Today, Claudia Dain joins us for more “behind the scenes” in the Haunting of Castle Keyvnor series. Please welcome Claudia!

Remember to check the previous posts in our “behind the scenes” series:
Ava Stone
Claire Delacroix
Elizabeth Essex

Do I love writing about the Regency period? I do.

Do I love writing about paranormal events? I don’t.

Did I want to participate in this series with all these fabulous authors? I did.

Did I have any ideas about writing a paranormal story? I didn’t.

What did I do? I wrote myself into a solution. I did a “Shakespeare” on it.

Have you read ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’? Yeah, me neither. But I do know that the basic idea is that there are all these fairies in the woods with Issues and there are all these humans in the woods, and they’ve got Issues, and it’s Midsummer Night, and that’s very supernaturally special night, so . . . if Shakespeare can make it work, so can I! (A girl can dream, right?)

My story takes place during Halloween, on the Cornwall coast (there are some woods involved, I’ll admit), and instead of fairies, I used ghosts. Two ghosts: a pair of lovers who died in 1484. Two humans: a pair that in 1811 might fall in love on their own, but why wait when you have ghosts around to give things a push? If Shakespeare can use fairies to push things along, I can use ghosts.

As you might have guessed from the tone of this post, my novella, Lady Ghost and Lord Death: A Love Story, has a comical edge to it. Since it worked for Shakespeare way back in the late 1500s, I thought it might work again, now. The way I look at it, even ghosts deserve a chance to have some fun and to share a few mostly innocent laughs, and so do you.

Claudia Welch/Claudia Dain graduated from the University of Southern California with a BA in English. While there she became a member of Alpha Phi, one of the oldest sororities in America. A two- time Rita finalist, she has won numerous writing awards and honors since her first novel was published in 2000. She has lived for most of her life in Los Angeles, called Connecticut home for a decade, and currently lives in North Carolina with her husband.

Visit Claudia’s website, like her Facebook page, and follow her on Twitter.

Lord Death and Lady Ghost by Claudia Dain
Hal Mort, Viscount Blackwater, visits Keyvnor Castle in the company of friends and atop his new stallion. How was he to know that ghosts awaited him? Hal does not believe in ghosts. Unfortunately for Hal, the ghosts take an interest in him. One ghost wants to see him married to the lovely Lady Morgan. Another ghost is just as determined to see him slip the noose. As the ghosts work their supernatural magic, Hal can’t determine if the intense attraction he feels for Morgan is coming from him or from them. And after a few magical kisses, he’s not sure he cares.

Spellbound goes on sale September 20. Pre-order your copy at these portals: