Welcome to the tour for The Prophetic Mayan Queen by Leonide Martin! She took some time out of her busy schedule to give us a lot more insight into her book and writing process, plus lets us get to know her a little bit better. Please enjoy what she has to share. Download your copy of the book. And then follow the tour for multiple chances to enter to win the great giveaway!
Please note that affiliate links are present within this post. Should you make a purchase through one, I may earn a small commission to help support my websites at no additional cost to you.
On what are you currently working?
I’m now occupied with marketing and publicity. That’s a critical task most authors don’t like to think about. I really appreciate this opportunity to have my book appear on Andi’s blog! In the future is an idea for a mystery series set in Maya lands in the 1920s, when women in society were breaking out and archeology was rampant with tomb robbers and antiquities thefts.
What is your writing routine?
I don’t have a set routine. It depends on what’s in progress and what needs immediate attention. Since I’m retired, I can structure my days accordingly. I’m aiming for balance between creative work and having fun.
What is the best writing advice you ever received?
Follow your heart and creative impulses. Write what you love and know. Keep your center when you get critical reviews, but also for positive ones. Remember it’s more about them than you.
What are you currently reading? Up next on your TBR?
I just finished The Dalai Lama’s Cat by David Michie and loved it. Up next on TBR is Third Daughter by Susan Quinn or The Mystery of Julia Episcopa by John Rigoli.
When not writing, what can we find you doing?
I enjoy talking walks, yoga, concerts, dinner with friends, cooking, wine tasting, petting my cats, not necessarily in that order. Often I have long conversations with my husband over morning coffee. Recently we discussed how people can live more simply and the economic system could become sustainable. Just some light breakfast talk.
Let’s say I’m coming for a visit to your area. What are some must-see places?
I live in a small town in Oregon, Silverton, with my husband and two white cats. It’s about an hour south of Portland in the north Willamette Valley. I’d recommend seeing Silver Falls State Park with 11 spectacular waterfalls and great hiking trails, The Oregon Garden in Silverton that is also a water reclamation site for the city, and small artisan wineries that abound in our area. Oregon makes world-class Pinot Noir; you must sample it from a number of wineries.
What is something on your bucket list you have accomplished? Want to accomplish?
In October 2018 I went on an archeological tour of Teotihuacan, a huge ancient site near Mexico City with World Heritage designation. Teotihuacan was an empire in central Mexico contemporaneous with the Mayas, and reached its tendrils to form dynasties in some Maya cities such as Tikal and Copan. Awesome for its scale and power, but we still don’t know much about who these people were. I think Copan, Honduras will be next on my bucket list.
What is something readers may be surprised to learn about you?
I’ve studied Eastern Spirituality in depth, lived for 15 years in a Hindu ashram, practice Hindu and Buddhist meditation, and find their “Explanatory Model of the Universe” most elegant.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
This is my first Virtual Blog Tour, and I’m most grateful to Andi for hosting me. If you’ve read this far, thank you for joining me, and graciously giving your time to my comments. I hope you enjoyed it, and invite your questions on my Leonide Martin blog or Goodreads. Please also visit my website to learn more about the Mayan Queens series.
Leonide Martin Author of Historical Fiction
http://leonidemartinblog.wordpress.com
https://www.facebook.com/leonide_martin
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2869611.Leonide_Martin
The Prophetic Mayan Queen
She was born to serve the Goddess Ix Chel. But K’inuuw Mat is destined to continue the Palenque (Lakam Ha) dynasty by marriage to Tiwol, fourth son of famous ruler Pakal. Trained in prophetic arts, she uses scrying to foresee the face of the man with whom she will bear the dynastic heir—but it is not her husband’s image. She is shocked upon arriving at Palenque to recognize that face as her husband’s older brother, Kan Bahlam. They are immediately attracted, sharing deep interest in astronomy. Though she resists, the magnetic force of their attraction propels them into forbidden embraces, until Kan Bahlam designs a bold plan that would solve his inability to produce a son—if he can gain his brother’s cooperation.
Set in the splendor of Lakam Ha’s artistic and scientific zenith, royal family conflicts and ambitions play out in a tapestry of brilliant Mayan accomplishments in calendars, astronomy, architecture, arts, and secret language codes that will astound people centuries later. As K’inuuw Mat contends with explosive emotions, she must answer the Goddess’ mandate to preserve Mayan culture for future generations. Her passion with Kan Bahlam leads to a pale daughter and bold son who carry this out as their civilization begins the decline and eventual collapse her prophetic vision foresees.
One great cycle rolls into the next . . .
Contemporary Mexican archeologist Francesca and her partner Charlie, a British linguist, venture into Chiapas jungles to a remote Maya village, seeking to unravel her grandmother’s secrets. The hostile village shaman holds the key, but refuses to share with outsiders the scandal that leads to foreign blood and ancient Palenque lineages. Only by re-claiming her own shamanic heritage can Francesca learn the truth of who she is, and bring her dynasty into the present.
Read an excerpt:
After several rounds of dancing, Tiwol took K'inuuw Mat's hand and they returned to their mat. Her fingers entwined with his; she liked the warmth of his grasp. She felt happy and content, thinking that the Goddess' intentions were surely coming to pass. Tiwol turned to talk with two young men who stood by the mat. Still standing, K'inuuw Mat looked across the patio to watch the more vigorous dancing that had started. She patted one foot in rhythm to the music, until suddenly she caught view of the man who had just entered from the far veranda.
Her heart did a flip-flop and began pounding, while her stomach clenched into a tight knot. Eyes wide in disbelief, she stared at the tall man slowly weaving his way between dancers. Torchlight caught his face and brought his features into sharp focus—the face she had seen in her scrying bowl.
No-nooo! Her mind screamed silently. This could not be happening. The exact face, every feature she had so carefully memorized, of the man who would be her husband. Just when she accepted that her scrying was inaccurate, he appeared precisely as she had been shown. A wave of nausea swept over her and she clutched her stomach, dropping her gaze and collapsing onto the mat.
Buy on Amazon
About Leonide Martin
Leonide (Lennie) Martin: Retired California State University professor, former Family Nurse Practitioner, Author and Maya researcher, Research Member Maya Exploration Center.
My books bring ancient Maya culture and civilization to life in stories about both actual historical Mayans and fictional characters. I’ve studied Maya archeology, anthropology, and history from the scientific and indigenous viewpoints. While living for five years in Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico, I apprenticed with Maya Elder Hunbatz Men, becoming a Solar Initiate and Maya Fire Women in the Itzá Maya tradition. I’ve studied with other indigenous teachers in Guatemala, including Maya Priestess-Daykeeper Aum Rak Sapper and Maya elder Tata Pedro. The ancient Mayas created the most highly advanced civilization in the Western hemisphere, and my work is dedicated to their wisdom, spirituality, scientific, and cultural accomplishments through compelling historical novels.
My interest in ancient Mayan women led to writing the Mayan Queens’ series called Mists of Palenque. This 4-book series tells the stories of powerful women who shaped the destinies of their people as rulers themselves, or wives of rulers. These remarkable Mayan women are unknown to most people. Using extensive research and field study, I aspire to depict ancient Palenque authentically and make these amazing Mayan Queens accessible to a wide readership.
My writing has won awards from Writer’s Digest for short fiction, and The Visionary Mayan Queen: Yohl Ik’nal of Palenque (Mists of Palenque Series Book 1) received the Writer’s Digest 2nd Annual Self-Published eBook award in 2015. The Controversial Mayan Queen: Sak K’uk of Palenque (Book 2) published in 2015. The Mayan Red Queen: Tz’aakb’u Ahau of Palenque (Book 3) received a Silver Medal in Dan Poynter’s Global eBook Awards for 2016. The Prophetic Mayan Queen: K’inuuw Mat of Palenque (Book 4) is the final in the series, published in November 2018.
I live with my husband David Gortner and two white cats in Oregon’s Willamette Valley wine country, where I enjoy gardening, hiking, and wine tasting.
For more information about my writing and the Mayas, visit:
Website: www.mistsofpalenque.com
Blog: http://leonidemartinblog.wordpress.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leonide.martin
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/lenniem07
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Leonide-Martin/e/B001HCZ1UY/
Thanks for hosting!
My thanks to Goddess Fish Promotions for the wonderful job putting up my Virtual Book Tour!
Are any of the events in the book based off of true life events?
Yes, a great deal of the events are historically documented. The protagonist, K’inuuw Mat, and many characters from the Palenque dynasty, their courtiers and warriors, were actual historic Mayas. My books cross genres, and are also historical fiction. When planning the story arc, I followed the known timeline for significant happenings in Palenque: births and deaths of rulers, calendar rituals, conflicts with other cities, building pyramids and complexes. The hieroglyphic writing and carved tablets left by the ancient Mayas gave lots of information to archeologists, once the epigraphers had deciphered the glyphs (now about 90% can be read). Years of research underlie my books. Of course, to make interesting stories I needed to create fictional characters and events. In the back material Authors Notes, I talk about what is fact and what is fiction.
I absolutely love this!
Thanks so much! I hope you read the book soon. Let me know how you experienced it.
I like the cover
Thank you! This cover, and all four of the Mayan queens books, resulted from images that I saw when visiting the ruins of Palenque. The settings invoke magnificent stone cities buried in deep, lush tropical jungles. The women are based on carved panels at Palenque depicting these queens. I asked my artist to portray their faces to closely resemble the actual historic queens, though he did “beautify” them a little. K’inuuw Mat is illuminated as she stands on the top step of the Sun God’s pyramid, rays of the summer solstice sun setting behind another pyramid-temple (burial monument of famous ruler Janaab Pakal). This happens in my story. For a full description of the inspiration for this cover, visit my blog stop on January 9: http://edgarbooks.blogspot.com/
Here’s an update on publication: Ebook should be available on Amazon January 13 and print book by January 22, 2019. My apologies for this delay, there were some difficulties in the manuscript editing and creating the layout. My publisher kept pushing the date forward . . . you can pre-order the paperback right now!
Thanks for the giveaway; I like the excerpt. 🙂
I read an advance review copy and loved the book very much.