Merry Christmas from the Gingerbread House

     Every year my house is decorated like a gingerbread house.  It is a tradition that started when my kids were babies and has continued with my grandchildren.  We make gingerbread cookies, decorate gingerbread houses and have lots of fun with the gingerbread toys throughout the house.
    I sincerely hope that whatever your traditions are they are shared with love and joy during this special time as we celebrate the birth of Jesus.  God Bless you and have a very Merry Christmas.

Latest News Article in the Hilton Head Island Packet

Please pass along the latest news article in the Hilton Head Island Packet newspaper. http://www.islandpacket.com/2014/11/01/3403032_a-chat-with-alice-w-ross-author.html?rh=1

The beauty of the Isle of Skye

     It is impossible to go anywhere on the Isle of Skye without seeing the beauty of the land and sea around you.  I hope you will visualize it when you read book 2,  Message in the Skye.

Lost in the Ce

COMING SOON!

My third adventure book!

LOST in the CE

The Scottish Flag

     I am thinking about the Scottish flag today because I am flying high with thought of accomplishment for having just turned my third book in for editing last week.  That means it is coming soon!!!!!

Inspired by other authors

     Today I had the privilege of meeting the mother and son writing team of Caroline and Charles Todd.  They are best known for writing the Inspector Ian Rutledge mystery series set in England just after World War I.
     It was truly inspiring to talk with them and learn about their writing process.  I know my love of writing comes from my love of reading.  I never tire of finding a great book and these two are certainly tops in their field.

Today's News

I was honored with a news article in today's newspaper regarding my book series.  Check out the link below to read the article.

http://www.aikenstandard.com/article/20140919/AIK0401/140919358/1037/AIK0401

Waiting for the vote and wishing we were there!

     If I could be somewhere else today, I would be in Scotland!  This is the eve of the historical vote.  The polls indicate that it is too close to call.  Will Scotland leave the British Union?  What will happen if they do?  So many questions and I am on the edge of my seat waiting for the results!

As the third adventure continues....

     There are so many beautiful areas of the Highlands that it is difficult to drive through all of them in only a month....but we did our best to see as much as we could.  In my next book you will discover one of the most remote places.  A place where the Scots pines directly descended the first pines in Scotland in 7,000 BC.  Forests in this area live on land that is too rocky, steep or remote to make them agriculturally useful.....but what a great place for a mystery writer to discover!

Isle of Skye - pictures from the Cuillin Hills

If you read Message in the Skye you might remember reading about the Cuillin Hills.  They are quite spectacular!  Yes, those are seals on the rocks!  Birds are also in abundance!  They are a wonderful place to hike!

Beware! This place will be featured in my next book and it is very very scary!!!!

Beware of long beautiful paths in my next book....they don't always lead to peaceful places.....

The Groam House Museum in Rosemarkie, Ross Scotland and the Rosemarkie Cross

 The Rosemarkie Cross, a beautiful stone that is very intricate and amazing to see

I never get tired of visiting the Pictish stone in the Highlands.  They are found in museums, fields, along the roads and in the middle of towns.  Their beauty is astonishing.  They are special treasures that I am proud to highlight in my books.  

Will Scotland vote to leave the British Union?

     In just a few weeks Scottish voters (age 16 and older) will vote on the referendum to succeed from the British Union.  I am very anxious to see how this vote goes because it will influence a part of my next book.
     Currently Scotland already has a separate Parliament.  This modern looking building is the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh.  The Scotland Act 1998 established the first Parliament since 1707.  It consists of 129 elected representatives.  The Parliament can pass laws affecting Scotland on a wide range of domestic issues.

The Great Sueno's Stone

     There are many Pictish stones that are impressive.  The workmanship on many is exquisite, but for size and dramatic effect the Sueno's Stone is in a class of its own!  Located near the town of Forres, it is the tallest sculptured stone in Scotland.

Why is Kiska so short?

     People ask me all the time why I made Kiska so short?  The answer is simple, because the Picts really were short!  This is a replica of a real Pictish throne carved to scale.  It is located in the Pictavia Visitor's Center in Brechin Scotland.  Pictavia presents an educational experience that covers the history and the life of the Picts.  Although there are many things we don't know about the Picts we do know they were very small in comparison to people today.  I wanted Kiska to represent what people in that time might have looked like and believe it or not they were much shorter!

Isle of Skye Hiking

     There are many beautiful places in the Highlands of Scotland, but at the top of the list has to be Isle of Skye.  To see the best places you have to be able to get out of the car and hike.  It is a great workout for your body and mind and when you reach the top the rewards are spectacular!

The Bottle Dungeon of Barcaldine Castle

     The bottle dungeon of Barcaldine Castle is not a place anyone would wish to be.  It is a dark and scary place at best.  Normally there is a metal grille covering the top of it, but we were permitted to get a closer look.  You will hear more about that in the upcoming book!

Excitement! The third book is about halfway finished!

                                                                  Barcaldine Castle
      Before I went to Scotland I had the plot for the third book in my mind.  Then I needed to find the right places for some of the action.  Some of the areas I selected by doing research ahead of time and then I visited them to confirm that they would work.  Then there were the wonderful places I discovered along the way.....like Barcaldine Castle.  I fell in love with Barcaldine.  It is a sixteenth-century castle that plays an amazing part in Scottish history.  I can't wait to tell you about it in my next book.....

The Quiraing

     In my second book, Message in the Skye, I describe the amazing place called the Quiraing as a place where dinosaurs once roamed.  Today you will see sheep grazing on the grassy rock formations, but it is certainly not difficult to visulize the dinosaurs.  This is a place with an untouched beauty straight out of the pages of prehistoric times.  It commands an unparalleled view of the Inner Hebrides Islands and is a place I will never forget!

A mysterious Scottish castle for the next book

     I have visited so many great Scottish castles and stayed in many too, but this is one of my very favorites.  I like it because it is relatively small and yet it has an amazing history, which rivals a lot of the larger ones.  I mean how can you go wrong with a place that can boast secret passageways, a bottle dungeon, a possible ghost and murder?  Then turn it all into a real bed and breakfast and it's a mystery writer's dream come true.
     So, what can you look forward to in my next book?  I am so excited about it, that I can barely contain myself with excitement! I can guarantee you that Barcaldine Castle will be featured.  After all, it is a beautiful place....for people like me who stay in the exquisite rooms.

Castle Ewen

     The rock formation known as Castle Ewen on Isle of Skye is an amazing place.  It may look like an easy climb up, but let me just say the pictures make things look a lot closer than they are.  In the second picture you can see me climbing up.  The drop on either side of me is very scary!  The path is very narrow!  This is the place in the book where Kiska and Gully encountered one of the would-be killers!

Watch out for the SHEEP!

     When you travel in Scotland it might take you considerably longer to get somewhere than you plan.  One of the reasons is these cute little sheep sharing many of the roads with you.  Yes, they have fenced pastures, but these sheep believe that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, and believe me they know how to get out!  They are constantly grazing on the side of the road!  I love looking at them and I was forever taking their pictures out the car window.  When my husband  drove the car, I told him if he hit one of the stone fences that was fine, but if he hit a sheep, he was going to die too!  Fortunately he never tested that threat because he avoided all sheep on the road!

The Fairy Glen

     If you read Message in the Skye, you might recognize this picture.  It is the Faerie Glen on the Isle of Skye.  I spent a day hiking over the green mounds and up to the center rock formation known as Castle Ewen.  I have never seen anything remotely like it.  It is like being in the middle of a faerie tale book.  As far as ye can see there are varying sizes of green hills.  Sheep occassionally wander over them.  It is a surreal place that really exists on a spectacular island off the coast of Scotland.

Snow covered Highlands!

   It was hard to believe I was actually seeing snow in May and June, but there it was in the Highlands of Scotland!  The colors were truly amazing!  There were vibrant greens of every shade imaginable and scenery hard to match anywhere!  My pictures will never do it justice, but trust me the Highlands are BEAUTIFUL!

A ring from Scotland!

     Believe it or not in this day of, "everyone has a cell phone attached to their ear," you can still find working British phone booths in Scotland.  This one was even in a rural setting!  I can't remember the last time I saw a phone booth in the U.S. and certainly not one that works!  Just for fun I have to have someone use one in my next book.  Now at least you will believe me when you read the book!

Palm Trees in Scotland

     You may recall reading about the little village of Plockton, Scotland in Message in the Skye.  Kiska and Gully stopped there to meet an artist.  It is an amazing place, absolutely beautiful!  Yes, they really do have a type of palm tree there.  Located about ten miles from the Isle of Skye, this tiny village is often as much as ten degrees warmer than the island.  Tucked in between the mountains and the water, it is a gem of beautiful scenery in every direction.  It is certainly not surprising that many artists live there.

Mind Your Head!

     For those of you who find it difficult to believe that people were really as short as Kiska thousands of years ago, please go to Scotland and visit some of the ancient structures.  This is a cairn.  From a distance it looks like a pile of rocks, but it is really a structure you can crawl into and stand up in the middle.  It was built thousands of years ago and no one knows for certain how they were used.  I will tell you the openings are very short.
    Most castles have room entrances that are much shorter than people today as well.  I can not tell you how many times my poor husband bumped his head when we visited places.  It got to be a joke between us because I was always telling him to "Mind Your Head!"

Brochs

    If you have read my first two books you might recall reading about brochs.  They were constructed by the Picts in the Highlands of Scotland about two thousand years ago.  To say that they are amazing is an understatement.  These structures were built without concrete or cement.  They are stacked stones with thick walls that were built most likely for defensive purposes.  Although partially in ruin, the main reason for that is that people took them apart to use their stones for other purposes and not because they fell.   While I was in Scotland I explored quite a few of these structures and although they seemed similar in construction, their awesomeness continued to inspire me.