Badass Bookie: Debut of the Month - The Murmurings + Giveaway

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Debut of the Month - The Murmurings + Giveaway

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Book Profile

Name - The Murmurings (Goodreads)
Author - Carly Anne West
Genre - Psychological Thriller/ Paranormal/ Horror
Release Date - March 5th 2013

Everyone thinks Sophie’s sister, Nell, went crazy. After all, she heard strange voices that drove her to commit suicide. But Sophie doesn’t believe that Nell would take her own life, and she’s convinced that Nell’s doctor knows more than he’s letting on.

As Sophie starts to piece together Nell’s last days, every lead ends in a web of lies. And the deeper Sophie digs, the more danger she’s in—because now she’s hearing the same haunting whispers. Sophie’s starting to think she’s going crazy too. Or worse, that maybe she’s not….

Available - The Book Depository | Fishpond | Amazon | Barnes and Noble

The Insider's Scoop

A little backstory on THE MURMURINGS:

Okay, so here's a little insight into some of the inspiration behind THE MURMURINGS. My husband and I had just moved to the bay area in preparation for me to start grad school. He and I were living in different shifts at that point; he worked nights, I went to school during the day. At the time, I was toying with some ideas for a new story that involved themes around what was more frightening - perceived danger or actual danger. On the one hand, real danger is, well, dangerous. On the other hand, it's in many ways just as frightening to not be able to trust your own senses to tell you whether or not you should be afraid.

On this particular night, my husband was asleep in the other room, and I was unpacking a box of books in the living room near the only closet that the apartment boasted. It was a great little apartment, by the way. Built in the 1920's, really prime location on a corner near lots of public transportation, coffee shops, all the good stuff. Well, typically, I'd hear buses going by outside or activity at the bar across the street. And on this night, I did hear all of that, except when I didn't. Because all at once, sound just sort of drained from the entire room, and the air got really heavy, and I heard a very distinct murmuring sound in my right ear. I spun around to see who was there, thinking at the time it had to have been my husband playing a joke on me or something. But there was nothing, of course, and he was sound asleep in the bedroom.

The next morning, I'd completely forgotten about the incident, and I was unpacking dishes in the kitchen. My husband was around the corner unpacking the same box of books I'd been working on the night before when I heard him say, "What?" I came around the corner and he repeated his question. "I didn't hear what you were saying; you were mumbling," he said. So I told him I hadn't said anything, but then remembered to tell him what'd happened to me the night before in that very same spot. We lived in that apartment for three more years, and strange things would happen periodically. That same heavy feeling in the room would reoccur, as though someone else was there with me, and then all at once, it would dissappate, and I'd be on my own again. Our cats, normally playful and ever-present, were really skittish the entire time we lived there, and they would rarely step foot in that living room closet. A few times, they'd even look up in a corner of the closet, lay their ears down, and back away from the closet slowly before tearing around the corner to hide for the rest of the day.

When we finally moved out, we brought it up in a very general way with the property manager. She just nodded and said, "Yes, other people have heard what they described as a sort of low voice in that area of the room." Might have been nice insight before renting that apartment. That's my one and only real haunting experience, but it was a good one!

~Giveaway~