Book Tour Stop/Giveaway: The Misremembered Lighthouse

 

Discover P.M. Terrell's The Misremembered Lighthouse today and make sure to enter the tour wide giveaway as the author is awarding a $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. The tour is sponsored by Goddess Fish Promotions and you can find all the tour stops HERE.

Interview with P.M. Terrell

Tell us about your latest book, who are the main characters and what we can expect when we pick it up.

In The Misremembered Lighthouse, historian and author Hayley Hunter arrives at an isolated lighthouse that has been turned into a vacation rental. She soon discovers that she is not alone. She shares the lighthouse with the ghost of the original lighthouse keeper, Jonathan Corbyn. Jonathan is an immigrant who fled Scotland after the Battle of Culloden. He only wants to live out the rest of his life in peace, but the American Revolutionary War is coming for him, and his lighthouse is strategically located to either help or hinder the British. Hayley, spunky, logical, and dogged, becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to Jonathan and why he still haunts the lighthouse.

 

Taking the story from a concept to a published book is a long and involved process. How does that usually work for you?

You’re right. It is a long and complex process. When the plot has been approved, I begin with the nuts and bolts of the first draft, which comprises the action. In the first deep edit, I add other layers that make the scenes come alive, such as the five senses and more description. A second deep edit polishes the work to the best of my ability. Only then does it go to the editor, who may order a third, fourth, and fifth edit. By that time, I have been contacted by the marketing department, and I am already involved in the promotional campaign as the book goes into production. Depending on circumstances, it can take six months to two years before I see the book in print. I am required to participate in the marketing and promotional campaigns for the first six months after release, but it generally continues until the next book’s release. That means while this cycle is in effect, I am also finishing the marketing cycle of the last book.

 

Which of your books would you recommend for readers to choose first if they’re new to you and your books?

My most popular books are River Passage and Songbirds are Free. River Passage, which won a Best Drama Book Award, is inspired by the true story of the Donelson journey of 1779-1780. My ancestors took part in that river journey from Virginia to Fort Nashborough (now Nashville, Tennessee). They were attacked by Chickamauga tribes from Chattanooga through Muscle Shoals, Alabama, suffered from a smallpox outbreak, starvation, and deadly whirlpools. The trip was expected to take four weeks. More than four months later, a ragtag group of survivors arrived at Fort Nashborough with their harrowing tale.

 

My ancestor, Mary Neely, was on that river voyage. Only a few months after she arrived at Fort Nashborough, she and her father were attacked by Shawnee warriors. They killed and scalped her father and captured Mary. Songbirds are Free is the story of her capture, three years of captivity, and her journey from Tennessee through Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan, where she escaped the Shawnee but was captured and held as a prisoner-of-war by the British. The book is based on Mary’s diaries and information passed down through the generations. It is by far my most popular book.

 

Can you discuss any upcoming projects or books that you're currently working on? What can readers expect from your future works?

My next book takes place in Poland on the cusp of World War II. It asks the question: would you have made different choices if you knew that when you died, you would revisit events from your life, experiencing the pain or pleasure you gave to others? The book follows the lives of four main characters, two men and two women, who are ordinary people placed into extraordinary circumstances, whose decisions place them on unique paths that end at the liberation of Poland from Nazi Germany.

I love history, and readers can expect to experience compelling and often haunting suspense while learning what previous generations experienced and how it shaped their lives.

 

THE MISREMEMBERED LIGHTHOUSE

 by p.m. terrell

 Mystery

 

While researching her next book, historian and author Hayley Hunter rents a lighthouse in Southeastern North Carolina. The modern lighthouse and vacation home replaced an original wood structure that only functioned during the Revolutionary War. The old lighthouse may be long gone, but the lightkeeper’s ghost remains.

 

Hayley becomes increasingly obsessed with finding why the spirit of Jonathan Corbyn lingers between realms. Joined by her lover Shay MacGregor, her search will take her into a world of spies, double agents, and espionage at the dawn of American democracy.

 Buy Links:

Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-misremembered-lighthouse/id6749962807 

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-misremembered-lighthouse-pm-terrell/1148042055

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FM4D9YTB

All other eBook formats: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1832068

Excerpt Three:

 

With the moonroof slid back, I could glance upward and see the branches intertwined as if they were people grasping outstretched fingers. A sudden surge of apprehension washed over me. The wipers came on, though there was no rain.

 

“What the—?” Mom said, glancing down. She made a motion to turn off the wipers, but they were already off.

 

As we plunged more deeply into the grove of trees, the air felt as if it was swirling around us. I nervously watched the speedometer gain speed and wished the wipers would stop their frantic pulsing across the dry windshield. When I glanced back at the road, only a few yards away, a man dangled from a tree.

 

“Stop!” I screamed. The car fishtailed as her foot slammed on the brakes. We came to a complete stop just feet from where he hung. Behind us, I could hear the screech of tires as Shay barely avoided rear-ending us.

 

The wipers swept to the left and then back to the right before coming to rest. Time seemed to have slowed. He was facing away from us, his wrists tied together behind him, the rope trailing toward his feet, which were clad in heavy black boots with dirty black pants tucked into them. A dusty red coat swayed in the breeze as if the front was unbuttoned. And as my eyes traveled upward, I saw his hair. It was deep auburn and long, reaching past his shoulders. It had been drawn into a ponytail, but the strands had come loose, so the material that once bound them appeared ready to slide off.

 

“What the hell?” Mom shouted.

 

I stared at her. “Don’t you see him?” I shouted back in panic.

 

“Who?”

 

I looked back through the windshield. He was gone.

 

A tap on Mom’s window caused us both to nearly jump out of our seats. As she rolled down the window, Shay asked, “Are you two okay now?”

 

“I am,” Mom retorted. “She isn’t.” She turned to me. “Get out of my car. You nearly killed us.”

 

“I did not!”

 

“Get out!”

 

 

Enter to win a $25 Amazon/BN gift card

AUTHOR Bio and Links: 

My full name is Patricia McClelland Terrell, and I have been writing under the pen name p.m.terrell ever since a publisher presented me with my first fiction book cover. The graphic designer had also entered my name in lower-case letters; my editor hated it, and I loved it. It’s been p.m.terrell ever since.

I began writing when I was nine years old, inspired by a schoolteacher and elementary school principal. Scott-Foresman published my first book, a computer instructional for universities, in 1984. Scott-Foresman, Dow-Jones (Richard D. Irwin branch), Palari Publishing, Paralee Press, and Drake Valley Press have published 26 books to date.

Before embarking on a full-time writing career, I founded McClelland Enterprises, Inc. in the Washington, D.C. area in 1984, specializing in computer instruction for employees in the workplace. I opened another business, Continental Software Development Corporation, in 1994, which focused on custom application development, programming, website design and development, and computer crime.

I was honored to be the first female President of the Chesterfield County/Colonial Heights Crime Solvers. I also served as the Treasurer for the Virginia Crime Stoppers Association. Since moving to North Carolina, I served on the Robeson County Friends of the Library and Robeson County Arts Council.

I launched The Book ‘Em Foundation with Waynesboro, Virginia Police Officer Mark Kearney, and assisted in Virginia, New Hampshire, and South Carolina events before establishing the Annual Book ‘Em North Carolina Writers Conference and Book Fair, chairing it for several years before turning it over to Robeson Community College in Lumberton, NC.

 

Links:

Website: https://pmterrell.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pmterrell.author/