Valentines gift for lonely girls...

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This love story about a wallflower girl is free. I hope it is a nice read for you:)

Scared of the dark much?

Have you ever seen a ghost? Like, really seen one? It’s freaky! A human shape, floating, transparent… you know it isn’t alive. I see them a lot. Though, I’m not too sure how real they are. It’s always in that semi-sleep state. That bit where consciousness is fading and your mind is whirling around, flashing from one random thought to another, almost like it’s trying to cling to the present but it just can’t.

The thing about that state of semi-consciousness is that it seems the mind is susceptible to its highly powerful imagination, so maybe these ghosts are just a trick. Maybe. Or maybe it’s just that when you are in that drowsy state, you are susceptible to the ghosts in your bedroom.

Oh yeah… in my bedroom! That’s where I see them. I get these ghosts trying to get into my bed. No, don’t laugh. Not like that. I mean, they want in and they want me out. Like, what the heck are you doing in my bed, dude! Lol. I know. Easy to joke about it in daylight, but it’s seriously scary at the time. And the weird thing… the think that makes it really spooky. Just up the road there’s this historic cemetery from the turn of the last century, and I’ve only started getting these visits since I walked through reading all the old tombstones.

So yeah – maybe just imagination, or maybe they followed me home? Hmm… Anyway, if you’re into ghost stories, I’ve written a few that are in editing and will be published soon.

Wednesday December 15, 2010 - Gwen Harrington interview

G'day, folks. Stu Magoo reporting for HPCI. This Rainy Day series isn't kidding. It's pelting down here. I just passed the Goran Vale is a Tidy Town sign. Rolling into the deserted little village now. There's Bernadette's Timber Town Motel on the left. Maybe I should check in, but hopefully I can find these characters and get the heck out of here before night.

There's a parking spot just past the clock tower. Lots of spots in fact. This joint really is a graveyard. I saw someone standing in the doorway of the gift shop back there – probably the old woman Edna, or maybe it was Margaret. She looked nosey, or it could be I'm the first car to pass through town today.

Damn it's pouring down. I have to make a run for it. Hope my recorder doesn't get wet. If this comes out crackly you know what happened.

Aw heck. Aw heck… Whew! Made it. The Clock Tower Café. The joint’s empty of customers. This rather attractive middle aged woman would have to be Gwen.

Me: G'day, ma'am. You would be Gwen Harrington?

Gwen, eyebrow raised: Yes. Do you want to dry off?

She hands me the roll of paper towel she was using to wipe the counter.

Me: Ta. You look just like I imagined.

Gwen, eyebrow lifting again: Oh?

Me: From the book Remains of a Local Girl. Or books actually. I see you get a brief scene or two in The Trelor Sect Killings... I'm Stu Magoo by the way - reporting for HPCI.

Gwen: Oh, of course. Mr. Magoo...

She fixes her hair. Must be thinking the recorder I'm drying off has vision. Being from her future, anything's possible, but no – no vision, sorry, Gwen. Although, I'm supposed to be interviewing the main characters from these two stories, but what the heck...

Me: So, Gwen, say hi to all of your readers. Everyone thinks you were one of the coolest characters.

I hold the recorder up.

Gwen speaks into it, blushing a big smile: Hi, readers!

Me: So, Gwen, twenty years as a psych nurse and four husbands - how has that been?

Gwen: All kinds of crazy – that's how it's been. And three husbands, not four, thank you very much. There won't be a number four.

Me: Oh?

Gwen, scoffing: Pfft. Silly men. Who needs one fulltime? I get asked out often enough. Bert's trying to work up to asking me to go on a cruise to Tahiti. He's mentioned wanting to go a few times. I'm thinking about my wardrobe – what I'll need to buy. I'll need new evening wear.

Me: A cruise is a fine venue for popping a question.

Gwen: Nope. I've mentioned never getting married again more times than Bert's mentioned the cruise.

Me: Hmm. I see. And what about your daughter – how is her marriage going? We noticed in Trelor Sect she had a baby.

Gwen: And another on the way – another in the process of adoption, that is. Kate and her dreamboat policeman are going wonderfully. Now there's a marriage that will last. There's a man who knows how to take care of his woman.

Me: Oh yeah?

Gwen, sighing: Oh yes – if only...

Me: If only you had found a man like that, eh?

Gwen, scoffing again: Pfft. Wasn't to be, and I ain't complaining. I live with a wonderful man these days. Not romantically, but I get spoiled rotten at home.

Me: Ah yes – Bobby Ray. And how is the big guy getting on after all that drama he went through in the book? Readers are always asking after him.

Gwen: Well, the readers might be happy to know that Bobby Ray now has a steady girlfriend. Veronica is a lovely lady – a few years older than him. She lost her husband in a traffic accident some years ago and was left with a vegetable farm to run. Bobby went to work for her when the Cosgroves retired and sold up last year. Technically, he's her workman, but he often stays for dinner, and just this week he's stayed the night twice.

Me: Some would say you were brave to take Bobby in all those years ago. You never doubted him – feared for your safety?

This question causes Gwen some pause. She stirs her tea. I sip the coffee she has placed on the counter in front of me.

Gwen: Yes, I had doubts in the beginning. Bobby had lost a chunk of memory and I never knew what he had been through – what he was capable of. And he was a big man. He was scrawny when he was admitted to the institution, but he got healthy and grew strong. I would be lying if I said I never feared him a little back then. But it was the unknown that was disquieting, not the man himself. The kindness in his heart was always obvious to us. He was like a big lovable puppy - one who had been mistreated.

Me: And you wouldn't have known the extent of this mistreatment, or what it would have engendered in him?

Gwen: No. Except, his doctor believed Kate and I were perfectly safe. And it very quickly became the case that he was not just a puppy – he was a guard dog. Our guard dog.

Me: He became your protector? This was the incident in 1998 when he put those men in hospital protecting Kate?

Gwen: Yes – that was one incident. There were others too. One other in particular when a man I was seeing raised his voice at me and ended up pinned to a wall by his throat. But we never told anyone about that.

Me: I see. And about Kate as a teen – she found out about her medical problem at what age?

Gwen: Fifteen. There were tests, but we knew right away that she would never bear children.

Me: And that changed her? It must have been difficult for a young woman to deal with - to accept.

More cause for pause. Gwen gives the counter a wipe, her jaw set, her eyes a little watery.

Me: Sorry. Forget that question, ma'am. I'm sure readers would have come to appreciate the portent of that from the story.

I click my recorder off and pocket it. My coffee is almost cold. I drink it and reach across the counter to place the empty mug with several others.

Me: So, Gwen, do you know where I might find either Nicole or Matthew Forest? I’ll need to chat with your daughter and her husband too. Maybe I should check in for the night. Does Bernadette still run the motel?

Gwen: You should talk to Bernadette. She still has her motel. Don’t worry about these young pups. They’re all dreamy in love. You can’t get any sense out of them half the time. Bernadette though – now there’s a lady with a story.

Me: Yes, we know. Drug addict mother who died virtually in her arms when she was a young girl. Father was a crazed murderer who she shot dead as a teen. Yeah, I guess I should speak with Bernadette.

Gwen: Is that your old bomb Volkswagen across the road there? Is that what you get around in?

I join Gwen at the door. The rain is still pouring down outside.

Me: Yep, that’s my transportation, ma’am. It gets me where I need to go.

Gwen: Hmm. They say you can travel through time in it. I don’t believe that.

I shrug: What year is this? It’s on my trip computer but I can’t remember. Is it 2012?

Gwen: 2010. December.

Me: Oh. Well my next appointment is down south – a town called Everly Cove, and in the winter of 2005. It would hardly be possible to get around and interview all of you story book characters without the means to travel through time, don’t you think?

Gwen, shaking her head: So you’re saying you could take me back to 1970 and I’d be young again?

I chuckle: Um – no. It doesn’t work that way. First of all, you would still be the same age you are now. There’s no fountain of youth, I’m afraid. And second of all, no passengers allowed. Sorry.

Gwen: Hmph – figures. But you could go visit yourself?

Me: No, that would be too weird. Plus I’d get in trouble off my boss for wasting company time and resources.

I lift my kit bag and place it on top of my head: I think I’ll make a run for it. This rain isn’t going to let up...  Nice to meet you, Gwen. Thanks for the chat and coffee…

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A great read....

Here's a romantic thriller I read last weekend and would highly recommend.
It is on offer free from August 27-30.

Watching Over the Watcher

Psychic Selene Johansen is an excellent police investigator, able to determine guilt from the first handshake. 

While her talent for fact-finding keeps her busy, her personal life is lonely. After all, who wants to date a girl who can read minds?

But Selene's consuming solitude dissolves when she learns longtime friend Brandon Price knows about her psychic gift ... and her secret love for him.
 
As their relationship heats up, Selene dares let her guard down, not realizing that a ruthless stalker is determined to put an end to the couple's passion... and their lives.


Review: Sensual and Intriguing

This is a sexy, fast moving romance with a strong thriller component that lurks in the background and strikes when you're not expecting it. The way the psychic character is handled in this story is fascinating. The human side of he gift. This clever and imaginative author makes us think about what it would actually be like to read thoughts with a simple touch. And it is not all good. I thoroughly enjoyed the story. Read it cover to cover in one sitting. I highly recommend it to others who like their romances sensual and intriguing.

Beta Reading

Beta reading rocks!

I kind of thought about it with my first two books but didn’t do anything with it until my sister had a look at my work and gasped in horror at the spelling and grammar. She, Jenny, is a bit of an English guru and fixed it all for me, but, more importantly, left me with the idea that I had to have my work looked at by fresh eyes.

A wonderful writer named Simone started a thread on Amazon looking for beta-exchange. My next book is close to being complete and is being passed around the terrific little group of readers/writers who have come together there.

Not only spelling/grammar – also great ideas to polish your work in general. If you are not being beta-read you’re missing out!!!

Here’s a link to the group on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/forum/meet%20our%20authors/ref=cm_cd_fp_ef_tft_tp?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=Fx2UYC1FC06SU8S&cdThread=Tx1M9M711GVV8YK

'CLEAN' romance - no sex or profanity

I think sex scenes in romance books are a good thing. There is a litmus test though. Erotica is decidedly B-grade. If the romance needs the sexual content to stand up, it falls over into the erotica B-grade basket. Much the same as a great psychological thriller stands up without the blood and gore. Do you have a strong psycho-thriller if you change nothing and simply delete the blood & gore scenes? Do you have a strong romance if you change nothing and simply delete the sex scenes (close that bedroom door)? That's the litmus test IMO. Sex/gore are useful to add spice to an already powerful story.

That said, there is nothing wrong with B-grade stories done deliberately. Erotica and blood & gore are easy, cheap-thrill material, and perfect if that's what you're in the mood for.

I think profanity has its place in modern dialogue. In real life, men in the company of other men are crude and profane. Right or wrong that is the way it is. Children should never be exposed to profanity. Women should not be exposed to profanity unless they use it themselves and set that standard. That's the way most people I know behave - it's what reads well in books for me. But again, if the story needs profanity to stand up???