Voodoo and Ghosts in Bayou Myth

I don't do many book reviews here, so you know when I do a book review it is because it is particularly ghostly and because I really thought the book was interesting and worth reading.  Both of these things are true of  Mary Ann Loesch's Bayou Myth.  Bayou Myth is the story of a young woman, Joan, who is descended from the infamous voodoo queen Marie Laveau.  Our young heroine is not only descended from Marie Laveau, but she is haunted by her dead "grandmere's" ghost.  Marie Laveau knows her granddaughter is heir to her voodoo powers and is guiding her in their proper use.  The tragedy of it all is that the young Joan doesn't want these powers.  She just wants to be an ordinary girl.  I loved the haunting, voodoo elements of this book.  I also thought Ms. Loesch does a brilliant job of conveying Joan's voice.  The voice feels authentic and captures the reader immediately.  It pulls you into the mystery of the novel and makes you long for more. The only thing I felt was a weak about this book was the writing style not involved with Joan's voice.  Sometimes it lacked a certain poetry I enjoy in my novels.  However, Joan's voice and the story more than make up for this small weakness and I would definitely pick up this piece of haunting, voodoo literature before Halloween.  Below you'll find a post by Ms. Loesch describing her voodoo inspiration and an expert from the novel.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did :).

The Voodoo of Bayou Myth

 I have always been fascinated by other religions--especially the more "out there" ones. I was brought up Episcopalian which is basically just Diet Catholic--all of the sin, but no need for the confession! While my parents were pretty open minded, we didn't talk a lot about religion around the dinner table. It wasn't until I was in high school, about the same age as my heroine Joan from my young adult novel Bayou Myth that I even began to really think about religions outside my own.

 I guess that's natural since the teenage years are when you start to question everything!

 About that time I saw the movie, The Serpent and the Rainbow. It's basically about this scientist who travels to Haiti to learn about a man who died and then came back as a zombie. While he's there, he learns a lot about Haitian voodoo and goes a little crazy. Okay. I admit that it wasn't the greatest horror movie I'd ever seen, it did get me interested in voodoo. Everything I'd ever seen or read about voodoo had made me think it was just a crazy cult thing, but the movie indicated that the story of The Serpent and the Rainbow was based on true events.

 Curious, I did some research and discovered that voodoo was much more than some spooky blood smeared rituals meant to frighten people. It's actually a blend of Haitian and Catholic beliefs. Yes, there are some elements that are supernaturally charged, (the creation of zombies is one example) but the intentions of voodoo--to love and be true to oneself--is essentially the same as other faiths.

 Now, New Orleans voodoo does have a slightly different feel to it. That's because in Louisiana voodoo really is like a spicy pot of gumbo--it’s a blend of a little bit of everything! There, you have voodoo priestess who can make you love potions, create spells meant to get rid of an enemy, or make a gris gris bag to bring you good luck. This is the voodoo that Hollywood likes to show the world and  that's probably why it has such a confusing reputation.

 When I set out to create a young adult tale that featured voodoo, I wanted to be respectful. So I did my best to include information about voodoo that is both authentic anda bit on the spooky side, too. But you can't write about New Orleans voodoo and not include one of the most famous voodoo priestess of all time either--Marie Laveau. Marie was the woman who really brought voodoo to the forefront of the New Orleans world. She is still revered--and a little bit feared--to this day!

 So, of course I had to put her in Bayou Myth, too. In fact, she is the great, great, grandmother of my heroine, Joan Renault. She tends to guide Joan in the realm of voodoo, teaching her the customs and rites that will one day make Joan a powerful voodoo priestess. But like lots of teenagers, Joan isn't exactly willing to be bossed around by a lady who's been dead for almost two hundred years!

 The really fun part of writing Bayou Myth was combining my research on voodoo with the Greek myths that so many of us are familiar with. You may recognize some Greek tales that now have just a little voodoo twist to them!

 Hopefully, I've got you curious about my latest novel. Here's a teaser to wet your appetite a little more….

 As a sixteen year old voodoo queen in the making, Joan Renault just wants to be like all the other girls in the small town of Monte Parish, Louisiana—obsessed with boys and swamped with social lives. If the other kids would quit calling her “hoodoo hag,” she might have a small shot at normality. It would also help if Joan’s weekend outings with her secret crush, Dave, weren’t always being interrupted by her dead Grandmere, the legendary Marie Laveau. After all, it’s hard to make out with your best friend when your grandmother is watching! But when you come from a long line of voodoo priestesses with dried gator heads decorating the wall of their huts, normal doesn’t come easily.


When Joan witnesses the brutal sacrifice of a child to a tree Druid, she learns her Grandmere’s scandalous past has come back to haunt those living in the present. Hera, a vengeful voodoo priestess, is determined to use the residual energy of Pandora’s Box to revive a sleeping voodoo god and declare war on the descendants of Marie Laveau, especially Joan. Suddenly, Greek myths are being re-enacted all over town, and Joan has her hands full trying to sort it all out. With the approach of Samedi’s Day—the voodoo day of resurrection—Joan must learn to accept her destiny in order to stop the approaching threat to her family and friends.

 Mary Ann Loesch is an award winning fiction writer from Texas. Her urban fantasy, Nephilim, was published in July 2011 by Lyrical Press Inc.  An avid blogger for All Things Writing (http://www.allthingswriting.blogspot.com) and Loesch’s Muse (http://www.loeschsmuse.blogspot.com), Mary Ann has also contributed stories in the horror anthology, All Things Dark and Dastardly. Her latest book, Bayou Myth, was released in June 2012. While she loves dirty martinis and cuddling with her dachshund, she loves fan mail even more! Contact her through her website at www.maryannloesch.com.

BUY BAYOU MYTH NOW AT!   http://www.amazon.com/Bayou-Myth-Mary-Ann-Loesch/dp/0984657819/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1345046471&sr=8-1&keywords=Bayou+Myth

Short excerpt for Bayou Myth

A teenage girl stood in the hazy glow. Unlike the other spirits, her form held solid. I got the sense that she drew energy from the surrounding spirits. Her lowered head made it so I couldn’t see her face, but the style of dress she wore dated back at least a century. Not surprising, really. Monte Parish could trash its roots to the late 1700’s.

The ghost lifted her head. Her eyes were empty sockets and rotted flesh hung from her face revealing bone. She watched me, and the hatred pumping from her aura sucked my breath away. Her head moved as if she were looking at Dave. A sly smile formed on what remained of her lips, and the hatred crawling in the air multiplied. She moved towards us with an unsteady gait. The closer she got, the sicker to my stomach I felt.

She meant to harm Dave. But not because he’d done anything to her. It was because he belonged to me. Though she never said a word, her intentions spilt off her and my psychic conduit picked it up. 

“Let’s go. We need to leave right now.”

“What’s wrong?” Dave asked, but he complied with my request and closed up the tailgate.

The girl continued our direction. She raised a hand, and the sleeve of her dress slid back. Even from the distance we were at, the long white scar on her arm could be seen clearly in the moonlight. She pointed a finger at me.

You saw…the words hissed across the cemetery, raising goose bumps on my arms.

Ghostly, Paranormal, and Fun Books for the End of Summer

 I have been reading a good bit lately and I've been lucky to have come across some truly haunting stories.   Some of these books involve ghosts and hauntings, and one is just good fun, but they are all worth a read.  Sometimes the best ghost stories can be found in fiction and these books are definitely examples of that.  I love haunting and supernatural stories that take me to another place.  They never get old.  Whether I'm exploring regional folklore or reading a good novel,  they make my day a little better.  These are some of the books that have made my day a little better lately.

Her Fearful Symmetry:   This bestselling novel was written by Audry Niffenegger, the author of A Time Traveler's Wife.  It hasn't been as well reviewed as The Time Traveller's Wife and I've read that some folks have been disappointed by it, but I loved this book.  It is set outside of London's Highgate Cemetery and involves some strange theories about ghosts and their relationship to the mortal world.   How could I not love this book?  It tells the tale of two sets of twins and their unhealthy relationships with each other and the rest of the world.   One twin is a ghost for the duration of the book and her struggle to become part of the living world is the driving force of the novel.   This book is creepy and the end is disturbing.  I think it is a haunting addition to any ghost lovers library.

Shadow Fox: This is Ashley Barnard's debut novel and it is excellent. This book is not ghostly, but it is fun. This book is a dark, urban fantasy about a young man who is struggling with Heroine addiction in London. His life is a mess and everything seems to go wrong for him. He is self destructive and would seemed doomed until he finds a mysterious journal that sheds light on his shadowy antecedents. Suddenly, he finds himself in a world where his gifts will make him the hero. This is the first book in a series and it definitely hooks you a draws you into a mysterious world.

The Abandoned: This is Amanda Steven's lovely prequel to the Graveyard Queen series. This book has it all. It is the story of a young psychology intern working on her master's degree. She works at a shadowy mental hospital and picks up a ghost when one of her elderly patients dies. After she overhears a devious conversation, she is drawn into a mystery that involves old cemeteries, secret societies, and haunted places. She also finds herself drawn into a relationship with a sexy ghost hunter. This is definitely haunted fun and to make it better, it is free on kindle.

Fringeology

Fringelology is an exploration of the paranormal by award winning journalist Steve Volt.  Steve Volt explores the world of the paranormal with a cautious eye in this fun book.  The book covered a lot of ground and explored a wide range of the paranormal.  Volt started with a unique hypothesis.   He set out with the argument that the study of the paranormal is polarized and biased to the point that it is almost never regarded in any kind of  real fashion.  He argues that there tend to be three groups and that all three groups are so passionate and furiously biased that they can't even really look at the subject of the paranormal in an unbiased light.  He lists these groups as skeptics, religious folks, and paranormal true believers.  He says the skeptics tend to lump religious and paranormal together and will defend the most unlikely natural explanation  before even thinking about a paranormal explanation.  The religious people tend to view the paranormal as the dark arts and the true believers in the paranormal will fight to believe any paranormal event no matter how unlikely it is to have occurred.   He is most passionate about skeptics who he believes are irrational in their closed mindedness.  He neither endorses nor argues against the paranormal but rather says that we should study it with he same objective, open mindedness we do any other occurrence rather than say faulty plumbing is the explanation for every phantom noise when it couldn't possibly be faulty plumbing.

Volt then presents a number of interesting chapters which cover various aspects of the paranormal.  The chapter called Death and Not Dying was the most interesting to me as it covered Elisabeth Kulber-Ross's interesting journey from being the authority on death and coping with death and grieving into a world of near death experiences and the paranormal.  Her journey is riveting.  Other chapters discuss UFOs, lucid dreams, ghosts, telepathy, and communicating with the dead.   Volt's usual way of exploring these topics is to pick a respectable scientist who has studied or been involved in the study of said subject and explore their findings, life, and opinions.

Overall,  I love this book.  It is well written and covers a lot of ground that has never been covered.  I couldn't put the book down.  I like Volt's argument that the paranormal should be study objectively and I believe he does an excellent job supporting this.   Volt is a good writer and his style made this book a quick and easy read.  However,  I am nit picky and Volt spent a good deal of time with psychologists and psychiatrists.   It did bother the hell out of me that he couldn't seem to keep the two straight.  Kubler-Ross is  a  psychiatrist.  She went to medical school.  Psychologists don't go to medical school.  We aren't MDs.  Throughout the book he called her a psychologist so often I didn't know in later chapters when he talked about psychologists if he was really talking about psychologists or psychiatrists.  This is important because psychiatrists study the medication end of the field, while psychologists are more mired in research and talk therapy.    He also presented new theoretical ideas that groups of psychiatrists or psychologists (I can't tell) dreamt up and presented them as actual diagnoses followed by statements that diagnoses aren't  real.   Just for the record,  according to the international medical community diagnoses are real and help to treat people who are sick.  For example, diagnosing someone with schizophrenia helps find the proper treatment for them.  In order to be a real diagnosis to be considered real,  it must come out of the DSM or ICD (the most current revision) and have a code and have been agreed on by an enormous panel of professionals.  I can't just dream up farting monster syndrome write a paper about it and call it a diagnosis.  It would take years of study and tons of support and research by more people than me to make my farting monster syndrome a working diagnosis that I could bill for.  Volt was similarly weak in his explanation of  the placebo effect, which he described as close to paranormal.  I won't explain why, because that would probably annoy everyone but me,  but there are oceans of data explaining why the placebo effect occurs and none of it is paranormal.  Volt also ignored theories on poltergeists that attribute them to one person when he described his house as being haunted by a poltergeist.   I could go on like this with other nit picky points of science and medicine and the paranormal for pages, but I'll stop here and say that had Volt been a little more careful in these types of details I would say his book is up there with Spook as one of my favorite paranormal books.  Volt managed to collect some really fascinating paranormal stories and tie them together with a brilliant writing style.  For me the devil may be in the details, but perhaps I am being too harsh.  To the normal reader who isn't a psychologist  these details would be lost.  The flow of the narrative and the structure of the book would be more pronounced and Volt certainly tells many good stories of those fighting for a scientific regard for paranormal subjects in a world than generally gives them as much regard as unicorns and fairy god mothers.

Book Review: Ghosts and Haunts of Tennessee

Tennessee has some of the best ghost stories I have ever heard.  As an Alabama girl,  I'm often jealous of the state just North of me.  It is so rich in folklore and ghostly tales that it makes the rest of us look poor.  The Belle Witch alone could and has filled entire books with her witchly horror.This is why I was thrilled to read Christopher K. Coleman's Ghosts and Haunts of Tennessee.   There are a lot of books about the ghosts of Tennessee and the Tennessee Valley.   This book stood apart to me in the way it was laid out.  As a paranormal explorer, I love to travel to and visit the locations I read about in books.  Some collections of ghost stories make this almost impossible to do.  They don't give detailed locations so there is no way to find the haunted location and visit it yourself.  This deficit in so many books makes me sad.  Coleman gives addresses and locations for every haunted spot he describes making this a paranormal tourist's dream.

Ghosts and Haunts of Tennessee is more than a guidebook, however.  It is also a fun collection of folklore and Southern superstition.   My favorite chapter is called Mountain Witches.  It traces the origins of Tennessee's mountain witches back to Celtic lands and into the mountains of Tennessee.  It lists many old charms to be used as protections against enchantment.  These might include putting a dime in your shoe, laying a broom across the threshold of your home, and spreading salt around your home.   The book also explores the numerous mysterious monsters and beasties that wander Tennessee.   It discusses my favorite beastie, old green eyes, and many other mysterious creatures.   Ghost and Haunts of Tennessee is a fun collection of ghosts and folklore for any Southerner, especially those of us who live close enough to go find some of Coleman's haunts.

Ghost Dogs of the South

It doesn't take too much to get me really excited.  I love the little things in life.  I find immense joy in a good meal and a good book.  Everything else can fall apart, but if I have the little things, I'm happy.  The little thing that brought a huge smile to my face today is the book Ghost Dogs of the South by Randy Russell and Janet Barnett.  I love ghosts, dogs, and the South so this book was made for me.  It is a collection of dog related ghost stories.  There are 20 Southern, ghost tales in this charming collection and I enjoyed them all.

My favorite one is from Mississippi and is a little bit scary.  It is the story of a charming little girl.   She is so sweet she takes a cake to her elderly neighbor for his birthday.  Her neighbor loves animals and has a house filled with cats.  When the girl delivers the cake,  the neighbor tells her there are puppies in the back yard.  She picks out a puppy and names it Buddy and the two are inseparable from then on.  The dog even sleeps with the little girl every night.  Time passes as it always does and the girl's mother notices that the bond between girl and dog are fading.  She asks the little girl why the dog isn't going with her into her room or sleeping with her at night.  The girls says that "Mildred"  hates Buddy.

The mother asks about Mildred.  The girls tells her mother that Mildred used to live in the house and she left her locket behind.  The mother was concerned.   She asked her daughter who Mildred was and the girl laughed and said that Mildred was standing behind her.   Chills went up and down the mother's spine.  She knew something had to be done and she asked her little girl for the locket.  It took some coaxing.  The girl didn't want to part with the trinket and she liked her friend Mildred, but the mother was firm and took the locket.   She took the locket out to the backyard.  Buddy followed her and together the two buried the locket far from the house where the little girl could never find it.  She dug deep.  The treasure would never be found.  Mildred was never heard from again and Buddy returned to his position on the little girl's bed and in her heart, but if it hadn't have been for Buddy the mother never would have noticed her daughter's unnatural friendship with Mildred.

I think I will post a few more of these little stories because they are so wonderful, but if you want to read all of them you may have to buy the book :).

Book Review: Ghostopolis

This is my second book review this week.   I suppose that probably says a lot about my week.   It is cold outside and there has been snow on the roads.  The children have been sick and a sense of Christmas quiet has taken hold of my house.  This has given me excessive amounts of time to read.  This is wonderful.

Ghostopolis is a graphic novel for younger readers, but I enjoyed this book as much as my children.  Its protagonist is a young boy, Garth, who is dying.  There is a secondary protagonist in the form of a burnt out detective.  In truth, the detective is really more of a ghost hunter with a detective feel.  This protagonist gives us some surprisingly adult glimpses into a man torn between two worlds.  The ghost hunter works for a government agency whose job it is to send ghosts back to the afterlife.  Most of the ghosts don't seem to happy about this and he has a very stressful job.   He is also tortured by his own love for a beautiful ghost woman who dwells in between worlds.  When the ghost hunter accidentally transports Garth to the afterlife with one of his ghosts, we are transported to a world of magic and wonder where the dead rule and the living are the ghosts.  As the detective tries to find a way to bring the young boy out of the afterlife,  the young boy travels the afterlife learning about the rules of his new world and discovering secrets about who he really is. 

I read a lot of books with my boys and mostly I just make my way through them.  I endure.  This book I loved.  Like Harry Potter or The Golden Compass, Ghostopolis had an appeal that stretched way beyond its intended reading level.  In fact,  after I put my son to bed the first night we read together,  I sat up late finishing the book.  The illustrations are beautiful and the story is intriguing.  My husband also finished this graphic novel on his own.  It was a great read.  John Hodan at graphic novel reviews said, "Immediately, it is clear this book is something special."   I couldn't agree more!  I've also heard that a movie version of Ghostopolis is going to be made with Hugh Jackman as our burnt out ghost hunting detective type.  That should defiantly be interesting. 

Book Review: The Dead Path

It took me quite a while to make it through this unusual book.  I've grown accustomed to reading books that are high on action and low on art.   Sometimes I find myself wondering if the art behind the written word is lost in horror and fantasy.  This book definitely rediscovers the art of words.  It slowly pulls you into a world of darkness and dread, a world where the dead talk and something infinitely evil lurks in the woods, killing you children and feeding on fear.

After Nicholas Close's wife dies tragically, his entire world begins to unravel.   His friends blame him for his wife's death and he blames himself.   To make matters worse, he can see the dead everywhere.   To escape his tragedy, he flees London and returns to he small town where he grew up.   He returns to his mother's home.  His mother believes Nicholas is cursed and fears his return.  Death has followed him his entire life and she is more afraid of him than ever.   After Nicholas's return, strange events remind him of the mysterious deaths of his childhood that were marked by dead birds with sticks where their heads should be.  The story steadily unwinds from here, bringing the dead of the woods and death closer and closer with each breath.

The Dead Path is Stephen M. Irwin's debut novel and isn't a light read, but it is a beautiful read and for lovers of things dealing with ghosts and darkness it is definitely worth the time.

Book Review: Maybe This Time by Jennifer Crusie

There is nothing more magnificent than a really good book.   Maybe This Time is a really good book and it is a Gothic ghost story  and that just makes it that more delicious.   I don't usually read romances.  I find them artificial and boring, but the characters in this book were real enough to make the romance interesting and the ghosts were more than interesting enough to make up for the kissing.  Of course, the kissing lead to sex, which makes the romance much more palatable for me as well.

Maybe This Time is the story of a woman, Andy,  in her thirties who is haunted by her first marriage. She's been divorced for ten years and she wants to move on.  She's  found a man she wants to marry and all she has to do is cut the final cord that attaches her to her ex-husband.   Her ex-husband keeps sending her money and she hates it.   She summons all her courage and goes to him to demand that he stop sending her money, only to be suckered into doing a job for him.  He wants her to go down to Southern Ohio to check on his orphaned niece and nephew who live in an old mansion that was moved from England to the states over one hundred years ago.   The children have been abandoned by two nannies, one aunt, and their father.  Death hangs over their head like a noose and the children themselves are more than a little odd.

Andy goes down to Southern Ohio on the condition that her ex never contacts her again after she does this for him.  He's also going to pay her enough money to financially liberate her forever.   Andy's plan is to get things back together and get the kids out of the house in less than a month.  Unfortunately,  the children are held to the house my some particularly malevolent ghosts and Andy is going to need help from her ex-husband and everyone else to deal with the evil lurking in the shadows of the old house.  She also has to confront her own demons and awaken her lost love to free the children from the ghosts.

Maybe This Time was not only a good ghost story, but a very well written novel with an engaging plot.    I would recommend it to anyone.   St. Martin's press has also offered to give one free copy of this book away to one of my readers.  So, if you would like to read this wonderful Gothic romance,  comment below and I will enter you in the contest!

Book Review: There's Something Under the Bed!

While I’ve been hidden away in the quiet of Northern Michigan in the sheltering arms of my beautiful family home, I’ve had plenty of free time to catch up on my reading. One of the first books I read while I was here was There’s Something under the Bed by Ursula Bielski. This book was a very pleasant surprise. I find many paranormal books to be very difficult to read. They may have interesting information and their writer’s may be well informed, but the writing is often stiff and bland and I have to shuffle my way through them.


Ursula Bielski’s book is nothing like this. She is a very good writer and the history of dirt can be interesting in the hands of a good enough writer. Ms. Bielski’s subject matter is very interesting too, making this book dangerously interesting. I’ve seen several books published recently on children and the paranormal and how to deal with children who see ghosts or have paranormal experiences. This is by far the most interesting of the group. Ms. Bielski starts with old folklore and the deep roots our child rearing practices have in folklore and superstition. She explains children’s fears and discusses the history of popular magical creatures we encourage our children to believe in such as the sandman, Santa Claus, and the tooth fairy. She then branches off and tells numerous interesting case studies of children who’ve been involved in the paranormal in one way or another.

My favorite and the most horrifying chapter in this book is the one on toys. Ms. Bielski tells numerous true stories of demonic dolls and wicked Ouija boards. I will never have another doll or Ouija board after reading this book. One of the creepiest stories is the story of three girls at a slumber party playing with the Ouija board. The board brings all kinds of wickedness that the girls are never able to dispel. I also really enjoyed the chapter on children who see angels and saints.

This book was so good that since we’ve gotten here three other people have read it.

Book Review: The Little Book of Curses and Maledictions for Everyday Use

Curse aren't exactly ghost stories, but their black shadow can hang over many people's lives and spread outwards leaving ghosts behind them.   They dip into the paranormal and remind us that there are many things beyond our control.  They whisper of dark forces and remind us to be very careful who we piss off.  For all these reasons, I couldn't resist this little book.

Dawn Rae Downton's book of curses is fabulous, not so much because I practice witch craft and curse those that give me the stink eye in my spare time, but because it presents old curses and spells like other books present recipes.  It lays them out with an ingredient and instruction list,  all it lacks are the colorful photos of the finished project (cursed man with warts all over his face perhaps?)  It wraps these recipes in colorful jokes and stories that make this a fun bathroom book for anyone whose ever dreamt of getting back at their boss or finding a way to get back at their ex-husband.  It uses wisdom from the Simpsons  such as "revenge is a dish best served three times."  It also lists some of the most famous curses.

My favorite curse in this book is the superman curse.  Apparently,  the  2006 Superman almost didn't get made because of this curse.  Every actor offered the role turned it down.  Problems plagued it from the beginning.  Similar problems have plagued every production of  Superman from the beginning.  From Margot Kidder's nervous breakdown, to Marlon Brando's daughter's suicide, to George Reeves untimely death.  Every Superman ride ever made has broken.  The Ride of Steel in Massachusetts failed injuring several riders.  Who set this terrible curse is motion?  They say the pair who created the comic book character and 1938 cursed Superman after they were swindled out of the rights for $130.

So if you are looking for a recipe for revenge or you just have a wicked sense of humor,  you might want to sneak a peak at The Little Book of Curses and Maledictions for Everyday Use.