Guest Post, Excerpt and Giveaway: The Mind's Eye by K.C. Finn

Description:

A girl with a telepathic gift finds a boy clinging to his last hope during the war-torn climate of Europe, 1940.

At fifteen, Kit Cavendish is one the oldest evacuees to escape London at the start of the Second World War due to a long term illness that sees her stuck in a wheelchair most of the time. But Kit has an extraordinary psychic power: she can put herself into the minds of others, see through their eyes, feel their emotions, even talk to them – though she dares not speak out for fear of her secret ability being exposed.

As Kit settles into her new life in the North Wales village of Bryn Eira Bach, solitude and curiosity encourage her to gain better control of her gift. Until one day her search for information on the developing war leads her to the mind of Henri, a seventeen-year-old Norwegian boy witnessing the German occupation of his beloved city, Oslo. As Henri discovers more about the English girl occupying his mind, the psychic and emotional bonds between them strengthen and Kit guides him through an oppressive and dangerous time.

There are secrets to be uncovered, both at home and abroad, and it’s up to Kit and Henri to come together and fight their own battles in the depths of the world’s greatest war.

GUEST POST

The Challenge of Entwining Paranormal Elements with Real Historical Events

Kit’s paranormal power is that of connecting with her mind’s eye. This means that she can connect to other people’s minds and see through their eyes, using their senses and interpreting their emotions as though she is feeling them in her own body. She also discovers that she can speak into their minds where only they can hear her. Up until the start of The Mind’s Eye story, Kit has been keeping her abilities secret for fear of being discovered as something abnormal, but when the Second World War begins, Kit feels the need to start training and using her powers to make an effort to help Britain win the war.

It actually wasn’t that difficult to combine Kit’s power with the real life events of the Second World War because her power was a useful plot tool that allowed me to explore anywhere I wanted to in wartime Europe and show the audience a different perspective to the usual wartime novels of Nazis, battlefields and concentration camps. Instead Kit visits other countries affected by the war such as Norway, France and North Africa, connecting with real people struggling with the harsh realities of war as she tries to use her powers to help them through some very difficult times.

The paranormal element of psychic channeling is considered by many to be a real skill as opposed to just a science-fiction idea, so I have had many people approach me and indicate that they believe the events of The Mind’s Eye could have actually been real. In recorded history there are indeed a number of ‘psychic spies’ that wartime governments have employed to gather information over the years, so the two ideas of the paranormal and the historical blended really well in this case.

My real challenge has been to continue that trend as I write more in the series, because each book in the Synsk series jumps forward to another period from British history (for example the new sequel, Leighton’s Summer, is set at the end of the war in 1945). Every time I create a new scenario for my new characters, I have to keep the paranormal influences on the text present and somewhat realistic, whilst at the same time allowing them to get bigger, better and far more dangerous as the series goes on!

EXCERPT 

TOUR SCHEDULE

We spent Henri’s birthday under a tree drinking orange pop and trying to talk about subjects that didn’t lead back to the war. The news of Clive and Ieuan had shaken Leigh out of his selfish reverie, so if one good thing had come from the darkness it was the fact that my brother had finally actually gotten to know Henri. He even sang Happy Birthday in what he called ‘The Proper English Way’, laughing so hard he could barely get the words out for lack of breath:

“Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you; you look like a monkey and you smell like one too!”

Henri laughed for the first time in what seemed like forever and a warmth settled in my chest, like things were finally going to get back to normal. When Leighton went to get more pop, Henri came to the tree and sat down beside me, putting a long arm around my shoulders and pulling me in. He kissed the side of my head gently, his warm breath sinking into my hair. He hadn’t tried to kiss me properly again even when there had been opportunity for it, and I was sort of grateful for that. As much as I wanted to feel that tingling, only-us-in-the-world sensation again, right now the atmosphere just wasn’t right. But we were always close to one another when we had the chance, I had gotten so used to his arms around me that it felt like some part of me was missing when he wasn’t there.

“I’ll have to go into the village tomorrow,” he whispered, “to pass my enlistment papers to the right people.”

An invisible blade sank slowly into my fragile heart, but I had always known this day was coming.

“It’ll take them a while to process it,” I said hopefully, “I bet they’ve already got loads of boys waiting to go to basic training.”

“Perhaps,” he said softly, his lips still resting against my head.

I turned sharply to face him, searching his deep brown eyes. “I don’t want you to go,” I said, racing to find his hand to hold it tightly.

“I won’t really be gone,” he replied, “You’ll always be able to find me.”

“That’s not the point,” I said, my curls shaking as I trembled, “This is dangerous Henri, this is war.”

“You forget where I’ve been already,” he said, turning his face away to focus hard on the distance. He kept a firm hold of my hand and gave it a good squeeze. “You came to my head in the quiet times, the safe times. But I’ve already seen the destruction, the danger and the death, Kit. I think there are two types of people during war: those who see the horror happening and run away, never looking back, and those who want to do something about it.” I felt his other arm pull me in closer against his strong body. “You know which type I am, so you know I have to go.”

I couldn’t say anything, because it was all true.

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About the author:
Born in South Wales to Raymond and Jennifer Finn, Kimberley Charlotte Elisabeth Finn (known to readers as K.C., otherwise it’d be too much of a mouthful) was one of those corny little kids who always wanted to be a writer. She was also incredibly stubborn, and so has finally achieved that dream in 2013 with the release of her first three novellas in the four-part Caecilius Rex saga, the time travel adventure The Secret Star and her new urban fantasy epic The Book Of Shade.

As a sufferer with the medical condition M.E./C.F.S., Kim works part time as a private tutor and a teacher of creative writing, devoting the remainder of her time to writing novels and studying for an MA in Education and Linguistics.

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