One From The Archives: Writers + Nutella = Bliss

Veronica sez: I went searching for something from our archives to post today and maybe it's because I was hungry but this is where I stopped LOL. This post from November 2011 was among our top 5 of all time! We'll be back to new content tomorrow but I'd say nothing has changed as far as writers and Nutella!

 From Hailey Edwards:
It's the strangest thing, but I had never heard of Nutella until I started writing. Someone mentioned it on a writer's forum I belong to, and I had to give it a try. One taste and I was hooked. While not very nutty, it is smooth and chocolaty.

I guess I was being a little tame in my application, because I learned of a few new combos on Twitter--all suggested by writers. Yep. I'm seeing a trend here. Writers sure do love their Nutella and I'm no exception.

I was used as a taste test tiebreaker for one Nutella combo and OMG I'm going to be munching on it until my jars run dry. I can see it now.

Nutella Combos


Nutella and Peanut Butter
Nutella and Almond Butter (I love this.)
Nutella and Orange Marmalade (This is the combo I from Twitter.)
Nutella and Raspberry Preserves (This is going to be my next experiment.)
Nutella and Cream Cheese (I heard this wasn't great.)
Nutella, Banana Slices and Marshmallows (This interests me.)
Nutella and Greek Yogurt (I somehow doubt I'll try that one.)

So how about y'all? Any combos I'm missing? And what do you think? Can we have Nutella proclaimed an official writer's diet menu item? ;)

Contract High

I signed the contract for the third novel in the Araneae Nation series, A Time of Dying, about two weeks ago. Yay! The first and second round edits have been done, and I'm on to writing book four.

It's not a new impulse for me to want to write a spinoff series based in a world I have created. I have ideas for the Askara universe as well. But it has surprised me how excited I am for the opportunity to write a spinoff in the Araneae world. So much of the main series focuses on the plague and it's effect on individual clans, that some of the finer nuances within each clan are lost.

I'm considering rectifying that with at least one clan--the Deinopidae. In book three we meet six Deinopidae warriors. In book four we learn they're siblings and that four of the brothers have committed a heinous crime--and then lied about it--for which the punishment is banishment and a vow of silence.

It could be fun, but it depends on how well the first five novels are received whether I can invest time in another five books. I have my fingers crossed, though. There is so much potential in this world, and I would hate to leave it untapped.

I think my favorite example of a series spinoff is the Alpha and Omega series by Patricia Briggs. It spins off Mercy Thompson, which I adore. It's great how the series share the same universe and in parts the same timeline, giving us more perspective on the main series while creating depth of its own.

How about you? Is there a spinoff series you enjoy reading? Or is there a series you wish the author would spin new books from?

Where It All Began

I was a year old when the movie The Dark Crystal hit theaters and five when Labyrinth was released. Other favorites in our house included The Last Unicorn, The Hobbit, Flight of Dragons, and Nausicaa. Those movies and cartoons shaped my childhood. I watched them until my parents begged me to stop, and then I waited until they left the room and hit Play just one last time.

The movies, the stories, were fantasy in its purest form. I didn’t realize as a small child, that those worlds were impossible to visit. I wanted to pet a unicorn. Heck. I wanted to ride a dragon. I wanted my own sword, which resulted in my parents installing a lock on the silverware drawer. Something about thou shalt not skewer thy baby brother… I also had a huge crush on Jareth, the Goblin King from Labyrinth. My parents discouraged this behavior as well. Something about thou shalt not bargain away thy baby brother in exchange for a hot boyfriend…

I know what you’re thinking—my parents never let me have any fun. Okay, and that maybe I had an unhealthy fascination with all the ways I could rid myself of my annoying little brother.

But the truth is, those movies kickstarted my imagination, and my love of all things fantasy. So it’s strange to think, looking back, that I fell into reading crime and mystery novels instead of fantasy or paranormal novels. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I stumbled across Darkfever by Karen Moning and became hooked on urban fantasy. From there, I rediscovered my love for the genre, and all its enticing new subgenres. I gobbled up paranormal romance—J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood, Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark, and Gena Showalter’s Lords of the Underworld. I devoured all flavors of urban fantasy from Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files to Patricia Brigg’s Mercy Thompson series.

Really, it was after reading Darkfever that I got a tickle in the back of my mind that maybe I could write a book. All those years of reading crime and mystery, the thought had never occurred to me. But after glutting on fantasy and paranormal romance, I began to have ideas for my own worlds and characters. It was so unexpected I didn’t know what to do. So I sat down and began writing. Four years later, here I am. I still write fantasy and paranormal stories. I still read them too.

I have been told my tastes are limited, but there I must disagree. My tastes are specific, yes, I will admit to that. But no other genre has as much variety as fantasy. No other genres encompass witches, vampires, werewolves, wizards, demons, angels, gods and goddesses, creatures of myth and folklore, humans, mermaids, mermen, and every other creature you ever promised your little brother lurked under his bed. (Not that I ever told him there were goblins hiding beneath his bed, waiting for him to get up to use the bathroom so they could drag him into their underground lair, because that would be wrong. What? Okay, so maybe I hinted at goblins. A little. And okay, one time I hid under his bed and grabbed his ankles. I couldn’t sit for a week after Mom caught me.)

I feel I should add here that my parents had no sense of humor. But I’m happy to report they have much improved since I hit thirty and stopped tormenting my brother. I think giving them a granddaughter probably helped too.

How about y’all? What led you to read fantasy? Or if you don’t, what would make you give the genre a try?

Motivation

Although writing is its own reward, sometimes a girl gets a little tired of meeting that daily write goal. Everyone needs a push now and again, and once I heard about my friend Sasha’s reward program, I was ready to sign on the dotted line.

Sasha and I have a thing about nail polish—we buy it like it’s going out of style. Her reward program is simple. As new polishes are released that tickle our fancies, we make notes of the ones we want most. Instead of indulging in an impulse buy, we hold firm until we’ve accomplished something writing-wise that earns us our polish of choice.

While this program is tailored to maximize our rewards…it also maximizes our motivation.

One new bottle of polish for each project finished, and one new bottle of polish for each project submitted. Two bottles for every revision request, two bottles of polish for every contract received, and sometimes up to five bottles per rejection. That last one depends, doesn’t it? Some rejections require more glitter/flaky/duochrome polish to get over than others.

The funny thing is, and it figures my husband would be the one to notice and comment, but it also saves money. Nail polish can be expensive (anywhere from $2 to $20 or more a bottle). Since it takes an average of three to four months for me to produce a novel, he supports the reward program (and months without tiny boxes arriving in the mailbox) wholeheartedly.

How about you? Do you have a rewards system? 

Leave a comment and share what works for you. One commenter will win their choice of titles from my backlist in any digital format.

A Hint of Frost Blog Tour

I am touring all month long--and into next month--promoting the release of my new fantasy romance novel, A Hint of Frost.

Here are the planned stops. Swing by and comment for a chance to win one of my backlist titles.

16 - Booked Up – Interview - http://boookup.blogspot.com/

17 - Grave Tells – Interview (short story style) - http://gravetells.com/

17 - Angela Blount - Interview - http://perilous1.blogspot.com/

18 - My Tower of Books – Interview - http://mytowerofbooks.blogspot.com/

19 – Romanceaholic – Guest Post - http://romanceaholic.com/

20 – Novel Thoughts (RR@H) - Guest Post - http://rrahnovelthoughts.com/

23 – Sidney Bristol’s Blog – Interview - http://sidneybristol.com/

24 - Short and Sweet Reviews – Interview - http://shortandsweetreviews.blogspot.com/

25 - Laurie's Thoughts and Reviews – Character Interview - http://lauriethoughts-reviews.blogspot.com/

26 - Vamp Chix and Bite Club – Guest Post - http://vampchix.blogspot.com/

27 - Booked Up – Giveaway - http://boookup.blogspot.com/

30 - You Gotta Read Reviews – Interview - http://yougottaread.com/

1 - Paranormal Haven - Guest Blog - http://www.paranormalhaven.com/

2 - Red Hot Books – Interview - http://www.redhotbooks.com/

10 - Readinista – Interview - http://www.readinista.com/

21 – Book Lovers Inc. - 3 day event (dual review, giveaway, interview) - http://www.bookloversinc.com/

Hope dangles by a silken thread.

When the head of the Araneidae clan is found poisoned in her nest, her eldest daughter, Lourdes, becomes their clan’s new maven. If her clan is to survive, she has but one choice: she must marry before her nest is seized. All she needs is a warrior fierce enough to protect her city and safeguard her clansmen. Such a male is Rhys the Cold.

Born the youngest son of an impoverished maven, the only things Rhys has to his name are his sword and his mercenary reputation. His clan is starving, but their fondness for the flesh of fellow Araneaeans makes them unwelcome dinner guests. Torn between loyalty to his clan and fascination with his future bride, Rhys’s first taste of Lourdes threatens to melt the cold encasing his heart.

Amid the chaos of battle, Lourdes’s sister disappears and is feared captured. Lourdes and Rhys pursue their enemies into the southlands, where they discover an odd plague ravaging southern clans as it travels north, to Erania. Determined to survive, Lourdes will discover whether she’s worth her silk or if she’s spun the thread by which her clan will hang.

Warning: This book contains one mercenary hero with a biting fetish, one determined heroine who gets nibbled, and an answer to the age-old question, “What does dragon taste like?” Matricide and sibling rivalry are available upon request. The house special is revenge, best served cold.

Flushed Down the Toilet

My productivity was flushed down the toilet today. Er, or maybe not. I had a plumbing emergency this morning, so I didn't blog. Now that I have everything patched up, I'm too sweaty and sore to do much more than apologize.

I'll leave you all with this mini update until next week. 

Forever Romance now has a brand spanking new website. You can check it out here: http://www.forever-romance.com/

If you're interested in submitting to Forever's new digital imprint, Forever Yours, you can find more detailed information here (accepts unagented submissions) : http://www.forever-romance.com/about-forever-yours/

If you want more information on the traditional print line, that's here (accepts only agented submissions) : http://www.forever-romance.com/about-forever/

Now I'm off to put up my tools, clean up my mess, and crash.

Confidence

Confidence is a rare trait in a writer. We put ourselves out there, or pieces of ourselves, and open the door to criticism. It takes a lot of nerve to do that. We writers are a brave bunch for enduring the scrutiny. Hopefully we learn and grow and evolve into better writers, but seldom does our confidence grow in proportion to the hard knocks we're dealt.

 I can't say that's a bad thing. Being humble is a good thing.

My mom always said I didn't need to grow too big for my britches. I think she's right. But I also think a balance has to be struck.

Should you consider yourself a great talent? Probably not. (Even if you are.) Should you consider yourself worthy? I'd say that's a much healthier outlook. And yet, once in a while a talent comes along that can't be denied by the rest of us, even if the person possessing the talent is content to hide from the limelight.

 Watch and enjoy the emergence of such a talent from the shadows.

 I dare you to not be moved by this young man.

The Future is Here...

We're always wondering when the sci fi gadgets we grew up watching on TV will be dreamed into existence. Yet it boggles the mind when they actually appear on the market. Or it boggles my mind at least.

I saw this tidbit about Nokia yesterday and thought--wow.

Nokia Patents Haptic Tattoo Technology

Nokia has earned the patent for a bit of haptic technology which could be applied to the surface of your skin or inked on like a tattoo. The tech would sync your phone to your body so you'd "feel" every call.

You can find the rest of the article and information here.

I'll admit, it got me thinking. What technology have you seen on TV or in movies that you're anxious to get your hands on? I know it's frivolous, but I remember a scene from Total Recall where the receptionist is able to tint her fingernails with a tap of a stylus. Actually, thanks to the magic of Youtube, I can share that scene with those of you who haven't seen the movie.



How cool is that, right? Here's hoping it's on a scientist's wishlist too. ;)

Feast or Famine

I tell you, that's how it feels going from a two year break between releases to tripping over blog tour dates because I have so many releases this year. (Evermine, A Hint of Frost, Eversworn, Wicked Kin)

I guess it's good practice, in a way. I'm so frantic over the releases I have coming up and the edits I'm doing now and the project due out the door by Monday, that I'm willing to try anything to lessen the stress. That means trying new things promo wise, as far as having someone else organize my blog tours for me. That means cutting back on time online to get the work done. That also means *sob* lessening my time in my favorite writer's chat room because, yeah. I go there to chat. We do sprints and things, which works for me as far as edits go, but I rarely get any hardcore writing done unless I'm unplugged and in my writer-y zone.

It's just odd to go from wondering if I'll ever have another release to wondering how I'm going to put dinner on the table and still meet my deadlines. It's an awesome problem to have, don't get me wrong. And I'm hoping by the end of the year, this insanity will have taught me some new survival tips.

This is a make it or break it year for me, I think, in so many ways.

Feast or famine. It's the story of my life. ;)

How about y'all? Do you think the good things come in threes rule applies to your writing life? How about bad things come in threes? Do you find it easier to work when you're on a roll?

Grand Central Publishing's New Forever Yours Digital Line

I wanted to crawl out of the editing cave long enough to say that if you have questions about Grand Central Publishing's new Forever Yours line, today is the day to ask them. Head on over to Twitter and join in the conversation. My editor (Lauren) is answering questions all day.

You can find the conversation at @ForeverRomance or by following the hashtag #4EvrYours

For submission information, check out their Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/ForeverRomance?sk=app_190322544333196

Forever Yours's website is coming soon, but you can also find them on the Hachette website: http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/publishing_ForeverYours.aspx

Here We Go Again

I'm not a fan of change, but I am one of the few authors who does enjoy Facebook. I use it a lot to keep up with friends and readers. So today, when I logged in, I saw something I had been expecting for a while. The pages are now being swapped over to the new timeline feature, the same as regular pages were.

Now, part of me wants to cling to my old format, which I loved, but I don't much see the point. I'm one of those rip off the bandaid people I guess. I mean, change is coming and there's no sidestepping it. Might as well face it head on and accept the update.

When I made the switch, I did think it was cool that there's now an admin panel positioned above your page. It shows you notifications, new likes, insights, and messages. Now that could come in handy. Especially since the new format is so wonky.

Do you have a preference--old FB or new? Or have you given up keeping up with their changes?

Evermine

He can be a slave to his past…or allow her love to free him.

There’s such a thing as too much change. Emma’s sister is mated. Revolution is brewing in her home realm. The last straw: her would-be mate is back from the dead and back under her skin—yet when it comes to the last five years, he’s not talking.

Desperate for a chance to start her own life, she answers the queen’s call to ensure equality for all of Askara’s newly freed slaves. It’s the perfect opportunity to escape a heartbreak in the making named Harper.

Harper loses a piece of his fractured soul when Emma walks away. His lies were meant to protect her from torturous years that drove him to the point of madness. Instead, when he comes to her a year later to help avert a crisis in a freed-slave community, the wedge those lies drove between them is firmly in place.

As their new lives collide with old wounds, they race to stop a threat that could not only destroy the queen, but send Harper back to the hell he escaped. Emma must decide if the man she still loves deserves equal rights to her heart.

Warning: This title contains torn pants, ripped gowns, and sand in uncomfortable places. It also includes one overcompensating villain, one gnarly priest, and two battered hearts willing to give this thing called love one last chance.   

Click here to read an excerpt from Evermine. Click here for more information on my upcoming releases, including the third book in the Daughters of Askara series, Eversworn.

I'm giving away copies of Everlong and Evermine at Book Addicts and Anna's Book Blog!

Wednesday Whoa

I'm a fan of crazy blogs. I like to laugh. I like to go WHOA. A couple of blogs have given me that reaction this week. The Bloggess, of course, is always good for a laugh. Juanita, anyone?

The best thing I've seen this week is a series of photos called Underwater Dogs by Seth Casteel. Let me show you...

To experience the Full Scope of Awesomeness, you can see more gallery images here.

How about you? Is there a specific blog you frequent? A type of funny break you enjoy between projects? Or are you more like me, and let Twitter lead you straight to RandomLandia?

Something New Plus Something Pretty!

I got my finalized cover art for Eversworn yesterday. That's always fun.

Let me see if I can get it attached...

There we go.

So, the hunk in the center is Dillon. The lady to your right is Isabeau. 

This is their story:

Steal the salt. Bind the grimoire. Escape the male.

When an exchange of stolen goods in the Feriana marketplace turns sour, Isabeau stumbles from the encounter bruised and laden with new orders to complete an even larger heist. With her child’s life at stake, there’s no room for error—or allies.

Armed with a lethal book of spells, she strikes a dangerous bargain with Roland Bernhard. Steal a shipment of salt from the Feriana colony, and she’ll have her freedom—and her daughter. It’s all she’s ever wanted. At least it was…until she runs into Dillon Preston.

Dillon is out of commission after a mine explosion, and itching for a distraction. He gets it when the female who saved his leg arrives at the colony with nothing but flimsy excuses and even flimsier attire. She’s after something, but is it him—or the salt?

Trapped in a desperate bid to gain true freedom, Isabeau is willing to sacrifice her life for her daughter’s, but Dillon has other plans. He wants a package deal, and he’s not willing to lose either female, even if it means the future king of Sere’s head will roll.

Warning: This title contains a heroine desperate to save her daughter and a hero determined to make them a family. It also includes wings, horns and other assorted appendages.

I also have review ARCs ready to go to some lucky reviewers. Yay!

In other news, I'm writing the second Araneae Nation novel, A Feast of Souls. (Vaughn and Mana's book.) Their story gave me a character I really wanted to expand on, but couldn't cram his story within their book. He also doesn't fit the series mold. So...for the first time in years, I will be attempting to write a novella. My editor signed off on the idea, so I'm looking forward to trying something new. It should be fun, and I'd like to see if I've grown enough to pull off a shorter piece.

How about y'all? Do you have a preference for writing short or long?

First Read of the New Year

While I'm not sure if there's any truth to the whole "how you start your new year is how you'll finish it", I'm hoping that's the case. I was so deep in my current WIP (A Feast of Souls, Araneae Nation, Book Two) that I missed the countdown.

Still, if that's a hint of things to come I'll take it. I have plans for two more books this year and keeping my butt in the chair and hands on the keyboard is the only way that's going to happen.

The other thing I'm hoping is trend-setting is what I was reading. It should come as no surprise I was nose-deep in a fantasy title. Urban fantasy this time. Angela James told me I should read Magic Bites (Kate Daniels, Book One), so I am. LOL

Atlanta would be a nice place to live, if it weren’t for magic… One moment magic dominates, and cars stall and guns fail. The next, technology takes over and the defensive spells no longer protect your house from monsters. Here skyscrapers topple under onslaught of magic; werebears and werehyenas prowl through the ruined streets; and the Masters of the Dead, necromancers driven by their thirst of knowledge and wealth, pilot blood-crazed vampires with their minds. In this world lives Kate Daniels. Kate likes her sword a little too much and has a hard time controlling her mouth. The magic in her blood makes her a target, and she spent most of her life hiding in plain sight. But when Kate’s guardian is murdered, she must choose to do nothing and remain safe or to pursue his preternatural killer. Hiding is easy, but the right choice is rarely easy…


How about y'all? How did you ring in the new year? Any new series you started reading you've been putting off? Or new authors you just discovered?

Facebook is a Changin'

This week I bit the bullet and upgraded my personal Facebook page to the new Timeline. As much as I'd like to fight it, I think about it like this. My FB page is for work. I need that page to be as current as possible so that it shines when I have visitors. I am saddened that means the old elongated profile is no longer visible, except on pages, and the banner option is now gone as well. We do get a nifty area at the top of our FB profiles with area for a header, or what FB is calling a "cover".

So this is how my new page looks...

I'll no doubt tinker with it more, later. For now, I'm just happy it matches my author page. The new template looks something like this:

It was very difficult to achieve imagine clarity with this. For whatever reason, I kept getting blurred or grainy results. With this size template, it worked. So I'm going to use this template from here on out. You're given the option to drag the image to center it, and as you can see from the first picture, I maximized the amount of room you're allowed for content. So I recommend using a similar template on a similar scale so your images will have at least a fraction of their original clarity.

Has anyone else swapped to Timeline? What do you think of it?

Review Sites

I've been bookmarking review sites for a while now. Since I have several releases scheduled in 2012, I have to figure out who to send what to so all my books have some exposure. I feel like I'm running in circles to get everything done. Or maybe I'm just out of shape. It's been a while since I had a new release and now I have three lined up with a couple months of lag time between them. Just wow.

I feel like I'm finding all sorts of ways to slip "If you're a blogger, contact me here for review ARCs of Evermine and/or A Hint of Frost" into casual conversation. LOL

Promo is definitely the downside of the publishing experience, but it's not all bad. As a reader, I depend on word of new books trickling down to me. Otherwise, how can I find all the awesome new releases and authors I've never heard of but ought to be reading?

So here's my contribution to the cause. Here's my list of review sites if anyone is interested.
There aren't in any type of order. They vary widely on what heat level/genres/etc they accept. Just so you know. ;)


http://www.sizzlinghotbooks.net/
http://darkfaerietales.com/
http://alliwantandmore.blogspot.com/
http://morgan-irina.blogspot.com/
http://www.bookinitreviews.com/
http://lushbookreviewss.blogspot.com/
http://anotherlookbookreviews.blogspot.com/
http://bookmonsterreviews.blogspot.com/
http://www.mybookishways.com/
http://www.bookloversinc.com/
http://www.romancing-the-book.com/
http://www.maldivianbookreviewer.com/
http://jbpreviews.com/
http://romanceaholic.com/
http://www.literaladdiction.com/
http://www.stella-exlibris.com/
http://hangingwithbells.blogspot.com/
http://imlovingbooks.com/
http://vampirebookclub.net/
http://inside-dog.blogspot.com/
http://joanswan.blogspot.com/
http://theindecisivebookangel.blogspot.com/
http://paranormalbookreviews-kelly.blogspot.com/
http://theromancestudio.com/
http://bookreaderaddictsgiveaways.blogspot.com/
http://www.mizlovelovesbooks.com/
http://www.nocturnereads.com/index.html
http://www.darksideofthecovers.com/
http://readingromances.wordpress.com/
http://gravetells.com/
http://abbeymacinnis.blogspot.com/
http://seeingnight.blogspot.com/
http://patricia-preston.blogspot.com/
http://www.readingwithtequila.com/
http://www.book-addicts.com/

Okay, so I had more than I thought. I think that's a gracious plenty right there. LOL

Now I'm off to bed. I got some good news today and I'm hoping I can announce it in the next few weeks. :)

An Author's Throne...

Okay, so maybe our desk chairs aren't exactly thrones, but I write fantasy! Humor me. ;)

I have gone through I think five desk chairs during the time I've been writing, which as been about three years. Either the seat cushions have smushed flat or they've hurt my back. Just miserable stuff. This last chair I've had six months and the cushion was nothing. I was basically sitting on the particle board base (ouch) through the leather.

So anyway, I heard there was a nice sale going on at Office Depot. I wanted to order online, but one of my crit partners told me to leave the writer cave and venture into the world. I'm glad she did. The chair I'd wanted online was miserable. I ended up finding one I hadn't noticed on the site. This is it...

It was regularly around $179 or so? On sale, I got it for $89. I thought for less that $100 I could give it a try. So far, so good. My back is still killing me, but I imagine it will take a couple of days for the pain my other chair was causing to ease. Well, and I think I pulled something putting this one together. It's easy to assemble, but it's a sturdy one. *wince*

How about y'all? What type of chair do you use? Do you burn through them as fast as I seem to?

Facebook Beautification

I think I've blogged about this before--my obsession with beautifying my Facebook profile. I even started a fan page because I'd heard I could use HTML and actually have control over the design of my landing page. Sad, huh? LOL

What got me thinking on this topic again was I got a new cover, for A Hint of Frost, and I LOVE it. Like I am absolutely madly in love with it and want to paste it everywhere. So I redesigned my Facebook pages to show off my new pretty.

This is how my standard page looks:

This is how my fan page looks:

And this is how my landing or welcome page looks:

What I didn't do before was make and attach templates, which I've been asked for since then. If you'd like to try your hand at designing pretties for your pages, right click on any of the images below and save them to your computer.

Banner (long picture, left hand side):

Banner (five pictures across page top):

Landing page (Only for use on fan pages):

You'll need some sort of graphics software to manipulate these templates. GIMP is one free option. Another is Aviary. You may even be able to use Paint.Net to meet your needs.

Happy Beautifying!

Haint Misbehaving by Hailey Edwards

I live in the Deep South, in an area rich in both history and tragedy and, because of those things, it comes as no surprise the area is also rich in ghosts. There is one ghost in particular who fascinates me: the ghost of Jesse James. Now, Jesse wasn’t from around here, so his choice of haunting sites is peculiar. Unless…you believe a ghost resides where he was most content during his life.

On the banks of the Alabama River, the St. James hotel stands watch over the city of Selma, Alabama. It’s an antebellum riverfront hotel, the only one left in Selma, and was built back in 1837.

Another interesting tidbit is that Benjamin S. Tower, the first African American Congressman, owned the establishment.

Anyway, Frank and Jesse James made the hotel their headquarters for some time. After the war, the area fell into hard times and was closed for over one hundred years.

Then, sometime in the late 1990’s, it was completely renovated and reopened for business. Much to the surprise of the new owners, there were a couple of unexpected guests still in residence.

Jesse James himself is rumored to walk the halls wearing his 1880’s cowboy-best. He prowls through rooms 214, 314, and 315. I wonder what significance those numbers hold to him?  He’s also rumored to occupy a corner table at the downstairs bar.

His girlfriend, Lucinda, is also a resident spook. As is his dog.

I think the best part of this story was when a team of paranormal investigators set up a tape recorder in the Brantley Ballroom, hoping for Electronic Voice Phenomenon. They asked, “Is anyone here?” Later, when they replayed the tape, a gruff voice had replied, “Well, that’s a stupid question.”

How about y’all? Have you ever seen a ghost or been somewhere you just know is haunted? Are there any legendary spooks in your neck of the woods?

 Hailey Edwards is a memeber of Paranormal Romantics and has donated towards the grand prize. Leave a comment for an additional entry.