Author takes readers on supernatural journey, adds in local lore
Barbara Pietron worked in the corporate world until General Motors downsized and eliminated her department. Instead of looking on the negative side of this life-changing event, Pietron took it as a time in her life to do something she was passionate about.
The Royal Oak resident, who got her business degree at Walsh College, set that all aside and turned her attention instead to writing fiction.
Always an avid reader, Pietron admired the way some authors put their ideas into print to entertain and provide readers with an escape from daily life. So she set upon writing stories in the young-adult paranormal genre. She considers her books to be low fantasy or urban fantasy, which means that unlike Tolkien or George R.R. Martin, her stories take place in the real world but with supernatural or magical elements.
“The possibility of supernatural and/or magical things existing in our world fascinates me,” says Pietron, “I love the idea of an ordinary person learning that they have extraordinary abilities. My love of mythology and lore and legends inspire my stories. Pietron has written “Soulshifter,” and the “Legacy in Legend” series, which includes three books, “Thunderstone,” “Veiled Existence” and her latest, “Lost in Nowhere,” coming out Tuesday, April 20.
When Pietron is not writing she can be found in the stacks at the Southfield and Bloomfield Township Public libraries, reading and researching. She always begins a book with a topic of interest, she and especially enjoys the research process. This learning process excites her mind.
“While researching, I often discover some gem of information that totally
inspires a new aspect of a current story or something to include in a future book,” she says.
As part of her research, she travels to the places where she sets each of her books. For instance, her “Legacy in Legend” series was inspired by a trip to the Mississippi headwaters. “Lost in Nowhere,” is book three in the series, and tells a ghost’s tragic love story, based on a local legend called The Curse of Kaskaskia. Pietron did quite a bit of research into 18th century life around Kaskaskia, Ill., and included the history of the region to lend authenticity to the main character’s dreams of the past.
The main character, Jeni, is approached by the ghost of a pioneer girl, Marielle, who needs help to rescue the soul of her lost love. When Jeni begins to dream, she experiences the ghost’s lost love firsthand, and in the dream she believes there is a way to ensure that the lovers are reunited for eternity. While in her dream state, however, an evil force takes advantage of Jeni and traps her soul in the past.
When Pietron sits in her quiet home library writing her stories, she thinks about the people who will read her books.
“I would like readers to feel like they learned something they didn’t know, perhaps about Native American or Celtic mythology,” she says. “Most of all, I hope readers are entertained and that my story made their life a little bit better in some way.”
Pietron’s next adventure as an author will take her to the Big Easy, as her next book will be set in New Orleans.