Issue 49

Vampire Resurrection by SterlingHouse Publisher author Carlotta G. Holton was named the best book of the year by the New Jersey Press Women’s Association. It will now be entered in the national competition with the National Federation of Press Women. Congratulations, Carlotta! Click here to read more about the book.

Check out this week's Literary Spotlight by Carlotta G. Holton

At a recent author event, I was asked what possessed me to include “ghosts” in my “mystery” novel. The gentleman who asked the question wrote murder mysteries, but veered away from ever using paranormal elements in his novels. He seemed truly dumbfounded as to why I would take a perfectly mainstream genre and muck it up with supernatural elements. What was perplexing to him was perfectly clear to me—using “ghosts” or any other kind of paranormal characters, offers authors incredible freedom in expanding the story in ways that would be impossible by only using “flesh and blood” human characters. Of course they can create a chilling tension, but more importantly, these otherworldly creatures lend depth and breadth to a story.

It really doesn’t matter whether or not you believe in the existence of ghosts, vampires or witches for the paranormal to be used as an effective device in writing. As a fiction writer, there isn’t a pre-requisite that states you need to be a medium, a certified “paranormal investigator,” or a Wiccan priestess to create a haunting landscape rich with creatures existing “outside” of everyday reality. Characters that defy the human limits of time, space, and the five senses can weave their way through a plot, dropping strategic clues for the protagonist to decipher. Ghosts from the past can appear with messages, warnings, and advice. Where physical boundaries, such as walls or great distances, obstruct humans, supernatural characters have a distinct advantage.

In my novel, Midnight Revelations, the ghosts that haunt its pages draw the main character, Sara, gradually toward a dark secret. She has to take a “leap of faith,” along with the reader, to piece together the “mystery” laid out by the ghosts from the past. Could the story have been told without the use of ghosts? Of course, but in this case, the plot was enriched by having the “back story” told by those who were “there.” The physical intrusion of the “ghosts” into Sara’s life propelled her toward the truth about her own identity.

Being able to suspend reality is the hurdle that all fiction takes, so enlisting the “supernatural” in the service of storytelling fits right in with that objective. If you look at the exponential growth of television programs, books and online websites devoted to paranormal events and “ghost hunting,” it would be a shame to pass up the opportunity to attract this audience in order to strictly stick to one of those “mainstream genres.”

Karen M Bence graduated with a bachelor of arts in Psychology from Dickinson College and a master's degree in Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania. A former social worker, psychotherapist and educator, Ms. Bence is also an avid equestrian and dog breeder.

Thomas Pierce is the author of the non-fiction book, The Last Rose. He has been a computer programmer, consultant and speaker.

Q: Other than being cathartic, what was it like sharing such a personal story of the loss of your wife and daughter with the public? What kind of response has it received from readers?

A: The Last Rose is a book that I never intended to write. I just started telling friends and relatives about the strange, yet wonderful, things that were happening in my life and they all kept telling me to write the stories down so I would not forget them. I wrote them for myself and my granddaughters, and it was very therapeutic. When I started telling people my stories I almost felt like they would think that I was ready for a straight jacket, however, every time someone heard them they always told me to put them in a book. I printed copies and put them in loose leaf binders for friends and family. They in turn started letting other people read it and I began receiving beautiful e-mails from people I did not know telling me how much the book helped them with something in their lives. It became very obvious to me that I had to get the book published so it could help more people.

I expected that the target audience for my book would be older women, but I have received beautiful emails from 19- year- old service men to 65- year- old men and everyone n between. They all found at least one thing in my book that relates to them and each one has been totally different.

The book is not really about the accident, but many have told me that after reading it they felt like they were right there with us in that water and on the rescue boat.

Q: A reporter said that the book is “a story of survival and true love and how it prevails.” Can you elaborate on this hopeful theme?

The book covers the year of my life after I lost both my wife and daughter in a Baltimore water taxi accident, but it really starts before the accident. It talks about how both JoAnn and Lisa realized something was going to happen and did things to prepare me and them for it. It then talks about all the rainbows and the extraordinary number of times the number 13 has appeared to me and my family. It is totally beyond logic and defies explanation. The fifth anniversary of the accident is almost here and these things continue to appear to us on very specific dates and times. JoAnn and I were married for 37 ½ years and we were never unhappy. I truly believe that love never dies and that they continue to watch over us. I can no longer doubt that there is an afterlife and that life and love lives on past our time on this earth. Chapter ten is about my session with a medium that served to deepen my faith in eternal life. I have always approached everything in my life with a positive attitude and it became obvious that my wife and daughter were helping me go on with my life in that positive way and to help others approach problems in their lives in the same way.

Q: Why did you decide to go the route of self-publishing? What have been the advantages/disadvantages?

As more and more people requested the loose leaf copies of the book I decided to have 500 printed by a local printer. I had to do this three times to keep up with the local demand and decided it was time to find a publisher and make the book available nationwide. I thought that because the accident received world wide publicity that I would have a better shot at attracting an agent and a publisher. This did not happen, so I finally self-published the book. This made it available worldwide. My publishing package included media training and a media campaign that got me started doing radio interviews. It also allowed me to go to Book Expo America and have a book signing there. I found that getting worldwide publicity is much harder than getting local publicity. It requires a constant effort to let people know about the book.

Q: You are not by training nor vocation a professional writer. How did you go about telling your tale?

Writing the book was the easy part. I felt like the book was being dictated to me from above. I found four people to edit the original work. They did a fantastic job. The local newspaper and independent book store and radio stations were a big help in getting the ball rolling.

Q: Without the benefit of a publicist or large publishing house marketing department, how have you marketed your book?

The first thing I did after getting my book published was create a website. Mine is www.thelastrose.com. If you are advertising, doing media interviews, or just talking to people you need to direct everyone to your site to learn more and to purchase the book. You need to constantly find new ways to attract attention to your book. It is never easy but it can be a lot of fun.

Carlotta Holton is the author of Salem Pact, Touching The Dead and Vampire Resurrection, and is a member of the National Federation of Press Women and an affiliate member of the Horror Writers Association.

By Carlotta G. Holton

From the pages of history come the greatest mysteries of all. The Black Tower is an outstanding example of literary craft exercised at its best and wielded amidst a significant period of history: the Restoration of the Bourbon monarchy following France’s bloody revolution.

A master of capturing the mood and period of his story, Bayard sets in motion a theory that the Dauphin, Louis Charles, son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette and rightful heir to the throne, is still alive. It is 1818 when the chase begins as detective Eugene Francois Vidocq (a former criminal) discovers a letter found in a dead man’s pocket with the name of Dr. Hector Carpentier, the narrator of the tale.

Since his father’s death, Carpentier has lived with his mother in a boardinghouse in the Latin Quarter of Paris. Presenting himself as an old cripple from the street, Vidocq sheds his disguise and enters the home of Carpentier in hopes of making a connection to the murder. Following a visit to the morgue it is determined the man, identified as Le Blanc, was brutally tortured before his death. What information did he have to merit this end? How is the good doctor involved?

The author skillfully reigns in the reader, blending political intrigue, social commentary, treachery and conspiracies into a page-turning race to retrieve the truth. The times are difficult. Vidocq sarcastically questions the ability of the French to “forget” what happened. “We are asked to forget from the ashes of this conflagration, everything between 1780-1815 from the Bastille and Waterloo. No hard feelings. We’ve torn down the Emperor’s statue, cheered our new king as we have execrated the old one. We can’t forget. History lies low, but rises up.”

So too are rumors that the Dauphin may still live. The prevalent theory is that the 10-year-old Louis Charles died in the Black Tower, also known as The Temple, and was tossed in an unmarked grave “to mingle with strangers; bones equal to the end – no marker, no prayer.”

Pretenders to the throne abound. Was Le Banc killed because he too thought the future king was still alive? And if indeed there is no chance he is alive and is in fact dead, why kill a man over a delusion?

It comes to light that Carpentier is the son of a Doctor with the same name. Was it his services the dead man sought? An elderly border known as Father Time reveals he was friends with the senior Carpentier. He explains that the doctor treated the Dauphin in prison. Le Blanc was his aid in assisting the ailing boy. But were the two part of conspiracy that effectively smuggled out the young boy? Is this why his father gave up his medical calling and became a glass grinder?

Carpentier evolves from murder suspect to colleague as he and Vidocq follow the trail to a village outside of Paris where they meet an unassuming gardener from Switzerland named Charles Ratskeller. A diary and hobby horse offer more links to uncovering the mystery. Like the garden Charles fondly tends, Bayard plants the seeds of speculation in the readers’ minds with twists and turns and betrayals as those in power act swiftly and brutally to end the life of the would-be king. And ever lurking in the background is the too-close-for comfort “growler”; the guillotine ready to fall.

Bayard offers no neatly tied-up ending. The reader is presented with an ironic twist that rests on one’s own beliefs. Emotionally compelling characters spin this intelligent thriller that will satisfy the most avid historical fiction aficionados. Long after finishing The Black Tower, the reader is touched by the fate of the young Dauphin.

Click here to read Carlotta's interview with Louis Bayard.