Wednesday, October 28, 2020

Today's Special - - Trick or Treat at Caynham Castle Guest Post & Giveaway

Halloween is only three days away; perfect timing to welcome today's guests. Last month, Nancy Northcott and Jeanne Adams stopped by to tell us how Caynham Castle came to be and share photos of their real-life inspirations (click here if you missed that post). Today, they, and fellow Caynham Castle authors Morgan Brice and Caren Crane are here to tell us about each of their story contributions to this year's anthology: Trick or Treat at Caynham Castle. I've read the anthology and the stories are brimming with action, mystery, danger, romance, and all kind of delicious spooky goodness. Welcome to The Romance Dish, ladies!


A Spooky Halloween at Caynham Castle 

Jeanne Adams, Morgan Brice, Caren Crane, and Nancy Northcott

 


Hi, everyone! PJ, thanks for having us!

The four of us are part of the Caynham Castle gang (with Seressia Glass, Donna MacMeans, and Anna Sugden), writing romance novellas set in an imaginary castle on the Welsh marches. We all celebrated Christmas last year, and four of us are enjoying Halloween this year with Trick or Treat at Caynham Castle. Here’s a bit from each of us about the inspiration for our Halloween stories and the series they tie into.




From Jeanne:

Hi PJ! Thanks for having us on The Romance Dish! My story in Trick or Treat at Caynham Castle is "Trouble Under the Tower." This story stands alone, but if you--or your readers-- read Christmas at Caynham Castle, you'll recognize some of the returning characters. The secret passages I created and used in Christmas at Caynham Castle were the inspiration for this spooky story. I figured that if they found these spooky passages, the Earl of Caynham and his fiancĂ©e, and staff, would be keen to have them authenticated and explored by an archaeologist. Enter Dr. Sebelle Turturro, who's assembled a team of grad students to explore, catalogue and preserve the spooky tunnel and rooms. With the help of an archaeological photographer, Dr. Alden MacDonald, a witch who hails from Haven Harbor, Massachusetts, they'll get it all done in record time...unless there's trouble. And of course, there's LOTS of trouble under the tower! 

This story is an extension of my Haven Harbor Witches series that began with 2016's The Witches Walk. As you know, PJ, this series has several books and six novellas and counting!

Haven Harbor was founded in 1692 when most of the real witches left Salem ahead of the witch trials. Now, in modern day, Haven Harbor is a thriving Massachusetts town with the descendants of those witches making magic, mischief, and finding love.



From Caren:

My story, "Murky Waters," was one inspired by my desire to send my hero out into nature. I made him a landscape architect, which was what the hero of my Christmas novella studied in college. So, I made the hero of "Murky Waters" an old college friend of his and tied the two novellas together. The heroine in "Murky Waters" was a secondary character in the Christmas novella. I love her because she is quite saucy!

The heroine of the Christmas novella was from my fictional town of Cross Springs, North Carolina, which tied the novella to my Cross Springs novels. But the Caynham Castle novellas seem to be developing more independently these days. There may be more ties to Cross Springs in the future, though.

 



From Gail:

As I was thinking about what to do for my story, the Knights Templar came up in another context. That caught my attention, and I started to do some research about their history, associated legends, locations, etc. I came upon a real cave that appeared to have been adapted and used as a Templar secret place, and built out the idea of a missing treasure and a last survivor. It also made sense because Erik’s background is art authentication, so he would be drawn toward historical items and relics, which would get the mystery rolling. 

Erik Mitchell and Ben Nolan star in their own series, Treasure Trail, set in Cape May, NJ. Erik left a high-profile role stopping art fraud after he was shot, and came to Cape May to start over by buying a high-end antique shop that also helps get rid of dangerous magical objects. Ben Nolan was a burned-out Newark cop who came to Cape May to take over his aunt’s vacation real estate company. Ben and Erik connect, and end up dealing with cursed hotels, Mafia ghosts and dangerous old scandals. All of my urban fantasy books as Gail Z. Martin and as Morgan Brice cross over with each other.

 


From Nancy:

My story, "Mr. Never Again," arose out of my enjoyment of reading about people who can’t quite make it work the first time but circle around to each other in the end. When my heroine, Dana Gresham, was a teenager, her mom abandoned the family. She stepped into the mom role. Years later, when she and Blaine Harris dated, her closeness to her siblings bothered him. It ultimately drove them apart. Too late, he came to regret his jealousy. Hoping for another chance, he asked for her to be assigned as his partner on this mission, protecting a weapons designer whose loyalty is in question. Throw in my passion for spies and action-adventure, and I had all the ingredients for this story.

"Mr. Never Again" is part of my Arachnid Files romantic suspense series. Arachnid is a multinational covert intelligence organization created to go around the rules that bind others. The first novella in the series. Danger’s Edge, is available as a standalone. The others are only in anthologies, the two Caynham Castle ones and Who’s Your Daddy, which Caren, Jeanne, and I did together.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PJ, thanks again for having us!

We’ll give one commenter a copy of Trick or Treat at Caynham Castle, so tell us about your favorite romance trope or your favorite legend.

Thanks for stopping by, everyone!


*Must be 18 or older

*Giveaway ends 11:00 PM, October 29, 2020


35 comments:

  1. I enjoy enemies to lovers. Don't think i have a favorite legend, but I find them all fascinating.

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    1. I enjoy enemies to lovers too, catslady. So much delicious friction.

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    2. Hey Catslady! *Waving madly!* I love the enemies to lovers trope too (there are very few I don't like, actually) Like you, Catslady, I find ALLLL the legends fascinating. Grins.

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    3. Hey, Catslady! Good to see you. I enjoy that trope, too.

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  2. Favorite legend King Arthur and Camelot and the Knights of the round Table

    Favorite trope marriage of convenience

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    1. Ditto on the marriage of convenience!

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    2. Hey Laurie G!! So good to "see" you here! I'm fond of Arthur, but Nancy's a huge fan, I think. Like the marriage of convenience too. So often creates such fabulously fun conflict!

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    3. Laurie, I'm such a sucker for anything Arthurian! I totally get that. Marriage of convenience is always fun too.

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  3. Favorite is lost love.
    Patoct

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    1. Ohhh, I love "lost love" stories too. I don't know the patoct legend? I'll have to go look that one up!

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  4. Happy Halloween Ladies!!

    My favorite trope is friends to lovers - I'm just more optimistic about the chances for a lasting relationship if they are friends too.

    I can't think of a specific favorite legend. Maybe that's because I love reading about as many legends as possible.

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    1. My late husband and I were good friends before we started dating so you know this one is two-thumbs up for me! :)

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    2. Happy Halloween, Glenda! (My fav holiday) I've got to say Friends to lovers is one of my absolute favs when it comes to tropes for that very reason. It just seems like if you LIKE someone, then realize you love them it's gonna last. Grins.
      Then again, sometimes you realize you're better off friends. I like when that comes into play too. Ha!

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    3. Hey, Glenda--I always think successful romantic relationships include a friendship component. It may come first or evolve, but I think it's essential.

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  5. Happy Halloween week, everyone! PJ, thanks so much for having us on to talk about Trick or Treat at Caynham Castle. I must say, this group of ladies has been SO much fun to work with and, to create a castle with! Ha! Christmas was delightful, of course, but seeing as how Halloween is my fav holiday, I had even more fun with the spooky, (mildly) scary stories in this one. Hope you liked them too.
    In answer to the questions, my all time fave trope is Beauty and the Beast, and my fav legends is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Grins. (Not Arthur, but related.

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  6. Hi, everybody--

    PJ, thanks so much for having us! No idea why Blogger isn't showing my actual face, but what're you gonna do?

    Thanks also to everyone who stopped by. We had a blast writing this anthology and hope you'll enjoy reading it.

    I enjoy all the romance tropes, but one of my favorites is the pretend relationship that becomes real. It takes people who've maybe not looked twice at each other and puts them in a situation where they see each other's best, and sometimes their worst.

    My favorite legends are the Arthurians, hands down. If there was a Camelot, of course it didn't look like it does in the movies, but I enjoy pretending it might have.

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  7. Gail/Morgan here—Thanks, PJ for having us! And thanks to everyone who read and commented!

    I love a lot of tropes, and even mash-ups between tropes. It’s all good! And yes, I’m a big fan of Camelot and the Arthurian legends, from way back when I read The Crystal Cave and then went on to pillage my public library for every other version of the tales!

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  8. Legend - for me King Arthur is such an exciting story. And for all we know, it is true and not a legend.

    My favorite trope ----shoot fire - friends to lovers, second chances or the best of all - two breathing humans - a girl and a guy and falling madly.

    I thank all of you for the post. I have learned about your writings as well as each of you. You have made every story sound like fun. Thanks for that.

    I hope everyone is taking care and staying well.

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    1. Hey Annette! Thanks for stopping by. Thanks too for your good wishes. Hope you too are staying safe and well. I had to LOL about the Girl and a Guy Falling Madly. That would be my favorite trope, right there. I can go with any scenario, as long as it's got that. I'll even go for a guy and a guy or a gal and a gal as long as there's the falling madly part. Grins. Glad we made every story sound fun...they are. Ha! Enjoy!

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    2. Hi, Annette--

      I'm glad you enjoyed the post. The falling madly bit is a great line!

      You take care and stay safe too.

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  9. My favorite tropes are enemies to lovers or friends to lovers.

    Happy Halloween to everybody, and please stay safe.

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    1. I love those too, and have written both. :-)

      Happy Halloween to you, too!

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  10. Hi Diane D! Some of the best stories use those tropes! Grins. Happy Halloween to you too!

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  11. Happy Halloween! My favorite is brother's best friend!

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  12. Happy Halloween! My favorite is brother's best friend!

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    1. I enjoy that one too! And Happy Halloween back to you. :-)

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  13. One of my favorites is the wounded hero/heroine. My other is the Beauty and the Beast trope. They actually blend together rather nicely.
    I hope you all have a Happy Halloween. Stay safe and healthy.

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    1. Your comment about wounded characters struck a chord, Patricia. I think of romance as being, at its core, about healing. People try to shed their baggage so they can be tougher.

      Happy Halloween to you too!

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    2. Hey Patricia! I loved Nancy's post about this. Romance is about healing. Sometimes it's the characters who heal, sometimes it's the reader. I adore Beauty and the Beast too. Happy Halloween to you too!

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  14. My favorite tropes include friends to lovers and enemies/rivals to lovers, and for historicals, marriage of convenience stories are catnip too! But I also love a good ugly duckling story, especially if it does NOT involve any kind of makeover, but where the characters get to know each other and realize the other person is amazing exactly as they are... if it's in conjunction with a marriage-of-convenience, so much the better ;) I also do love a bad boy, but only if they ultimately turn out to be just the right amount of reformed man... And mashups of any of these? I'm TOTALLY IN!

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    1. Fedora!! Waving madly!! I love all those tropes too. I especially love the non-makeover ugly ducking stories. Or ugly ducklings where people just grow into themselves - i.e. the guy that grows into his feet or the woman that goes from sharp elbows and angles into willowy. I actually have a grade school friend who was so skinny and angular as a kid who grew into the most gorgeous, willowy woman. she was lovely both ways. Grins.

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  15. Hi, Fedora--

    Some of my favorite historicals involve marriages of convenience. Yes, reformed bad boys are great fun. Some of them, I wouldn't give the time of day in real life (pre-reform), but I enjoy watching their journeys.

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