Monday, January 21, 2013

Murry Pura - Ashton Park


It's my pleasure to welcome Murry Pura to Ink Dots once again, for my first interview of 2013. And what a great set of questions I have for my guest authors this year. More of that in a minute... First.. Who is Murray Pura?

Murray was born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. His first novel was released in Toronto in 1988. Since that time he has published seven more novels, two collections of short stories, and a number of nonfiction titles including the Zondervan books Rooted and Streams. He has been a finalist for several awards in the US and Canada and in 2012 won the Word Award of Toronto for Best Historical Novel. His book The Wings of Morning has been nominated for several literary awards including Best Inspirational Romance by ACFW. Murray lives and writes in southwestern Alberta and is currently published by Barbour, Baker, Harper One, Zondervan, and Harvest House as well as several other publishing houses.

Ashton Park - Four daughters and three sons have come of age at the Danforth family estate in Lancashire, England called Ashton Park. Some are liberal-minded, some conservative, some are wild, some more self-controlled, but each one tries to care for the others and each one is looking for the love of their life. They don’t necessarily look for that love among other aristocratic peers, a fact that drives their well-meaning parents, Sir William and Lady Elizabeth, to distraction. But amidst the pitfalls of war and revolution, sibling quarrels and misunderstandings, forbidden love between nobility and commoner, and tragedy that strikes when you have three sons in uniform, a deep-rooted faith and hope in God sustain the family through the trials and heartbreaks of the early years of the 20th century, 1916-1923.
Want to know more about the author of Ashton Park? Of course you do. Here's a snippet of what really fills Murray's thoughts and days when no one's watching. 
If I could go anywere in the world tomorrow, it would be…..the Great Barrier Reef. I love to skin dive and snorkel. I was on the 3rd largest reef last summer in Turks & Caicos but the largest is the Great Barrier Reef.
One thing I enjoyed today is writing a love scene in one of my books. They really are the most pleasant & enjoyable scenes to write in a novel.
A secret pleasure of mine is swishing my swords around in the air. I have katanas (Japanese swords) and medieval swords. They are functional (not wall hangers) and sharp so I do this when I'm alone. It is quite fun.
A moment that changed my life is… being asked to minister at Columbine in 1999. I was heading to Denver anyways to talk about my writing but the shooting happened the same week. Three days after the tragedy I was there and they asked me to lead a memorial service in one of the churches. I write about the experience in my book STREAMS. Those days cut right to my heart.
Sundays are for… creative worship, prayer, meditation, church family, forests, streams, and mountains.
When I was a child I wanted tobe a writer. Yup. And I've done it all my life and I'm still doing it, thank God.

I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but… sometimes I wish the heroines I create in my books would come to life and take me out for coffee. :o) 
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Murray, in Australia, we'd shorten your name to Muzza, and then get out of the way of those swords! Thanks for visiting with me today, and I wish you wonderful success with Ashton Park.
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If you're a Downton fan, you will love Ashton Park. It's on my nightstand right now and I'm lost in the romance of the Danforth family. You could be too... Leave a comment below and I'll choose one lucky Ink Dots guest to receive a prize copy. Tell us which fictional character you'd like to take you out for coffee. I'll draw a winner on Friday.