Writers Are Stories in Themselves

By Jackie King

Even though I write murder mysteries, just the thought of a haunted house puts shivers down my spine. Perhaps it’s because I grew up in a time when kids entertained themselves by telling ghost stories around a campfire in the dark. Or maybe I’m just a natural born coward. For this reason I have the highest esteem for anyone who cohabits (and cheerfully, too) with ghosts. Being a writer, most of my friends also write, and a couple of them, a mother-daughter team, live in an honest-to-goodness haunted house. They even have a blog where they share ghost stories about their home and other spooky places.

Needless to say, these women are my heroes. (Heroines?)

Let me introduce you to Lynn Somerville and her talented daughter, Katie Somerville, co-authors of SCARY MONDAYS-VOLUME I.

http://tinyurl.com/d6ggwo6

This collection of short stories were first published on their blog, http://lynnsomervillefiction.wordpress.com

Lynn and Katie Somerville

This blog features a weekly ghost story guaranteed to make you shiver. I asked Lynn how she came up with so many ideas in this genre, and she said one story came about because of her hearing disability. Read on:

Inspiration for A Black Confession

By Lynn Somerville

As writers we’re often asked where our stories come from. Where do we get the ideas for our tales? And the answer is, anywhere and everywhere. Here’s an example of what I mean. It’s a little embarrassing, but it’s a great illustration–the seed of a story can come from the strangest places.

I wrote a short story called Black Lace, published in my anthology Scary Mondays Volume One. It’s about a widower who’s dead wife is taking possession of him. I got the idea from a song by Soundgarden. Now I’m hearing impaired, so the words I heard Chris Cornell singing was, “I put on black lace.” That conjured in my head the image of a man dressing as his late wife at her direction. Her ghost tells him to wear her favorite black dress and put on make-up just as she did, all so she can live again inside him.

The funny thing is, being hearing impaired, I heard the words of the song incorrectly. Cornell wasn’t singing “I put on black lace.” The lyrics are “I fell on black days.”

Black Lace is one of my favorite short stories and it’s one inspired because I heard the wrong words to a song.

And that’s where stories come from!

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Lynn Somerville and Katie Somerville are a mother and daughter writing duo. Lynn writes a weekly blog, Scary Mondays, http://lynnsomervillefiction.wordpress.com. Follow Lynn on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lsomervilleinOK or on Facebook at http://facebook.com/lynnsomerville author

When Katie Somerville is not writing about zombies and ghosts, she plays bass and guitar and sings lead vocals. She is a college freshman and loves to bake. Both Lynn and Katie live in Oklahoma.

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I’ll bet you’re as impressed with these brave gals as I am.

Cheers,

Jackie

What Do You Write or Read Besides Mystery?

June Shaw

If you normally write and/or read mysteries, do you ever read or write in other areas? If so, what would that be?

I've been lucky enough to sell a series with three humorous mysteries. Currently, I'm trying something else. I'm writing a picture book with my granddaughter.

A few months ago eight-year-old Claire (who's adorable) asked if I'd hurry and finish my third mystery so I could get back to writing the book with her. I had gotten the idea for this book and asked her for suggestions. Then I purchased two books about writing for children. I read a number of articles about it, too, and borrowed a lot of Claire's books so I'd feel more competent to write a book (or two or more) with her.

Now it's almost ready! And I do hope you'll be looking for it soon for your own children or grandchildren or just because you love the idea.

HOW TO TAKE CARE OF YOUR PET GHOST by June Shaw & Claire Naquin should be out soon.

Claire is so excited. So am I. We're making a list of people who'll want to buy a copy once it comes out. Anybody want your name added? : )

And no, I won't stop writing and reading mysteries.

Poltergeist

By Mark W. Danielson

I’m well into the sequel to Writer’s Block, which is due out this November. Tentatively named The Insomniac, it is based on a real haunting within Fort Worth’s Scott Theater. The main culprit is a spirit that has been residing there since a young man hanged himself in 1970, a mere four years after the live theater was completed. As this suicide was a relatively recent occurrence, it became the perfect setting for homicide detective Maxx Watts to determine whether this was madness or a cold case homicide. Writing this story has involved some very interesting paranormal research.

I’m having fun playing characters who believe in the paranormal against those who don’t. While I haven’t seen any ghosts or experienced any odd phenomena, my wife Lyne has. Over the last few years while working in the backyard, the side gate has opened and closed with no wind or anyone around, she’s felt something touch her thigh when no one was nearby, and twice the running sprinkler has been shut off at the twist valve directly behind her with no one else in the yard. Such unexplainable events tend to run in the family, too, with relatives seeing manifestations and experiencing strange things.

Needing expertise, I contacted Long Island Paranormal Investigations for an explanation of what another paranormal team claimed to be photographic evidence of orb manifestations in the Scott Theater. LIPI is of the opinion that the white dots in the Scott Theater photos are actually dust spots on the lens. Interestingly, one such dust spot appears on LIPI’s web page crew photo. When I asked them about the peculiar events my wife had experienced, I was told that some people are more receptive to spiritual events than others. Ironically, it seems that those who desperately want to experience paranormal events are the least likely to. I see that as proof that spirits retain their sense of humor in the afterlife.

There is a significant difference between manifestations and poltergeists. Manifestations are spirits that show themselves in one shape or another, whereas poltergeists may create chaos while remaining invisible. What I have written into my story parallels what has actually been witnessed and recorded at the Scott Theater. Why would I reinvent ghosts when they are already dancing for you? I hope these spirits enjoy the story. I’m sure they can download it on their G-net. If they disapprove, I suppose Lyne can expect more “polter” events.

When discussing the paranormal, most people automatically envision the poltergeists invented by Hollywood. According to Wikipedia, a poltergeist is “a paranormal phenomenon which consists of events alluding to the manifestation of an imperceptible entity. Such manifestation typically includes inanimate objects moving or being thrown about, sentient noises (such as impaired knocking, pounding or banging) and, on some occasions, physical attacks on those witnessing the events. Since no conclusive scientific explanation of the events exists up to this day, poltergeists have traditionally been described in folklore as troublesome spirits or ghosts which haunt a particular person, hence the name. Such alleged poltergeist manifestations have been reported in many cultures and countries including the United States, Japan, Brazil, Australia, and all European nations, and the earliest recorded cases date back to the 1st century.”

Although Wikipedia’s explanation continues, it verifies that ghostly behavior is not always a figment of our imagination. I’m not one to say that poltergeists don’t exist, but the energy required for a ghost to manifest and actually move something is incomprehensible. Then again, that’s what makes ghost stories like this one fun – especially when it is set days before Halloween. Whatever follows is limited only by your imaginations. Sleep well.

Ghost Story

Timothy Hallinan is back, this time with a true-life ghost story from Thailand, where he lives six months every year.

Tim has written ten mysteries and thrillers under his own name and several others in disguise. His current series, set in Bangkok, features American "rough travel" writer Philip "Poke" Rafferty, who lives in Bangkok with his hand-assembled family: his Thai wife, Rose, a former Patpong bar dancer, and their adopted daughter, Miaow, who was eight years old and living on the sidewalk when she met Poke.


The first three Rafferty books, which have made Ten Best lists everywhere, are A NAIL THROUGH THE HEART, THE FOURTH WATCHER, and BREATHING WATER.

The fourth, THE QUEEN OF PATPONG, will be published in August by William Morrow and is available now for pre-sale on Amazon.com.
http://tinyurl.com/2v6vn9e

Tim’s ghost story and explanation had me Googling “spiritual vortex,” which turns out to be a very complicated subject. When I asked Tim about spiritual vortices in Bali and Thailand, here’s what he said:


“The original title of A NAIL THROUGH THE HEART was HUNGRY GHOSTS, referring to the most fearsome of all Thai ghosts, women who have died in childbirth.


"You asked me why Thailand and Bali were spiritual vortices. That's a very good question. These places seem to arise everywhere -- Stonehenge and Angkor are two internationally known examples. But some societies, such as the Thai and the Balinese, share a single religion -- until recently 99% of Thais were Therevada Buddhists, and the same for the animist Hindu beliefs cooked up on Bali. And they not only believed the same thing together, but they believed it fervently.

"Every village has its temples, usually two or more. Every Thai male enters the priesthood at some time in his life. Balinese propitiate the gods with scattered offerings several times a day. 

Maybe, after a while the landscape becomes saturated with belief. In both places, unusual trees and stones are wrapped in monk's robes and offerings of flowers and food and whiskey are made regularly.


"I just think those worlds are saturated with belief and more open to manifestations than spiritually dryer locales.”


And here’s Tim’s ghost story.
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Unlike most ghost stories, this one is absolutely true. I know because it happened to me. But first, some background.

Thai people, whether they're relatively uneducated villagers or sophisticated city-dwellers, take ghosts seriously. Most Thai people believe in a whole pantheon of ghosts, ranging from benign to horrific. I personally know four Thais who woke one night to see someone in their family -- someone who lived a considerable distance away -- standing in their room, usually at the end of the bed. Without exception, they learned the next day that the person they had seen -- a grandmother, an uncle, a mother -- had died. This is accepted. The spirit came to say farewell.

Other ghosts are not so harmless. There are many kinds of malign spirits, and they tend to take up residence where lives have ended badly.

From the beginning of construction on the new Bangkok airport (set on a piece of land that used to be called "cobra swamp") workers complained that there were ghosts everywhere. Many workers resigned rather than have to mingle with the dead. And when the airport opened and the computerized baggage retrieval system broke down, the malfunction was briefly blamed on ghosts. And I mean officially.

While I have no idea what, if anything, may have happened at the prime minister's official residence (sort of the Thai White House), I do know that almost no one ever spends the night there because of the house's ghostly guests. We are talking the highest realms of government here, folks. Prime ministers, cabinet ministers, generals. Nobody sleeps there. The general official, high-level reaction to the place seems to be brrrrrrrrr.

So with all that as a setting, here's what happened to me.

About 20, 21 years ago I was in Pattaya. This was when Pattaya was still a relatively quiet little town, although the nightlife that ultimately transformed into a thriving sewer was beginning to blossom.

I was staying in a small hotel set into a cliff overlooking the sea. I went to bed about midnight and drew the curtains so I could sleep in. That made the room extremely dark.

At about 3 AM I snapped awake, knowing I was no longer alone. Remember, the room was almost pitch-black. In one corner, diagonally across the room from me, was a figure.

I looked away. I looked back. I blinked heavily. It was still there.

I could only see it by looking slightly past it, but it was a female wearing a shapeless white dress that fell almost to her ankles, and black hair down to her waist. Her head was bent downward so she was facing the carpet, and her face was hidden by the fall of hair. Then, moving slowly, she grasped handfuls of hair and lifted them straight up and let them fall again. Then she reached down and did it again. The second time she pulled her hair into the air, she started to bring her face up.

I knew that if I saw her face, I was dead. I rolled over as fast as I could, snapping on the lights on the bed tables, and when they came on, she was gone. I lay there, fighting for breath, literally more frightened than I've ever been in my life. And I stayed there, wide awake, until the sun came up.

When the room was bright enough, I went into the bathroom, pulled the shower curtain, turned on the shower, and let the water hit me full in the face. When I'd had enough, I pulled back from the stream of water and opened my eyes, and something moved very fast on the other side of the shower curtain. I left the water running, grabbed a towel, wrapped it around me, and ran all the way to the lobby, where I demanded, and got, a new room, as far as possible from the old one.

Later that day, I went back with a maid to pack my things -- there was no way I was going in there alone -- and the maid said, yes, that woman had been seen before in the room, and she volunteered to take me to the temple later that day when her shift was over to burn some incense and do a brief ceremony to release that poor woman's spirit from whatever powerful force was holding it on this side of the curtain.

And we did, and I felt a little better. But that night -- even in my new room --I slept with my lights on.

And no, I had never previously believed in ghosts.
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My thanks to Tim for sharing this experience!