Kathryn Meyer Griffith
Hi
today and for the next couple of days. I would like to welcome STAR AUTHOR-Kathryn Meyer Griffith: onto my Blogg
Hi
today and for the next couple of days. I would like to welcome STAR AUTHOR-Kathryn Meyer Griffith: onto my Blogg
If you leave a comment for Kathryn you will be put in the running for a pdf. copy of The Ice Bridge. All I need is the heroine and the hero's name :-) and your email in case you win, thanks.
Further down the page Kathryn has written as essay on how the idea of The ICE BRIDGE came about. I hope you will spare a few moments to read this very informative article.
Further down the page Kathryn has written as essay on how the idea of The ICE BRIDGE came about. I hope you will spare a few moments to read this very informative article.
2012 Finalist for the EPIC EBOOKS AWARD for her THE LAST
VAMPIRE-Revised Author's Edition.
***
***
BLURB of The Ice Bridge by Kathryn Meyer Griffith:
She’ll fall in love again…with a man and the island.
Charlotte returns to her Aunt Bess and Mackinac Island, a
quaint retreat that welcomes summer tourists and allows no
cars to renew herself and write about the island’s ghosts.
She’s come to help Bess with her heartache, an ended love
with Shaun, and to renew a friendship with neighbor Hannah.
In winter Mackinac closes down and everyone looks forward to
the ice bridge that freezes across the Straits of Mackinac.
Until Hannah disappears into the icy waters crossing it.
Everyone says it’s an accident. But Charlotte and her
admirer cop friend, Mac, don’t think so. Something isn’t
right. Hannah was too smart to go off the path.
So it’s murder…but why…how…by whom?
In the end, it’s Mac–and perhaps Hannah’s ghost–who
saves Charlotte and Bess’s lives when the killer decides
they’re too close to the truth and tries to kill them,
too.
***
Eternal Press Buy Links:
YOU TUBE BOOK TRAILER:
Amazon Buy Page:
The Ice Bridge is an awesome book! It’s full of mystery, intrigue, and just a
touch of romance. It’s also full of ghost stories. They are brilliant and really add
something extra to the story. The characters are great and well developed. I loved
Hannah, she was a wonderful substitute grandmother to Charlotte. This book
is not a gushy romance and doesn’t have any love scenes, but I think it’s better
without them. I was beginning to wonder if Charlotte and Mac were ever going to
realize that they were falling for each other, but once tragedy struck, he was there
for her and their love began to blossom. The story focuses more on the interaction
between the characters and the mystery involving the ice bridge. The way it is
written, you almost feel like you are right there with the characters and a part
of the story. You especially experience Charlotte’s emotions first hand, I think
that might be why I had a hard time sleeping while reading this book – I was a
little spooked, but it was worth it! I would definitely recommend The Ice Bridge,
especially if you like ghost stories; it is well worth your time and the investment!
—Victoria Lyn at MANIC READERS REVIEWS
The Writing of THE ICE BRIDGE
ETERNAL PRESS LINK:http://www.eternalpress.biz/book.php?isbn=9781615725182
YOU TUBE BOOK TRAILER: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28HZqu-my1g
By Kathryn Meyer Griffith
November 7, 2011
Eight years ago my husband, Russell, and I were celebrating our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary and decided to return to quaint Mackinac Island in Michigan. We’d been there a few years before, but just for a quick afternoon stopover on our way home from visiting family in Wisconsin. We’d loved the Island for the few hours we’d been on it and promised ourselves we’d go there again someday. So when we began to plan for our anniversary vacation we traveled back for a longer stay of six days. I’d made reservations months ahead at the Iroquois Hotel on the water’s edge of Lake Huron and when the time came, after packing up everything we’d need, we jumped in the car and took off.
The Island doesn’t allow cars, only bicycles, horses and snowmobiles (in the winter) so we left our vehicle in a Mackinaw City parking lot on the mainland and boarded the ferry that would take us across the water to the Island, our luggage and two bicycles in tow. It was much cheaper to bring our own bikes instead of rent them there.
It was late August and the Island was beautiful. Crowded with colorful, fragrant flowers, clomping horses, whizzing bicycles and, of course, lots of tourists. Fudgies as they were called because they came, purchased and devoured so much of the little town’s fudge.
The Iroquois Hotel was lovely with its bright pastel colors and friendly service; a fancy in-house restaurant and our room with its wall of windows facing the lake. A lake that to me was as large as an ocean…because it went on forever.
Our six days there were heaven. We rode our bikes, peddling around the horses, carriages, and equine taxis, around the eight-mile in circumference island and enjoyed the sights. The friendly people. The breathtaking views of water, boats and woods. The fudge. We sped along West Bluff Road to the ritzy Grand Hotel (made famous in the 1980 romantic time travel movie Somewhere in Time with Jane Seymour and Christopher Reeve), ate the scrumptious and lavish tourists’ brunch there and afterwards, so full we could barely ride our bicycles, we gawked at the magnificent Victorian mansions with their elaborate gardens lining Lake Shore Drive.
We visited Fort Mackinac and listened amusedly to people talk about the ghost soldier some had reported seeing when twilight began to fall. My husband, a photography buff, even slipped out of our hotel room in the middle of one foggy night to get artsy pictures with our new digital camera of the fort, hoping to catch the ghost. He captured no ghost, but plenty of stunning photographs.
One night we even sat, spellbound, as a Lake Huron thunderstorm pounded wildly at our wall of windows. It was as if we were gazing at a tumultuous ocean.
Then one day someone, in a cubbyhole of a local hamburger joint, over our lunch, said something about the ice bridge, as the islanders called it. During the dead of winter, when the straits froze over, it was a narrow path that stretched about four miles across the ice that separated Mackinac Island from the St. Ignace mainland. The locals would drive in old Christmas trees along the path to show the way, to show it was now safe. To them the ice bridge meant freedom to come and go for up to two months a year without paying ferryboat or airplane fees. To me it sparked an idea for my next book…what if someone crossed the ice bridge one wintry night and fell through the ice? And disappeared…maybe even died?
I started asking questions of the locals: Had someone ever fallen through the ice and perished? Turns out over the years, that yes, some people actually had. Fallen in. When the ice wasn’t firm enough. Or when they’d gone off the solid marked path. Or in a snowstorm. Some on snowmobiles. Some were saved, dragged out, and some had not been. Hmmm.
That’s all it took for the book to begin forming in my head. The rest of the trip I looked at the Island with different eyes. A writer’s eyes. Writer’s ears. I filed away the memories and the home-grown stories recounted to me. Though most of my earlier books were romantic horror, I’d written a couple of straight contemporary murder mysteries, Scraps of Paper and All Things Slip Away, a few years before and Avalon Books had published them. I’d quite enjoyed writing them.
So I thought I’d write another one with Mackinac Island and its real and fictional ghost tales as the background. I’d show the beauty of the island, changing of the seasons, what it was like in summer, fall and winter (tons of snow and ice), and describe the historical landmarks. I’d spotlight the quirky close-knit inhabitants and have the protagonist gather their imaginary spirit stories to put into the ghost book she was writing. I’d make the Island nearly a main character itself with its enigmas, water, snow, ice and fog.
The novel would be about a woman, Charlotte, jilted in love, coming back to heal and visit her poignant childhood playground, and her lonely Aunt Bess. She’d meet an Island cop, Matt, and together they’d not only fall in love but would embark on a great dangerous adventure together. There’d be a spunky old lady, Hannah, living next door and the four would be great friends. Until the old lady disappears on a winter’s night while crossing the ice bridge and the mystery would begin. Had Hannah been murdered by someone….how exactly…by whom…and why? The remainder of the book would be the unraveling of that mystery as the central characters try to keep from being killed themselves by the devious murderer behind Hannah’s death. I’d embed the Island’s so-called ghost tales throughout the book to spice up the story even more. So it’d be a romantic ghostly murder mystery. Ah, ha. I couldn’t wait to begin.
When my husband and I returned home, refreshed and happy, I started it right away, with the memories of lovely Mackinac still fresh in my mind. Gosh, how I’d loved that Island. A tiny piece of old-fashioned paradise. The book came easily to me. And so The Ice Bridge was born. Now with a stunning new cover by Dawne Dominique and edited by my publisher, Kim Richards Gilchrist, it’s out in the world for everyone to read and, I hope, enjoy.
Written this day of November 7, 2011 by the author Kathryn Meyer Griffith
touch of romance. It’s also full of ghost stories. They are brilliant and really add
something extra to the story. The characters are great and well developed. I loved
Hannah, she was a wonderful substitute grandmother to Charlotte. This book
is not a gushy romance and doesn’t have any love scenes, but I think it’s better
without them. I was beginning to wonder if Charlotte and Mac were ever going to
realize that they were falling for each other, but once tragedy struck, he was there
for her and their love began to blossom. The story focuses more on the interaction
between the characters and the mystery involving the ice bridge. The way it is
written, you almost feel like you are right there with the characters and a part
of the story. You especially experience Charlotte’s emotions first hand, I think
that might be why I had a hard time sleeping while reading this book – I was a
little spooked, but it was worth it! I would definitely recommend The Ice Bridge,
especially if you like ghost stories; it is well worth your time and the investment!
—Victoria Lyn at MANIC READERS REVIEWS
********
The Writing of THE ICE BRIDGE
ETERNAL PRESS LINK:http://www.eternalpress.biz/book.php?isbn=9781615725182
YOU TUBE BOOK TRAILER: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28HZqu-my1g
By Kathryn Meyer Griffith
November 7, 2011
Eight years ago my husband, Russell, and I were celebrating our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary and decided to return to quaint Mackinac Island in Michigan. We’d been there a few years before, but just for a quick afternoon stopover on our way home from visiting family in Wisconsin. We’d loved the Island for the few hours we’d been on it and promised ourselves we’d go there again someday. So when we began to plan for our anniversary vacation we traveled back for a longer stay of six days. I’d made reservations months ahead at the Iroquois Hotel on the water’s edge of Lake Huron and when the time came, after packing up everything we’d need, we jumped in the car and took off.
The Island doesn’t allow cars, only bicycles, horses and snowmobiles (in the winter) so we left our vehicle in a Mackinaw City parking lot on the mainland and boarded the ferry that would take us across the water to the Island, our luggage and two bicycles in tow. It was much cheaper to bring our own bikes instead of rent them there.
It was late August and the Island was beautiful. Crowded with colorful, fragrant flowers, clomping horses, whizzing bicycles and, of course, lots of tourists. Fudgies as they were called because they came, purchased and devoured so much of the little town’s fudge.
The Iroquois Hotel was lovely with its bright pastel colors and friendly service; a fancy in-house restaurant and our room with its wall of windows facing the lake. A lake that to me was as large as an ocean…because it went on forever.
Our six days there were heaven. We rode our bikes, peddling around the horses, carriages, and equine taxis, around the eight-mile in circumference island and enjoyed the sights. The friendly people. The breathtaking views of water, boats and woods. The fudge. We sped along West Bluff Road to the ritzy Grand Hotel (made famous in the 1980 romantic time travel movie Somewhere in Time with Jane Seymour and Christopher Reeve), ate the scrumptious and lavish tourists’ brunch there and afterwards, so full we could barely ride our bicycles, we gawked at the magnificent Victorian mansions with their elaborate gardens lining Lake Shore Drive.
We visited Fort Mackinac and listened amusedly to people talk about the ghost soldier some had reported seeing when twilight began to fall. My husband, a photography buff, even slipped out of our hotel room in the middle of one foggy night to get artsy pictures with our new digital camera of the fort, hoping to catch the ghost. He captured no ghost, but plenty of stunning photographs.
One night we even sat, spellbound, as a Lake Huron thunderstorm pounded wildly at our wall of windows. It was as if we were gazing at a tumultuous ocean.
Then one day someone, in a cubbyhole of a local hamburger joint, over our lunch, said something about the ice bridge, as the islanders called it. During the dead of winter, when the straits froze over, it was a narrow path that stretched about four miles across the ice that separated Mackinac Island from the St. Ignace mainland. The locals would drive in old Christmas trees along the path to show the way, to show it was now safe. To them the ice bridge meant freedom to come and go for up to two months a year without paying ferryboat or airplane fees. To me it sparked an idea for my next book…what if someone crossed the ice bridge one wintry night and fell through the ice? And disappeared…maybe even died?
I started asking questions of the locals: Had someone ever fallen through the ice and perished? Turns out over the years, that yes, some people actually had. Fallen in. When the ice wasn’t firm enough. Or when they’d gone off the solid marked path. Or in a snowstorm. Some on snowmobiles. Some were saved, dragged out, and some had not been. Hmmm.
That’s all it took for the book to begin forming in my head. The rest of the trip I looked at the Island with different eyes. A writer’s eyes. Writer’s ears. I filed away the memories and the home-grown stories recounted to me. Though most of my earlier books were romantic horror, I’d written a couple of straight contemporary murder mysteries, Scraps of Paper and All Things Slip Away, a few years before and Avalon Books had published them. I’d quite enjoyed writing them.
So I thought I’d write another one with Mackinac Island and its real and fictional ghost tales as the background. I’d show the beauty of the island, changing of the seasons, what it was like in summer, fall and winter (tons of snow and ice), and describe the historical landmarks. I’d spotlight the quirky close-knit inhabitants and have the protagonist gather their imaginary spirit stories to put into the ghost book she was writing. I’d make the Island nearly a main character itself with its enigmas, water, snow, ice and fog.
The novel would be about a woman, Charlotte, jilted in love, coming back to heal and visit her poignant childhood playground, and her lonely Aunt Bess. She’d meet an Island cop, Matt, and together they’d not only fall in love but would embark on a great dangerous adventure together. There’d be a spunky old lady, Hannah, living next door and the four would be great friends. Until the old lady disappears on a winter’s night while crossing the ice bridge and the mystery would begin. Had Hannah been murdered by someone….how exactly…by whom…and why? The remainder of the book would be the unraveling of that mystery as the central characters try to keep from being killed themselves by the devious murderer behind Hannah’s death. I’d embed the Island’s so-called ghost tales throughout the book to spice up the story even more. So it’d be a romantic ghostly murder mystery. Ah, ha. I couldn’t wait to begin.
When my husband and I returned home, refreshed and happy, I started it right away, with the memories of lovely Mackinac still fresh in my mind. Gosh, how I’d loved that Island. A tiny piece of old-fashioned paradise. The book came easily to me. And so The Ice Bridge was born. Now with a stunning new cover by Dawne Dominique and edited by my publisher, Kim Richards Gilchrist, it’s out in the world for everyone to read and, I hope, enjoy.
Written this day of November 7, 2011 by the author Kathryn Meyer Griffith
*********************************************************************
Kathryn Meyer Griffith has been writing for nearly forty years and has published 14 novels and 7 short stories since 1984 with Zebra Books, Leisure Books, Avalon Books, The Wild Rose Press, Damnation Books and Eternal Press in the horror, romantic paranormal, suspense and murder mystery genres.
About
Kathryn Meyer Griffith...
2012
EPIC
EBOOK AWARDS NOMINEE for her romantic horror novel
The Last Vampire-Revised
Author’s Edition
Since
childhood I’ve always been an artist and worked as a graphic designer in the
corporate world and for newspapers for twenty-three years before I quit to
write full time. I began writing novels at 21 and have had fourteen (nine
romantic horror, one historical romance, one romantic suspense, one romantic
time travel and two murder mysteries) previous novels and eight short
stories published from Zebra Books, Leisure Books, Avalon Books, The Wild Rose Press,
Damnation Books and Eternal Press.
I’ve
been married to Russell for thirty-three years; have a son, James, and two
grandchildren, Joshua and Caitlyn, and I live in a small quaint town in
Illinois called Columbia, which is right across the JB Bridge from St. Louis,
Mo. We have two quirky cats, ghost cat Sasha and live cat Cleo, and the four of
us live happily in an old house in the heart of town. Though I’ve been an artist,
and a folk singer in my youth with my brother Jim, writing has always been my
greatest passion, my butterfly stage, and I’ll probably write stories until the
day I die.
***
Novels
and short stories from Kathryn Meyer Griffith:
Evil Stalks the Night (Leisure, 1984;
Damnation Books, July 2012)
The Heart of the Rose (Leisure, 1985;
Eternal Press Author’s Revised Edition 2010)
Eternal Press
Buy Link: http://www.eternalpress.biz/book.php?isbn=9781615722327
Blood Forge (Leisure, 1989; Damnation Books Author’s Revised
Edition, February 2012)
Vampire Blood (Zebra, 1991; Damnation Books Author’s Revised
Edition, July 2011)
Damnation
Books Buy Link:
http://damnationbooks.com/book.php?isbn=9781615724253
The Last Vampire (Zebra, 1992; Damnation Books
Author’s Revised Edition out October 2010) Damnation Books Buy Link: http://damnationbooks.com/book.php?isbn=9781615722075
You Tube Book
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZU77j_q4S8
Witches (Zebra, 1993; Damnation Books Author’s Revised
Edition out April 2011)
Damnation
Books Buy Link:http://damnationbooks.com/book.php?isbn=9781615723553
The Nameless One (short story in 1993 Zebra
Anthology Dark Seductions; Damnation Books Author’s Revised Edition,
2011) Damnation Books Buy Link: http://damnationbooks.com/book.php?isbn=9781615723201
The Calling (Zebra, 1994; Damnation Books Author’s Revised
Edition, 2011)
Damnation
Books Buy Link: http://damnationbooks.com/book.php?isbn=9781615725007
Scraps of Paper (Avalon Books Murder Mystery,
2003)
All Things Slip Away (Avalon Books Murder
Mystery, 2006)
Egyptian Heart (The Wild Rose Press, 2007;
Author’s Revised Edition, Eternal Press 2011)
Winter’s Journey (The Wild Rose Press, 2008;
Author’s Revised Edition, Eternal Press 2011) Eternal Press Buy Link: http://www.eternalpress.biz/book.php?isbn=9781615724604)
You Tube Book
Trailer address: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZYCs2DVhHg
The Ice Bridge (The Wild Rose Press, 2008;
Author’s Revised Edition, Eternal Press 2011)
You Tube Book
Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28HZqu-my1g
Don’t
Look Back, Agnes novella & bonus short story: In This House (2008; ghostly romantic
short story out; Eternal Press in January 2012)
You Tube Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3q9rZryFMo
Eternal Press Buy Link: http://www.eternalpress.biz/people.php?author=422
BEFORE THE END: A Time of Demons (Damnation Books 2010)
Damnation
Books buy link: httphttp://damnationbooks.com/book.php?isbn=9781615721313
You Tube self-made Book trailer with original
song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0-U9c2Lwfo
The Woman in Crimson (Damnation Books 2010)
Eternal Press Buy Link: http://www.eternalpress.biz/book.php?isbn=9781615721979
You Tube Book Trailer Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcRBvDI5G4Y
My Websites:
http://www.myspace.com/kathrynmeyergriffith
(to see all my book trailers with
original music by my singer/songwriter brother JS Meyer)
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/profile.php?id=1019954486
http://www.jacketflap.com/K.Griffith
http://www.shoutlife.com/kathrynmeyergriffith
http://www.goodreads.com/profile/kathrynmeyergriffith
My
books (most out again from
Damnation Books and Eternal Press): Evil Stalks the Night, The Heart of the Rose,
Blood Forge, Vampire Blood, The Last Vampire, Witches, The Nameless One short story, The Calling, Scraps of Paper, All Things
Slip Away, Egyptian Heart, Winter's Journey, The Ice Bridge, Don't Look Back,
Agnes novella, In This House short
story, BEFORE THE END: A Time of Demons,
The Woman in Crimson, The Guide to Writing Paranormal Fiction: Volume 1 (I
did the Introduction)
***
Eternal Press Buy Links:
YOU TUBE BOOK TRAILER:
Amazon Buy Page:
Julie,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for featuring me on your lovely blog! You made me look so good....so accomplished. I'm tickled. Warmly, author Kathryn Meyer Griffith
That would have to be Charlotte and Mac I think <3 Sounds fabulous!
ReplyDelete