Christine Amsden, Author of Stolen Dreams, the Conclusion of the Cassie Scot Series Tells us Where the Characters Are Now

Meet Christine Amsden

Christine Amsden has been writing fantasy and science fiction for as long as she can remember. She loves to write and it is her dream that others will be inspired by this love and by her stories. Speculative fiction is fun, magical, and imaginative but great speculative fiction is about real people defining themselves through extraordinary situations. Christine writes primarily about people and relationships, and it is in this way that she strives to make science fiction and fantasy meaningful for everyone.

At the age of 16, Christine was diagnosed with Stargardt’s Disease, a condition that effects the retina and causes a loss of central vision. She is now legally blind, but has not let this slow her down or get in the way of her dreams. (You can learn more here.)

In addition to writing, Christine teaches workshops on writing at Savvy Authors. She also does some freelance editing work.

Christine currently lives in the Kansas City area with her husband, Austin, who has been her biggest fan and the key to her success. They have two beautiful children.

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Synopsis from Goodreads: 

Edward Scot and Victor Blackwood have despised one another for nearly a quarter of a century, but now their simmering hatred is about to erupt.

When Cassie Scot returns home from her sojourn in Pennsylvania, she finds that her family has taken a hostage. Desperate to end the fighting before someone dies, Cassie seeks help from local seer Abigail Hastings, Evan Blackwood's grandmother. But Abigail has seen her own death, and when it comes at the hand of Cassie's father, Victor Blackwood kills Edward Scot.

But things may not be precisely as they appear.

Evan persuades Cassie to help him learn the truth, teaming them up once again in their darkest hour. New revelations about Evan and his family make it difficult for Cassie to cling to a shield of anger, but can Evan and Cassie stop a feud that has taken on a life of its own? Conclusion to the Cassie Scot series.

Coming to Amazon and Barnes and Noble on 25 June 2014!

I would like to welcome Christine Amsden, author of the Cassie Scot Series to Emeraldfire's Bookmark. Ms. Amsden was kind enough to write a guest post for me and here it is below in her own words:

'Eagle Rock, 2014'

by Christine Amsden

Do you ever wonder what happened to your favorite characters after the dust settles? I know I do!

The four books in the Cassie Scot series takes place between June 2010 and April 2011. That's when I started writing them … it takes time to get these things published! So by now, even though Stolen Dreams just came out, it's three years later in Eagle Rock. So let me catch you up on a few of the most notable characters from the series:

SPOILER ALERT (If you haven't read Stolen Dreams, just about everything I have to say here is a spoiler.)

Cassie and Evan are still married and doing okay. They had a daughter in December 2011, Anastasia (Anna), a powerful young healer like her Aunt Juliana. But “happily ever after” is a bit misleading. I've never believed that the work of falling or being in love ends with magic words – either “I love you” or “I do.” That's one of the reasons I had Cassie and Evan get the “I love you” part out of the way in book two. It wasn't enough. In Stolen Dreams they each made sacrifices for the other, but life still moves and changes. 

The big problem between these two right now is that Evan still grieves for the loss of his father, a father Cassie hated so much that he hides his mourning from her. In other words, he's never had a chance to get over it properly. He knows his father was a terrible person in many ways, but it doesn't change what he feels. 

Cassie, meanwhile, is paralyzed when it comes to having another child. Her dreaming ability is growing, but she keeps dreaming about the might-be children she could have, depending upon when she conceives. In her dreams she's seen dozens of children and has fallen in love with all of them; she doesn't know how to choose one and nobody else really understands how real each and every one has become to her in her dreams. (Note: It is *possible* that this becomes the basis for another Cassie Scot story. But if so, what you read is as far as I've gotten with it and I'd really like to start another series first.)

Madison Carter has a spin-off sequel of her own coming out in 2015, so read that to find out what happens to her. It takes place about a year after the Cassie Scot series.

Kaitlin Meyer also has a spin-off sequel, but it's still being written. It also takes place about a year after the Cassie Scot series, and will help you understand what happened to Jason, Alexander DuPris, and Matthew Blair.

Cassie's family:

Sheila Scot, Cassie's mom, went into a deep depression after the death of her husband and is honestly still not whole again. Her family fears she never will be. They've had several empathic healers try to help, but they say it's as if she wants to follow her husband into the grave.

Nicolas finished his magical apprenticeship and decided to join The White Guard as a combat sorcerer at the urging of his mentor, Clark Eagle. After the death of his father, he had to step in as head of the family (because of his mother's depression), a role he takes very seriously and one that has forced him to grow up faster than he would have otherwise.

Juliana is apprenticing with Linda Eagle at the moment. It wasn't her first choice – midwifery isn't really what she wants to do – but she couldn't bring herself to leave Eagle Rock to learn from the healer of her choice. Juliana has been more of a mother to the twins than anyone else and she won't leave them.

Isaac does have a gift. He's a hunter, like his cousin Jason, with the strength and speed to kill vampires. Most hunter gifts manifest with puberty (Kaitlin's baby being a rare exception).

Elena still can't speak to the dead, which is a mixed blessing and curse. She does pay more attention to the living now, but she's sick at heart. And she's never gotten over her crush on Barry Eagle, who hasn't spoken to her since the day her father cursed him.

Adam is an adorable, charming ten-year-old. I expect the other ten-year-old girls had better watch out in a few years!

Christina is an outgoing six-year-old. Only time will tell what kind of person she'll grow up to be.

There's something weird going on with the three-year-old twins, Michael and Maya. Maya is kind of blind …but she seems to be able to see whatever Michael is seeing. Not sure what that's about yet.

If there's any other character you'd like to know more about, just ask! There are dozens of secondary and minor characters in this series. I probably know what's going on in all of their lives.

May you read well and often