Halloween Bash!!!!!! LAST DAY!!!!!!!!!!

Let’s Talk Paranormal
By Shanon Grey

First, I want to thank Leanne for having me as a guest. I am new to this. The Shoppe of Spells is my debut novel, and until recently I used to think writing involved me sitting down, coming up with a story, writing it, submitting it, and hoping for the best. Not so. It involves a lot more social interaction on my part. For a shy person, that can be intimidating at best. I know that joining Facebook and Friends From Beyond Her Book has helped tremendously. Thank you to all those that have “pushed” me to be more social.

If you visit my page, Shanon Grey :: FictionWeaver or my website, www.shanongrey.com, you will notice that I have branded myself FictionWeaver. That is because I love weaving the unexpected and the unexplained into my stories. The series the Gatekeepers, in which The Shoppe of Spells is the first book, will explore those possibilities even further. The second in the series is Meadow’s Keep (stay tuned for that release this spring) and that will explore how, even in the “enhanced” world, things can go awry.

We are all gifted. The very fact that we are here and do all the incredible things we do, tells me we have unexplored talents. Have you ever thought you were seeing something out of the corner of her eye, only to turn and nothing is there? Have you ever walked into a place and, suddenly, couldn’t get out of there fast enough? Have you been around someone and the attraction was so great, you felt like the atmosphere was charged with electricity? Have you felt like you were in a place you recognize or in a conversation you’ve heard before? All of those things hint at the paranormal.


My stepmother used to put her hands in dishwater and think of me and invariable I would call. It got to be a joke. I told her I wished that we could just have to conversations telepathically, it would be cheaper. That was obviously before cheap phone plans.
“Déjà vu”—the sense of being somewhere familiar—except you’ve never been there, or knowing what’s going to be said, is fairly common. Even stranger—I went to Colonial Williamsburg, VA with my friend, Mary (to whom the book is dedicated) and two things happened. I walked into a Colonial site, saw a painting (called theorem painting, a technique used in colonial times) and knew exactly how to do it. I am not an artist. At another site, Mary started talking to one of the researchers and told them things about being a servant that they
knew but hadn’t published yet. So what did we do? We treated ourselves to a fabulous colonial dinner and went back to living normal lives.


When I met my husband, I was doing research and he signed up to be a subject. I took him into this room to interview him and the atmosphere became so charged, that when someone opened the door, not only did she get shocked (you could hear it), her hair stood on end (she was NOT thrilled with that).
My point is, things happen all around us, all of the time. We just have to be aware. Or observant. Someone once told me that the only reason we don’t see all the dust particles floating around (I think he was referring to my house) is we have conditioned ourselves not to see them.


In my book, my main character, Morgan, has lived 26 years being “ordinary,” only to find out she is definitely extraordinary. And for her, and others, what they have is normal—for them. The Shoppe of Spells is set in an amazing, small town in Georgia. I hope you’ll fall in love with Ruthorford and feel just as at home as its residents.


I love exploring these possibilities. I hope you take from this the desire to look closer at the world around and within you and enjoy what you find. I would love for you to join me as I explore some of those possibilities. Oh, a little side note. On my site, www.shanongrey.com, the incredible eye on the home page was done by none other than our own wonderful Leanne. Thank you, Leanne, it’s perfect.