‘Fate Bound by Blood’ features Moapa Valley

Indie author Chantel Burnham, who has ties to Moapa Valley, has written a series of novels, with “Fate Bound by Blood” as the third book in the Ever Rising series. Book one, “Magic Feared and Furious,” is a sort of prequel and takes place in Regency-era Scotland, where the main character is Brennan. Book two, “Misfortune Gilded in Greed,” is set in modern-day New York, and the main character is Mallory. Book three follows Cordelia and takes place in Moapa Valley and Japan.

Burnham said, “I’ve been writing since I was a little girl…but I started truly writing novels when I was 18, during my first semester of college at Southern Virginia University.”

When asked what made her want to write about Moapa Valley, she replied, “I enjoy writing about places that I love or that inspire me, and Moapa Valley is a place that is very near and dear to me. My mom, Katherine Robison Kitchen, is from Moapa, and so we would visit Logandale almost twice a year when I was growing up. I loved hanging out with the Robison clan, and something about the desert is just very freeing to me, and I knew I wanted to put Logandale in a book someday. And Vegas is, well, a place where people can go to get up to no good, so it’s a great place for underhanded things to go down.”

“Fate Bound by Blood” is about Cordelia Jones, who isn’t your average teenager; she has a magical secret. Her father is a selkie, a mythical creature that can turn into a seal, but he abandoned Cordelia’s mother before Cordy was born. Cordelia grew up on the seaside in Maine, but when she attempted to show her boyfriend her magical side, he panicked and tried to kill her. Because of that, her mother fled to the desert of Moapa Valley to hide her daughter away from sea water, or any water, really.

After a year of hiding, Cordelia grows weary of being a hermit, and behind her mother’s back, she tries out to become a lifeguard, where she starts meeting new friends. But unbeknownst to her or her protective mother, Cordelia has captured the attention of a secret, anti-magic organization that hunts down mythical creatures. She soon finds herself being whisked across the world to be sold on a magical black market. As she struggles to escape, she is unaware that there are those who think her existence could be the key to bringing the world to its knees.

Burnham stated, “This series has been so fun to write. I’ve had it mulling around in my mind since 2012, and it’s so amazing to see it rolling out. For the longest time, I’ve wanted to write a clean adventure story that still has serious topics and danger without being gratuitous with gore, swearing and other explicit material. So even though its age category is Young Adult (for ages 13-19), it’s a series that people of all ages, both boys and girls, can really enjoy. A good friend even told me that her 15-year-old, sports-loving nephew was rereading my three books again. Books that have girl main characters are not only for girls, and I wanted to write a story like that, where boys too can enjoy reading them.”

Burnham loves learning about the different myths and folklores from around the world. While the first three books deal mostly with Celtic magical creatures, more mythical creatures from different countries will be featured in the coming books. She commented, “We write so that our stories can have life, and our characters can have voices to tell the world what’s in our hearts.”

She added, “I have an English cream golden retriever named Cordelia that my husband and myself rescued four years ago. My dog is actually named after the character in my book, as book three is my husband’s favorite book in the series so far, and he was determined to name our dog after the main character.”

Burnham lovingly dedicated “Fate Bound by Blood” to her Logandale grandmother: “For my grandma, Sherron Robison, thank you for your listening ear, your generosity, and your great examples of love, forgiveness, and resilience. I love you.”

The third book, and the other two in the series, can be purchased on Amazon as paperbacks or ebooks, as well as on the Barnes & Noble website, and the books can also be requested at libraries and bookstores, which can really help out an indie author.