Through writing, and being a social media butterfly…I have been fortunate enough to have met a number of talented writers along the way, “Author Ingrid Hall,” certainly falls into that category. My goodness, this woman, is a creative writer…when talking with her about doing her Indie and Proud Interview, I mentioned I would like it in some way to fit the theme of my blog and maybe she could include a recipe from one of her characters that they would have made. I told you she was talented…she obliged me, and has so graciously included a recipe. I can’t wait for you to meet her, so on with the interview…
Author Ingrid Hall
And now, I present you the interview I am hosting with Author Ingrid Hall. Read through the entire interview and you will find the recipe. Enjoy!
Hello Ingrid, It’s lovely as always to talk to you! For those readers that have to meet you, can you tell us where you are from?
Hey Virginia, You KNOW that I adore spending time with you! I am from Newcastle Upon Tyne, which is in the North East of England, very close to the border with Scotland.
Your latest novella, “The Tunnel Betwixt…” has recently been released. Can you tell us a little bit about it?
Yes, without wanting to go into too much detail because I am aware that this is a family friendly blog, The Tunnel Betwixt…picks up right after the main character, Julia, is run over by a car and chronicles her Near Death Experience as she is sent hurtling into the tunnel that many of us go through when we die.
Wow! How on earth did you come with the idea for that?
I actually had a Near Death Experience of my own, when a routine operation went badly wrong in my mid-twenties. While Julia’s journey is unique, I was able to draw to a certain extent upon my own experience.
What can you tell us about Julia?
Julia is very middle class, very British and as unlike the characters that I normally write about as it is possible to get! She is also happily married to Simon, a soldier who has only just recently returned from a tour of Afghanistan, and she also has a very deep bond with her mother…
Can you tell us briefly what you have coming up next?
Guess what Virginia? I am changing direction yet again! I am currently working on some, shall we say, “naughty” material under the pseudonym Luna Ballantyne. I have started work on a novel based around the Newcastle witches, which will definitely be steamy, but have decided to write two novella length stories in the build up to it which will hopefully lead people nicely down the route I want to take them, while giving me the opportunity to experiment with my raunchier side! I am hoping to get the first one out by this Autumn at the very latest.
Tell us about Indie and Proud…
Indie and Proud is a campaign that I am fronting throughout 2014 aimed at connecting readers with some of the most diverse indie authors currently around. Stop by our Facebook page for regular updates, giveaways and much, much more!
https://www.facebook.com/AuthorIngridHall
https://www.facebook.com/indieandproud
The Tunnel Betwixt is available at the following links:
Amazon: http://a-fwd.com/asin-com=B00I6BJ95M
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=the+tunnel+betwixt
Barnes and Noble:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/the-tunnel-betwixt?store=allproducts&keyword=the+tunnel+betwixt
A REVIEW OF THE TUNNEL BETWIXT… REVIEWED BY P.D. ALLEN http://pdallen.wordpress.com/pd-allen/
A dramatic account of a near death experience (nde), The Tunnel Betwixt, is narrated in first person, by the mind’s eye of the protagonist, a young woman who has suffered a near fatal accident. The novella centers around the journey through the infamous tunnel reported by many nde witnesses. The story opens as our protagonist enters the tunnel, and the action of the book takes place entirely within this realm.
This book could be classified as psychological drama, fantasy adventure, spiritual fiction, or even autobiography, as the author draws heavily on her own nde (even though she says her experience was nothing like this story). The protagonist is a thinly veiled persona of the author, and the reader is never certain if characters from the narrator’s life are drawn directly from the author’s real life family and friends, or to what degree they might be fictionalized.
Through the course of the book, we do find out much about the main character’s life and the accident that led up to the nde. All of this is woven into the fabric of the tunnel the main character traverses, as a necessary part of the journey.
There is a great deal of archetypal mythology woven in here as well, mostly drawn from the Mithraic legends. There are angels and demons, and many who could be one or the other, or neither.
There are also other characters who are sharing this experience with the narrator. Others who are accompanying her through the tunnel in their own nde, and many who traverse the entire tunnel in death, never to return to the life they left behind.
The story is woven through substantial, complex yet prosaic sentences, compiled into solid paragraphs like bricks of fired clay. These bricks are laid by the hand of an experienced mason, building the structure of the tunnel itself, producing an experience so real that the reader could almost knock upon the walls to test their solidity.
If you are curious about nde’s, or if you doubt their veracity, then you owe it to yourself to check out this novella. Whether you walk away a believer, or whether it reinforces your own doubts, it is well worth the experience. I dare say; this is the closest you will come to an nde without actually having one.
Below is the recipe I teased you with…
JULIA’S GINGERBREAD
Julia is a traditional girl at heart and before her accident she used to regularly make this gorgeous gingerbread – just like her mum taught her to!
What you will need:
8oz Self-Raising Flour
2teaspoons ground ginger
4oz dried fruit
2oz Margarine
2oz soft brown sugar
4 large tablespoons of gooey black treacle
Click link to learn what (black treacle) is…
1 egg beaten with enough milk to make around one quarter of a pint
Pinch of salt
How to make it:
First of all mix together the flour, salt, dried fruit and ginger. Then melt the margarine over a low heat, and stir in the brown sugar and gooey black treacle and add to the flour mix. Gradually stir in the beaten egg and milk. Pour into a well greased square cake tin and bake on Gas Mark 4 (180 degrees C. 350 degrees F.) For around 45 minutes. (Test with a skewer and make sure it comes out clear)
Leave to cool and then cut into dainty little squares. Serve either on its own or with lashings of hot, creamy custard!
