Two Raps from the Poltergeist for Yes, Orange Moon is Out!
You all know I like to write stories with strong characters, difficult situations, intriguing relationships and well, spooky stuff.
My fascination with the spooky stuff goes way back. In fact, apart from the ages of 0-6 or so, when from what I can remember I was mostly fond of my family and various kittens, the spooky stuff has fascinated me no end.
Although, since then, I've had some rather interestingly spooky experiences, I've not come across any poltergeists. The closest I came to that was when I was in my late teens and flatting with a couple university friends. For a period of a few weeks, I was woken night after night to the sound of doors slamming, often one after another through the house. I associated this with one of the guys who had recently moved into the house and as it turned out, it all stopped when he moved out again a short time later.
It was hardly what you could call poltergeist activity, however, because I – bother it all- was the only one who ever heard it.
Poltergeist activity was for a while acceptably explained away by a great many investigators as being some sort of psychokinetic effect, engendered by a member of the household who is suffering psychological or emotional stress and who feels unable to express themselves – often a teenager.
There are a lot of people however, who feel that this answer is too neat and leaves too much unexplained. There is no doubt that in each case of poltergeist activity, one or more person acts as a focus, and the other theory of this sort of activity is that this focus person is 'leaking' strong amounts of energy, which attracts bored and lowly spirits like a magnet, and these spirits commence to have a bit of fun with this energy, wreaking all sorts of havoc.
So, two possible explanations, but still one interesting phenomenon. My mother claimed to have spent a few months as a thirteen year old suffering from mild poltergeist activity, usually in the form of her bed shaking and moving. Like I said, teenagers are often the focus of this sort of activity.
Anyway, that's just a hint of the 'spooky stuff' in my new novel Orange Moon, which is finally, after several unexpected delays, out and available. It definitely comes under the heading of stories with strong protagonists (even if the poor girl is awfully frightened), difficult situations (a couple of them, actually), intriguing relationships (I'm pretty sure you'll love this latest lesbian couple of mine) and well of course, the spooky stuff. Here's the blurb:
Alice Hughes lies on her bedroom floor, beaten and bleeding. Mostly though, she's afraid. Afraid that the next time her husband hits her, he won't stop until she's dead.
She has to get away. But where can she go? She needs somewhere to hide…
When Alice finds the perfect hiding place, the one place her husband would never dream of looking for her, she thinks all her prayers have been answered. Here she can rest, recover, and when she's stronger, she can make plans.
But what Alice doesn't know, is that no hiding place is completely safe, and sometimes your worst enemies aren't the ones you thought they were; after all, there's no hiding from yourself…
If you enjoyed any of Silent Light, Shadows Fall and Remnant, you'll find yourself wrapped up in this one too. You can buy it on Amazon or Smashwords, and while you're busy reading that one, I'll poddle off to work on getting the third Michaela and Trisha mystery 'Sweet Charlotte' ready for release before Christmas.
Oh, just a quick note while you're here: I've decided to charge for all my stories. You've probably downloaded them all by now if you're reading this, but I was buying a couple books the other day and feeling good about supporting other writers in the way I know they love best when it occurred to me how ridiculous it was to believe so strongly in buying the work of my favourite writers, yet to not be making any money from my own. Especially since, as much as I love writing, I can't afford to do it for love.
I hope you'll understand, and continue to support me.
Filed under: Writing Journal
