#ThursdayThoughts with Susan Coryell

Good Morning!

You'll notice there was no Tuesday Treasures this week. My scheduled guest could not make it and I was busy visiting with dear friends and colleagues and travelling that I did not have time to improvise.

Never fear though, we'll get back on track ASAHP.

Anyway, today's guest visited us last month to share her new book so please give Susan Coryell a huge "welcome back!"

Take it away Susan.....

“Something uplifting,” Pamela said. Oddly enough, I have just returned from my father-in-law’s funeral and I have to say it was amazingly uplifting. He lived past his 99th birthday, and even though he spent his last ten years in a “memory unit” at an assisted living facility, the man remained a full-on optimist. He once said, “Losing your memory is not so terrible; I have no recollection of anything bad that happened to me.”

At the celebration-of-life service in the chapel of the facility, speakers remembered him as loving, giving, hard-working, thoughtful and faithful to his beliefs. But I shall always smile fondly on his never-ending positive view of life. Days before he passed away, he had stopped eating. Looking at a care-giver who was trying to entice him to sample his lunch, he smiled and said, “You are a very attractive young woman, but I’m not eating that.” This is what I will remember about my father-in-law.

Fascinated by the grandparents I have known, I like to include older characters in my writing. In my Southern Gothic/cozy mystery Overhome Trilogy, I rely on my elderly characters to be archivists of the history that backs the contemporary action in an historic Virginia plantation. In A Red, Red Rose, http://a.co/5kbhtmD

Abe Murley and Miss Emma Coleville, both of whom have lived on Overhome estate most of their lives, are key to the young protagonist’s mystery solving. Both are active, canny seniors.

For the second novel of the series, Beneath the Stones, http://a.co/hPHeCNP Abe has passed away, but Miss Emma continues to guide protagonist Ashby in her quest to resolve the conflicts of dealing with an angry ghost.

Miss Emma appears in the third novel, Nobody Knows, http://a.co/46qyM2d to reveal a past Ashby had never considered possible.

The main character for my new release, A Murder of Principle, is a somewhat jaded, but still empathetic middle-aged high school teacher whom I contrast with her wide-eyed rooky intern. http://a.co/az2wMVN  

Though I read many books involving solely new-adult characters, I will always include in my writings those who have been tested by time and survived to live a rich and interesting life.

Thanks to Pamela for inviting me to share my thoughts on her awesome blog!

Thanks for sharing, Susan!

About Susan: A career educator, Susan Coryell has taught students from 7th grade through college-level. She earned a BA degree in English from Carson-Newman College and a Masters from George Mason University. She is listed in several different volumes of Who’s Who in Education and Who’s Who in Teaching.  Coryell belongs to Author’s Guild, Virginia Writers, and Lake Writers. She loves to talk with budding writers at schools, writers’ conferences and workshops. Her young adult anti-bully novel EAGLEBAIT is in its third edition for print and e-book, updated with cyber-bullying. EAGLEBAIT won the NY Public Library's "Books for the Teen Age," and the International Reading Association's "Young Adult Choice." Find out more by visiting her website and connecting with her on Facebook.

Hope you enjoyed today's post and that you'll check back weekly for Tuesday Treasures, Thursday Thoughts and Saturday Spotlight.

Until next time, take care and God bless.
PamT

#SaturdaySpotlight is on Susan Coryell

Good Morning Friends and Welcome to the last Saturday Spotlight for October!

Yeah, I can't believe it either but you know what they say...."Time flies when you're having fun."

Maybe we should amend that to, "Time flies whether you're having fun or not." LOL!

Our guest today has visited before but it's been a while, so let's introduce her again.....

A career educator, Susan has taught students from 7th grade through college-level. She earned a BA degree in English from Carson-Newman College and a Masters from George Mason University. She is listed in several different volumes of Who’s Who in Education and Who’s Who in Teaching.  Susan belongs to Author’s Guild, Virginia Writers, and Lake Writers. She loves to talk with budding writers at schools, writers’ conferences and workshops. Her young adult anti-bully novel EAGLEBAIT is in its third edition for print and e-book, updated with cyber-bullying.

EAGLEBAIT won the NY Public Library's "Books for the Teen Age," and the International Reading Association's "Young Adult Choice."

A RED, RED ROSE, first in a cozy mystery/Southern Gothic series, was nominated for a literary award with the Library of Virginia. BENEATH THE STONES, the sequel, was released in April of 2015. NOBODY KNOWS, third novel in the Overhome Trilogy released October, 2016. All three novels were published by The Wild Rose Press in NY.

The author has long been interested in concerns about culture and society in the South, where hard-felt, long-held feelings battle with modern ideas.  The ghosts slipped in, to her surprise.

When not writing, Susan enjoys boating, kayaking, golf and yoga. She and her husband, Ned, love to travel, especially when any of their seven grandchildren are involved.

Please visit Susan Coryell’s website: www.susancoryellauthor.com and her blog: www.susancoryellauthor.blogspot.com or contact her on Facebook and Twitter: @SCoryellAuthor
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Susan-Coryell-Author-149075331807592/

JUST IN TIME FOR HALLOWEEN!

Why do ancient spirits hover at the crossroads between two worlds: the living and the dead?

With a successful writing career and blissful marriage, Ashby Overton is fulfilled and content at historic Overhome Estate in Southern Virginia until a stranger walks into her life. The arrival of Professor Ellis O. Grady coincides with a violent and bizarre turbulence emanating from the dark world of Overhome's ancient spirits.

As paranormal events build into chaos, Ashby must use her sixth sense to sort out the real from the imagined in both the visible and the invisible worlds as, stirred into fury, the souls of Civil War slaves engage in a dangerous battle destined to reveal long-held secrets of the past.

What is the connection between the enigmatic professor, a slave-built chapel and a restored overseer's cottage on Overhome Estate? Ashby struggles to find the answers before the spirits destroy her family's heritage, and the lives of those she loves.

EXCERPT:
     Walking over the weedy ground, I felt the desolate abandonment of those long-dead. A few tilting gravestones, so blurred with time that their epitaphs were illegible, listed toward the ground as if sheltering from a punishing wind. Scattered among the patchwork grasses were small, thin stone markers set in the dirt, little more than raw rocks, though several bore the faint outline of initials which had been chiseled into them so long ago. Ellis and I surveyed the bleak cemetery, each harboring our own thoughts.  I don’t know how long we stood there breathing in the silence. Then, I heard the voice.—so clear, so distinct, that I startled and almost fell back. Did my companion hear it, too? I darted a look at him. He stood with eyes closed, evidently completely lost in his own reverie. I held my breath and listened with all my senses on alert. The voice wavered this time, as though trailing away, but its repeated message was identical to the one I had first heard at the Overseer’s Cottage when the candlestick went missing. I had thought, then, that I heard “red apple,” which made no sense. Now I understood. “Jared Chapel,” the voice warned. Yes, its tone was severe. Demanding. “Jared Chapel.”

     I touched Ellis’s arm. “It’s here, Ellis. I know it is.” And when he blinked uncomprehendingly, I added, “You wondered if Jared Chapel offers anything in your search for your ancestry. It’s here—there’s something here. I feel it and I...I know it.”

     He blinked several times, a serious expression on his face. “You know because...”

     “Sometimes the past speaks to me. I can’t explain it, but I have to trust the voice that tells me things.”

     He rubbed his chin. “You know...this is odd. Really odd.”

     I raised my eyebrows in a silent question and he continued. “Because I thought I heard something. I definitely felt...a presence I can’t explain. Someone trying to get my attention. Someone very, very seriously trying to make me understand.” He shook his head. “Understand what? I confess, I’m baffled.”

     “It’s a sign,” I said. “Something I’ve learned over my years at Overhome. We ignore the signs at our own peril.”

****
Purchase Nobody Knows at Amazon.

Hope you enjoyed today's spotlight and that you'll join me each week for Tuesday Treasures, Thursday Thoughts and Saturday Spotlight.