New interview with paranormal suspense author p.m. terrell

Mystery author p.m. terrell is back with a new interview. Today we’re chatting about her new paranormal suspense, The Misremembered Lighthouse.

As she does her virtual book tour, p.m. will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn participant. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too!

Welcome back, p.m. Please tell us a little bit about yourself.
My full name is Patricia McClelland Terrell, and I have been writing under the pen name p.m.terrell ever since a publisher presented me with my first fiction book cover. The graphic designer had also entered my name in lower-case letters; my editor hated it, and I loved it. It’s been p.m.terrell ever since.

I began writing when I was nine years old, inspired by a schoolteacher and elementary school principal. Scott-Foresman published my first book, a computer instructional for universities, in 1984. Scott-Foresman, Dow-Jones (Richard D. Irwin branch), Palari Publishing, Paralee Press, and Drake Valley Press have published 27 books to date.

Before embarking on a full-time writing career, I founded an IT business in the Washington, D.C. area. The work I performed, especially in cybercrime, inspired several of my book plots.

While my earlier work focused on contemporary suspense, I found I enjoyed weaving history through my books, including Irish history and the American Revolutionary War. My two most popular books, Songbirds are Free and River Passage, are inspired by my ancestor, Mary Neely, who was captured by the Shawnee during the Revolutionary War.

Please tell us about your current release.
In The Misremembered Lighthouse, historian and author Hayley Hunter rents a lighthouse that has been converted into a home. Odd occurrences begin to happen, including the inoperative lighthouse lamp that comes on and off at will, opaque forms that set off the security system, and moving objects. When Hayley discovers the journal of Jonathan Corbyn, the original lighthouse keeper, she believes he is the one haunting her. She sets out to learn why he still lingers in this realm. Her efforts lead her back to the Revolutionary War, where she discovers that Jon is a Scottish immigrant and survivor of the Battle of Culloden, who does not want a revolution. But the revolution is coming for him, and his lighthouse is in a unique position to help or hinder either side.

What inspired you to write this book?
I have always been fascinated by lighthouses, especially those located in isolated areas. I also believe in ghosts, having seen a few myself. The region near Wilmington, North Carolina, was crucial to North Carolina’s victory in the Revolutionary War, making it the perfect setting for the story.

Excerpt from The Misremembered Lighthouse:
I bolted upright and tapped on the latest alert. I found myself staring at the lantern room. The security camera encompassed nearly the entire circular room, save for the wall behind it. My eyes skimmed the walls, alighting briefly on each window. The moon was high and full, and for a moment, I thought the camera might have picked up the glow or perhaps even something flying against the window. But as I continued to stare into my phone, I spotted something moving along the top steps as if ascending.

I quietly tossed the covers off me and glided into my slippers as I grabbed my robe. I cautiously strode to the spiral stairs to peer upward into the stairwell. It was not as dark as I had expected, but a muted light from the moon struggled to illuminate it. I glanced downward to discover it was darker beneath me. Turning my attention again to the stairs leading upward, I remembered the curvature in the design prevented me from seeing to the top. How, then, my mind argued, could the moonlight find its way down?

I stepped onto the staircase. My right hand clenched the phone, while my eyes continually moved from the image on my screen to the steps above me. My naked eyes could see nothing out of the ordinary. The steps appeared just as they had a few hours earlier. But my phone displayed a shadow moving upward.

As I reached the uppermost stairs, I realized the image picked up by the security camera was not a human, but rather a human form. It was opaque, but I detected the outline of a man’s broad shoulders, his torso, arms, and legs. His legs were misshapen, as though he were wearing breeches that ballooned slightly from him. There was something else that extended beyond his body, like a waistcoat. I could see the outline of his head, but it was shadowy, with facial details absorbed into the darkness.

I froze on the step. I could see the image clearly on my phone’s security app. But when I used my naked eyes without the benefit of the phone, I could see nothing at all in the spot where it should have appeared. Shakily, I climbed to the next step and then the next.

The figure moved just beyond me as if to entice me to follow him. As my head topped the floor, it turned to me, as if he was looking straight at me, though I could see nothing but darkness where his face should have been.

What exciting project are you working on next?
My next project asks the question: if you knew when you died, you would revisit your experiences and feel the pain or pleasure you gave, would you have made the same decisions? The book takes place against the backdrop of the invasion and occupation of Poland by Nazi Germany in World War II. It follows the lives of four characters, two male and two female, and the choices they make to survive.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I considered myself a writer when I won a poetry contest in the fourth grade. I considered myself an author when my first book was published.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I first dream everything I write. I never have writer’s block, because I trained myself to dream the next scene. When I wake up the next morning, I am ready to record everything I experienced in the dream.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I never wanted to be anything but a writer. Even when I had fantasies about going to Hollywood, along with millions of others at that time, it wasn’t to become an actress but a writer.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
The Misremembered Lighthouse is the second book in the Hayley Hunter Mystery Series. You don’t have to read the first book, April in the Back of Beyond, before reading The Misremembered Lighthouse, but it makes the experience even better if you do.

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