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Sunday, March 14, 2021

Interview: Paranormal Mystery Author Cat Gilbert + giveaway

Can you, for those who don't know you already, tell something about yourself and how you became an author?
I was born… No, I won’t do that to you. I’ll sum up, instead. I grew up in Colorado. Met my husband in high school and proceeded to move all over the world. In the course of our long, long, marriage we’ve managed to move over 35 times, living all over the United States as well as Singapore, China and Canada before finally settling down in Arkansas — our favorite place of all.

It was while living in China that I finally slowed down enough to start writing some of the stories that were floating around in my head. A large part of Brain Storm was written in our apartment in Suzhou, a city located a few hours outside of Shanghai. And Starbucks. There was a Starbucks nearby and I spent quite a bit of time there, nursing a latte made by Killer or Three (the names of the Baristas) while I wrote Taylor’s story at my make-shift desk near the window.

When we returned home to the States, Brain Storm was nearly finished and I’d caught the writing bug. The first book took me a couple of years to complete. Now I can write a book in a few months if life doesn’t get in the way. It has a way of doing that. Cooking, cleaning, laundry…

Can you tell us a little bit about the characters in Brain Storm?
Oh, the characters! There are some great ones in the series, and they are pretty well defined. Unlike the majority of thrillers out there, there are relationships here. You get to know and love Taylor’s “crew”.

There’s her best friend Trinity — the pitbull lawyer that is loyal and fierce. Mama D is Trinity’s grandmother. The one that holds them together and who Taylor seeks out when she needs some tender loving care. We have Jonas, the police detective that ends up on the run with Taylor, and Mac — the man who has been secretly watching her for years — waiting for her powers to emerge. Then there’s Lars. Ah, Lars. A quiet but deadly giant of a man who irritates Taylor beyond belief. He’s determined to protect her in spite of herself, which makes for some rather interesting and amusing situations.

There are others as well and I try to make sure they all stay in character — acting and reacting the way you think they would. Each one fills a space in Taylor’s life, and she wouldn’t trade them for anything. In fact, protecting them is the reason she does what she does. She loves them as much as fans of the series do!

How did you come up with the concept for the book?
I’ve always been fascinated with how the mind works and I love action, suspense and thrills in the books I read, so combining the two things seemed — pardon the pun — a no brainer. At least for me.

The bad news is that the books are cross-over genres. They don’t have vampires, demons or werewolves so they aren’t really considered paranormal, but they have a psychic element so they aren’t traditional thrillers either. They’re a combination of both.

The good news is that they’re different. My readers love the psychic twist in both of the series. I think it’s something we’ve all been through. Whether it’s sensing something is about to happen, or that feeling of dè já vu, most of us have experienced a time when we ask ourselves did that just happen? That’s what makes it fun. What happens to Taylor, could happen to us…

Do the characters all come to you at the same time or do some of them come to you as you write?
That’s a great question! And yes — some of the main characters even showed up unexpectedly. Two fun ones made their appearance in the series a couple of books ago and I brought them into Taylor’s crew in the latest book. They’re a great addition and already have their own fan base.

Where did you come up with the names in the story?
If my readers see this question, they’re going to die laughing, because they know how I labor over naming the characters. The names have to be perfect and I have a terrible time picking them. The worst part is that I can’t write until I have the name — because the name is everything. For instance: The Molly McMurray Mysteries all came about because of the name.

A fan of Taylor’s wrote me an email excited about the books and her name was Molly McMurray. I instantly fell in love with it. I asked her if she minded if I used it for a character and she said it was mine! Suddenly there was this whole little person, with a personality and a perky attitude and a psychic twist all her own and the new series was born. I wish finding names were always that easy…

Brain Storm (The Taylor Morrison Psychic Thrillers Book 1)
by Cat Gilbert
September 3, 2015
Genre: Psychic Suspense, Thriller
One Woman:
Taylor Morrison - a private investigator who is suddenly gifted with a psychic ability.

Three Men:
One who has secretly watched her for years - guarding over her as he waits for her gift to emerge.

One who offers her protection, safety and hope, but at a cost she is not prepared to pay.

One who will do anything to control her and the power she now possesses.

As Taylor’s once ordered world erupts into violence and chaos, she is forced to go on the run, fighting to protect the people she loves, even as she struggles to control the power she doesn’t understand...

Brain Storm is the first book in the Taylor Morrison psychic suspense thriller series. If you crave clean, fast-paced action — full of twists and turns, believable characters, and loads of suspense — then you’ll love this first installment of Cat Gilbert’s page-turning series.

**Get it FREE!! **

The Third Option (The Taylor Morrison Psychic Thrillers Book 2)

Excerpt from The Third Option
THEY CAME FOR me in the wee small hours of the morning, thinking, I was sure, that I’d be asleep and easy prey. They were wrong. I knew they were there. I knew the minute they eased the front door open and slid inside the cabin. I could smell them when they opened the bedroom door, feel their nervous excitement in the air, but I chose not to do anything about it. If I fought, someone was going to get hurt or even worse, killed. It just wasn’t worth it.

So I let them come, deciding I would let them take me this time, if for no other reason than I wanted to see what they would do if they actually got me out of the building. Once they had me, were they fully prepared for everything that meant? I stifled a sigh of exasperation and pretended to be asleep, as they hovered in the doorway. The sharp sting of the needle came as a surprise, and I had a moment of doubt as the drug quickly took hold. They’d shot me with a tranquilizer dart from across the room. This was a first. They were getting smarter.

* * *

They’d zip-tied my hands together with heavy duty cable ties, like the ones the police use. There is no breaking those. You struggle, and they just get tighter. Regular zip ties or even duct tape would have been so much easier, but then easier hadn’t been what they were going for.

They had run a chain around the ties, and I followed the links as they disappeared into the snow, the shadowy track leading to a metal post with a big u-bolt screwed into it. The post was three to four feet away, giving me enough slack to move around some if I got closer. Maybe I’d given them too much credit. Here I thought they were getting smarter, what with the dart gun and heavy duty cable ties. Leaving me in the snow and cold had been a good move. I hate both those things. But giving me room to maneuver? Big mistake.

I scooted closer to the pipe to get more slack in the chain and gained just enough to be able to stand without stooping too much. My bare feet certainly didn’t appreciate it nor did my sopping backside as there was just enough breeze to ramp up the cold factor a couple of notches. I glanced around to try and get some bearings. As far as I could tell, I was in a little glade with dense pine trees about 50 feet out on three sides and open to the hills on the fourth. There were no obvious landmarks, but I thought I could just make out the top of the building where they’d taken me from just over the crest of one of the hills. They hadn’t taken me far, and I hadn’t been out here for long. I could still feel my hands and my feet, so they’d delayed staking me out for a while. That was nice of them.

The thought had barely crossed my mind when the first missile hit me square in the face, stunning me with enough force to knock me back a step. My arms jerked on the chain, pulling against the zip-ties, the force biting into my wrists and driving me to my knees. I shook off the impact, throwing the ice and snow off my face, certain I was going to see blood on the snow…

Blacker Than Sin (
The Taylor Morrison Psychic Thrillers Book 3)

Gone (
The Taylor Morrison Psychic Thrillers Book 4)

The Sword (
The Taylor Morrison Psychic Thrillers Book 5)

**Get the box set of books 2-4 for a discounted bundle price! **
The Taylor Morrison Psychic Thriller Box Set
Books 2-4

About the Author
I'm Cat Gilbert, and I write the Taylor Morrison Psychic Thrillers and the Molly McMurray Mysteries. In both series I try to give you, the reader, that experience. Characters you can connect with, a gripping plot chock full of action, danger, and enough twists and turns that even I have a hard time keeping up.

The The Taylor Morrison series centers around Taylor Morrison, a private investigator whose life is turned upside down when she suddenly develops psychic abilities. We're not talking X-Men, comic book, mutant type stuff here. Instead, this is the kind of thing you've always wondered about. Or at least I have. The idea that maybe we aren't utilizing our brains to their fullest. That maybe if we tried hard enough, we could do stuff and if we could, what sort of ramifications that would have.

The Molly McMurray Mysteries is a new series. The main character is, of course, Molly McMurray. There's a psychic 'twist' to this series as well, and his name is Kaegan. Who he is, and the role he plays, I'll leave to you to discover.

Having moved over 32 times, Cat Gilbert now makes her home in Arkansas with her husband and their dog, Clancy. When she's not writing, she spends her time trying to figure out a way to keep the deer from eating her blackberries and fig trees, experimenting with new Paleo recipes, and attempting to convince Clancy that playtime has to wait until she finishes the chapter.

Giveaway
$50 Amazon
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11 comments:

  1. I love how the covers are done with so much to see.

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  2. I love the covers. They set the tone for the books.

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    1. Thank you! The covers are new and I was hoping they'd catch both the setting and the tone for the books.

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  3. Omg, love the trama ❤️ New read

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    1. Oh good! I hope you enjoy them!

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  4. Great covers and like the descriptions of your books.

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    1. Thank you. Taylor is a great character to write and the psychic twist adds a whole new dimension. Hope you enjoy them.

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  5. I love all the covers and the colors! It sounds like a good series.

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