There is symbolism in both the seagulls and the locusts in this book. In 1848, shortly after LDS pioneers settled in the Salt Lake Valley, a swarm of insects (now referred to as “Mormon crickets”) descended upon the pioneers’ crops and began destroying them. Fortunately, flocks of seagulls soon appeared and began devouring these crickets, saving the pioneers’ crops. This was considered a miracle sent by God, and it allowed the Saints to become self-sustaining.2
Veins of Gold stretches across three genres and is simultaneously a quiet and a quirky tale. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
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1 Kate Ensign-Lewis, “3 Myths About the Early Church You Thought Were True,” LDS Living, 2011, http://www.ldsliving.com/3-Myths-About-the-Early-Church-You-Thought-Were-True/s/64388.
2 Richard W. Sadler, “Seagulls, Miracle of,” in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, ed. Brigham Young University (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, March 28, 2008), http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Seagulls,_Miracle_of.
This book was a bit of an adventure—a story I came up with while trying to match a previous genre, but it ultimately took up a life of its own and became something different. Something that didn’t quite fit in with other books, yet a story that still claimed a little piece of me. I want to foremost thank Heather Moore for helping make this book happen when the doors began closing. She was an unexpected helpmeet that I didn’t (at first) realize I needed.
Thank you to my agent, Marlene, who helped me clean up my manuscript and who gave me permission to take a back road with it, all while continuing to look out for me and my best interests.
Thank you to my husband, Jordan, for all his support, and to my sister Alex and my assistant Amanda for helping me with kids while I wrote and edited. And edited. And edited.
I need to give another round of applause to those who helped me get this book into shape. My alpha readers, Hayley, L.T., Danny, Rebecca, Laura, and Juliana, and my beta readers, Caitlyn, Leah, Whitney, and Kim. Also to Michele, who agreed to give me a last-minute dev edit, and to Kristy, who wields a red pen like it’s Excalibur.
As per tradition, thank you to my Father in Heaven, who looks out for me and who has blessed me with any and all talent found within these pages.
CHARLIE N. HOLMBERG is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Paper Magician series, which Publishers Weekly called a “promising debut.” Short-Listed for the 2015 ALA Fantasy Reading List for The Paper Magician, she is also the author of Followed by Frost, The Fifth Doll, and Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet. Charlie is a board member for the Deep Magic ezine of science fiction and fantasy. She is represented by Marlene Stringer at the Stringer Literary Agency. Visit Charlie online: www.CharlieNHolmberg.com
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