UFI welcomes Dana Michelle Burnett Author of Once. Thanks for Joining us!!
Turning the Normal
into the Paranormal
First off, thank you so much for having me on the blog! I love having the chance to meet new people
and introduce myself and my work!
I write about the paranormal, all those little things that
go bump in the night or give you cold chills. Yep, that’s me, bad dream giver
extraordinaire.
I love the paranormal, but what I love most is that the
paranormal can take places in such normal places. That gives an extra scary element to it all
because it could happen anywhere, even your own hometown!
In my new Gypsy Fairy Tale series, I brought the paranormal
to the small Indiana town of Corydon.
It’s not the first time that a scary tale of mine has taken place there,
but this time instead of a ghost out for revenge, it’s immortals in hiding.
To me, Corydon was the perfect setting for Once. I needed a place that I could easily bring to
life, but that could be anywhere in the country. My main character, Harmony, exists in this
small community, struggling to make ends meet and overwhelmed with trying to
make some sort of life for herself. That
is the normal part of my stories; everything else is a leap of faith into the
unknown.
In Once, a carnival of Irish Travellers comes to town, but
they hide a secret within their closed group.
Hiding among them is the Tuatha De Danann, the immortals of Irish legend
and fairy tales. When Harmony falls for
one of Tuatha De Danann, she is thrust into a world of ancient enemies and
magic.
To me, a great paranormal tale has a taste of reality in it that
makes you think “this could happen”, even though deep down you know it
couldn’t. That is the magic of any book.
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Dana Michelle Burnett spent most of her life writing short
stories and sharing them with family and friends. Over the years, her
work was published in numerous commercial and literary magazines
including Just Labs, Mindprints: A Literary Journal, Foliate Oak, and
many more. Her short story John Lennon and the Chicken
Holocaust was include in The Best of Foliate Oak 2006.
Dana Michelle's Spiritus Series introduced the idea of a ghostly romance and became a Kindle bestselling series. She's an avid reader of anything dark and romantic. Dana Michelle lives in Southern Indiana with her dancing diva daughter and an assortment of pets.
Dana Michelle's Spiritus Series introduced the idea of a ghostly romance and became a Kindle bestselling series. She's an avid reader of anything dark and romantic. Dana Michelle lives in Southern Indiana with her dancing diva daughter and an assortment of pets.
OnceGypsy Fairy Tale #1
Beautiful. Secretive. Magical. You envy their freedom, but you are distrustful of their ways. A strange carnival has come to Corydon, Indiana and the Irish Travellers have captured the small town's attention--but it's Harmony who's attracted theirs.__________________________________
Harmony sees the Travellers everywhere and just like everyone else in town she's curious. But once she meets the mysterious and captivating Kieran, Harmony's life takes an exciting and chilling turn.
Up until now, Harmony never believed that fairy tales or myths were real, but Kieran and his family belong to an ancient tribe called the Tuatha de Dannan and someone else has discovered their secret.
An ancient battle is about to begin again, and now no one is safe, especially Harmony. Can Kieran resist the urge to be with her or will his feelings put her in the crossfire?
Excerpt
The bumpy dirt road leading out to old
man Macready’s farm was dark, but still I turned off my truck’s headlights and
slowed down to a crawl. I leaned forward and peered out at the darkness,
squinting to see anything at all.
I could feel Kieran watching me from
the passenger seat. I didn’t turn to see his expression, but I could feel him
near and close.
“What?” I whispered without taking my
eyes off of the road.
“I get the feeling that we’re not
supposed to be here.”
“You would be right,” I said with a laugh.
“A bunch of us kids used to come out here back in high school and more than
once he chased us off.”
Kieran laughed as well and moved closer
on the seat, “How would he chase you off?”
“He’d shoot at us with bird shot,” I
said glancing over at him and just being able to make out his shocked
expression.
I pulled the truck to a stop just as
the road ended. I shut off the engine and got out, standing in the tall woody
weeds.
“The pond is just on the other side of
the trees,” I said as Kieran came around the truck.
Not giving myself time to think about
it, I reached over and took his hand and started walking through the trees.
Easy Harmony... It’s just his hand...
You’re just showing him the way... It doesn’t mean anything...
Despite the conversation in my head, I
still trembled as our fingers intertwined. I didn’t look back at him, but I
held his hand a little tighter.
“When I graduated from high school, and
everyone else went off to college, I used to come out here by myself before
Grandma got so bad.”
“What was that like? Coming out here
all alone?” Kieran asked as he followed close behind.
“It was great,” I said with a quick
glance back. “It was so quiet I could just forget everything else. I didn’t
have to think. I didn’t have to take care of anyone. I didn’t have to do
anything and there would be all these butterflies just flying around. I could
sit and watch them for hours.”
“Sounds beautiful.”
“It was,” I said. “Have you ever
noticed you never see butterflies that much anymore? I miss them.”
Oh God... That was a stupid thing to
say...
Kieran pulled at my hand to stop me
just as we reached the edge of the trees.
“Is something wrong?” I asked as I
turned around.
“No,” Kieran said as he took my other
hand as well and then tilted his head back and closed his eyes. “Just wait.”
Suddenly, into the air rose a cloud of
orange and black butterflies. They fluttered all around us, landed on my arms
and shoulders.
I looked at him amazed, “How did you do
that?”
Kieran stepped forward and brought his
lips down on mine in a feathery soft kiss. When I opened my eyes, the
butterflies were gone.
“Magic,” he whispered and backed away.
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