I would like to begin by giving Chloe and Authors’ Lounge my thanks for giving me this chance to tell you about my book, Elemental, and my story as an author.
My name is Liane Mahugh and I live on Vancouver Island on the West Coast of Canada. Elemental is the 2nd book I have published. This story is a soft science fiction piece about a girl with the power to manipulate the elements. You might believe she is an anomaly, but she is the norm in her home world. Raya is from a civilization much more advanced than ours on a planet in a distant galaxy.
Raya is designated for a special mission to Earth to assess if our people are ready for engagement. Along her journey, she will face many dangers, including terrorist groups that will do anything to keep her from completing her mission. When she lands on Earth, her ship experiences difficulties, and crashes into Lake Ontario. A family in the area comes to her rescue, offering her a safe refuge until she can finish her mission and fix her ship, so that she can eventually go back home.
Raya hides the entire purpose of her mission from her new friends as long as she can, but once she eventually unveils it, they pledge to aid her in completing all her tasks, regardless of how risky they might be.
I consider Elemental to be a soft sci-fi since it doesn’t have the same technical aspects of space travel that are usually included in this type of story. Raya’s extraordinary abilities and the connections she makes when she finds herself so far away from home are the main focus of this story. But don’t think that’s the full story. This book was labeled as “a fun adventure” by one reviewer.
The origin of the idea for Elemental was a most unlikely place. I was watching T.V. one day and a commercial came on. I don’t remember the details now, but there was a classical piece of music playing in the background. Someone watched from the edge of a cliff as a flock of birds flew together in a synchronized movement known as a murmuration. This person kept their hands raised, swaying with the group, as if they were a conductor leading a symphony. It appeared to me that the flock was moving in time with the music, and it was a beautiful sight. That was all it took. I jotted down a few short sentences about a girl who can control the wind, and the rest of the story developed from there.
This book is aimed at Young Adults as it follows a teenage protagonist. However, it seems that this isn’t just restricted to that age group. Adults have also read the book and enjoyed it. You can find reviews for the book on its Amazon page at:
This book isn’t the last chapter of Raya’s story. I’m working on the next book in the series, and I’m hoping to have it released by the end of the summer. The third and final install should be published sometime in 2024.
Even though I’m a bit of a latecomer to writing, I’m not planning on leaving anytime soon. As I said above, Elemental is my 2nd book. Prior to that, I wrote a YA supernatural story about young teens who deal with difficult situations by retreating to a group of mysterious trees. I’m also writing an adult mystery titled Pioneering Secrets. As a child, I was obsessed with mystery stories, and it remains my favorite type of literature today. I’m expecting Pioneering Secrets to be the beginning of a long series of cozy mysteries.
If you’d like to learn more about me and my books, you can visit my website at:
Be sure to subscribe to my mailing list while you’re there so you can get the scoop on new books and events I’m attending. I promise, no spam!
1 comment
Kandu
This is a wonderful story. It captures your attention and I was brought into the story and would not leave until it was finished. Waiting impatiently for the next installment. Keep on writing, Liane. You are a great story-teller.