A Ghost Story

Many of you know I used to be an opera singer. Today, I'm bringing you an author who used to be a ballerina--Erin Kellison. She's a fellow Leisure Lady who offered to stand in for me here while I'm indisposed. (I should be coming home from the hospital today, so I'll be sure to pop on and let you know I'm ok!) Please give Erin a great Blog Tourista welcome! And now, my blog is yours, Erin.
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First of all, a big thank you to Emily Bryan for sharing her blog with me while she is away. My hugs and best wishes go with her. As for readers of her blog, I’ve got two books, Shadow Bound and Shadow Fall, ready to give away to a blog commenter.


I love ghost stories. And I hate them. They scare me, and worse, my imagination has a tendency to play with them long into the night, hours from the original telling, until the structure and the content of the story has shifted just enough to dig at my deepest fears. Those nights, I sleep with the light on.

My head has been working on one particular ghost story for years: The ballet, Giselle. A long time ago, way back when, I used to be pretty serious about ballet. I wasn’t crazy about modern choreography; I wanted story ballets. Actually, I just wanted the stories. But of all the ballets, Giselle entranced me the most.

Giselle is a tragic love story in the first act; an eerie ghost story in the second. Once upon a time, I got to be one of the wilis, the bitter spirits of broken hearted women who populate the woods in the ghostly second act of the ballet. They trap men wandering the woods at night and condemn them to dance to their deaths. It’s a nightmare in black and white; the deep, still forest and the insubstantial bright spirits waiting to torture passersby. Myrtha, the wili queen, will point at the next victim, you, then circle her hands over her head, will dance, then cross her wrists before her, until you are dead. You will dance until you are dead. Creepy, no? The victims beg the wilis for release, but one by one we would literally turn a cold, ghost-white shoulder.

The setting could easily be my Twilight, a between place of magic in my Shadow series. Twilight is about beauty, inspiration, and nightmare. In Shadow Fall, my heroine is Annabella, a ballerina making her debut in the lead role of Giselle. The story of the ballet plays a huge role in Shadow Fall, a dark fantasy, mixed with romance.

What are your favorite ghost stories?
Back cover blurb for Shadow Fall:

Sacrifice
Custo Santovari accepted pain, blood, even death, to save his best friend. But a man with all his sins just isn't cut out to be an angel.

MysteryOne moment he's fleeing Heaven; the next, he's waking up stark naked in Manhattan. In the middle of a war. Called there by a woman who's desperately afraid of the dark.

ShadowIt gathers around Annabella as she performs, filled with fantastic images of another world, bringing both a golden hero and a nightmare lover.

WolfHe pursues her relentlessly, twisting her desires even as she gives herself to the man she loves. Because each of us has a wild side, and Annabella is about to unleash the beast.

Buy links for Shadow Fall:

Amazon
B&N
Books a million

A bit about Erin:
Erin Kellison is the author of the Shadow Series, which includes Shadow Bound and Shadow Fall. Stories have always been a central part of Erin Kellison's life. She graduated summa cum laude with a degree in English Language and Literature, and went on for a masters in Cultural Anthropology, focusing on oral storytelling. She lives in Arizona with her two beautiful daughters and husband, and she will have a dog (breed undetermined) when her youngest turns five.

You can contact Erin though her website, http://www.erinkellison.com/, where you can also sign up to receive her newsletter, but also

Twitter: http://twitter.com/ekellison
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/erin.kellison

Buy links for Shadow Bound:
Amazon
B&N
Books a million

Emily here again. Thank you, Erin for being such a great guest host today.

Be sure to leave a comment or question for Erin for your chance to win one of her terrific books!

Odds & Ends Friday

It's been a busy week!

First thing I'd like to share is this totally fabulous review of A CHRISTMAS BALL from the very prestigious Library Journal!

"Although the title of this anthology sounds terribly traditional, this diverse trio is anything but. From Emily Bryan's "My Lady Below Stairs," the story of a bastard servant girl called in to impersonate her missing aristocratic half-sister with results worthy of Shakespeare, to Ashley's "The Longest Night," in which a shapeshifting nobleman attempts to win the heart of the wary woman he loves while on the trail of a spy, to Alissa Johnson's "Traditions," the tale of an earl who sets out to woo one woman and falls for her intriguing companion instead, these light, entertaining romps are not typical holiday fare.

VERDICT A unique anthology of Regency holiday novellas that are risqué and diverting, making for an intriguingly off-beat addition to the seasonal slate."

"Worthy of Shakespeare?" Moi? (Actually I was shooting for Oscar Wilde, but I'll take it!) I'm thrilled to share that A CHRISTMAS BALL keeps inching up the Bookscan top sellers list. Thank you sooooo much to all of you who've made that happen!

Next, I want to share my new Dutch cover for PLEASURING THE PIRATE, better known in the Netherlands as Alleen jij, mijn schat. It's available from CandlelightRomans. Nynke (my Dutch reader and regular commenter here) says the Dutch title actually can be translated as 'Only You, My Treasure,' which is a nice pun for a pirate hero.

VEXING THE VISCOUNT won't be far behind. (Nynke, how do I say thank you in Dutch?)

Friday Freebie! As you know if you follow my blog, I did a day on pirated e-books and the detrimental effect they have on author's careers and ultimately readers' choices in what's available. (For my trouble, I was targeted by a determined pirate and all my books were splashed over multiple sites. I did manage to get most of them removed, but not before several hundred illegal downloads had taken place.) I've concluded that nothing can stop someone who's determined to steal. Until technology provides a solution, an author's only hope is in the innate decency and honesty of readers.

But that doesn't mean there aren't free LEGAL downloads of books out there for you. Booklorn lists a number of them. These are downloads made available by the publishers and authors so they are absolutely cool to use and enjoy. (I'm hoping to make one of my titles available this way next year. Cross your fingers for me!)

And lastly, I'd like to invite you to join me at The Chatelaines today. It's my regular posting day on that group blog and, in honor of Halloween, I'm sharing my real life GHOST STORY! See you there, if you dare!

PS. Enter my MERRY CHRISTMAS BALL CONTEST if you haven't already! The drawing for the $100 B&N gift card will be held on December 1st!

From this post, you can probably guess my biggest frustration this week, but my delights far outweighed it. Hope your scales tipped that way too. Care to share?

Meeting a New Hero . . .

I normally don't have an actual picture for my heroes as I write them, but this shot of a young Colin Firth was so like the image of the newest hero that had blossomed in my mind, I thought I'd share it with you. This pic captures the essence of Greydon Quinn. (I'm using one of the names entered by a reader in my PLEASURING THE PIRATE Name contest last October. And yes, I wrote and got her permission first!)

Quinn is a typical Regency hero--a hopeless romantic, charming enough to be a bit of a rake, and a rugged man of action when the occasion calls for it. He has just one tiny flaw. He's a little . . . dead.

Your eyes are fine. You read me correctly. Greydon Quinn is a ghost.

How he became one, and more importantly, what he intends to do about it, are the main plot threads in the new story I'm playing with. I thought I'd invite you along for the ride as I "flesh out" (pardon the ghost pun!) this proposal.

So far, I've tinkered with Quinn's backstory, figuring out what led him to his current predicament, and started writing my first chapter. It's a way for me to explore Quinn's special circumstances before I lay out how my story will proceed.

Music sets a mood for me. I've chosen the music I'll write this story to. It's Rachmaninoff's 3rd Piano Concerto. It was popularized a few years ago in SHINE, a fascinating movie starring Geoffrey Rush (Captain Barbossa for you PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN fans.) I love this piece because it has alternating episodes of melancholy and lightning wit, just the kind of wide swings of mood I need as a backdrop. If you're interested in hearing a bit of it, pop over to my MySpace page. I've set this up as my profile music. Please "friend" me while you're there!

I'll keep you posted on my progress with Quinn!

If you're an aspiring writer, you might want to get a jump on my process. Visit www.emilybryan.com and click on my WRITE STUFF link. There are several pages of material just for YOU!