Eleni Papanou, author of Unison and the Spheral series of visionary fiction novels, invited us to take part in a bloghop. We were delighted to say yes!
Our task is to answer ten questions about one of our books or projects, and then tag 4 or 5 other bloggers or novelists who we hope will do the same.
The questions – and our answers:
1. What is the working title of your book or project?
The final, published title is The Cordello Quest.
2. Where did the idea come from for the book or project?
Over the years, our discussions on (and explorations of) philosophy, subtle energies and spiritual awakening, plus a burning desire to write a good great story!
3. What genre does it fall under, if any?
We prefer not to be too restrictive with this as we feel it has the potential to deter readers from what is, at heart, a darned good story. However, for marketing purposes, we align with visionary/inspirational fiction, and magical, fantasy, and paranormal. Some readers who normally wouldn’t touch fantasy with a barge-pole have really enjoyed The Cordello Quest.
4. If applicable, who would you choose to play your characters in a movie?
Keira: – Scarlett Johansson.
Jason: – Ewan McGregor, Johnny Depp or Dominic Cooper.
Lady Aida:- Dame Maggie Smith.
Lord Charls: – as for Jason, above . . .
5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your manuscript or project?
When a stone circle transports Keira to another world, she finds herself at the centre of a legend; this draws her into a journey of self-discovery and spiritual awakening.
6. Will your book or story be self-published or represented by an agency?
Self-published, by choice.
7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
5 months. It was an awe-inspiring and wonderful journey.
8. What other book or stories would you compare this story to within the genre?
The Celestine Prophecy, by James Redfield.
9. Who or what inspired you to write this book or story?
The personal discovery, use and exploration of healing and Reiki energies, and a realisation that we had a compelling need to integrate storytelling with love and light.
10. What else about the book or story might pique the reader’s interest?
The series contains empowering tools for working with subtle energies and intuition. We have been told by some of our energy-sensitive readers that they access the ‘energy’ within the words of the books simply by reading them.
We are tagging the following novelists, as we’d love to see what they have to share with us, if they are able to!
We hope you’ve enjoyed discovering more about what led us to writing The Cordello Quest. It’s an amazing journey for us, and has heralded the start of many years of writing!
Joanna & Ron | The Lazuli Portals
The Lazuli Portals 
Thanks Joanna – fascinating read – I’ll join in next week as away (again!) without a laptop and only my iPhone – hope that’s not too late! xxx
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Yippee! Glad you’ll be sharing with us. No, the timing is fine; we couldn’t do ours last week as Ron was away and had limited internet access. Looking forward to seeing what you have for us, Shani! 🙂 Xx
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Thanks! Your Cordello Quest did remind me of Celestine Prophecy. I loved them both 🙂
I’m actually in a good place to answer these questions too, and they’ll go nicely on my new site I’ve just begun to build for my novel 🙂 When it’s posted, I’ll link it back to you.
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Whoop! That’s great, Madison, on all counts! Looking forward to seeing what you have for us, and for your readers and visitors. 🙂
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Hi, a great questionnaire, which (hope you don’t mind) I have taken up and used on my blog http://www.corner-cupboard.blogspot.co.uk/ I am discussing Boraya – my own WIP.
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Fennie, no of course we don’t mind! I will be over to yours to check out your answers. 🙂 Thanks for visiting our little space. 🙂
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Nice Q&A Joanna, I made a start on your tome a few months ago, but maddeningly have lost it in my flat. It is here somewhere, the Castle is due a massive overhaul, but I was 70 pages in, your style of writing is really soothing xx
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Hello Yasmin, lovely to see you here. The Cordello Quest has obviously decided you needed a break because the timing wasn’t quite right … it’ll turn up when you need it! You’ve said some lovely things about our writing, and I thank you for that. 🙂
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God, I really hope so, there’s a remote control for a video that’s still not shown it’s face and I turned the lounge upside down looking for that! It’s been a few years since I last saw it & the video is now long gone!!
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Yasmin!! 😮 What are we going to do with you! 😉
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Oooh fascinating, I love the idea of unlocking subtle energy and could certainly do with some! I’m so sorry I’m late to the party! My only excuse is motherhood combined with Easter holidays and an impossibility to stay on top of everything, LOL. My bad! I’ll see if I can take up the challenge next week, hope that’s okay. And thank you SO much for thinking of me…. loveya too, Jo and Ron! XXX
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Nicky! You know you’re always welcome here AND you know I think you’re Superwoman with all the balls you have up in the air simultaneously! So no apology ever necessary, and we look forward to seeing your answers when they’re up! Will Nicky write about Sophie’s Encore? I ask myself …
Thanks for visiting! 🙂 xx
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Loved all your answers especially this:
“We had a compelling need to integrate storytelling with love and light.”
That’s a truly beautiful and fulfilling way to tap into and tell a story.
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Thanks so much, Eleni! Reading it back, it could sound a bit pretentious, but it’s exactly how it happened, and it’s integral to The Lazuli Portals series. Thank you for understanding that! 🙂
We’d like to thank you again for inviting us to take part in this, because it was fun – and enlightening – and it felt good to share it. 🙂
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Hi Jo,
Thanks so much for tagging me and I’m sorry I hadn’t seen this earlier. I could clearly use some empowering tools! I love your writing and I have got – but haven’t yet read – The Cordello Quest. I read The Celestine Prophecies many years ago and can still remember it, so I’ll definitely enjoy The Cordello Quest, especially after reading some of your short stories. I’m trying to plan a holiday to catch up on my reading! Loved your answers and they’ve made me determined to read it sooner, rather than later.
Emily x
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Thank you so much, Emily! We always think of The Celestine Prophecy as being quite a niche book, and it always surprises us how many people have read it.
We really hope you will enjoy The Cordello Quest. 🙂 If you find a way of carving out more reading hours (without giving up anything else) please do let us know lol.
Looking forward to seeing what your answers are. 🙂
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