Friday Features’
Guest talks about
The inspiration behind her book series
by
Carole Ann Moleti
My family has vacationed on Cape Cod since I was very young, and I have always been intrigued by the history of the Brewster sea captains and their wives
I had the sudden inspiration to write a story about a woman who finds a trunk of old clothes and learns sad truths about the person who they once belonged to. The Unfinished Business series begins with a ghost story (Breakwater Beach: Book One) and continues with how past life experiences influence our fears, fantasies, and choices (The Widow’s Walk: Book Two).
The inspiration for Storm Watch: Book Three came when I was siting on the real Breakwater Beach in Brewster, Massachusetts on the Cape and there was a fisherman in his beached boat, waiting for the tide to come in. Just like the hero Mike would have been. But one of my most favorite of secondary characters in Storm Watch is Harley, a hermit that lives in on Wing’s Island, which is cut off from the mainland at high tide.
I met Harley (not his real name) at a book sale. Tall and shockingly thin, he was wandering around the festival in the park barefoot and stopped to chat. About two hours into the conversation I learned that this 90ish year old gentleman had grown up in Brewster and lived in a yurt on a nearby beach. He told me about his adventures and experiences as child finding the ribs of an abandoned boat on the Brewster Flats at high tide. And his memories of serving in the Merchant Marine during World War II before he returned to the Cape.
I bought him lunch, and he invited me to come visit him. He directed me to turn right at the rusty mailbox with the crooked pole off a local road. I passed by it many times, but it was clearly marked as private and I was reluctant to wander in there unannounced. The mailbox disappeared last year, so my invitation expired. But that gentleman is immortalized as Harley–and I have a very soft spot for both of them in my heart.
I’ve hunkered down during many hurricanes myself. And if you think this excerpt foreshadows a terrifying, realistic, and characteristic scene you are correct.
Sandra retrieved her bike. “I need to get to Harley.” She was always alone, and had never once mentioned any friends or family.
“Who’s that?”
“My friend. He lives in a Mooncusser’s cottage on Wing’s Island. Ninety-six years old and been there longer than anyone can remember. And he says he’s not leaving no matter what comes along.”
“What’s a Mooncusser?” How could she not have heard about these cottages—and Harley—before this?
Sandra’s spaced out stare returned. “One room fisherman’s shacks built at the turn of the twentieth century. When Harley’s father and grandfather died, he just stayed there with no plumbing or heat other than a rain barrel and a coal stove. The bay practically laps at his door on moon tides.”
“Ah, that’s why they cuss at the moon.” How, in the midst of preparing for a Category 5 Hurricane approaching could this distract her?
“I’m going over there now to see if I can convince him to come stay with me until this whole thing blows over.”
“You’re not going to evacuate?” Liz’s gut roiled.
“Goddess no. Cape Codders are tougher than that.” Sandra bowed like she was wishing Namaste after a yoga class and hopped onto her bike.
Author Bio:
Carole Ann Moleti lives and works as a nurse-midwife in New York City, thus explaining her fascination with all things paranormal, urban fantasy, and space opera. Her nonfiction focuses on health care, politics, and women’s issues. But her first love is writing science fiction and fantasy because walking through walls is less painful than running into them.
The Unfinished Business series, Carole’s Cape Cod paranormal romance novels, Breakwater Beach, The Widow’s Walk, and Storm Watch were published by Soulmate. Boulevard of Bad Spells and Broken Dreams: Void of Course is forthcoming.
Urban fantasies set in the world of Carole’s novels have been featured several of the Ten Tales Series: Haunted, Seers, Beltane, and Bites as well as in the short horror anthologies Hell’s Kitties, Hell’s Heart and Hell’s Mall.
Excerpts of her memoirs, ranging from sweet and sentimental to edgy and irreverent, have been published in a variety of literary venues. Carole was awarded the Oasis Journal award for best nonfiction in 2009. She has a piece in the acclaimed Shifts and Impact feminist anthologies.
Find Carole at:
Website – Amazon – Facebook – Twitter – Goodreads – Newsletter – Pinterest Boards for each Book
C.D. Hersh 