"Wanna Be in My Book?" Contest Winners

A couple weeks ago, you may recall, I opened up a contest to (1) find nicknames for prostitute ghosts in my latest book, Bordello Walk and (2) the three winners would be IN my book; I will be using their real names as the real names of the prostitutes. Well, the time has come to announce the winners. I chose the names based on how closely they fit with the characters I was dreaming up, because you know, the story is the thing. So without further ado...

***Drumroll***

The winners are:

Michelle "Mai Oui" Schulter

Julianne "Shorty" Stewart

K.S. "Cookie" Brooks

The book is progressing and the characters are starting to come into focus. As you may have guessed, all three of these "soiled doves" come to unfortunate endings, but leave it to Sam and Lacey to bring them some vindication and salvation. In the meantime, our intrepid paranormal investigators will discover the shadowy underworld of Jerome, Arizona, during its heyday in the wild West. 

Bordello Walk (Book 17) should be out early next year, but in the meantime, Karma Walk (Book 15) will be released very soon, and Mystery Walk (Book 16) will follow, probably in January. I'm hoping the audio book of Ghost Walk (Book 1) will be available before Christmas. Is this too much Sam and Lacey? I hope not, because there's more to come!

Stay tuned!

That Boring Writing Research

Most of us writing fiction need to do at least some research. While we're making up characters, making up story lines, we do want the story to be as authentic as possible, ergo research. We may have to research an area, a city, some history. I don't know how many writers enjoy this aspect of our craft; it's not my favorite, but it is a necessity. Sometimes it's boring, or a slog through pages of history that don't apply. But sometimes, it's fun...

Recently I got an idea for a new book in my paranormal series, the Lacey Fitzpatrick and Sam Firecloud Mystery Series. The idea involves the ghost-hunting partners investigating a haunting problem in the tiny town of Jerome, Arizona. Never heard of it? Not to worry; most haven't. It was a mining town in the 1800s, collapsed when the mines ran out, and was barely a ghost town for decades. Then it was rediscovered by the artsy crowd who have now given it a second life. Still tiny by modern standards--the population is roughly 500--it is, however, crowded with... ghosts. 

Like any town that existed during the old West days, it had its share of lawlessness, gunfights, murders, suicides and fatal accidents. Added to that, though, were the consequences of being a mining town: cave-ins and explosions, robberies and murders, drugs and alcohol, prostitution and sickness. In 1903, the New York Sun called Jerome the "wickedest town in the west." The decades of being an anything-goes free-for-all resulted in a lot of ghosts. Lots. Of. Ghosts.

In order to do proper research, I decided I needed to take a Ghost Tour of Jerome. I know; it's a tough job, but some writer's got to do it.

My husband and I joined a small group in Jerome at dusk. It was mid-November and cold as hell. Jerome sits halfway up a mountain and there was a cold wind. Our guide gave us each a flashlight and a "ghost meter," some gadget that measures electrical activity. 

We went to several places that have recorded ghostly sightings--the Catholic church, a little park/garden next door, the red light district, what used to be the mortuary, the site of an explosion during the mining days. I took pictures at all of these, but never saw anything unusual in any of my pics. Boo hoo. However, one man (Bob) in our group did. He took a picture down an alleyway next to the old mortuary, and when we all looked at it later, we saw--yes--there was something weird there. 

See those light streaks at the bottom of the pic? There was nothing there, at least not in our dimension. And see that broad white swoosh above the columns of the fence? We don't know what that was, but none of us saw it in real time. That's me (silver hair) and my husband (green jacket) walking ahead of Bob's wife, and it looks like the thing flew right over our heads. I was particularly struck at the way the swooshie thing was so blurred, yet the columns of the fence were perfectly sharp and clear. It wasn't as if Bob had moved the camera, and it wasn't any reflection of light. We don't know what it was, but it was interesting to see it show up on the picture. 

Interesting enough to spur me on to start my new book. I'm already on Chapter 3, and going great guns. The working title is Bordello Walk. We'll see if that holds. 

Meanwhile, the audio version of Ghost Walk is very close to done. We just have a few tweaks to make, then it goes into the production process. I still hope to have it out by Christmas. Stay tuned.

"Wanna Be in My Book?" CONTEST

I am getting ready to start writing Book 17 of the Lacey Fitzpatrick and Sam Firecloud Mystery Series, and this book will have the pair investigating ghosts in an old bordello in Jerome, Arizona. If you're not familiar, Jerome is an old mining town with a sordid past, plenty of fodder for the paranormal investigators. This case, however, will have them dealing with not one, not two, but three ghosts--all prostitutes from a bygone era.

Here's where you come in. I'm looking for names for these three ghosts. If you'd like me to use your name in my book, think of a nickname for the character (remembering she was a prostitute) and leave a comment on my Author Facebook page (not my personal page, please). I will choose the best 3 nicknames that fit the characters, and will use your names as their real names. How fun is that? 

I'll keep the contest open through the end of November, so put your thinking caps on and come up with a really catchy, cool, cute, bawdy nickname. I'll announce the winners on December 1, 2018.

Your character awaits!

If you're not yet familiar with Sam and Lacey, Ghost Walk, Book 1 of the series, is always only 99 cents, and it's won a bunch of awards. 

Author Interview: Cindy

Today I’m sitting down with my friend Cindy to talk about her new book. The title is Can Anyone Tell Us Why? -- An intriguing title for a very complex subject.  

 MJB: Give us a brief overview of the book.  

 C:  Yes, this is a Spiritual tools book for positive change  towards more checks and balance in ourselves as well as government, corporate and the country and world as a whole  since we’ve been evolving into this Power and Greed era for several decades now. And it escalated in the Bush era that took America down into one of the worst recessions since the 1920-30s depression. And it took 8 years to slowly climb out by looking at the past and putting checks and balances back into play. It was a slow crawl but we did it and now we seem to be sliding back. I have always been in tune to God and he’s inspired me to write since I was young.  And he inspired me to take notes on a form of a balance scale system 20 years ago. Then he started to show me the imbalances in the world and dictated his desires for change. So this book is about balance and equality thru checks and balance using some of the tools in this book to give us ideas on how to reconnect to God to analyze where we are as an individual or family unit and the country as a whole if we are to survive as a balanced great country again.  I call the Holy trinity God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit Creator for simplicity to recognize we are all created from one source and are meant to live and create thru Creator to be the best we can. Not conquer and divide like were seeing now. Too many honor and worship  money more than Creator which created  this unbalanced mess were in, because we see the lopsidedness of power and greed which is  starving and  destroying mankind. There is too much judgement, greed and division because too many people worship money more than Creator and it shows in so many ways of immaturity, anger and self-entitlement issues that is strangling many and will take  us down  again. You cannot have the vast imbalances in money and society and expect God’s acceptance, this is part of the negative turmoil and its effects. It’s time to become more responsible and less judgmental in actions and words because these are transitional times of change. Leave judgement up to Creator; that’s his job. Remember Y2K when we all thought and felt it was the end of the world, well it was, but not what was propagandized toward us. It was end times for transitioning out of the power, greed and corruption era and honoring God and equality for all of his people. God will judge and separate those that are not on board. And as you see there are too many that are not and unfortunately still stuck in power or want control thru money which is way out of balance and tilting us towards destruction or some form of fascism if we don’t wake up and demand positive change from leaders or demand them to step down since that’s our constitutional right if they're not working for all of we the people. I quote the constitution and some biblical passages that prove these points.    

 MJB:  Our country seems so out of control lately, and I think many of us today feel powerless to change things, except in very few ways (like voting). Do you offer ways in which people can take control of their own lives and, by extrapolation, the world around us?  

 C:  Yes, we are out of control and there’s so much anger and hatred because people are being manipulated and controlled through money and fear tactics whether they recognize it or not their souls do and it causes dis-ease to downright hatred and instead of connecting within spiritually too many allow others to tell them how to think, act or believe in God, truth and justice so they act out. We must take a stand by strengthening our connection to Creator from within so he can guide us into commonsense and right action by knowing we are interconnected and created by one source so judgement and separation will never work. We need to make term limits in all government jobs and remove those that do not work for we the people as a whole according to the constitution. This is why they don’t teach it anymore and are removing God from everything and we have corruption, money imbalance and school shootings, etc., because the powers to be have taken God--our protection-- and truth away. They are dumbing down kids in schools and want to take women, children and the elderlys' rights away all because of power and greed mongers who think they know how to run this country with their self-entitled control issues. We still haven’t addressed the 2007 banking and wall st. issues and now they are removing all the checks and balances again to rape and pillage again and we must say no. Let’s  stand up and vote for truth and demand all politicians  over 2-3 terms to step down and remove their high salaries and pension plans that they voted in and doesn’t compare to the work they produce or is fair to us since too many barely survive. Where is commonsense and integrity?  

 MJB: That's a lot to think about and process. What do you hope readers will gain from your book? What might they learn, experience? What tools might they take forward with them?  

 C:  They will learn a balance scales system they can apply to their life, work, goals and it needs to be enforced in government and corporate thru checks and balance, through healthy evaluations of what works and doesn’t work or needs removed, updated and balanced. There are helpful hints on building self-esteem and healthy emotional health. As well as pointing out facts that have taken us down and God-given suggestions to create more balance in more areas to make things run smoother and more efficient. There are quotes from the bible that show the demise of worshiping money more than Creator. There are several quotes from God-centered  leaders like Lincoln, Einstein and others who had vision of the demise of power and greed; as well as  our  constitutional rights to remove those in power, greed and corruption to recreate balance if we are to survive as a healthy nation again. It’s time for all of us to become more responsible in all that we do, think, and act upon to create more balance, not division. 

 MJB: These are very complex, knotty issues, and they seem to change a bit day by day as events unfold around us. Did writing this book help you to come to terms with what’s going on around you? Did setting this all down give you a handle on it, or did it seem overwhelming?  

 C:  It was both sides of this. In the beginning I was just taking notes and it wasn’t as bad and exciting to try to improve the quality of life for all. But as the years starting proving that this book is necessary and Creator's words were getting heavier, I realized it was  more than I anticipated and it was coming out at the right time.  But in the last 2 years it is amazing how spot-on it is and needs to be addressed now. It’s a heavy subject, but  it’s  also heavy times that we need to transition out of if we are to survive or the next negative crash from this false economy build-up again could push us over the edge  and possibly into a takeover. The division in the last 2 years is scary and pushing us towards fascism or End Times as we know it.   

 MJB: I know you’re deep into healing, both on a personal level and a world level. What do you do to keep yourself uplifted?  

 C:  I pray and meditate for world peace daily and guidance from God and ride my motorcycle, enjoy  Mother Nature and advocate for justice in scenarios I feel I can voice  my opinions for positive change.

  MJB:  This is a pretty heavy book to follow up on, but do you have plans to write more? Perhaps about other subjects?   

 C:  Yes, I  didn’t realize how heavy this book would be until it started coming together as I was continually guided to all these areas to touch on for all of us to see truth and  internally evaluate ourselves as well as media  and government to analyze and create positive change  for truth, fairness, and justice for all, not just the top 10 percenters who have most of the money and Why? You can’t take it with you and it only continues the imbalances. God is watching and cause and effect issues will be dramatic so this is why it's key to stay as spiritually centered in these corrupt times because if you’re with God then he has your back always. Yes, I hope to write a fun book on the many travels on my motorcycle someday but this book was heavy to organize and deal with editors so I will be taking that on for a while.   

MJB: Thank you, Cindy, for taking the time to talk about all these important issues. If people want to find out more about you or contact you, how could they do that?

  C: I have my email on my author page at cindysbalancebook@gmail.com and my book is on Amazon and I’m on Instagram.