And hereeeeee's Mary!
George “Haw Shot” Hawley
Strange creatures, the stranger the better, fascinate
me. I loved Relic for that reason and
I loved the interesting creatures Cheri Reich dreamed up for Reborn. Beasts can make a world come alive
for me, i.e., Dragon Riders of Pern.
Gwen writes about great ghosts with pasts getting
them stuck in the present... well, in haunting the present.
George “Haw Shot” Hawley is a ghost with a twist. I
based him slightly on fact and slightly on fiction. One of the main characters
in The Rifters was a real outlaw. So
I did a lot of research and ran across this guy: C.B. Hawley (18??-1882) -
An outlaw, Hawley confessed to stage robbery in 1882 near Globe, Arizona
and was lynched. Index
of American Outlaws
Hanging was a common sentence in the old days,
whether by proper sentence or mob. It also wasn’t uncommon for the head to come
off during hanging. “Black Jack” Tom Ketchum was the last man to hang in
America in 1901, because hangings often went wrong. Tom ended up in three
pieces. more
info
Sounds like a reason to be a ghost with a thirst for
vengeance to me. The C in CB stood
for Charles. I already had a Charles old west outlaw, so I renamed him George
and moved him to Nevada.
George uses my other outlaw to murder townspeople and
steal their heads. The heads give him more powers, because he’s not a normal
ghost. He’s possessed by another creature from the rift using him for its
nefarious purposes.
The Gold Rush trickles to a fool’s quest and a string
of stagecoach heists. In 1888, Earl Blacke decides to make a new start and become
a better man. He escapes into the mountains, heading north. In the wilds of
Oregon, a rift inside an ancient volcano opens and sends him into the future,
into the present day. It also shaves forty years off his age, forty years to
live over again and atone for what he’s done.
Starting over is hard to do. In current day New York,
Daelin Long’s dream job at a publishing house goes the way of the dinosaurs her
sister chases. With no money and nowhere else to go, Daelin accepts the
librarian position in her sister’s dinky town in the middle of Oregon. Nestled
inside ancient volcanic peaks, the town of Settler holds onto many secrets.
Residents roam the streets with weirdly fashioned devices, and odd lights pulse
in the night skies. People whisper of a phantom outlaw and start dying,
murdered and missing their heads. On top of it all, Daelin’s sister is missing,
and Daelin doesn’t know who to trust.
Earl knows more than he’s saying. He shares a
notorious history with the phantom, one he’ll see remains buried. Keeping
Daelin’s sister’s secrets is his only chance at redemption, and the only way to
keep this world safe.
Try Rifters for free!
Take advantage of the preorder special on book 2, The Initiate. Only 99 cents via preorder
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Author Bio:
Fantasy, science fiction, and
the weird beckons to her, and she blames Oregon, a source of endless
inspiration. She docents at Pine Mountain Observatory in the summers, and one
of her cats has a crush on Mr. Spock. You can find out more by visiting her
website: mpaxauthor.com
Awesome that George is based on a real life outlaw. And it's fun when you put a twist of your own. Congrats on your book, Mary!
ReplyDeleteIt's fun to use real facts to create fiction. Maybe it's because I enjoy history and research.
DeleteWhat a great, creepy story. I didn't know heads sometimes came off during hangings. How gruesome.
ReplyDeleteIt was actually quite common. Apparently, it takes skill to get the rope exactly right.
DeleteHis head would fall off - that's funny!
ReplyDeleteI do like a beast with some humor.
DeleteSounds awesome. Have my copy can't wait to dig in....
ReplyDeleteIt would be a horrible thing to witness, wouldn't it?
DeleteThanks for letting me hang out today, Gwen :)
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure, Mary. Any time!
DeleteI had no idea they would lose their head..I guess the noose is really, really tight. I can't figure how people would pack picnic lunches to watch a hanging
ReplyDeleteIt had to do with the weight of the 'hangee' and the length of the rope, how it was looped, etc... Yeah, not a picnic moment.
DeleteI didn't realize they could lose their heads while hanging. Great to learn more how you came up with Haw Shot.
ReplyDeleteYes, I was surprised at how common it was. Hollywood never shows that. lol
DeleteI love ghost stories. This sounds interesting--and so does your book, Gwen! (I clicked over from the sidebar to read about it.)
ReplyDeleteGhost stories are so much fun, and Haw Shot was definitely memorable!
ReplyDeleteHaw, haw. lol
DeleteOh my goodness Mary! This book is just sounding better and better!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great guest post and book premise! I was a big fan of Relic too. So much so that when I had time this summer, I read all 14 books in the Agent Pendergast series and LOVED them! Wishing you and Rifters much success! :)
ReplyDelete"Haw" is definitely a strange and disturbing character in Rifters. I think you did a great job describing him and giving him motivation to do and be what he is . . .
ReplyDelete