Three connected stories about how Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, intervenes in the lives of statues, humans, and gods.

This is the true story behind the book, Violet Among The Roses. I was visiting San Simeon, also known as Hearst’s Castle, a California National Monument. This is the former home of the famous newspaper mogul which was the barely disguised inspiration for “Zanadu” the palatial home of Charles Foster Kane in Citizen Kane. The reality of San Simeon is that it is an amazing place made from bits and pieces of old buildings brought over from Europe in the early part of the twentieth century.

But it wasn’t the buildings I found most interesting, but the statuary that dotted the grounds. In particular there was one statue that struck my fancy, that of a Roman soldier kneeling on one knee and staring into space. I found my way to his base and noted that he was staring into a place between a collection of rose bushes, and that people passing that way would fall into his line of sight. But for a statue someone would have stay in place a long time to make a difference.

A line came to me. “It was her stillness he’d noticed.”

So I decided to write a story about a statue that noticed a human being and wished to become human to be with her. I wanted to show that he was obsessed with her, so I had the gardeners talking about how he’d changed position. So why would he have changed position? Well, maybe he was looking into a fountain at his feet… And then the story of Narcissus came to me, the man who could only love himself, finally finding love with a woman he saw among the roses. Aphrodite was needed to turn him human...hence a divine intervention.

I hadn't really planned on writing a second or third book when I wrote Violet Among The Roses, but I had so much fun doing the first book and then started hearing from readers wanting to know what would happen to Echo and Nemesis. As a result the Divine Interventions series was born.

Echo In The Hall is the second book in the trilogy, taking place after Narcissus (now named Nick) and Violet have been married for a while. They make love at the museum, something that catches the attention of another statue with the spirit of an old soul living in it. In this case it is Echo, who once loved Narcissus. Also at the museum is a guard named Alex whose girlfriend ran out on him leaving him with a good reason not to trust women. He thinks he's just going to have casual sex with Echo.

Unfortunately that leads to Echo becoming mortal and Alex ends up taking her home to live with him. Echo must make Alex love her or she might end up a spirit again. In this book, Nemesis, who is an antagonist in the first book is actually Echo's good friend and tries to help her sister nymph earn Alex's love, even if she has to steal an arrow from Eros to do it.

Echo and Alex have fallen in love by the end of the story so all is well for them but Eros's arrow hits both Pan and Nemesis and they are forced to fall in love - which led to the next book.

Nemesis Of The Garden starts up about six months after Echo In The Hall ends, with Nemesis and Pan living together in Olympus and trying to make sense out of their relationship. They both secretly wished they were together for reasons other than a magical arrow but there is a long history between them and not a good one. When Nemesis and Pan were lovers centuries before, Pan got drunk and spent the night with a vestal virgin and Nemesis being a vengeance nymph has never forgiven him.

As if their personal problems aren't bad enough, the Titans are plotting an escape from their specially built prison of Titanous and they intend to use Nemesis as part of the plan.Add in Aphrodite and her hubby, Hephaestus, and more than one Divine Intervention may be needed to save the day.

Obviously I based a lot of the Divine Intervention stories on the old Greek myths that I learned as a kid and still love. These myths have been the basis of Western literature for centuries and like most writers before me I’ve taken liberties with the characters and the stories…but all in good fun.

My goal is to entertain my readers, if that happens then I’m happy. Cheers!