Guest Post

When I first told people I was writing a book about reapers and werewolves living in Florida, I got a lot of weird looks. When I went on to further explain that they lived in a town teeming with supernatural creatures cloaked from humans in the middle of the state, I got a lot of pained smiles and wincing. When people think of Florida, they most often think of Disney World, Palm Beach socialites and South Beach parties. Even the people who live here. But there is a whole side of Florida few people pay attention to and that is the haunted side of Florida. So I thought I’d share with you some of my inspiration for the book and why the supernatural in Florida isn’t as farfetched as some may believe.

St. Augustine.

Let’s start with St. Augustine. It is one of the oldest and most haunted cities in North America as well as being one of the coolest places in the world to visit. It was founded in 1565 under Pedro Menendez de Aviles as a port for the Spanish Treasure fleet before they sailed back to Spain and to serve as a military outpost. But the natives had declared the land sacred long before the Spanish arrived. The natives believed the land held a connection between the living and the spirit world, much like my fictional town of Belle Haven and the haunted buildings in St. Augustine would take up another three blog posts to explain. It would probably be easier to list the non-haunted places in St. Augustine. Much of Belle Haven’s downtown areas are a mix of Downtown St. Augustine and a town in Central Florida called Chipley.

Cassadaga

Cassadaga is a spiritualist camp in Central Florida and home to numerous psychics and mediums who flock to the area for the mystical energy they believe the area contains. Many people believe that the limestone peninsula making up the majority of Florida’s geology allows people who are psychically gifted to harness the energy limestone is said to conduct. It was the basis for the town of Belle Haven sitting on a sort of energy vortex. Limestone is often cited by ghost hunters as the reason for the overwhelmingly large number of hauntings throughout Florida.

Seacrest Wolf Preserve

There are, in fact, wolves in Florida. Florida is home to a number of red wolves as well as the Seacrest Wolf Preserve which numerous wolves call home. The Seacrest wolf preserve is one of the largest preserves of its kind and offers interactive tours with the wolves. Yes, that’s right, you can run with wolves. Every Saturday, for the bargain price of just $25 per person, you can interact with some of the most beautiful creatures on the planet and if that wasn’t enough, they also have baby wolves, artic foxes, skunks and raccoons to play with. We are planning a trip in December and I couldn’t be more excited. While I can’t swear at least one of these wolves is a werewolf, I’d like to think, statistically speaking, at least one of them must be, right?

I had so much inspiration to draw on here in Florida but I hope this will give you all just a little insight into just how supernatural Florida really truly is.

by Martina McAtee 

 

About the Author

Martina McAtee lives in Jupiter, Florida with her teenage daughter, her best friend, two attack Chihuahua’s and two shady looking cats. By day she is a registered nurse but by night she writes young adult books about reapers, zombies, werewolves and other supernatural creatures. When she isn’t working, teaching or writing she’s reading or watching shows that involve reapers, zombies, werewolves and other supernatural creatures. Her debut novel Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things is set to release on August 31st, 2015. She is currently working on the second book in the series, Your Soul to Take, due to release in 2016.

For More Information

• Visit Martina McAtee’s website.
• Connect with Martina on Facebook and Twitter.
• Find out more about Martina at Goodreads.
• Visit Martina’s blog.

 

About the Book

Title: Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things
Author: Martina McAtee
Publisher: Martina McAtee
Pages: 450
Genre: YA Paranormal Romance

17 year old Ember Denning has made an art of isolating herself. She prefers the dead. She spends her days skipping school in old cemeteries and her nights hiding from her alcoholic father at the funeral home where she works. When her own father dies, Ember learns her whole life is a lie. Standing in the cemetery that’s been her sanctuary, she’s threatened by the most beautiful boy she’s ever seen and rescued by two people who claim to be her family. They say she’s special, that she has a supernatural gift like them…they just don’t know exactly what it is. 

They take her to a small Florida town, where Ember’s life takes a turn for the weird. She’s living with her reaper cousins, an orphaned werewolf pack, a faery and a human genius. Ember’s powers are growing stronger, morphing into something bigger than anything anybody anticipated. Ember has questions but nobody has answers. Nobody knows what she is. They only know her mysterious magical gift is trying to kill them and that beautiful dangerous boy from the cemetery may be the only thing standing between her and death. 

As Ember’s talents are revealed so are the secrets her father hid and those in power who would seek to destroy her. What’s worse, saving Ember has put her cousins in danger and turned her friend’s lives upside down. Ember must learn to embrace her magic or risk losing the family she’s pieced together.

For More Information

• Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things is available at Amazon.
• Discuss this book at PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads.

 

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Tags: supernatural