Disheartened follows a woman living a separate life in 1860 and 2020, remembering everything as she drifts between the two, struggling to protect the people she loves in two different centuries. How did the concept of E.V.E. first develop?

The concept of E.V.E. (Essence Voyager Era ― the inherited gift of having the ability to live two parallel lives on two separate planes of existence as the soul travels nightly – essentially falling asleep on one plane and awakening to a new day on a new plane) came about due to a strange dream I had in the summer of 2009. I immediately started writing the first book in the E.V.E. series, Essence. After it was published in 2011, it grew into a series of four books that centered on Jocelyn (Sidney’s younger sister) and Jackson’s relationship. The Spirit Quest series is a spinoff of the original series, except this series focuses on Sidney’s experience with E.V.E.

Sidney carries the memories of two different lives. What was the greatest challenge in writing her perspective?

The greatest challenge with this particular character and period was researching from both perspectives (North and South) for the 1860 era and trying to offer a varying perspective of the 2020/Covid era experience, which we all lived through.

Foreknowledge plays a central role in the novel. How would you respond to the question of whether knowing the future is a gift or a burden?

Different members of different families who have inherited the gift (or curse) of E.V.E. have expressed their opinions of it. Some believe it to be a gift that allows them to experience the best of both worlds. Others feel it is a curse because despite knowing what the future holds, they are almost helpless to stop it in any meaningful way.

What lies ahead for the Spirit Quest series?

The third installment in the series, Foreshadowed, is due to be released later this year. The span of the novel covers the day after the 1860/2020 presidential elections through the first shots fired at Fort Sumter. It focuses on the personal challenges Sidney faces with the global pandemic, extended family pressure, and navigating increasing political division that is tearing apart the country in both of her lives.

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Gifted or cursed with the inherited ability of E.V.E., Sidney is forced into the inconceivable ― her 1860 self-watches on the eve of the American Civil War as the Northerners and Southerners dismantle the fabric of the nation. Whereas her 2020 self-witnesses the extreme Progressives and Liberals under the guise of the Democrat umbrella shred away the decency of the American Culture on a world-wide stage and making the USA the laughingstock of the globe.

Sidney is heartbroken watching everything her loved ones and countrymen from her other life fought to preserve be undone by a minute mindless minority of entitled fanatics and a political party so hell-bent on spreading violence and hate, they would rather burn the nation to the ground than relinquish power.

But what can she do? Can one small voice change the mind of millions with hate in their heart? Can she find her way back to the solace she once treasured in both her lives?