Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Special Guest C.C. Hunter!


Today we welcome author C.C. Hunter to the Fictionistas blog. C.C. is the author of the upcoming YA paranormal Shadow Falls series that releases next week from St. Martin's. The first book in the series is "Born at Midnight." Some of you may know her by her real name, Christie Craig. As Christie, she writes humorous romantic suspense novels for Grand Central.

CC is here today to celebrate her YA debut and tell us a little bit about the series. Take it away, CC!

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Why Ghosts?



In my book Born At Midnight, Kylie Galen has a problem. Well, actually she has a lot of problems. None of them are her fault, either. We writers do that to our characters sometimes . . .We overload them with issues. It’s not easy being a fictional character. On the other hand, it’s not easy coming up with all those issues for our characters to overcome, either.

But let’s face it, issues and problems are what make books and characters special. And Kylie is special and, like I said, she’s got her share of problems. As the book opens, one problem sticks out more than the others--she’s acquired a stalker.

Not just any stalker, either. He’s a very odd man wearing army garb. He just stands there and stares at her, all spooky like.

She didn’t think things could get any crazier, but she’s wrong. When she finally points out this freaky stalker to her mom, Kylie’s life goes to hell in a handbasket. You see, her mom can’t see the stalker. Kylie is certain her mom has lost it. Ahh, but Kylie’s wrong again.

Kylie doesn’t know it yet, but she’s seeing ghosts. When I first started plotting Born At Midnight, I knew I’d have vampires, shapeshifters, werewolves, witches, and faes, but I wasn’t about to let an opportunity go by without adding ghosts.

Why ghosts? Basically, I’m a big fan of ghosts and ghost stories. I like the stories that make my skin turn ultra sensitive--stories that when I’m reading them and hear a creaky floorboard or a whisper, I practically jump out of that ultra sensitive skin. You see, to me, ghosts are scarier than vampires and werewolves. My reasoning is simple. I believe in ghosts. Seen one actually, but I’ve yet to run across a vampire or bump elbows with a werewolf.

Now about that ghost. I was young and my mom and dad assured me I’d been dreaming, but I didn’t buy it then, and I’m not completely buying it now.

I’d just turned ten, and I woke up one night to find my great grandmother hovering over me—again. At eighty plus years, she was hunched over a bit and therefore she always gave off the impression of hovering over you. Granted, she was the hovering type, and never seemed to mind telling you what she liked or didn’t like about how the world had come to be. But that night, the experience was different.

You see, she’d been dead for about a week. And when I say hovering, I mean floating. She was wearing a long white gossamer gown, lots of fabric that almost appeared to be several layers of wraithlike material, and it flowed around her so much it looked as if she didn’t have any feet. She said she just wanted to let me know she was okay. And yeah, being young, I had been a bit worried about the whole death thing. Then she told me that someday I’d have to give up the rags I called clothes (she hated the new fashions we young girls wore) and I’d be wearing a gown just like hers.

Yes, it scared me. Mainly because I really didn’t want to give up my clothes, and as pretty as her gown was, I didn’t think it was all that cool. Then there was the other fear. Granny was dead, so how could she be hovering over my bed? But in spite of the fear, seeing her also fascinated me. And ever since, I’ve longed to write a ghost story. Born at Midnight just seemed like my opportunity.

So what about you guys? Do you believe in ghosts? Have you ever felt that eerie feeling that someone from the other side is close by? Today, I’ll be giving away a copy of Born at Midnight to one lucky commenter, so make sure you leave a comment about your ghostly experiences.

Also make sure you snag my free short story, Turned At Dark. It’s Della’s story and it introduces the Shadow Falls series. You can read the first three chapters of Born at Midnight, too. All you have to do is visit my Born at Midnight page at Macmillan. Or you can download a free eBook copy of Turned at Dark at all major online retailers. The download also has the first three chapters of Born at Midnight on there as well. How cool is that?



Oh, and one final thing. To celebrate the release of Born at Midnight, I’m running a "Tweet my Book and Win a Kindle" contest through March 29th. The grand prize will be the Kindle but I’m also giving away copies of Born at Midnight, some Shadow Falls swag and ARCs of Awake at Dawn, which is scheduled to release in October. All the details are at my blog. So, please drop by and help me tweet my book and you could win a Kindle!

C.C.

19 comments:

  1. I'm not sure about ghosts, sometimes I believe sometimes I'm not so sure, I've never actually SEEN one but I remember after my Grandfather died my younger cousin and I were staying with my Granny before the funeral, we were in the little room I usually stay in at my Grandparents house and my Grandparents would always come in to kiss us goodnight, first my Granny (cause she went to bed earlier) then my Granddad, my cousin and I were talking after my Granny had been in when we heard a plastic bag crinkiling, there was an empty one at the side of the bed, when we looked down at it there was a foot shaped imprint in the bag! To say we were freaked out was an understatement, we both shot over as close to the wall as we could together! Granny and our Mum's said it was probably Granddad coming in to kiss us goodnight one last time! That's my biggest ghostly experience and I'll never forget it, as freaked out as I was when I seen the imprint appear I actually really like the thought that my Granddad came to say a final good-bye to us!
    Suzan
    suzi1811@fsmail.net

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  2. Suzan,

    I love it. I'm having fun writing the ghosts in book three, Taken at Dusk.

    Thanks for stopping in. Oh...today I'm also over at http://darkfaerietales.com/ giving away a copy of Born at Midnight. So pop over.

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  3. I am SO looking forward to this series! My mom's side of the family has ghost stories from when she and her 10 brothers and sisters were growing up. We hear them every year at holidays and they scare me every year. :)

    Love the covers, too!

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  4. Anonymous10:44 AM

    Thanks for coming today, C.C.! And I agree with Kristen...great covers!

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  5. Hi Kristen,

    Thanks. I feel as if I've had the cover fairy on my side lately. I love all the covers. I even got a great cover my new humorous romance that releases in August. Now, I'm waiting to get a sneak peek at the third cover soon.

    And waving at Farrah. Loved your book girl. And Amanda, thanks so much for having me.

    CC

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  6. Anonymous11:16 AM

    Oh yeah, I love the cover for your new humorous romantic suspense. It's great.

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  7. Welcome to our blog, CC.
    I do love that cover with the split tree trunk. Awesome.

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  8. thanks for stopping by, CC! And Kitteh is right, your covers are fantsatic.

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  9. Hi Gwen,

    I got your book last week. It's on my nightstand waiting to be devoured. I even talked about it yesterday while doing a Skype interview at a highschool.

    CC

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  10. Thanks, Mel. I'm thrilled with covers. I actually like the cover for Awake at Dawn a little better than Born at Midnight. I can't wait to see if they do even a better job on book three.

    CC

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  11. Ashley12:21 PM

    I love the covers and can't wait to read Born at Midnight! I read the short story last weekend, and it was so good!

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  12. I love ghost stories, but I'm not a true believer. (hangs head) My daughters on the other had (spawns of Satan that they are) do believe, and it's because when we were at their grandparents house which was built in the 1900's and filled with antiques, one of my daughters woke up to a boy floating over her. She said she blinked a few times, he was still there, and then closed her eyes and told herself he wasn't real. When she looked again, he was gone. Then the next night another one of my daughters saw a man standing in the doorway, just staring at them all and then he disappeared.

    I do believe in seeing what you want to see. To the day my grandmother died, she swore she saw my grandfather walking around the house a week after he died. She missed him so very much. It was actually quite sweet and comforting to her.

    Your books sound great. I love finding new authors, so I'm jazzed about reading your books.

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  13. I don't have any "experiences" with ghosts but I love ghost stories, vampires, etc. (all of that awesome supernatural lore) and I'm really excited to hear about this series.

    These books sound amazing and I'm looking forward to reading them.

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  14. Yay! Christie Craig is writing YA. Can't wait, I seemed to be obsessed with YA. I love reading it, and am even writing it, as well. There are such good stories out there, and yours sounds extra good.

    I love anything paranormal, but I do love ghosts, because I do believe (i do, I do believe in ghosts) in them. My son and I watch Ghost Adventures all the time.

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  15. I'm so excited to read Born at Midnight!!! I've read so many ghost stories, and I do believe they exist...although I haven't had any experiences with them. I think CC is an amazing person, and can't wait to read her book series. :)

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  16. Howdy,

    Thank you everyone who stopped in and said hello. I so appreciate you taking the time to do a little surfing. And thank you Amanda for having me over today.

    You guys rock.

    CC

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  17. Anonymous9:10 PM

    I really enjoyed reading the excerpts from both books. I can't wait until I read the whole book on both.

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  18. I don't have any experiences but I do love reading them. I find it a great escape.

    Vivien
    deadtossedwaves at gmail dot com

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