What About The Paranormal in the Paranormal Romance
The clock strikes midnight, you are alone in a dark house. Down the hall you hear a door creak and the dogs begin to bark furiously, sensing an intruder that you cannot see. What could it be? Your thoughts turn to the paranormal and you begin to wonder if it just might be possible?
As an author of Paranormal Romance, I have spent years researching many different aspects of the paranormal. I have found this to be a fascinating area of research and along the way discovered some interesting things.
The subject matter of the paranormal is expansive and this is reflected in the stories I write. My formal education includes Criminal Investigations, which provided the analytical skills required to research the paranormal as well as Anthropology/Archeology. This area gave be invaluable insight into different cultures and clues hidden in ancient history.
When I first began investigating the paranormal, I was surprised at just how much evidence there was to back up some ghost stories, UFO reports, alternate dimensions, etc. Of course this evidence is not the hard evidence that science will accept. To be accepted by the scientific community a theory has to be repeatedly tested in a controlled environment. The very nature of the paranormal makes this impossible, though quantum physics theories do allow for up to 8 extra dimensions that are part of our reality but undetectable under normal circumstances.
Stories of phantoms and things that go bump in the night have been a part of our culture throughout recorded history, but it has just been in the last couple of decades that investigators have had the equipment to actually detect these invisible entities.
There have been reports of ghosts that are described as misty apparitions, but there have also been many reports of entities that have a very real and solid form, such as the pirate ghost that haunts the heroine in my latest release, The Pirate’s Dark Revenge. In addition to being haunted by a ghost, the heroine in this story finds herself traveling back in time. Incredibly, there have also been reports of people finding themselves in a different time and place.
One such story took place in 1979. Two British couples were traveling through the North of France when they come across an Inn where they decided to stay. This Inn was primitive by modern standards, no windows only shutters etc. The people they met were all dressed in clothing of another era. Though these people thought it odd, they assumed it to be the theme of the Inn. When they left the next morning their bill was only 19 francs. Some days later they were on there way back and decided to stay at the same Inn, but it had vanished. Other landmarks they remembered were there, but the Inn was gone.
Sure, this could be chalked up to coincidence and losing there way, but what if it wasn’t?
Another area that I find particularly fascinating is the Sumerian story of creation. The Sumerians built the first civilization on earth and much of the Book of Genesis derives from ancient Sumerian writings, but Genesis left out a great deal of information. According the Sumerian story of creation, mankind was created by means of genetic manipulation by an ancient God race that came down from the heavens. The Sumerian Gods were called the Annunaki, which literally translates into those who came from heaven to earth.
This is the backdrop for my book, Song of the Annunaki where the heroine finds herself confronting a prince of this God race and dealing with the classic alien abduction scenario as well as many other surprises.
The paranormal may be hard to accept for some people, unless they have experienced it for themselves, but it is a definite possibility that there is more to heaven and earth than meets the eye.
About the Author:
Lorraine Kennedy
Paranormal Romance Author
www.lorrainekennedy.com
Disclaimer, cause we have to: The opinions of guest bloggers do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Mandy M Roth and Michelle M Pillow. (Want to be a guest blogger?)
Labels: guest blogger, paranormal
The Dirt About Graveyards!
By
N.J. WaltersCemetery…graveyard…the mere words conjure up all sorts of images of dark foggy nights, full moons, headstones, vampires and ghosts. But they can also be places of calm, contemplation an even romance.
How do I know?
Simple. I lived in one!
I can hear you all screaming that no one lives in a graveyard, but I did and so did the caretaker and his family. It was actually in my younger years and I was boarding there while I was going to school. It was a homey, two-story home that faced the road on the front side, but was surrounded by headstones on the other three. The view from my window was gently rolling hills dotted with white stones.
Every day I’d trundle down through the twisting paths and exit the iron gate on the far side of the graveyard to catch the bus. And every evening I’d trudge back through it in the dark, winding my way past the familiar headstones after a long day at school. I always remember my great aunt telling me that it wasn’t the dead that one had to worry about, but the living. I can honestly say that this particular graveyard was a settled one. It almost felt welcoming, as if the departed didn’t mind me wandering my way past them every day, as if they didn’t mind the company.
Some of the graves were quite old and had sad stories to tell. I remember one that had several members of the same family buried in the large plot within a few days of one another. Obviously an epidemic of some sort, probably curable now, but not so in the 1800’s. Others were of men lost at sea or taken during the first and second world wars. Then there was the occasional one of a child or of someone who’d lived until their ninety-first year. Each stone had a story all its own.
Okay, so I can all hear you asking yourself that all-important question—how can a graveyard by romantic?
Well, I happened to be living there when I met the man who would later become my husband. At the time we were both still in our late teens and neither of us had a car. So, when he brought me home from our first date, where do you think we went? That’s right, the graveyard. It was peaceful and quiet and it’s where we shared out first real kiss after our first date.
Is it any wonder I love to write paranormal romance? The dark, the forbidden, the lure of what is beyond death is what drives authors to delve into the realms of the paranormal. There, the boundaries are blurred and anything is possible. Vampires, werewolves, ghosts and things that go bump in the night. There are a million tales to tell and some of them will come from me.
But then what else can you expect from a woman who lived in a graveyard?
About the Author:Check out my erotic vampire series at:
http://www.ellorascave.com/Series.asp?Category=Dalakis%20PassionIf you want to know more about me, just check out my website at
http://www.njwalters.com and my blog at
http://www.njwalters.blogspot.com .
Or you can join my newsletter at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/awakeningdesires/ .
Disclaimer, cause we have to: The opinions of guest bloggers do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Mandy M Roth and Michelle M Pillow. (Want to be a guest blogger?)Labels: guest blogger, paranormal
Video Entries To Date for EXPRESS contest
Okay, we’ve been trying to get all the vids that have been entered loaded onto the hosting sites. Yes, we know we’re still missing some and we PROMISE to get them up soon. The darn hosting places tend to lag and take forever. Oh and myspace has decided to eat every third or forth upload we do. *snicker* Nice of them…huh.
Anyway…
The ones we have posted can be found here (they are in no particular order)
http://mandyroth.com/contest_vids_page_one.htm
The contest rules and info can be found here
http://mandyroth.com/express_yourself_contest_page.htm
We’ll be uploading more videos today through the weekend (we’re actually hoping to have all the ones submitted to date up by tonight). If you want to play along, you still have plenty of time! This contest will be going on for a few months. We’ll be drawing winners each month and you stay in the hopper for the following month (s) as well. AND…you can enter as many times as you want. Each one gets your name put into the bowl we force my sons to draw names from (child labor at its finest folks…snort) Ooo…please email me or Michelle prior to sending the video via email, so we can be ready. Our poor lil’ inboxes have threatened to runaway if we don’t start treating them better. We’re also planning to get a separate video email going soon to help stop the issues we’ve had getting them in.
Also, if you’re interested in making the vids but aren’t sure you can, we have some helpful hints on our contest page and here is another helpful link
http://www.apeekatromance.blogspot.com/
Everyone, if you get the chance, please stop by and take a look at the vids entered to date. People have put a lot of effort and heart into them and we want them to know we MORE than appreciate it! Plus, some are downright funny (no, we’re not being mean…they were aiming at being funny) and others are so sexy they could melt your socks off (is that even possible?), some are so dead on that we’re thinking of asking these people to outline the books for us for notes for use later. LOL.
Mandy M. Roth & Michelle M. Pillow
Talons - Online and In Stores
TalonsNOW IN PRINT!
Read An Excerpt Online - http://samhainpublishing.com/print/talons Genre: Paranormal Romance, Red Hots!
ISBN: 1-59998-348-6
TALONS—a compelling assortment of five stories, soaring to new heights of passion with shape shifting birds of prey.
Take flight with a king who must take a mate in order to save his people, finding her in the unlikeliest of places; a princess whose destined mate is a falcon commander she’s previously tormented; a man locked in a cage for fifty years now hunting revenge; a legendary firebird a Collector seeks for his private collection; and a raven shifter who delivers death with the simplest touch.
No feat is too high for these lovers contending with both enemies and their own hearts, in the end waging the most dangerous battle of all—the battle of love.
Labels: anthology, jaycee clark, mandy roth, michelle pillow, new release, paranormal, shannon stacey, sydney somers
The Paradox of Ghost Stories in the Modern World
By
Charlene TegliaWhat is it about a ghost story, that chill that runs up your spine and makes your hair stand on end? That thrill of the unexpected, the unexplained, the uncanny? It’s fascinating. And mysterious.
Do ghosts exist? Are houses haunted? Is there a reality beyond what we see with our eyes and experience with our everyday senses? These questions have been with me from childhood, from family ghost stories and tales told by firesides. The supernatural is a subject I don’t get tired of.
I love hearing about haunted houses, apparitions, unexplained odors and noises. Ghost lights, those spheres of light that appear and no scientific explanation has been found for. (Which doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, just that it hasn’t yet been discovered. Putting this phenomenon in the mysterious realm of the unexplained.) From the benign house ghost to the alarming and destructive poltergeist, the range of supernatural experiences reported is interesting in itself.
I’m not alone in this fascination. I think there’s a reason why Dean Koontz’s most popular character is Odd Thomas, the man who sees ghosts. And Stephen King’s spooky subject matter has struck a chord with an awful lot of readers. Well, why not?
The 2003 Harris Poll determined that 51% of the general population believe in ghosts.
Whatever the reason for the appeal, the supernatural and the spooky makes my spine shiver and sparks my imagination and that makes it a rich subject to explore in fiction. I’ve written witches, werewolves, reincarnation, vampires, time travel, all exploring the realm of magic and mystery. I don’t believe I’ve even begun to scratch the surface.
I do think that fantasy enriches our reality, that it keeps our minds open to “what if?” and for that reason alone, it’s valuable. It’s good to question, to imagine. And it’s good to keep alive the sense of wonder we have in the world as children. Studies have shown that as we lose that childhood belief in magic, the high creativity most children have diminishes by the age of 7 and is nearly entirely lost in adults.
Oddly enough, today’s reality tells us that we need creativity more than ever. Business and industry call for creative solutions, innovations, new ways of seeing and doing things. So at a time when our world is more scientific, technical and logical than ever, our need for fantasy and
the creative thinking it fosters is at an all-time high. Ghost stories help us keep that childhood spark alive.
About the AuthorCharlene Teglia is an award-winning erotic romance author for Ellora's Cave, Samhain, and St. Martin's Press, and a columnist for Romancing the Blog.
Visit her on the web at
www.charleneteglia.com.
Disclaimer, cause we have to: The opinions of guest bloggers do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Mandy M Roth and Michelle M Pillow. Labels: guest blogger, paranormal
How to be A Raven Guest Blogger
Authors, Fans and Paranormal Experts welcome to blog!Guest Blogs are posted every Monday at the
Raven Vampire Nightclub Blog on what is called "Manic Monday with Michelle and Mandy". If you would like to have your article included, please follow the submission guidelines below. Mandy and Michelle reserve the right to decline any blog topic without explanation (but don't let that scare you, we're not meanies).
HOW TO GET A GUEST SPOT!
1. Subject MUST be on the PARANORMAL!Topics can be anything paranormal or fantasy--from Real Life to myths, history or just your thoughts on a subject. Author byline with links will be included and we ask that you stop by to comment when your blog goes live. Also, feel free to advertise your blog with us. If you would like the above graphic to use, email us.
2. Articles can be anywhere from 200-1000 words. 3. No fan fiction or short stories. No poetry.If you would like to post a paranormal short story or poem, please contact us for special arrangements. These will be very selective and not be done on guest blogger days.
4. First come, First serveThe order your blog will be posted is in the order we receive the completed, ready to go blog entry. The only exception is if the topic you are writing about was recently done, or if you have recently done a blog and there are others who haven't waiting for a chance. We reserve the right to post them as we see fit. Email notifications will be send out when your blog posts, not before.
5. We DO NOT reserve datesPlease don't ask. We're too busy and we will forget.
6. Yes, you can do it more than once.
At this time there is no limit. 7. TO SUBMIT - Send email to Michelle - enchant @ cox.net or michelle_pillow @ yahoo.com (no spaces)
- Or send email to Mandy - mandy @ mandyroth.com
- Subject - Raven Guest Blog
- Body of Email- Your blog article READY TO GO, including the byline at the end and the link titles and links you want added to the blog clearly marked.
- We DO NOT edit, so make sure it's how you want it.
Hopefully those didn't scare you off. ;)
Thanks!
Michelle M Pillow
&
Mandy M Roth
Labels: guest blogger, how to, paranormal
