Meet Jane Toombs, author of Tule Witch says, The cover has nothing to do with my WIP, Uncanny, which is not yet finished. Tule Wtch is the next book I have coming out.  It’s the very first book, a gothic, I sold in 1973 to Avon.  Samhain has now reprinted it as an ebook for their Retro line –it’ll be out on October 15, 2013.

Me: I love the cover. It’s so unique in it’s simplicity.

Now to the fun stuff. below is a scene Jane deleted, the she explains why. What do you think? Did she need to?

Later in the day, Jono sent her out to look for wormweed pods which she needed to make a particular medicine, saying, “You’ll find it close to the edge of the woods because it grows neither in meadows or woods, but where they converge.”

Armed with a pail and a snippint tool, Zyla set off, crossing the meadow outside Jono’s house as she headed for the woods. She’d reached the edge when a woman popped out from among the trees and approached her.  The red-head. Flora, Jacob Greville’s widow.

Flora smiled and said, speaking through her straight white teeth, “Zed’s mine, you know.”

“Then you’d best remind him of that,” Zyla snapped,  regretting the words too late to recall them. She wasn’t one to back down from a challenge, but she wanted nothing at all to do with Zed.

“So you intend to poach?”

Though hating this confrontation, Zyla refused to back off.  “Not at all.  Poaching is illegal.”

Flora raised her eyebrows.  “You don’t fool me with that pail. You may pretend to be gathering  plants for Old Jono, but I know where you’re going.”

As she spoke, Zyla noticed several wormweed plants and knelt to  collect the pods on them.

“Go ahead and pretend,” Flora continued. “You know as well as I that the path to his house is close by.”

“I came to gather wormwood pods.“ Zyla spoke without looking up from her work. “And, since I’ve never been to Zed’s house, I don’t even know where it is.”

“You’ve been warned,” Flora told her.  “Whatever happens now will be your own fault.”

Zyla leaped to her feet  and glared at the redhead. “I’ve had enough of your warnings.”

Flora glared back, took a step toward Zyla and gave her a shove.  Off balance , Zyla grabbed for support and when she caught Flora’s arm they both fell, winding up sprawled together on the ground,  with the side of Zyla’s face against Flora’s abdomen.  Taken aback at what she felt inside Flora, she froze for a moment.,    The redhead indignantly pushed her away.  On her feet, her hands cradling her abdomen. she stared down at Zyla.

“I’m the one he’ll have to marry,  This is his baby I’m carrying.”

Zyla hurriedly got to her feet, still upset about what she’d felt growing in Flora–by no means a baby.  “I can try to heal  you,” she blurted.

“Heal me?  Are you crazy?”  Flora backed away.

*(Part I removed)*

“Go ahead and pretend,” Flora continued. “You know as well as I that the path to his house is close by.”

“I came to gather wormwood pods.“ Zyla spoke without looking up from her work. “And, since I’ve never been to Zed’s house, I don’t even know where it is.”

“You’ve been warned,” Flora told her.  “Whatever happens now will be your own fault.” She turned away and stomped off. *

No real conflict in this section before, but now there is.  Zyla is a born healer and no matter how she feels about the person , healing comes first. But how will she ever be able to heal someone of a cancerous growth when that person believes it’s a baby? Especially since they’re both interested in the same man, no matter how  much Zyla denies it.

Visit Jane at http://janetoombs.com/

Thanks for stopping by Jane!

Kathy!