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

Ghost Encounters with Gabrielle Holly...A Triple Scoop of I Scream

It's Wednesday ( Hooray!) or - Hump-day (that also gets a Hooray!) and Ms. Gabrielle Holly has brought us some more spine-chilling tales from the great beyond. Oh! and she has brought the second book in her Ghost Encounters series, A Triple Scoop of I Scream too.
You have our attention Gabby...

“How My Ghost Characters ‘Told’ Me Their Names”

Last summer I'd passed through a nearby Mississippi River town and fell in love with an old, abandoned building on Main Street. The date carved into the sandstone pediment is A.D.1888. Half of the windows are boarded over, the red brick is crumbling, and the wood trim is nearly devoid of paint. The moment I saw it I told my travelling companion, "That's the setting for Book 2 in Ghost Encounters.”

 "It's falling apart!" he said.

"I know. It's perfect."

I'd snapped a couple of photos with my cellphone and, once home, I searched the Internet for more pictures of the tiny downtown area. I printed out a couple of the shots and hung them near my desk.

When I was about halfway into A Triple Scoop of I Scream I became hopelessly stalled. Two pivotal characters - the ghosts of star-crossed lovers - still remained nameless and I couldn't work out the logistics of a certain scene. I tried to focus on the task at hand, but that building would not let me concentrate. I had to go see it in person again. Immediately.

It was not an ideal day to be out and about. The Midwest was in the midst of a seemingly endless heat wave. The air conditioning in my Jeep was broken and the temperature that afternoon was well over 90-degrees. I'm usually a bit of a wimp when it comes to uncomfortable weather, but I was absolutely certain that I had to spend some time up close and personal with that freakin' building if I was ever going to get any more writing done.

 I was cranky and overheated by the time I arrived in the historic district. The building sits on a corner and I walked first one block and then the other. I looked at it from across the street and then from the alley. I walked up the steps, ran my hand along the facade, and peered into windows. I spent a good hour viewing and photographing the building from every angle. I got close-ups of the disrepair and wide angles to illustrate the building's place on the block.

 Satisfied that I had everything I needed to carry on, I started to head back to my car. The street slopes down to the river and I'd parked near the end of the block. I was almost to the car when that crumbling old building, called to me again. I felt a little silly trudging back up the hill and pulling out my camera again, but I was absolutely compelled to do so.

 The sun had moved across the sky in the hour I'd been poking around and on this second trip up the hill, it hit the side of the brick building at a new angle. I was able to see that names had been scratched into some of the bricks. Two of them were side by side and written in the same straight-angled style: "Vinnie" and "Daisy". 

There they were, the names of my two ghost-lovers. I snapped a photo of each etched brick and headed back down the hill. By the time I reached the car, I'd worked out the logistics problem with the scene I'd been writing. It was as if once I knew Vinnie's and Daisy's names, I could tell their story.

A Triple Scoop of I Scream

Book 2 in the Ghost Encounters Series

Toni finds herself the owner of a rundown ice cream parlor in an historic Wisconsin river town. The shop is haunted by the ghosts of two lovers who can’t rest until their tragic mystery is unraveled.

While Toni looks for answers and works to get the shop up and running, she finds herself drawn to her handsome neighbor, book store owner Liam Greco. Toni soon learns that Liam has a psychic secret of his own.

When the hauntings get physical, Toni enlists the help of the ghost hunters from TV’s “Paranormal Research Team” and reunites with the show’s sexy star Thomas Becker. Passion and physic energy surge when Toni, Thomas and Liam engage in a decadently delicious ménage that helps the dead cross over and leaves the living craving more.

I hope you’ll enjoy A Triple Scoop of I Scream. You can read an adults-only excerpt on my website:

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

A Triple Scoop of I Scream buy links

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Triple-Scoop-Scream-Encounters-ebook/dp/B00BOUHTTK/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1362440132&sr=1-1

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-triple-scoop-of-i-scream-gabrielle-holly/1114820827?ean=9781781842355

Total-e-Bound: http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=2009

All Romance eBooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-atriplescoopofiscream-1094972-140.htmlhtml

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

Another creepy tale and another great book. I've gotten Goosebumps both times, Gabby, good job. Let's see if Friday you can scare the pants right off us with your third book, Stage Fright. See you then.

Cheers,

Nancy

Ghost Encounters with Gabrielle Holly...Soldier of Love

It's Monday and time to get back into the swing of things after my fun-filled week in Prince Edward Island with my family.

And what better way then to get the old heart pumping with the introduction to the new paranormal erotic romance series, Ghost Encounters, by Total-E-Bound Author Gabrielle Holly.

There are three books in the Ghost Encounter series, up today is book one, Soldier of Love, Wednesday is book two, A Triple Scoop of I Scream, and finally on Friday is book three, Stage Fright.

Paranormal erotic romance is one of my favourite genres, I'm can't wait to get the crap scared out of me by sexy spirits. So take it away Gabrielle...

Hi Nancy.
Thanks for inviting me to talk about the Ghost Encounters series this week! I’m looking forward to telling your readers about the three books in the series and what inspired them.

I have a wildly active imagination and a very short attention span, which makes writing the perfect career for me. I can dream up a story, spend some time in a different world, and then move on to the next adventure. Since diving into the world of romantic fiction, I’ve written contemporary romance, romantic comedy, historical romance and paranormal romance.

The final installment in my Ghost Encounters series came out last month and I already miss spending time with the characters. The series follows wisecracking psychic medium, Toni Bianchi, and the quirky stars of the television ghost-hunting program, Paranormal Research Team. I’ve loved tagging along on their exploits and have developed a kind of kinship with them – and the ghosts they meet.

I’ve been interested in the paranormal since childhood and grew up believing that spirits were just a fact of life – the leftover energy of those who have crossed over. I even have a ‘haunted’ portrait of my great-grandmother, Mabel, hanging in my home. The portrait made the rounds within the family before finding a permanent home with me. No one else will keep it because of the odd events associated with it – most notably spontaneously tilting when hung on the wall. Family legend has it that it was painted by my great-grandfather’s cellmate when he was incarcerated for moonshining during prohibition. 

I inherited the painting from a favorite aunt on the day of my grandmother’s funeral (my grandmother was Mabel’s daughter). The funeral took place out of town and I brought home the portrait – along with some other sentimental heirlooms - and unceremoniously set them in a cardboard box in the basement. Soon after returning home I began experiencing strange phenomena – my spine tingled when I walked by the box of grandma’s treasures and the bathroom lights flickered when I used the downstairs shower. I wasn’t afraid – just intrigued.

I was working as a radio show host at the time and when the producer booked a psychic medium as a guest, I brought the painting into the studio for a reading.  The medium was able to divine things from the portrait that only I knew, but hadn’t shared with anyone else. She confirmed that my great-grandmother’s spirit was attached to the object, but there was nothing to worry about. She said that great-grandma merely wanted to be remembered and my best course of action would be to hang her portrait in a place of honor. I did just that.

The lights no longer flicker and the only thing I feel when I walk by the portrait is a sense of wellbeing – of being watched over. The painting does occasionally tilt of its own accord, but I just set it right and wink at great-grandma Mabel.

I brought my own paranormal experiences to the table when I was writing the Ghost Encounters series. I hope you’ll love Toni, Thomas and the other folks – living and dead - that inhabit the books. The adventure begins with book 1, Soldier of Love.

 Soldier of Love
Book One in the Ghost Encounter Series

A reluctant psychic medium, an insatiable Civil War ghost, and a sexy TV ghost hunter create an otherworldly love triangle.

When Toni Bianchi decides to chuck her high-stress career and mooching noncommittal boyfriend to become an innkeeper in a tiny tourist town, she doesn't realize that she's trading in one set of problems for another. The inn is a crumbling money pit haunted by the handsome ghost of its former owner—Civil War soldier John Buckman. As the hauntings get more frequent — and much more personal — Toni wonders if she’s just imagining things.

At her wit's end, Toni calls in the popular ghost-hunting TV show "Paranormal Research Team" and immediately falls for its sexy star, Thomas Becker. Toni, Thomas and Buckman's ghost engage in an otherworldly ménage a trois that helps the dead cross over and leaves the living wanting more.

Visit Gabrielle's website for an excerpt of Soldier of Love.

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

Soldier of Love buy links

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Soldier-Love-Ghost-Encounters-ebook/dp/B00AHG9DJ6/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_2

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/soldier-of-love-gabrielle-holly/1113985602?ean=9781781841433

Total-e-Bound: http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=1876

All Romance eBooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-soldieroflove-1010836-140.html

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

Thanks for sharing Soldier of Love with us today Gabrielle. See you here Wednesday for the next book in your Ghost Encounters series, A Triple Scoop of I Scream!



Cheers,
Nancy