Sep 21, 2015 | Mysterious Places
In our search for a quiet tropical island, we stumbled across one that is more quiet than most. The Palmyra Atoll has between four and twenty people living on it at any one time, all of whom are U.S. government scientists. I found this intriguing bit of info on...
Jul 26, 2015 | Mysterious Places, The Writing Life
At long last, the day we’d been waiting for arrived. We were finally going to visit the childhood home of Vlad Tepes, otherwise known as The Impaler, otherwise known as Dracula (which is Romanian for son of the devil). After an epic bus ride, we stumbled onto...
Jul 25, 2015 | Mysterious Places, Tales of the Supernatural, The Writing Life
Hasdeu Castle has a strange, sad history. After his daughter Iulia (pronounced Julia) died of tuberculosis at the age of nineteen, Bogdan Hasdeu claimed to receive instructions from beyond the grave. For some reason, Iulia, a brilliant prodigy who had written several...
Jul 19, 2015 | Mysterious Places, The Writing Life
This week in Romania has been stretching my muscles, literally and figuratively. At least three hours each day is spent in a writing workshop with author Richard Thomas. Richard has been throwing us some curveballs. Just when you start to relax, he wants you to write...
Jul 17, 2015 | Mysterious Places, The Writing Life
Transylvania Horror Writer’s Workshop, Day 3. Here’s something I don’t say very often. I’m scared. And I don’t scare easily. Finally got inside Bran Castle, and it has it all–a secret passageway, a connection to Bram...