Interview with Anna M. Taylor Author of Haunted Serenade

Give a warm welcome to Anna M. Taylor, author of Haunted Serenade!  Pull up a chair, grab a drink of your choice from the cooler, a Chocolate Chip or Peanut Butter cookie from the plate, and let’s find out a little about Anna and her Haunted Serenada.

Thanks for stopping by Anna, I’ve a few questions for you.

Why did you choose the cover concept you did?

Ghosts, music from the past, suicide and the need for self-love in the African-American community all play a role in the story Haunted Serenade tells. Dawne Dominque, my wonderful cover designer, came up a cover that gives subtle hints to all of these elements.

What is the theme of this book? If it’s part of a series, how does this book fit into the series?

Love and forgiveness are inseparable if you’re not to live stuck in the past. Haunted Serenade establishes the location and the theme all the stories in the Haunted Harlem series deal with, i.e. African-Americans in Harlem coming to terms with their pasts, the effects of that past on them and pasts and seeking/bestowing forgiveness thanks to that knowledge.

If writing is your first passion, what is your second?

Music. Playing an instrument and listening to recordings stir me the same way writing does.

If you could have one superpower, what would it be and why?

Healing. There’s so much pain in the world that causes us to act the way we do. Healthy people don’t hurt others.

Any tips to share with fellow authors/aspiring authors? What’s the best advice you’ve ever heard?

The best advice I ever received is to believe in yourself as an author. A published author I admired asked me to be part of a writers panel. When I said “but I’m not published,” she responded “you’re a writer whether you’re published or not.” I’ve taken those words to heart ever since.

 

SPEED ROUND FOR A LITTLE ADDED FUN:

Speed Round (one word only answer): Yep, I know torture for a writer!<evil laugh>

 

Favorite movie: Notorious
Favorite book: Topaz by Beverly Jenkins
Last book read: The Money Man by Nancy Herkness
Favorite color: Black
Stilettos or flipflops: Flipflops
Coffee or tea: Tea
Ebook or audiobook or paperback: Paperback
Pencil or pen: Pen

Favorite song: God of Grace and God of Glory

Streak or not: Not

Favorite dessert: Apple pie

Favorite junk food: Mint chocolate Smashmallows

Favorite thing to do to relax: Watch old movies

Champagne or gin: Yeech. Neither.

Paranormal or Historical: Historical

Wonder Woman or Top Model: Wonder Woman

Favorite TV show: Law and Order

Hot or cold: Hot

POV: Third

I’d die if I don’t have: Love

Review or Not: Review

Tell us a little about Haunted Serenade.

 All the women in Anora Madison’s family have lived as “Poor Butterflies”: women still longing for but deserted by the men they loved. Determined to be the first to escape a life of abandonment, she fled Harlem for Brooklyn, severing ties with both her mother and with the man who broke her heart, Winston Emerson, the father of her child.

Six years later, Anora comes back to Harlem to make peace, but a malignant spirit manifests itself during the homecoming, targeting her mother, her aunt, Winston and their little girl. Determined to stop the evil now trying to destroy all she loves, Anora must finally turn to Winston for help. But will their efforts be too little too late?

Buy links: Amazon 

 

How about a sneak peek between the pages of Haunted Serenade?

“I never understood how you and Elizabeth could stay here after Diana…” I couldn’t bring myself to say the word. My mother didn’t finish my sentence for me. Apparently she couldn’t say the word either.

Suicide.

We waited in the shared silence, unable more than unwilling to offer terms of peace.

“A person can will themselves to die,” my mother said. Her gaze drifted to the album cover in my hands. “It’s not so hard where unforgiving spirits reign.”

My gut clenched. “Do you really believe you’re dying, Ma?”

“According to my doctor I’m sound as a dollar. But when you’ve got more days behind you than in front of you, that’s not saying much.” She directed her gaze to me. “That’s why Cammie is so important. She’s the future. I feel better just having been in her presence a little while.”

“I should have known.” I gripped the album cover with fingers trembling with anger and disappointment. “All that display of affection…you’re only using her to make you feel better.”

“No, Anora.” My mother came over and grabbed my arm with an earnestness that surprised me. “It’s not like that. I—I want the ghosts keeping us apart to die. Don’t you?”

I wanted it so much it hurt. I grimaced, but nodded.

“Cammie took one look at this house and asked if it was haunted.”

My mother snorted. “Out of the mouths of babes.”

“Exactly what I thought.” I returned the album cover to its resting place.

Resting place.

The term troubled my mind. Can the spirit of anyone who dies the way my aunt died ever rest?

The question went unanswered, interrupted by my daughter’s screams.

 

About the Author:

A recent transplant to the Southwest from New York, Anna M. Taylor is the women’s fiction and gothic romance pen name of Anna Taylor Sweringen, a retired United Church of Christ and Presbyterian Church USA minister. Anna has been writing seriously since joining Romance Writers of America in 2003. She also writes inspirational romance as Anna Taylor and erotic romance as Michal Scott.

Author links:

Amazon author central page: amazon.com/author/annamtaylor

Facebook author page: @annamtaylorAuthor

It was wonderful having you with us today.  Please feel free to stop by anytime. Good Luck with Haunted Serenade!

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