Haunted Halloween: Lesley Livingston + A Giveaway!

A Hilltop Encounter
By: Lesley Livingston

“There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy…”

I think Shakespeare’s Hamlet was on to something when he made that observation.

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve thought the idea of the unseen world—the existence of ghosts and spirits and gods and creatures like the Faerie, invisible to the human eye or mind—was fascinating. And more than a little thrilling. Fun, even! When I grew up and got to experience the phenomenon first hand… the descriptive word that sprang to mind was something else entirely: scary.

Some years back, I spent three weeks on vacation in Wales. For those of you who’ve never been… I highly recommend it. It is an ancient, wildly beautiful, enchanted land full of—among other wonders—crumbling castle ruins and secretive, mist-shrouded emerald-green forest-robed hills.

One of these hills is neither mist-shrouded, nor green, nor forested. In fact, unlike the surrounding loveliness of the verdant valley in which it resides, this hill is sere and dead, its steep sides covered in spiky brown weedy grasses. But there is a ruined castle at its summit.

So, of course, I was going to have to visit it!

The way up was treacherous—a steep winding goat track. It would be just as bad on the way down, too. Once we reached the summit we wandered around for a bit. The castle—what’s left of it—is a skeletal, forbidding place, mostly scattered stones and a few tattered walls and arches. Still, it was a glorious morning, bright and beautiful, perfect for sight-seeing. Unlike every other historical site we’d visited, though, this place was deserted. Utterly.

And yet…

My companion hailed me from across an open expanse, raising his voice so I could hear him over the wind that howled like the souls of the damned up there (in the vale it had been utterly still): “Are we the only ones up here?” he shouted. “’Cause it feels like…”

“We’re being watched?” I responded.

Yeah. And not by what I would have necessarily characterized as ‘friendly’ eyes.

We made a hasty retreat. We’d spent the better part of the holiday up ’til that point hacking around castle ruins and had never felt anything like that… it was spooky. But on the way down from the top of the tor, the spook-factor leapt off the chart. Treading carefully on the steep and treacherous goat path, I fell not once… but twice. Sure, I admit, I am notoriously clumsy. But both times, I swear to you, I fell because something shoved me—hard—between my shoulders. A hand. I could feel the palm, the fingers, the push…

Halfway down the hill and in desperation, we buried a handful of coins in the dirt on the hillside (an old Welsh bit of superstition), and the wind just… stopped. Also, no more shoving.

I can’t explain it. But back home in Canada, weeks later, I decided to research this particular obscure ruin. It was one of the ones we hadn’t been able to find out much about while visiting. Now… here’s the thing. I was writing my first ever book at the time and, when I finally found some information about the place (the internet was not quite as useful back then—it took some digging), my blood ran cold.

That particular site—it’s actual historical significance—proved to be so closely tied into the mythology I was writing about that I actually wound up setting the climax of the story there. That place made the story work.. It solved all of the plot problems I’d had up until then. And I never would have figured that out if some…thing hadn’t forcefully brought it to my attention.

So, thank you unseen, ghostly presence! I appreciate the nudge. Both of them.

Title: Wonderous Strange (Wonderous Strange, #1)

Synopsis: 17 year-old Kelley Winslow doesn’t believe in Faeries. Not unless they’re the kind that you find in a theatre, spouting Shakespeare—the kind that Kelley so desperately wishes she could be: onstage, under lights, with a pair of sparkly wings strapped to her shoulders. But as the understudy in a two-bit, hopelessly off-off-Broadway production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, wishing is probably the closest she’s going to get to becoming a Faerie Queen. At least, that’s what she thinks... In this fun, urban fantasy, Kelley's off-stage life suddenly becomes as complicated as one of Shakespeare’s plot twists when a nighttime trip to Central Park holds more than meets the mortal eye

Available now from HarperTeen!

Title: Darklight (Wonderous Strange, #2)

Synopsis: Much has changed since autumn, when Kelley Winslow learned she was a Faerie princess, fell in love with changeling guard Sonny Flannery, and saved the mortal realm from the ravages of the Wild Hunt.

Now Kelley is stuck in New York City, rehearsing Romeo and Juliet and missing Sonny more with every stage kiss, while Sonny has been forced back to the Otherworld and into a deadly game of cat and mouse with the remaining Hunters and Queen Mabh herself.

When a terrifying encounter sends Kelley tumbling into the Otherworld, her reunion with Sonny is joyful but destined to be cut short. An ancient, hidden magick is stirring, and a dangerous new enemy is willing to risk everything to claim that power.

Caught in a web of Faerie deception and shifting allegiances, Kelley and Sonny must tread carefully, for each next step could topple a kingdom . . . or tear them apart.

Avaible now from HarperTeen!

Title: Tempestuous (Wonderous Strange, #3)

Synopsis: With a single lie, seventeen-year-old Kelley manages to protect the boy she loves and send him retreating into a haven for Lost Fae hidden below New York City. If she can figure out who’s after Sonny’s magick and uncover the reason why Janus Guards are being recruited to hunt innocent Faerie, Kelley might stand a chance at getting him back…but not before she must finally confront her own Faerie powers and master them.


Available December 2010 From HarperTeen


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Wonderous Strange!!

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