Rise of the Black Rose, Book 3, is now available!
The Witch Narratives Reincarnation is a First Place Winner of a 2013 BOOKS INTO MOVIES AWARDS. The first 2 books of the Land of Enchantment Trilogy won 2013 & 2014 international awards for BEST FANTASY. A touching novel about loyalty, friendship, and the depth of love, about the unlikely friendship between a devout Catholic and a reluctant witch.
The Land of Enchantment Trilogy shines with the little-known world of Native American and Hispanic magic, which gives this series a compelling twist, and a refreshing breath of originality.
"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but humanity will never break me," -- so claims the witch, Salia, but she was born with a soft, all too human heart that even being an outcast won't harden. She is a sister, granddaughter and daughter of witches. And she is a half-breed. But the last thing Salia ever wanted was to be a witch.
There is a portrait in the house at the bottom of Witch Hill. Salia looks out of the picture with haunted eyes. She is pale because her mother pinches her arm, but it is Salia's Native-American grandmother who dominates the picture. She is 110 years old but appears to be a teenager, holding out in her hand an ordinary-looking rock, a rare shape-shifting stone, allowing her to bathe like in the fountain of youth. All lust after the magical rock for different reasons – to be beautiful or thin, powerful, or to live forever. Salia just wants the rock to become someone else. She longs to be ordinary like her only friend, Marcelina.
A FEW INTERESTING FACTS - Did you know that?
>>>About 80% of the magic in The Land of Enchantment series is practiced by Southwest witches.
>>>Witches in the Southwest flash into fireballs and soar across the sky, as recorded by witnesses in witch trials.
>>>La Llorona is a legendary witch called "the weeping ghost", who is known throughout the Americas by tens of millions. She has been seen by many as she haunts the rivers, lakes and drainage ditches.
I stumbled upon a black and white picture of a Native American girl standing between her mother and aunt. The haunted eyes of the young witch were intriguing. I came up with the idea of a half-breed girl being forced to follow in her mother's magical footsteps and join the family business, so to speak, which is one of the themes in The Witch Narratives Reincarnation. Salia is a 3rd-generation witch, stuck between her grandmother and mother forcing her to do their bidding. Of course, every story needs danger for the heroine. For centuries, there has been a religious, fanatical group in New Mexico and Spain, called the Penitentes. They are a secret brotherhood who whip their backs and crucify a member for Easter. My own grandfather was a Penitente. In the trilogy, the Penitentes want to bring back the Spanish Inquisition to New Mexico, a darkly Catholic force who once hunted witches in New Mexico and Europe for several centuries. I needed a coven for my series and grew up on tales of La Llorona, the centuries-old, legendary witch. She is known throughout the Americas by tens of millions of people. She is the “Weeping Ghost” who haunts ditches, rivers, oceans, lakes, and drainage ditches. La Llorona, which means “The Crier”, has been seen and heard by thousands in different countries in the Americas, including me. I chose La Llorona as the mother of the Sisterhood of the Black Rose covens. My family really believed in witches. My grandparents once attended an outdoor dance on a ranch when they were young. Some witches showed up, angry they were not invited to the party. My grandparents witnessed the witches rise in the air to a small canyon. The witches then spit and cussed at the partygoers. My grandmother used to cut my older brother’s hair and then burn the cuttings so no witches would get his hair and harm him using image magic. My younger brother’s best friend claimed he saw his grandmother flash into a fireball, which is what some Southwest witches do, just like the witches in my trilogy.
“WHEN A NOVEL CAPTURES YOU—when you are entranced enough to stay up late reading and then dream your way into the story after you fall asleep—it’s usually due to that mysterious writer’s alchemy of plot, pacing, prose, and character. You can’t stop wondering what’s going to happen next, so you can’t stop turning the pages. Some writers have the ability to make every character, even the most minor background player, come alive, adding a visceral level to the reading experience. In The Witch Narratives Reincarnation, Belinda Vasquez Garcia breathes life into the people of Madrid, New Mexico, in the 1920s and ‘30s, in the days before the mine shut down, when members of the Penitente brotherhood held sway over public opinion and policy and witches were a dark force to be feared by even the most devout Catholic.”—Santa Fe New Mexican Pasa Tiempo Magazine 7/27th issue - read the full review here (spoiler alert!)
“Reincarnation brings history and magic to life.”—Albuquerque The Magazine August issue - read the 3-page feature here
“Garcia fascinates readers with her literary magic.”—Las Cruces Bulletin - read the full article here
“A fabulous story packed with detail that feels both fresh and authentic. The world the author creates is rich, lush and scary; supernatural fans will certainly appreciate the copious worldbuilding that went into this novel. With a killer twist near the end and supernatural folklore that feels grounded in reality, Garcia’s title is fluid and well-paced, never taking the audience’s attention for granted. Through family deaths, personal suffering and even a few romantic encounters, the intertwining tales of Marcelina and Salia become incredibly riveting, even moving. The characters are both born into worlds that don’t understand them and, despite mistakes along the way, there is much they both need and learn from one another.”—Kirkus Reviews - read the full article here (spoiler alert!)
“Family deaths, romance, and conflict come to a head in this first book of a powerful trilogy that holds all the elements of gripping supernatural fiction at its finest.”--California Bookwatch June 2012 issue
“The Witch Narratives Reincarnation” is a strong addition to fiction collections with religious tones.”-- Reviewer's Bookwatch Sept 2012 issue (scroll down)
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