What Spookiness Lurks In Your Backyard?

Author, Tanya Hanson

I’m a California beach girl who loves those cowboys. My firefighter husband and I love to travel and spoil our two little grandsons. We just got back from New Orleans and Savannah! God has greatly blessed us with happiness and health and I’m humbled to have won a couple of writing awards. Find me at www.tanyahanson.com

What Spookiness Lurks In Your Backyard?

One never knows what spookiness lurks in your own backyard! And being October, well, I wonder if the vibes are eerier when we get nearer to Halloween.

Now I’m not talking about bodies buried in Gramma’s garden, or skeletons in the attic. I mean, local places with their own ghostly cachet.

THE MISSION

Like the San Buenaventura Mission of California’s central coast, not far from my homestead. It was established by Franciscan padre Juniper Serra in 1782 (his last) and is sometimes visited by a gray-robed spectral monk! It’s been going on for years. A local woman, awash in family troubles, had just lit a candle when she saw the monk by the church door. He was dressed in flowing gray robes tied around his middle. Although certain she was at church alone, she was not convinced he was a spirit--she even reported feeling warmth emanate from him. But as soon as he smiled at her, he disappeared.

Thing is...Franciscans wear brown!

Hmmmm. How about ghosts in a church? What do you think about that? Or about spooky stuff in general?

THE MODERN MISSION

But that’s not all you get today. I am thrilled to have been invited to be part of the Halloween anthology from Prairie Rose Publications. 

Cowboys, Creatures and Calico, volume one 

Wow, did I have fun writing my first-ever creep-fest. Here’s some  quick words on my story, The Bridesmaid:

It ain’t all white lace and a wing-ding 1880’s bacherlorette bash. There’s a woman drowning in a well.

Except the well is dry...

Four nights in her dreams, a handsome cowboy tries to kiss her...letting Lydia think she's close to finding true love. Off to Colorado for her friend Milly's wedding, she's stunned to realize her cowboy is...Milly's bridegroom.

She's standing right in front of him, the beautiful woman Garner has ached to kiss for four long nights. Milly's bridesmaid. Can he betray his bride...even as his love for Milly turns to terror?

http://tinyurl.com/mzvg2p8

OUTLAW LOVE

And if you don’t mind, since I have your undivided attention, here’s a word or two about my other new release. Outlaw Ahab Perkins has run roughshod through many of my books at The Wild Rose Press, so I reckoned it time to settle down this charming bad boy and let him find his soul and true love.  Which he finally does in Outlaw in Love, last in a trilogy.

On the run from his gang, having robbed his own sister, outlaw Ahab Perkins has no place to go but good. He’d give his heart to Teresa in a single beat...if the beautiful woman in gray weren’t a...nun.

Unbeknownst, Teresa Avila is as wanted as Ahab, hiding out in disguise at a rundown mission. After her crimes and her evil stepfather’s abuse, she’s convinced she’s not good enough for any man, not even the outlaw she’s falling for.

Enter a burned-out homestead, an abandoned little girl and a kindly sheriff...can both find love as they guide their souls out of darkness?

http://tinyurl.com/ktp8uqx

Give Away Alert!! Tanya will be giving way a Kindle copy of the Cowboys, Creatures, and Calico, volume 1 anthology to one commenter and a Kindle copy of Outlaw Love to another commenter.  Be sure to include your email address to enter.