Guest Blog with YA Author Jo Ramsey

DEAD AMONG THE LIVING
By Jo Ramsey

The day that many of us celebrate as Halloween comes, at least in part, from Samhain, an ancient harvest festival, still celebrated today by some, which marks the end of the half of the year when daylight hours are longer than darkness and the beginning of the half when dark hours outnumber light. It was also believed to be a day when the separation between the world of the living and the world of the dead thinned, allowing the dead to reach out to those they’d left behind. A day, possibly, when one might communicate with the dead.

Then again, some people believe humans can do that any time

In my Reality Shift novels, Jonah Leighton and Shanna Bailey don’t exactly communicate with dead spirits. Instead, they have guides, beings that speak directly into their minds to offer advice and help them solve problems. Those beings include spirit guides, human souls that have stopped incarnating either by choice or because they’ve learned all the lessons they intended to learn and no longer need to incarnate. Now they act as guides for other humans.

Some people believe that all humans have guides, which is what Jonah tells Shanna in the novels. There are also people who believe they are able to speak to dead spirits, and even that the dead are still with us until they choose to incarnate again, if they do.

If the dead are with us all the time, either as guides or as spirits, maybe there’s something to the belief that the dead are able to reach out to the living on Samhain or Halloween. So pay attention on October 31, because you never know what you might see or hear.

Blurb for Connections:

At the start of high school, Shanna Bailey doesn’t imagine her life will change. She’s always been the one everyone else puts down, even her own mother. Shanna is positive high school will be no better. But when she meets Jonah Leighton, everything changes. Though most other kids make fun of and even fear Jonah, Shanna finds him to be kind and thoughtful, and he amazes her with the things he knows. Even more amazing, he wants to teach her what he’s learned, and he wants to be her friend.

When Kaylie Sturbridge, one of the popular crowd, starts acting strangely, flipping out in school and shouting about a dark thing following her, her friends shun her. Only Jonah seems to know what’s going on, and he persuades Shanna to work with him to help Kaylie. But can the two of them rid Kaylie of the entity that wants to take over? And can Shanna trust herself enough to do what Jonah needs her to?

Blurb For Filtration System:

Jonah Leighton never expected to have a close friend, especially one he met at his school, where he’s usually either picked on or ignored. A few weeks after meeting Shanna Bailey, he’s realized that she’s a kindred spirit. Intelligent, funny, and interested in the things he can teach her, Shanna is the first person with whom Jonah’s ever been comfortable sharing his knowledge.

However, Shanna’s frequent injuries cast a pall over their friendship. Jonah suspects that Shanna’s mother abuses her, but without proof, he can’t do anything. And his concerns about Shanna take a back seat when he becomes aware of a threat to our universe: An entity from another reality wants to cross over into ours, and the resulting energetic backwash will vaporize our world.

Visit Jo at www.joramsey.com