Tag: Stephen Helmes

K. Hollan Van Zandt Interview – The Great Library, Slave Trafficking, and the Emerald Tablet

What was the inspiration for this book? How long did it take the author to research all the colorful history woven into the story? Who was her favorite character? What are the author’s thoughts on self-publishing? What was your inspiration for this book? Many slender threads begin with romance and synchronicity, and so I started…

Written in the Ashes – a Review

If you like to read about strong women, this is a book you will greatly enjoy. Hannah, a victim of human trafficking in 5th-century Sinai, is taken to a land in which she is unfamiliar with their ways and customs. She manages to rise above all the hardships she experiences there to become a woman…

Danvers State Hospital & Waverly Hills Sanatorium

Have you ever thought about using a mental hospital in your story? The reasons people were admitted to these institutions suggest many different story ideas. The cruel and inhuman way many of them were treated can also fill one’s head full of ideas about the patients, those who “cared” for them, and those who had…

Surrounded by Creepy Crawlies

Did you realize we are surrounded by creepy crawlies?  These creatures are enough to bring on scary dreams if you think long enough about them.  One or more of these creepy crawlies could be used as fodder for a nightmare-inducing tale. If your character has acarophobia (an irrational fear of small bugs), murophobia (irrational fear…

Owls: Harbingers of Doom

According to dictionary.com, a superstition is a belief or notion, not based reason or knowledge, in or of the ominous significance of a particular thing, circumstance, occurrence, proceeding, or the like.  It is an irrational fear of the unknown or mysterious. Many myths and legends, good and bad, exist about the owl. Some see them…