Book Tour: The Beldam’s Eye by Jennifer Rainey

 

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?

Excerpt:

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.”

About the Author:

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

Guest Post:  Ghost Hunters

I don’t watch many TV shows, but when I do watch a show, holy cow, do I watch it like crazy!

I’ve always loved ghost stories and paranormal investigation and all that fun stuff. I plowed through books of real ghost tales as a kid and took walks through the cemetery near my grandmother’s house. This love has followed me into adulthood. So, you can imagine my joy the first time I sat down and watched Ghost Hunters on SyFy! Whether or not you believe in any of the evidence they present, the show is incredible fun to watch, and I owe so much to it.

From the very beginning, I’ve watched the show—which follows the investigations of real-life paranormal investigators TAPS (The Atlantic Paranormal Society)—with my mother and sister. All three of us are very busy people, but we always try to find time to watch the show together, even now. We’ve even been inspired by the show to go on our own ghost hunting trips, the most recent of which was to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

What I love about Ghost Hunters are the episodes where they put the emphasis on personal cases, cases where the ghosts are haunting homes or small businesses. Don’t get me wrong; I love the episodes where the visit massive prisons or battlesites, but there’s so much more emotion involved in a personal case. Often, the home or business owners know the ghost personally, and it creates a real sense of intimacy.

It’s this sense of intimacy that I try to create in the relationships between spirits and humans in my own writing. I’m not as interested in the big sweeping epics that deal with the afterlife, but rather stories that are up close and personal. After all, as the men and women of TAPS frequently said in early episodes, ghosts were people, too, and I like that even after the show blew up and became super popular, they still tend to those personal cases.

So, I will take the opportunity to thank Ghost Hunters, not only for being a really great show and for inspiring me in my writing, but also for helping me connect with my sister and mother. Who knew a SyFy show could do so much!

Tour Wide Giveaway!

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.

So make sure to leave a comment!

Make sure to check out some of the other stops on the tour!  Click HERE for the entire tour list.