Wednesday 16 September 2015

#Welcome Wednesday guest is Shani Struthers!

Hello! 


Shani Struthers
#Welcome Wednesday hosts a return guest Shani Struthers. If you've not read Shani's work, I'm sure you'll enjoy her exciting paranormal mysteries - I certainly did. She's here to explain what she's made up and what she's found useful, so over to Shani... 


The Fact and the Fiction
     They say write what you know, that way you write with authority. And I adhere to that adage, to a certain extent, but I also mix fact with fiction. Yep, not everything I write is spawned from the realms of imagination!

In my Psychic Surveys series – exciting paranormal mysteries – I talk about real-life psychic cleansing practices, the crystals that are used, the herbs and oils, the frame of mind you must be in before attempting to send a spirit into the light, as well as the once living and breathing members of the Occult, some well known, some more obscure. Cynthia Hart, who haunts Highdown Hall, is also based on a real-life character, a film star from the golden age of movies and the house she once lived in in East Sussex. A friend of a friend inherited her house and I learnt of his ‘dark’ experiences a few years ago. Experiences I knew would one day make a great story! 

     In Rise to Me, there is reference to Aleister Crowley – the notorious Beast of Britain, who died in 1947; Dion Fortune, a prominent occultist, author, psychologist, teacher, artist and mystic, who also died in the 1940s, as well as Alexandra David-Neel and her work with tulpas – thought forms made manifest. Not only integral to the plot, these people moulded the plot, particularly Fortune’s work during World War II, whereupon she and white witches up and down the country entered a battle on psychic planes against the Nazis – sending thoughts out across land and ocean to repel them and keep the shores of Britain safe. Their tireless work was held responsible in part for Rudolf Hess’s plane crashing in Scotland in 1941 after he journeyed here in order to broker a secret peace deal between Germany and England. Researching this, I was surprised to find out just how much the Occult was involved during World War I and II, for the practice of both good and evil.

     In the prequel to The Haunting of Highdown Hall and Rise to Me – Eve – due out in November 2015, I have also drawn from real-life events, this time the sad case of the many miners and their family members who died in the upper rooms of a market hall on Christmas Eve when false shouts of ‘fire’ from below caused widespread panic culminating in a stampede for the exit. At the time, there was strife between the miners and the management and the finger of blame pointed firmly towards the management. Nobody was ever found guilty, however, and no one ever came forward to confess – all this took place in the early 20th century. Whilst writing Eve – setting it in Yorkshire rather than America – I had to decide if my ‘perpetrator’ was to remain a mystery too, after all, the power is in the writer’s hands to change, manipulate and twist the truth. You’ll have to read the book to see whether I did or not but there are definitely times when fact is much stranger than fiction and you think to yourself “I couldn’t have made that up if I tried!

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Coming soon…

Find Shani Struthers at these places:  
Facebook Author Page: http://tinyurl.com/p9yggq9

Thank you for your guest post today, Shani, and best wishes for great success with all of your writing. 

Slainthe!

8 comments:

  1. Thank you for hosting me again, Nancy! Always a pleasure to be on your blog.

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  2. What fascinating concepts! I'm not a huge mystery reader, but throw a little paranormal in the mix and I'll bite.

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    1. Hello Crystal. I think you'll not be disappointed in Shani's work!

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  3. Fascinating. I love Shani's work and love knowing more about my favourite authors. Thanks, Nancy.

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    1. Thanks for popping in, Cameron. There's always a little bit more to learn about someone, isn't there?

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  4. It's great to learn more about the inspirations behind Shani's books, which I love. I look forward to the new book. I'm lucky enough to be able to count Shani as a friend.

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    1. Hi Juliet. thanks for stopping by and supporting Shani-you're a good friend to have!

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