GGMMMU ~ Representing Ghosts with an interview is Author Jessica Aspen

Jessica Aspen always wanted to be spirited away to a world inhabited by elves, were-wolves and sexy men who walk on the dark side of the knife. Luckily, she’s able to explore her fantasy side and delve into new worlds by writing paranormal romance and twisting fairy tales.
 
She loves indulging in dark chocolate, reading eclectic novels, and dreaming of ocean vacations, but instead spends most of her time writing fantasy romance, walking, Molly-the black lab mix, and hiking in the Colorado Rockies. She is a member of RWA, CRW, FF&P and PRO. You can find Jessica most days during the week at http://jessicaaspen.com, twitter @jessicaaspen, and on Facebook.com/Jessica.Aspen.

Find out more about her whole list of books on Goodreads. 

She is representing ghosts. :-) 

What do you envision their greatest characteristic to be? Their worst?

The greatest characteristic of ghosts is that sometimes they appear to warn or protect. There are many stories of ghosts waving people away from dangerous locations, or appearing when someone has had and accident and being helpful. The worst is that sometimes they are scary and mean and can be very powerful at haunting houses.

          

What two creatures would you love to see go toe to toe in a battle? You will be judged for creativity. ;-) Feel free to describe the battle. Ooooh! Reminds me of Godzilla versus Mothra. Toe to toe on the big screen. Or claw to wing. I can’t even remember how Mothra fought, can you? Anyway, I think I’d love to see a new version of Dracula versus the Mummy. The old black and white monsters have nothing on our new movies. I love the new Mummy movies, those creepy scarabs and the way he sucks sand in and spews it back out. Can you see him taking on the latest reincarnation of Dracula with his morphing into bats and flying on a dime. Take that, old horror movies!

           

Choose three of the following and tell us what your creature would do with them, make out of them, use them for or what reaction they would have to them: an apple, a gemstone, a silver chain, a fish, a rat, a deer, a toad, a piece of pizza heavily dosed with garlic, a flower, treasure belonging to someone else, fire, a spider, a worm, a ball of string, a microphone and speakers, a wooden club, a mirror, a book, a cemetery, a boat, a moonlight bonfire, a sunny afternoon, a walk through the forest on an overcast day, a wooden stick, a Popsicle, a broom, a tree, a lost person, a baby, a body of water, a cross, a cage, wolfs bane, a rock, a rubber band, a chicken, a rabbit, a cave, rope, or a piece of candy. I wrote two scenarios of what a ghost might do with two things, but for the third, toads, I could only think of the scenes in one of my favorite movies, Practical Magic.

Toad. At first there’s one fat lurking toad on the secret grave, then there’s two, or three. Then there are fifty fat, staring toads under the unnaturally beautiful flowers. And you know, without a doubt, that each of those toads is accusing the women of murder.

A sunny afternoon. One day you’re walking on a path and you walk into a clearing. It’s full of sunlight, the kind that comes down in rays, as if there is a kind of mist in the air. It should be hot, but there’s a chill on your skin and you get goose bumps, as if someone is walking on your grave.

An apple. You walk into the kitchen in the bed and breakfast and there is a bowl of ripe, red apples centered on the large farm table. You reach for one. It smells like fresh cider and your mouth starts to water. You open your mouth, already feeling your teeth sinking into its crisp whiteness. But before you can take a bite you hear something behind you. You turn, but nothing is there. You go back to your apple, but its skin is sagging and brown, almost sliding off the soft flesh. And from under the wrinkled surface a small black worm wriggles out, stretching toward your thumb. The tiny hairs on your arm raise and you throw the apple across the room, where it smacks onto the floor, perfectly red and ripe. Oooooh You are tooo good. That was seriously creepy!

Which type of monster do you think would make the best love interest for your monster and why? The worst? For a ghost, I think the best one would be a ghost. The worst one would be a vampire. Ghosts have no blood to suck on!

What scares you? Ghosts do scare me. Probably more than most other monsters. Mostly because I can shake off the fairy tale boogey men, but the idea that we live on after death makes sense to me. And since I have had that feeling, and know people who’ve seen them, it makes it very real. I’m terrified to sleep in a haunted room. One time I went on a ghost tour, at night, through haunted houses in Boulder, Colorado. It was a windy October and in an old part of town where there were few lights and few people. At one house, my friend and I could feel something on the porch, and I swear it followed us. Very creepy!

What is your monster most afraid of? What makes it happy? In my story, Ghosts of Christmas Past, my ghost is stuck in the past. She’s afraid of losing her brother’s affection and she is determined that no one get in the way. Of course, since it happened long ago, there is a huge difficulty in convincing her to go away. As for what makes her happy. She’d be happy if he’d forgive her, but he’s long gone so she is stuck haunting and wreaking havoc in my character’s lives. As for ghosts in general? I think each one would have its own story, just as each person has their own hopes, and dreams, and fears.

What type of candy would you be apt to grab? Give out for Halloween? I love the little chocolate snack bars. Of course I’d give them out for Halloween, that way I end up with lots of leftovers!

What is your monster’s favorite meal? While ghosts would love to eat, everything just goes right through them, but there is one thing they love to eat, ghosts love to devour souls. The guiltier, the better.

           

What do you think is the most mis-construed idea about ghosts? That if you don’t see them, they must not be there. Some ghosts are just memories of strong feelings, their emotions haunt a place. You walk into a room and it just feels cold and uncomfortable. You don’t have to see a ghost to feel it. And some people sense things differently than others. Just as some people are visual learners and some are kinesthetic (tactile) learners, some people are strongly able to perceive the otherworld through vision and others are totally unable to see it, but can feel it on their skin.

           

What is a least known trait about them? That many ghosts look like normal people. You think you are seeing a real person, until they disappear into a wall. Or you turn back around, and they’re not there.

Do you think more likely that ghosts would be here to protect ( living in general or one person specifically) or to get revenge? Ghosts come in many different varieties, some are here trapped in a loop of their own demise, but some stay here of their own volition. Of those ghosts I think the stronger motive would be revenge, but you do hear about ghosts haunting in order to protect. I’ve heard about them forming under certain weather conditions to warn about slick roads. Or haunting locations where fast driving makes the roads dangerous.

What is your favorite type of monster to write about? Read about? I love to read about all kinds of paranormal and fantasy monsters, but as for writing, my favorites are shifters. I’m going to be incorporating dragons into my fantasy romances. Do you think they count as monsters? Might depend on how you write them!

Have you ever had an experience with ghosts in real life? I’ve definitely seen our pets after they pass, but we did live in one house where there was someone else’s pet. The man who had lived there had had a black Lab. The owner had been very sick and taken a few years to die. He died in the hospital and the neighbors told me the dog had been inconsolable. It died before we moved in. One night I got up to go to the bathroom. There was a dog sleeping next to the be and I had to step around it in the dark. I didn’t think much of it, until I got to the foot of the bed and had to step around our two dogs. I had this happen several times and I also heard that dog moving around the house sometimes during the day at times when our dogs were accounted for. It took a year or two before I stopped feeling like the dog was there. I like to think it finally moved on and found its master.

I need to say a HUGE thank you to Jessica. Not only did she do this interview for me, she also wrote a guest post about trolls and goblins for me as well. You'll see it in a few days! She is responsible for finding half of the authors who agreed to take part this year too.  On top of all of that, she is sponsoring today's giveaway! She went above, above and beyond for me and you and I think she deserves the HUGEST  THANK YOU possible. Jessica you are THE Woman! :-)


Jen MacNamara flees the Christmas wedding of her best friend and cheating fiancé and runs to the country to spend the holiday alone. It's the perfect plan, until her unexpectedly sexy neighbor and landlord, Nate Pierce, insists on bringing the holiday to her—complete with a Christmas tree, hot chocolate, and an unexpected kiss.

And that’s not Jen’s only problem.

The cozy country farmhouse is already occupied by something evil. Now Jen’s nights are spent wrapped in sensual dreams of a past life, and her days growing closer to Nate as they solve the mystery of the malevolent ghost that haunts not only the house, but also wants Jen dead.

Dare to discover Jessica Aspen’s sexy, new adult, contemporary, Gothic romance, today.


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