Today we are joined by historical fiction author, Mary Sharratt (The Vanishing Point; Bitch Lit; The Real Minerva). Mary’s latest book, Daughters of the Witching Hill, was released last month through Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This vividly crafted novel tells the story of Mother Demdike, a cunning woman from Lancashire, England who was never given the chance to speak on her own behalf against allegations of witchcraft. In Daughters of the Witching Hill, Mary gives Mother Demdike her say.

I’m currently reading the book and so far I’m loving it, but as my review is not ready yet, please take a moment to read Mary’s encounter with the famous Pendle Hill and how the voice of Bess spoke to her as she wrote. Also, be sure to enter to win a copy of Daughters of the Witching Hill here (open internationally; ends 14 May 2010 @ 12am; one winner will be chosen at random).

How I Became a Daughter of the Witching Hill by Mary Sharratt

In midwinter 2002, I moved from the Bay Area in California to Lancashire, England. I’ve travelled around the world and lived in many different places, from Germany to Belgium. But what ensued from this relocation was the biggest culture and climate shock of my life. In Northern England, the winters are so dark and oppressive—I felt as though I were trapped inside some claustrophobic gothic novel. My husband and I moved to an old industrial town, our newly built house on the site of a demolished factory. Surrounding all this post-industrial bleakness was a landscape straight out of a fairy tale. In spring the hedges were lacy with hawthorn. Ewes birthed their lambs in the meadow behind our house.

Our house looks out on Pendle Hill, famous throughout the world as the place where George Fox received his vision that moved him to found the Quaker religion in 1652. But Pendle is also steeped in its legends of the Lancashire Witches. Read the rest of this entry »

Today we are joined by prolific paranormal romance author, Michele Hauf. Check out her guest blog below and when your done reading, feel free to post any questions in the comments section as Michele will be stopping by to chat with our readers.

My first paranormal romance for HQN is out next Tuesday, March 30th, HER VAMPIRE HUSBAND.  This isn’t my first paranormal romance.  Let’s see, it’s number…12 or 13.  But what is exciting is it is not a category romance (Silhouette Nocturne) but will instead be shelved in the regular romance section in bookstores.  This was a fun surprise for me.

Last summer I handed the completed story in to my editor, and was told it had been scheduled for release in November (’09) in the Nocturne line.  Want to know how a really exciting phone conversation with an editor can go?  Something like this:  “Michele, just wanted to let you know your story isn’t going to come out in November, but instead the following April.”  Big sigh from me. “Why?  What’d I do?”  Thinking I must have done something wrong to get pushed back on the schedule. “Well, it’s been moved to the HQN line. Congrats!”

It was a very cool thing to learn my story was getting moved to a single title line, which would mean better shelf placement, more attention from marketing, and (fingers crossed) more notice from readers. Read the rest of this entry »

Today we are joined by author Jennifer Lawrence. Jennifer was recently published in the Morrigan Books dark fantasy anthology The Phantom Queen Awakes along with best-selling authors Anya Bast, C.E. Murphy and more. Below, she gives us some insight into what inspired and led her to submit to the anthology.

“I originally stumbled across a call for submissions for this anthology in a community on LiveJournal that centered around the Morrigan.  I’m familiar with the Morrigan from a life-long love of the different mythologies of the world.  Additionally, roughly three-quarters of my ancestry is rooted in Ireland and Scotland, the ancient home of the Morrigan.  I’ve known since I was fairly young (14 or 15, perhaps) that the Catholic faith I was brought up in wasn’t a good fit for me.  It wasn’t that I didn’t necessarily believe in those things; it was more that they didn’t sing to me.  I could believe in them the same way that I could believe that the earth revolved around the sun, but they didn’t inspire me with the deep faith that so many saints and mystics have written of. Read the rest of this entry »