Karen McCullough

This post is part of the paranormal romance blog hop, sponsored by Hops With Heart.  Read down to the end to find out how you can win prizes.

I should start by saying I’m not a party animal. I’m a long time removed from my college days, and in truth even then I was only a moderate party girl. Like many authors, I’m an introvert, which means I’m usually happier staying home with a book than going out on the town. Which isn’t to say I spent all of my college years closeted in my dorm room or apartment.

Halloween is a favorite holiday and there’s something particularly fun about parties with costumes. It’s kind of freeing to hide behind a mask and become someone else (or something else) entirely. It’s a great opportunity to experiment with different personalities. I’ve experimented with being witchy in black clothes and green face paint and a cowgirl with boots and ten-gallon hat.

I had that in mind when I wrote the Halloween short story, Unmasking. My main character is at a party, accompanied by a ghost – a real one, not a friend wearing a white sheet – and she has a definite purpose for being there.

At one time the story was titled The Thirteenth Hour, but no one quite understood what that meant. Including me. I just thought it sounded kind of cool and mysterious and wonky.

But Unmasking is a better title. The heroine’s main purpose in being there is to unmask a murderer. But in the process, she also helps a wrongly accused man come out of hiding and possibly begins to shed the mask of her own armor as well.

And, hey, it’s free at Smashwords, 99 cents on Amazon. What are you waiting for?

The Blurb for Unmasking: Trace Handley hates social events of any kind, but she has reluctantly agreed to go to a Halloween party to deliver an important message. Before she can accomplish the mission, though, she has to identify the intended recipient despite costumes, her own shyness, and the dubious assistance of the source of the instruction – a ghost who wants her to deliver his message to the man accused of his murder.

Prizes: Comment on this post to enter for a chance to win an ebook copy of the book of mine of your choice. Enter your name into the Rafflecopter for the grand prize.

 
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Looking for a great,spooky but not too long read for Halloween?  And better yet, not break the bank?

Guardian of the Grimoire is a novella, longer than a short story, but shorter than a novel. You can read it in an hour or so, but you might want to keep the lights on if it’s late at night. The ebook is just 99 cents at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords.

Magic, mystery and romance combine in a gothic story that sees a peaceful, small-town  library turned into a supernatural battleground. In the library’s basement a  dangerous book lies hidden somewhere in stacks of old crates, and librarian  Jess O’Rourke is caught in the middle of a battle between a demon and the  book’s mysterious guardian for possession of it…

A few quick excerpts:

The gargoyle over the library’s main entrance twitched its wings and leaned down to look at her as she rushed up the steps.

Jess O’Rourke stopped and blinked at it. She shook her head, staring upward. No movement now. Of course not. It was a stone statue.  It must have been a pigeon or a crow flitting around that fooled her into thinking the gargoyle had moved.

* * * * *

That evening, as Jess returned from her dinner break, Carrie looked up from the computer at the main desk and said, “Your boyfriend just came in.”

Jess turned to where the man sat in the corner.

“Boyfriend” was Carrie’s teasing nickname for him. The man was a complete stranger. She knew absolutely nothing about him except that he’d started showing up regularly each evening a few weeks ago. He always sat quietly in the same corner, reading and occasionally glancing up at her. And every night he left on his own just before closing time. So far, he hadn’t attempted to check out a book or say more than “hello” and “good night” to her.

* * * * *

As usual, he held a book open in front of him, but he looked up frequently to stare at her in a way that suggested both hunger and sadness. He had dark hair streaked with silver, though his otherwise youthful features said he couldn’t be more than thirty. His gray eyes seemed permanently lost in shadows. Not quite handsome. The face was too angular, drawn too tight for that, but it was compelling, nonetheless. His demeanor was tense, wary, constantly on alert.

* * * * *

“What is he doing here?” the Reverend asked in his most theatrical and self-righteous tone, pointing to the man who still sat in the shadows. “This is a creature who has done wicked things beyond your comprehension. How can you allow this walking evil to sit here among the good and decent people of this town?” His stare sharpened as he challenged the other man, “Do you deny it?”

They all turned to watch the stranger’s reaction, waiting for his denial. He stood, unwinding his long, lean length with deliberate care.  He glanced at Jess for a moment before returning his stare to the Reverend. “I deny nothing. Whatever else I’ve done, I’m not a liar.”

Jess sucked in a harsh breath. What the hell was going on here? Whatever it was, she wasn’t about to have it escalate into anything more in her library.

The ebook is just 99 cents at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords.

View of the streets of Oxford from the top of the Saxon Tower of St. Michael at the Gate

Our last day in England. We were all pretty tired from the adventures of the previous days and ready to take it easier. A final trip into Oxford started with some of us climbing the four flights of stairs to the top of the Saxon Tower of St. Michael at the Gate, the oldest building in Oxford. The top is open and you can get a marvelous view of the city of Oxford in all four directions.

Having gotten our exercise, the day culminated with us in a small, atmospheric café, The Grand Cafe, on the High Street.

From its website: “The site of the first coffee house in England (according to Samuel Pepy’s Diary, 1650): The Grand Café has now become an Oxford institution. During the day serving lunch, cream teas and high teas all perfectly at home in the opulence of the marble-pillared, gold-leafed building. At night The Grand Café is buzzing with locals, visitors and Oxford University students, taking advantage of the half price cocktails on offer.” More information is available on their website: http://www.thegrandcafe.co.uk/

Tea at The Grand Café.

The place is quite small and the tables crowded close together. We weren’t sure we could get Freya’s pram in, but the staff helped move a few tables and chairs to make space.

Other than my son, Joe, we all got the High Tea, which featured finger sandwiches (salmon and mayo and cream cheese), scones (with clotted cream and jam), hand-made chocolates, and of course, tea. This was a much more substantial meal than it sounds. The “finger sandwiches” were large enough that just a couple of them were quite filling, especially when paired with a pair of generously sized scones. Scones slathered equally generously with clotted cream. I’ve become a huge fan of clotted cream. The real thing has the taste of butter with the consistency of whipped cream. The Brits generally pair it with strawberry jam, but I prefer to enjoy the scone and cream unadulterated. The chocolates looked wonderful, but since they couldn’t assure me they were nut-free, I had to leave them to my daughter-in-law. I have the kind of nut allergy you don’t mess with. It might’ve been heartbreaking under other circumstances, but by that point I was so full, I really wasn’t at all concerned.

The chocolates aside, the meal was satisfying and a real treat. A good way to finish out our trip to Oxford.

I spent a lot of time in the afternoon and evening cuddling the new granddaughter, knowing it would be the last time for a while. Then we had an early night, knowing we’d have to be up early to get a cab into Oxford Center to catch the airline bus back to Heathrow and then the flight to Raleigh. All of that proved mercifully uneventful.

We bid goodbye to Oxford and England reluctantly, but with a sense that of satisfaction that we’d had a great visit with our son, daughter-in-law, and brand new grand-daughter, and a number of interesting adventures to various landmarks. Considering that we were working around the schedule of a two-month-old baby, we’d packed a lot into the trip.

I’m already looking forward to the English branch visiting here at Christmas and then seeing them again next summer – I hope!

Highclere Castle

With our time in England growing short, we embarked on our last major outing. A map consultation showed that Highclere Castle, better known to television fans worldwide as Downton Abbey, was only a short drive from their home. The castle isn’t open to the public very much, but we were in luck and it was open during our stay. So the baby went in the car seat; the pram, baby carrier, diaper bag, snack bag, etc., went into the boot (the trunk); and off we drove down the A34. Half an hour took us to the exit marked for Highlere Castle.

The website suggested following the signs rather than a GPS and that turned out to be good advice. Off the main highway, many of the roads had been rerouted or made one-way to improve traffic flow into and out of the castle grounds.

Me, at the front door, waiting for the family to come out and greet me!

As a devotee of Downton Abbey for several years now, I got a particular kind of shiver as we approached and were directed to a parking place on a wide lawn, right in front of the main door of the castle.  It was almost like arriving at the Abbey as a guest, though instead of being greeted at the front door by the Earl and Countess, we joined the line of ticketed visitors waiting to get inside.

Note: Highclere Castle is owned by an Earl and Countess, but not the Granthams. The place belongs to the Earl and Countess of Carnarvon.

Another note: They didn’t allow photography inside the castle, but you can see images of some of the best-known rooms here: http://www.highclerecastle.co.uk/about-us/the-state-rooms.html

You enter and are immediately directed through the main hall and to the left into an area immediately recognizable to viewers of the series: the library. There are actually two parts to the library, and both have featured in a number of scenes of the show. The first and smaller area of the library looks like an office. Several times we’ve seen someone come to the door and be received by Lord Grantham in this section of the library, where his desk is located. Then you proceed through a set of pillars that separates the two parts into arguably the most iconic room of the abbey. This is the area of the library that features two plush red sofas facing each other in front of a grand fireplace. It appears in many episodes of Downton Abbey. The family often gathers here to welcome guests, to have tea, or for a drink before dinner.

A bit of the gardens at Highclere Castle.

You proceed through a series of other rooms, the drawing room, smoking room, music room, etc., most of them also recognizable from scenes in the show. You go upstairs to the “gallery bedrooms,” the luxurious quarters of family and honored guests. Many of the upper rooms have placards indicating whose bedroom it was in the series. After glancing into those, you go back down one of the grand staircases. At the bottom, the saloon is ahead of you and the grand dining room to the left. The saloon is the large, magnificent room at the center of the square castle, with the grandest fireplace, overlooked by the gallery above. This room has featured in many episodes, most notably Edith’s abortive wedding and the Christmas party.

It’s a bit disappointing to learn that the downstairs scenes are not filmed at Highclere, but on a soundstage at Ealing Studios. One can see why. The tour finishes by going downstairs, but it doesn’t look anything like the lower floors of Downton Abbey. The passages are narrow and dark, most of the rooms small and dim. In fact, Highclere’s downstairs is the home of the Egyptian collection, a group of artifacts collected and brought back by the fifth earl of Carnarvon, who accompanied and funded the expeditions of Howard Carter, the man who discovered King Tut’s tomb.

The rear of the castle, seen through the wildflower meadow.

A docent we talked to said that she’d been working there for many years. The place has been open to the public on a limited basis for some twenty to twenty-five years. Visitors used to come mainly to see the collection of Egyptian artifacts on display. She admitted, though, that since the start of the television series, traffic had increased hugely.

A quick trip through several of the narrow, dark corridors downstairs brings you out into a courtyard and face to face with the gift shop and one of several tea rooms on the grounds. I picked up small gifts for family and friends who are fans of the series and we brought out the picnic lunch we’d brought.

After the meal we walked around the extensive grounds. The gardens are almost as magnificent as the castle itself. Colorful banks of flowering plants twist and curve along meandering paths and across open swathes of grass. The property also features a couple of intriguing “follies,” ornamental buildings with no practical purpose. A colonnaded rectangle on top of a low hill not far from the building seems to be there only to make a great view from many of the windows in the public rooms of the castle.

If you’re in Oxford, or the general area, and it happens to be one of the times when the castle is open to the public, I highly recommend it. Even if you’re not a fan of the television show, it provides a remarkable glimpse into the way the English aristocracy lived.

Today I’m over at the Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers blog, taking about the recent trip to England and how I develop story ideas from the things I see and do while traveling. http://anastasiapollack.blogspot.com/2014/09/travel-with-serena-guest-author-karen.html  Please drop by and say hello.