Paula Cappa's Blog - Posts Tagged "ghosts"

This short story (1908)by F. Marion Crawford takes place in a farmhouse near the Dorsetshire coast, and is really creepy, a perfect read for Halloween season. The skull lives in a hat box in a bedroom cupboard. Crawford writes a stream of consciousness, inviting the reader in with scenes full of spooky wind howling through the windows, urgent raps at the front door, candles mysteriously blowing out. Yes, we've read all these things before in other stories, but the effects are gloomy and haunting, especially when the skull disappears. The skull, of course, creates its own supernatural manifestations, and the reader can't be sure if the actions are real or from the narrator's fearful thoughts. The style is wonderfully old-fashioned, shedding doubt over all ... until the very end.

No real violence; just suspense, haunting, and a deep sense of dread. Love it!

Book: The Weird, edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer.

Hello again,
To all my friends, readers, and authors, this is my last time for a FREE Ebook offer for Night Sea Journey, A Tale of the Supernatural. You can download it off Amazon.com on Friday and Saturday (12-28 and 12-29).

The feedback I'm getting is that Night Sea Journey is a really fast read, quite mysterious, and very suspenseful.

The characters:
Kip Livingston, a stunning young artist living alone in Abasteron House on Horn Island. Her dreams drive her to paint, until the nightmares begin when a raging firehawk invades her mind.

Raymond Kera, a priest exiled to Horn Island, falls for the bewitching Kip Livingston and must choose between his vows and his desperate need for human love.

Garcia the Prophet, Raymond's mentor, a rebellious visionary who knows firsthand the alternate consciousness of dream power--and the all-consuming human desires that compel a man to deceit, murder, and evil.

Here are a few reviews.

Amazon customer review:
"Exciting, rather frightening at times. But a must read. A good book, I recommend it..."

"The writing is good, the story is truly engaging, the characters are memorable..." Teresa Kennedy, author of In the Country of No Compassion

From TomeTender Blogspot:

"It kind of reminded me of a movie with Robin Williams, WHAT DREAMS MAY COME, so I’m sure there are those out there that will love this story ..."

Editorial Review from Author Judith Reveal:
"Night Sea Journey is a startling story that captures the reader from the first page, through strong character development and a robust vocabulary. Paula Cappa's characters are three-dimensional - the kind the reader remembers long after the story has been read. Her descriptions of setting bring the story to life in the mind's eye, while her dialogue flawlessly carries the story from one stage to the next. Cappa joins fantasy with religion to both captivate and intrigue. Her narrative draws the reader through the fantasy of dream terrors with disconcerting clarity. This story is a fast read that holds one's attention from beginning to end."
- JUDITH REVEAL, author of The Brownstone

If you really liked the story, I invite you to make a comment on Amazon customer reviews.

And if you like to read short stories (the classics) don't miss my Tuesday's Tale of Terror on my wordpress site:
http://paulacappa.wordpress.com/
http://www.amazon.com/Night-Journey-T...

Okay, so I'm taking a real risk here and featuring A Haunted House by Virginia Woolf on my Tuesday's Tale of Terror.

Woolf, known as a Bloomsbury Group intellectual, is not a horror writer or even a mystery writer but this very short dark literary fiction will certainly please the mind and heart.

It'll take you all of 7 minutes to read it.


http://paulacappa.wordpress.com/

Yes, I can hear you saying, a ghost story by Mark Twain? No way. This story is quite unusual because it's a supernatural story by one of America's finest authors not known in this genre. Besides his novels and essays, Twain wrote over 30 short stories but most readers don't know this one.

Do you know about the Cardiff Giant? New York in the 1860s? Come on, sit back with a cup of coffee and spend 20 minutes with Twain's ghost.

http://paulacappa.wordpress.com/2013/...

The belief that there is a non-biological entity underlying consciousness (aka Ghost in the Machine) is a good start for Jack Snow's short story "Midnight."


Snow wrote many ghost and fantasy shorts and Midnight is one that will keep you reading because ...it begs the question, do you think we are sometimes operated by otherworldly phantoms?

Stop by Tales of Terror Blog for a free read:

http://paulacappa.wordpress.com/2014/...

Are you looking for something besides Dickens for a Christmas ghost story? Nathaniel Hawthorne has one for you: The Ghost of Dr. Harris.

FREE READ at Tales of Terror Blog:

http://paulacappa.wordpress.com/2014/...

Ghosts on Mt. Greylock. Do you know the story of the Old Coot of Greylock?

If mountains had eyes, what would they see? A ghost or two? Come to Greylock ...

https://paulacappa.wordpress.com/2016...