A Ghost Story Renaissance

I'd dabbled in writing ghost stories in the past, and some of my novels have had ghosts in them, but it wasn't until I was invited to be a permanent cast member of Ghost Stories LIVE! that I began writing ghost stories specifically for this event. For each event I usually find myself writing between three and four different stories- and then I grab one of them at the last minute as I rush out the door the night of the event. The remaining stories get set aside. I write new stories for the next event.

All of the stories written for past events are included in Miss Peculiar's Ghost Stories, Volume I. The book is available on Amazon.com.

The thing I am enjoying the most about the renaissance of the tradition of orally telling ghost stories is that my writer friends are all trying their hand at writing ghost stories and paranormal stories. I've been the privileged recipient of a ghost story written by Melissa Volker who performed/read her first ghost story at the February Boo! My Valentine Ghost Stories LIVE! event. It was her second ghost story that she sent me and it blew me away because she had a completely mind-blowing concept! I loved it!

Then came Mike Brenner with his The Final Ride, shared here on my blog.

Next came Judith Sessler with the beginning of her ghost story, shared last night.

And tonight I received Mike Brenner's novelette, The First Ride, which I believe is the first of what will be a trilogy, The Final Ride being the last story. I'm looking forward to reading it later tonight.

I feel honored that my writer/author friends entrust me with their newly written and in-progress ghost stories. Ghost stories are just a small part of what I write- but they are near and dear to my heart because I have had a life woven through with supernatural goings on and ghostly encounters. I've taken that in stride since I was a child as just a normal part of life, but evidently not everyone sees, senses, or hears ghosts, or has been plagued by a mischievous and somewhat destructive poltergeist, or been ordered to return home immediately by a ghostly voice only to find the house in the process of being burglarized, arriving in time to summon the police who apprehended the housebreaker (try explaining that to a police officer- 'Oh, the ghost upstairs found me in the next town over and told me to come home. I wisely kept that to myself, but everyone else knew about it!!) Not everyone has their late mother join them for Thanksgiving dinner  about a month and a half after her passing. Most people don't have the spirit of their best friend's recently deceased mother rapping on the dining room window as a sweet goodbye as she begins her journey in the world beyond.

I've had an interesting life full of different kinds of experiences.  But it's the ghosts I find most intriguing. I've never really been frightened by one, but I did bring home a nasty demonic spirit once that I, thankfully, banished by going to church the very next evening where the entire congregation prayed that foul entity away from me and out the open doors. That was a life changing experience, one I never want to repeat.

I write mostly from the depths of my imagination, but a few real details from my life are often sprinkled through each story.

I'm grateful for my friends who have embraced the long standing tradition of the ghost story and are giving it a modern twist and a plethora of new voices.

And now I have to excuse myself- I have a ghost story to write!