Ghosts and Haunted Houses

Let me start by saying thanks to Delilah for having me on the blog today!

Since Halloween is right around the corner,  I wanted to talk about ghosts and haunted houses.  I lived in a haunted house for numerous years.  It was a very beautiful, historical house, but never really felt like a true home.  Over the years several visitors had said they’d seen or felt the presence of someone standing in their room at night.  We didn’t talk much about these events until after I had moved to a new house. That’s when the stories were confirmed by relatives and friends.

There were two places, specifically, that visitors had had these experiences.  The first one was the guest room. The door leading to the sitting room was originally an outside door.  Everyone who stayed in that room said they’d been awakened in the middle of the night due to hearing the door slam. But it never opened.  I had heard the noise myself on numerous nights, but never spoke about it.

The second hot spot in the house was the upstairs.  In my bedroom, I ‘felt’ the presence of what I perceived to be a young woman in a long white gown standing by the windows.  I also felt her in the master bedroom turret, again by the windows.  What confirmed her existence was a conversation I had with my grandmother who  lived next door.  I had never discussed this ‘woman’ before with anyone.  But one day, my grandmother asked me if I had any idea who was the woman in the white gown at the windows.  She had seen her.  I had only felt her.  And despite me never telling my grandmother this, she saw what I had sensed.

There were other ghost tales from the house as well, including a old, bearded man seen in the kitchen, a civil war era ghost in the hallway,  and a ghost in my brother’s room.

I had one cat who refused to go into the guest room at night. She would stand at the step leading up to the room from the family room and hiss.

I did discuss the situation of my haunted house, including additional details, with one of the founders of T.A.P.S. / Ghost Hunters.  It was a very interesting conversation. He felt the same as I did, that the spirits in the house were not bad, but I did have a connection with them.

Nothing bad was ever felt in the house, but it was strange knowing we weren’t the only family/inhabitants there.

In my book SHADOWS OF THE SOUL I have a little ghost girl.  I enjoyed writing her into the plot.  Perhaps living in a haunted house sparked the idea for this character.

Do you have a haunted house or ghost story to share?  I’d love to hear it.

Thanks for stopping by the blog.  Have a Happy Halloween!

SHADOWS OF THE SOUL
(Book 1 of the Paradisian Chronicles)
By Angelique Armae
ISBN: 978-0-9845151-4-1
Publisher: Diversion Books

When Hell’s sexiest bad boy–Nicolai Valentine–defied Lucifer, he lost everything.

Now Heaven’s fearless human warrior–Isabel Heart–has come to Nicolai’s rescue.

When the two meet…

A haunting past is reborn…

Isabel Godfroie Heart is a Paradisian Scholar-an immortal human trained in the ways of Heaven and Hell-who’s suffering from memory loss. During her last battle, a dark force erased specific portions of her past life memories. Now she remembers little of times past, save for the fact she’s a demon slayer mentored by the archangel Gabriel. When ordered to a new post to help translate a volume of ancient text from a forbidden verse, Isabel is forced to work with the dark prince Nicolai Valentine, a soul who may or may not be responsible for her memory loss. If only she didn’t find the tempting creature so hard to resist…

Born to a fallen angel and a mortal mother, Nicolai Valentine is a prince of the Grigorcov, the children of the fallen sons of God. Searching for the lost chalice that will save his kin from eternal damnation, Nicky unknowingly unleashes the Hadean Virus, a dark entity targeting members of the Grigorcov. Now the entity has been unleashed on man’s world and Nicky’s in a race against time to find the antidote that will stop this deadly parasite. But in order to keep the Hadean virus from attacking again, Nicolai must enlist the help of Isabel Godfroie Heart, the Paradisian Scholar he was unable to save from the wrath of Hell centuries ago…

Buy Links:  Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Giveaway:   A set of book cover  magnets for Shadows of the Soul and The Bride Wore Demon Dust 

Send your name and email address to:  aarmae@angeliquearmae.com  to enter the drawing.  Please put ‘magnet contest’ in the subject line. One winner will be chosen at random from the list of entries.  US and Canada residents only, please.

Website Links:
Website:  https://www.angeliquearmae.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AngeliqueArmaeFans
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AArmae

Author bio:

Angelique Armae is a native New Yorker who’s as zany as the city she grew up in. As a child her favorite toy was Emerald The Witch, a small doll with green eyes, green hair and purple skin.

Miss Armae is published with Diversion Books and ImaJinn Books.  Her books have garnered numerous awards and nominations, including the Sapphire Award, P.E.A.R.L. Award and Word Weaving Award. Angelique’s first novel, COME THE NIGHT, made Fictionwise’s Best of the Best list, rounding out the top five best selling dark fantasy books of the year.  Her current book SHADOWS OF THE SOUL, a novel about angels, demons, vampires and the humans who interact with them, made Amazon’s Kindle Bestsellers list.

Aside from writing, Angelique also dabbles in digital art. She is the recipient and two time nominee of the Dream Realm Award for best cover art.

When not working, Ms. Armae enjoys traveling, learning about the ancient Celts, exploring history and learning new languages. Angelique studied history and French literature at SkidmoreCollege.

This snippet is from page 69 of my third in the series, “Immortal Relations Coming Out.” The scene is the wedding of the vampire daughter of Magdalena and Gary whose name is Eviana to the human, Victor (soon to be her husband):

We boarded several limousines which whisked us over to where the marriage ceremony would be held and there we saw many of our old friends who had been there the day Magdalena and I had wed at the same location. Eviana had on the same dress Magdalena had worn the day she and I were married. It had a few minor alterations since Eviana was not quite as tall but had an ample bust and wanted the neckline plunging to show off one of her best features. Aside from these modifications, and the dazzling white color, it had the same haut-couture cut as the light blue, lacy, scalloped, and layered, shape-hugging dress I’d seen Magdalena in the first time I’d met her.

I guess I’d been so overwhelmed by the surprise my friends had prepared in my own wedding to Magdalena that I hadn’t really noticed all the white flowers that I now saw and which smelled so very sweet… I think they were Gardenia’s arranged hanging in twists around and down polls placed alongside as well as in the back and in front of the wedding venue. As I walked Eviana down the aisle, I could hear her thoughts of overwhelming love for Victor and the beauty of it was so intense that it was all I could do to keep from crying. I also could hear Victor’s concern that he might faint due to the picture of loveliness walking toward him and prepared to be his bride. I sent him my thoughts; Steady on young man, the ceremony will be over before you know it and you’ll have a long time to enjoy your life with this wonderful lady. If you can’t read her thoughts right now, I can and I can confirm her deep love for you. I am so very proud to welcome you into the family as my son-in-law! What is it the Brits say, something about keeping a stiff upper-lip? Well, just keep SOMETHING stiff for a little bit longer. Then I smiled at him and he smiled back, or maybe he was smiling as his future bride drew nigh. Whatever it was, he seemed to take courage in the stars he saw in her eyes. At this realization I could feel tears on my own cheeks.

Once again, Vladimir had a gift of a dazzling five carat Red Ruby mounted in a Gold ring. This looked to be a twin to the one he had provided when I wed Magdalena. I was sure this was also one from the Hermitage collection for Victor, the groom, to place on the finger of Eviana, his bride.

There was a reception held afterwards; however I only got a parting glance of Victor and Eviana as food evidently wasn’t on their minds. Vladimir had arranged for them to stay in the bedroom at the Menshikov Palace which was completed in 1721 and was the most luxurious building during the time of Peter the Great.

Soon, Vladimir had corralled us and we were transported to the same palace where we entered a private suite of rooms that had been prepared for us. There we found Vlad, Grandmother and Roger and after hugs and kisses we sat down to discuss the wedding and what we had accomplished at the Canadian Coven.

* * * * *

The cover from the first book, Immortal Relations, showing Gary recently converted to a vampire, Magdalena and Eviana with the fog shrouded Residency Castle in the background (a local art student did this cover for me). Read the rest of this entry »

The art tour came and went. Sadly, we had very little traffic, so I am packaging jewelry to sell in a local consignment shop and taking photos to get things up in the Etsy store. Good news is, I just about have Christmas ready for family members. Wonder what they will all be getting from me?!

And now through the end of the month, I have to get Hot Highlanders and Wild Knights whipped into shape and submitted to Cleis—or maybe not, but that’s an announcement that will have to wait. November will be hell month so far as writing goes. So many stories to get out the door. If I can manage to stick to a schedule, I will plan a light December. That’s the goal, anyway. We’ll see how that goes.

In the meantime, have you ordered your copy of Uniform Desires? Have you told a friend about it? FB’d and tweeted about it? I hope so. It’s a fabulous project: 6 stories from 6 great authors, and for now, just $.99! (You’re going to be hearing a lot about it over then next few weeks!) You can’t beat that deal. Click on the cover to head over to Amazon to get your copy now.

So, onto that question…

If you could take a 2-day intensive class in anything at all (scuba-diving, conversational Spanish, dry-wall installation, etc.), what would you choose?

I’d like a fused glass workshop, myself. Or maybe a photography class…

I’ve never been a country girl. I grew up in a small city. My father covered his back yard in asphalt and made it a half-court basketball court for my five brothers. I listened to WLS radio out of Chicago. My influences were more Saturday Night Fever than Urban Cowboy. My teenage years were spent with The Cure, Duran Duran, and Depeche Mode. So how the heck did I end up with all this country music on my playlists?

I discovered it purely by accident. Earlier this year, I wrote my very first short story featuring a cowboy hero in V Is for Vindicated — my contribution to Love Letters Volume 6: Cowboy’s Command. Where does a certified city slicker trying to write about a rough and tumble rodeo guy turn for inspiration? Music, of course.

And what I found in my own iTunes library shocked me.

I didn’t even notice it was happening. In a true testament to the power of the crossover hit, I found that my playlists were already loaded with country (or country-flavored rock) tunes. Some old and some new, and a few nothing more than a guilty pleasure.  There they were, ready and willing to inspire. Proof that not only could I step out of my comfort zone, but I already had.

Here are just a few of the tunes that fueled V Is for Vindicated. What are some of the surprises lurking in your music library?

Crazy ~ Patsy Cline
Need You Now ~ Lady Antebellum
Look What You’ve Done to Me ~ Boz Scaggs
Grow Old With Me ~ Charles Kelley
Somebody’s Crying ~ Chris Isaak
This Kiss ~ Faith Hill
Witchita Lineman ~ Glen Campbell
Bad Things ~ Jace Everett
Hate To Lose Your Lovin’ ~ Little Feat
Blue Bayou ~ Roy Orbison

Maggie Wells is a deep-down dirty girl with a weakness for hot heroes and happy endings. By day she is buried in spreadsheets, but at night she pens tales of people tangling up the sheets. The product of a charming rogue and a shameless flirt, this mild-mannered married lady has a naughty streak a mile wide.

Fueled by supertankers of Diet Coke, Maggie juggles fictional romance and the real deal by keeping her slow-talking Southern gentleman constantly amused and their two children mildly embarrassed. They are the food purveyors to three dogs, a passel of fish, and one impertinent house rabbit she claims is the love of her life. Shh. Don’t tell her husband.

You can find her online at https://www.maggie-wells.com, on Twitter @maggiewells1, or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AuthorMaggieWells.

It normally takes me about six months to write a novel, but Haunted Knights took me a lot longer.

In my third medieval romance novel, If Love Dares Enough, one of the heroes marries a widow who is the mother of a dwarf.

My readers know that my stories follow successive generations of one family and its offshoot branches. Denis de Sancerre appeared as a minor character in Passion in the Blood, but I knew the time would eventually come when he would want his own story told.

I put it off for a long time and tried to ignore him. How many romance novels have a dwarf as the hero?

In the meanwhile, Game of Thrones became a bestselling novel and TV series, rocketing Peter Dinklage to stardom.

I haven’t read Martin’s books nor seen an episode of the show. However, Peter Dinklage did give me the impetus to start the long postponed book and a basic idea for the plot.

At the 2013 Golden Globe Awards Dinklage spoke of Martin Henderson, a British dwarf facing life in a wheel chair after being “tossed” by a modern day medieval thinker.

His attacker may have been inspired by a “dwarf tossing” incident involving members of the English Rugby squad during a tour of New Zealand.

I wove this idea into my plot, using the prehistoric monoliths to be found in Carnac, a small town in Brittany. The evil lord of the manor there has carried on an archaic Halloween tradition of tossing a virgin off the top of the tallest monolith.

He thinks Paulina, the heroine of Haunted Knights, would be perfect because not only is she a virgin, she’s also a dwarf, and Denis de Sancerre’s betrothed.

In my story, Paulina suffers from Pituitary dwarfism, a condition of growth retardation characterized by people who are very short in stature but have normal body proportions. It is caused by a dysfunction of the pituitary gland, the pea-sized mass of tissue located at the base of the brain.

Denis is an achondroplastic dwarf.

Of course, none of these medical terms existed in medieval times.

Inspired by Dinklage, I embarked on Haunted Knights with the unhandsome, deformed Denis as the hero. He describes himself as looking like “an ancient gargoyle.”

However, lest you think I am very brave, I was too chicken to rely on Denis alone to carry the book. A girl has to make a living you know!

So I gave Denis a half-brother, Adam, as a co-hero. However, I didn’t want him to be perfect—that would simply make Denis look worse. I wanted Adam to have flaws. After all, Haunted Knights is part of a series called Wounded Warriors.

I have a grandson who is profoundly deaf, so I decided to afflict Adam with deafness. For good measure, I also made him impotent!

Now you’re thinking, “Is the woman mad? How can a man who is impotent be the hero of a love story?” Especially when readers know my tales are juicy and sensuous!

Sorry, this post is about Denis! You’ll have to read the book if you want to know the answer!

But, good news! Haunted Knights for kindle is on sale for .99c until Halloween. Plus it’s enrolled in Amazon’s Matchbook Program. If you purchase the paperback for $9.99, you get the digital edition free. (This program begins sometime in October according to Amazon)

If I may, I’d like to end with a review from a reader that made the exercise very worthwhile.

I wanted to give you a 5 star rating for going into uncharted territory. Most romance heroes are tortured by some trauma but are paragons of masculine beauty and perfection in physical form. How very refreshing to see Denis (with all his limitations) achieve his happiness with a woman who started out small but ended with a spit fire spirit.(Karen Wilkinson)

Bondage Boot Camp Part 2 & Contest

Oh
MY
GAWD!!!!!!!

Bondage Boot Camp Part 1 was NOTHING compared to Part 2!

My next adventure in Kink Land (I’m picturing #CandyLand for the naughty here) was in Dallas at a convention called Beyond Vanilla. This one was more the leather crowd – boot blacks, knife play, predicaments, blood, puppy play and rope. Mmm…rope. My favorite!!

It was very diverse and there were so many classes I had to pick and choose which ones I wanted to attend. So I spent 3 days learning all about different kinks. Some I’d never been able to see in person, and the experience of it happening live and in color was amazing!

What was the first class I chose to attend you ask? Masterful Mindfucks. Yep, and I tell you this, it kicked off the conference with a bang and a half. By the end of the hour and a half I’d seen leeches, fake blood, had a tarantula flung at me (which I thought was real mind you and I do still scream like a girl), learned what a lifetime gangbang might look like, and was reminded what burnt hair smelled like. Talk about jumping into the deep end. I LOVED IT!!

My favorite two classes were Predicament Bondage and Blood Play, which the latter totally shocked me, but I’ll get to that in a minute. Predicament bondage I’ve seen before, and experienced a tiny bit of, but the class I went to was incredible and unbelievably entertaining. It was put on by a Sir and his three “boys”. Three full grown, beautifully naked men!! And all three of them were gorgeous so it was no hardship watching them be put in “interesting” positions.

The first predicament was intense. The Master had his husband, yes I said husband, strip and do 25 pushups. Not too tough right? WRONG! We’re all counting for him, and he’s butt naked in a room of 40 of us or so watching his every move. At the end of the last one his Sir made him hold the push up position. He taped his legs together, very effectively gagged him with a chili pepper duct taped in his mouth and then to give him incentive to hold the position he pulled a sheet of mouse traps out from under one of the conference tables and laid it beneath his stomach on the floor. It was intense! He did great and was able to hold it until the traps were removed. His Sir set off the traps at the end just to prove they were live. Then he showed predicaments with two people and three people. What one does affects the rest, normally is some deliciously depraved way that made my jaw hit the floor. Crazy naughty! Seriously had to hit the reset button on my brain after that class!

Okay, blood play. I had some idea what to expect on this one, cause…HELLO…it’s blood, but I’d never been in the same room with it and I didn’t know how I’d react. I’m not squeamish of blood by any means, but would it be sexy or gross or just ho hum whatever, I could take it or leave it.

I REALLY liked it and that surprised me. The class was put on by a guy and he had two women and one guy bottom for him during the class. He did a cutting with blood cupping **FASCINATING**, needles on this gorgeous girl who really REALLY likes needles, and a venous pull on a guy from the audience for reasons that are too convoluted to go into here. It was beautiful and organic. The chemistry and tension between the Dom and his subs truly touched me. He kept having to remind himself not to get lost in the moment since he was teaching a class. That spoke to me more than anything else, the connection in their play.

That seemed to be the common theme throughout the weekend. The presenters and participants sharing what they love and their enthusiasm was contagious.

That is what I took away from my bondage weekend. Oh, well, and quite a bit of rope burn from three suspensions back to back to back Saturday night. (**GRINS**)

It was a great weekend and one I would recommend for anyone new to kink or curious about kink, or just freaky deaky and you want to get your kink on.

GO FOR IT!! Find the you you’ve always wanted to be, and let her out to play!

CONTEST – Bad Girls of Romance Trading Cards plus Swag and Trading cards from yours truly. Plus, maybe a little bit of something extra from Romanticon since I just got back!

Tell me a kink you’d love to try, but haven’t gotten to…YET!!!

Members Only, Book One

She knows it’s wrong. Cyn shouldn’t have feelings for fraternal twins Jared and Chris, her best friends. She shouldn’t want them to tie her up or strap her down, to take her one at a time—or together. The only way to control her taboo desires is to write them down and lock them away in her diary. Guys like Jared and Chris could never be interested in someone like her, or in the kind of sex she craves.

But Jared and Chris have read her diary, and sweet little Cyn is in for the shock of her life. The brothers not only own a members-only BDSM club, they want her. Need her. And now, with their unlimited funds and an entire establishment devoted to fulfilling her darkest pleasures, they’re going to claim Cyn for their own.

Inside Scoop: If you have a kink, this book probably has it too. If you like your ménage romances extra hot with a side of male-male romance, spanking, voyeurism and girl-on-girl action, come and get it.

A Romantica® BDSM erotic romance from Ellora’s Cave

Buy Links below and others on the TIC webpage along with an Excerpt and Video

Amazon | Ellora’s Cave | Barnes and Noble

Website – https://www.jenniferkacey.com/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/jennifer.kacey.7
Twitter – https://twitter.com/JenniferKacey
Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6941549.Jennifer_Kacey
Pinterest – https://pinterest.com/jenniferkacey/

A Very Menage Christmas is available for Pre-Order Here!!!

Jennifer Kacey is a wife, mother, and business owner living with her family in Texas. She sings in the shower, plays piano in her dreams, and has to have a different color of nail polish every week. The best advice she’s ever been given? Find the real you and never settle for anything less.

Day 1 of the studio art tour just about killed me. I think 4 carloads of people came through yesterday in the 9 hours we were open. Today, I’m hoping more folks will be off work and we’ll get better traffic. Boredom saps my energy worse than anything. My dd and I sat making earrings at the table rather than sitting idly. Do you like the skull earrings? I think I’ll be scarfing up a pair of the aqua-flowered ones for myself. So cute! Of course, all that trapped inactivity did give us a chance to gossip—never a waste of time. You can  barely see the rock crystal teardrop earrings on the bottom tier, third over. Sooooo pretty. And we made lava bead bracelets for men and two cute little kid’s bracelets. It turned out to be a productive day, so I guess I shouldn’t bitch. Here’s hoping for busloads today!

Hope y’all have a wonderful weekend! What are your plans?