Ghost Encounters with Gabrielle Holly...Stage Fright

TGIF EVERYBODY!
Today Gabrielle Holly will share her third book titled Stage Fright, in the Ghost Encounters Series.
What chilling tale you have for us today Gabby?

“The Ghosts That Haunt Me”

 The two questions I’m most frequently asked as a writer are: 1) How do you come up with ideas for your books? and; 2) Are your characters based on real people?

As to the former, I’ve always been one to wonder, “What if?”  In the case of the three books in my “Ghost Encounters” series, the underlying question was, “What if a woman could communicate with the dead through her unique – and powerful – sexual energy?” That woman is my Ghost Encounters heroine, Toni Bianchi – a quirky, curvy, wisecracking psychic medium who helps the restless undead find peace through that most-powerful of human emotions – LUST!

Regarding the latter, my characters are made up of the qualities I love – and dislike – in myself and the meaningful people in my life.

A minor – but pivotal – player in Stage Fright is the ghost of Thomas Becker’s late grandmother, Claudette. She is based on one of the dearest influences in my life, my own late grandmother, Josephine.

Josephine was a force of nature; an oft-wed mother of five who breezed through life with such an engaging and unbridled joie de vivre that even the most cynical who met her couldn’t help but be caught up in it. To Josephine, everything was magical and life was an adventure. She truly marched to her own, private (and no doubt devastatingly handsome) drummer. 

I spent many formative hours with my grandmother. We talked and played cards and shared with each other the wonders of art and nature. She opened my eyes to the beauty of the world around me. Some of our best moments were spent at the local multi-screen movie theater “stealing time.” We would travel by taxi (she had never learned to drive) to a beautiful local movie house. The building was stunning. In the lobby, sumptuous curved couches surrounded a two-story lighted fountain with fat, vibrant goldfish swimming in the pool. Grandma would peel a few dollars from her pocketbook for the day’s first feature.

And then, the fun began.

We would spend a couple of hours lost in the blockbuster of the day, then while the credits rolled, we would make our move. We'd nonchalantly file into the lobby and take our place in the queue for the concession stand. At the ideal moment, Josephine would feign her impatience at the wait (as if we had just arrived at the theater) then stage-whisper something about not wanting to miss the opening scene. Before the ticket-takers could catch on, we had found our seats in another screening room and were munching on hard candies from her purse, waiting for the next feature to begin. On a good day, we could see three films for the price of one. I can only recall snippets of the movies we enjoyed together, but I can remember, like it was yesterday, the feeling of sorority I felt with that fabulously mischievous woman.

I can also remember the day of her funeral. She’d been dressed in the outfit she’d set aside years before for the occasion and her favorite black onyx rosary was arranged in her fingers. I reached into the casket and touched her hand and understood in that moment that she wasn’t there; what she left behind had nothing to do with the body she’d inhabited in life. That night I had the first in a series of incredibly vivid dreams that have informed my writing in the paranormal genre. She appeared to me in my sleep and when I asked, “Grandma, can we go to the movies?” she smiled at me and said, “Oh, honey, you know it’s too late for that.”

And so, in my book – Stage Fright – I pay homage to my grandmother by letting her live on in the character, Claudette. In fact, the dedication reads, “To J.A., who taught me to love movies and bend rules.”

 Stage Fright
Book 3 Ghost Encounters Series


Psychic medium Toni Bianchi’s love triad with sexy TV ghost hunter Thomas Becker and hot telepath Liam Greco is on the rocks. The men’s jealousies flare and Toni is caught in the middle. Faced with some tough decisions, she longs for escape. When her mysterious friend Mike Briggs asks her to help renovate the haunted movie theater he’s just purchased, she jumps at the chance to get out of town and get some distance from her lovers.

An angry spirit haunts the old movie house seeking pardon for a crime he didn’t commit. When Toni makes intimate contact with the theater’s resident ghost - 1950s troublemaker, Kip Monroe - she falls under the spell of his unique sexual magic. He convinces her that he was wrongly accused and makes Toni promise to help clear his name. In the process, she uncovers long-buried secrets about the living and the dead. She learns that all of the men in her life –ghosts, humans and everything in between – are just full of surprises.
 
 I hope you’ll enjoy Stage Fright. You can read an excerpt on my website:

http://www.gabrielleholly.com/BookSF.html

Stage Fright buy links

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Stage-Fright-Ghost-Encounters-ebook/dp/B00DENB78Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1371238829&sr=1-1

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/stage-fright-gabrielle-holly/1115533023?ean=9781781843468

Total-e-Bound: http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=2158

All Romance eBooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-stagefright-1220826-149.html

About the Ghost Encounters series:

Follow reluctant spiritual medium Toni Bianchi as she discovers the extent of her powers over ghosts and men.  Toni's powerful sexual energy acts as a conduit for wayward spirits and affects the mortals around her.

Her impulsive nature and misguided business sense lead her into a string of odd real estate ventures with one common amenity – each has a resident ghost who needs Toni's special gift to help find eternal peace through earthly gratification. 

Toni is guided through her adventures by the quirky cast and crew of the hit television ghost-hunting show "Paranormal Research Team".  Sexy host Thomas Becker hopes that Toni can help him prove that ghosts exist and he's glad to step in when the paranormal encounters turn erotic.

Will Toni be able to manage her ghost encounters long enough to forge a lasting human connection?

Author Bio:

 Gabrielle Holly writes romance with a little humor and a lot of heat. She lives in the Midwestern United States with her husband and their two enormous, incessantly-shedding dogs. Gabby has worked as a newspaper humor columnist, a stand-up comic, a radio show host, a magazine writer & editor, and a freelance journalist. She has a short attention span and enjoys reading, travel, spending time outdoors, hunting for antiques, watching movies and attending live theater & concerts.

Connect with Gabrielle:

On Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabrielle_holly

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GabrielleHollyAuthor

Website: http://www.gabrielleholly.com/

Blog: http://gabrielleholly.blogspot.com/

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/gabrielleholly

 Wow! That was great Gabby, thanks so much for sharing your new series Ghost Encounters with us. I now have three new books added to my ever growing To Be Read pile. lol
Thanks again, and come back anytime.


Cheers,
Nancy