Ghosts as paranormal heroes
Unless
you’ve been living under a rock, the last decade, you know that paranormal
romance and urban fantasy is hotter than hot. Oh, the industry might be yawning
over these tales of otherkin interacting with humans, but it seems every
article and blog one can read on the subject, at least those written by the
fans, proves otherwise. Vast majorities of these fantasies star vampires and
werewolves.
But
there are other creatures in the supernatural world to pick from. The most
enduring critters, if we step back and look at the whole history of paranormal
fiction, is ghosts. Right off the top of my head I can name a few popular
ghosts stories from the beginning of popular fiction to today:
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor
Coleridge
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Turn
of the Screw by Henry James
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
The
Time of their Lives (yes, the
Abbott and Costello movie)
The
Witching Hour by Anne Rice
So why is it this creature, who veritably defines
the field of paranormal research, is so neglected in modern fiction? When we
can populate our tales with heroes of the otherkin, vampire, and even those of
the angel and demon persuasion, (and even zombies, for God sake) why not
ghosts? Why are such stories relegated to some catch-all horror shelf? Just
because they float rather than walk, and might be a little on the transparent
side? Why can’t they fit into the tried and true happy ending requirement?
For the most part, that’s what I asked when the
ghosts in my debut novel, The Artist’s Inheritance (and its series Antique
Magic) began taking serious shape. Who better defines ever after than those
in the ever after? Those who wait for their beloveds on the other side,
or those stuck here, pining for their beloveds? When I did, my heroine,
Caitlin, made contact with an ancestral ghost, who lends a helping hand to save
his descendents from a curse and an evil imp bent on the family’s destruction:
forces he couldn’t stop when he was alive.
What’s more romantic—or heroic, for that matter?
I
hope you will take a look at my novel, The Artist’s Inheritance and see
if you agree!
So, what do you think? Would you turn down a ghostly
helper? Writers, have you ever tried to write a ghostly hero? How’d it work out
for you? Would you try it again? I would. J
The Artist’s Inheritance
Trouble only a witch can solve...
Settling into their new home in Gulf Breeze, Florida,
Caitlin finds strange changes coming over her husband Trevor. He seems obsessed
with a beautiful chair he’s carving.
When the nightmares deepen and ghosts begin lurking—she knows something’s not right, and not just her newfound precognitive abilities. It’s the damned chair, she’s sure. Could it be just what it seems: a mundane piece of furniture? If so, why is it attracting dark forces—the forces she suspects drove Trevor’s siblings to insanity and suicide?
Before the same happens to Trevor, Caitlin must convince him to sell his art. But armed with only a handful of allies, and little experience of the supernatural, she must proceed with caution against the hellish forces besieging her family. If she succeeds, she will break the ancestral curse. If she fails, she may lose forever the one thing she cares about most: her beloved Trevor.
When the nightmares deepen and ghosts begin lurking—she knows something’s not right, and not just her newfound precognitive abilities. It’s the damned chair, she’s sure. Could it be just what it seems: a mundane piece of furniture? If so, why is it attracting dark forces—the forces she suspects drove Trevor’s siblings to insanity and suicide?
Before the same happens to Trevor, Caitlin must convince him to sell his art. But armed with only a handful of allies, and little experience of the supernatural, she must proceed with caution against the hellish forces besieging her family. If she succeeds, she will break the ancestral curse. If she fails, she may lose forever the one thing she cares about most: her beloved Trevor.
The Artist’s Inheritance is available at:
Amazon: http://bitly.com/RDkat0
Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/ORLQyF
Smashwords: http://bit.ly/RH0GCI
And in
paperback at Createspace: http://bit.ly/RkOdr0
And
Caitlin’s story continues in Caitlin’s Book of Shadows, also available
on Amazon:
Pieces that influenced The
Artist Inheritance:
The classic ghost tales:
The Rime of the Ancient
Mariner by Coleridge
Cristobelle by Coleridge
The Turn of the Screw. By
Henry James
Le Belle Dame Sans Merci by
Keats
Sir Dominick by J. Sheridan
Le Fanu (What’s the title?)
More recent texts:
Lucid by Debra Glass
Haunted by Debra Glass
Your Magic Touch by Kathy
Carmichael
Cold Mountain, to some
extent
The Brenda Strange
Mysteries by Patty G. Henderson
The Witching Hour by Anne
Rice
Movies:
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
The Time of their Lives
Sixth Sense (though I warn
you, if you are easily creeped out, avoid this one)
Fight Club
Fiddler on the Roof
And of course Ghost Hunters
on the History Channel, if you have cable is a popular title.
About
Juli D. Revezzo:
Juli
D. Revezzo has long been in love with writing, a love built by devouring
everything from the Arthurian legends, to the works of Michael Moorcock, and
the classics and has a soft spot for classic the “Goths” of the 19th century.
Her short fiction has been published in Dark Things II: Cat Crimes, The
Scribing Ibis, Eternal Haunted Summer, Twisted Dreams Magazine and
Luna Station Quarterly. She also has an article and book review or two
out there. But her heart lies in the storytelling. She is a member of
Independent Authors Network and Magic Appreciation Tour. The Artist’s
Inheritance is her first novel.
Your
readers can find me at: http://julidrevezzo.com
Amazon
Author page: http://www.amazon.com/Juli-D.-Revezzo/e/B008AHVTLO/On Author's Den: http://www.authorsden.com/julidrevezzo
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/JD-Revezzo/233193150037011
On Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/111476709039805267272/posts
On Good Reads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5782712.Juli_D_Revezzo
On LibraryThing: http://www.librarything.com/profile/julidrevezzo
On Shelfari: http://www.shelfari.com/o1514830030
And
on Twitter: http://twitter.com/julidrevezzo
Thanks,
Roxanne, for inviting me here today.
4 comments:
Thanks to topic
Thanks for having me here today, Roxanne! I hope your readers will enjoy my work.
Juli when Rice created Lasher that was one scary ghost and the books in the series about the Mayfair witches were almost as good as her Vampires!
Yes, Lasher is quite the fiend, isn't he, Jackie? :) Thanks for stopping by!
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