eradicate mankind. They quickly discover that their mountain retreat has some dangers of its own . It promises to hold the same intrigue and challenge to traditional beliefs that Heaven’s Gate did. I hope to publish it in 2015.
What can readers who enjoy your book do to help make it successful?
Spread the word! Talk about with your friends who are looking for their next great read. Rate it on Amazon, Kindle, Kobo or Goodreads (or all four!). A short review in addition to the rating works wonders for me when I am trying to choose my next read- it doesn’t need to be long, just what you liked about the book and why you think someone might want to read it. Post the link on your face book page with your personal recommendation. But mostly talk about it! In the end every book succeeds or fails by word of mouth.
Do you have any tips for readers or advice for other writers trying to get published?
Edit, edit, edit. Find Beta readers who will help you to proof your story for spelling, grammar and punctuation errors. No matter how many times you read your own work, you will miss these. Then wait a month and re-read looking for errors and stiffness in speech. You will be horrified at what you find once your mind has broken from the story for a while.
Is there anything else you’d like to say?
I have discovered that writing is as much fun as reading. It is funny but now that I’m writing, I find I read even more than I did before. My appetite for books is insatiable. As you market your book- remember- authors are some of the most prolific readers and will make up a large volume of the people who buy your book!
And now, before you go, how about a snippet from your book that is meant to intrigue and tantalize us:
Chapter 11
It was nearly four in the morning when blaring sirens and flashing lights announced the arrival of the ambulance to the emergency bay. The triage team quickly joined the EMS attendants to evaluate and stabilize the victims while they waited for Dr. Thomas to arrive.
Two teenage boys, brothers, were the victims of a motor vehicle accident. A quick assessment told Tirisa that the younger of the two brothers, the fifteen year old who had been the passenger was in critical condition. Raspy breathing indicated a collapsed lung and broken ribs. The amount of pain he was in suggested extreme internal abdominal injuries and the blood on his face was evidence of the head injury that occurred when his head hit the windshield. It did not look good.
His older brother was stable but tears streamed down his face and he kept repeating: “Please let him be all right, I am sorry, I am so sorry, oh God, please help him.”
“Hi Tirisa,” Dr Thomas acknowledged the young nurse with a familiar nod. “What have we got?”
“Glad you’re here,” Tirisa replied. She matched his rapid stride down the long ER corridor to where the teenager waited, filling him on the details of the accident and the boy’s condition as they walked.
Before he stepped behind the curtain she placed a hand on his arm. “If anyone can help this boy, I know it is you,” she told him quietly.
He felt a soft glow from her words of confidence and jumped into action.
“Start oxygen, an IV of Ringers Lactate wide open and 2 units of packed cells.”
Tirisa began slapping cardiac monitor electrodes on the boy’s chest while another nurse threaded an intravenous needle into the collapsing vein in the boy’s left arm.
“Pulse 160, R 60, BP 80/60. Not looking good,” Tirisa reported.
“Call respiratory, we are going to need a ventilator here.”
Tirisa, already anticipating his needs had a chest tube tray open and set up on the examining table.
Gowned, masked and gloved, he expertly inserted the large bore needle into the chest wall. He needed to re-inflate the lung if the boy was going to survive. The nurse connected the tubing to the suction vacutainer and as expected, the water began bubbling indicating air being removed from the pleural space and the re-inflation of his lung.
“He’s stopped breathing.” Tirisa’s voice was sharp and anxious.
“Okay…give me the laryngoscope and a size 7 ET tube.”
Galen Thomas expertly inserted the laryngoscope in the boy’s mouth and visualizing the trachea, he slowly guided the ET tube into the boy’s airway. He connected the Jackson Reese bagging unit to the end of the ET tube and began forcing oxygen into the boy’s lungs.
“No pulse.”
“Start compressions.”
“It’s not working. We’re losing him.”
“Adrenaline.”
“It’s not working.”
“Stop compressions on my count.”
“1, 2, 3 stop.”
Dr. Thomas disconnected the bagging unit from the ET tube, reached in his pocket for his examining light, inserted it into the opening of the endotracheal tube and slid the button on its side into the forward position. He quickly re-attached the bagging unit and inflated the boy’s lungs with three breaths.
“Begin compressions.”
The cardiac monitor tracing, a straight line a moment ago, abruptly flashed and sprung to life.
“Stop compressions. We’ve got him back!!”
The boy’s pulse jumped to 90 beats per minute and stayed there.
“Good work team. Let’s get him connected to the ventilator. This boy has a long road to go yet.”
Everyone on the team broke out into smiles. This was what it was all about. Saving lives. Galen winked at Tirisa and patted her on the back. She beamed from ear to ear. They were a good team. The trust and connection and same mindedness between nurse and physician in a critical situation like this were far greater than any hormone rush. It was a soul connection. He felt the admiration in her eyes and an inner glow warmed him and made him smile too.
Galen put the energy transfer device that looked like an examining pen back in his pocket.
My God, it worked.
It was too early to know how well or if the energy transfusion from Sara Dickson to Todd Adair was going to be enough to keep him alive or what the long term effect might be but the empty collection chamber that once held the energy of Sara Dickson was now empty and the boy who should have died just moments ago was now alive.
[bluebox]You can get Deborah’s book here from Amazon and read what people are saying about Heaven’s Gate.
Please check out her website as well at deborahleitch.com[/bluebox]