Welcome to Cindy Miles' guest blog

WHAT IS IT ABOUT GHOSTS?


The Living seems to have a fascination with the Dead! Myself included! I love finding a good ghost story on the book shelf, or flipping through the channels on TV and coming across a good ghost movie! I particularly love the older ones, save the ever-popular, more modern GHOST, with good ole Patrick Swayze! :) Have you ever watched The Haunting of Hill House? EESH! Nothing really particularly scary, just...SCARY!

But WHY do people have that fascination? Is it because it can't be hastily explained--or explained at all? Or is it because it is so FUN to imagine what MIGHT BE? Our imaginations certainly take flight at times. Have you ever had that weird feeling where you thought someone was behind you? Or just an unexplained eerie feeling that made your skin crawl, or the fine hairs on the back of your neck rise? I can't say that I've ever encountered a spirit, but I HAVE experienced those weird feelings. Maybe that's why I LOVE having my modern-day heroines encounter the most unlikliest of spirits.


Most have seen this eerie image before. It's one of my favorites! In 1936, two photographers were commisioned to photograph the oak staircase at Raynham Hall in Oyster Bay, NY. One saw what was described as a vaporous mist floating on the staircase. A photograph was quickly taken! When the film was developed, the picture revealed the distinct outline of a woman. The photo first appeared in Country Life magazine on December 16, 1936. Experts examined the picture then, and now. No one has ever been able to find any evidence of fraud or trick photography on the part of the photographers. COOL! (read more about it! http://www.castleofspirits.com/brownlady.html)


My new release, THIRTEEN CHANCES, is yet another ghostly encounter! My heroine, EMMA, is a photographer specializing in Weddings in Savannah, GA (my home town!) who discovers she is drawn to SOMETHING but has no idea what--until she searches the Internet and comes across an image of a crumbling castle ruin on the sea cliffs--ARRICK-by-the-SEA, in Northern Wales. Some unknown force drives her to take a month off of work to stay at the castle's B&B--a stone structure near the castle ruins and run by a particularly quirky foursome of sisters, the BALLASTERS. Here is my inspiration for the castle:


Once there, not only is Emma overcome by the familiarity of the castle and its surroundings, but she happens to encounter something--rather, somone--she never thought truly existed: the ghostly apparition of a once-Welsh Crusader, Christian. She soon discovers that he is not only the original owner of Arrick-by-the-Sea, but that once upon a time, SHE was (and still is!) his true love. Here is my inspiration for the Ballaster's B&B:


But, of course, things won't happen all-so-easily for Christian and Emma. Firstly, Emma doesn't remember Christian. You see, back when they first met and fell in love, Christian went off to war in the Crusades. Before he left, Emma thought of a great plan--she found an aged book of spells, concocted one herself, and cast it upon her beloved Christian. Only, it backfired. So every 72 years, she returns to Arrick in search of SOMETHING. Christian, who vowed to love his Emma for eternity, walks the earth as a spirit, and he must make her fall in love with him over and over again--only to lose her each and every time. Here is the inspirational pic I had blown up that I STARED at while writing Thirteen Chances:




I've always loved Brendan Fraser, ever since watching him do nothing more than grunt and be totally charming as Link on ENCINO MAN! Something about his mannerisms, not to mention those lucious lips, really draws me! While Christian doesn't look EXACTLY like Brendan, he certainly was my inspiration for him. And that pic of him and Alicia kissing? YOWZA!!!

SO! It's up to the four hair-brained white witches, the BALLASTERS, to use one very chancey spell to correct Emma's bumble from centuries before, to ensure the couple's true love will indeed last for enternity!

For those of you who have read my other ghostly novels, you'll be pleased (I hope!) to find ALL of my previous heroes and heroines together in Thirteen Chances. Not only was that challenging, but FUN AS HECK! Some are small cameos, but still--it was truly a blast!


If you decide to pick up a copy of Thirteen Chances, THANK YOU! And I do hope you enjoy it!

And I love getting reader email, so visit me on my home on the web: www.cindy-miles.com

All the very best, and happy reading!
~Cindy


~Bestselling NAL author, Cindy Miles grew up on Georgia's haunted coast. Forging her love of storytelling with tales of restless spirits has become a dream fulfilled. With inspiration from Charles Dickens, she adds a touch of whimsy to her ghostly romances. Once she discovered centuries-old castle ruins in the blustery north of England, Scotland, and Wales, fierce warriors from bygone years--who may still be lingering–-came to life, as well as the women hard-headed enough to handle them!

Cindy still lives on Georgia's haunted coast. And every chance she gets, she crosses The Pond to explore crumbly castles and eerie moors, and with any luck, uncover a mischievous spirit or two!