I needed a special setting for my latest novel Light Bringer. It needed to be part of the world but isolated, a place where people were free to be themselves without ridicule, where UFOs sightings could have had a major impact, where a secret government-sanctioned project could be hidden. Luckily, I had to look no further than out my living room window.
At the time, I was living in the shadow of the Grand Mesa, in ranching country, and much of that terrain formed the backdrop of my story. Chalcedony is the name of a fictional county sandwiched between Mesa County and Delta County. It is a beautiful place with mountains and valleys, wide-open spaces, cattle and horses, new buildings and old.
But beneath the mountains in this peaceful fictional world, unpeaceful things are happening.

Click here to read the first chapter of: Light Bringer
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Pat Bertram is the author of the suspense novels Light Bringer, More Deaths Than One, A Spark of Heavenly Fire, and Daughter Am I. Bertram is also the author of Grief: The Great Yearning, “an exquisite book, wrenching to read, and at the same time full of profound truths.” Connect with Pat on Google+. Like Pat on Facebook.
September 18, 2013 at 5:48 pm
Yes. It is always a wise decision to base a fictional town on places you know. In my own writing I have made up fake towns. If it is in an area of my state or a part of the world I am not 100 percent familiar with I’ll google search the name to make absolutely sure it can’t be associated with a real town. A while back I was surprised to discover that a town I’d made up was too similar in name to the real McCoy and so I had to change it to be on the safe side.
September 18, 2013 at 6:00 pm
I love reading novels with a strong sense of place. Stunning views. How do you get any work done?
September 18, 2013 at 8:34 pm
My office window didn’t face any of those views. A neighbor put his haystack right in my view, so it was easy to keep my eyes on my work. (I don’t live there any more.)
September 19, 2013 at 4:44 am
Loved this book!
Sent from my iPhone
September 22, 2013 at 2:03 pm
Susan, how wonderful to hear that!