Cathleen Townsend | Myths of the Mirror

I’m on the mend after sleeping off a four-day fever. I apologize for neglecting everyone’s blogs and will start catching up today. I think the old bod was telling me that I’d spent too many days happy-dancing the release of Soul Swallowers.

For me, the first review always feels monumental, and it’s a thrill and relief when it validates the months of hard work. I’m delighted to share Soul Swallower’s first review, written by talented fantasy author Cathleen Townsend. (And I promise that I’m limiting my happy-dancing to my imagination.)

Cathleen’s review:

Have you heard? D. Wallace Peach has released a new fantasy series, and news like that is worth our attention.

Soul Swallowers is D. Wallace Peach’s best book to date, and that’s saying something. From her prior books I’ve come to expect expert plotting, three-dimensional characters, and truly magnificent world building.

In this book, Ms. Peach has taken a single world-building premise—that people can swallow other people’s souls after they die—and worked it into a fantastic, detailed secondary world. Here, the powerful squabble for ever more influence while the wretches and unlucky are sold into slavery. The main character, Raze, has turned his back on a life of wealth and privilege, and joins another man in building up a small farm, a freehold, assisted by former slaves who soon become an extended family.

But the Byzantine politics of Raze’s former circle soon entangle him again, and he’s forced to re-enter his old world to try to save the members of his new family…

(To read the last bit of the review, visit Cathleen’s blog, and while you’re there, you might check out her latest novella: The Golden Key)

❤

Happy Reading whatever book you happen to be holding!

Cathleen Townsend of The Beauty of Words was kind enough to interview me earlier this month. She’s a writer of “mostly fantasy, but ghost stories, historicals, and even the odd contemporary.” It was an honor and pleasure to be featured on her site. Without further ado…the interview:

Today’s guest is the lovely Diana Peach, whose blog, Myths of the Mirror, I highly recommend. Welcome to the Beauty of Words, Diana.

Thank you, Cathleen, for the opportunity to talk about writing on your blog. I can do that for hours but promise to keep this short.

It’s wonderful to have you. Let’s start at the beginning: when did you know you wanted to be a writer?

I wrote stories and poems in high school and college, but it never occurred to me for one second to be a writer. I was a theater girl, and that too went by the wayside as the demands of work and raising a family took precedence.

Then, in 2010, my husband took an 18-month job in another state. The kids were already living on their own, so we sold our house and moved. I flipped a house (once is enough, thank you), and with nothing pressing, my husband suggested I write a book. “Oh, okay,” I said, and just like that I became a writer.

I wonder what would have happened if he’d suggested I arrange flowers. Hmmm.

Continue reading at The Beauty of Words…