Guest Author: Joselyn Vaughn and For the Love of Bigfoots and Butterflies

For my first guest author post of 2019, I invited one of our former foxes, Joselyn Vaughn, to come and introduce her soon-to-be-released novel For the Love of Bigfoots and Butterflies. This book has been in the works for quite some time, and when she announced it was finished and ready for publication I immediately pre-ordered it. And then I asked her to come and explain to us her fascination with Bigfoot. She sent me a reviewer’s copy to read, and I’m about two-thirds finished with it. I’ll share my thoughts in a few weeks when I share my reviews for all the books I read this month. In the meantime, here’s Joselyn:

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Thank you for inviting me to post, Patricia! It’s fun to be here with you all again.

The unexplained has always intrigued me. Bermuda Triangle? Sure, I read a chapter about that. Spontaneous human combustion? What can you tell me? Bigfoot? Show me every blurry video you’ve got!

That’s how I stumbled across the show Finding Bigfoot on Netflix. People searching for evidence of Bigfoot and listening to first-hand encounters? Hand me the popcorn, I’m going to binge-watch.

I had just started playing with the idea of a new story. We were driving through the upper peninsula of Michigan (a spectacularly squatchy area!) and my main character was running on a trail. My husband suggested we watch for Sasquatches along the side of the road. And suddenly I knew my character would see a Bigfoot.

The rest of For the Love of Bigfoots and Butterflies evolved from there. It’s amazing how a whole story can sprout from just one comment.

Of course, “research” for this book involved watching hundreds of blurry videos on YouTube. Some of them have potential. Some videographers have much better eyesight than I do.

Naturally, I looked for information in my area. There weren’t any encounters documented on the research sites which I found highly suspect. It’s as squatchy as the  upper peninsula. Eventually, I found an article about a woman who feeds a family of Squatches blueberry bagels. This made much more sense. I even heard a rumor about people seeing a monkey in the trees north of town. Obviously, it’s a baby Bigfoot.

My own encounters are slim… as in none. There was the scat that I saw on the North Country trail. Further investigation led to the discovery of horse tracks. Watching the woods while running is impossible. I’m more likely to fall (hopefully not into a pile of scat) if I don’t watch the trail in front of me rather than the trees around me. I also saw scat on a trail in Florida which I later learned was from a bear. It was much too fresh for my comfort level.

When we visited Tahquemenon, I told my kids that Sasquatches built these rock towers to warn the others that people were around.

In reality, this is the Squatch I’d prefer to see.

 

 

 

 

About For the Love of Bigfoots and Butterflies:

Fighting for an endangered butterfly is what makes Jane Meeth tick and Tall Oaks Development is her biggest adversary. Little does she know that the CEO of the company, Marshall Linden, is none other than the handsome hiker she meets while running on the trail.

After Marshall discovers evidence of Bigfoot, he wants to establish a sanctuary to protect the creature, but he must keep it secret from the protesters of his Tall Oaks projects. He didn’t count on falling in love with Jane making his plans nearly impossible.

When an environmental disaster threatens both of their dreams, they must throw away their prejudices to make the world safe for Bigfoots and butterflies.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KNLDD9T