The Past Isn't Dead. It Isn't Even Past .... by Anna Taylor Sweringen

"The past isn't dead. It isn't even past." - William Faulkner, Requiem for A Nun

As a lover of history, this line of Faulkner's thrills me. Why? Because I believe what has gone before is not only always present, but also has the power in the present as well. 

Faulkner's line hit home when I took this picture many years ago from the Brooklyn promenade where the World Trade Center used to stand. That sky is broken and not empty. It's full of the lives lost, the lives forever affected by those losses and will always be.

In downtown Albuquerque there's an historic district called Old Town where they commemorate the arrival of the Spanish and the founding of Albuquerque. Plaques also share the history of the Church of San Felipe de Neri, the oldest continuing congregation in Albuquerque.

And yet as I stand in the quiet of the narrow streets and peruse the original architecture of Old Albuquerque, preserved in art shops and restaurants, Faulkner's line haunts me. Where are the plaques and markers that pay homage to the native people who occupied this land before the Spanish and the Christians laid claim to this territory? Surely their spirits are as present as the spirits I sense when I look at my broken sky picture. Surely their spirits hover around me in the streets of Old Town.

Whether seated on the Brooklyn promenade or standing in the cool quiet of the Old Town plaza, I imagine who filled this space with their energy and dreams and desires, whose legacy and lingering presence fill them now. Having been a minister, I'm already predisposed to accept realities that go beyond the five senses. No wonder I enjoy writing ghost stories as Anna M. Taylor. Well, stories dealing with spirits or supernatural energy to be more accurate because the past isn't dead. It isn't even past. Never was. Never will be.

Anna Taylor Sweringen self-publishes second chance romance gothic ghost stories in her Haunted Harlem series as Anna M. Taylor. Book Three, Always the Dead Between is slated to release October 31. In the meanwhile you can learn more about Haunted Harlem on Amazon here: http://amzn.to/355nKv0. 

 

Scary Moments

 By Courtney Pierce

There are two types of scenes that are incredibly tough for writers to pull off: funny and scary.  What tickles one’s funny bone or tingles the spine is so personal. Success, though, is when a reader's reaction lingers long after the book is closed. A scene gets funnier or more chilling over time when connections are made to the reader’s own life. Authors write their own truth, personal to us, and the honest truth can be downright hilarious or scary. We can only hope it connects with others.

“Oh my God. My Mom does the same exact thing!”

"My sisters are just like that!"

Or,

“I knew her life would change with that phone call. That's what happened to me.”

The same process is at play for writing a scary scene. When the set up is crafted properly, readers know the moment is coming. The anticipation itself becomes the trigger for a emotional meltdown. And when it finally does strike, something quite unexpected happens—a reveal of new information. Sometimes the most chilling scenes expose raw emotions from the character discovering a raw truth, not from a crazed stalker wielding a machete.

Arousing a deep internal reaction can be scary, both for the author and the reader.

Cover: Rosalind McFarland

In my trilogy series about the Dushane sisters, the main character, Olivia Novack, is obsessed with finding her husband’s killer from a hit-and-run accident. That serious backstory is constantly running in the background, driving Olivia and her two sisters’ crazy antics over three books. Behind the hilarity lurks an insidious antagonist. Even after several years, Olivia can’t let go of what happened to her husband. She's terminally dedicated, obsessive-compulsive, driven, and still in love. By the final book, Olivia releases herself from her self-imposed emotional prison by finally disposing of her husband’s personal affects.

Readers knew this moment had to come for Olivia. It was a scary moment for me as the author to write. I, too, had to let go of a husband, not from an accidental death, but from betrayal. My heart raced when I wrote Olivia discovering something unimaginable in her husband’s wallet, something she’d never known was there. It was a game-changer. I grieved with Olivia, so real were her emotions to me. And readers grieved for Olivia, too, the lump-in-the-throat kind of pain when the truth comes out in the final book.

Everyone can relate to feeling emotionally duped. Betrayal and disillusionment offer Olivia only one of two choices: hopelessness in defeat or empowerment realized in forgiveness. She can’t change the past. She has to move forward in order to live again, love again, and be whole again.

In my new book, BIG SKY TALK, fear comes on two levels: the supernatural and the emotions of loss. The combination ups the ante.

Cover: Rosalind McFarland

Upon moving into her new home in Montana, Aubrey Cenderon begins to experience strange happenings that she attributes to coincidence. It starts with an innocent canoe trip on the lake behind her new house. She could swear she spots a grizzly bear roaming in the brush along the shore. A sudden brew of a thunderstorm sends her home to investigate. No grizzly bear is in sight when she retraces the movement, but a flash of lightening sends her spine tingling when she touches the unmistakable impression of a fresh paw print. It’s smeared with blood. She hadn’t imagined it.

Aubrey makes a call to sheriff Russell Knowles. An injured grizzly bear is indeed on the loose.

With Aubrey’s heightened awareness, she hears movement in the woods. A strange violent wind flails the branches of a single tree, leaving the trees around it still. Waves of water on the lake push to the shore with seemingly no source. The air is calm, eerily calm, except for the whoosh of an eagle’s wings overhead. She senses a presence close by, communicating to her. It is the bear.

All of these events can be explained away as an overreaction until the captured image in her camera picks up only a blue aura. Aubrey can't ignore this confirmation of an alternate reality. 

Committed to finding out the truth, Aubrey's fear sends her into hero mode to protect the bear. The animal is speaking to her through the elements, while the sheriff knows he must kill the bear. His Deputy, a descendant of the Salish tribe, knows exactly what’s going on: reincarnation. There you have the set-up for an emotional show down. To further crank up the heat, Aubrey and the sheriff are falling in love with each other. And a loaded Glock stands between them.

I am currently writing this mid-point scene. Crafting suspense is both exciting and scary, especially when I incorporate the supernatural elements into it. What scares me, though, is the personal emotional truth that I must incorporate into the prose: the loss of my father, the conversation I wished we’d had before his death, and how I would feel if I got the opportunity to talk to him one last time.

One last time.

Love is scary.  And loss of that love is even scarier.

Love’s energy prevails. It rides the wind, falls in the rain, rises in the sun, and bursts forth from a thunderstorm. It never disappears.

Courtney Pierce is a fiction writer living in Kalispell, Montana with her husband, stepdaughter, and their brainiac cat. Courtney writes for the baby boomer audience. She spent 28 years as an executive in the entertainment industry and used her time in a theater seat to create stories that are filled with heart, humor, and mystery. She studied craft and storytelling at the Attic Institute and has completed the Hawthorne Fellows Program for writing and publishing. Active in the writing community, Courtney is a board member of the Northwest Independent Writers Association and on the Advisory Council of the Independent Publishing Resource Center. She is a member of Willamette Writers, Pacific Northwest Writers Association, and Authors of the Flathead. The Executrix received the Library Journal Self-E recommendation seal.

Print and E-books are available through most major online retailers, including Amazon.com.

Check out all of Courtney's books: 

courtney-pierce.com and windtreepress.com 

New York Times best-selling author Karen Karbo says, "Courtney Pierce spins a madcap tale of family grudges, sisterly love, unexpected romance, mysterious mobsters and dog love. Reading Indigo Lake is like drinking champagne with a chaser of Mountain Dew. Pure Delight."

Coming in 2021!

When Aubrey Cenderon moves to Montana after the death of her father, the peace and quiet of Big Sky Country becomes complicated with a knock on the door from the sheriff. An injured grizzly bear is on the loose and it must be eliminated before it kills again. The sheriff's insistence that she buy a gun for protection will present Aubrey with some serious soul-searching, because the grizzly-on-the-run is hunting for her too . . . for a different reason.

Courtney Pierce is a fiction writer living in Kalispell, Montana with her husband, stepdaughter, and their brainiac cat. Courtney writes for the baby boomer audience. She spent 28 years as an executive in the entertainment industry and used her time in a theater seat to create stories that are filled with heart, humor, and mystery. She studied craft and storytelling at the Attic Institute and has completed the Hawthorne Fellows Program for writing and publishing. Active in the writing community, Courtney is a board member of the Northwest Independent Writers Association and on the Advisory Council of the Independent Publishing Resource Center. She is a member of Willamette Writers, Pacific Northwest Writers Association, and Authors of the Flathead. The Executrix received the Library Journal Self-E recommendation seal.

Print and E-books are available through most major online retailers, including Amazon.com.

Check out all of Courtney's books: 

courtney-pierce.com and windtreepress.com 

New York Times best-selling author Karen Karbo says, "Courtney Pierce spins a madcap tale of family grudges, sisterly love, unexpected romance, mysterious mobsters and dog love. Reading Indigo Lake is like drinking champagne with a chaser of Mountain Dew. Pure Delight."

Coming in 2021!

When Aubrey Cenderon moves to Montana after the death of her father, the peace and quiet of Big Sky Country becomes complicated with a knock on the door from the sheriff. An injured grizzly bear is on the loose and it must be eliminated before it kills again. The sheriff's insistence that she buy a gun for protection will present Aubrey with some serious soul-searching, because the grizzly-on-the-run is hunting for her too . . . for a different reason.

A Work in Progress is Hard Work

By Courtney Pierce

Do you believe in ghosts?

When I've been asked that question in the past, I offer a hesitant nod, followed by a wink and a smile. I didn’t really believe in ghosts beyond the normal psych-out from watching a scary movie. Being alone in the house can get me going, too, with a sudden unfamiliar noise, a flicker in the reflection of a darkened window, or ethereal images in flashes of lightning. However, my research for my latest work-in-progress, Big Sky Talk, led me down an interesting path through the ghost department.

Big Sky Talk is part Montana ghost story, part Native-American folklore, and part love story for those of us who have a few miles on our shoes. The story’s fuel is a grown woman’s grief over the loss of her elderly father. She starts life anew, but she can't hide.

Here’s a quick run-down of the premise:

“A wounded grizzly bear is on the loose in the sleepy suburb of Many Lakes in Kalispell, Montana. The mauled remains of its shooter, a known poacher, lay on a slab in the morgue under the scrutiny of Russell Knowles, the Sheriff of Flathead County. With one month to go before his retirement, Russ hopes this case will be one of his last.

Professional photographer Aubrey Cenderon is a new resident of Many Lakes. After the death of her father, the move to Montana will renew her passion for the outdoors and fulfill her father’s unrealized dreams. She looks forward to capturing wildlife with her camera lens, hiking the mountain trails, and sitting by the wood stove to finally grasp that she’s a 62-year-old orphan. But the bloody paw print on the lake shore behind Aubrey’s house is the size of a serving platter . . . and it’s fresh. Aubrey has a lot to learn about the dangers of living in Big Sky Country, and she’s about to get a crash course.

A knock on the door from Sheriff Knowles will change Aubrey’s life. Living in Montana is suddenly full of complications, and Russ’s concern for Aubrey’s safety comes with two serious ones–their instant mutual attraction and his insistence that she buy a gun. But using a gun won’t be an easy decision when Aubrey finds out why the injured grizzly-on-the-run is hunting specifically for her.”

It's an emotional dive into the fantastic.

I’m only at the fifty-percent mark into my first draft of Big Sky Talk, but the story is already rich in layers. My editor is licking her chops for the manuscript, but the more I research Native American folklore the deeper those layers become. Now that I live in northwest Montana, I’m in a unique position to tap into the wisdom of the Blackfeet and Salish tribes. I have access to almost too much information. I’m only a 40-minute drive from Glacier National Park, where thousands of years of Native American spirituality wrap around me like a blanket. 

There are several stories that are recounted in Glacier Ghost Stories by

Karen Stevens, a local Indie book that I gobbled up in one sitting. Spirits really do call Glacier National Park home. According to the real-life testimonials of the staff who work in the Park's historic lodges, campgrounds, and on the trails, ghostly run-ins are not only documented, but the stories are also corroborated by visitors and guests. 

The strangest stories are relayed from the housekeeping staff and caretakers of the Park's grand lodges built by the Great Northern Railway in the early 1900s. Be prepared for an eerie experience in Room 30 at Belton Chalet. Guests consistently report consistent details of a woman weeping all night in the room. Also, a little Indian girl in buckskins has been seen walking the halls at night and knocking on doors. If followed, she leads guests to the stairway, where she suddenly disappears.

Glacier Park Lodge

Glacier Park Lodge is host to several spirits, most of which are Native American. The hotel sits on what used to be Blackfeet territory, which was the site of a particularly violent battle. There are regular reports from the housekeeping staff about a light female voice responding, "I'm in here" to a knock on the door. A double check of the schedule reveals the room is listed as unoccupied. A second knock produces no response. Upon entering the room, no one is there. Bellmen frequently pass women in old-fashioned garb on the stairs, only to have them disappear into thin air. In the Moccasin Room, the bar located in the Lodge's basement, bartenders and visitors alike have frequently seen two ghostly men sitting at the counter. The gift shop sports a life-sized carving of an Indian, whose gaze appears to follow shoppers.  

A trickster ghost haunts the gift shop at St. Mary Lodge. Upon opening the shop in

St. Mary Lodge

the morning, the staff frequently find that items have been pulled from the shelves and strewn across the floor. Dreamcatchers have also been removed from their boxes. And when the Lodge closes for the winter, the staff hears voices and "non-paying" guests moving around the empty hotel. It's no wonder. For hundreds of years, the trails of the St. Mary Valley were home to Native Americans, trappers, and hunters. Mountain men apparently make a lot of noise.

Lake McDonald Lodge

Lake McDonald Lodge sits on land that was deemed the "Sacred Dancing Place" of the Kootenai tribe. Could the spirits from these ceremonies be the cause of strange odors that grace the air and disappear? What about the complaints of noise from a loud party in Room 308 when the employees know the room is unoccupied?

And what about the ghostly pets that crawl into guests' beds at the

Many Glacier Hotel

Many Glacier Hotel? When the hotel closes down for the winter, a man in a top hat is frequently seen in the upstairs halls. In an interview with the hotel's caretaker, he was asked by reporters whether the incidents were true. The caretaker said, "If I say yes, then I'm crazy. If I say no, then I'm a liar."

It's hard to deny that something otherworldly is going on in these grand ole' dames of Glacier National Park. Maybe I'm gullible, but I want to believe, so I do. It's like method acting, I guess. To write about magical events, I have to be an "all in" believer, not just a "Daydream Believer."

While the majority of my research has been centered around the reincarnation beliefs of the Native-American tribes, the story is infused with personal details. They say that the most important people in our lives remain with us in various forms. In every culture there’s a unique bond between fathers and daughters—good and bad—and a father’s loss is life-changing for a daughter. The grief process can be filled with heartache, anger, regret, or unfinished emotional business. The last is at the heart of Big Sky Talk. 

My goal is to be both factually authentic and personal, but the two don’t always seamlessly meld together. An author can’t fudge on details to make the story fit together. It would be like trying to shove a marshmallow into a piggy bank.

Reincarnation beliefs vary among North American tribes, but there are a few universal principals: nature and the spirit world are intimately linked, the "spirit road" for the dead leads to the Milky Way, and that reincarnation, in either human or animal form, provides continuity to the soul. I chose to make one of my secondary characters of Blackfeet or Salish descent. I haven't settled on which tribe my character will be from yet, but my continued research will certainly guide me to make a choice.

As in my first three books, Stitches, Brushes, and Riffs, I’m thrilled to be back in the world of magical realism. I’ve always wanted to write a ghost story and to explore all of the exaggerated emotions that go along with creating one.  

Using reincarnation as the heart of my story allows me, the author, the supreme indulgence to button up all that unfinished business after the loss of my own Dad. Like my character of Aubrey Cenderon, I sense that he's still around in spirit. I'm sure he'll be reading over my shoulder as I write my character's conversation with a reincarnated grizzly bear, a dialogue of all the things I'd wished I would've said to him in those final days of his life. 

On second thought, forget the over-the-shoulder stuff. Dad would've wanted me to read it to him aloud. 

And so I will.

Courtney Pierce is a fiction writer living in Kalispell, Montana with her husband, stepdaughter, and their brainiac cat. Courtney writes for the baby boomer audience. She spent 28 years as an executive in the entertainment industry and used her time in a theater seat to create stories that are filled with heart, humor, and mystery. She studied craft and storytelling at the Attic Institute and has completed the Hawthorne Fellows Program for writing and publishing. Active in the writing community, Courtney is a board member of the Northwest Independent Writers Association and on the Advisory Council of the Independent Publishing Resource Center. She is a member of Willamette Writers, Pacific Northwest Writers Association, and Authors of the Flathead. The Executrix received the Library Journal Self-E recommendation seal.

Print and E-books are available through most major online retailers, including Amazon.com.

Check out all of Courtney's books: 

courtney-pierce.com and windtreepress.com 

New York Times best-selling author Karen Karbo says, "Courtney Pierce spins a madcap tale of family grudges, sisterly love, unexpected romance, mysterious mobsters and dog love. Reading Indigo Lake is like drinking champagne with a chaser of Mountain Dew. Pure Delight."

Coming in 2021!

When Aubrey Cenderon moves to Montana after the death of her father, the peace and quiet of Big Sky Country becomes complicated with a knock on the door from the sheriff. An injured grizzly bear is on the loose and it must be eliminated before it kills again. The sheriff's insistence that she buy a gun for protection will present Aubrey with some serious soul-searching, because the grizzly-on-the-run is hunting for her too . . . for a different reason.

Book Recommendations: Authors Kathleen A. Flynn & Sophie Jaff

by Michelle Monkou

The Jane Austen Project by Kathleen A. Flynn is Perfect for fans of Jane Austen, this engrossing debut novel offers an unusual twist on the legacy of one of the world's most celebrated and beloved authors: two researchers from the future are sent bak in time to meet Jane and recover a suspected unpublished novel.

In a nutshell, The Jane Austen Project is a time travel adventure story wrapped in a literary style as if Jane Austen or her contemporaries wrote about this unusual and intriguing encounter.

Author Flynn takes her time with the world of 1815 England from the eyes of its back-in-time traveler. Staying in character or true to character, the flavor of the period rings with authenticity to make any desire to go back in history one that may elicit excitement, but also give pause for the things we take for granted--gender roles, rules of society, technology, illness, injury, and mortality, etc.

Flynn, on the other hand, doesn't delay the start of the adventure with its first line: What kind of maniac travels in time? by its heroine who isn't afraid to use her heart and brain to solve the problems of the day, navigate the unpredictable path of her feelings for two men, but also to challenge the assumptions and expectations about the mission against her own code. Here we see (through the heroine's eyes) her interaction with various women in their stations of life, including Jane Austen. Her modern disposition and privilege contrasted, but at times, empathized with their 1815 identities.

By the end, I'm glad that Flynn didn't gloss over the effects of researchers going back in time. There are consequences and every interaction casts another ripple through reality, which should always be the big problem to solve or acknowledge about in any time travel story. As a result, I'm not disappointed with the (surprise) ending.  I'm quite pleased actually that Flynn with her careful considerations stayed true to "every action has a reaction" theory to the end.

_______________________

Sophie Jaff's Crown Of Stars is a heady mix of the supernatural, thriller, and mystery elements. Book two of The Night Song Trilogy will delight her fans with the dual stories that are connected by a dark prophecy. Sacrifice and betrayal motivate and yet tear apart the characters' souls.

The dark worlds, well-written and wonderfully detailed, will grab the reader and take her on a winding and satisfying ride. Jaff drops in the creepiness in steady doses to push the urgency and pacing of the plot.

Although we are guaranteed a third installment,  Jaff is never lazy with  this unique tale making sure to challenge her complex characters to the bitter end. She closes on a high note that will keep our anticipation for book three on simmer.

In the sequel to the critically acclaimed cult favorite novel Love Is Red, CROWN OF STARS, the past and present collide in a stunning, suspenseful, supernatural saga of revenge that will enrapture fans of Karen Marie Moning, Susanna Kearsley, and Anne Rice.

Katherine narrowly escaped death at the hands of a notorious serial killer, but in saving herself she destroyed her relationship with Sael, the man she loves. However, she’s pregnant—and he doesn’t know. She’s already adopted Lucas, the son of her murdered roommate and plans to raise him and the baby on her own, until a chance encounter with Sael forces them to confront their future. He asks them to come with him to London, where he’s starting a new job. Still deeply disturbed by the events of the past few months, Katherine agrees to a new start abroad.

Hundreds of years earlier, a young English girl named Margaret witnesses her mother’s vicious murder in the woods surrounding their village. A strange, dark-eyed child, Margaret already attracts suspicion and her miraculous survival only stokes rumors of witchcraft among the neighbors. When her father remarries a much younger, hostile woman, Margaret knows she must leave for good. Her fight to survive on her own reveals she has inherited her mother’s extraordinary gifts.

Katherine begins her new life in London, and Margaret also gets to start over—as an alewife in a local lord’s castle. Even though Margaret’s is a medieval world, separated from Katherine’s by centuries, both women struggle with loneliness, the pain of being misunderstood, and the consequences of a passionate love affair gone wrong. And as their stories converge, an electrifying narrative builds towards a climax that forces Katherine to confront her destiny and that of her child, which are intertwined with Margaret’s own troubled fate.

Enjoy the read!!

Michelle

The Mystery of Magic

The Mystery of Magic - Rosalie Redd

What is magic? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary magic is:

a)              The use of means (as charms or spells) believed to have supernatural power over natural forces

b)             An extraordinary power or influence seemingly from a supernatural source

c)              The art of producing illusions by sleight of hand

Magic inspires wonder, curiosity, and fascination with possibilities of life filled with something more, something magical. From man’s early days, the allure of supernatural powers has captured our imaginations. Every culture and civilization throughout history has stories and beliefs grounded in magic.

What draws us to the allure of the supernatural? What captures our imagination, makes us want to comprehend what we don’t understand? Our inquisitive nature as humans drives us to identify solutions to problems, think about how the world works, and our role in it. Magic gives us hope, faith, a belief that maybe there’s more than what we can see, hear, smell, touch, or taste.

Stories involving magic offer a glimpse into a particular culture’s views and customs. Over the centuries, the desire and need for these tales hasn’t abated. Books on the subject of magic abound online and on the shelves of brick and mortar chain stores. Some places even specialize in occult, new age, or alternative magic.

Even today, many fiction books include the use of magic. Specific genres such as science fiction, dystopian, fantasy, and paranormal all have an element of the supernatural. From mysterious and alien planets to time travel to otherworldly beings, the strange, weird and different call to us on a subconscious level. I believe we are drawn to mythical stories to escape and to understand a piece of ourselves as well as our world.

What do you think? Do you like magic? If so, why?

 

Author Bio

After finishing a rewarding career in finance and accounting, it was time for Rosalie Redd to put away the spreadsheets and take out the word processor. She writes Paranormal/Science Fiction Romance inspired by classics from the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres layered with a good, hot dose of romance.

She currently lives in Oregon, where rain is just another excuse to keep writing. When not at her computer, you can find her at Jazzercise, waterfall collecting in the Pacific Northwest, or relaxing with her husband and their pesky cat, Snookums.

Rosalie Redd

Discover Otherworldly love…

www.rosalieredd.com

DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC?

I am currently in Denver for the RomCom conference, so I'm posting an edited version of a post I did a while back. Enjoy!!

How much do you believe in the supernatural? Do you check your horoscope on a regular basis? Have you ever had your cards thrown? Or had your palm read?

I think everyone has a sense of magic in them. But, by my definition, magic doesn't mean having the power to cast spells or make yourself float in midair...to me magic is about emotion, how strong your heart is, how strong your bond with everyone and everything around you.

I've always had a strong intuition and could always sense when someone or something wasn’t quite right. Of course, I didn’t always trust my gut, but when I did, I managed to get out of some pretty hairy situations.

I never really tried to hone that gift, but I call on it every time I start a new book.  Mainly because, when I write, I see the story as a movie with myself as the main character/s so I can see and feel everything they experience. Adding this sense of realism is what makes my work successful.

When I was researching my novel Dark Obsession I focused my search on Curanderismo, spirituality, and pretty much anything having to do with witchcraft, mysticism, etc. The information I came across was all very interesting. I even had a chance to speak with a man in west Texas who has done years of research on Curanderismo and his insight made for great conflict in my story (and future stories). My research also took me on a road trip with my aunt and cousin, to the Rio Grande Valley, (in Texas). I went to get visuals (since it had been several years since I lived there) and gather stories from the various family members who live there.  As a detective with the Brownsville Police Department stated during an investigation of a ritual killing  “you can't be born or raised near Mexico without believing the possibility that the magic exists.”

While we were in the valley, my aunt's sister-in-law told me about a (healing) incident she witnessed with a (colicky) baby, a raw egg and a glass of salt water. This particular healing (called a limpia) was written into my novel Dark Obsession.  

Now, I wouldn't say I'm a firm believer in what I researched, but I can admit there's something there to consider. I mean, really, don't we all wish we could have just a little bit of magic ala Samantha Stevens?   

 

Could it Be Magic?

This month we've been talking about superstitions, which seems apropos since it's October and Halloween is just around the corner.  And, what better time to talk about superstitions and magic and all things that go bump in the night?   

I'm not a superstitious person, or at least I've never considered myself one. Then I thought, hmm...maybe I should look up the definition and see for sure. 

Superstition: noun \ˌsü-pər-ˈsti-shən\

: a belief or way of behaving that is based on fear of the unknown and faith in magic or luck : a belief that certain events or things will bring good or bad luck , that some events or phenomena are omens, and, generally, fearfully believing in a supernatural dimension to events.

Okay....maybe I am a bit superstitious because I do tend to believe in omens. Here's a case in point....and because it's almost Halloween, consider this a 'ghost story' or rather "Paranormal Activity continued".  

Last July (2012) I went home (to Texas) to attend the funeral for my girlfriend's son. I stayed at my cousin Michelle's house and I hadn't seen her in a few years so we spent a lot of hours 'catching up'. On one of the nights I was there we had dinner with Michelle's brother and parents. Now, my uncle, is VERY superstitious and is always telling me stories of magic and witches and crazy supernatural events he witnessed when he was younger....he's from the Rio Grande Valley, so believing in all of that is pretty much ingrained. Anyway, he was telling me about a local 'witch' who worked out of a little herb shop and how she could cast spells and whatever.

So, being the adventurous fiction writer I am, I said how cool that would be to go check out. Michelle piped up, "Let's do it. I'll go with you." To which my uncle said (something along the lines of), "don't go in there calling her a witch or anything or she'll hex you." I told him I only wanted to check out the store and could just say I'm looking for an herb to help me sleep....I'd been feeling a bit run down.  So he gave me the address and the following morning Michelle and I set out to find the store. She was feeling a bit apprehensive so I told her, don't worry, we're just going to check it out and if she asks, we'll tell her we're looking for herbs or something. 

So, after driving past the address a couple of times, we pull into a small, graveled parking lot where an old, rundown, building set. It looked like an old convenience store that had been closed for a while. We got out of the car and went to check the front door. It was locked. So, I peered into the grime-stained window to look inside. The place looked empty. There were a few boxes on counters and a shelf to the side with a few scraps of papers, a couple of books and some figurines. It looked like whoever had been there only took what they really wanted and left the rest.

There was a banner attached to the roof with a phone number so Michelle suggested we call it. I got a bit of an uneasy feeling, so I said, "Nah, it's no big deal. Besides, I'd gotten pretty much what I wanted...a look inside." So we left and the next day I flew back to Arizona and began preparing for my trip to Anaheim and the RWA conference, which was two weeks away. A few days after I got home I got a call from my aunt saying Michelle had to be rushed into surgery because her colon had ruptured. A few weeks before Mic had learned she had diverticulitis and was on medication (I think). She was in the hospital for a week, recovering and was scheduled another round of surgery the following September. It was pretty scary and I'm so relieved she's fine now.  

Now, during that week, I was still struggling with insomnia and I was having trouble eating....I had no appetite and was basically living on watermelon and strawberries because it was the only thing I could eat that didn't taste like paste.  On the Saturday before I was to leave for RWA I was feeling really drained, so I asked my daughter if I could use her meter to check my blood sugar. I don't know why, it was just one of those things that popped into my head. I wasn't diabetic, my doctor told me I was borderline a few months previously, but I hadn't really given it much thought. So, she gave me her meter and ran upstairs so it wouldn't register on her pump....she's Type 1 and the meter is wireless to go to her insulin pump.

So, I did the finger prick and test and my sugar read 535....normal is 70. I figured it was wrong, and, because Manda was still in the house, she saw the numbers and said,

'That's too high." 

"It's probably wrong," I said. "I'll try again."

535.

*sigh*

So, I texted Michelle....she's an RN and my 'go-to' with medical emergencies.

She said, "That's too high. Go to the ER. You need insulin."

And, me, being the stubborn person I am said, "I just took one of the insulin pills the doctor gave me (a few months ago) so I'll wait and see if it works."  

Since she knew it was an argument she wouldn't win, she continued to text me until the hour was up and I could check my sugar again.

545.  

After a bit of hemming and hawing (there was a monsoon, I should wait on that. My husband and son are at the ballgame, there's no one to drive me...blah blah) Manda and I climbed into the car and I went to the ER. They took me in right away when I mentioned my high sugar, and did another test. It didn't register on their machine, which told them my sugars were above 700 now. So, they took me to trauma and tried to start an I.V. Because I was so dehydrated it took three nurses and six tries to find a vein!! 

After a few hours the doctor came in and said, "Guess what? You're not borderline anymore!" He also said they were going to keep me in the hospital for the next two days to monitor me and make sure they can get my sugar down. But, I had a trip in two days and said, "Nope. I gotta be out of here tomorrow." To which he was not all that happy about. Needless to say, he let me leave on the following day with strict instructions to not eat anything high in carbs.....yeah, that turned out to be a fun trip!

So anyway, as Michelle and I started to heal, we realized that our troubles both started after we went to see the witch. Did our snooping around her store cause our illnesses?? Had there been a spell of some sort around the store?  We don't know for sure....but it's quite the coincidence, don't you think?  

Whichever you believe, I gotta admit, it makes for great suspense in my work. ;-) 

To learn more about my work visit my website at www.terrimolina.com