Guest Mickey Flagg: With Halloween All Things Paranormal Come to Mind.

I'm pleased to have author Mickey Flagg as my guest today. She'll be sharing details about her upcoming books and her love of the paranormal. I hope you'll leave her a comment and I'll enter you in my monthly ebook drawing.

A little about Mickey:

Mickey Flagg brings the joy of music to hundreds of students every week. Named a Distinguished Music Educator at the 2009 Yale Music Symposium, she also writes paranormal romance. Retribution! is her debut novel, and Book 2, Consequences, has also been contracted with The Wild Rose Press. Living in northern NJ, her quiet home sits on the edge of a forest.

Retribution! Short blurb:

Dreams often reflect deepest desires…even if they’re nightmares. While cruelly captured, a vampire creates a languid fantasy with the help of a powerful soul. Eternal devotion to two important people forces this creature to see himself with honest eyes. Imagination runs wild, yet Michael Malone still desires death. Why should he survive? Two very good reasons… One is revenge. The other is love.

Short excerpt:

The habit was hundreds of years old… An absentminded glance in an empty mirror as the vampire ran firm bristles back and forth over even, white teeth. But this time, he stared in disbelief. A cloudy image peered back—one that hadn’t been seen in centuries. High cheekbones, straight nose, square chin and strong brow were unmistakably his. Leaning into the mirror, Michael couldn’t see his eyes clearly, but it was his reflection, something lost the night he’d been turned. The one thing that sets me apart from humanity, he thought, one thing that should be lost forever. The image fascinated, but also frightened. One more secret I must keep from Alana—for now.
~ Retribution! The Champion Chronicles: Book One

Blog Post:

Hi Linda. Thanks for inviting me. Congratulations on your blog awards. How lovely and well deserved!

October is right around the corner. Of course, with Halloween and the change of seasons, all things paranormal come to mind. We decorate our houses for those little munchkins who ring our doorbells because it’s time to celebrate all things creepy. Writing paranormal is like living Halloween all year round. We are the authors that crave the shape-shifter, psychic phenomena, and the sensual vampire. This genre is one where imagination runs wild before you arrive at the happily ever after ending. That seed of creation is what I’d like to talk about today.

Imagination in a child is where it all starts. I see this as an educator, as a mother, and as a writer. When I was a little girl, merry-go-rounds were an early version of portals for me. Fairytales took me to another realm. Quite often, my mother disowned me with a shake of her head and a mumbled, “Oh God, where did she come from?” A few years later, Nancy Drew and Cherry Ames had me vacillating between being a detective or a nurse. I had to live the books – not only read them.

When my son and daughter were young, I encouraged them to explore their rich fantasy lives. Like their mother, they were very creative children. A purple princess, a rugged adventure-seeker, whatever they became brought wide eyes and smiles to their faces. It’s was a rite of passage, a glimpse into the creative individuals they’d become as adults. This time of year meant buying material for Halloween costumes, bringing to life what they envisioned for that day of fantasy. Of course, I took lots of pictures!

I teach children from many different countries in an inner-city school. Most of the upper graders know I write about vampires and all things paranormal. More than a few walk around with Harry Potter and Twilight on top of their core subject books. This tells us that paranormal events spark a child’s imagination. A large number of my students don’t get the chance to don a costume and ring doorbells for treats on October 31st. For some, it’s not an acceptable practice. For most, it’s a safety issue. But when I see these books so treasured by them, I know that their imagined worlds are richer than most would suspect. Harry and Edward don’t offend anyone. After all, it’s simply not real even though the underlying moral issues, the choices, are right there on the written page.

The way a paranormal author chooses to use imagination can take a reader to some wonderful places. As an author, writing in this genre allows me to create a different world. All the elements of reality are visible through conflict, characterization, setting and situation. Whether the hero is a vampire or a shape-shifter, good stories have the same elements of reality. Intrigue, drama, out-of-the-norm experiences make our plots unique.

Once a year, ghosts and vampires have a starring role. By adding a touch of romance to these characters, an entirely different take on the paranormal appears. Doesn’t it seem that as the season changes, Halloween is the perfect holiday to celebrate our active imaginations? Please leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Have a great day!
Mickey

http://www.mflagg-author.com/
http://www.mflagg.blogspot.com/
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