A Thin Slice of Heaven By- p.m. terrell Giveaway & Interview

A Thin Slice of Heaven

By- p.m. terrell

Genre-Ghost Story/ Romantic Suspense

Publication Date- May 1st, 2015

She had arranged to meet her husband in Northern Ireland for a second honeymoon, but when Charleigh arrives at the remote castle, she receives a message that he won’t be coming—and that he’s leaving her for another woman. Stranded for the weekend by a snowstorm that has blocked all access to the castle, she finds herself three thousand miles from home in a country she knows nothing about.

She is soon joined by Sean Bracken, the great-grandson of Laird Bracken, the original owner of the castle, and she finds herself falling quickly and madly in love with him. There’s just one problem: he’s dead.

As the castle begins to come alive with secrets from centuries past, she finds herself trapped between parallel worlds. Caught up in a mass haunting, she can no longer recognize the line between the living and the dead. Now she’s discovering that her appearance there wasn’t by accident—and is more sinister than she ever suspected.

About the Author-

p.m.terrell is the pen name for Patricia McClelland Terrell, the award-winning, internationally acclaimed author of more than twenty books in four genres: contemporary suspense, historical suspense, computer how-to and non-fiction.

Prior to writing full-time, she founded two computer companies in the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area. Among her clients were the Central Intelligence Agency, United States Secret Service, U.S. Information Agency, and Department of Defense. Her specialties were in white collar computer crimes and computer intelligence.

A full-time author since 2002, Black Swamp Mysteries was her first series, inspired by the success of Exit 22, released in 2008. Vicki’s Key was a top five finalist in the 2012 International Book Awards and 2012 USA Book Awards nominee, and The Pendulum Files was a national finalist for the Best Cover of the Year in 2014.

Her second series, Ryan O’Clery Suspense, is also award-winning. The Tempest Murders (Book 1) was one of four finalists in the 2013 International Book Awards, cross-genre category. The White Devil of Dublin (Book 2) was released one year later.

Her historical suspense, River Passage, was a 2010 Best Fiction and Drama Winner. It was determined to be so historically accurate that a copy of the book resides at the Nashville Government Metropolitan Archives in Nashville, Tennessee.

Songbirds are Free is her bestselling book to date; it is inspired by the true story of Mary Neely, who was captured in 1780 by Shawnee warriors near Fort Nashborough (now Nashville, TN).

She is also the co-founder of The Book ‘Em Foundation, an organization committed to raising public awareness of the correlation between high crime rates and high illiteracy rates. She is the organizer and chairperson of Book ‘Em North Carolina, an annual event held in the real town of Lumberton, North Carolina, to raise funds to increase literacy and reduce crime. For more information on this event and the literacy campaigns funded by it, visit www.bookemnc.org.

She sits on the boards of the Friends of the Robeson County Public Library and the Robeson County Arts Council. She has also served on the boards of Crime Stoppers and Crime Solvers and became the first female president of the Chesterfield County-Colonial Heights Crime Solvers in Virginia.

Interview:

Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest?

Glad you asked! My tastes are quite eclectic, so these authors are varied in the genres they write. John Whiteside recently grabbed my attention with Fool’s Mate; John is a retired FBI Agent who worked on America’s longest-running espionage case, and he lays out the case in this  gripping true story.

Terry Irving is a multi-award-winning journalist whose first novel, Courier, was released last year. It was inspired by his own job as a courier during the Nixon Watergate hearings; it’s an edge-of-your-seat thriller.
Sarah Norkus wrote The Secret Diary of Sarah Chamberlain, a mystery that takes place during the Civil War through a diary found in an old home. Sarah is, incidentally, the cousin of Stephen Ambrose, the author of Band of Brothers.
David Pereda writes thrillers with an international flair; he has traveled the world over and the locations in Russia, Cuba, Dubai and beyond really come to life. His latest is Twin Powers, which features psychic twins.

What are your current projects?

I am working on Book Six of my Black Swamp Mysteries series, in which Dylan and Vicki return to Ireland to get married. Of course, their CIA boss, Sam, has to seize the opportunity to have Dylan pick up a flash drive from a double agent - an easy task, until things go horribly wrong.

And I am working on Book Three of my Ryan O’Clery mystery series, where Ryan is investigating the murder of a prominent local citizen - and uncovers secrets that rock the community.

Name one entity that you feel supported you outside of family members.

An elementary school principal, Mrs. Alexander, got me interested in writing in the fourth grade. In the eighth grade, my English teacher, Miss Webb, was instrumental in placing me on the path to writing throughout my lifetime. Without those two, I doubt if I ever would have written that first story.

Do you see writing as a career?

Absolutely. I’ve been writing full-time since 2002 and I work harder at it than any other job I’ve ever held. I write six days a week and often seven, and marketing and promotional campaigns ensure that I’m working 10-12 hour days.

If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?

I don’t go there. Once the book has been released, I move on to the next project. By the time it’s available in book stores, I’ve already edited it at least six times and the editors have had their way with it, so I am happy to let it go.

Do you recall how your interest in writing originated?

When I was a young girl, my father, an FBI Agent, was transferred to the Mississippi Delta from New Jersey. It was in the 1960’s and the community wanted us Yankees to go home. My school principal, Mrs. Alexander, saw how isolated I was and suggested that I begin writing stories. I found that I loved the creativity and now I can’t imagine doing anything else.

What would you like to tell my readers?

I have been researching my genealogy for a number of years now, but my efforts had been limited to the years after my ancestors arrived in America from Ireland (around 1720). I wrote the first draft of A Thin Slice of Heaven before my sister journeyed to America and found our ancestral home. I had placed Brackenridge Castle roughly 50 miles west of Belfast in my novel; imagine my astonishment when my sister learned that our ancestors had been the Laird and Lady of Ballygawley, Northern Ireland - roughly 50 miles west of Belfast!

I named it Brackenridge Castle because the ghost is Sean Bracken, and the home sits on a high ridge. As I continued to look into our ancestry, I discovered that prior to coming to Ballygawley, my ancestors had lived in Scotland near the English border - and near a place called Brackenridge. I had no idea of the connection at the time I named the castle.

Social Media Links-

Author’s website:  www.pmterrell.com

Twitter: @pmterrell

Blog:  www.pmterrell.blogspot.com

Facebook: author.p.m.terrell

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