True Ghost Story

Yes, a true ghost story! It happened to a close family member - though, of course, details have been changed to protect the innocent. However, the ghost is 100% real and what happens related to the ghost in the story is exactly what happened to my relative.

So, in honor of one of my favorite holidays, Halloween, I've decided to re-publish the story here for free - October Twilight (originally published in the October 2011 issue of The Ultimate Writer) - and share it with my fans. Enjoy...

OCTOBER TWILIGHT

By Tara McTiernan

Copyright 2008 Tara McTiernan

Maggie was on one of her Sunday get-out-of-the-house-before-you-lose-your-mind drives, moving fairly slowly as no one was behind her, and that was probably why she saw it at all. It was a small old graveyard, complete with a black wrought iron fence full of curlicues and a gate. As it was nowhere near a church or even any houses, she wouldn’t have thought to look. But she was drawn to graveyards lately; they were the only places that felt comfortable and right these days. 

She turned her wheel hard and pulled onto the high-grass and wildflower filled shoulder. A few late black-eyed Susan’s leaned in her open passenger window as if to ask her a question. Maggie looked at the flowers. “Don’t look at me. I’m just crazy,” she said. She was talking to herself a lot recently, so it didn’t seem strange to talk to flowers while she was at it.

Glancing in her rearview mirror to make sure no cars were coming up on her side, she opened the door and then walked back to the graveyard, looking around the area. There weren’t any houses in sight, not even a lone driveway leading to some house hidden by trees, just the thick woods and the road. The graveyard was set a little back from the road and up on a rise. She climbed the crumbling brick stairs to the gate and tried it. It was locked. The wrought iron fence was Victorian in style, the pickets topped by pointed arrows as if telling the souls where to go when they died. Go to Heaven and see little Brian, less than a month old, too young to sin. 

She shook her head. I won’t think about that today. It’s Sunday, a good day, a family day. Only that was the problem. First Brian had been taken from

Coming Soon: Cocktail Hour

I know, you're probably wondering - where's the bar? No, I'm talking about my second novel, Cocktail Hour! 

Right now we're in the editing process and then a cover will need to be designed, but it's looking good for my next book to be released in either December or January (hope, hope!). So, for those of you who have been interested in seeing more of my work - it's a comin'!

What's it about?

Here's the official product description:

Cocktail Hour, where the elite meet and everything sparkles...especially knives in the back.

What if your friend - someone admired, envied, and fervently sought after by everyone who knew her - was really a dangerous sociopath?  In her latest novel, Cocktail Hour, mainstream fiction author Tara McTiernan answers that question as she takes you on a wild roller-coaster ride of thrilling highs and terrifying lows in this gripping novel about friendship gone horribly wrong.

Spring in glamorous uber-rich Fairfield County, Connecticut is a time of beginnings:  a new diet for the approaching summer spent out on the yacht, fresh-faced interns being offered up at the office as the seasonal sacrifice to the gods of money, and corporate takeovers galore. Five women in their thirties have a brand-new friendship, too, one that fed and watered regularly at local hotspots over cocktails. With all of their personal struggles - Lucie's new catering business is foundering due to vicious gossip, Kate's marriage is troubled due to an inability to conceive, Chelsea's series of misses in the romance department have led to frantic desperation, and Sharon's career problems are spinning out of control - the women look forward to a break and a drink and a chance to let their guards down with their friends. And letting their guards down is the last thing they should do in the kind of company they unknowingly keep with the fifth member of their cocktail-clique: Bianca Rossi, a woman who will stop at nothing to have it all.

As each woman's life is affected by this she-wolf in sheep's clothing, the truth starts to come out, but will they see it before it's too late? Or will their doubts about their own perceptions and gut feelings stop them from protecting themselves in time? Exciting, chilling, and emotionally charged, Tara McTiernan delivers a delicious page-turner that will change your view of everyone you think you know.

How does that sound? Very excited to hear reader reactions to this book once it's released...