Day: June 28, 2013

Photo tour week 4: Fire

/ Shauna Granger / Leave a comment

Hello again! I hope you all are enjoying your little trip through my fair city! Today, we’re taking a turn for the darker side of the series. Today I will show you the places that exist in the fourth book: Fire. (Just click on the pictures to see enlarged versions.)

In the beginning, Shay is atop a hill, overlooking Ventura. She’s been meditating and desperately trying to glean any energy she can from the hillside. Atop this hill is a massive cross that marks the area where Spanish Monks used to reside. Here is that hill and the view.

You can see, people were getting married there that day. What a lovely place for a wedding.

And this is the view from the top of the hill:
Kind of appropriate that there was so much June Gloom that day. Since the book takes place in the winter, you get a better sense of what it should look like in the book

 A few more pretty views of the hill:
I wanted to give you some awesome shots of the coastline where Shayna tests out her new-found flying abilities to help in the car crash, but alas, there was so much construction going on, none of the shots were usable.
But, moving right along! We get to see the beautiful Majestic Ventura Theater:
The view from the balcony (I’m sure we all liked the balcony scene 😉 ):
Photo credit: gothers.com
And finally, the entrance to The Tea Gardens. This is the place where I set the New Years Even scene and subsequently the fiery end of the book.

                         

 
Five years ago there actually was a horrible, horrible fire in this area. College kids had broken into the Tea Gardens (so named because this once belonged to Charlie Chaplan and he would take his tea in this part of the property), had a party and a fire and did not properly extinguish their fire before they left. A few days later, wind stirred the embers and set a catastrophic fire, burning 100 homes and injuring two people. It was heartbreaking. Because of my father’s business (construction), we were very familiar with this area and knew many of the people effected. I cannot tell you how wonderful it is to see it doing so well now.

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Photo tour week three: Water

/ Shauna Granger / Leave a comment

Welcome to the third installment of our photo tour! This week: Water – Book Two in the Elemental Series. This will probably be one of the shorter posts since most of the book’s major locations were underwater, but hopefully I’ve caught enough shots to make it entertaining for you.

In the very beginning we are brought on a dawn patrol surf session with Shayna at her favorite break: Surfers’ Point

 

Dawn at the beach is a wondrous, beautiful thing.

 

 (click the image to see a larger version)

 

Each of these were taken at Surfers’ Point and gives you an idea of the changing moods of our beach.

Later, Shayna chases down a woman, frantically looking for her lost child. Little does Shay realize, the area known as “River Mouth” would be where she spend the majority of her time on her summer break.

River Mouth, where fresh water meets the sea.

And later we would see the beautiful beaches of Emma Wood. Emma has a special place in my heart because that was where my dad taught me how to boogie board and was one of the first places I went surfing with my husband. And if you ever find yourself in this neck of the woods, Emma is one of the nicest spots to watch the sunset.

So many beautiful beaches in our county, I just wish we were lucky enough to get seashells :). Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this installment!

Photo Tour for Air: Book Two in the Elemental Series

/ Shauna Granger / Leave a comment

Welcome to week two of our photo tour! Today I’m featuring the real life locations that inspired many of the places in Air: Book Two.

First up the shopping center with the movie theater and cafe where we first meet Jeremy and his invisible friends.
Then of course we have our favorite bookstore…
Which turns into a rather scary place when an unstable Jeremy looses his cool…
And then flees by jumping off the exterior balcony.
Unfortunately a lot of the other locales were made up. Much of what happened in this book were in private homes and then of course, in the Shide. None of which I could photograph.

Photo Tour of Earth: Book One in the Elemental Seires

/ Shauna Granger / Leave a comment

Hello my lovelies! Today is the first installment of the photo tour of the real life places of the locations featured in the Elemental Series! First up: Earth. Mind you that I’m just showing your real places. I did make up some places, pulled them right out of my imagination. Like the high school – that place was an amalgamation of all the high schools in the district, so no pics of that.

Unfortunately when June 1st rolled around, Ventura decided to be very literal about June Gloom. It had been sunny and warm and pretty for weeks until June 1st, so some of these pics look a little dreary and I’m sorry for that.
So without further ado!
The Oak Ash and Thorn, featured in all five books was actually based on Journey Home, our local metaphysical shop. I have been going to this shop since I was six years old. Sadly, the exterior isn’t the prettiest.

 In the beginning of the book the trio goes to a greasy spoon restaurant before they perform their first casting of the series. I give you Main St Cafe. Fun fact: this is the same restaurant from Erin Brockavich!

And you’ll recall when they were finished with their meal they took some food to go for their friend and lookout, Byron. This is Byron’s bench and beyond that, the first place we see the trio cast their first spells of the series.
And though the reason the three are seeking out the cause of the disruption of their quiet town and looking for someone performing blood magic, the drive down the coast to the first location is always beautiful.
(Many car companies film their commercials along this stretch of road.)
Later, the trio goes on the hunt for the guy causing all the ruckus in town, performing blood magic and trying to lure girls into the woods.

New blogspace

/ Shauna Granger / Leave a comment

I’ve decided to make the move from Blogger, to WordPress. I already use WP with the blog I contribute to, Spellbound Scribes. Blogger, though pretty easy to form posts, is very frustrating. I’ve been thinking of moving away from it for a while now and today I’d had my last straw. So! Here we are.

I may see about moving some of the old blog posts over here, but no promises.

Hope you guys handle the move well!