December Question of the Month: Have You Ever Captured a Ghostly Image?

One of my ghostly Maine photos.

I'm launching a new feature today: The Question of the Month. Unless I'm bogged down with revisions, I'll try to launch a reading, movie, or ghost-related question on the first day of every month.

Here's the December question:




Spirit communication, especially spirit photography, plays a huge role in the plot of In the Shadow of Blackbirds. In the future I'll be sharing some highly entertaining spirit photos from the heyday of the Spiritualist movement, but for now let's talk about YOUR experiences with capturing ghosts. Have you ever come across a misty figure that wasn't noticeable when you first took a picture? Do you tend to get mysterious orbs or weird traces of light when you snap photos in certain locations?

I'm attaching my own spooky photos, which I took in Maine during a vacation in the late nineties. Professional photographers have explained what probably occurred to my film (yes, this was back when I still used film), but I prefer thinking of the images as a running ghost (the photo above) and a phantom couple (the photo below).


If you have a ghost photo of your own you'd like to share, feel free to add a link in the comments section of this post.

IN THE SHADOW OF BLACKBIRDS Is on Goodreads!

I've heard legends about a Goodreads Fairy who enters recently acquired books onto the Goodreads site. Well, I just discovered In the Shadow of Blackbirds is one of her recent additions (click here to go to the novel's Goodreads page). Thank you, Goodreads Fairy!

If you have a Goodreads account, I would be honored, humbled, and grateful if you added In the Shadow of Blackbirds to your bookshelf to help me start spreading the news about the book. I'm working on getting myself added as a Goodreads author so you won't have to see that sad little "No Photo" face with the question mark on it.

In other news, I did indeed watch Hugo over the weekend, as I mentioned I would in last Friday's post. In that same post, I also bemoaned the lack of movies set during WWI, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that the First World War played a large role in Hugo—more so than in the book, if I remember correctly. Martin Scorsese even wove actual WWI footage into the film.

Even if WWI hadn't been involved, Hugo was excellent. Read the novel first (it's a fast read), and then run out and treat yourself to the magic of the film.

Kickin' off the Holiday Season...and My WAR HORSE Obsession

I didn't get a chance to pop on here and say "Happy Thanksgiving" earlier this week, so a belated Happy Turkey Day to all you Americans and anyone else who decided to feast yesterday. I'm thankful for so many things this year: my kidlets and husband, the fact that my dog survived an attack by another dog, my family (far away as you all are), my friends, my writing buddies, my blogosphere pals, and all the wonderful and amazing people in New York who are helping me bring my writing to the world.

In our house, the big movie-watching plan for the weekend is to head out to see Hugo. We've all read The Invention of Hugo Cabret, and I'm still in awe that a tale about the magic of silent films has become such a hit. So many times I've heard that historical stories are risky and undesirable to modern audiences, so I'm thrilled every time an author can spin enough magic out of the past to enchant today's readers. That's one of my own goals with writing a historical, and writers like Brian Selznick are an inspiration to me.

I'm also dying to see War Horse, because—lo and behold—it's actually a WWI movie. WWI! Not WWII!! In case you haven't yet read the Publishers Marketplace announcement about my upcoming novel, In the Shadow of Blackbirds is set during the First World War, and I rarely get to see that time period portrayed on the big screen.

Unfortunately, my husband isn't a fan of horse films and isn't all that enthusiastic about running out to the theater to watch War Horse with me. My twelve-year-old daughter doesn't like horse films or war films, but she may accompany me to get me to stop pining for a War Horse companion (although I don't want to traumatize her). So, if you go to a theater and see a woman sitting by herself, munching M&Ms and weeping over that poor, brave horse running across the battlefield, that may be me.

Happy early holiday season to you all!