31 Novels to Read Before You Die by Deb Atwood Day 10 in the Monster Mash Book Blitz Countdown Event

Deb Atwood holds an MFA and lives in California with her husband and rescue dog Nala. Her time-slip novel Moonlight Dancer was selected as a front page Featured Review by Book Ideas. Deb's work has appeared in numerous anthologies. Her interests include ghost fiction, Korean culture, quilting, and, of course, reading.

Q&A With the Author:

What is your largest unfulfilled dream? What are you doing towards making that dream a reality?

My unfulfilled dream is to write the perfect book. With every project, blog post, essay, manuscript, I try to stretch myself beyond what I’ve done before. I’m a perpetual student. I read excellent novels, study writing craft, and produce multiple drafts. That’s partly why I’m so slow to put out books. I haven’t written the perfect project yet, but I keep trying.

Tell a story about yourself.

To say I am directionally challenged would be like calling Buckingham Palace a cozy bungalow. The phrase “She can’t find her way out of a paper bag” was invented for me.

I try to compensate. Truly I do. For instance, I always mark my parking ticket with the floor and section. Once, I had driven my husband to the airport back in the days when you could walk people to the gate. When I reached the walkway in front of the airport, I realized I had failed to mark my location. No problem, thought I, as I could see my car from the walkway. Clever me, I noticed that my car was directly in line with a commercial bank. All I’d need to do upon exiting the airport would be to walk in a line toward the bank and I’d reach my car. My daughter and I saw my husband off, and I left the airport confident in my abilities (I have since noticed that in my case confidence bears an inverse relationship to competence). What I hadn’t realized was that the airport was built on a circle. Everywhere I turned, every direction I walked, lugging my 19 pound firstborn for an hour in 90 degree weather, was in a direct line to the commercial bank. By the time we stumbled upon the car, I was exhausted.

A few times my husband (who’s an excellent navigator) was out of town, and I’ve had to transport myself to events with questionable results. Most recently, my daughter and I were driving to my niece’s wedding. (Why is it always weddings that give me trouble?) I had carefully transcribed the directions from Mapquest and was reading them to her as she drove. I was so proud of myself for noting down every turn that would take us to 145 Main Street (but, as they say, pride goeth before a fall). The drive would take 30 minutes; naturally, I had added the 125 percent cushion required by someone with my infirmity. All was going well until we prepared to exit the freeway at Main Street in Vallejo when my daughter turned to me and said, “Doesn’t Allegra live in Vacaville?”

Vacaville, Vallejo…what’s the difference? Back on the freeway, we raced to Vacaville, parked, and ran to the service where we arrived just in time. All part of the plan.

Connect with the Author here: 

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"As readers of Deb Atwood’s blog Pen In Her Hand know, Atwood is passionate about ghost fiction. Since 2011, Atwood has read, re-read, and written about ghost literature. 31 Ghost Novels to Read Before You Die presents a selection of the best of these posts. 

Among the books discussed are old favorites (The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson) as well as some indie gems few people will know about (The 20’s Girl, the Ghost, and All That Jazz by June Kearns). There are ghost novels for every reader, in genres ranging from historical to literary to romance. "

~ Amazon ~ Goodreads ~ ~ Amazon UK ~ Amazon CA ~ Amazon AU ~

Top Ten List:

1.  I like spiders, but I'm afraid of yellow jackets (the insect, not the garment).

2.  My hair is purple.

3.  I love to wander around old cemeteries.

4.  I have traveled throughout the Korean countryside (and treasured every minute).

5.  My heart goes pitter patter for big dogs and fat cats.

6.  If I had to choose one mode of travel, I would choose the train.

7.  I suffer from math phobia.

8.  One time in London I inadvertently spent a night in a homeless hotel, and it changed me.

9.  I'm a scaredy cat passenger in a car (as my husband will attest).

10. I'm passionate about ghost fiction and ghost movies.

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