I'm thrilled to welcome friend & fellow writing scholar Claire Gem...
Bio: Claire
Gem writes contemporary romance with a ghostly twist. An avid
reader, she’s a fan of strong but sensitive heroes, spunky, sexy heroines, and
a ghost story delivering at least a few goose bumps. She loves creating
characters so real, readers miss them when they reach The
Book Title: Phantom Traces
Log Line: Contemporary
Gothic Romance with a Ghostly Twist
Tag Line: A hunky history
professor in a tweed jacket, a cheeky Goth chick, and a pipe-smoking,
book-hurling ghost. Put them all together in an antiquated library and, well…
Book Blurb:
Jack
Wood’s
silver-streaked hair definitely ages him, and he can thank Killer Dawn for
that. He won’t be falling into the love trap again anytime real soon. But this
new librarian has him curious, with her head-to-toe black Goth garb, piercings,
and a defiant attitude to match. Definitely not his type of girl, but still…
Abigail Stryker’s
got her work cut out for her. The last two librarians didn’t last a month
before airborne books chased them off. But Abby’s determined to make her new
life a go – and to stay as far away from older men as possible. Once was
enough. Might be tough to do when the library’s best patron is none other than
dreamy-eyed Jack Wood. And it seems the eccentric ghost may have taken a shine
to her as well.
Book Excerpt: As Abby followed Jack back down
the stairs she asked, “So what brings you in this evening? Grading more papers?
Or research?”
“Research.
I’m looking into the library’s history. I’m trying to figure out why all those
crazy rumors started flying about this place right after Dana Laramy retired.
Before that this place was just our boring local library.”
“Laramy.”
Abby paused near the reception desk, tilting her head. “Any relation to
Laramy’s Antiques?”
“I
think Dana is his aunt, though I’m not certain. Neither one is much for
personal chit-chat. Weird family, the Laramys. One of these days I’ll have to
take you over to meet old Martin. Now there’s a piece of work.” Jack chuckled.
At
that moment, the lights in the building flickered, dropping dim and pale. They
pulsed for a beat, then went completely out. It was still light outside, though
the fading twilight cast the interior into near blackness.
“What
the . . .” She looked around, wrapping her arms around herself and
instinctively moving a step closer to Jack.
“Oh,
that’s not unusual around here.” His voice was calm and reassuring. “Blue Ridge
Power is infamous for testing transformers at the darnedest times of day.”
By
the time he finished speaking, the lights began to glow, then steadily
increased until they were fully illuminated. He grinned over at her. “At least
it doesn’t last long.”
His
killer smile shot a jitter through her middle again. She smiled back but found
she couldn’t hold his gaze long without feeling as if she had a fever coming
on. She turned away.
Question for YOU Dear Reader:
Do
you believe in ghosts? Spirits trapped between this world and the next? Ever
had a ghostly encounter? Share with us!
Here are Gem’s Links:
Book
Trailer Link: http://bit.ly/1EIj4IY
Website:
http://www.clairegem.com
Amazon
Buy Link: http://amzn.to/1JrjWoH
Facebook:
http://on.fb.me/1BhmfCj
Twitter:
http://bit.ly/1Gsspn0
@gemwriter
Pinterest:
http://bit.ly/1IvDabu
Blog:
blog.clairegem.com
Give way: A random winner
will be selected from those who follow Claire’s Blog – blog.clairegem.com – for
a free copy of either an ebook or an audiobook, winner’s choice.
Special Bonus Read:
I’m a science-minded gal, and my
day job keeps me immersed in the world of scientific research. Yet I’m am a
writer too, lover of romantic fiction and fascinated by the elusive world of
the paranormal where my imagination allows me to create events that can’t
necessarily be explained by scientific theorems. So I don’t just write romance.
Mine has a ghostly twist.
But, being the science geek that
I am, I go one step further in laying a foundation for my career as an author
of paranormal fiction—I do my research. While living in North Carolina a few
years ago, I took a trip to The Rhine Institute at Duke University, a place
where science and the supernatural coexist. The Rhine was established in 1935,
and still today provides a place for professional education in parapsychology, a
field defined as the study of “psychic abilities, experiences, techniques, and
the culture of ESP throughout the world.” (rhine.org)
I attended a seminar at The Rhine
discussing the Ganzfeld experiment. A fascinating, if dated documentary
portrayed actual footage of the original experiments held during the early
1970s. I watched pairs of human subjects who did not know each other
communicate telepathically, sending detailed thoughts and mental images to each
other from two different locations. Following established scientific protocol,
the experiment produced results that were not only recordable, but measurable. These
results were so convincing, the Journal of the American Society for Psychical
Research published them in 1974.
Fact: forty years ago, the world
of science conceded that paranormal activity was real.
To this day, the Rhine continues
to provide education, both on-site and online, in the study of parapsychology,
and I have taken several of their courses. What, you ask, do psychic abilities have
to do with writing ghost stories? Ever heard of Stephen King?
Some of King’s most terrifying
works, including Secret Window, Secret
Garden and The Shining, plunge
the readers into tortured minds. King leaves us wondering if his ghosts are
real, or if they exist only in his characters’ subconscious. Did Mort Rainey
actually commit those murders, or was it an invented character Rainey dreamed
up—John Shooter? Or was John Shooter really a ghost? Did evil spirits drive
Jack Torrance to madness and murder? Or was he a ticking bomb ready to explode
anyway, only pushed over the edge by isolation at the Overlook Hotel?
In The Shining, King specifically highlights the ability to “shine,”
i.e., read the thoughts of others. Communicate telepathically. ESP, or
extra-sensory perception. The very thing investigators at The Rhine Institute
study.
One of the most horrifying
aspects of King’s horror stories is the internal monologue of his characters
where they struggle with doubt—the uncertainty we all face when we’ve had an
unexplained encounter with someone, or something, from another realm. Did this
really happen, or did I imagine it? Is it real, or is it insanity?
Me? As stated, I’m a science
geek. I love the fact that, thanks to research institutes like the Rhine, the
realm of reality and the paranormal aren’t just parallel, they intersect. There
exists at least some factual basis for the fiction.
And I do believe in ghosts. Does
that make me insane? Dunno. But I can promise you this—my stories are insanely
haunted. Bwuuhaaahaaa!
Happy Halloween
