Slacker Ghost Hunting and Local Ghost Stories

My bestie J.C. Wilder and I, paranormal authors to the bone, have come to the conclusion that we’d make terrible ghost hunters.

First of all, we talk too much.

Second, real ghost hunters lug heavy equipment. Climb ladders to set up cameras. Schlep up and down stairs. Sit for hours in cold, damp cellars.

We’re simply too high maintenance for that.

A few weeks ago we had a girls-only weekend at her house. She had just downloaded Ghost Radar to her Android phone, and I had a similar program on my laptop. (Not sure if these really work, but they’re fun to mess around with.)

Camped out on her huge, antique, four-poster bed, fuzzy-slippered feet propped up, about 800 pillows arranged just so, dogs squeezed in wherever they could, we fired up our apps and waited. Positive we’d get something, because strange stuff happens in her house all the time.

Like how J.C.’s Mom always says hello to me by making her musical coffee cup play a merry tune.

After about a half hour of picking up random energies and spoken words, getting no answers to out-loud questions, J.C. commented, “We really should move downstairs. That’s where everything happens.”

For about a minute we contemplated the logistics of moving our comfortably parked arses all the way downstairs. (About six steps down, 30 feet as the crow hops.) And incurring the wrath of two tucked-in-for-the-duration pooches.

Neither one of us moved.

“Let’s watch a Medea movie.”

Oh, how the mighty have fallen...

-----

Holland, Ohio, where I live, is a small bedroom community at Toledo’s southwest edge. You wouldn’t think Toledo would be a hotbed of paranormal activity, and you’d be wrong. There’s a lot of moving water around here – nearby Lake Erie, the Maumee River, and a close-to-the-surface water table just under a glacier-dumped bed of sand. Ghosts tend to feed off the energy of moving water.

Even itty bitty Holland as its hot spot – an old 1800s storefront down by the railroad crossing.

Currently it houses an art glass studio. And a poltergeist. Fortunately the poltergeist would rather fling small objects in the office rather than wreak havoc in the studio! A bit of video taken during Fringe Paranormal’s 2010 investigation shows how careful the ghost is with the fragile glass pieces:



-----

The Toledo area is also the site of a couple of significant battlegrounds, the “Battle for Ohio,” in which there was a ruckus over a narrow strip of swamp land between Ohio and Michigan. Ohio won, which is the reason my house sits in the Buckeye State. No deaths were reported, except perhaps for that of a startled milk cow.

The more famous Battle of Fallen Timbers, said to be the last battle of the American Revolution, took place not far from my home. Sadly, much of the battlefield has been swallowed up by a highway interchange. But a small section has been preserved by the National Park Service. The forlorn little piece of land between the highway and the river is hard to find unless you really want to find it. A bike path runs through it, connecting the adjacent mall and housing development.

The bloody battle took the lives of 30 of “Mad” Anthony Wayne’s soldiers, as well as twice that number of Ottawa warriors.

A few yards from the towering monument to the white soldiers is Turkey Foot Rock. Marked with a plaque, this is the spot where the Ottawa chief rallied his warriors, and lost his life. If you look closely at the weathered stone, you can still see where surviving tribesmen carved turkey tracks as a memorial. When I visited, someone had left an offering of tobacco and flowers.

It is said that if you sit near the rock on Aug. 20, the anniversary of the battle, you can hear gunfire, screams, and smell gunpowder in the air.



If you're interested in finding out if your corner of the world is haunted, the internet has a number of sites where you can find out. Chances are there's an old building, battlefield, or bridge guaranteed to raise your hair.

Blessed Samhain, everyone!

Carolan Ivey
Romance that will haunt you…
www.carolanivey.com

Local Ghost Stories - Gacy House and a Quick Survey of Modern-Day Ghost Hunting

This is Noony, your host for today's exploration into ghostly phenomena around Chicago.

Okay, that was my working hypothesis when I started to write my post for this week.  It quickly turned darker and more reality-based as I wandered the pages of one of my husband's local guidebooks, one that centers on ghost stories around the Windy City.  I came across the chilling factoid that I am a neighbor of John Wayne Gacy.  Not a literal neighbor, but in the sense that he lived, and murdered, in Norwood Park, just 3 neighborhoods away from where I sit, typing this.  Chilling.

Mug Shot of John Wayne Gacy
Photo from Wikipedia (1)

The interesting part about Gacy's murders is that several of them were solved by the use of psychic evidence.  In the book Chicago's Street Guide to the Supernatural, author Richard Crowe, with Carol Mercado, relate how the lot where Gacy's house stood continued to remain barren in two oval spots, photographed 3 times over 2 years.

Several theories abound about why plants would not grow on those spots.  The location of buried victims, the ground remained disturbed until new owners purchased the lot and changed the physical address.  The land recovered after that change and grass finally grew on the site.

Despite this, speculation has surfaces regarding other possible sites used as dumping grounds by Gacy.  His construction company worked all over Chicago.  He was convicted of thirty-three murders, but authorities don't know if there are more bodies that have yet to be uncovered.  Other psychics have attempted to discover signs of his victims.

The use of psychic phenomena in criminal investigations is viewed with skepticism by many in law enforcement, and with good reason.  Some so-called psychics have been charlatans, bilking people out of money and raising false hopes.  On the other hand, there have been verified discoveries by psychics that have lead to the arrest of criminals, so it's hard to say with black-and-white certainty one way or the other whether psychic phenomena are empirically true or not.

In the last few years, the public has grown more fascinated with the possibility of psychic phenomena.  Shows like Ghost Hunters, now on the SyFy network, detail the work of real paranormal investigators armed with modern-day technological tools to support their psychic detection.

Dean Radin has researched consciousness and related phenomena for over 20 years and has worked on psychic research for the government.  He ran the paraphsychology program at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, when I lived there, and the program was greeted by great fanfare in the press.  (I regret not going to study with him, actually, since that would have been an interesting, and unusual, course of study.)  My point in bringing him up, though, is that not all psychic research is by new age devotees.  There's some pretty heavy science behind trying to figure out, conclusively, whether or not this stuff exists - and, if it does, to what extent and in what ways.

Curious about these practices, I wandered over to Meetup to see if there were others who decided to try to find Casper with an EMF meter.  It turns out there are many groups who meet on a regular basis to do just that.  There are six groups just in the Chicagoland area.  If you're curious, head over to Meetup.com and type "ghost hunting" in the search box.  Perhaps a group meets in your town?  If not, why not start one?  You might find the next local murder house.  ~shiver~

Resources
1.  "John Wayne Gacy," Wikipedia entry, Photograph accessed 10/24/2012 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wayne_Gacy

2.  "Biography," Dean Radin's website, accessed 10/24/2012 from http://www.deanradin.com/NewWeb/bio.html

3.  "The Top Ten Best Video Clips From Ghost Hunters (TAPS)," YouTube, accessed 10/24/2012 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciHf4WXKY4E

4.  Chicago's Street Guide to the Supernatural:  A Guide to Haunted and Legendary Places In and Near the Windy City, by Richard T. Crowe with Carol Mercado, Carolando Press, Inc., Oak Park, IL, Second Printing, 2001

--
“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”
- E.E. Cummings

My links: Blog | Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon | LinkedIn | Pandora
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Noon and Wilder links: Blog | Website | Facebook
Team Blogs: Nightlight | The Writers Retreat Blog | Beyond the Veil | LGBT Fantasy Fans and Writers
Publishers: Samhain Publishing | Torquere Press

Check out BURNING BRIGHT, available from Samhain Publishing.
Check out EMERALD FIRE, available from Torquere Books.
Check out "Taking a Chance", part of the Charity Sips 2012 to benefit NOH8, available from Torquere Books.
Watch for TIGER TIGER, coming soon from Samhain Publishing.

13 SF/F TV Shows

It's a good time to be a fan of paranormal, fantasy and SF TV! Or a bad time, depending on how much you appreciate being glued to the tube. Back in the days before the ubiquitous 3000 channels of cable, you were lucky to get two or three stations clearly. Options were limited. Now, television watching is splintered into many channels, many methods, many preferences. You can watch it live on the aforementioned 3000 channels; you can tape it and watch later; you can stream it online; you can Hulu it; you can Netflix it; and so on and so forth.

What this means for fans of speculative stories -- like we all are here at Beyond the Veil! -- is that you actually have choices! Just ten years ago, I'd make lists of the (US-aring) shows that included speculative (SF/F/paranormal) content in a newsletter I used to edit. I could actually come up with a relatively complete list every year, with measurements of that show's sf/f and romantic content. Today, my own arsenal of shows on my TiVo plus ten minutes of web surfing provided me a list of names probably four times as long as what I used to report on...and it was just the tip of the iceberg.

So I thought, since today is Thursday, I'd list thirteen shows with a brief explanation of their premise and then a relatively neutral measurement (1-10) of their sf/f content and their romance content.

1) Lost Girl: The world is inhabited by a race of Fae who feed on or otherwise utilize humans while not letting humans know the Fae exist. Light Fae don't kill humans; Dark Fae are happy to kill anyone. Heroine Bo is an unaligned succubus torn between Light and Dark. SF/F content: 8. Very urban fantasy-style worldbuilding with Fae powers usually being crucial to each episode. The world of the Fae is the main world explored. ROMANCE content: 8. Bo as a succubus has a lot of sex and there are a number of romances on the show, both with Bo and her Fae or human friends. The romance is always there, simmering.

2) Warehouse 13: A secret branch of the government collects supernatural "artifacts" and stores them in a hidden warehouse to keep them from ruining the world and stuff. Main characters are the warehouse agents and others involved in the operation. SF/F content: 7. Steampunky/science fantasy. The agents are sent after various artifacts each week that could usually destroy the world if not controlled. ROMANCE content: 4. Not the main focus of the show, although the plots do sometimes touch on romancey relationships.

3) Alphas: Superpowered humans live amongst us, and a secret group involved with the government is trying to keep a lid on the ones who are destructive. SF/F content: 6. While the alphas' abilities get used every week, there is a huge dollop of human drama and interaction as well. ROMANCE content: 5-7. Some of the characters have romances, and judging by Season 2, which just started, these threads may become more influential. Season 1, I'd have said the romance was more like a 3-4 influence on the show.

4) Haven: A spooky Maine town (are there other kinds?) is inhabited by people with dire abilities and/or curses (the troubles), usually not in control of them; the police, who have abilities/curses of their own, realize that it's getting worse. SF/F content: 5. This show is mythology-heavy, with the characters' and towns' backstories influencing many episodes, and the backstories are troubles-laden. ROMANCE content: 7. The first two seasons, the characters dabbled in romances, but a swing at at the end of the last season showed that romance may be taking center-stage in the new season.

5) Being Human: Paranormal roomies live together and try to pass as human, or at least not kill people. SF/F content: 8. Like Lost Girl, this show has an urban fantasy vibe, but darker and angstier. The characters' non-humanness and other nonhumans frequently influence episode structure. ROMANCE content: 8. Finding love can be hard when you are tempted to eat people. This doesn't feel like the kind of show that will have a lot of HEA love stories, though!

6) Supernatural: 2 extremely good-looking demon-hunting brothers repeatedly go to Hell and back as they strive to save the world and each other. SF/F content: 7. Human foibles and personalities are not given short shrift, although the Winchesters do spend a majority of their time fighting supernatural evil, each other, etc. ROMANCE content: 5. The important relationships in the show are more familial, although legions of fangirls squee (with good reason) anytime the brothers engage in romantic escapades. Note: I haven't watched the show since Season 4 and may be off on this proportion.

7) Grimm: In a world where paranormals try to exist in secret amonst humans (anyone sense a theme yet??), special "Grimms" can see who's paranormal and have made it their purpose in life to take them out...until our hero, a Grimm, comes along. SF/F content: 7. Our hero confronts various realities of this hidden paranormal world in every episode as well as his heritage, which comes with a healthy dose of mythology and bigger story arcs. ROMANCE content: 4. Hero begins the show in a healthy relationship for the most part, but that relationship is tested by his secret knowledge.

8) True Blood: In a world where paranormals have started outing themselves to humans, a batch of characters in Louisiana continually find themselves in the middle of blood, sex and chaos. SF/F content: 9. This show, based on the Charlaine Harris books, is about what it's like to exist as a supernatural with a few humans thrown in for balance. ROMANCE content: 10. That's sort of what the show revolves around. Sookie's nookie. That and vampires biting people.

9) Game of Thrones: Fantasy-medieval setting and large cast of characters, all striving to coexist, or rule, the smallish kingdom where the majority of the cast lives or wants to live. SF/F content: 4. Much of the setting is medieval/historical, but more threads of the supernatural have begun filtering in. ROMANCE content: 4. While people, mostly females, get naked constantly on the show, all the romances feel doomed, and the main emphasis seems to be on the political struggles, with sexxoring mixed in to screw, haha, stuff up.

10) The Walking Dead: Post-zombie apocalyptic world where the survivors have to avoid or kill the zombies and keep from killing each other as well. SF/F content: 4. I gather the zombies are the only supernatural element. ROMANCE content: unknown. I don't watch the show, but I haven't heard that the romance is a draw.

11) Falling Skies: Post-alien apocalyptic world where the survivors have to avoid or kill aliens and keep from killing each other as well! SF/F content: 5. The fact that aliens took over Earth and kidnapped and harnessed kids and continue to kill humans has a huge influence on the plots, although the other aspects are more survivalist. ROMANCE content: 3. The relationships and human dramas do not revolve around romances, although there are romantic aspects I wouldn't want to spoil.

12) Doctor Who: Time-traveling beings who can reincarnate as different actors as needed take on human companions in their quest to protect the timeline and Earth and stuff. SF/F content: 8. ROMANCE content: 4. I do not watch Doctor Who, so if you want to fill in these blanks, please do!

13) Vampire Diaries: Angsty teens, old vampires who look like teens and other supernaturals mix it up in a small town, complete with lots of mythology arcs. SF/F content: 7. ROMANCE content: 8. I do not watch Vampire Diaries, so if you want to fill in these blanks, please do!

NEW SHOWS FOR 2012:
Arrow - new
666 Park Avenue - new
Beauty and the Beast - new
Defiance - new
Revolution - new

So what glues you to the tube? Anything? Nothing? Want to do a brief rundown on any shows I missed?

Jody Wallace
When is an alpha not an alph-ass?
Pack and Coven: http://www.jodywallace.com

Huh? What Did You Say You Write?

I’m asked this question many times. At first, I tried to give the questioner a true definition of my work. But then I learned to stop doing that when their eyes starting glazing over. You see, for a lot of authors, this is a loaded question. Instead, I tend to give the person a definition that is relatively close to what they know.

My answer? I write Twilight for adults. That way they know I write about vampires and werewolves. They also know that I write erotica by the clarification that my books are for adults. Trust me. It’s so much easier than trying to explain.

The problem is that most people, including many writers, have a difficult time defining what each genre is. What is paranormal romance? What is fantasy? What is urban fantasy? I have long since decided that the labels don’t really matter. I write, as many authors do, a combination of many genres. We blend, taking parts of one genre and adding it to another. It’s not uncommon for stories to be a mix of multiple genres.

For instance, most of my books are considered paranormal romances. However, I also have hints of urban fantasy when I write kick-a** heroines. Sometimes, I’ll blend the paranormal with fantasy with a supernatural being and then set the action in a fantasy world.

But my point is this. Does it really matter to the reader? When a reader walks into a bookstore or goes online to purchase a book, do they really ask themselves, “What do I want today? A fantasy? A paranormal?” Doubtful. For the most part, the reader simply wants a good book.

To learn about my books, please visit my website at www.beverlyrae.com.

Thanks,

Beverly Rae

Bridge Over Troubled ... Months ...

Hmm. Maybe I should leave songwriting to the professionals. "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" is much more catchy as a title, no?

The paranormal: we are fascinated by it. We want to believe. We tell stories about ghosts and goblins, dragons and the fey. It’s what we see out of the corner of our eye, or what lives beyond the light at night. We follow spritualists and go to live performances, hoping that maybe it might be real and not a man behind a curtain.

Our tour through television has brought us many different kinds of entertainment, from reality to the outskirts of speculation. Our next theme, “Here There Be Dragons: and Werewolves and More” brings us to those edges and beyond.

As a bridge between September’s and October’s themes, I thought I’d talk a bit about some good dragon and werewolf stories that might not be as well known.

First, the well-known author Ursula K. LeGuin wrote the Earthsea trilogy, which she then continued with Tehanu, the fourth in what is now a cycle.

To my pleased surprise, a made for television miniseries was made of the story that is really interesting. Danny Glover is in it, and he rocks. The actor they chose for Ged, and the one for Vetch, are also awesome. The Shadow is deliciously creepy.

On the other end of the spectrum, I have a book called A Century of Lesbian Erotica. In it is “Blood and Silver,” by Pat Califia from 1997. This introduced me to a darker side of fantasy because the idea is a woman transforms into a werewolf, and then leads a secret life of dominating men and making them reveal their own animal natures. This was the first time I encountered the paranormal as a sexual object.

Then someone recommended Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake novels to me, and I loved them. It was a bridge between very hard-boiled paranormal mystery and erotica, and rather than the traditional fade-to-black at the moment of the bedroom scene, Laurell took us right inside the bedroom with her characters. Very fun.

From what I understand, though I’m hardly an expert, the idea of the vampire as sexually attractive is relatively new. Older legends and myths about them, and about werewolves, weren’t at all like that – they were considered very dangerous, evil predators.

I like the more sexy version. What about you?

Second question: which do you prefer, vampires or werewolves (or other lycanthropes)?

Television Bites!

I must admit, when it comes to T.V., I lean toward the same genre that I write, paranormal. It's action-packed, full of suspense and a little eye candy doesn't hurt the ratings.
Vampire Diaries has Stefan and Damon, although I am personally partial to Damon. His smart-ass comebacks and crooked smile give new meaning to the bad boy persona.









Supernatural has it's own pair of brothers and the plot leans toward the messier aspect of the paranormal world.





Yet my all-time favorite show is still Home Improvement.



When work gets stressful and all the news seems bad, it's nice to escape reality for a while. The paranormal genre entertains my dark side and Home Improvement satisfies the need for happily-ever-after. Its the ying and yang of my television world.

BLOOD AND DESTINY and Contests!

Do you have an ereader?

No? Do you want one?

That's right, folks. In celebration of the release of BLOOD AND DESTINY, I will be giving away a Sony Pocket Reader to ONE lucky winner.

How do you enter? I'm so glad you asked!

Simple: SAVE YOUR RECEIPT when you purchase BLOOD AND DESTINY between March 1st and June 21st.

EMAIL (or forward) the receipt to chamberskaye @ gmail.com (remove the spaces, please)

That's it!

Interested in checking out the story?

CLICK HERE for BLOOD AND DESTINY

****3/21/2010 - PLEASE NOTE: The receipt MUST INCLUDE THE ORIGINAL HEADER showing origin information****

You don't want to buy the book? That's okay, there's an alternative way to enter.

Email me for details!

Can I enter more than once? Yes! You may enter ONCE by each method.

How will I know you received my entry? I will happily thank you with an email reply.

**NOTE** If I haven't responded to you in 24 hours, please resend!

How will the winner be decided? The winner will be chosen by random drawing on June 21st and notified by email.

Please note: Digital Receipt should include your name and address.

DUPLICATE RECEIPTS sent under more than one name will result in disqualification of both parties.

Much ado about nothing...

I'm struggling through book two of my paranormal series at the moment. Besides my own lack of confidence, life issues and plot-knots, there are other difficulties making it hard to write. One problem being that the hero of book three plays a small part in book two. He's a secondary now--one with major attitude--yet, while I'm working on this book, he's trying to dictate his story instead. I have a hard time writing two different projects at once. :\

(Men can be so difficult.)

My other problem is I have to figure out all the nuances of his character--and his talents/abilities, etc--so that they carry through from one story to the next. Personalities I can handle fairly well. Making up my own mythology isn't quite as easy. Plus, I have to make sure that whatever I write now is something I can live with for the long haul.

One particularly tricky aspect seems a bit...well, silly. But since the hero of book three is a shape-shifter, it is of utmost consequence to both him and the story itself. My conundrum is this: What to do with his clothes when he shifts?

The mere question brings to mind the old Incredible Hulk television show where the hero went through several shirts per episode. (Morphing muscles are hell on poly-cotton blends.)

Is that what I want for my hero? No, I can safely say I'd rather he have a modicum of control over his shifting. Much easier on the clothing budget--not to mention it adds to his innate heroic bent. Heroes must be in control. At least in some respects.

So then I have the option of him undressing every time he wants to morph. That could work. However, it also makes for other tricky and perhaps, funny, situations. Hmmmm, he really doesn't have a great sense of humor. Do I dare try it? Not sure. Also, he doesn't seem the type of man to take a moment and neatly fold everything into a small pile to be retrieved for future use.

I can also use another, less popular plot-device and have the clothing become part of his animal-persona. Yeah, I kind of like that one, except I wonder if it comes off as a cop-out?

I might even try the 'magical wardrobe' idea. However, that concept has been used by at least one of the more popular para-romance writers around. Would I seem like a copycat? :\

What to do? Any ideas? At the moment he's quite naked...and more than a little cold. ;)

Paranormal Experiences of Overactive Imagination?

Not too long ago, I was at my desk tooling around Facebook when I heard the screen door open. I expected someone to open the main door or knock...nothing.

I got out of my chair and opened the door. No one stood on the other side, so I stepped out onto the deck and checked the driveway. No car was parked, nor was one in the process of traveling down my driveway.

Figuring my imagination was playing tricks on me, I return to the house and chatted with friends on the internet.

About five minutes later, the door handle to the side door rattled.

Again, I expected someone to open that door. And, once again, no one emerged. I opened the door. Nothing greeted me but the cold. I even walked through the garage and checked the checked the driveway again.

More than just a little freaked, I hightailed it back into the house.

*******

One night my husband and I were watching television when the answering machine suddenly voicing the day and time when normally pressing a certain button is required to activate the function.

To make the event even more interesting was the fact the evening had followed a visit from my brother and his girlfriend. They'd told us of several recent happenings in their apartment.

To this day I believe they'd brought whomever or whatever with them.

This is but two of many strange happenings I could tell. I'm sure many of you out there had similar stories. Have you experienced things you can't explain?

~Diane
www.dmcentire.com

It's almost here!

No, I don't mean Christmas...although that is exciting. I'm talking about the fourth novel of my paranormal romance series - The Watchers. Midnight Savior is releasing through Samhain Publishing on Tuesday, December 15, 2009. Be sure to stop by the Samhain Cafe Tuesday to chat with all the other authors with stories releasing that day. Excerpts and contests...you can't go wrong with that.

Midnight Savior - The Watchers, Book Four

The clock is ticking…

The phrase “home sweet home” means nothing to Marie DeVeux. Her parents never understood her ongoing relationship with her dead grandmother. Plus, she’s plagued with dreams of a man being tortured. Dreams so real, the burden strips away every vestige of normal life. At rock bottom, she hears her grandmother’s voice telling her that the man exists, and she’s the only one who can save him.

Kern, a Watcher, should have been more careful when he wished for a little more excitement in his life. Kidnapping wouldn’t have been his choice. Torture, solitary confinement and starvation have left his soul consumed by a burning rage and inner demons that push him to lash out at the first face he’s seen in eight long months. Marie.

Is this woman his knight in shining armor, or just another experiment? Kern must sift through the chaos of his mind for the truth that lies hidden in his heart. And make a decision before time runs out—for them both.

Warning: Contains dead relatives who never leave, climactic lab scenes, and a mad scientist.

Haven't caught the Watcher train yet? Here's what reviewers had to say:

“I couldn’t stop reading and felt the characters’ emotions as surely as if they’d been my own.” – The Romance Studio

A ruthless drug runner who will stop at nothing to get what he wants, a Rogue killing vampire with a heart of stone, and a woman caught in the middle. One may take her heart, and the other, her life.

“There’s a lot going on in this novella length story that will keep your attention, so grab a snack and a soda then sit down and enjoy.” -- Literary Nymphs

His date kidnapped, vampire crack threatening to hit the streets, a psycho vamp planning to take over the city, thousands of humans and civilian vamps pack the waterfront for the fireworks festival, and someone is shipping in Rogues…Sometimes being a Watcher really sucks.

“Well written, not over the top, kept my interest with multiple plots for the characters, not just the rogues but also the man trying to trap Suma’s wolf.”
-- Paranormalromance.org

Hunting fanged creatures of the night while in her wolf form is the only life this Skinwalker has ever known, that is until a drool-worthy Native American male battles by her side. When his own fangs gleam in the night, showing his true nature, everything she thought she knew about vampires is turned upside down.

Find out more about The Watchers series at http://www.dmcentire.com/. Ebooks and print copies are available at http://www.mybookstoreandmore.com/ as well as online at all major booksellers.

D. McEntire

Mixing Things Up...

Dragons are perhaps my favorite characters to write. Why? They're playful, smart, strong and sort of mysterious. At least my dragons are. Then there are the dragon shapeshifters. My dragon princes are half human/half dragon. They've got all the cunning and power of the dragon and Alpha maleness to the Nth degree. Hubba hubba. ;-)

As it happens, I had a new dragon book come out earlier this month. It's called DRAGON STORM and it's not only a fantastical visit to my dragon world, but it's also a dimension-travel tale that brings twin dragon princes to our modern world where they meet their destined mate (yes, it's a very naughty menage!) and bring her back to their medieval-ish world. Yes, I'm really mixing it up in this book! It's out now in ebook and will be in print sometime next year.

But I've got something even more daring coming at the end of next month. Zombies. Yep, I said zombies! Not a word you'd normally associate with romance, but like I said, I really like to mix things up. ;-) I'll post more about it next time, but keep an eye out for a duology called HALF PAST DEAD from Kensington Brava. It's my first-ever release from a big "NY" publisher and it contains the novella that will launch a series of military paranormal romances I'm calling Guardians of the Dark.

The first novel in the series will release in March, titled ONCE BITTEN, TWICE DEAD. The heroes in the series are all special ops military dudes and their task is to fight the zombies alongside some cool women who come into their lives. The heroine of the first novella is a Navy doctor. The heroine of the first novel is a county cop. There will be at least three more of these stories - one more novella that will release later in 2010 and two more novels.

Zombies may not sound sexy, but believe me, the men who fight them are super hot. *fanning self* When I was asked to write about zombies, my first thought was "Huh?" But then I thought about it a bit and I realized it was the next logical step for the paranormal genre. It pushes the boundaries, which is something I'm used to doing and it was definitely a challenge. Hopefully you'll like the mix of menacing zombies and heroic protagonists who are tasked with saving us all. I wouldn't call these books "horror" but they definitely have some suspenseful moments here and there, in between a whole lotta romance.

I can't wait to hear what you all think of not only the zombies, but my latest dragon adventure. Have I gone too far mixing things up yet? LOL.

What color is your sky?

As a child I saw things differently. I was afraid of the dark, or rather, afraid of the things that lurked there. I was always afraid of the possibility of seeing ghosts though my best friend for years was a girl of unknown origins and looks. At least to my mother, who couldn't see her.

Like most children, my imagination roamed free. A hairbrush was a microphone. The bed a stage. A shadow could be a monster or some horrible beast that would drag me away, never to be seen again. And of course, I didn't dare look under that bed at night.

But now I'm an adult and things have changed. Um, well, a little. I'm no longer afraid of the dark. I prefer it. I will admit, many of my 'friends' are still invisible to most. However, that shadow near the forest at the end of our driveway is not seen as a monster or beast. Obviously it's the spirit of a long-dead Native American, protecting what was once his people's land. I just might write his story someday.

Children are amazing. They have such capacity for 'what-if' and are willing to accept so much. But as they grow, they learn from us adults that there aren't monsters under the bed or in the forest. The sky isn't purple, it's blue. The grass shouldn't be colored red, it's green. And don't forget to stay inside the lines. Little by little, their imaginations are reined in until many of them forget how to use them. They forget how to dream.

Luckily many of us never quite let go of childhood. We thumb our noses at authority and keep coloring those pictures any way we see fit. And so an artist is born... or an inventor... another Einstein... an actor... a musician... a writer.

Luckily, my mother taught me that there is more to life than what I can see. (Insert a nod to Shakespeare at this point.) She taught me so many things through example and words. So many things about this world and the next. And so I am still a child inside. I hold on to the notion that yes, sometimes the sky is purple. And pink. And blazing orange. Somewhere the grass may be red. And those shadows? They're ghosts... or shapeshifters... or faeries.

My youngest son -- now nine -- is ever the dreamer. He often seems to be immersed in his own, happy world. We once asked him what the color of the sky was in his world.

"Orange," he replied, not missing a beat. I hope he always sees it that way.

So what about you? What color do you see when you look up?

Bestiary 201: Composite Beasts

For today’s bestiary lesson, we’re going to talk about a few composite creatures – those that seem to be made of the leftovers of Creation.

First, the Manticore. The Manticore is made of three elements. It has the face of a man, the blood-red body of a lion, and the tail of a scorpion. It’s from India and feasts on the flesh of men with its rows of sharp teeth. Its voice is that of pipes, or pipes blended with trumpets – somewhat incongruous for such a terrifying beast.

The Manticore, because of its human face, is often related to the Sphinx, even going so far as to make its prey answer riddles. Spiritually, it represents fraud because its face hides its true nature.

The Leucrota is another impossible combination made from the offspring of a hyena and a lioness. Now, through countless National Geographic Specials, lots of Animal Planet and, of course, “The Lion King,” we know that lions and hyenas do NOT get along, so unless there’s some kind of interspecies Romeo and Juliet thing that happened along the way, plus a good dose of miraculous genetic coding, this particular beast never existed.

Pliny the Elder went even further than hyena/lion in his description: “The leucrocota is the size of an ass, and has the neck, tail and breast of a lion, the haunches of a stag, cloven hooves, a badger's head, and a mouth that opens from ear to ear, with ridges of bone instead of teeth. It is the swiftest of wild animals, and is said to be able to imitate the human voice.”

The next two aren’t so much composite creatures in description, as much as they’re shown that way in illustration.


The Jaculus is a flying serpent often depicted with a serpent’s body, but the wings of a bird and the haunches of a beast. It waits in trees for prey to pass beneath, then jumps down and kills it.

The Cerastes is very likely a Horned Viper, which is a real snake that lives in the Sahara Desert. The medieval illustration, however, depicts a serpent with the literal head of a horned ram.







My bestiary story has been moved back in my writing queue, so there’s no guarantee on what I’ll be talking about next time I blog. I may continue in this vein, I may go back to pantheons of gods – you just never know, so stay tuned!

If you could see my favorites...

Or my recent searches, it just might freak you out a bit. Then again, you are reading a paranormal authors' blog, so maybe not. But I've often wondered what "Big Brother" would think if they would bother hacking into my computer and browsing the history?

Would I become the subject of an FBI watch list? A psychological intervention? Or merely a shake of the head? I'm really not one to judge.

For my last novel -- now sitting in my editor's inbox -- I found I had to look up details regarding a rather gory death. Since I don't have a medical professional in the family, it wasn't a question I felt comfortable just calling up a stranger and asking about. These days with zero tolerance run rampant, you have to be careful. However, I felt rather like a ghoul while trying to find out exactly how long someone could live after having their throat cut.

I told it was gory.

Yes, I've spent hours researching such mundane topics as the type of shoes worn by peasant women in 1700's Ireland. But other topics interest me now that my feet are firmly planted in the present and otherworldly realm of writing. These include the names of predominant demons, for example... and the best way to kill said demons -- or other preternatural creatures. Everyone knows they don't die easily. What would be the fun in that?

I've also searched for werewolf legends; ancient warriors with swords; ghosts; haunted houses; mediums; tarot readers; and dragons... all of them trouping through my computer like a Halloween parade in the making. Now I'm moving on to other gifted individuals and deciding who gets to be immortal and who must die.

A bit god-like? Writing always is. But mostly I'm feeding the imagination. Because where would we be without it?

Meg Allison

Do You Believe in Psychic Abilities? New in Print

I hope you got everything you wanted for the holidays! I got some very thoughtful gifts from dear people and the gifts keep coming... not physicial items, but good wishes, love and cheer. I also feel like my publisher gave me a little gift this year, in the form of my newest print release, which comes out officially tomorrow.

A lot of you know all about Davin's Quest, so I won't bore you with all the details, except to say that I've long awaited the release of this in print. It's a sci fi/futuristic tale that features people with psychic abilities and some very hunky aliens.

When I first decided to write this series, I wanted to blend a few different elements from my favorite genres to create something a little different. I took a post-apocalyptic setting - a future Earth after a great cataclysm where only people with psychic abilities have survived. But I didn't want it to be a really dark world. I didn't want it to be depressing and bleak. Sure, bad things happen, but I was focussing on the fight against the darkness and the struggle to reestablish the human race's place in the world through love and covert operations. ;-)

I also wanted people to have extra-sensory abilities, but I didn't want to limit it to a single ability. Some people are telepathic, some have the gift of foresight, some telekinetic and so on. Some even have multiple talents. I like to mix it up. It makes it more interesting to write and hopefully more interesting to read.

I'm a strong believer in power of the human mind. I think there are probably untapped potentials in all of us - all that brain capacity we don't use - there's got to be something to that. Don't you think? Perhaps in some future evolution of humanity, we'll use more of our brains and be more than we are now... it's a future worth pondering.

If you think like me on the topic, check out my Resonance Mates series, of which Davin's Quest is the second book. I think you might like it! Happy New Year!

Buy Davin's Quest in Print from Amazon - Buy Davin's Quest in eBook from MBAM

Bianca D'Arc
Come over to The D'Arc Side... http://www.biancadarc.com/

Puma

My new book, Puma, a cat-shifter romance, is now out. I'm excited that it is featured at Books on Board, made #2 on the My Bookstore and More bestseller list and got an 81 from Mrs. Giggles!

BLURB

Only in each other will they discover how to be truly free.

Callie, a cat-shifter, is a loner by virtue of the puma that lives inside her. After a job gone bad, her very human need for contact sends her in search of the only family she has. Callie finds her foster sister in a disturbing living arrangement. Something is seriously wrong in a place where people “belong” to one man and silence is enforced to the point a seven-year-old girl pretends to be autistic.

Dev Malik thinks it’s odd to see a strange woman in the tall grass behind his house, but he doesn’t have the time to ponder why. He’s too busy trying to shelter the child and woman in his household from Scott, the control freak who lives with them.

The truth is more dangerous than Callie imagines. Scott’s control is powerfully real. And Dev’s need to protect the vulnerable is as strong as Callie’s own. Their desire is as inevitable as it is frightening, for only by looking deep within each other will they find the strength to free them all from an unspeakable evil.

Warning: This title contains explicit sex.

EXCERPT

Instead of replying, or even responding to her statement, his gaze dropped to her mouth. His hand slid over her shoulder, across to her neck; fingers forked up into her hair and made a fist to anchor her head so she couldn’t move. His mouth was a mere breath from hers.

“I’m going to kiss you, Callie.” He watched for her reaction and she didn’t know if she was supposed to give a verbal yes, or not. He must have seen something to encourage him. She thought he would kiss like before: sudden, deep, all his for the taking.

His lips brushed hers and before she could protest his leaving, he returned, caught her lower lip between his gentle teeth, scraped it lightly. Like the end of this morning’s kiss, but this was a beginning. A noise rose from her throat, in question, in desire, and with the fist that held her hair in his grip, he angled her head.

“God,” he said, a guttural sound, before his mouth covered hers, forcing her mouth open, stroking her tongue with his. He tasted of mint and chocolate and Dev; and she tried to welcome him though all she could do was accept as he devoured her. She’d been kissed before and hadn’t much liked it, hadn’t liked the invasion. Dev was different, demanding, yes, but focused on her. His large hand splayed across her back, between her shoulder blades, and pushed her flush against him so they had full-body contact. The flood of sensation, from his talented mouth—she had never felt so thoroughly kissed, his tongue demanding hers to dance, then withdrawing to explore her lips before delving in again—to the warmth of his body pressed against hers.

She actually went weak in the knees.

As she sank against him, he cupped the back of her head, holding her in that kiss, while the other arm wrapped around her waist, anchoring her to him. He slid his hand under her T-shirt and clasped her ribs, his palm and fingers warm against her skin.

His tongue released hers, and he retreated to nibble her lips. He kissed across her jawline and descended to her neck where he sucked at the sensitive skin there. Her throat vibrated, half-groan, half-purr, all pleasure. As he kissed across her collarbone, he said, “Callie, Callie. I want us to make love.”

He pulled back sharply then, as if to give himself a shake, and she reached for him, hands on his shoulders, scared he would go away. She couldn’t stand it, couldn’t take being released by him now.

He eyed her while he raised his hands to rest upon hers. For a terrible moment, she feared he was going to remove her hold on him, return to that “don’t touch” manner he sometimes projected. Instead, he caressed the backs of her hands, feather-soft strokes of his fingertips over her knuckles, between her knuckles and, most sensitively, between her fingers. She trembled in reaction, amazed that her hands could react to his touch so. A warmth gathered in her belly.

He did lift her hands off, but linked fingers with his and brought their arms down together, pulling her up against him again. Perhaps he too craved touch despite his… She bit her lip.

“What, Callie?”

“Earlier you said you weren’t interested in sex.”

He stiffened and she closed her eyes, wishing the thought hadn’t flitted through her mind, wishing she could have lied or at least fobbed him off with a “nothing”, though it was important to her that she be honest with Dev.

She rested her face against the crook of his neck and willed him not to push her away after her reminder. When she kissed him, he shuddered. They were soft, almost chaste kisses, not like his that had ravaged her neck.

He brought her arms behind her, clasped both wrists in one large hand, while with his other, he pressed a palm against the small of her back. Her belly felt him hard against her. Aroused.

That made her smile into his neck.

“Look at me,” he demanded, so she tilted her head back to meet his gaze. “You like that, that you’ve made me hard, that you’ve made me want you?”

“Yes.” She struggled a little, which resulted in her writhing against him, but he didn’t release her arms. Lifting his free hand to her face, he held her gaze to his, palm on her cheek. With the pad of his thumb, he traced the bone just under her eye, traced her cheekbone, then ran that thumb over her lips.

“You’re beautiful.”

It made her breathe faster, these words, these intense caresses, this attention. He trailed fingers down her neck to the swell of her breast. He was watching her very carefully as he lightly palmed her breast and her sensitive nipple began to ache.

“Dev?” She wasn’t sure what she was asking.

“Hmmm?” His mouth dipped to her neck, teeth scraping the soft skin, then soothing it with a kiss. And again. His hand slipped under the hem of her T-shirt, and rose to catch her nipple between thumb and finger, rolling the nub. “Do you like that?” he murmured as he kissed her throat.

She arched against him and he swallowed her “yes”, his mouth taking hers in a punishing kiss.

Her knees gave out this time, but he caught her, finally releasing her arms, though not her mouth, as he lifted her and she wrapped herself around him. He brought her to the bed.

She tried to contain her disappointment as he set her down on the mattress. He yanked off her shirt, then his, her shorts then his, all in short order. It had been a revelation, this kind of foreplay, but now he was ready to have sex.

He crawled over her and for a moment she thought he was going to move up so he’d take her mouth, but he reached back and pulled her up so they were face to face again, her under him. He’d wanted to make love, she remembered, and that reassured her.

“You make me feel, Callie.” The words seemed almost to be dragged from him and she touched his face, roughened because he hadn’t shaved.

“I think you’re beautiful too, Dev.” She wanted to offer him something of her feelings, though that barely described her real emotions. Tentatively she ran a hand through his short hair, which was surprisingly soft to touch.

“Are you scared to touch me, Callie?”

“No.” The question caught her off guard, and it must have shown.

“You prefer that I touch you?” He skimmed a hand down her side and across her stomach. Her underside. It made her feel vulnerable and he seemed to notice, because he crossed his palm back and forth across her soft belly until she relaxed into the touch. “Tell me what you like,” he urged.

She didn’t know. He traced some ribs, but he didn’t release her gaze so she said, “I like you.”

He smiled then, so pleased, the smile wider than she’d observed before, like she was seeing a new Dev.

“I like everything you do. You make me feel so warm. Inside.”

His slightly bemused expression made her add, “Is that wrong to say?”

“No,” he said immediately. “Nothing is wrong to say.”

Jorrie Spencer
Buy Puma here.

13 Paranormal Television Shows

Like most of my fellow bloggers here at Beyond the Veil, I'm drawn to paranormal stories--writing them, reading them...and watching them! This is a great time in the history of the boob tube if you like to watch boobs (on reality tv) or supernatural dramas the rest of the time. I haven't done any kind of official, data-based calculation, but during prime time hours, there seems to be a higher proportion of television shows with supernatural elements than I can remember. It helps that there are a lot more channels to choose from than when many of us were growing up. When I was a kid, we got three channels and the only thing with fantastical elements involved an island and a mysterious, handsome man who could work magic. No, I'm not talking about Lost, I'm talking about Fantasy Island and Mr. Roarke!

Anyway, it's a good time to be a tv and paranormal fan. Here are 13 paranormal programs my husband and I usually try to watch whenever we get a chance.

1) Heroes: First on my list because I just watched the latest episode! This show is jam packed with characters, plot twists, grey areas and fast-paced action and while it has a dearth of non-blonde female characters, I enjoy it quite a bit. Paranormal factor: high. Romance factor: inconsistent. I heard there was supposed to be some shockingly awesome sex scene this year, and although I've seen a sex scene, it wasn't shocking or awesome enough, so I'm still waiting.

2) Pushing Daisies: The quaint, thoroughly enjoyable fairy tale with likeable characters and fantastical sets is set in a pastry store called the Pie Hole. It features two lovers who can never touch or the female will drop down dead. What's not to love? Paranormal factor: medium. Romance factor: high and sugary bittersweet.

3) Supernatural: It's way low on the romance and way high on the spooky with a heavy dose of brotherly love and extremely attractive male protagonists thrown in. Usually I give it two thumbs up, when it isn't give me nightmares. Paranormal factor: medium to high. Romance factor: inconsistent to low, but whenever it involves one of the brothers removing their garments, I'm in favor.

4) The Sarah Connor Chronicles: How did John Connor of Terminator fame turn into the man who was the savior of the human race? It was all thanks to his mum, of course. The show has a touch of sophomore slump but it's very high octane and is sprinkled with just enough humor to get you through a typically tense episode. Paranormal factor: medium to high. Romance factor: Pretty low.

5) Chuck: The supernatural elements are space age instead of paranormal, but it's consistently enjoyable, consistently funny and even surprises me sometimes. This season seems to be playing the romance between the main protagonists as very star-crossed. Paranormal factor: low. Romance factor: medium.

6) Lost: We've been watching this twisty psychedelic island caper since day one and honestly don't know much more than we did when we read the previews. However, we keep coming back for more anyway! Paranormal factor: low to medium. Romance factor: medium to please can Kate just make up her mind now?

7) Battlestar Galactica: The darkest and most bleak television series I've ever managed to keep watching. I'm so thankful the final season is at hand. They've discovered Earth and all that's left is the final Cylon and all the rest of the WTF elements. Paranormal factor: high. Romance factor: medium but kind of twisted.

8) Eureka: This summer season delight gets way too little credit, with a super genius town full of freaky, competitive scientists who nearly blow up the world once a week. Everyman and jokester Sherriff Carter has to save their genius butts each time. It's rarely dull and doesn't even make sense, but who cares? Funny stuff. Paranormal factor: medium. Romance factor: low to medium.

9) Stargate Atlantis: Recently canceled, I hear, but we will bid the last of the Stargates a fond farewell when it goes. Set in the Pegasus galaxy, it's a nerd boy's wet dream of how brainiac Rodney McKay was almost cooler that Colonel Shepherd. But who'll get the girl? Paranormal factor: high. Romance factor: as unsatisfactorily done as the original Stargate.

10) The late, great Buffy/Angel: Included here because it's now continuing in the comics as Seasons 8 and "After the Fall" respectively. Buffy was one of the first big splashes of the urban fantasy craze that has proliferated on bookshelves everywhere. It's a staple and doesn't need description, although I'm finding the comics don't seem to be headed in a direction that will lend itself to any kind of happy ending, which makes me nervous, because this *is* Joss Whedon we're talking about. Paranormal factor: high. Romance factor: high and angsty.

11) Fringe: Arguably, since it involves "science", it could be left off this list, but it's fringe science and weird things frequently happen. FBI (or CIA, I forgot) Heroine lost her illicit boyfriend and to save him she got involved with a crazy scientist, his brash, prodigal son, and a scary conspiracy to overthrow the world. I will . Xfiles meets CSI. I admit, I only watched 2 episodes of Fringe and wasn't impressed, but you're welcome to try and change my mind in the comments! Paranormal factor: low, since it's "science". Romance factor: undetermined, but sparks were obviously meant to arise at some point between the sad heroine and the brash son.

12: Sanctuary: I haven't had a chance to see this one yet, but Amanda Tapping's part of the cast plus a dude who looks like Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks), so I'm in for the first several episodes, at least. Seems to have something to do with people who chase down paranormal creatures and give them....sanctuary? Paranormal factor: probably high. Romance factor: It's the SciFi channel, so probably low and awkward.

13) Smallville: Young Superman resists his destiny ad nauseum. This is the last show on my list, even after shows that have been cancelled or that I haven't seen yet, in order to express my disdain for the current quality of the show. And that's all I'm sayin'. Paranormal factor: medium. Romance factor: soap city.

What do you think of the proliferation of paranormal television right now? Which ones do you watch that aren't on this list and what do you think of these or any others? Let us know in the comments!

Jody W.
http://www.jodywallace.com/
SURVIVAL OF THE FAIREST--Available now, Samhain Publishing


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World Tree

I recently went though the list of specific mythos I’ve blogged about here: Breton, Irish, Slavic, Basque, Egyptian, Norse and Central American mythologies, as well as the occasional touch on Classical mythology. One thing that stood out is that several of these cultures share a “world tree.”

The Norse have Yggdrasil, where Odin hung for nine days to receive knowledge.
The MesoAmericans have the ceiba tree.
The oak tree of the Slavic gods.
The ashvastha, or sacred fig, of Hinduism.
An ancient religion of the Mongols and Turkic people believed in a world tree, culturally linking Siberia and Koreans. The Crown of Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, portrays a world tree.
Judeo-Christian beliefs begin in the Garden of Eden, and Eve’s incident with the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Even Charles Darwin utilized the metaphor of a “Tree of Life” to illustrate his theory of evolution, where different species share a common ancestor.

The tree is a universal symbol of the different planes of existence. The branches in the realm of gods, the roots in the grasp of death, the solid trunk of mortality.

The Tree of Life is the constant in a constantly changing world, representing immortal wisdom, giving protection, rest and nourishment to its people. Only the brave and true may climb it and take its fruit and gather its strength. To become part of the tree, as Odin did in his sacrifice, is to become part of the godhead, part of eternity. To become part of the tree, or partake of its fruit, however, also requires sacrifice. Odin lost an eye for the privilege, Adam and Eve lost Paradise because they knew too much of sin.

It’s the permanent nature of the tree that draws us, as well as its ultimate mortality. The roots that draw food from the earth, the solidity of the trunk that provides a strong base, the branches reaching toward the sun, toward the light. The metaphor crosses all boundaries: no mountain or ocean can contain it, no language can distill it.

So next time you look out your office window, see what place the tree has in your story.

Image: World Tree by Doug Stapleton
Resources: “World Trees” by Hazel Minot
Wikipedia: World Tree See also, Tree of Life

Earth Day, Paranormal Style

While some were gallivanting around Pittsburgh with lusty cover models and the glittery romancelandia elite, yours truly has been cooped up inside with cranky children allergic to the blossoming spring and still yammering to get out, out, out. Never mind the itchy eyes, the dribbly noses, the sneeze after sneeze after sneeze. (Repetitive sneezing is personal pet peeve. Why isn’t one enough??) I also have to contend with an environmentalist sibling, who spends the month of April running amok with “Earth Day Every Day” tattooed on her forehead, harshing on my consumerist good times. We do pretty well at our particular ground zero, recycling like mad, taking our own shopping bags to market, driving a hybrid and eating low on the food chain. But I am sure we could always do more. Just ask my sister.

So, in honor of Earth Day and all those willing to get off their duffs to clean up this grimy planet we inhabit, I bring you…….saving the world, one paranormal romance at a time.

1. How about those aliens? What if, instead of coming to Earth to score with nubile young ladies, they were here to share awesome perpetual motion technology? They probably feel sorry for us, puttering around in our archaic combustion engines and drinking out of petrol-plastic.

2. We all know pixies have been hoarding special flying dust for ages. They could distribute it globally, you know, not just with badly-behaved hooligans who refuse to submit to parental authority. If we could fly ourselves around, we wouldn’t have gridlock or (as much) smog.

3. An elite new hazmat team is tackling the toughest environmental clean-up sites on the planet. Impervious to poisons and radioactivity and weirdly long-lived, these guys and gals are protecting our environment and seem like the ultimate heroes. There’s a catch, though: they’re vampires. And they expect to be paid in blood.

4. The ocean--the Earth’s final frontier. Long known as a renewable resource of algae and seaweed that could feed millions, it is also home to selkies, who would be the perfect seaweed and algae farmers. In fact, with their underwater instincts, a selkie scientist could probably figure out how to engineer a water-purifying algae that really puts the hurt down on aquatic pollution.

5. Powering our homes, appliances, factories, electronics and so on takes a lot of fossil and other fuels. While the aliens may or may not have shared their perpetual motion technology and the pixies eliminated our need for cars, we still have to turn on our computers. And this is where the ghosts come in. They emit special electrical fields that tend to make electricity in the vicinity to haywire, but only because we haven’t harnessed it! Employ them to hang out in reconfigured power plants and we can do away with many polluting power sources forever. Ghosts are, after all, an endless resource, as long as there are people.

6. Invasive species can play havoc with the natural order of things, such as the I-am-not-kidding feral camel in Australia (also feral goats), cane toads, wild boars or European starlings. Set the predatorial shapeshifters such as werewolves and weretigers loose with instructions to hunt! It will allow our hairy friends to get their fill of running and biting while helping out the environment. Just be wary when hunting cane toads--they may cause hallucinations.

7. Another source of energy in case the perpetual motion and ghost power plants don’t work out is geothermal. To produce electricity, one must tap extreme heat sources beneath the planet’s surface, a job demonkind is especially well suited for. Having toasted their hides (and souls) in the flames of Hades, installing and maintaining geothermal plants will be like vacations for them. We just have to convince their current boss to let them moonlight a little closer to the surface of the human dimension.

8. Despite the pixie dust allowing people to locomote without cars, it may still be necessary for some smog-producing vehicles or factories to exist. Dragons, with their fiery breath, could fly patrols that sear the smog right out of the air (such as in McCaffrey’s awesome Pern series), turning dangerous particles and pollution into harmless ash that fertilizes the forests and fields.

***

How do you think our paranormal friends could contribute to the Earth’s longevity? Aside from not continually trying to cause the end of the world, that is.

Jody W.
A SPELL FOR SUSANNAH--Available now from Samhain Publishing
http://www.jodywallace.com * http://meankittybox.blogspot.com

Ergot, Schmergot

Werewolves. Yummy, sexy werewolves. Unless, y’know, they’re the horrifying, monster, eat-your-face-off kind of werewolf.

I’m sure by now we’ve all heard about some of the origins of werewolves and lycanthropy. That whole moldy wheat scare in the Middle Ages that convinced some people they were wolves. Hey, did you know that Ergot is one of the base ingredients in LSD? Yeah, I’d hallucinate, too. That theory is actually pretty far out there. There’s no scientific, physiological basis for lycanthropy, which is derived from the Greek for lycos (wolf) and anthropos (man).

But aside from food poisoning or mental illness, how did the tales of men becoming wolves begin? That’s difficult to track. Humans and wolves have had intimate connections throughout history. Witness the tale of Romulus and Remus, raised by a she-wolf. Greek mythology gives us the story of Lycæon, who was cursed into a wolf’s form after serving Zeus a dish of human meat.

Stories of werewolves abound primarily in Europe and most of them are evil. No. Not just evil, but eeeeeeeeeevil. Malevolent witchcraft and grave mortal sin surround those who succumb to the wolf. For some, the change is involuntary, the result of a curse laid on them. For some, however, it’s a perfect cover for serial murder.

Not quite a werewolf tale because there’s no hint of human transformation, the story of the Beast of Gévaudan tells of over 80 deaths in south-central France during the 18th century. The attacks are attributed to a monstrous wolf-like creature.

Seventh sons, sorcerers, drinking water from a wolf’s paw print, or wearing a belt made from a wolf’s hide are often noted as methods of becoming a werewolf. Also being a Christmas Eve baby in Russia, or certainly having parents who are werewolves will increase your chances of turning furry in the moonlight. Being bitten by a werewolf is a modern-day fiction, rarely found in older, more traditional legends.

The one exception in the old stories where werewolves aren’t pure evil comes from a 1692 trial of an elderly Livonian man named Thiess. Almost all the references I’ve found to this story seem to be direct copies of the information on Wikipedia, so take it with a gigantic salt lick. Anyway, Thiess claimed that werewolves were actually the “Hounds of God” – warriors who went down into Hell and did battle with the Devil and his minions. When they died, they were welcomed into Heaven for their services. He got ten lashes from the Inquisition for idolatry and superstition.

There are two medieval stories, both from around the same period, one French, one from Breton. The original story is probably Bisclavret, written by Marie de France in the 12th century, one of a dozen lais she wrote that were transformed into other tales. The Lay of Melion is Breton and relates to Arthur. In an earlier blog, I mentioned that Brittany has closer ties to Cornwall than France.

Bisclavret/Melion tells of a valiant and good knight who is married to a treacherous woman. The knight goes to hunt and the wife tricks him into revealing his secret. He’s actually a werewolf. From what I read, the stories don’t go into detail of how he became a lycanthrope. In Bisclavret, he needs to keep his clothing in a safe place or he can’t become human again. In Melion, there’s a magical ring that transforms him. As soon as the knight becomes a wolf and goes off to hunt, the wife steals the clothing (and in Melion, the ring, as well) and disappears. For years, then, the knight is condemned to wander as a beast of the forest.

Eventually, the king (Arthur, in Melion) goes out hunting and encounters this wolf. Melion/Bisclavret had been a friend of the king and goes to him in friendship. The king recognizes the strangeness of this and decides to keep the wolf as a companion. After some time, however, the estranged wife and her lover show up at the king’s court. The wolf goes mad, attacking the couple. In Bisclavret, he actually tears off her nose. The king, knowing that the wolf has never acted like this with anyone else, investigates and the evil-doers confess and tell where they’ve hidden the knight’s belongings. The wolf puts on his clothes and becomes human again. The wife and her lover are banished and in Bisclavret, all the wife’s children are born without noses.

The history of werewolves throughout the world is a gigantic study. Tales of lycanthropy differ from culture to culture and the modern version of werewolves differ significantly from the old horror stories. We’ve anthropomorphized them, made them more human and accessible. Indeed, we’ve made them heroes, but who can blame us? The ultimate alpha, that touch of animal lust. The shape shifter in all his forms is a romantic mystery we love to unravel.