When I mention the word "muse", you might picture a beautiful woman in flowing robes that whispers into the ears of artists. I wish my muse was like that!
My muse is a disagreeable creature that loves all things dark and depressing. She can give me great ideas.....When she's not on a tangent about the stupidity of television commercials or how John Lennon could have saved the world.
I refer to her as "Stella" (odd that this is also the name I gave my daughter's imaginary evil twin). Stella wanders from topic to topic, sometimes frightening me with her intensity, but she always has brilliant ideas. The trick though, is to get her to talk to me.
Stella is like a juvenile delinquent. She sits in the room and refuses to say anything. She might express her disapproval through a roll of her eyes or a snort type life, but she won't contribute anything. When she does decide to actually share her ideas, it's usually at two in the morning when I'm trying to sleep. It's normally around this time that I decide if she was a real person I'd kill her and not even bother to hide the body.
So, to answer the question of how I come up with my ideas.....I enter into a twisted partnership with my darker self. I call her Stella, and we are always in the middle of a love/hate relationship.
A love that refuses to die...
"As I watched him vanish into a soft mist that faded away, I knew that he was no ordinary spirit...I knew that he was a dangerous entity that could be in some corner of another realm planning his revenge, but I also knew that I was hopelessly in love with him."
When Becca moves into her ancestral home in Corydon, Indiana, her life takes a puzzling and thrilling turn when she meets the ghost haunting the halls. As the seductive spirit lures her closer and closer, she learns about her own past and starts to understand that some mistakes are meant to last.
Becca McAllister has always been different from other girls her age. Never part of the "in crowd", Becca never really fit in anywhere. When her mother dies and her father moves them to the small town of Corydon, Indiana, Becca didn't expect things to change.
But things do change when Becca accidentally makes contact with a one hundred and sixty year old ghost, Alastor Sinclair, that haunts the halls of her new home.
To Becca, Alastor is a seductive spirit that seems to see straight into her soul. To Alastor, Becca is what he has waited a century for--A second chance.
But the closer they get, the more Becca realizes that this isn't the first time she and Alastor have known each other. Worse still, is she the one responsible for his death so long ago? And if so, did he come back for love or revenge?
Alastor came at me then, forcing me back against the wall. He was so solid that I could feel his weight against me. I could feel his frozen breath on my face....He ran his hand up my arm, over my shoulder, and rested at the base of my throat. His blue eyes glittered dangerously.
Becca has accepted the horrors of her past life, and emerged with her ghostly love Alastor at her side. But her happiness is short lived when she realizes that balancing her past and present won't be easy...
Becca has already decided that it's Alastor that she loves, but now, as their uncommon relationship limits Becca's future, Alastor must decide if he's willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for Becca's happiness....And will Becca's sanity survive?
I moved away from him, not wanting to be anywhere near him. I was hurt and angry. Ever since that first night in my room when he appeared to me, we had been moving toward this moment. Why couldn’t he see that?
To be in a love affair with a ghost is both a fantasy and a punishment for Becca. Always searching for balance between her deep love for Alastor and her desire for a normal life, a chaotic period of impulsiveness, death, and mourning have led her to the ultimate turning point. Can she and Alastor go against the laws of nature and cheat death to be together again? And at what price?