Witches Wednesday!!!

Hello Everyone! Welcome to an extra-special edition of Witches Wednesday, featuring the blogosphere's own Erin Cole (whom I really do suspect is a witch because she's so talented and beautiful. Just sayin' ;-).

I had the pleasure of reading Erin's debut novel, Grave Echoes, which blends the extraordinary world of magic with the modern, ordinary world. Erin truly has a gift with words -- her prose paints the scene so vividly that you really feel you're there, in the book. Which is sometimes scary ;-)

(awesome photo to the left found at The Book of Shadows Blog. I'm wondering how they got such an accurate description of what happens when Erin, Jodi MacArthur and I get together ;-)

Now, without further ado... Erin:

Witches, witches, witches! They are seeped into our culture: “Wizard of Oz,” “MacBeth,” “Charmed,” “Snow White”—“Sleeping Beauty”—“Little Mermaid”—“Tangled” (okay, most every Disney movie ever made), “Buffy,” “Drag Me To Hell,” Elvira, “Practical Magic,” Halloween, Salem Massachusetts 1670! So what is the fascination with the dark, wicked women?

I believe it is their versatility—evil, good, ugly, beautiful, nasty, charmer, destroyer…the witch is anything and everything. There is a certain magnetism to things not easily understood or defined, like witches. The desire for control is in all of us, and witches. Most people are attracted to things dark and sexy, again, witches. She can even be a he (warlock/witchdoctor).

In fact, my favorite witch of all time is Eric Schweig in the movie, “The Missing,” with Cate Blanchett and Tommy Lee Jones. He is powerful and horrific, conjuring spells in a way that is so

frighteningly real, I wonder if magic really does exist, to a certain degree.

In my book, “Grave Echoes: A Kate Waters Mystery,” one of my favorite characters is a witch. Her name is Thea Wright, and I wanted to depict her with similar brooding qualities as Eric Schweig. She is not drop-dead gorgeous, but she definitely has a pull of her own. She is smart, cautious, dark, and a risk-taker. She knows more than she should (through dreams and intuition) or would probably like to, and for this, she knows magic is not good or bad. Like nature, it encompasses both yin and yang, and all the gray in between. That is Thea. Much of her coven (Thea is the priestess of the Blue Moon Coven) is continuously suspicious of her because she practices both light and dark magic. I dive further into this aspect of witchery in my next Kate Waters Mystery novel, “Wicked Tempest.” A witch, as well as the coven priestess, is chosen by higher forces, and when there is a curse foreshadowing deaths, higher forces will collide.

Until then, here is an excerpt from my novel, “Grave Echoes: A Kate Waters Mystery”—

CH. 15

* * *

“What can I get you,” she said to him.

Wells pulled out his badge. “My name is Detective Orwin Wells. Are you Thea Wright?”

“Yes.” She didn’t appear a bit nervous as most civilians were after seeing his badge.

“I need to talk to you about Jevanna Waters.”Her face hardened, and she stopped cleaning.

Her eyes peered into him, as if searching his thoughts. “What about?”

“Some matches were found in Jev’s home. They are from your club.”

“That sounds terrible, detective.”

Sarcasm now. She seemed overly brave. “The house was locked up, but her house key is missing.”

“Any one of her friends could have dropped them in there.”

“But only one of them can get in. The one with her house key,” Wells challenged her.

Streetlights pierced into the dark tavern like flashlights in a dusty coffin. Wells twisted around, noting the two burly-looking men who had walked into the bar. He turned his attention back to Thea. “I wouldn’t be making a big deal of it if we hadn’t discovered fingerprints on the deceased’s neck where one would take a pulse.” He noticed a sign of worry flash across her eyes and straighten her mouth. “And the sister believes someone might be following her.”

Thea motioned to the detective to wait while she filled a pitcher full of beer for the two customers. Then she came back over and stood in front of him. “I don’t have a key to Jev’s house if that’s what you want to know.”

“Was there anything unusual with Ms. Waters before her accident?” He spoke of the victim professionally to stress his seriousness.

“She was acting different,” Thea replied, combining half-empty liquor bottles together. “I don’t think she was getting along with her boyfriend at the time.”

“Sean?” Wells clarified. Thea nodded. “Do you know what they were fighting about?”

“She never told me. Jev liked to try to solve her own problems, even though she wasn’t very good at it.”

Wells admired her honesty. “Were you two close?”

“I’d like to think so.”

“Close enough to practice witchcraft together?”

Thea set the bottles on a glass shelf behind her and then turned to him. “Sometimes.”

Wells looked around the joint while she helped another customer at the register. She moved with confidence and grace, and he imagined she probably made a good penny in tips. She came back to him with a shot of whiskey. “On the house.”

Even though he was on duty, certain situations required a slack attitude if the truth was to be revealed. He lifted the glass and winked at her. Then he downed the smooth, golden liquor, enjoying the burn down his throat.

“Are you supposed to be drinking on the job?” A smirk drifted over her face.

“You going to tell on me?” he replied, motioning his empty glass to her for another.

She reached to the glass shelves behind her and filled his glass, handing it back to him, her face hardened. “Only if you quit investigating Jev’s accident. Her sister is in danger.”

Wells nearly coughed up his drink. He set the glass down. “Why do you think that?” It came out more of a whisper than he wanted it to.

Thea’s eyes probed the bar for eaves-dropping ears. “I have a bad feeling.”

“A bad feeling?” Wells repeated.

Her venomous eyes locked onto him. “Ever since my dog died. I know someone killed Cernunos.”

“You think someone murdered your dog?”

“The vet said he was poisoned.”

“Any reason why someone would want to kill your dog?”

“I don’t think it’s that hard to figure out, Detective,” she said, cunningness magnetized in her shrewd smile. “Someone obviously doesn’t like me, and I’m not exactly popular.”

Wells gathered that much. “How about the boyfriend? He have a good reason to dislike you?”

“You could say we had mutual feelings of dislike for each other, but I don’t think Sean had anything to do with Jev’s accident. He adored her, like a puppy.”

And maybe that made you jealous, Wells thought to himself, but Thea stared at him, as if she knew exactly what had just crossed his mind.

* * *

There’s a lot more witchcraft and witches in, “Wicked Tempest,” due sometime in 2012. I also have a few writes about witches, if anyone is interested, they are on my website under Online—“Inevitable Encounters”, “Barracuda Hearts”, and “Black Soul Bitches.”

Witches will always thrive in our culture. They give us fear, mystery, and hope if we are on their side! I’d love to hear about the witches that you like and why. Thanks for reading, everyone, and thank you, Nicole, for the invite!

It is totally and completely my pleasure, Erin! Please check out more of Erin's work on her awesome blog right here. Grave Echoes is available on Amazon.com and Kindle - buy it!