Go on, now! Penn Scripter set up shop a year ago this July 31st! Within that time, we’ve completed The Demon of Reginhart and are working on The Transformation of Charlie.
 
Not bad for 10 ½ months’ worth of work. Wouldn’t you agree?
 
For your entertainment, here’s a little something related to one of our important characters, Selkie. In the story, he’s a demon steed. However, here’s the legend behind this character. Take note, being horse lovers, we made our Selkie an equine instead of a person. A demon horse at that.

The Origin of the Selkie

The Irish legend of the Selkie is based on the concept of a mermaid. Selkies – also called seal people, sea people or mermaids – and tells of people who are half fish, and half human. In the water, they are seals, but on land, they shed their skin and take on human form. For some reason, they are irresistible to ordinary humans, who are apt to fall in love with them.
 
Popular on islands and rural coastal communities, the legend of selkie has endured over the age, and though less, there are still supposed sightings even in relatively modern times. Selkies are often spotted by those living in remote coastal areas. Legend has it that to come ashore, selkies must first shed their skin or tail. And if a person manages to find that skin and hide it away, the seal person cannot return to the sea. Irish folklore is littered with tales of men and women (usually men) finding a selkie skin and hiding it, then marrying the selkie woman. 

Many famous stories revolve around selkies in Ireland. One is that of Thady Rua O’Dowd, a clan chieftain who was tasked with finding himself a bride upon rising to clan leadership.

Out walking on the beach to clear his head, Thady stumbled upon a beautiful maiden combing her hair. Though unclothed, she had a magical cape or coat next to her. Of course, all in Ireland knew of the sea people, the selkies, and Thady was no different. He quickly snatched up her selkie cloak to hide away, professing his love at first sight for her. Without her fishtail, the selkie, called Eve, had no choice but to return his love and marry him. Together, they ruled the lands and raised their seven children, but Eve always longed for the sea.

Legend has it that though the selkie cloak was well hidden, one of their children spotted Thady checking on it and told his mother of the “bag of gold.” When Thady was away from home, Eve checked the spot her child told her about – and lo and behold, discovered her fishtail. With the return of her fishtail, Eve could not resist the temptation of the sea.

She left to go back to the ocean with her children. But she could not take them all. Instead, she turned five of them into rocks, swimming off into the waves with the remaining children under each arm.

We’re not sure about turning children into rocks, but that’s how the legend goes.

So, look to read more about our Selkie in The Demon of Reginhart. You can find it as follows:

Universal Link: https://books2read.com/u/bMRLrX
US AMAZON Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B098BQHK8Q
Universal Amazon Link: http://mybook.to/demonofreginhart

Til Next Time,
​Carol

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Til Next Time,
​Carol

Go on, now! Penn Scripter set up shop a year ago this July 31st! Within that time, we’ve completed The Demon of Reginhart and are working on The Transformation of Charlie.
 
Not bad for 10 ½ months’ worth of work. Wouldn’t you agree?
 
So, here’s the skinny. We just completed editing The Demon of Reginhart based on our editor’s review. Now it’s time to begin the book production process. That’s right! Producing print and eBooks.
 
We are busy at work on that. We’re hoping to publish not too far past our estimated launch date of June 15.
 
In the meantime, here’s a little something related to one of our important characters, Selkie. Take note, being horse lovers, we made our Selkie an equine instead of a person. A demon horse at that.

However, here’s the legend behind this character. 
 
The Origin of the Selkie

The Irish legend of the Selkie is based on the concept of a mermaid. Selkies – also called seal people, sea people or mermaids – and tells of people who are half fish, and half human. In the water, they are seals, but on land, they shed their skin and take on human form. For some reason, they are irresistible to ordinary humans, who are apt to fall in love with them.
 
Popular on islands and rural coastal communities, the legend of selkie has endured over the age, and though less, there are still supposed sightings even in relatively modern times. Selkies are often spotted by those living in remote coastal areas. Legend has it that to come ashore, selkies must first shed their skin or tail. And if a person manages to find that skin and hide it away, the seal person cannot return to the sea. Irish folklore is littered with tales of men and women (usually men) finding a selkie skin and hiding it, then marrying the selkie woman. 

Many famous stories revolve around selkies in Ireland. One is that of Thady Rua O’Dowd, a clan chieftain who was tasked with finding himself a bride upon rising to clan leadership.
Out walking on the beach to clear his head, Thady stumbled upon a beautiful maiden combing her hair. Though unclothed, she had a magical cape or coat next to her. Of course, all in Ireland knew of the sea people, the selkies, and Thady was no different. He quickly snatched up her selkie cloak to hide away, professing his love at first sight for her. Without her fishtail, the selkie, called Eve, had no choice but to return his love and marry him. Together, they ruled the lands and raised their seven children, but Eve always longed for the sea.

Legend has it that though the selkie cloak was well hidden, one of their children spotted Thady checking on it and told his mother of the “bag of gold.” When Thady was away from home, Eve checked the spot her child told her about – and lo and behold, discovered her fishtail. With the return of her fishtail, Eve could not resist the temptation of the sea.

She left to go back to the ocean with her children. But she could not take them all. Instead, she turned five of them into rocks, swimming off into the waves with the remaining children under each arm.

We’re not sure about turning children into rocks, but that’s how the legend goes.

So, look to read more about our Selkie in The Demon of Reginhart. Look for it soon!

Til Next Time!
Carol

P.S. If you want to learn more about Penn Scripter, please go to:
​ https://www.pennscripter.com/

Want to read the excerpt? Then click here.

Want to learn more about The Demon of Reginhart? 

Join the fun here: www.pennscripter.com/

Til Next Time,
​Carol

So, in my September 2020 message, I told you about a venture that I am doing with my writing partner. It's called Penn Scripter, and we are writing Unexpected Paranormal Romance together. Our first entry is entitled The Demon of Reginhart. I thought you might enjoy this excerpt:

An odd sense of déjà vu enveloped Marcus. He walked, aimless amongst the ancient cedar trees. His nose the only guide until he came to a familiar stream. Across the babbling creek he watched a young girl crouched over a snow berry bush picking at the winter fruit. The scene was as it had been two days ago. 

Camouflaged by trees, Marcus watched, fascinated.

A strand of her waist-long hair caught on the bush, and she pushed the cord of white blonde over her shoulder. Delicate fingers claimed berries between leaves and thorns. Crystal blue eyes remained intent on the search for more fruit. She wore the same light blue bodice and cream dress when he’d laid her down and promised vengeance.

This could not be. He’d killed her. He’d felt her die. Yet there she stood, plain as day as if he’d never drained her of life.

To read more... go here: https://www.pennscripter.com/blog/archives/03-2021.

Hope you enjoy. If you do, sign up for our newsletter on the right side of the page on the Penn Scripter Website. 

Until Next Time,
​Carol

That helpless feeling. You know the one. We've all had it. Someone or something we love is ill or has disappeared. You do everything that you can to correct the situation, but nothing changes it.

This happened to my family and me last week. 

We live on 27 acres in Texas. The property is filled with trails winding through the woods. We take our five dogs for a walk almost daily, and they dart in and out of the trees, scampering around, getting lots of exercise, and having fun. We've done this for three years now, more than a thousand times. The dogs all know the paths we take and the property. However, if someone goes off trail, it's easy to get disoriented, so they normally stick to us like Velcro.

The picture above is Ty, short for Tiberius, a purebred Siberian Huskey. A week ago last Friday, our daughter took them all for a walk in the morning. Five went out, but only four came home. Thinking that Ty would come along, she waited a bit, and then we all panicked.

We walked the woods in every direction that first day. Ty hates bodies of water, and there's a big creek that we knew he wouldn't cross because it was full from recent rains. Our other dogs: Thor, our Labrador Retriever; Lacy, our German Shepherd; Charlie, our German Shorthaired Pointer; and Mimi, our Korean Jindo, all went in search of him, but with no luck. We gave up the search as dark descended. 

The next day, my daughter and her significant other took a machete and went through the thickest parts of the woods. Mark and I spent the day driving up and down all the roads surrounding the property. Again, night fell.

On Sunday, my daughter and I took our business cards and went from neighbor to neighbor, knocking on doors, showing Ty's photo, and leaving our information to call if anyone spotted him.  In the meantime, the guys went around hanging pieces of worn socks and pants cut into strips on all the fencing surrounding the property with the hopes that Ty was just lost, would pick up the scent, and find his way home. Again, night fell with no luck.

Monday-Thursday came and went still with no luck. To make matters worse, it rained for two nights with thunder and lightning, something that terrifies Ty. We normally have to just snuggle with him during a storm to keep him calm. That increased our worry and feelings of hopelessness.

What could have happened? Was he just lost and turned around in the woods? Did he go to someone's house that we missed, and perhaps he lost his collar with his ID on it, and they had no way to know who he belonged to? Did another animal attack and, God forbid, kill him? Did aliens swop down and take him away?

On Friday, with heavy hearts, my daughter and I left for a planned horse show in Houston. We arrived around 6:30p that evening. Just as we were checking on my horse, my daughter's phone rang with the news, "Ty just walked through the doggie door here in the house."

"What?! Oh, my God! That is a miracle," we both screamed.

Obviously exhausted, hungry, and thirsty, Ty looked not much different than when he disappeared, and his collar was still in place. Relief flooded through all our bodies. The guys immediately put a GPS tracking collar on him, and that will be a permanent fixture for him. All the dogs have them, but we just got sloppy about putting them on. Trust me, we're on it now.

I think the lesson learned here is that even in our darkest despair, we never gave up hope. Even with that feeling of hopelessness, we never really gave up. As far as most of us are concerned, Ty returning to us was a miracle. But Mark insists that Ty was turned around and lost in the woods and that he picked up the scent of the dirty socks and pants the guys hung up on the fences and followed it home. I guess we'll never know.

​What do  you think? 

Til next time!
​Carol

My writing partner and I, who work under the pen name of Penn Scripter, have been working on a manuscript with a working title of The Transformation of Charlie. 

A long-time reader and friend asked me the other day what it's about. I stumbled around and said it's about reincarnation set with a background in the horse world. She went, Hmmm...

So I am going to try and clarify a bit, since I haven't written the blurb yet. In a nutshell, Charlie Wolfe has met and married the love of his life, his soul mate, Remi a horsewoman. He's the jealous type and a bit possessive. He's also a well-know horse breeder and owner of a breeding farm that extends to dressage training (yes, yes, I know... it's my sport). Charlie loses his life in a tragic accident, and Remi is beyond devastated. So much so that she contemplates suicide. Charlie, being the persuasive fellow that he is, wrangles his way from limbo into being reincarnated as the exact duplicate of a German Shorthaired Pointer that Remi had as a child. It's actually a selfless act in order to save her and ensure she has a happy life. It's an unexpected paranormal romance, which is what Penn Scripter writes. That's all I'm gonna say. I'll reveal more as we get closer to publication time.

Do you believe in reincarnation? Do you think it's possible that many of us have been here before in another life? Dr. Brian L. Weiss' #1 Best Seller, Many Lives, Many Masters: The True Story of a Prominent Psychiatrist, His Young, Patient, and the Past-Life Therapy That Changed Both Their Lives supports it as do countless other books and testaments. 

I definitely think it's worth opening your mind and exploring. 

If you've ever experienced deja vu, perhaps you might want to consider it.

Until Next Time,
Carol 

Meet Thor 
Our family adopted him when he was 10 months old. His original owners said he was “uncontrollable,” and we were approached because Mark McKibben, husband, and father, is a dog trainer. Within no time, Thor became a model citizen, so much so that he attends meetings with Mark and has become the example of a well-behaved pooch.

Fast forward to about six years. As a more mature dog, Thor developed a lipoma, a lump under the skin that occurs due to an overgrowth of fat cells. His wound was on his hip and quite large. (Yes, he needs to lose weight.) Vets consider lipomas as non-cancerous growths, but it’s always advisable to remove them, just in case.

​​So, Mark took him in to have the growth removed. That was the easy part.

Should Dogs Lick Wounds to Heal Them?
It’s said dog kisses heal, so why didn’t we let Thor lick his post-surgical incision? Let me answer by asking, when was the last time your dog ate something off the sidewalk that you couldn’t identify? When was the last time they went licking their unmentionables? How many times do they brush their teeth?

It’s true that dogs can be a comfort when their people are depressed, hurting, lonely and need a friend. But while their mouths have a different set of bacteria separate from humans, which is why they don’t get sick when we have a cold and we can’t get kennel cough from them, licking a wound has a higher potential of getting infected.  

Let us tell you about the experience we had with Thor licking his stitches. 

Want to read more of Stephanie McKibben's article written for Penn Scripter? Click here. 

Til Next Time,
​Carol