The Sacred Symbol is Book 2 in the Torcal Trilogy, followed by The Luna Legacy. Elixa is the prequel to the trilogy, and the award-winning The Grotto's Secret is the first book in the trilogy. Grab free chapters of The Sacred Symbol.
The full Torcal Trilogy series.
- When looking for inspiration for the fictional abbey I was creating on top of Sierra del Torcal, I spotted this castle and fell in love with it. My abbey also rests on the edge of a mountain similar to this one, but Sierra del Torcal in Spain is flat and my abbey has lots of community buildings. Find out more in The Sacred Symbol and The Luna Legacy.
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This abandoned and crumbling old mansion balancing on a mountaintop gave me inspiration when creating my fictional abbey setting on the top of Sierra del Torcal for The Torcal Trilogy suspense thriller series. Here is where I found this image: https://www.buzzfeed.com/mergirlblue/30-most-beautiful-abandoned-places-...
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Waterfall castle in Poland ~ Most Unbelievable Places that really Exist. See the full post here: https://wanderwisdom.com/misc/10-Most-Unbelievable-Places-that-really-Ex...
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I imagine my medieval character walking up this path to the fort at the top of the mountain. The path is green yet rock and worn with time. In my story, The Sacred Symbol, this happens to be winding up the Sierra del Torcal, but in reality it is Fairy Glen, on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. The Path to Castle Ewen ...
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Dunluce Castle, County Antrim, Northern Ireland was my inspiration for a vivid scene setting, yet I wanted it to be in Scotland on Columbus Island to fit into my 'Columbus' theme in The Sacred Symbol.
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Although I write fiction, historical mystery thrillers to be exact, this signature of the famed Christopher Columbus is not fiction. It really was how he signed his name and made his family sign his name when he died. Find out how I used his signature weaved into a historical conspiracy in The Sacred Symbol.
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When I was planning the layout of my medieval abbey on top of Sierra del Torcal, I spotted this one and used it for inspiration for my setting. See how it is used in Elixa, a free historical thriller.
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Find out how I used an old dolmen as a setting in The Sacred Symbol and Elixa.
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Winter solstice at Newgrange would be a spectacular sight! I used this fantastic historically rich dolmen as inspiration when creating my fictional abbey setting with its own dolmen on Sierra del Torcal for the suspense thriller, The Sacred Symbol.
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Here is how I imagined the light coming into my dolmen tunnel, but this really is Newgrange in Ireland.
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Inside of the rising sun shining into my fictional dolmen in The Luna Legacy, I used the full moon. Here at the Newgrange Dolmen in Ireland, once a year, at the winter solstice, the rising sun shines directly along the long passage into the chamber for about 17 minutes and illuminates the chamber floor. This alignment is too precise to be widely considered to be formed by chance. Professor M. J. O'Kelly was the first person in modern times to observe this event on December 21, 1967. The sun enters the passage through a specially contrived opening, known as a roof box, directly above the main entrance. Although solar alignments are not uncommon among passage graves, Newgrange is one of few to contain the additional roof box feature. The alignment is such that although the roof box is above the passage entrance, the light hits the floor of the inner chamber. Today the first light enters about four minutes after sunrise, but calculations based on the precession of the Earth show that 5,000 years ago first light would have entered exactly at sunrise. Read the full article here: http://history-ireland.blogspot.com/2012/12/newgrange-winter-solstice.html
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I used this image of how to draw a stone stairway up the side of a castle as my inspiration when creating my own stone stairway in my fictional dolmen tunnel on Sierra del Torcal in The Sacred Symbol.
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In my suspense thriller, The Sacred Symbol, I have used this real-life book, which is said to be one of the most priceless books in the world! My medieval character helps Columbus to write the book and warns him of a mutiny onboard. What happens next? Find out in The Sacred Symbol.
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I found this image and loved it so much I used it for when my medieval character goes into the La Rabída Monastery where Columbus is staying before he set sail on his first voyage to find a new route to the Indies, but ended up finding America instead!
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It's dark outside, yet inside a monastery not far from the port where his ships were ready to set sail, Christopher Columbus and my medieval character and hurriedly writing his Book Of Privileges ...
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I spotted this image of a medieval man and loved the image. I haven't used it yet but I will find a place for this medieval man somewhere in my novels.
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This cross-section of a medieval castle, gives a lovely insight ... or a peek into how the medieval nobles lived.
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This is a vivid illustration of how a medieval community co-existed with a castle or abbey. I imagined this when writing The Sacred Symbol and Elixa. Get a free copy of Elixa here.
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When creating my fictional abbey on Sierra del Torcal for The Torcal Trilogy and especially The Sacred Symbol and my free book, Elixa, I used this image to inspire me.
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In my imagination, this is the medieval caravelle that Christopher Columbus set sail in.
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This is how I imagine my medieval abbey on Sierra del Torcal featured in The Sacred Symbol to look like. You can also see how my characters live there in my free medieval suspense thriller- Elixa.
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This image depicts Christopher Columbus meeting the Catholic Monarchs in the Alhambra Palace in Granada when he went to ask for funds to set off on his journey to find a new route to the Indies. He didn't find that but founded The Americas instead. Find out what is significant about this historic meeting in The Sacred Symbol.
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This map shows how Medieval Spain, featured in The Luna Legacy, was set out in the historic year of 1492. My character in The Sacred Symbol sets out to find Christopher Columbus and ends up warning him about a planned mutiny. What else does she get up to and what happens to her?
