You Only Live Once ...

by Anna Sugden

I'm thrilled to welcome back a Lair favourite, my very dear friend, the awesome, RITA-award-winning author, Terri Garey!!

Terri is here to celebrate the release of the fourth and final book in her fabulous Nicki Styx series, Silent Night, Haunted Night. If, like me, you've loved this series, which began with Dead Girls are Easy, you've been dying to see what happens next to Nicki, delightfully delicious Joe and the other characters.

Of course, you're not in the least bit interested in super-sexy Sammy aka Satan (who is MINE!!!).

Without further ado, let me hand you over to Terri.

Hola Banditas, and thanks for welcoming me back to the Lair!

Those of you who are familiar with my books know that I basically write ghost stories. I’ve always found the concept of ghosts so fascinating… why would a spirit continue to hang around after the body is gone? Does everyone become a ghost when they die? If not, then why do some people become ghosts and some don’t? Needless to say, I’ve given it a lot of thought, and I’ve done quite a bit of research, and the only real answer I’ve ever been able to come up with is—quite simply—unfinished business.

There are several different types of hauntings, you know, but they basically come down to three categories: residual, intelligent or elemental. “Residual” hauntings are repetitive—the spirit is merely repeating an action or a habit that they did in life, over and over and over again, with no consciousness behind the behavior. “Intelligent” hauntings are far spookier, in that these spirits can supposedly respond to and interact with the living. “Elemental” hauntings (also known as “poltergeist activity”) are by far the scariest—these hauntings are supposedly carried out by demons or evil spirits who are so angry that they want to hurt others.

But why? Why would a spirit repeat an action over and over, or want to interact with the living, or be so angry?

Unfinished business. Regrets. Guilt. Unfulfilled desires, unresolved anger, unfinished business.

Which brings me to the point of today’s blog. Unless you believe in reincarnation, we only live once. We’ve got one life, one chance, one body, one soul. It’s so easy to use words like “Someday.” Someday I’ll write that book. Someday I’ll do some volunteer work. Someday I’ll be thin. :) But what if someday never comes?

In Silent Night, Haunted Night, the heroine, Nicki Styx, is once again faced with helping a troubled spirit with unfinished business. This time, however, she’s got a major problem, in that the man she’s come to love has become the target in a very twisted game of lies, deceit and regret. Nicki learns the hard way how the choices we make in life can come back to haunt us in ways we never expected, and how even doing the right thing can cost us what we value the most. She learns that all of us—every single one of us—has a place in our soul where darkness hides, sometimes even from ourselves.

If there were one thing you could change before you die so that you would be left with no unfinished business, what would it be? Do you need to make amends to someone, try something you’ve never tried, go somewhere you’ve never gone? What would you do if you knew that “someday” was never going to come? One lucky commenter will win a copy of Silent Night, Haunted Night.

Think about it. After all, we only live once. (Hopefully.) :)

You can read an excerpt of Silent Night, Haunted Night, and the other books in the series, at Terri's website http://www.tgarey.com/ .

The other books in the Nicki Styx series are: Dead Girls Are Easy, A Match Made in Hell and You're the One That I Haunt. There is also the novella, Ghouls Night Out, in the anthology, Weddings From Hell.