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Author: pamelaeglinski@pbewriter.com

I spent twenty-five years in the non-profit sector, teaching, managing programs in arts organizations, fundraising for a number of universities, local non-profits, and NGO's. The organization I enjoyed working for the most was Save the Children. It's mission and power to exact real change grabbed my heart and never let it go. It changed my life. To this day, I search for ways to impact the horrors of human trafficking, to support micro-lending in impoverished nations, and to reinforce efforts to educate woman and girls. Before focusing my life on non-profit work, I took time to earn three master's degrees--one in counseling, a second in Asian art history, and a third in European/Asian history. My degrees support my innate curiosity and give me the skills to delve into our world, in search of the unexpected. All of my novels are rich in tales from the past--brought forward to the present--to entertain you, the reader.
Madame Ching: The Pirate Queen

Madame Ching: The Pirate Queen

Madame Ching, is a bold swash-buckling character in Jincan Antidote. She is patterned after an authentic Chinese pirate, Zheng Yi Sao. Because little is written about her, I was able to create a vivid personality who was commanding, powerful, and deadly.

Born in 1775 and sold into prostitution at age 15, she quickly turned a dire situation into one of honor and power. When pirate leader Zheng Yi proposed marriage, she agreed with the caveat that both would lead the Red Flag Fleet–an extensive pirate confederacy in the South China Sea. He agreed.

The alliance consisted of 1800 ships [Chinese junks] and approximately 70,000 pirates–far more than any pirate confederacy in the world. Ching and Zheng Yi established standards, which all “see bandits” were required to adhere upon punishment of death.

When Ching’s first husband died, she managed the fleet with her one-time adopted son and soon to be husband, Cheung Po. Three years followed, and the confederacy began to dissolve. The Emperor of China saw an opportunity and offered Cheung Po and Madame Ching a position within his government if they would stop pirating. They agreed and proceeded to dissolve the Red Flag Fleet. As a reward, the emperor assigned them the governorship of Fukien province and the nearby Penghu Island.

When Cheung Po died, at age 39, Madame Ching returned to Macau with her two sons and opened a brothel and casino. She also managed the salt trade along the southern coast of China. It is possible she was once the most powerful person to control the economy of south China. In 1844 she passed away at age 69.

Jincan Antidote

Jincan Antidote

My latest time travel novel was published in June 2021. And what is it about, you might wonder. Think 1844, Macau, and the South China Sea filled with pirates that hold bitter long-standing grudges. Here is the back-of-the-book description.

“A vengeful Chinese cult murders an innocent American with jincan, a deadly Ming Dynasty poison. CIA agent Jake Chou and San Francisco writer Zoe Madison must find the antidote before the Triad strikes again.

Zoe and Jake travel to modern-day Hong Kong in search of the remedy, only to stumble through a portal that leads them back in time to Macau 1844, a lawless opium-fueled world.

They seek the infamous pirate, Madame Ching, who once owned a painting that may hold the elusive antidote. But does she still have the scroll, or has she bartered it away?

As the search for an antidote leads Zoe and Jake through battles on land and sea, they are drawn nearer to each other. But will the feelings of love and passion survive a return to the present?

Action-packed and suspense-driven, Jincan Antidote is the latest time-travel novel by international best-selling author, Pamela B. Eglinski.”

Erasing a Pandemic

Erasing a Pandemic

Writers have it easy. They can create and erase a pandemic, they can kill people and bring them back to life, and they can change the trajectory of history. That’s what I set out to do in Broken Portal in Rocky Mountain Park.

Two years ago, when I published my second time travel novel, there was no COVID-19. But for many years I held the thought that a global pandemic could be more destructive than an atomic bomb, or another conventional world war. Here we are in a pandemic like we’ve never seen before. Now, I know, how close my novel came to reality.

But I like happy endings and strong women…so how could I combine them both in a novel about a pandemic? Here is the back blurb on my novel:

1877–a smear of blood. Mutating bacteria. 2017–unrelenting plague. The last pandemic.

The world’s worst nightmare, a disease without a cure–a mutated version of Rocky Mountain spotted fever with an 80% death rate. Can a time traveler change history by destroying the disease at its inception? It’s a gamble, but worth a try.

Venturing into a stone portal, Sophie Anderson travels through time arriving 140 years in the past. She meets Colorado characters: Isabella Bird, a writer and adventurer; One-Eyed Rocky Mountain Jim, a trapper; the Earl of Dunraven, a wealthy Anglo-Irishman; Albert Bierstadt, a famous American artist. Some will help, others will try to kill her.

Sophie’s greatest challenge: destroy the bacteria before it annihilates humanity. Her greatest fear: condemned to a life in the past–unable to return home.

If you have a “curious bone in your body” I think you’ll welcome this weekend read. Please enjoy and let me know what you think by leaving a note here, or reviewing the novel on Amazon. Thank you.

Rocky Mountain National Park: Look Up look Down

Rocky Mountain National Park: Look Up look Down

In my fifth novel, Broken Portal in Rocky Mountain Park, my characters often look to the mountains for inspiration. But I create the characters and they reflect me.

While hiking in the Park last November I stumbled over some exposed roots, forcing me to catch myself and look down. What I saw took me by surprise: dry ribbons of golden grass entangled with brilliant blue berries. The sweet smell of juniper filled the air. I stopped to take a picture and admire the beauty that lay just beyond my feet. I wondered, had Jackson Pollack seen this? Was his art inspired by nature?

Every vista in the mountains is breath-taking, from the tops of the mountains to the trails that encircle them. I gazed around me, at my immediate surroundings. Just to my left, I discovered a partially frozen lake with rolling white mists skimming the surface. Winter was settling in and the park would soon hibernate. Like the lake, I froze in awe of the beauty all around me.

If you haven’t traveled to Rocky Mountain National Park, take time to do so. Any season will surprise you with its glory. Winter is harsh, quiet, white, solitary, and cold. Summer buzzes with activity–insects, birds, plants, beavers, wolves, bear, and elk. Visit in September when the aspen rain gold on the forest below. And most of all, go the the Park in the springtime when new growth pops through the brown tired grass, newly hatched birds stretch their necks toward mothers’ beaks, and the rustle of fresh green leaves fills your heart and soul.

When you hike in the mountains, or in any of the national parks, do you feel inspired or calmed by the beauty?

Clio is my Muse

Clio is my Muse

Clio is the Greek muse of history. She is often seen with a set of tablets. Here, she is pictured reading from a parchment scroll.

I write historical fiction–with a twist. I often alter history, not merely by introducing fictional characters into the past to interact with real people, but also by changing history.

Because I studied and taught history and art history, it was natural that Clio should be my muse. (I do hope she forgives me for not always telling the truth.) Fact or fiction, she inspire me throughout the writing of my Catalina & Bonhomme novels, and even more so in my time travel series.

Research enables the planning and preparation for each novel I write. There are times when I could just go on researching and never stop to write–but what fun would that be? I love research, but I love to spin a good tale. Altered history is an ideal genre for me.

I’ve often heard authors declare, “My book just wrote itself.” I contend, as my mother used to say, that this is pure hogwash. Without the writer’s imagination, inspiration gathered from history, and the author’s ability to tell a good story, there is no novel. Believe me, the author is in control. History is simply a guide–and a wondrous guide it is.

As you read my novels and novellas, I hope you’ll come to realize why I owe so much to Clio. She will forever be my inspiratiion and my muse. She is there for you too, you only need to seek her out.

Note: A much longer version of Clio is my Muse was initially posted on Theresa Hupp’s website. You may find the long version on  https://www.theresahuppauthor.com/blog/2012/08/08/clio-is-my-muse-by-pamela-boles-eglinski/

 

Altrusa International Guest Speaker

Altrusa International Guest Speaker

Altrusa is an international non-profit organization, which supports literacy worldwide. The Lawrence, Kansas chapter invited me to speak at its annual fundraiser, Authors and Appetizers in February 2018. Members typically select an independent author as the speaker, and I was thrilled to be asked. 

The silent auction that accompanies the author’s presentation generates funds for student scholarships, books for newborns (that parents read to infants), and literacy programs in our public schools. It is a noble mission and one that authors should embrace.

When asked to participate, I also chose to support the organization by contributing to the auction. I filled a large basket with my books and offered “An Evening with the Author”–a French salon style reading and discussion. The top bidder for the salon was a housemother for one of the sororities on the University of Kansas campus. The date is yet to be set, but I know I will enjoy myself, and I’m hoping the housemothers will too!

I encourage all authors, who are close to the written word, to find ways to engage in their communities, especially those organizations that focus on reading and literacy.  And for those who are readers but not writers, I challenge you to interact with elementary schools, high schools, and your community at large to spread the word about “the written word.”

What ways have you found to interact with your community, or put another way what organizations would you like to engage in with regard to reading, writing, and literacy?