Ghost Hunting with Author Jennifer Rainey!

Goddess Fish Blog Tours presents author Jennifer Rainey and her new book The Bedlam's Eye!

She's here as part of my month-long Halloween event and I'm excited about her guest post. Know why? It's about ghost hunting! And if you've been following along with my new release coming on Halloween, you know one of my characters is a ghost hunter!

So Jennifer is here with two of her characters, who happen to be paranormal therapists. I've never heard of such a thing but I must say I'm intrigued. So I'll let them tell us more in their own words.

The Reality of Hunting Ghosts with Erasmus Bramble

Paranormal investigation. The words probably conjure mental images of people with night vision goggles sitting around in the dark and asking, “Is there anyone here who would like to communicate with us?”

I sometimes wish my job was so simple.

I want you to think of my partner, Antony Yeats, and myself as paranormal therapists, councelors. Yeats would say we’re Dr. Phil for ghosts, but I’m not terribly fond of that comparison. For one, neither of us are balding.

When I was a child, there was a spirit in my house who would linger about the bottom of the attic staircase. She didn’t say much. She had a bit of a staring problem, really, peering out of the dark with her empty eyes. I knew she needed help. She needed someone to talk to. I am fortunate enough to have the ability to communicate verbally with spirits. As I said, she was a ghost of few words, but I think our conversations helped her. She felt connected to the rest of the world and sometimes that’s all a spirit needs.

Most in my field go into a case looking to exterminate a spirit by destroying his affected object, the material object that allows him to present himself on our plane of existence. (The science is a bit complicated. I won’t bore you with the details, unless you’d like to meet for coffee later.) Yeats and I reason with spirits, try to help them, relocate them if necessary. Humans and ghosts can coexist. After all, spirits are merely humans without bodies; they deserve our respect.

I would like to amend that. Most spirits deserve our respect… the poltergeist who threw me into a wall last week did not.

We do this to help them. While you may find ghosts spooky or unsettling, just remember they were people, too. Yes, they may look a little different and they may walk through walls or startle you in the middle of the night, but underneath that they were once just like you. Ghosts aren’t really like the girl from The Ring.

Usually.

 Book Blurb!

When Erasmus Bramble finds the recently-deceased Angus Heyer rummaging through his kitchen cabinets, he knows he has a unique case on his hands. 

As paranormal investigators in rural Ohio, Ras and his business partner Antony Yeats tackle ghostly problems on a daily basis, from poltergeist exterminations to troubled spirits just looking for a shoulder to cry on. Angus isn’t looking for ghost therapy. He needs Ras and Yeats to help him retrieve a pocket watch stolen from him after death, a pocket watch that is said to be cursed: The Beldam’s Eye.

The skeptical Ras and Yeats agree to take Angus’s case, but they soon find themselves in over their heads, facing murder, theft and perilous dark magic. Is it all just backwoods superstition or is the curse of The Beldam’s Eye grisly reality?

And here's an excerpt where we get to meet a real ghost!

Ras could hear shuffling in the kitchen. He ruffled his hands through his wet hair and walked into the living room.

A ghost covered in soot rummaged through his kitchen cabinets, humming lowly to himself, and he smiled when he found a mug that looked like a purple cat. Its tail curled into the handle, and this amused him. The occasional spark of fire flew from his dark fingers.

Ras opened his mouth to speak, but was silenced by, “Well, you gonna stand there, or you gonna get me something to drink?” The ghost burst into laughter too quickly and turned to face him. His glowing orange eyes seemed somehow mirthful, but he didn’t let his guard down. Ghosts were known for their mood swings. Being reduced to nothing but a mass of paranormal energy complete with its own electromagnetic field will do that to a person. “I’m jokin’, I’m jokin’! I couldn’t drink anything anyway.”

Ras smiled. “I wonder why you’re looking through my cabinets, then.”

“Oh, just pokin’ around,” the ghost answered in a creaky voice. “Gettin’ to know ya. I’m gonna have to if we’re gonna work together, right?”

Ras laughed. “Really? What can you tell by looking at my coffee cups?”

“Well… you like cats? Purple ones, I reckon. You got a purple cat around here somewhere?”

Ras knew in situations like this, the worst thing one could do was antagonize the ghost. Sometimes a ghost was a little addled by the dying process. It was better to try to out-crazy a spirit, make them think you were the one with a screw loose.

“Not a purple one, I’m afraid,” Ras answered, “but I did have a blue one once. I’ve always been fond of blue cats!”

“Ah, you see! Close enough, right? And I could tell that just by pokin’ through your coffee cups. I’m a regular Sherlock Holmes.”

More about Jennifer!

 

Jennifer Rainey was raised by wolves who later sold her to gypsies. She then joined the circus at the age of ten. There, she was the flower girl in the famed Bearded Bride of Beverly Hills show until the act was discontinued (it was discovered that the bearded lady was actually a man).  From there, she wandered around the country selling novelty trucker hats with vaguely amusing sayings printed on front. Somehow, she made enough money to go to The Ohio State University for a major in English.

Website: http://www.jenniferrainey.com

Blog: http://independentparanormal.blogspot.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/JenniferKRainey

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorJenniferRainey

Now for the giveaways!!!

Jennifer will provide two $20 Amazon GCs and five copies of Thoroughly Modern Monsters, her short story collection to randomly drawn commenters during the tour. The grand prize to one randomly drawn commenter will be a $25 Amazon Gift card, a copy of These Hellish Happenings (her first novel) and a copy of Thoroughly Modern Monsters.

And REMEMBER for my OCTOBER HALLOWEEN event I'm giving away a $25 gift card to Amazon or B&N to one commenter! The more you comment, the more likely you are to win! Remember to leave your email address!

Check out more of her tour here:    http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2012/07/virtual-book-tour-bedlams-eye-by.html