Samhain Publishing Ltd. Weblog

Sometimes It's Fun To Get Led Astray

It’s after 1 a.m. and I just dragged in. I had another blog started but it’s out the window now. :)

Tonight I went to a book signing. No, not my own…I drove 2-1/2 hours and spent another 3 hours standing in line to meet Johnathan and Andy Hillstrand, captains of the FV Time Bandit. “Deadliest Catch” fans will know exactly who I’m talking about.

I wasn’t planning on going. I mean, I wanted to, but it was a haul, my son had to be at a school function and gas is pushing 4 bucks a gallon. But J.C. Wilder kept gloating about how she was going to be there, and why don’t I drop everything and come with? Come on, you know you want to…it’s just this one time…pleeeeeease?

I went. I can never withstand the power of J.C.‘s pout. And I admit I never pass up a chance to watch this show whenever it’s on. There’s just something primally attactive about men who risk death every day to make their living.

Worth it! We had a blast talking to, oh, about 300 other rabid DC fans. I can’t remember when I saw that many people in one place, all smiling. That’s something special.

I joked with J.C. that I’d need to hang a slab of bacon around my neck to get that many people willing to have their pictures taken with me. :) Both men were unfailingly gracious although they must have still been signing books past midnight. They were even inviting people to join them at the bar later.

I hope my editor’s not reading this, because I’m supposed to be finishing a manuscript. Hee! I’m sure she’ll forgive me just this once.

G’night! I’m off to bed a happy, happy gal. Despite the fact my photo turned out blurry.

Big thanks to J.C. for leading me astray. Again.

Carolan
www.carolanivey.com

Somebody's Knocking...

It’s Valentine’s Day. I write romance novels. So you’d think I’d write a blog entry all draped in pink hearts and dripping melted chocolate, right?

Yawn.

Since I’m sitting here watching Ghost Hunters anyway, I’d rather talk about the ghost that’s in my house. In fact, I think it follows me around from house to house. Every home I’ve lived in has had, at the very least, a “knocker.” Something that brings me bolt upright out of a sound sleep by rapping on a wall somewhere in the house. It moves around. Sometimes it’s in the basement, whacking on the drywall by the stairs. Sometimes it’s somewhere upstairs or in the attic.

Other times it’s right above the headboard of my bed.

We moved to our current house about 18 months ago, and I think my ghost likes it here! I hear the knocking at least once a week. Always three knocks. Rap rap rap. It’s trying out different sounds, now, like clapping. The reason I think it follows us is that we had the same thing in our previous house – one we’d built ourselves, so it’s not like it had a history.

I like to think it may be my musician grandmother, tapping out a musical rhythm, looking for a spot with just the right tone.

I recently had foot surgery, and for the last five weeks I’ve been sleeping with my foot propped up on a big foam wedge, sticking out of the covers.

Last week I woke up to the distinct sensation of someone gently tapping on the bottom of my foot. Four quick taps, as if using four fingers one at a time. My eyes popped open but even though my feet are so ticklish that I can barely stand to touch them myself (yes, I’m weird), it didn’t frighten me. Startled yes, but it felt playful. I rolled my eyes, said clearly, “Okay, you’ve had your fun. Now quit it and let me go back to sleep.”

It hasn’t done it again.

Once in a while I’ll see one of my dogs staring into an empty corner, ears pricked. Recently I’ve caught her staring up at the ceiling in the kitchen, then something will startle her and she’ll come tearing into the family room as if the devil’s pulling her tail. This is a breed that’s bred to go down holes after badgers, so she’s normally not afraid of anything.

My guess is the ghost uttered the one word that turns her into a puddle of quivering jelly: “Bath.”

Hey, a sense of humor! I like that in my ghosts.

I tell you one thing that creeps me out, though – it’s EVP recordings . You know, the ones that pick up disembodied voices in empty rooms. [shudder] Don’t ask me why knocking doesn’t scare me, but voices do! I’m a big fan of Ghost Hunters and the new Ghost Hunters International, but when someone on the show says “Dude, you have to listen to this one,” I hit the mute button.

After all, at some point I have to walk down a darkened hall to get to my bedroom. I’d like to do it without a heart attack, thankyouverymuch.

I know my sister is reading this and laughing her butt off at me. After all, we were both born in North Carolina; our native ground is soaked to the bone with legends and ghost stories. They’re as natural to us a breathing.

But if you don’t mind, I’ll pull my hoodie over my head, stick my fingers in my ears and hum a happy-place tune.

Okay, back to our regularly scheduled holiday. I hope y’all had a happy Valentine’s Day!

Pink hearts and gooey chocolate to you and yours,
Carolan

——
When Carolan’s not listening for her ghost’s next Morse code message, she writes paranormal and Celtic-flavored fantasy romance. Find out more about her latest releases at www.carolanivey.com .

Caution: I Run With VSEs

Okay, I had a choice for my blog today. Gush and wax poetic about my latest Samhain release, BEAUDRY’S GHOST , or say something nice about someone else.

On one hand, it’s all about me, Me, ME!!!

But on the other hand, it’s not. Authors generally don’t get far without something called an editor. Even those of us who are editors in our real lives know damned well it’s not a good idea to pretend we don’t need one for our own work.

We need a Very Sharp Editor (VSE). A professional with editing tools – and nerves – of surgical steel. Luckily, Samhain Publishing is front-end loaded with sharp.

Home

As I write this, it is Nov. 3 and I’m sitting in my mother’s kitchen in High Point, North Carolina. Knowing that I Must Write Something but having no idea where to begin! I’m exhausted from the past four weeks of helping the Beyond the Veil blog authors pull together our Dunvegas free anthology, and the release one day later of Wildish Things.

But for now I’m content. My stomach is comfortably full of fried fresh flounder, hush puppies, freshly made cole slaw, sweet potato pie, sweet tea, and scuppernong wine. It’s Mom’s 74th birthday, and she cooked for me. She wouldn’t hear of allowing us to take her out to eat.

So I probably won’t be fitting into my swim suit for our 25th anniversary trip to St. Thomas in 3 weeks! But it’s. Totally. Worth. It.

(Bear with me. The scuppernong is kicking in.)

This spirit of hospitality is not unique in North Carolina. It runs deep, far back to our ancient Scottish and Irish ancestors, for whom the number one commandment was to welcome anyone who appeared on one’s threshold. To treat even strangers like family.

I was born where the Wright Brothers first left the earth, and grew up in the city where they lived and invented. I grew up mostly in Ohio, but North Carolina is home soil.

I have to get back here at least twice a year to recharge with Lexington barbecue and scuppernong wine. I’ve got Outer Banks sand in my veins, Great Smoky Mountains granite in my spirit, and tar on my heels. (And, some might say, Buckeye nuts rattling around in my head!) My family tree runs from Murphy to Manteo, and though I have a Midwest twang to my speech, put me in Carolina for an hour and it’s pretty much gone.

Great writers sprang (and still spring) from this state, and great musicians. Doc Watson, anyone? Elizabeth Cotten? John Coltrane? Thomas Wolfe? Kaye Gibbons?

Music owns half my creative soul. The other half belongs to words. I don’t pretend I’ll ever be as good as my predecessors, but as I’ve grown older I now know what inspired them to deviate from the norm. The solid foundation they leapt from in order to try to create something unique. The place from where they drew courage to fly.

Home.

~Carolan

PS: Today is my Dad’s birthday! Happy birthday, Dad!

www.carolanivey.com
Current release: Wildish Things

Wildish Things!

Under the cut there’s an excerpt from “Love & Lore: Wildish Things”, available now in eBook and print from Samhain Publishing. (Warning: Contains a couple of naughty words!) Enjoy!

Inner Landscape

My husband is an engineer.

Did I just hear a collective groan of sympathy? Now, now, it’s not as bad as all that.

Few things are more aggravating to a writer than interruption. You’re deeply into a story, chatting with characters in your head, finally getting into a groove where the words are at last flowing easily onto the page. You’re groovin’! You’re cookin’ with gas, baby!

Then…

Hold the Faery dust, thanks!

Argh. Another earring missing!

Sigh. Those pesky Faeries are at it again.

Funny things started happening to me not long after I began serious research for ABHAINN’S KISS. I was fascinated to learn that the Fae are not all light and fluffy creatures that go around waving their magic wands for good. Indeed, they can be as dark and complex as are we humans.