I would like to welcome Goldie Browning to my blog today!! She was kind enough to answer a few questions about her book, Night Journey, and about being promoted by her husband's publishing company, Storyteller.
ABOUT GOLDIE
Goldie (Beth) Browning’s twisted imagination and fascination with the paranormal began in early childhood with her grandmother’s ghost stories and her brother’s retelling of classic fairy tales, such as Snow White and the Seven Little Frankensteins and Cinderacula. Almost every vacation she takes includes a stay at a haunted hotel or castle, as well as visits to famous cemeteries or catacombs. She loves anything by Edgar Allen Poe, Stephen King, or Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Her first and favorite job was as a secretary at a military mortuary in West Germany, followed by more mundane employment which included being a newspaper reporter, a real estate agent, a substitute school teacher, and a legal secretary. She finally settled down to a long career as a courtroom deputy clerk for two federal judges before retiring and getting to do what she wants to do when she grows up—be a writer.
Not long after finishing Night Journey she was stricken with cardiomyopathy. She received an implanted cardio-defibrillator and was evaluated for a heart transplant, which ironically paralleled the plot of Night Journey. Luckily, time and medication worked their miracle and she made a full recovery. Her experience, as well as someone near and dear to her in need of an organ transplant, has transformed Goldie into an advocate for Organ Donation and Living Wills.
The best thing she ever did was marry her high school sweetheart Alan a long, long time ago. She’s living happily ever after with husband and family, which includes a menagerie of fur people, on a wooded hill in rural North Texas.
AUTHOR LINKS
INTERVIEW
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
My name is Goldie Browning, I’m 57 years old, and I live in North Texas with my high school sweetheart-turned-husband, so you can figure out I’ve been married a long time! We have one grown daughter and a number of fur and reptile children. We live on five acres on a hill, in the middle of the woods. I’m retired from a long career as a court coordinator for two federal judges, but prior to that I’ve worked as a secretary at a military mortuary in Germany, a substitute teacher, a real estate agent, and a news reporter. But now I’m doing what I love most—writing books.
Can you tell us about your book Night Journey?
Night Journey is a romantic ghost story/time travel adventure that is set at a real-life haunted hotel, the 1886 Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Here is the description:
My name is Goldie Browning, I’m 57 years old, and I live in North Texas with my high school sweetheart-turned-husband, so you can figure out I’ve been married a long time! We have one grown daughter and a number of fur and reptile children. We live on five acres on a hill, in the middle of the woods. I’m retired from a long career as a court coordinator for two federal judges, but prior to that I’ve worked as a secretary at a military mortuary in Germany, a substitute teacher, a real estate agent, and a news reporter. But now I’m doing what I love most—writing books.
Can you tell us about your book Night Journey?
Night Journey is a romantic ghost story/time travel adventure that is set at a real-life haunted hotel, the 1886 Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Here is the description:
Zan and Emma’s romantic weekend at a haunted hotel—which includes a wedding and a ghost tour—goes horribly wrong when a bizarre accident leaves Emma in a coma. Following a near-death experience, her soul is catapulted backward in time to 1938. While on her journey into the past, she meets Ivy and Harry—a Depression Era Romeo and Juliet—who will someday become Zan’s grandparents. Night Journey is an eerie tale of ghosts who weave in and out of life, past and present, from fact to fiction.
What was your favorite part of the writing process of Night Journey?
The research. After visiting the Crescent Hotel I learned that a man named Norman Baker bought the hotel during the 1930’s and turned it into the Baker Cancer Hospital. He called himself Dr. Baker, but he wasn’t really a doctor. He was a quack who claimed to have the cure for cancer. He conned hundreds of people out of their money during the Great Depression with false hopes and many of them died – therefore the ghosts.
Where did the idea of Night Journey come from?
The idea came to me when we stayed at the Crescent Hotel on vacation. We stayed in a beautiful room called Theodora’s room, named for its resident ghost. Strange things happened in that room I can’t explain. And then I went on the ghost tour, where we got to see Dr. Baker’s morgue—where the bad things actually happened. I was hooked. I HAD to tell the story, and so Night Journey was conceived.
Who was the hardest character to write?
The research. After visiting the Crescent Hotel I learned that a man named Norman Baker bought the hotel during the 1930’s and turned it into the Baker Cancer Hospital. He called himself Dr. Baker, but he wasn’t really a doctor. He was a quack who claimed to have the cure for cancer. He conned hundreds of people out of their money during the Great Depression with false hopes and many of them died – therefore the ghosts.
Where did the idea of Night Journey come from?
The idea came to me when we stayed at the Crescent Hotel on vacation. We stayed in a beautiful room called Theodora’s room, named for its resident ghost. Strange things happened in that room I can’t explain. And then I went on the ghost tour, where we got to see Dr. Baker’s morgue—where the bad things actually happened. I was hooked. I HAD to tell the story, and so Night Journey was conceived.
Who was the hardest character to write?
Dr. Baker, because he was a real person and I had to get it right. I researched so much about him I felt like I actually knew him.
What is the most interesting comment you have received so far concerning Night Journey?
Here’s a comment a kind lady gave me on Goodreads: I bought this book after I read some reviews. I LOVED it. I think Zan might be one of the best characters ever written and Emma kept me glued to my seat. Laundry? What laundry? Nothing existed but this book. Fantastic.
What is the most interesting comment you have received so far concerning Night Journey?
Here’s a comment a kind lady gave me on Goodreads: I bought this book after I read some reviews. I LOVED it. I think Zan might be one of the best characters ever written and Emma kept me glued to my seat. Laundry? What laundry? Nothing existed but this book. Fantastic.
You are the first book to be promoted by Story Teller Publishing. What has the experience been like so far?
So far so good. You get better treatment when you sleep with your publisher! Actually, he’s my husband. He decided to start this publishing business after my last publishing experience was less than satisfactory. We’re both very excited about the venture. But seriously speaking, I’ve known Alan Browning for over forty years and I believe that he will make the best of publishers. He’s honest, enthusiastic, organized, and hard-working. He’ll treat each and every author with the utmost respect and will work to make their publishing experience as thoroughly successful as he can. I hope any authors out there with a great manuscript, but who is having trouble placing it for one reason or another, will submit to Storyteller Publishing.
If you could ask yourself any interview question, what would you ask, and how would you answer it?
Are you planning to write a series? I do plan to write a series of stand-alone books I will call my “haunted holiday” series. I’d like to write more novels set at haunted hotels or b & b’s. There’s a story at each and every one that needs telling!
When you aren’t writing, what do you like to do?
I like to read, catch up on my recorded television shows, and play with my dogs. Then there’s housework, laundry, shopping—oh, you said what I LIKE to do. Just the first sentence.
What is coming up next for you?
So far so good. You get better treatment when you sleep with your publisher! Actually, he’s my husband. He decided to start this publishing business after my last publishing experience was less than satisfactory. We’re both very excited about the venture. But seriously speaking, I’ve known Alan Browning for over forty years and I believe that he will make the best of publishers. He’s honest, enthusiastic, organized, and hard-working. He’ll treat each and every author with the utmost respect and will work to make their publishing experience as thoroughly successful as he can. I hope any authors out there with a great manuscript, but who is having trouble placing it for one reason or another, will submit to Storyteller Publishing.
If you could ask yourself any interview question, what would you ask, and how would you answer it?
Are you planning to write a series? I do plan to write a series of stand-alone books I will call my “haunted holiday” series. I’d like to write more novels set at haunted hotels or b & b’s. There’s a story at each and every one that needs telling!
When you aren’t writing, what do you like to do?
I like to read, catch up on my recorded television shows, and play with my dogs. Then there’s housework, laundry, shopping—oh, you said what I LIKE to do. Just the first sentence.
What is coming up next for you?
I’m working on another ghost/time travel called Redlight which will be set in New Orleans at the haunted Hotel Monteleone. It involves a young woman who considers herself a freak of nature because she’s still a virgin at 27, but who finds herself 100 years in the past. She is mistaken for a prostitute and must find a way to survive in 1912 Storyville, without compromising herself, and find a way to return to her own time. There’s also a timeless romance involved.
ABOUT NIGHT JOURNEY
A ROMANTIC WEEKEND GONE WRONG - Two nights at America’s most haunted hotel, a spooky ghost tour with a visit to a former morgue, and a family wedding—all the ingredients for a fun-filled weekend. Emma and Zan Fuller have never been to the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas—at least not in this lifetime. But the ghosts that haunt the former cancer hospital remember Emma, and they won’t rest until she’s joined them once again. When a bizarre accident almost claims her life, her soul is catapulted backward in time to 1938. Things get even worse while she lies comatose, however, because she is now a target for an organ transplant scheme.
STAR CROSSED LOVERS - It’s Depression Era 1938 when Ivy Turner meets Harry Fuller. Love happens quickly, but they’ll never live happily ever after if her parents have their way. Despite their objections, the couple elopes. Wedded bliss soon turns to despair, however, when Harry is arrested and Ivy is sent to the Baker Cancer Hospital. But Ivy doesn’t have cancer. She’s pregnant with Harry’s child—the child who will someday become Zan Fuller’s father.
STAR CROSSED LOVERS - It’s Depression Era 1938 when Ivy Turner meets Harry Fuller. Love happens quickly, but they’ll never live happily ever after if her parents have their way. Despite their objections, the couple elopes. Wedded bliss soon turns to despair, however, when Harry is arrested and Ivy is sent to the Baker Cancer Hospital. But Ivy doesn’t have cancer. She’s pregnant with Harry’s child—the child who will someday become Zan Fuller’s father.
JOURNEY ACROSS TIME - Emma wakes up, but not the way she’d expected. Her soul has entered the cancer-riddled body of a woman who had died only moments before. And to make matters worse, she’s trapped in time—it’s 1938. She’s back at the Crescent Hotel, which is now the Baker Cancer Hospital. The people who had once been simply characters in a ghost story are now living, breathing human beings. But Emma’s biggest worry is Zan’s grandmother, Ivy. If anything happens to her or her baby, Zan will never exist. Can Emma, imprisoned in a sick and dying body, rescue Ivy and Harry? Can Zan, in 2011, prevent the hospital from ending her life support and harvesting her heart?
PURCHASE NIGHT JOURNEY
GIVEAWAY
Thanks to Storyteller a signed copy of Night Journey OR an e-copy! That means that if the winner is US, they will receive a signed copy and if the winner is CA or International they will recieve an e-copy! Just fill out the Rafflecopter form below (make sure the prize states it is for Night Journey. If it doesn't just click the
title of this post and the right form should come up).
