Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Guest Blog with Pauline Holyoak



Merryweather Lodge – Ancient Revenge..
The first of a trilogy..
"A supernatural thriller that keeps you on the edge.”
A perfect Christmas gift for those with a sense of adventure!

About me…

I grew in Southeast England, in a coal mining village my husband calls, “The place that time forgot.” It is nested between the notorious city of Canterbury and the medieval town of Dover. I came to Canada as a nanny, when I was 21. This vast and majestic country has served me well, but England will always be home. I live in Alberta (western Canada) with my sports crazy husband, adorable Sheltie dog and cantankerous ginger cat. We have two grown children. They are the gems in my treasure chest. I love this part of the world, except for the winters. It can be a chilly minus -30 for days on end. Burr…..

I love horror movies and being scared…Not the… “Hey I think I smell smoke” scared, but the creepy, spine-chilling, spooky stuff scared. When I was a young girl my friend and I would wander through the local graveyard just before dark, read the tombstones and make up stories about the people that were buried there. Good grief….I was weird.

I ran away from home when I was 17 years old, to join a band of hippies and live on the streets of London. I went to challenge the establishment, proclaim peace, escape from the hum-drum village life and find myself. I lived in la…la…land with the flower children for a year but I never did find myself. I have now. Thank God!

I don’t eat mammal and would like to be a vegetarian but I like my fish and chips too much.

Every summer, when I was a child, we would visit my aunt and uncle at their quaint little cottage on Salisbury Plain. It was called Scotland Lodge and was situated not far from the historical Stonehenge. My uncle worked as a farm hand for the local squire. My aunt tended the manor house. It was there as I roamed free, deep within the English countryside, that I experienced joy, enchantment and some very strange and frightening occurrences. It was like a fairytale kingdom with a sinister twist. The memories of my summers at Scotland Lodge have stayed with me as a sort of nagging unsolved mystery all my life. A few years ago I revisited my childhood wonderland (the old place still emanates a strange and eerie essence) and was lead by some mysterious force into concocting this story and writing this book. It is from my mystifying experiences at Scotland Lodge that this book has emerged.

My life has been a fascinating journey so far but nothing compares to my mystifying summer holidays at Scotland Lodge.

Book blurb…..

When Emily Fletcher meets the gorgeous Jonathan McArthur she is infatuated and consumed with passion. Will he go with her to the dreaded wood-lot, to remove the bloody ancient curse, before it’s too late? In the first half of my story Emily is fourteen years old. In the second half she is forced to return to the cottage, at the age of twenty. My novel contains elements of horror, humor, fantasy, romance and sex. I have created a world into which my readers can escape and an atmosphere that will evoke their imagination, stir their emotions and engage their senses.

Excerpt.…
"Let’s go somewhere private.” She said, grabbing my arm. She guided me to the passage and plunked me down on the bottom step of the attic stairs. My back straightened. Panic rose within me as an icy shiver ran down my spine. It was as if I had been lead to an old cemetery, sat on a grave and left among the tomb stones.

“That was her room you know.” She said as she pointed up the stairs.

“Who’s?”
“Mary Eliss.”

I turned my head ever so slowly and drew eyes up to the portal at the top of the stairs. I shivered and quickly looked way. “I know it was.”

In a low voice she whispered. “Do you suppose she’s still up there?” Then she grinned mischievously.

I looked into her strange glassy eyes. “She was, the last time I was here and I have a feeling she hasn’t left.”

My advice for would-be authors…. Write something every day, even if it’s only a paragraph. Learn to live with rejections; don’t let them nag at you. Believe in yourself and your work. Never, ever give up on your dreams. Faith, patience, perseverance and bold determination are what all successful authors have in common.

I am now working on the second book of my trilogy… Merryweather Lodge – The Malevolent Spirit…Find out if Emily gets to make mad, passionate love to Jonathan , just like she does in her dreams….?

Merryweather Lodge – A quaint little cottage, steeped in history, shrouded in secrets, its aura a paradoxical essence of heaven and hell. Go into this book if you dare and experience my protagonist’s strange and eerie journey there…. . Available at www.whiskeycreekpress.com

The next big book craze…...Stonehenge!

Thank you Roxanne, for letting me share this with you and your friends.
Please come visit me at www.paulineholyoak.com


2 comments:

Roxanne Rhoads said...

thank you for being a guest today Pauline. I enjoyed your post.

Kat said...

I enjoyed your post Pauline, and loved learning more about you. Your book blurb has me intrigued. Funny, the story that I'm in the middle of writing has to do with the place I spent my summers. Totally different locale story, but it's interesting how the past won't let go. Kat

 
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