'Tis the Season...

 

All I Want for Christmas is…

Have you ever wondered why books make the best Christmas gifts?

1.     Books aren’t perishable.

2.     The best stories never grow old.

3.     A book is pretty much a gift for life.

4.     Books are the gift that keep on giving.

To help with your selection we have a few suggestions:

Witch Trial Legacy

by Katherine Eddinger Smits

Buy link: https://amzn.to/4aHgOUE

Sybilla Sanborn must break a centuries old curse before everything she cares about goes up in smoke.

Sybilla is a nurse gifted with the ability to heal with her touch but cursed with visions of future tragedies she cannot prevent because no one heeds her warnings. With help from the mediums of the spiritualist town of Cassadaga, Florida, she learns she is descended from both the first person executed for witchcraft in this country and the man who accused her.

Conn Ahern is an Iraq war vet dealing with pain and PTSD while working as a paramedic and struggling to save the ranch his grandmother founded. He’s an atheist who wants nothing to do with the people of the town.

When Conn and Sybilla meet, sparks fly, but not always in a good way, and their relationship fans the flames of jealousy and revenge in someone who doesn’t want them to work things out.

                                                            Runes (Wytchfae 1)

                                                   by Flossie Benton Rogers   

Buy link: Amazon.com: Runes (Wytchfae Book 1) eBook : Benton Rogers, Flossie: Kindle Store

Wytchfae Kelly O’Day’s job is to transition ghosts to the afterlife. The last thing she expects is to fall for one of them -- sexy Viking Ingvar Hrothson. Cursed to roam the earth as a restless spirit, Ingvar is hell bent to destroy the sorceress responsible. His war plan doesn’t include spending time with a bewitching flesh and blood woman like Kelly. With their attraction approaching supernova, the couple must battle sinister forces and master manipulators of the unholy dark arts. More than lives are at stake. Will hell give them a chance?

Echoes of the Moon

by Jennifer Taylor

buy link: https://www.amazon.com/Echoes-Moon-Rhythm-Jennifer-Taylor-ebook/dp/B0767KR8ZL/

Bethan Owen would give her life for her identical twin. With the care of Elunid’s troubled mind resting on her shoulders, she knows the love of a man will never be possible. But she can’t fight her attraction to the mystifying Henry Stephens, who, despite his lowly occupation as a night soil man, captivates her with his courtly manners and vitality.
Henry’s entire life revolves around building a fulfilling life for his mentally challenged son. When the vibrant and beautiful Bethan captures his heart, his world changes, but the secrets he harbors remain. Will he be able to give himself completely to the one he loves?
When Elunid’s behavior becomes more unstable, she makes a vicious enemy. Bethan is forced to make the greatest sacrifice, exchanging her life for her sister’s. Can Henry save Bethan and keep their love alive? Or will the dangerous adversary destroy all that is dear to them both?

Bitter Autumn

by Loretta C. Rogers

Buy link:  https://www.amazon.com/Bitter-Autumn-Loretta-C-Rogers/dp/1509231242

Flame-haired Birdie Mae Dix has no idea what tomorrow will bring. Kidnapped by the Pawnee and traded to the Comanche, she is now in the custody of the US Cavalry.  After eighteen years of loss and cruelty, she trusts no one; not even the handsome captain who’s piercing blue glare fills her with apprehension…and unwanted desire.

Pledging his life to a military career, years of war has hardened Captain Ford Thackery. He swore never to consider a life with a wife and children until he rescues an emerald-eyed, half-starved beauty. He knows he must earn Birdie’s trust as well as find a way into her heart.

Abducted by a renegade Pawnee cavalry scout, Birdie once again finds herself a captive. If he can’t possess her then no one will.

As we gather for another holiday season, whatever you celebrate, Pen Dames wish you, peace, happiness, love, and a prosperous New Year!

Monster in the Dark - Who will be the next victim?

 To my delight readers often tell me that the paranormal events in my stories sometimes creep them out because the events seem so real; and I’m asked how I accomplish the realism. The answer is neither easy nor difficult. You see, my grandmother was a seer. Yeah, I know, it’s weird. However, she always said that her abilities were a curse and not a gift, and she never wanted any of her children or grandchildren to inherit this empathic ability. So, none of her grandchildren were allowed to have Ouija boards, tarot cards, or a Magic 8 Ball; and we were always cautioned to not ever visit fortune tellers.

Honestly, I never intended to write paranormal or scary stories; it seems to come naturally. Perhaps, a large part of this type story telling stems from my childhood.

As a child, I was considered a “little different,” so books became my best friend. My most favorite stories were fairytales with villains and villainess such as in Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Hansel and Gretel, to name a few. 

“Monster in the Dark” book #4 in my Doc Holliday Mystery Series was inspired by such fairy tale monsters. Please enjoy this excerpt from Monster in the Dark.

As one reviewer said, "A dark mystery that grabs you from the beginning and doesn't let go."

Available in Print and Ebook

At first, I thought it was a mannequin. You know, like the ones used in store windows. There was no blood. She was sitting in a chair with her back toward us. The room reminded me of a scene from a horror movie.

Dad said, “Mrs. Gardner?”

I thought about the time I’d been on the movie set of Lights…Camera…Murder where the stunt man was killed, but in this act, there were no supporting actors. In the distance, a dog barked, and there was no movie director to call “Cut!”

I swallowed the bile rising in my throat. The beats of my heart echoed inside my ears. I eased around the table. Oh, God! She was real. She was once…like flesh and blood and bone…just…oh, God! The woman I had thought was a mannequin was a corpse.

It was only the extreme brutality of her death that made her appear as if she were not, as if she was some creation of the most brilliant and lurid mind working in a Hollywood special effects studio.

A heavyset woman, clad in an old-fashioned granny dress, her wrists and ankles wrapped with silver duct tape, securely bound to the chair’s arms and legs, and with a double strip of tape that sealed her mouth shut, stared vacant-eyed at an empty soup bowl.

Dad gasped against the offensive smell. “Which fairy tale character is she supposed to be, Tullah, and how long do you think she’s been dead?”

Monster in the Dark is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iTunes, Kobo, Apple

https://www.amazon.com/Monster-Dark-Doc-Holliday-Mystery/dp/1509250476

 I always enjoy comments from readers. If, for some reason, you are unable to leave a comment, please feel free to comment on Pen Dames FaceBook page. I look forward to hearing from you.

HAPPY READING!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

           

Ghostober-What's in Your Family Albums

 

Halloween is all about dressing up as ghosts and goblins, favorite movie stars, sci-fi characters, and other fun costumes. For children it’s going from door-to-door shouting “Trick or Treat,” and then loading their bags with candy from generous homeowners. But this blog isn’t about creative costumes or sweet treats. It’s about ghosts—a different kind of ghosts.

Ever thought you were alone, but the chill down your spine begged otherwise? Ever told yourself the noises in your house at night are just the walls “settling”?

 

Do I have your attention?

Here’s a question for you dear readers. Do you believe in ghosts? Once upon a time ghosts were considered scary, supernatural specters. You know something that goes bump in the night.

If you don’t believe in ghosts you’re not alone. These days, most people do not believe such spirits exist. Two hundred years ago, or perhaps longer, when a person passed away the only images left of the deceased were mostly in the memories of those who knew them. Only a few rich and famous people could afford to have their portraits painted in those days, so most people’s features and images vanished without a trace once the generations who remembered them died, too.

Okay, so whether you believe in ghosts or not, flip through an old family photo album and reckon with the images staring back at you. They are not frightening images. Most likely that old photo album is filled with pictures of people long gone, possibly greatly missed, and greatly loved.

Today, photographs capture snapshot images of people gathered at play, acting silly or completely unaware they are being captured in various stages of life; and when we flip through the photo albums we are forever reliving certain moments of life-time like some spirit in an old ghost story. You are looking at relatives that many living family members never met. Yet, images of these faces remain affixed in the album, their names often written in fading pencil on the back of the picture. And, sadly, in some instances, no names were written to identify these people, leaving them mere ghostly reminders of forever lost descendants.

When I look through old photo albums of ancestors that lived long before I was even thought of its like reaching into the past, and maybe that’s why old photos sometimes inspire a certain haunting feeling whenever we touch them. After all, these family members are strangers, beings we have only heard snippets of stories from great grandparents or aunts and uncles who maybe know nothing of these folks at all, but here is their image staring back at you from an old black and white or sepia toned photo in a tattered family album.

Beyond old photographs, we’ve advanced to motion pictures where movie stars like Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, or Laurel and Hardy, from the early time of silent film remain alive in old motion pictures though they have been deceased for decades.

As we advance forward in time and with the push of a button the television flickers on and with the click of a remote, dead people such as Roy Rogers, John Wayne, Doris Day, Maureen O’Hara, and a host of others, move and speak across the screen. Still we can see these people repeat their actions from decades ago and possibly on into the future.

Perhaps, people no longer talk about ghosts because in many ways we are surrounded by them. Perhaps, people no long fear ghosts because we have grown accustomed to them.

In my humble opinion, ghosts are things of memory. Humanity has always had memories, dreams and nightmares. Ghostly memories have long haunted and visited people in their sleep and in their thoughts.

Whether you believe in ghosts or not, belief in ghosts and unearthly spirits seem to be as old as humans, just like our uncomfortable relationship with our own mortality. Incidentally, while paranormal experiences may provoke fright or adrenaline rushes, they can also provide comfort as proof for life after death. Remember this the next time you open old family photo albums.

So, dear readers, do you believe in ghosts? Well, do you?

As always, take care, stay safe, and Happy Halloween!

Cloud Woman's Spirit is a Historical western romance with a paranormal twist.

"Her spirit cries out for revenge."

After Tessa Cloud Woman is murdered she becomes a shape-shifting ghost who seeks revenge on the men who killed her and her unborn child. Find out how her spirit helps lead her husband, Deputy US Marshall Jim Sawyer, bring her killers to justice without ever firing a shot. 

Availabe in print and Ebook:   https://amzn.to/2EJSYb8