My favorite #ghost stories - Kathryn Knight

I love ghost stories, which is probably abundantly clear from my own novels.  My favorites have a mix similar to what I write--a tension-filled romance combined with a spooky and suspenseful haunting.  That said, I enjoy ghost stories that veer closer to the horror genre as well (and often therefore lack a Happily Ever After).  Of course my books have a special place in my heart, but in order to avoid bias, I won't be including them in this list.  Here are my favorites:


1.  Jane-Emily, by Patricia Clapp. 

The novel that started it all for me.  One of my all-time favorites, this YA book is both a sweet romance and a spooky ghost story.  In fact, I would call this book a huge inspiration for my writing, as it's that combination of ghost story/love story that I find addictive.  My father brought Jane-Emily home from the library when I was around 8 years old, and I read it over and over, then requested it regularly when I needed my Jane-Emily fix.  A few years back, I purchased my own copy (finally!) from ebay and read it to my kids.  The ghost of 12-year-old Emily still delivers chills even after all these years as she unleashes her wrath on 9-year-old Jane--but of course the romance piece was there as well between the hunky Doctor and Jane's young aunt Louisa.

2.  Midnight Bayou, by Nora Roberts

I could not put this book down...literally.  I loved the New Orleans bayou setting and intertwining of past and present.  A sassy Cajun heroine and a hunky ex-lawyer-turned-carpenter embark on a passionate journey to uncover the dark secrets of Manet Hall.  Sadly, I lent my nice hardcover copy to someone and it has not yet been returned.  I'll have to purchase another for my shelf of favorites if it doesn't make it back eventually!

3.  Madeleine's Ghost, by Robert Girardi

One of my all time favorites--a captivating mix of romance, history, and the paranormal.  An original storyline with quirky and believable characters, this book has it all: intrigue, mystery, secrets, star-crossed lovers, and a haunting.  This novel moves between the past and the present, revealing the layers that make the characters come alive.  The descriptions of both New York City and New Orleans are so vivid I felt like I was right there...and I enjoyed every minute spent traveling between the gritty East Village and the humid bayous of Louisiana.

4.  Bag of Bones, by Stephen King

This one is more horror than romance, and in true King fashion, not everyone survives.  But the haunting at the house at Dark Score Lake sent shivers up my spine in a way not many books have.  The premise of two spirits fighting from the beyond--one intent on exacting revenge, one determined to prevent the continuing tragedies--is truly unique.  This concept inspired me to look for ways to make the ghosts in my novels really have to work around barriers to communication--it should never be as easy as simply leaving clues.  If it were, any ghost could simply write out what it needed to convey with no struggle. 

5.  Vaporetto 13, by Robert Girardi

Another atmospheric ghost story by Girardi, this one transports the reader to the damp, stagnant canals of Venice.  It's been many years since I read this one, so I'm due for a re-read.  But I can clearly remember the desperate longing between Jack and the mysterious Caterina, the eerie and evocative descriptions of Venice, and the suspense building as Jack unravels the truth.

Well, that's the first five, anyway...making this list I realized I have read plenty more worth mentioning!  But it's late, so that's a blog post for another day.  Please feel free to leave a comment with your own favorite ghost story, I'm always looking for recommendations!

Adventures in #ZipLining - #HarpersFerry #WVA #Travel

I love being scared when the actual risk of danger is relatively small: riding roller coasters, visiting haunted houses, reading (and writing) ghost stories, watching scary movies, etc.  So when my best friend suggested we take our families on a 3-hour zip line “Canopy Tour” in Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, I agreed enthusiastically. 

My two boys have inherited this adrenaline-rush-seeking gene from me, and my husband is usually game for anything athletic.  My friend’s husband and her two daughters were on board as well.  After all, the 8 of us had visited the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas together and all tackled the steepest, longest waterslide I’ve ever seen.  If we could do that, we could do this.

We did ask our 19-year-old lead guide if anyone had ever died on the course.  He assured us that had never happened; if it had, the park would no longer exist.  The safety measures they had in place were very impressive.  But once you started that course, you were up in the treetops for the duration—there is no way to get up or down.  So we were told that everyone needed to use the bathroom before hand, because if they have to rappel you down, you are done. 

He and our other guide went through all the possible scenarios and procedures with us, and he probably thought he’d covered any situation.  He said he’d seen it all…but we ended up proving him wrong in the first 15 minutes!

The view from the treetops - 3 states visible: MD on the left, VA in the middle, WVA on the right

Throughout the course, each group has 2 guides with them, one who goes first to help catch you and unclip you as you land, and one who is at the start platform before you go, hooking you onto the line.  In the meantime, you are ALWAYS hooked to a tether on the platform.  So you are always hooked to something, either the center of the platform or the line.  There are 8 tethers plus 2 for guides and that’s the max that can go together.

There I go!

Our group got through the first 2 stations, and then there was a wooden suspension bridge you have to cross, since you’re headed up to a higher platform and a zip line alone won’t work.  So it’s shaky footing but your zip lines are attached to a cable above.

They space you out as you cross.  My friend was well ahead of me when she lost her footing.  She started flying backwards because she was so far uphill at that point.  She could have grabbed any of the stationary ropes along the sides of the bridge, but instead she grabbed her zip line, which of course was moving backwards with her.  Not helpful.  So she was yelling, “I can’t stop” and dragging her heels across the boards to try.

BOTH her shoes came off in this process and fell about 50 feet to the ground.  I had to catch her with my legs to stop us both from continuing backwards.  When we managed to finally get over, the guide asked, “Where are your shoes?”  My friend, who now had only socks and torn up heels, was worried she would hold the group behind us up.  So she said, “Forget it, I don’t need shoes.  I’m fine.”

They never told us we weren't allowed to lose our shoes along the way

But the lead guide said he could not let her continue without shoes.  Since this had never happened, he had to figure out what to do.  In the end, he opened a trap door and rappelled down to the forest floor.  He found her shoes, then had to run back to the start of the course, since there’s no other way up.  He had to zip though (literally), going ahead of others to get back to us.

Meanwhile, we were stuck.  You need 2 guides to move forward (and shoes).  The second guide said the next group might pass us, but I pointed out there were only so many tethers on the platform.  No way could another group of 8 come onto our platform and fit, let alone be tied safely to the platform.  They were stuck too, as was anyone behind them.  So, we held up the entire course for nearly 30 minutes.  Slightly embarrassing.  

Let’s just say we had a lot of laughs, finished the course, and made sure we got out of there before the group behind us made it to the ground.  And our guide got a huge tip.

Friday Fitness - Zumba - Kathryn Knight

I’ve been teaching step aerobics for 22 years now, but Zumba has been the latest craze in cardio classes—and it has proved its staying power.  At the urging of some of my class members, I earned my Zumba certification about 5 years ago.  At first, I was a little frustrated.  I have no background whatsoever in Latin dance, and learning the salsa, cumbia, flamenco, and samba took me way outside my comfort zone.  Not only was I expected to do these dances, I had to be able to teach them to a class of people looking for an hour’s workout with little downtime between songs.

But I persevered, because once I start something, I rarely give up (see: writing two full-length novels, lol).  I practiced at home, forced my regular classes to try out a new dance with me, and attended other instructor’s classes. 

 

 

I didn’t love having to fill an hour with just Latin-inspired music, though…and soon I realized other instructors would just take ANY upbeat song they liked and create a dance for it.  Which just proves the age-old adage "everything old becomes new again": the format of specific dances choreographed to popular songs is EXACTLY how floor aerobics began in the first place.  I’d come full circle.

Creative dance moves not being my forte, I quickly discovered a treasure trove of examples: youtube is FULL of Zumba instructors willing to happily share their latest choreography.  I’ll pick a song I like, do a quick search, and instantly have dozens of routines to help inspire me.  Since I’m a perfectionist, I tend to watch every video and pick out the moves I like the best, then piece them together in a way that works for me.  And my packed classes tell me the members appreciate my efforts.

The benefits of Zumba are substantial.  One study showed the AVERAGE number of calories burned during an hour of Zumba is 817.  That is a great deal for an hour’s worth of exercise, and doing the moves with more intensity can propel that number even higher.  Zumba is a full body workout—while you are getting your heart rate up, you are also utilizing many different muscle groups throughout class.  Traditional fitness moves get thrown into the dances: squats, lunges, shuffles, jacks, etc.  But the other key is that Zumba is FUN!  The endorphins start flowing, and daily worries take a backseat as you dance your cares away.

 

 

So if you haven’t tried it, give it a shot.  You can find Zumba almost everywhere, and every instructor puts a different twist on their class.  You don’t have to be a great dancer—I get all levels of skill and fitness capabilities.  And although I mainly teach at a women’s gym, when I teach at our other location, I get plenty of men in class.

If you do decide to take the plunge, or if you’re already a fan of Zumba, leave a comment below with the name of the song you enjoy most during class!  I’m always looking for new routines to add to my class.

Ghostly Inspiration - Kathryn Knight

I’ve always wanted to see a ghost.  If there’s a Haunted Walking Tour, I’m there.  But still no luck.  I love all those paranormal reality shows on TV.  I’ve even considered paying to spend the night in a haunted colonial jail a few towns over.  If they had indoor plumbing, I would do it!

But the other night, I thought I heard someone climbing the stairs over and over, up and down, accompanied by the sound of change jingling from a pocket.  Now, my husband runs a few mornings a week, and sometimes he does the stairs a few times to warm up, but I lay there in the dark thinking, why does he have a pocketful of change when he’s going running?  Then I rolled over and saw that he was still in bed next to me, and both our sons were at sleepovers.

My stairs don't actually look anything like that!

 

The noise stopped, but I still had to get up and investigate.  I didn’t find anything, but in the darkness of 1:30 a.m., I decided maybe it wouldn’t be so cool to see a ghost.  At least not in my own home!

But I admit I had a lot of fun writing the scenes in Silver Lake when our heroine Rain Anderson actually sees the ghost.  As much as she wants to help her old friend’s spirit find peace, encountering her ghost is terrifying.  Luckily Jason is at the lake house too—but even he, a Fourth degree black belt in Karate, can’t do much about a ghost determined to get her message through!

I had to tap into a more sinister place to bring the ghost in Gull Harbor “to life”.  While I would never define my novels as horror stories, the paranormal parts are designed to elicit a few chills.  And the ghost in Gull Harbor is very angry and aggressive—for a good reason.  Can psychic medium Claire Linden figure out what happened before tragedy strikes again?  And can Max Baron, her former boyfriend, get past Claire’s resentment in enough time to try to help keep her safe?

How about you?  Has anyone seen a ghost?  I’d love to hear your haunting stories - and it just might help kick my imagination into gear for my next ghost story :)

My TV interview - Kathryn Knight

In April, I blogged about my TV debut on a local cable channel.  I was interviewed by the host of Books and The World during the same whirlwind week Gull Harbor was hitting #1 in the free Kindle rankings.  After the interview, I was a bit shaky (truthfully I was shaky before and during, as well!) and I could barely remember if I'd strung two words together correctly.  But I had to wait to find out, since a) the interview had to go through editing before it was ready to air and b) I don't have access at home to this channel.

After an agonizing 5 weeks, I found the DVD copy in my mailbox at 11:00 at night when I went out to grab something from my car.  I was leaving for a long-anticipated girls' weekend vacation in the morning, so I said to myself, "I shouldn't watch it now.  What if I did terribly?"  I decided to go upstairs to bed and get some sleep, then instead I promptly inserted the DVD into my computer and poured a glass of wine.

I thought I did pretty well, for a first-timer!  However, that knowledge did not let me finally trudge upstairs to finish packing and get a restful sleep.  I had to watch it once more.  And then question whether I really did okay, or whether I was fooling myself.  Should I wake my husband and make him watch?  Since it was now midnight, I decided he would not be a willing critic.  Adrenaline poured through my veins, and even that glass of pinot grigio did nothing to calm me down after that.  I lay in bed staring at the ceiling most of the night, finally drifting off for a solid half hour before my alarm went off at the crack of dawn for me to catch my train to girls' weekend.

Much more relaxed after a mini-vacation with the high school friends who helped inspire Silver Lake, I settled down to figure out youtube.  I was worried, but since my first book came out, I've mastered blogging, twitter, a Facebook page, Pinterest, and Goodreads, so I told myself I could handle this.  And it really was not hard to upload the DVD, although it broke it up at the end--I believe the interview ran slightly over the 30 minutes allotted free on youtube.

So, if anyone wants to take a peek, or is looking for a reason to put an unpleasant task aside for 30 minutes, here it is:  Books and The World interview

and here's Part 2 (last few minutes), you know, if you've got to see how it ends ;)

Gull Harbor *giveaway* on #Kindle! Kathryn Knight

The authors of The Author Roast and Toast are hosting me this weekend with a fun virtual trip to Cape Cod, the setting of Gull Harbor, my new ghost story/romance.  To celebrate the new release, one free e copy will be given to a lucky commenter - here's the link for a chance to win!

http://authorroastandtoast.blogspot.com/2013/07/kathryn-knight-gull-harbor-5th-july.html

I'm at the Author Roast & Toast! Kathryn Knight

Today I'm being hosted at the Author Roast and Toast - come on by if you have a second, we're celebrating Gull Harbor's release! 

http://authorroastandtoast.blogspot.com/2013/07/kathryn-knight-gull-harbor-5th-july.html

Author Roast & Toast is a fun blog created by four authors with my publisher, The Wild Rose Press.  This blog celebrates author milestones and promotes books with fun "themed" scenarios tied to the featured book.  And handsome Oliver is always on hand to serve food and drinks!  Hope you can visit and celebrate with us in Gull Harbor, Cape Cod, as we embark on a wild boat ride and hunt for ghosts!