Here's a snippet from a brand new review of Captured Souls over at Fresh Fiction!

"Delving into the mind of the psychotic, yet brilliant, Dr. Miriam will make you question your own humanity and boundaries. She is a truly complex character who is mostly detached, seeing humans as specimens and experiments, while showing small bursts of emotion when things do not go her way or she realizes her mistakes."

Read the rest here:

Captured Souls Review at Fresh Fiction

What Scares You?

Everyone has basic fears.

Some are ingrained into our survival code.

Others stem from experiences we've had.

Some become phobias.

I'M NOT AFRAID
The person who declares he's not afraid of anything is likely one of the biggest cowards in the room.

There are fears of poverty, of homelessness, of our children going hungry.

There are fears of bugs or birds or cats or sharks.

There are fears of ghosts, spirits, monsters.

There are fears of what another human will do to us.

BE AFRAID
Fears seem to be categorized into different sections.

As a writer, I enjoy exploring fears from every level.

Sometimes I find writing about what scares me helps me understand why I'm scared.

When you're writing about scary things, you have to have a basis about WHY it's scary.

You also have to walk that fine line about what is scary to one and may not be to another.

In fact, some people find some fears utterly ridiculous yet another person would actually die of a heart attack if they were in the same situation.

SCARY PRANKS
Did you see that Youtube video that's making the rounds about the scary pranks on people trapped in the elevator?

I was watching that thinking that at first, I'd be scared then I'd realize that it has to be people fooling around since I know so many people who work in Halloween Scream Houses.

However, even though I'm a big fraidy cat, once my initial fear is gone, I start to analyze what is going on. If I was in that situation, it wouldn't take me more than the initial jolt to realize it's a trick. No way would I believe that it's really a ghost. I'd instantly know there's a trap door. All those years of theatre, ya know!

But I was thinking about some people might freak right out, perhaps even have a heart attack.

MIND FREAK
That video is an interesting experiment in discovering what truly scares us.

We are afraid, watching the video while thinking "what if it ISN'T a fake?"

What if that really happened to me but it wasn't a cheesy haunted house trap door creepy kid prank?

What if it really WAS A GHOST?

I would freak out, you betcha.

VIDEO KILLED THE ELEVATOR RIDE
But this particular video set-up would have the average person be initially startled and frightened and then laugh and realize it's a joke.

What do you think about this prank?

Is it scary?

Is it mean?

Is it dangerous?

Is it dumb?

The Black Mass Room 2012

 

 

After two long finger-clenching, nightmarish sweat soaked years, I finally returned to it. That place that had finally faded into a dull memory.

 

The bedroom where Rainy and I had stayed two years ago and where freaky things had happened to us in the night. DVRs on the Ghostgirls site have further proof about unexplanable voices in our room while we slept. 

 

When I entered the room, it was unnerving but not terrifying. I sat on "my" bed and surveyed the room. I remembered the nights and feared staying in there for the impending weekend.

 

 

The mansion had been renovated since our last stay and there were more rooms open on the second floor. Loren and I put out the nametags on various beds. Some of the rooms I was glad I didn't have to stay in. Sure they were big and gorgeous with huge beds but something didn't "feel" right in them.



 

Not that the Black Mass room felt any better. But in the end, Rainy and I stayed in a suite of rooms on the main floor. Of course, we chose beds next to each other, no way anyone slept alone in that mansion. Well, a couple of people did, but they were braver than I.

One of the DVRs from 2010 had a noise that sounded like a child saying, "Hi." With that in mind, I went into the Black Mass room at one point and invited the children to play with me. I pointed out the various equipment they could play with and I don't know if they did when I left the room.  The Lizzie Borden house has a room where children play and I wonder if they played in here too. Apparently this part of the house was built where a gym used to be. So it would make sense that children ghosts could play here.

The idea that ghost children would play with the blinking lights, k2 meters, recorders, propeller and other instruments was more appealing than the idea of encounter some angry Black Mass that oozes in and out of the room.

 

I don't think anything happened.

 

Funny, though, that no one wanted to stay in the room, even for one night to see if what Rainy and I spoke of was true....

 

Interesting....

 

One of the nights, a few of us went into the room while the GhostGirls were rolling cameras and dvrs after we'd been drinking various concoctions of wine, rum and absinthe all night. I turned on the laser light grid and we broke out into "Boogie Oogie Oogie Dancing Shoes" to celebrate the disco era.

The room seemed sad when I said good-bye to it on the last day. It was disappointed I was too chicken to sleep over. Oh, well. I wasn't the only one who was too chicken, that's for sure. Over twenty people in that house all over the place, but no one dared to sleep in The Black Mass Room.

I am curious to see if anything showed up on any of the cameras or digital recorders left in the room for 24 hours!

California Here I Come!

At long last, the wait is over!

Nearly two dozen horror authors and artists are spending four days at a beautiful retreat in California. Nestled in the mountains, this mansion provides a scenic historical refuge for those wishing to tap into the creative muse.

Perhaps because so much "consciousness" is floating around, poking around, exploring concepts and pleasures, there is an odd energy to the house.

The weekend will comprise of writers writing, artists arting and live blogging as it happens to record the more interesting to the outsider aspects of this retreat: paranormal investigation.

A professional ghost hunting team will be investigating with the standard gear.

Be certain to watch the blog as it happens!

Haunted Mansion Writers Retreat

The Birds and the Bees Is Ready to Order!

Once upon a time, I wrote horror novels for Leisure Books.

One of those books was called THE BIRDS AND THE BEES.

This book has now been reborn, a mighty phoenix rising from the ashes of obscurity...

Here's the blurb from the new version:

A paranoid fantasy, The Birds and The Bees is about what the title says it is. We learn to fear all sorts of flying things — birds, bees, hornets, wasps .... They are always just out of our consciousness, watching, waiting, their motives unclear. We also learn to fear all sorts of loving things — men, women, couples .... They are lying beside us, watching, waiting, their motives unclear. It's as if Daphne du Maurier and Erica Jong went to a party hosted by Timothy Leary, dropped acid, and decided to collaborate. A truly manic read.

Get Your Copy of The Birds and the Birds TODAY!

Haunted Mansion Project

http://astore.amazon.com/sepswor04-20/detail/1615725792

I took this from Rain Graves' Page:


The Haunted Mansion Project Year One, Presented by Rain Graves and Edited by E.S. Magill

The book contains a fantastic set of factual and fictional information--from a scientific perspective of data gathered at the site and analyzed by our professional investigative team, Ghost-Girls, essays and journal notes from attendees and their paranormal experiences or skepticism, to stories and poems inspired by the time spent there.

For your perusal, here is the Table of Contents:

Forward by E.S. Magill
Introduction by Rain Graves

THE FINDINGS
Investigative Narrative by Nichole Boscia

THE FACTS
The Haunted Mansion Rules and the Writers Who Mock Them by S.G. Browne
Touched by Loren Rhoads
Journal of a Paranormal Mind by Rain Graves
Notes from the Haunted Mansion by Sephera Giron
Sounds Like Faith to Me by Kim Richards
Coming Home: Some Thoughts on Haunted Houses by E.S. Magill

PHOTOGRAPHS
Taken by Attendees

THE FICTION AND POETRY
Depictions by Yvonne Navarro
Red Road to Spirit Mansion by Rain Graves
And Not a Drop to Drink by E.S. Magill
Ghost Meter Blues by Weston Ochse
He Journeyed Through Midgard by Christian Colvin
The Journal by Kim Richards
Insane Cinquains by Dan Weidman
In the Night, In the Dark by S.G. Browne
The Old House (At 324 Oak Street) by Rain Graves
The Third Room by Sephera Giron
A Curiosity of Shadows by Loren Rhoads

Haunted Mansion Project Book