Books That Go Bump in the Night

What is our fascination with ghosts? We both fear them and also secretly hope our loved ones become one. I suppose the fear of death drives our obsession. We hate the idea of leaving this world behind after death, but we also fear those who haven’t “moved on.”

And of course, now that I’ve noticed ghosts, I seem to be seeing ghosts all around me – at least in fiction.

I have recently found myself reading a series of ghost books. There was the YA,  Lockwood & Co, and a milder, younger version of a ghost mystery, Constable & Toop. And then if that wasn’t enough, I read the thirteen stories of Spirited.

Spirited represents a wide variety of ghost stories, from those that border on horror, to those that are sweet. I liked that there were stories that could be considered contemporary, stories that could be fantasies, and everything in between.

Most ghost stories can be roughly divided into two types: those with “good” (non-threatening) ghosts and those with “bad” (threatening) ones. Of course there are works that fall in between where the threatening ghost is the good one. Anna Dressed in Blood brings that particular type of ghost into play. What’s nice is to find an anthology where all of these different types of ghost stories read smoothly together. Personally, I think an anthology where all the stories are about one type of ghost could be a fairly dull read. I like books like Spirited that mix things up.

If you are like me, then I must warn you that Spirited isn’t the kind of book to read just before bed. Threatening or not, ghost stories are still ghost stories and are best read on a beautiful, sunny day. At noon. When there are clearly no ghosts around.

ABOUT THE BLOGGER

Madeline Smoot is the publisher of Children's Brains Are Yummy Books, a micro publisher of fantasy and science fiction for children and teens.

Leap Books Launches Frolic Titles

Leap Books is excited to announce two Frolic titles leaping in 2013.

The first title in this new line for tweens is by New York Times Bestseller Maria V. Snyder. Maria is known for her Poison Study and Magic Study books as well as for Inside Out and Outside In. She is also a contributor to the anthology Spirited.


In STORM WATCHER, the youngest son in family of search-and-rescue dog trainers, Luke Riley, must face his deadly fear of storms to prove that he and the dog he's training belong in the family business.

STORM WATCHER will be be debuting October 2013. Fans can pre-order a copy now in the Leap Bookstore and have it shipped as soon as it comes out.

Our second 2013 Frolic release is by another Leap author, Patrice Lyle. She is the author of Lethally Blonde. Her new release, THE CASE OF THE INVISIBLE WITCH, is part of the Poison Ivy Charm School series.


In THE CASE OF THE INVISIBLE WITCH, thirteen-year-old Tulip Bonnaire, Witch PI, runs Spells & Spies out of her dorm room at Poison Ivy Charm School, a school for polite witches and warlocks. She has only 72 hours to figure out her latest case, or her classmate, Missy, will never be seen again. Literally.

When Missy shows up in Tulip’s dorm room around midnight, she’s invisible. As in not even x-ray vision could spot her. The mean triplets who call themselves The Belles have cast an invisibility spell on poor Missy. But if Tulip can’t break the spell in 72 hours, Missy will remain invisible forever.

It’s a case Tulip can’t resist — between her mom’s annoying new boyfriend and her own secret crush at school, Tulip understands how much it stinks to feel invisible. Luckily for Tulip, her two best friends and her cute, techy guy friend help dig up clues on a case that turns out to be her freakiest one ever.

THE CASE OF THE INVISIBLE WITCH can also be pre-ordered in the Leap Bookstore.

No Ordinary Book

Spirited has been selected for the Children's Book Council Winter Seasonal Showcase, No Ordinary Book. The title is also featured on the CBC homepage.

What makes Spirited so special?

First of all, it's filled with stories by talented authors. Contributing authors include Maria V. Snyder, Candace Havens, Shannon Delany, Jill William-son, Linda Joy Singleton, Heather Kenealy, Judith Graves, Kitty Keswick, Dawn Dalton, Carmen Tudor, John W. Otte, Halli Dee Lilburn, and Mark Finnemore.

Second, the anthology benefits charity. All proceeds from the sale of SPIRITED will be donated to 826 National, a nonprofit organization dedicated to assisting students, ages 6-18, to improve their writing skills.

Third, it contains AR. If you prefer your apparitions 3-D rather than 2-D, slide the AR icons under your webcam to see the augmented reality leap off the page. (Thanks to Karl Gee for the AR.)

Support Literacy

Three Leap Books authors are raising money to help young authors. Judith Graves, Dawn Dalton, and Halli Dee Lilburn are donating their profits from the sale of the anthology, Spirited, to Alberta Wordsmith Writing Camp. Sponsored by the Writers Guild of Alberta, this week-long event allows student writers to work with published authors.

One More Finnish Treat

For lovers of all things Finnish and paranormal, here's a sneak peek at an excerpt from the anthology Spirited. This story, "The Cold One," is by bestselling, award-winning author Candace Havens.

"Bone-chilling cold and secrets.

Those are the two things I'll take with me when I leave Finland.

If I leave..."

"Havahduttaa jalkeilla apulainen." The words are so loud I jump out of bed and hit my head on the slanted roof. Groaning, I rub the top of my head.

Grandmother stands at the end of the bed pointing at me. "Havahduttaa jalkeilla apulainen." She says it again.

"I am up," I grumble. I can see my breath the room is so cold.

"Wait." I sit back on the bed. "I understood you. You said, 'Wake up, girl.'"

"He's coming. Save me." Poof. She's gone. I mean, like I blink, and she's no longer there.

"Who's coming?" I whisper. I glance at the clock on the wall. Two in the morning. But I'm wired. No way I'll be able to go back to bed any time soon.

I pull on one of the big sweaters mom bought me for the trip and go downstairs. It's even chillier in the living room without the fire. The crazy thing about houses in Finland is that everything is white—the walls, the counters, the floors, and even the cabinets. The house reminds me of a hospital. In the kitchen I fill a glass of water from the tap and chug it down.

Thump. The sound against the basement door sends my glass clattering into the sink.

My breath catches as the door opens. Screaming and moving seem like great options, but my body freezes. My reflexes take a hike.

Maybe this is one of my crazy dreams. And…

"Good, you're awake." A guy's blond head pops out of the darkness. He steps into the kitchen, and I can see he's probably only a year or two older than me. "I can use your help. We're almost out of time."

"Who-uh-who are you?" My voice sounds strangled. He's more solid than the ghosts, so I assume he is real. Though, around here anything can happen. But how did he get in?

"Riku. I'm helping your grandmother. She won't leave me alone. Come on." He waves me toward the basement stairs and then disappears.

Bad things happen in basements. In every horror movie I've ever seen, people die when they go to the basement. Sometimes it's the devil. Other times it's zombies or evil spiders. But they always die. There's a strange guy I don't know in grandma's house, and the smartest thing I can do is tell my mother. Or call the police.

Do they have 911 in Finland?

Then something he says clicks in my brain.

Before I realize it, I'm halfway down the stairs. 

"My grandmother is dead," I say...

 

To read more of this story or others by authors such as Maria V. Snyder, Shannon Delany, Linda Joy Singleton, Jill Williamson, and other exciting YA authors, click here for the ebook or preorder your print copy from the Leap Books store.

And watch for other exciting news to celebrate Leap Books 3rd anniversary on January 1. Throughout the month we'll have books on sale for $.99. One pre-celebration treat is Judith Graves Under My Skin, available now for only $.99.

Deadline for Submissions Extended

We're looking for published authors who have astonishing, surprising ghost stories with a great twist. Leap Books only accepts work from agents, but we're having an open call for submissions. This may be your chance to get a foot in the door and help a charity at the same time.

For more information, visit our home page or click
HERE for more information.


All proceeds to benefit charity.

Call for Submissions

We're looking for authors who have astonishing, surprising ghost stories with a great twist. Leap Books only accepts work from agents, but we're having an open call for submissions. This may be your chance to get a foot in the door and help a charity at the same time.

For more information, visit our home page or click
HERE for more information.


All proceeds to benefit charity.

Saturday Shivers

Another tale from Kat O'Shea, Editor-in-Chief at Leap Books:

When I was about eight, we went to visit my cousins in Maryland. They took us into the woods behind their house to this ramshackle old building that had once been a crude cabin, but was now falling apart. We stepped inside, but couldn't go far because the splintered, rotting boards of the floor gave way to a huge hole. The jagged edges of the floorboards exposed a dank cellar far below constructed of irregular stones.

Across the room in the dim light, we could see a staircase to the second floor with most of the treads gone. As we stared at the creepy railing, with gaps like missing teeth, festooned with cobwebs, we heard footsteps overhead. Not the scritchy-scratching of squirrels or rodents, but the heavy tread of a man's boots. It sounded as if it was coming toward us. We screamed and ran, tripping over each other in our haste to get away.

When we were some distance from the house and convinced that no one was chasing us, we looked back. In a first floor window, we could see the shadowy face of a man peering out at us. We hightailed it out of the woods and never went back.

Was the man a figment of our overactive imaginations? I don't think so. A tramp? But if he was, why was he standing in the exact spot where the floor had caved in? A ghost?


Photograph Courtesy of  Nick Coombs

Interview with Kitty Keswick

Author Kitty Keswick is gearing up for a booksigning in her hometown of Turlock, CA, on Sunday, June 20 from 2-4 pm at the local Borders. Kitty mentioned that the high school in Freaksville is based on Turlock High School, where she went to school. We asked her to tell us a bit more about those high school years.

If you could go back and change one thing about your high school years, what would it be?

Nothing, I loved my high school years.
What was your most embarrassing moment? (If you aren't too embarrassed to tell it)

I competed in Speech and Debates tournaments. (I lettered my sophomore year.) One competition (on a Saturday), I was crossing the street. I had on new flats and I slipped and fell on my butt in front of some of the people that were later on a judging panel. I can’t remember if I won that debate or not, just that I fell in front of a lot of people. I’m a bit of a klutz, so this was one of many mishaps and the least embarrassing one to share.

What is your favorite memory of high school?

Too many… to list or chose. I’d say the overnight stays with the debate team. We traveled all over California. The rest is classified, so, er, my lips are sealed….yeppers, sealed.

Have you been back to Turlock High? If so, what's different? If not, do you plan to go?

Funny, I never planned on returning to Turlock. I left for college when I was seventeen and never really looked back. But Fate has a funny sense of humor (you’ll meet her in Furry), and she likes to throw wrenches in all your well-laid plans. I’m back in Turlock, not by choice. It isn’t the small farm town I remember. It’s grown, and now I get lost frequently trying to find my way around. I’m not sure if this is where I’m landing. It might be a small trip in my life’s journey. You never know where the path will take you. Sometimes it comes full circle, perhaps so you can learn something you missed? I have no clue.

Are any teachers still at Turlock High who taught you?

I have three favorite teachers who really made a lasting impression on me. Interestingly enough, they were all English teachers. Mr. Jack, my English teacher and debate coach, still teaches, but he’s at the new high school. My other favorite English teacher, Mrs. Boyle, retired. I did email her to tell her I finally sold one of my stories. And my favorite teacher who pushed me very hard, Mrs. Dillman, passed on a few years ago. I will miss her candy bars and sense of humor. We’d come into the classroom, and there would be candy bars on our desk. She’d tell us that we could touch them, but would have to describe them in a short essay. After the essay we got too munch on our treats.

Besides writing essays, do you have any writing-related memories of high school?

I used to write stories about werewolves in spiral notebooks…nothing has changed.

We know you still write in spiral notebooks, and you still write about werewolves, but you’ve added ghosts and Valkries and other beasties of the night. One other thing has changed, though. Now your tales are being published. Why did you choose to write paranormal both then and now?

I think it chose me.

When you were in high school, what did you dream of becoming? Have you reached your dreams or are you working toward them?

I always wanted to be a writer. I started out as a Journalism major, but with my dyslexia, I struggled a lot. I switched my major to Interior Design. I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t my passion, writing is. It is who I am, and my struggles just make the reward so much sweeter. I want to continue writing, because I have so many stories rattling around in my head.

Saturday Shivers by Elie of Ellz Reads

Have you ever had a paranormal experience? We asked this question of several bloggers. And we've gotten some haunting answers, so we'll be featuring them on Saturdays. First up is Elie of Ellz Readz. Here's her brush with the paranormal:

At some point in our lives, most of us have been camping. We remember the roasting hot dogs, the sticky, sweet smell of toasted marshmallow, and the twinkling stars dancing overhead. If you ask them, most campers also have other memories, dancing on the limits of their minds. These memories all start the same way, with a trill of wind in your ears and the hum of a voice drifting over a crackling fire. Mine is not different. I can still imagine the lights of the fire flickering over the storyteller’s face as she shared her grizzly tale. It was based on a legend, an old wives tale meant to scare children into minding their parents. "The Woman of the Wood still roams these forests, searching for someone to take her place," the storyteller concluded as a hush settled on the group. Like everyone else I suppressed a shiver and joked about things that go bump in the night. I wouldn't be laughing for long.


One of my jobs as assistant counselor was to check on the campers periodically, you know, make sure everyone was tucked snugly into their cots. As I approached the last tent, I was distracted by a sound that seemed to surround me. It wasn't a scary sound, it felt like I walked over an air vent. The tips of my hair drifted upwards and the breeze floated past my ears in a soft whisper. The sound did not last, but it was replaced by a shiver that left the fine hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. I quickly whirled around, expecting to see the smirking face of Steph, my partner in crime, but alas, I was alone. Reassuring myself with a chuckle, I set on my way. A few steps later, it happened again, except this time the breeze seemed to whisper to me, calling my name. I couldn't turn around, the breeze seemed to blow on my neck, exploiting my fear. I looked up and silently cursed the clouds that hovered in front of the moon, blocking its light and creating shadows in the trees. Fear prickled me like thorns as I forced my feet forward, imagining my safe destination.



Was I lost? I should have been there by now, I thought frantically. That was when she appeared to me, the Woman of the Wood. She was beautiful, just like the storyteller described. But her eyes, her eyes were hollow and bottomless. She extended her hand to me and I was frozen, paralyzed with fear. I stood there for what seemed to be an eternity as her translucent dress billowed in the night breeze. The cloud drifted from the moon, leaving a flood of eerie light. I glanced up, grateful for this small gift. When I looked back, she was gone. As if my feet were suddenly released from a spell, I stumbled forward and quickly spotted my destination. Was I this close this whole time? Was she really there? My mind reeled with possibilities.



I awoke the next day, still huddled by the feet of my campers in the last tent. Imagination or not, I wasn't going to venture out again. I didn't dare share my adventure with any of the other campers. I would never hear the end of it, but I have to wonder. Was it my imagination playing tricks on me, or was it the Woman of the Wood? I guess I'll never know.
 
Think she met an apparition? We do, but feel free to leave a comment with your opinion. And if you'd like to share your own haunting experiences, feel free to send them to our blog tour coordinator, Lexie North.

Win Free Vintage T-shirts

 Skulls, dead trees, crows... All this great goth stuff on a vintage T-shirt. Author Judith Graves is giving them away to celebrate her book's release. Wanna snag one? It's easy, but you only have until the witching hour--midnight EDT (or EST) tomorrow (Wednesday, April 21, 2010) to enter.

All you have to do is visit the Wolfy Chicks blog and ANSWER THIS QUESTION:

What's YOUR favorite paranormal creature, and why?

Be sure to let  the Wolfy Chicks know you heard about it here. Maybe they'll give you bonus points. You can also show up at the launch party for another chance to win. Good luck!!

And if you need more info about the launch, here it is....


Stayed tuned for the countdown and more fun stuff about the launch every day this week.

Only 4 more days until Saturday, April 24th.

The Secret Lives of Librarians

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to turn a passion into a full time job? Well, that's what librarians have done. They've turned their love of reading into a career. Imagine getting first crack at all the new releases while the rest of us have to put our names on the reserve list. And if someone's annoying you, you get to tell them emphatically to Shush. Sweet!
We decided to talk to some of our favorite librarians. We get them to dish on what a great job they have and maybe even get them to share a few secrets.  Shhh!!! Don't tell!

First up, Dr. Leigh Ann Jones
Coordinator of Library Services, Frisco ISD, Frisco, TX

Obsession: book covers (subject of her dissertation)
Loves: libraries, family time, YA books

What turned you into a reader?

My mom claims I'm a reader because she liked to sleep late. When I'd wake up really early as a toddler, she'd change my diaper, give me a bottle, a banana, and a Life magazine. She swears the Life magazine was worth another hour's sleep for her.

Tell us about your most disastrous author visit. (No names please.)

We host several authors a year and thankfully the great majority are warm, gracious, and interesting. Unfortunately divas do exist. I have frantically driven all over town at 10:00 on Sunday evening looking for "ruby-red grapefruit juice, no sugar." I have been summoned with an imperious wave and told, "Your author is hungry, and I don't do fast food." One author showed up late with his Botoxed wife in tow, was rude, and had his manager call and cancel the afternoon sessions with an hour's notice.

Most people picture librarians sitting around reading all day. What’s wrong with this picture?

That we don't actually get to do it!

What advice do you have for turning non-readers/reluctant readers on to books?

I think it takes the reader finding just the right book. And to find that book, it normally takes a caring librarian or teacher who reads like crazy and is willing to get to know the kid well enough to say, "Hey, I think you'd really like this book."

What can an author do to ensure a successful visit/booksigning?

Like kids. Smile. Get rid of the canned presenation. The best author we've hosted lets the students ask him questions the whole hour, so every session is fresh and it's what the kids want to know.

Here's the secret stuff:    

Did you ever sneak out a window? No fair only answering yes, you have to tell us when and why.

Yep. In high school I crawled out my window to meet this guy who had already graduated and was still hanging around (there's one in every small town). My sister told on me, and my dad followed me to the square where we were sitting and talking. Humiliating. My freshman year in college the guy actually called and asked me out, saying "Maybe your dad won't follow you this time." I was too freaked out to go.

Tell us about a paranormal experience you’ve had.

In middle school I got on a kick of reading books about ghosts, ESP, and reincarnation. I badly wanted to see a ghost, but the closest I ever came was pretending to feel something in the room after playing with the Ouija board at a sleepover.

Who Says Werewolves Can't Be Fun?? And Sexy...

Love paranormal, but don't want a dark, depressing tale? Author Kitty Keswick has laced her edgy, mysterious tale of ghosts, Valkyries, and Lycans with plenty of humor.

Sixteen-year-old Kasey may appear to be a typical teen, but with both of her parents hiding their own paranormal secrets, Kasey has more than her share of problems. She thinks life can't get any worse, but when British hottie Josh Johnstone arrives on the scene and she falls for him, she discovers her troubles have only begun.

After she and her friends get trapped in a haunted theater on the night of the full moon, Kasey discovers that ghosts are the least of her worries. Dark secrets, vengeful spirits, and hungry werewolves leave her battling for her life.

Love werewolves?  Pick up a copy of Freaksville today. Or enter for your chance to win an autographed copy. Leave a comment for Kitty about why you think werewolves are FUN &/or SEXY either here or at author Joy Preble's blog at http://joysnovelidea.blogspot.com/2010/01/welcome-kitty-keswick-and-freaksville.html. Or better yet at both places for 2 chances to win.