This month’s Round Robin topic is: Do you believe in angels, spirits, ghosts, demons or other ethereal beings or locations? What do you think when they appear in stories? Have you used them in your own stories.
Absolutely. There’s too much in this world that’s unexplained to not believe. This world is a magical, mysterious place. Most likely, there are multiple dimensions we may never know about.
Have you ever read about those people who just mysteriously disappear? Or the Bermuda Triangle? I’m sure I’m not alone with the belief the Bermuda Triangle could be a portal to another dimension.
So, I’ve always believed that if you were open to the other side, they can and will contact you. This is why it’s so important to protect yourself if you’re trying to make contact. Something like the Ouiji Board can bring in anything, and it’s probably best not to mess with it at all.
I’m sure that growing up in a house where unexplained things were something of the norm helps. When I was nine–maybe younger, my mother learned how to read tarot. She had an aptitude for it. If you talk to any of my childhood friends, they’ll tell you that we could be sitting in my house alone and still feel like someone was watching us. Things would disappear for years and then show up some place I’d checked multiple times. I’d sit in the living room alone in the house, engrossed in a book, only to have someone call my name. It wasn’t loud–more like a faint echo from across a great distance. With each call, the pitch changed, until I looked up. Then it stopped completely. Stairs that only creaked if someone stepped on them would creak when no one was there; doors opened and closed of their own accord.
This wasn’t an old house. Matter of fact, my parents had built it.
To me, it seems only natural that if you believe in ghosts or spirits, you’ll believe there are angels, demons, or other ethereal beings.
As someone who does believe, I do enjoy a good paranormal. That being said, I’ve grown tired of vampires and demons. I’m more likely to pick up a paranormal book with ghosts, angels, succubi than one with vampires or demons. Mainly because it seems like they’ve been done so much that authors try too hard to make theirs different rather than letting the story speak for itself.
I most certainly do use them in my stories. Matter of fact, most of my stories include some form of supernatural/otherworldly being.
Hieroglyphs is about an archaeologist who discovers an ancient scroll that opens the doors to an equally old curse that rouses the Egyptian gods. Last Chance has well-meaning, matchmaking ghosts. My latest novel The Whispering House has some really nasty creatures in it and a protagonist with some interesting powers.
Even my short stories include paranormal elements. Trash was a short story about a woman who is possessed by a demon and kills her children to get back at her ex. I have another one with a vampire (written many, many years ago) and another with shape shifters.
My most recent story, just contracted with Decadent Publishing, is a contemporary erotic romance. This one has no ghosts, ghouls, zombies, demons, or angels. Watch for the announcement for its release over the next couple of months. (No release date yet, so I can’t say.)
How about you? Do you believe? Do you read books with angels, ghosts, spirits, demons and the like? If you write, do you include them in your stories?
If you enjoyed this blog post, please stop by to see what other authors think:
While a non-believer I still enjoy reading novels with paranormal elements. I feel the same about vampires as you do.
Robin,
Sometimes I come across a good vampire story, but, for the most part, it’s the same trope over and over. LOL
Have you read my vampire books, Marci? Since I’m so logical and scientifically-minded, my books offer a non-magical cause for vampirism, and instead involve alien spores that travel between planets on cosmic winds. When they land on a planet with no life forms having iron in their bodies, they’re harmless dust. But on a planet like ours, where iron is in the blood, well, that’s another story! And I tie in the Mayans and their prediction of doom.
I haven’t, Fiona. I read a vampire book recently and was very disappointed. I’ll have to check out yours.
“Things would disappear for years and then show up some place I’d checked multiple times.”
Marci, that’s the Borrowers. They are fun-loving little creatures that live in the cracks between the dimensions. They take things from one place, and put it elsewhere. Or they borrow it, then return it to the self-same place later. They HOWL with laughter at your reaction.
They’ve done this with quite a large object. My neighbor and I shared a firepump. We put this ready each spring, until autumn, because in the Australian countryside, bushfire is the greatest monster. One spring, it wasn’t in its usual place. We thought someone had stolen it. Three months later, there is was, in its proper storage location.
Borrowers.
🙂
Bob
Bob,
The on particular instance that comes to mind for me was a pair of expensive sunglasses I had. I kept them in a case under my driver’s seat. One day, I climbed into my car, pulled the case out, and it was empty. I searched every cranny of that car to no avail. Every so often, I’d search again, even looking in that empty case, knowing they’d eventually show up. They did, but it took a good two years before I found them. Matter of fact, I was getting ready to throw the case out when I noticed there was something rattling around in it. When I opened it, there were the missing glasses… with a lens popped out on one side.
BTW, I kept my car locked.
Thanks for stopping by.
Borrowers. I like that concept. I’ll attribute it to you, Bob, but I’m going to use this in the future. Maybe not in a book, but definitely to explain the unexplainable. Thanks.
I loved the book and movie, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir and especially the captain or his ghost, so when my husband and I bought a 125-year-old home, I was so hoping there would be a ghost a lot like that Captain. Alas, if there was one, I never met him or her. But I believe they exist. Oddly enough I built my own dream house by the sea in Maine shortly after my husband died and while the mason was building the center chimney, I tucked my husband’s cross into it so he would always be around. About three or four years later I took a photo of my son and my mom in front of that fireplace and later when I saw the images in print there was a bright yellow orb on my son’s shoulder!
That’s really neat, Skye. I have a picture of me in costume surrounded by mist. I was sicker than a dog that day, but I had a performance to do and showed up anyway. This picture is of me sitting down and smiling. I’m inside, so no mist anywhere. I’ll have to find it and post it. If you look closely, you’ll see skulls, faces of animals, and all kinds of creepy things.
I loved your post Marci and your experiences in your haunted house. Also loved Bob’s – ‘borrowers.’
I’ve experienced a lot of “Borrowers” over the years, Beverly. Most of the time, they return the stuff in tact. 🙂
I loved your post, Marci, and that’s so interesting about your experiences as a child in the house your parents built. I totally agree that this world is a strange place and we’re only peeping through the keyhole. There’s so much we still don’t understand. Great post.
Thanks, Helen.