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Thursday, October 9, 2014

Author Anecdote with Tara Fox Hall: True Ghost Story + giveaway

It’s October, The Perfect Time For Ghost Stories. But Why Not A TRUE Ghostly Tale, One That Happened To Me Only A Few Short Weeks Ago?


I was up at my family cabin, putting finishing touches on the latest Promise Me Tale, Eye of the Storm. Per usual, I had worked well beyond dusk, lulled by the gentle breeze coming through the screens and the almost absolute silence, and my craft had taken hold, pushing me to finish.

As I hit save, and went to switch off my computer, I looked up from the screen and felt eyes staring at me. Nothing was visible through the windows surrounding me but pitch blackness. Spooked, I shut the windows, blew out the three candles I’d been using for ambiance, and locked up, bolting the door.

I headed upstairs and got ready for bed, telling myself that I was completely alone, that even if there was some peeping tom skulking around outside, there was no way he was getting in without making a lot of noise. But the feeling of something watching me remained. It was strong enough that I left a floor lamp burning in a bedroom down the hall as a nightlight.

Sometime in the night, I was awakened by the sounds of something moving about in that same room down the hall, something too big to be a mouse. Terrified, I reached up for my own light, fumbling at the switch. It clicked multiple times, but wouldn’t turn on. The sounds down the hall were getting louder, as something crept toward my door.

In panic, I reached for my cell phone, only to have it come alive in my hand, “You’re the One” scrolling repeatedly across the screen as static and a man’s voice talking in a low tone filled the silence. I took breath to scream and felt myself propelled out of bed by some unseen force. Unable to get air, I flailed, weakly croaking, “Stop it!” as I was moved toward the dark doorway and the remaining unlit bedroom.

With a gasp, I came awake, flailed for the light switch and turned it on. Drawing ragged breaths, I sat up and looked down the hall. Everything was as it should be, the light burning, no signs of anything disturbed. I got out of bed and turned on the other bedroom light, and everything was okay. Relieved, I got back into bed, and settled back to sleep. As I was drifting off, I heard faint sounds again from that same bedroom.

I dozed fitfully the rest of the night with all the lights on.



Eye of the Storm (Promise Me Book 10)
Tara Fox Hall

Sar and Theo move on from Sar’s affair with Lash, struggling to build a new life with their werecougar son Devon. Rebuffed, Lash resumes his solitary existence, biding his time. Ulysses lurks in the shadows launching repeated attacks on his enemy Devlin, whose darker side emerges rampant in an effort to protect those he loves. The vampire Danial prepares his dhamphir son Theoron for manhood, even as Ulysses delivers a last crippling blow to Devlin in his relentless quest for revenge.

Excerpt: 

Lash stepped closer to me, his arms going around me.

“Don’t, please,” I said softly, my weak words so rife with need that I flushed.

“I’m not going to do anything but hug you,” Lash hissed in my ear. “I need to breathe in the scent of you to calm myself. I’m worried about tonight, about letting you go to that damn Hallows party with only Theo to protect you.” 

I inhaled his familiar scent, closing my eyes. There came the gentle touch of his hand on the back of my head, gently pushing it against his shoulder as he stroked my hair.

“But there’s no way I can go with you, Danial would shit a brick.”

“I’ll be fine,” I said confidently, trying to step back. “Rip will be there—”

“Fucking demons can’t be trusted!” Lash hissed angrily. “Rip is not a fighter; he’s a sorcerer, like Titus. He’s not fast at all! You’re mortal, Sar! All it would take to kill you is one well-placed bullet!”

“Nothing’s going to happen,” I reiterated. “Devlin will be with me, Lash.”

“That’s the only reason I’m not crashing the party,” Lash hissed meaningfully. “I know he’ll stay close to you at all times, and he’ll keep you safe. Plus I have to watch Venus and Devon while you’re all out in your finest.”

I looked up into his flat eyes, their coldness giving nothing away. “Change back for me.”

Lash’s eyes reverted to their dark black-brown color in a split second, his fangs disappearing. “Why did you ask me to change back?” he said, tilting his head with a faint smile. “Are you remembering that night we—?”

Desire rose in me, mingled with sadness and longing. “I like to see your eyes. I like to look into them. I can see what you’re feeling in your human eyes the way I can’t in your snake ones.”

Lash’s dark brown eyes darkened, his expression changing from curiosity to abject craving. “Tell me I can kiss you,” he said sensuously, taking my face in his hands. “Just one kiss, Sar—”

I looked down at his lips inches away from mine, and ached to taste him, to feel his body against mine as he devoured me…

Stop. Right. Now.

Buy Links:
Amazon-Amazon UK-Mélange Books (PDF and HTML)


Tara Fox Hall’s writing credits include nonfiction, horror, suspense, erotica, and contemporary and historical paranormal romance. She also coauthored the essay “The Allure of the Serial Killer,” published in Serial Killers - Philosophy for Everyone: Being and Killing (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010). Her first full-length action-adventure novel, Lash, published in April 2012. Her vampire series begins in June 2012, with the 1st novel Promise Me. Tara divides her free time unequally between writing novels and short stories, chainsawing firewood, caring for stray animals, sewing cat and dog beds for donation to animal shelters, and target practice.

22 comments:

  1. OMG OMG OMG I am totally spooked out by "real" ghost stories. Yikes I HATE horror films, I can't even go to my local theme park for their October Spook fest. I sleep with the lights on after I saw scary movies when I was young and STUPID. :)
    Thanks for my upcoming sleepless night ;) lol and for the super giveaway I love beanies and will get these exorcised as soon as I win ;)
    deb\

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    1. Good luck in the contest! You may need some Holy Water, lol. Don't feel badly; leaving the lights on always makes me feel better!

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  2. I ate an awful lot of McDonald's happy meals to get the mini beanie babies. Don't know if they have any value, but they're cute.

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    1. I'm with you there, Anne, lol! I drove a friend crazy during that promotion, running from MCD to MCD. :)

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  3. Well let me see; I have gnomes and gargoyles, wolves, sheep, and skulls, witches and vampires at a cauldron they toil, there is a little a dragon, a wizard, as well as some purple silk orchids, a rock garden for calming with black birds a lurking, there is even a disappearing Tardis mug here - but no beanie babies have yet to appear! Thank you for sharing this story with us Tara, what a spooky experience. I would like to think I would be the picture of calm and reason, but I am pretty sure I would pull a Bill Cosby and start smearing jello on the floor!

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    1. You're welcome, Denise :) Good luck in the contest! I hope that you never are in a position where you must smear jello on anything but a plate!

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  4. I do have boxes of beanie babies but I buy very few now.

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    1. I understand that completely, Debby...until I go to the store and they have one that is irresistible, and I've got to fight the urge to possess. :)

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  5. I started collecting beanie babies in grade school, I want to say around 2nd or 3rd grade, but i'm not sure. EVERYONE had them, and I had the biggest collection. Easily four or more giant plastic storage containers full of beanie babies. Not to mention that I got every single mini beanie baby from McDonald's. I still have them all in the attic.

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    1. Wow! I'm impressed. That's quite a collection! Good luck in the contest :)

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  6. yes i collec@beanie babies and some of relatives still do. shelley s. calicolady60@hotmail.com

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    1. I wasn't sure that anyone would be interested in beanie babies as a prize, but I thought them being Halloween beanies might be attractive. So glad that you're interested, and thanks for reading! :)

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  7. I would love to visit any haunted asylum or the Lizzie Borden house.

    Thank you for the chance to win!

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    1. You're welcome, Amber :) Good luck in the contest! I think I'd like to visit one of the famous haunted places, but I get enough excitement at my own house with ghosts now. I'm not sure I could take any more, lol, but they do have some great haunted places, like Rolling Meadows Asylum.

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  8. Wow!!! I don't know how you managed to stay there all night. I'd have wet myself and then ran screaming. Still, I love me some ghosy stories. Thanks for sharing this with us, and I hope you can get that meanie out of there so you can enjoy your lake house in peace.

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    1. I was actually afraid to go downstairs, strange as that may seem. It's very dark there, there are no streetlights, and no one was around in the other cabins nearby. I'm going this week, but I've got my big strong 6ft+ stepfather going with me to protect me, so I'm not scared this time :) I'll keep you posted, Mysti! :)

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  9. I want to go to the Villisca Axe Murder House, which isn't that far from me seeing as I'm in Iowa too. But then there was that one episode.. I think it was The Dead Files, where the dead want to be left alone and not be made a selling point for people visiting, and I thought it might be disrespectful to them if I went...
    so I haven't.
    As badly as I want to.

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    1. If you do go, PLEASE send me a link via email. I'd love to know what someone thought of some of these haunted places, but I don't know anyone whose actually gone to one of the bigger "ghostly" places. But having said that, I do agree that I'd be happy to leave the dead in peace, if they will also agree to leave me alone. :)

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  10. I was totally in love with beanie babies and always wanted the ghost to cuddle with. I had an encounter with a clown picture that trapped me in my bed with his evil gaze and left me so scared I couldn't breathe. Your cell phone encounter is definitely up there with creepiest moments ever.

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    1. I don't know, Karla, clowns rank up there at close to #1 on my list, ever since seeing Poltergeist and It. Good luck in the contest! :)

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  11. I did a haunted tour of New Orleans years ago with a relative...it was GREAT! I highly recommend it!

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  12. I love beanies AND Halloween! oh oh but most of all I adore Tara!! YAY! <3

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