A Ghostly Encounter at the Nootklatch Lodge by Leigh Shearin

Can you believe it's October already? The time of pumpkins and chilly nights. Of cider and costumes and ghost stories. It also happens to be my favorite month of the year.

This year I've invited authors to share their ghostly stories with us on my blog. When I sent the invite, I had no idea I'd have such an overwhelming response! And oh, the great stories that are pouring in. You're in for a treat this month!

Today I welcome author Leigh Shearin to the blog. She has a wonderful true story of her  ghostly encounter. And be sure to check out Leigh's most recent release, John Bloom and the Victory Garden.

"The Lodger"

by Leigh Shearin

Room #5 at the Nootklatch Lodge is haunted.

Awake at 2 am, despite a comfortable, clean room, I cursed menopause for the 689th time, and flipped over in a vain attempt to capture some Zs.

...and heard footsteps.

At first, I though my husband had slipped out of the massive king-sized bed and gone to the nearby bathroom. Made of some low-jiggle space-age foam, the bed was also so large, he would have had to telephone to let me know he was getting up. I turned my face over to look at the place he'd occupied, only to find him still wrapped in sheets.

It was then that my hackles rose.

Who's footsteps was I hearing? Ribbing myself, I started a mental checklist of possible non-paranormal sources for the noises I was hearing. We were in a first floor room; surely someone above us was just moving around, causing the floor to creak. The part of the Lodge we were staying in is constructed of enormous logs, so it made sense that some shifting and squeaking would happen. The sound wasn't really what I associate with creaky boards. It was more of a shuffle.

More desperate to sleep than I was to commune with the afterworld, I put the notion of wandering spirits out of my mind and began to doze off.

...and heard more footsteps.

Annoyed now, more than scared, I flipped over, slammed my arms down on the mattress and blew out an exasperated sigh.

"Cut it out, will you?" I said, feeling only mildly foolish for talking to an empty room. "I'm trying to sleep here. Can you please go away for a while and come back later?" I tried to be polite. I didn't want to irritate the specter, after all.

Nothing.

Growling with exasperation, I flopped down on the pillow and rolled away from the offending emptiness. Ridiculous, I scolded myself. Get to sleep. You've got a long day of driving tomorrow and if you...

    A push of energy stopped my self-lecture in it's tracks.

    That's the only way I can describe it. Almost a breeze, the sensation manifested itself between the nightstand and my head. Gooseflesh accompanied my now pounding heart as my eyes flew open, straining to pierce the darkness, trying to identify the cause of the feeling.

    Nothing.

I wouldn't say I was afraid. Alarmed, maybe, but fear wasn't a part of my emotions. Acquiescing to the presence,  and working to control my heart, which was going like a trip-hammer, I drew in a deep breath and closed my eyes.

"Okay." I whispered, "I hear you. I sense and recognize you. I know I'm not dreaming. You're welcome to stay, but can you please settle down and stop making noise so I can sleep? I'm really tired."

I imagined the phantom moving away, toward the window at the back of the room. Utterly undone, it took me an hour to start feeling drowsy. Eventually, I fell soundly asleep and woke with no immediate memory of the experience. Later that day, on the drive home, I had a vivid flashback, but hesitated to relate the story to my just-the-facts-ma'am, hard-driving husband. Still, I wanted his take.

"Our hotel room was haunted." I blurted. In for a penny, in for a pound, I thought. Braced for ridicule, I grinned over at Jeff, who was tensely navigating construction traffic.

"Yes," he said. "I know. I thought I heard something. Footsteps, wasn't it?"

Settling back in my seat with a gasp, I realized it was true. I wasn't crazy, hallucinating, or unconsciously grinding out ghost stories to lull myself to dreamland. Room #5 at the Nootklatch Lodge was haunted.

I had felt it with my own two eyes.

Leigh Shearin, Author

Leigh Shearin is farmer, baker, teacher, and lifelong dreamer.

Leigh earned a B.A. degree in Studio Art at Maryville College and worked as a graphic artist before earning an ASS degree in Culinary Art.  She has worked as a chef, baker and culinary arts instructor.  Most recently, she and her husband bought rural land and are developing Winterrest, a small farm in central New York.  Through all this, Leigh wrote stories and poems…some published; some tucked away.  

She is happiest living off the land and developed a passion for local and sustainable farms, farmers and practices, spending hours researching farming and learning by trial and error.  She is an avid supporter of Farm-to-Fork and “locavore” restaurants and plans to supply these restaurants with her own farm’s products soon.

Leigh writes fiction stories for middle-grade readers. Along with illustrator Kate Shearin, Leigh spins tales of self-sufficiency and independence, along with gentle agriculture education. Since historical fiction is also a lifetime interest, Leigh uses true stories of the past to bring inspiration and joy to modern-day children.

Leigh lives with her husband and children in rural central NY.  You can check out Leigh’s blog at www.winterrestfarm.weebly.com, www.LeighShearin.weebly.com, www.farmeatlove.blogspot.com

Social media:

www.leighshearin.weebly.com

Twitter: @LeighShearin

FB: Leigh Shearin, Writer

Instagram: Winterrestfarm

Check out Leigh's book here: http://goo.gl/3tHqej

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Exploring Modern Mythology: Aliens are the New Gods

When writing fantasy and sci fi stories, writers often tap into the great and glorious world of time-honored mythology to anchor their books in the fantastic. I accessed this ancient well of story fodder in my first series, The Akasha Chronicles, steeped in Celtic mythology and lore. It was great fun to research ancient myths and legends and explore how they still speak to us in our modern world.

But when I set out to write a new science fiction series (H.A.L.F.), I decided to focus on modern myth, legend and lore by focusing on alien mythology and the government conspiracies related to it. When writing H.A.L.F., I assumed that the myths surrounding the Roswell crash event were true. What if a flying saucer crashed in the desert on a ranch near Roswell in 1947? What if the military did, in fact, recover not only crash debris but also alien bodies?

It’s against this “mythical” backdrop that H.A.L.F.: The Deep Beneath is set. I chose not to create wholly new myth, but to add my own spin to some of the now nearly universally known stories of alien encounters.

I’ve been fascinated with all things mythical, paranormal and supernatural since childhood. I read every book in my school’s small library in the “Supernatural” section. I think I read A Wrinkle in Time two or three times.

Roswell Crash, Roswell UFO Museum

It’s no surprise that as an adult I’m intrigued by alien mythology (and my own sighting of the “Phoenix Lights” in 1997 fueled this further). As I read books on the UFO phenomenon, MUFON newsletters, toured the Roswell museum, and watched every documentary I could find about ET’s and UFOs, the more fascinated I became with the idea that a new mythology has developed over the past seventy years or so. Aliens have become our new “gods”. The idea that we were created not by a divine being or merely by the process of natural selection, but that we exist due to ancient aliens meddling with the gene pool on Earth has grown from fringe thinking to reality for many people. This thinking has been popularized and perpetuated by writers such as Erich von Däniken (Chariots of the Gods), Zecharia Sitchin (The 12^th Planet and other books), and by the show “Ancient Aliens” on the history channel.

Keeping with the idea that aliens have become our new “gods”, ETs almost always have “supernatural” powers of some kind. The idea that a being from out there – from the heavens – will descend to our plane, possess powers beyond our own and become a savior is a popular theme of legend and myth. The continued popularity of characters such as Superman and Thor (both aliens) attest to the idea that humans look to “out there” to help us solve our problems. We can’t seem to get enough of these humanoid characters that are relatable yet better than we are. They’re smarter, stronger, and have abilities we can only dream of. Perhaps these characters fulfill our wishes, dreams and desire to be bigger and better than ourselves. Or maybe it’s our fear of the dangers that plague our world – from natural disasters to war and terrorism – that fuels our unquenchable need for superheroes to descend from the heavens and help us out of this mess.

H.A.L.F.: The Deep Beneath, Audibook 

I had all of this in mind when writing The Deep Beneath. The story centers on a human main character, Erika Holt, and a human-alien hybrid character, H.A.L.F. 9 (aka Tex). In the first draft, Tex was a bit cute. He was more a mix of E.T. and Paul than like the murderous aliens in “Independence Day”. But as I got deeper into the project, I realized that a “cute” alien-human didn’t work. He was, after all, created (in my fictional world) to be a weapon. He’d been intentionally deprived of normal social interactions with humans and his education and access to information limited to what his creators deemed relevant. He needed to be more dangerous and less cute.

While reworking the character, I endowed Tex with telekinesis. It seemed a logical ability for him to have as he has far greater intelligence than a typical human (and a trait often linked to the greys which is where Tex’s alien DNA comes from). Tex has access to regions of his brain that most humans aren’t even aware they have. Tex has some other abilities but I’ll leave those as a surprise for the reader!

But I think the overarching reason that I write –and read – science fiction is to examine, through “alien” eyes, what it means to be human. Through alien characters, we can look at ourselves. Maybe this is what makes them so much fun to read, watch – and to write.

Writer Wednesday: Crafting an Antagonist that People Love to Hate

The work of developing characters is often the most fun part of writing for me. I’m learning who the people are that I’ll “work with” over the next several months. While it’s a lot of work (I often have several notebooks of character history, genealogy charts, and pivotal backstory scenes that never make it to the final work), it’s necessary and enjoyable to see the characters unfold before my eyes.

Generally, the protagonist and her motivation and goals come fairly quickly to me. Protagonist motivations and goals are often easily relatable – even noble.

But the antagonist is usually much more difficult. When creating a bad guy (or girl) character, it is harder than it may seem to craft a believable “baddy” without resorting to stereotypes or having the character seem like a caricature – a “stock” villain.

Additionally, antagonists are – by their nature – antagonistic to the goals of the protagonist. Goals that, as I’ve already mentioned, are usually relatable and even heroic. This push against the noble goal means that by definition the antagonist may be someone that isn’t very likable. The villain may even be downright frightening.

People often ask me if my characters are based on myself or people I know. The truth is that all characters are a combination of personalities and traits of people that I’ve met/known/observed as well as my own personality. It’s me plus all I’ve known in my life – which is another way of saying all the characters are me.

And it can be scary to delve into that part of yourself. To search within for the motivations/traits/goals/ambitions, etc. that are contrary to the noble and heroic person that we strive to be.

Helen Mirren as Commander Lilly Sturgis

When I first conceived of Commander Lillian Sturgis, the antagonist in H.A.L.F.: The Deep Beneath, she was more of a “stock” villain – the ubiquitous evil scientist. But with the help of my editors, I saw that she had the capacity to be so much more. And that the story demanded that she be more.

The problem was that I had not (at that time) worked on Sturgis’ backstory. I hadn’t taken the time to explore Commander Sturgis in the same way I had my main characters. When I went back and worked more on Commander Sturgis, I realized she had a pretty incredible story. She became more fleshed out. And when that happened, she became a larger part of not only The Deep Beneath but of the remaining books in the series.

By knowing who she is – not just what she does to move the plot along – I was able to sprinkle in actions/thoughts here and there to show more of her personality. At times we see Sturgis as a brilliant woman struggling to make her mark in a man’s world. At other times, we see her as downright creepy. Looking through Sturgis’ lens on the world, she certainly sees herself as heroic even if the main character thinks she’s a crazy bitch!

The antagonist is often the most difficult character to get a grip on, but it’s truly rewarding when I’m able to craft a villain that people love to hate. I hope readers love to hate Commander Sturgis as much as I do!

Writer Wednesday: Call for November Guest Post Writers

A CALL FOR GUEST POSTS IN NOVEMBER!!

It's mid-August. My daughter is already back in school. It's still hot and sticky. The grocery store is not yet filled to the rafters with holiday candy.

Yet NaNoWriMo is sneaking up on the calendar. I'm still not sure if I'm going to throw myself into that much literary abandon this year. I'm still working on novel #5 (The Makers, Book 2 of the H.A.L.F. series). But maybe I'll work on #6 while editing #5. 

A girl can dream.

Even if I don't bust out 50k this November, I'll support those who commit to NaNoWriMo. I'll devote my blog for the entire month of November to writing tips, NaNoWriMo survival and war stories, and general encouragement for writers.

And I need your help. Do you have a NaNoWriMo success story? Beautiful failure story? 

Do you have a writing tip or two that you'd like to share? Are you a natural-born cheerleader?

If so, I want you!

I'm seeking guest post writers throughout the month of November. If interested, here is what I'll need (sign up link after the details):

1. A guest post that supports NaNoWriMo and writers in general. It can be writing or editing tip(s); encouragement; a story of your own writing experience or NaNoWriMo experience (a success story or a "failure" that you learned from); or any other post that will fit with the theme of supporting writers and NaNoWriMo'ers on their journey. The post should be approx. 500 words and must include one photo or other image to which you own the appropriate rights.

2. An author photo and bio as well as links to any and all social media and/or websites that you'd like to link to.

3. If you are a published author, you may include image of one cover and a brief (150 words or less) description of a title that you'd like to promote.

4. Lastly, I will be doing a Rafflecopter for a mega book giveaway for the month of November. If you'd like to participate, let me know what you register and let me know what book you'd like to include in the giveaway. **NOTE: The giveaway is for ebooks or audio books (digital) only, not paperback or hardcover.

If you're interested, please go to this link and sign up for the date you'd like your guest post to appear. **PLEASE NOTE: I will need all material for your post AT LEAST ONE WEEK prior to the date of your post.

Thanks and I look forward to reading your posts!

Calling All Writers! An Invitation to Guest Post in October

I know. It's still July and months away from the season of All Hallow's Eve. But it's never too early to think of ways to celebrate my favorite time of year.

I was watching "Ghost Hunters" with my daughter the other day. My mind was wandering, as it often does, to all things writing and blogging (and writing ;-), and I had an idea. 

Why not devote my blog for the entire month of October to ghost stories? 

I have only a few ghost stories of my own and not nearly enough to fill a whole month. That's where you come in.

Calling all writers!

Do you have a story of a personal encounter with the paranormal? Or a time you were scared witless? A particularly spooky Halloween? Have you written a book, short story or poem about the macabre? Or would you like to share your love of a story written by someone else that fits with the spooky season?

If so, I invite you to write a blog post about it! Anything goes as long as it fits the theme of Halloween. 

My blog space in October (every Tues, Wed and Thurs) will be devoted to guest writers. Would you like to be one of them?

YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE A HORROR AUTHOR! I'm not. It doesn't matter what genre you write, all are welcome.*

If you have a post that fits the theme, I'd love to host you. Here are the details:

1. A guest post between 250-500 words with at least one photo or illustration (and you must have the rights to use said photo or illustration).

2. Your social media links and website link (and email if you'd like to share that on the blog).

3. If you'd like to promote a book, links to where readers can find your book (if it's available on Amazon, I will also put on an affiliate link). If you're promoting a book, a BRIEF description (i.e. one or two sentences).

4. IMPORTANT - an author photo and bio.

5. Last but not least, let's add a massive giveaway for readers. If you have a back list book that you'd like to add to the giveaway, let me know and send me a Smashwords coupon code (for a free copy) for the book when you send your materials. The grand prize winner of the October giveaway will receive all the coupons for all the books donated.*

*PLEASE NOTE that my blog is for ages 13 and up, so if you write erotica, I'm sorry but I won't be able to include your book in the giveaway. You can still write a post and promote your work so long as the post and any art/photos/covers are appropriate for all ages.

This is a great opportunity to cross-promote for all the authors participating.

I must receive all materials for your post AT LEAST ONE WEEK BEFORE your scheduled time. This is very important as I have several travel dates in October so will need to have materials well in advance of posting date to ensure that they are up on time. 

Last caveat, I reserve the right not to post a submission if it does not meet the requirements or is, in my sole opinion, not of the calibre of post that I typically accept. If I get your submission and feel that it needs work AND you've sent it in a timely manner, I'll let you know that I can't post it as is and give you an opportunity to revise. ;-)

So what are you waiting for? Sign up Here!

P.S. If you think of a cool name for the month-long event, let me know :-)

SciFi Friday: NASA Introduces us to our Cousin - Kepler 452b

An artist concept of Kepler 452b.
T.Pyle/Jet Propulsion Lab/NASA

Thursday (July 23, 2015), NASA announced it has found a "cousin" to our planet. Named Kepler 452b (a very unappealing appellation), the newly discovered planet is approximately 1400 light years away in the Cygnus constellation. Okay, for Ancient Aliens and Chariots of the Gods fans, it's no mystery why the guys and gals at NASA are pointing their telescopes in that direction. Several ancient civilizations believed that the "gods" came from Cygnus. Maybe they knew something that we're only now finding out?

NASA says that 452b has a 385 day orbit - a long year, but not ridiculously long (or overly short) as some planets they've found. And most importantly for the possibility of harboring life, 452b orbits a star that is similar to our sun and it sits in the so-called "Goldilocks" zone, likely not so cold that all water would be ice but no so hot as to burn it all away.

If you evolved on 452b, you'd likely be a strong and stocky sort. The gravity is estimated at twice that as on Earth. If we were able to beam there right now, we'd likely feel like we'd gained a lot of weight. No leaping for joy and frolicking in near weightlessness.

From both a science and a science fiction standpoint, it's also promising that the startsystem in which this planet sits is likely about 1.5 billion years older than our solar system. That means that there has been plenty of time for life to evolve (but the system isn't so old that the star has used up its fuel).

It's a very exciting find for NASA, the Kepler team and all of us who keep our eyes to the heavens. I wonder how many stories in the future will be set on this distant planet, our Earth's cousin? Surely we can come up with a better name for it!

What do you think we should name this new planet?

You can read the NYTimes article here and see more illustrations and news on NASA's Kepler website here.