I had moved into a small residence in Brooklyn Heights. It was my first year of teaching. The block was very attractive, lots of trees and old Brownstone buildings. In the winter, I could smell the fireplaces as I walked home. I’ve always loved the smell of burning wood. It reminds me of comfort and security. It also reminds me of red wine and classical music. I was quite happy back then, evenings by the fire with Chianti and Shubert. Days, I was lucky enough to be pontificating on Greek and Roman Mythology in the Classics department of Brooklyn College, to an enthusiastic group of undergraduates. If I had to describe my life that year, I would say it was somewhere between Norman Rockwell, the illustrator and Woody Allen, the filmmaker.  

What I mean to say is that I was young and innocent, finding my way in the world of love and friendship. There is nothing about me that is at all out of the ordinary, but my students liked me, which made me less than pompous. You might notice me in a crowd, with my Farrah Fawcett overbite and my Tilda Swinton androgyny. Then again, you might not. But I was indifferent to flattery and bored by the ordinary. Perhaps that is why unusual things happened to me.

I had an old, faded, yellow Volkswagen in those days. It got me out to the end of Flatbush Avenue, and if I was lucky, I could park within two blocks of the Classics Department. I had moved to Brooklyn from Miami so I didn’t have many friends, at first. But being young and somewhat attractive, my loneliness was not meant to last. It was not long before I had a best friend. Her name was Elizabeth and she had enrolled in my fifth century class on Rome as an adult non-matriculating student. No one I had met thus far interested me as much.

 “Fifth century Rome? I have been there,” she said. “Interesting times.”

 I thought I had heard her incorrectly. “The fifth century? You’ve been there?”

 “Yes.”

 “I see.”

 I dismissed it. That could not be at all what she meant.

  Well, as winter turned to spring and spring into summer, Elizabeth and I got to know each other. I found her tales of time travel amusing, but of course, did not believe her farfetched fantasies. I humored her. I liked her very much, though I thought her a bit odd, and I was not shy to tell her that either. When she invited me to her mother- in- law’s garden for lemonade I was curious to accept, for she had told me that her mother- in- law was even odder than she was.

“You write, do you not?” she asked as we paused at her mother- in- law’s front door.

“Well, yes,” I said.

“Annabel Horton would like her tale told,” she said.

I’m sure I looked surprised but in all honesty, I thought little of it.

“Annabel Horton? My mother- in- law?” She appeared to be somewhat annoyed at me for not retaining that information. “She awaits us in the garden.”

“I look forward to meeting her,” I responded.

I was soon to learn that Annabel Horton must surely have invented the word ‘odd’, the word ‘strange’ and the word ‘aberrant’; and she was about on par with Elizabeth when it came to eccentricity.

Despite that, I was intrigued. I was a writer, or at least trying to be. At the time, I was writing a novel about a dysfunctional southern family, much like my own. That summer, I shared many glasses of white wine with Annabel under the shade of a magnificent Oak tree and read her chapters from my book. Maybe that is what bonded us to one another, my writing made her weep, but more importantly, it made her laugh.

“It is harder to make someone laugh than it is to make them cry,” she said.

I agreed. I knew somehow that we were kindred spirits. So I shared with her, that once, when I was a child, I saw a ghost. Annabel was later to tell me that I didn’t see a ghost at all; I saw shadows of time from which life still lingers.

That was something to ponder over, but nothing, of course, to take to heart, or so I thought before…well, before I got to know her better.

One evening, she quite unexpectedly blurted out: light is not the same to me as it is to you.

Elizabeth had joined us that evening and I noticed she was nodding her head.

I smiled, thinking perhaps, that Annabel was a bit myopic.

On another evening, we were alone, Annabel and I. Outside an intimidating storm was raging.

“Come with me,” she said. “We can build a fire.”

 She led me into her study. The room was impressive and filled with books.

“There are chambers here,” she said. “They connect time.”

It was then I began to search my mind with an excuse to flee, but she took my hand so quickly.

“So, you like the fifth century?” she asked.

I merely stared at her.

“Rome is beautiful now, though terrifying. Greece may be better.”

I don’t know why I let her lead me through the chamber, but I did, like an innocent lamb. I’ve always had an interest in the paranormal, the occult; and you must understand, I trusted her. Oh, I remember the darkness and the noise, echoes of sound I could not decipher. It came at me right away, consumed me, actually. I remember falling and landing on my feet after a long time, maybe hours, maybe days.

“Will this do?” she said.

I wondered if I had been struck dead. I was staring at the Acropolis, but it was not a relic. It was majestic. It was neoteric.

“Where am I?” I whispered in astonishment.

“Greece,” she said. “Now, down to business.”

She led me off, to an enclave some yards away from where we’d landed.

“They will kill us if they see us. We are not dressed properly. We cannot even pass ourselves off as men in these clothes.” She hid me behind an Olive Tree, whose impressive branches seemed to enfold us.

She handed me a pad and a pen once we were settled and hidden from the people who milled about.

“I am Patience Annabel Horton but I was called by my middle name………..” she began, making herself comfortable on the grass.

I looked at her, not quite sure of what had happened to me. I looked back at the Acropolis.

“Are you getting this?” she asked.

I stared at her in disbelief. How could she be Elizabeth’s mother- in -law, she’s merely a girl, no more than eighteen. I stared at her as if I had never seen her before.

“Write,” she commanded.

How could I be here in fifth century Greece? I stood to my feet and peered beyond the branches of the tree.

She rose quickly and pulled me back. “Time enough for that,” she said. “Now write down all that I tell you.”  

And so I did.

 Annabel Horton, Lost Witch of Salem: http://www.musapublishing.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=11&products_id=107

Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Annabel-Horton-Witch-Salem-ebook/dp/B006PIYOXA/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1325794596&sr=1-1#_

 Vera Jane Cook’s first published novel, Dancing Backward in Paradise, won the Eric Hoffer award for publishing excellence, 2007, and the Indie Excellence award for notable new fiction, 2007. Annabel Horton, Lost Witch of Salem, is her first paranormal fiction. It will be followed by Annabel Horton and the Black Witch of Pau, and Annabel Horton and the Devil of Loudon. The Story of Sassy Sweetwater, her second southern fiction novel, will be released on January 20^th.

This week, we’re delving into the paranormal. There’s nothing I love more than a book about witches and ghosts, especially when it’s tied to historical fact. Fellow Musa author, Vera Jane Cook, has joined us to talk about her newly released novel, Annabel Horton, Lost Witch of Salem. Vera Jane reveals some spooky co-incidences about her book and Annabel Horton’s name in her interview. It’s fascinating.

About Vera Jane Cook

By day I work as an academic consultant for an education publishing company. I live in New York City and take great pleasure in my fantasy life. I write to justify my imagination and satisfy my churning soul. New York City does that to a person, escape is a necessary indulgence.

Annabel Horton, Lost Witch of Salem

From the Salem Witch trials through the Nineteenth Century and beyond, Annabel Horton is pursued by the devil’s disciple, Urban Grandier, the demonic priest from the incident at Loudon. She must take the bodies of those that the devil favors to protect her family. She must uncover the motive behind the illusive Ursula/Louis Bossidan, the scandalous cross-dresser who is pursuing her beautiful granddaughter, and she must learn, being one of God’s most powerful witches, how to use her power. But will it be enough to save her husband from Urbain’s fiery inferno? Will it be enough to save her children from demons greater than themselves? Read on, you will learn more…..

Welcome to my blog, Vera Jane. I’m so chuffed to have the opportunity to chat about your book Annabel Horton, Lost Witch of Salem. Where did the initial idea for the book come from?

I woke up one morning with the opening words to Annabel Horton on my lips. I ran to the computer to write them down. Light is not the same to me as it is to you……….. At the time, I was writing another book, my first manuscript, a semi autobiographical tale about three generations of women. Once Annabel spoke to me I wrote them both, spending time on one story and then going back to the other. I enjoyed my own split personality, my need to tell both Annabel’s tale and my own.

What in particular inspired you to write this book?

You know, what really inspired me to write this book was my love for Anne Rice and her vampire novels. I was so intrigued with the prospect of going anywhere I wanted to go without having to make sense of anything. It may be because I’m also Catholic, and death fascinates me, being able to beat death in some way also fascinates me. But even deeper or beyond death there is religion and the great icons of religious history. More than anything, I want to go back in time and see life from the perspective of those that couldn’t possibly conceptualize us. But since I can’t, I assume a knowledge that all time is within me anyway.

What research did you need to do to write Lost Witch of Salam?

I researched the Salem Witch trials pretty extensively and used the actual people that are recorded in history as having been there and died there. I found an interesting correlation to the incident at Loudon and this mesmerizing priest that was able to drive the nuns into sexual hysterics, sort of like the hysterical little girls from Salem. When the book opens, Annabel is confused. She finds her way as a spirit, but when she is between this world and that place where all time meets, she returns with more knowledge and more acceptance of her power. By the end of the book, she enjoys it, this ability to cross time. I hope that in the second book of the trilogy I can write about her power, not her awareness of being powerful, but her actual experience of herself as one of God’s witches.

How did you choose the title for your book?

The title for the book was very interesting. It must have been buried deep in my subconscious, either that or I channel lost souls. My character’s name is in the title. As I wrote I realized my character was indeed, lost. Thus came the rest of the title: Lost Witch of Salem. But what is most interesting about this is that the morning I awoke and began to write, the name Annabel Horton just came to me. I have no idea how I thought of it, but I decided to Google her, and lo and behold I found that a real Annabel Horton lived and died shortly after the infamous witch trials in Massachusetts. I think, sometimes, she told me her tale and vanished, leaving it all buried within me.

That’s a very interesting. I love the idea of Annabel Horton channeling her story through you.

So, who will enjoy reading your book and why?

People who might like my book are a bit eccentric and question whether or not this is it, in terms of explaining life. I mean, science explains it, religion explains it, but is that it? Couldn’t there be some other whole explanation as to how we got here and who we really are? There are people who talk to ghosts, people who have seen the other side and though they don’t explain it well, can we really doubt their experiences? What’s a soul and where does it go? Have we been here before? I think anyone open to questioning the journey we’re all on would like this book. Annabel is a spirit. She calls herself a witch because she can cross time. Well, maybe we all have that ability. Who knows?

Annabel sounds like a very interesting character, what makes her tick?

I’d say being in spirit form makes Annabel tick. It isn’t easy being pursued by the devil. Let’s not forget her vast wealth and her need to protect it. Oh, and that nasty cross dresser makes her tick like a time bomb, the little slippery scoundrel!

Are you working on another book at the moment? Can you tell us about it?

Annabel Horton, Lost Witch of Salem is the first of a trilogy. The second book is called, Annabel Horton and the Black Witch of Pau. Back in the 1400s and 1500s there were many French witches. The Black Witch is a descendent of a very famous one, Angele de La Barthe, who was from Toulouse and was killed in 1230 for being a witch. The French witches did many things for money, like selling their infants and doing incantations for the King and Queen. They were paid royally for their talents. My Black Witch is not so macabre. Every time she kills she must sing, specifically, an aria. She’s an opera singer for real but she has this ability to concoct potions of great strength. At the bequest of Urban Grandier, she mixes her greatest creation with the sole purpose of doing away with Annabel Horton and those closest to her. It will be a real clash of swords when they do go at it.

That sounds fantastic. I’ll be adding it to my TBR pile.

Vera Jane, how long have you been writing seriously?

I was always writing, not necessarily a novel, but poems, a diary, short stories. I never dreamed in a million years that I would ever consider taking it seriously. As a young woman, I wanted to be an actress, which I was for at least ten years. I drifted away from acting for a number of reasons, but mostly because I was not really well suited for it. At some point, at around my fiftieth birthday I sat down to write a novel. Today I have eleven completed novels, two are published and three will be published this year and next. I discovered myself at fifty; it’s never too late to evolve with life.

And you’ve been very successful at carving a new career for yourself.

Who’s been most influential to you as a writer in improving your craft?

The greatest teachers I have as a writer are other writers. I learn a great deal from good editors but there is nothing like reading a book written by a writer that has learned how to craft plot, develop story line and create compelling characters that live and breathe on the pages. I started reading novels at a very young age, and it was like magic. The book was called Hot Shot. It was about a basketball player. I fell in love then and there. The last time I was in love? Well, let’s see. Before Caleb Carr there was Wally Lamb. Just a week or so ago it was Anita Shreve. Once upon a time it was Oscar Wilde and Collette. Tomorrow I just  know that Nelson DeMille will sweep me off my feet.  But my heart has always belonged to Jodi Picoult.

And finally, as a bit of fun, what is your favourite word?

I like the word persnickety though I’ve never used it in a novel but it just describes so many people I know. I myself am persnickety. Maybe I should create a persnickety character, a feisty old woman, perhaps, or a little young whippersnapper. Hey, there’s a word, whippersnapper – describes my dog to perfection.

Thank you so much for providing us with such detailed answers. I’m sure readers will join me in wishing you every success with Annabel Horton, Lost Witch of Salem.

Available Musa publishing:

http://www.musapublishing.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=11&products_id=107

My third published novel, Annabel Horton, Lost Witch of Salem will be released on December 23^rd, right before Christmas! How appropriate, since my heroine, Annabel, has been in the company of Jesus. No kidding! This character can go anywhere, meet anyone, but on a more serious note, she was searching for her husband and decided to cross time barriers knowing her beloved would want to know this great man. Her husband too, is a witch and can cross time barriers. I for one, would go back to the 1930s – I like the music.

I just finished up the final edits on this one, worked with a fabulous editor, Rory Olson. We communicated through track changes and email, no conversation. I think Rory is a man’s name but there was a real sensibility here that made me think of him as a woman. I’m happy to say he will also be editing my next manuscript. I don’t think it matters what sex he is, he was just good. Really! But he seemed like a woman.

I want to plug my publisher, Musa, they are new but run by the finest goddesses I’ve ever known. I’m happy to be with them. I think they have rounded up a very gifted group of writers, editors, designers, promo people and finance experts, interns – I can’t say enough good stuff. I’ve got two more novels being published with Musa and I hope there will be more. Musa is emerging as an ebook publisher but they will do small press print runs. I do believe in the future of ebooks and the preservation of print. It is kind of exciting to be able to promote an ebook though. After all, everyone in Manhattan that takes a subway is holding a Kindle, I’ve noticed. They do look rather cool. Just a matter of time, I guess, until we are all buried in Nooks and Kindles. Sort of like the way we moved graciously beyond typewriters. But I do hope my books will go to print at some point, nothing like sticking your latest Con Ed bill inside the pages of a book to mark your place.

I look forward to introducing Annabel to the modern world and I hope you like her. She’s pious but open to change. She’s innocent but open to growth, and of course, she knows the devil first hand. The book is about Annabel’s confrontation with the evil Lucifer. Is he myth or is he man? She has an opinion on that one.

Following on the heels of Annabel Horton, Lost Witch of Salem, I have a pub date for The Story of Sassy Sweetwater (Jan. 20th) and Lies a River Deep (3/2), both contemporary fiction. Sassy is another one of my Southern characters who records her life from 1949 to the present. Her family is full of dark secrets but I like strong southern women who prevail, and she does.

Bessie Day Hardy from Lies a River Deep is seventy years old when the story opens. This gal knows what comes with age aside from aches, pains, wrinkles and regrets – it’s an astonishing intensity to meet life head on, even after you’ve added up all the pieces and faced your darkest moments, befriended your enemies and shared your secrets.

I hope you’ll stay tuned and read the books, offer an opinion, slip your shoes off, lay back and meet the characters I’ve conjured up out of my channeled subconscious. And it does often feel that way. I hope they will amuse you, touch you and take your mind off frustrations, burdens and tomorrow’s pressing expectations.

Award Winning Must Read Women’s Fiction. Dancing Backward In Paradise was published in November 2006 and received rave reviews from Armchair Interviews and Midwest Book reviews, as well as an Eric Hoffer and Indie Excellence award in the Literary fiction category for notable new fiction in 2007. To learn more about her books you can visit her web site at www.verajanecook.com

To contact the author send an email to jane@verajanecook.com

I just read over my last blog and I want to tell you that I am full of you know what. I just signed a contract with a traditional publisher for two of my novels. A traditional publisher? Why yes, I say shamelessly. After all that ranting and raving about how much I love to self publish and how much I love to have control, I kicked and screamed when I got word that they wanted not one, drum roll please … but two of my novels.

So in case you haven’t guessed it, I repeat myself, I’m full of it. I don’t want to pay to get myself published. I lied. I really have a sense of accomplishment here. Not that I’m not damn proud of Dancing Backward in Paradise, I am. But it just doesn’t feel the same. iuniverse was a cold experience, not at all warm and fuzzy. They gave me a great cover, but they were about as indifferent as dead people.

I am a published writer, traditionally published now! I think I’ll put it on Face Book, and then on Twitter. My money will go to market my books, not to get them into print. I am not a self published writer anymore, but a published writer, which means that this publishing house believed in my writing style, my story, and my heart, really. Because it’s all there in both stories, my poor little beating heart. Writing is a song of the soul, especially if you’ve got a love affair with prose. Hey, I grew up on Victorian poetry and tried to find a way to bring Lord Byron back from the spirit world so I could marry him. Strange child, that I was.

I figure I tell a pretty good story, just like everybody else who has a knack for stringing words. Though my stories come from God knows where. I think really well crafted writers start with an idea. I start with a title, then characters, then plot. I work ass backwards, I know. But no one can really tell you how to do this. When I read over my fantasy novel before submitting it, I said to myself: How the hell did I ever come up with this? Did I really commit myself to a trilogy?

I didn’t start with an idea like I’m sure Jodi Picoult does, and my other favorite, Anita Shreve. I mean I can’t imagine The Pilots Wife being written that way, or House Rules. I started with a character. I guess my theater background kicks in here, I was always good at improvisation.

Anyway, nix my last blog. I am as excited and as happy as a duck in water. One of the novels they accepted was written twelve years ago, and the other one was finished twelve minutes ago. I don’t even know what made me submit it. I really believed I’d be self-publishing my next book but I did promise my significant other that I would keep beating my head against arrogant, restricted, over submitted to publishing houses who don’t like me and may never like me. Well, you know what? I didn’t get signed by a big house, I have no fat royalty check, but I feel like I’m with the like minded, and that’s all I ever wanted. You know? People who read.

So you know, my last blog? Forget about it. Foolish woman that I am; I have.

Vera Jane Cook

Award Winning Must Read Women’s Fiction. Dancing Backward In Paradise was published in November 2006 and received rave reviews from Armchair Interviews and Midwest Book reviews, as well as an Eric Hoffer and Indie Excellence award in the Literary fiction category for notable new fiction in 2007. Her next southern fiction title, The Story of Sassy Sweetwater, and a new fantasy title, Annabel Horton, Lost Witch of Salem, will soon be published by Musa publishing. To learn more about her books you can visit her web site at www.verajanecook.com

To contact the author send an email to jane@verajanecook.com

Vera Jane Cook, proud author of Dancing Backward in Paradise. I haven’t submitted anything to traditional publishers for months. I self publish. It feels good to call the shots, make decisions and get immediate results. I write, I publish and I don’t paper my walls with rejection letters. But I still feel that gulp of disappointment when my pride in writing a novel is somewhat tainted by that dirty little word ‘self’ published. The truth is that readers really don’t give a damn, they’re just looking for a good book. It’s all those people who wouldn’t buy your book anyway that smile slyly in response to your ‘self’ published novel, their insipid opinions falling from their hollow silence like spittle.

Truth is, you don’t need them. Despite that, I want to be able to call myself a writer. I want to own that title and maybe the only way I can get there is to be traditionally published. So I’m back in the game, like a crazed phantom from a Koontz novel I send out query letters.  Though, I know what I’m up against, thousands of plots that sound a lot better than mine.

Still, I’ve taken the pictures off the walls and bought some empty frames. I won’t paper the walls with rejection letters, no not me. I’m going to create an altar, and like those people who wait for a vision of the Virgin Mary, I will wait for acceptance letters, the publishing contract, the sweet words of praise from a saint who thinks my plots are worthy of an advance.

So, in my decision to wait for the ‘yes’ and not the ‘no-thank you,’ I just might see the vision. In the interim, I’ll self publish.

Vera Jane Cook

Award Winning Must Read Women’s Fiction. Dancing Backward In Paradise was published in November 2006 and received rave reviews from Armchair Interviews and Midwest Book reviews, as well as an Eric Hoffer and Indie Excellence award in the Literary fiction category for notable new fiction in 2007. Hearts Upon a Fragile Bough, Ms. Cook’s second novel, was published last year and will be followed by its sequel, At the End of a Whisper. To learn more about her books you can visit her web site at http://www.verajanecook.com

To contact the author send an email to jane@verajanecook.com