Showing posts with label ghosts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ghosts. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 17, 2023

WordCrafter Blog Tour for Midnight Roost: Christa Planko and MJ Mallon are Spooky Fun Authors

Video Reading from The Cull by MJ Mallon

 


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MJ's writing credits include YA, paranormal, best-selling horror, supernatural short stories, flash fiction, poetry, pandemic inspired poetry and best-selling anthologies. 

Poetry/flash fiction collections include Lockdown Innit, Mr. Sagittarius Poetry & Prose, The Hedge Witch And The Musical Poet and Do What You Love. 

Her eclectic blog shares her love of reading, reviewing, writing, poetry, photography, and travel: https://mjmallon.com.

Visit MJ's Social Media Sites: 

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Giveaway

A chance to win a free digital copy of Midnight Roost at every stop. Just leave a comment at Writing to Be Read to show your support for the tour, the anthology, and all of the fantastic authors.


To buy the Midnight Roost anthology 
with both author's stories,
 visit: Books2Read.


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Interview with Christa Planko about her short story: The Easterville Glass Ghost


What inspired you to write “The Easterville Glass Ghost?”

My inspiration for “The Easterville Glass Ghost” began with a trip to the Estellville Glassworks, a historic site near me. I first visited the site when I moved to the area in 2008. It has haunted me ever since!

Today, the glassworks is more of a graveyard for the 19th -century factory that bustled with activity from 1825 to 1877. Most of its structures have nothing left beyond their foundations. But the most prominent structure, the melting furnace, has three stone walls remaining. The front of the building features four large arches. Beyond these walls lies brick and stone rubble and the deep pits where glassblowers would form molten glass into cylinders.

Imagine how eerie it is to walk through the woods and happen upon Estellville’s imposing arched structure! As many times as I’ve returned to hike in the surrounding woods, I always get chills when the ruins first come into sight. It has prompted many imaginative musings about the people that lived and worked there. What was it like to work among fiery furnaces, handling molten glass? Was it competitive work? Was it dangerous? So dangerous that anyone ever died?

These musings led to the creation of “The Easterville Glass Ghost.” The story came together based on my own research about the factory and 19th -century glassblowing, coupled with imagination and fictional characters.


Have you ever had a ghostly encounter?

I did have an unexplained experience once. It involved the sensation of a hand sliding down my shoulder to my back. And it so happened that it was at the site of the Estellville Glassworks. This experience is what I fictionalized in my story.

While I’m not sure I had an actual “ghostly” encounter, if a spirit was present that day, it was a protective one. Nobody else was around at the time. I was technically trespassing at the site, climbing on top of a brick pile for a better view. The hand I felt on my shoulder coincided with me losing my footing—kind of like a steadying hand, ensuring my safety.

So, do I believe in spirits? I’m not sure about ghosts, but I do believe in spirit. By that, I mean the spirit that comprises character and lives on after a person expires. Elements of the human spirit—such as love, joy, kindness, gentleness—transcend time and space. These are things that we remember about loved ones and others who have passed. They are the traits written about heroes in history books. They imprint on us, encourage us, and inspire us to be the same—to make a difference in others’ lives. This is also a theme I aim to capture in my story.

Thank you for your questions and the opportunity to participate in the blog tour for Midnight Roost!

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Christa Planko, MA, is a professional writer with a passion for creative expression. She has had her poetry and short stories featured in several publications, including Tanka and Haiku Journal, Poetry Quarterly, New Jersey Bards, and Every Day Fiction. Her story, “The Olde-Tyme Village,” won the 2021 WordCrafter Short Fiction Contest. Christa resides in South Jersey with her feline muses. 

Christa graduated from Rutgers University (New Brunswick, NJ) with a BA in English Literature and from Drew University (Madison, NJ) with an MA in English Literature.  

Website: https://christascorner.godaddysites.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChristasCorner2023

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Purchase

To buy the Midnight Roost anthology 
with both author's stories,
 visit: Books2Read
 
 



Monday, October 9, 2023

The Descent: a darker breed of poetry's Cover Reveal

This cover reveal introduces The Descent to a wider audience. The updated version of the popular chapbook will leave readers salivating for more gruesome stories of the unknown. As the veil lowers, and we catch glimpses of another world beyond our own, the poems in The Descent will guide readers around the mystical, magical realm of the paranormal; scare them with the supernatural; as well as, entertain them with the fantastical.

Join Undawnted's DL Mullan for her wide release party this Friday, October 13th on A Novelist Idea newsletter

You could win a copy for your very own...

 

 
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This chapbook houses "a darker breed of poetry," from paranormal research topics to metaphysical literary iterations. There is a poem for everyone who is curious. Readers love to stalk the poems within:

"As if Poe came right off the page. This homage is literally perfect." 

"The poem [Breathe] is as scrumptious and sensual as it is dark and deep."

"This is a first for me. I have never read genre poetry before. I love it. Hugely imaginative and utterly unique..." 
 
"One of your best works. Beautiful 3 part movement. Flowed very nicely." 
 
"A lot of thought has gone into this very interesting poem, which made me think, which is what poetry should be all about, 5-star poem[.]"  

*****

Read what the buzz is about in Critical Acclaim at the bottom of each publication's page. 

To see the full cover, visit The Descent's dedicated page on Undawnted.

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A writer at heart, Undawnted's own creative spark, DL Mullan, began writing short stories and poetry before adolescence. Over the years, Ms. Mullan has showcased her literary talents by self-publishing several collections of her poetry. She also writes novels, designs apparel, and creates digital art. Ms. Mullan‘s creative writing is available in digital and print collections, from academia to commercial anthologies. As an independent publisher, she produces her own book cover designs as well as maintains her own websites. She is an award-winning digital artist and poet. 

 DL Mullan is sharing her knowledge via A Novelist Idea Newsletter. If you too want to become a Fearless Phile, then subscribe to her newsletter on Substack.

Her innovative style teaches writers how to reach their creative potential, and write more effectively.

Learn. Grow. Master… with Undawnted.

 

 

Sunday, September 19, 2021

WordCrafter Blog Tour: Where Spirits Linger Review

Out of the corner of your eye you see a shadow move, a presence in the distance. 

Is someone trying to get your attention or hide from you? Ghost stories are as old as human civilization itself. The paranormal intrigues us, shapes our view of the after life, and haunts our dreams. 

The anthology, Where Spirits Linger gives us a taste of the various ways we mere mortals can experience the spirit world. In the six short stories, the reader is transported in time and space into these realms of impossibility. So real in fact that the improbable comes across as probable. 

The People Up Stairs by Kaye Lynne Booth takes on a journey with Cassie. Cassie from an eight year old to a nineteen year old tells her story in diary form about the apparitions living on the second floor of Edna's house. A mystery wrapped in a conundrum. Is Cassie's fate sealed by her acceptance of  the spirits from beyond? 

Listen to the Instructions by Roberta Eaton Cheadle is a tale of twisted fate. If you carried out the will of the deceased, then your life will be tame. But, if you were only in the game for self-indulgence, then your life would exist in misery. Which would you choose? Listen to a ghost? Or listen to yourself? Your life may depend on it. 

The Chosen Few by Enid Holden is a short story from the spirits' point of view. These ghosts control their surroundings and the people who dare live in their dwelling of choice. Would you live in this haunted place? If you knew, the spirits created your experience for their own entertainment? 

The Final Portrait by S.L. Kretschmer asks the reader to understand a spirit. A painting showed how someone died, but would you, if asked by a ghost, to paint them as they were? What would you do? Honor a final request? Or, depart without a second thought? How the living see the dead can leave a lasting impression in this world, and the next 

David’s Revenge by Stevie Turner is a story about plotting. If you died tomorrow, how would you set up everyone in your life? Would you leave them in peace? Or, would you make suspicion the focus? David died and he had everyone on the hook. He even manipulated the police and psychic medium to do his bidding. Is this how you would spend your time before you left your body for good? 

Olde Tyme Village by Christa Planko is about Steve and an old estate belonging to his family. A chance visit that led to many more questions than answers. Could Steve return the property to its former glory? Or was the estate too haunted to become anything more than a ghost asylum? Will the reader ever know? 

Where Spirits Linger gives the audience the ups and downs of different hauntings. From the tame to the problematic, this anthology has a story for everyone's paranormal tastes.  Why not, take a bite?

If you would like to know more, then please stop by Kaye Lynne Booth's websites:

 

Buy here: Amazon.


Monday, October 31, 2016

Happy Halloween!

From the Mistress of Undawnted


 Have a safe and fun night!


 



Thursday, October 6, 2016

Trick or Treat Time Again

Okay... not the best picture, but here is my new Halloween plate!

The large plastic round fits nicely in my china cabinet. The skull motif inspired me to decorate my entire cabinet in Halloween fun! 

October is my 31 days of Halloween. 

Autumn for me begins on September 1st no matter if it is 110 degrees or less. It is meteorological fall and I am sticking to that. 

The night is cool, but the house is still warm from the hot, dry days of summer. So the windows are open, the laundry machines are on, and I am dusting away. 

The nights are beginning to smell different as the cool arctic air filters into the subtropical mass that used to house monsoon moisture. 

Now I wait. 

Ghosts and goblins abound. Each makes an appearance at my front door for a one night only engagement. Will I have enough candy? 

Trick or Treat!

Have a great and wonderful day!



Wednesday, September 21, 2016

A Darker Breed of Poetry

Have you downloaded your copy of The Descent yet? 

The Halloween season is here.  Ghosts and goblins. Longer nights... and, haunted poetry.

Classics like Upon Reading Edgar Allan Poe and Death Replies to Emily Dickinson are among a collection of other fine poems. 

Have yourself a haunted day! 





Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Check Out Our New Nonfiction Page

Do you like science or history or literature or the paranormal? 

Our Nonfiction page has something for everyone! Undawnted is excited to present these categories from which I will be publishing booklets and books under these topics. 

With a new publication nearly every month of the year, Undawnted is going to replace our old Writing Portfolio with these PDFs and/or EPUBs. 

We already have made good by publishing the essay about Environmental Illness called Gaslighting and the Environmental Illness Patient in a series dedicated to helping the chronically ill with their newfound circumstances. 

I hope you enjoy all the hard work to make these new possibilities, well, possible! 

 

Upcoming this month!  Uncommon Knowledge.







  
We get all spooky for this autumn with Haunted Arizona
Don't forget our chapbook: The Descent too!  


Check out our Schedule page for more publications slated for release this 2016 Calendar season... 


Have a great and wonderful day!!! 


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