Black Raven Inn: A Paranormal Mystery (Taryn's Camera Book 6) (25 page)
Read Black Raven Inn: A Paranormal Mystery (Taryn's Camera Book 6) Online
Authors: Rebecca Patrick-Howard
There is a lot of truth to the novel you just finished, although the “true” parts have been lavishly embellished. I am going to attempt to separate truth from fiction now, to give you an idea of the things I completely made up, the things I exaggerated, and the things I didn’t change at all.
Firstly, Taryn’s love of music is my own. I wrote myself into this book more than any other piece of fiction I’ve released. Like Taryn, I am a strong music lover. I was able to write about Nashville in such a way because, as a teenager, I moved to Music City and attended Belmont College where I majored in Music Business. I wanted to be a country music singer. Alas, it didn’t happen.
The part at the beginning about Taryn and the concept album and 8-track? That’s actually true. I made up the Ruby Jane artist, as well as the Civil War album, but the story itself is true. When I was a kid I had a Don Williams 8-track. I played it every single day, up until I was about 5 and it mysteriously vanished from the car…
Taryn’s grandmother, Stella, is loosely based on my own grandmother. They share a lot in common. If you REALLY want to read a character that’s more faithful to my own grandmother, then check out my Kentucky Witches series. Liza Jane’s grandmother is very similar to mine-more so than Stella.
The Black Raven Inn is a conglomeration of several places. It’s no
one
motel, thank goodness. I actually got on Trip Advisor’s site and pulled up some of the motels with the worst reviews and drew inspiration from them. A lot of the Black Raven Inn’s descriptions came from these motels.
While backpacking Croatia in my early twenties, I spent the night at a youth hostel in the capital city of Zagreb. It was, by far, the worst hostel I’ve ever stayed in. Going by the reviews, others agreed. I drew from my experience with that hostel to help flesh out the motel in the book.
Some people will see similarities to the Drake Motel in downtown Nashville and the Joshua Tree Inn and Motel in Joshua Tree, California. The Drake Motel has been around for many decades and, in the past, was a place that up and coming singers would stay while they tried to find their footing in Nashville. It’s a typical motor lodge. It had its heyday many years ago but some people still like to drive past it to take pictures of its sign.
The Joshua Tree Inn and Motel in Joshua Tree is a quaint, vintage motel that my son and I stayed in during the research phase of this book. It’s reportedly haunted by the ghost of Gram Parsons and we stayed in the “Gram Parsons’ Room” while were there. We loved our stay. It’s clean, cute, has a vintage feel to it, and the staff was awesome. I highly recommend that you check it out if you’re around Joshua Tree. Which brings us to…
Parker Brown.
Parker Brown is a mixture of several different people. His personality is entirely made up. His career and death, however, ARE loosely based on those of Gram Parsons. I am a huge fan of his, to the point where my son and I visited California to trace some of his steps and sleep in his old hotel room. The shrine outside the room where he overdosed is real.
I really
did
hear guitar music in the middle of the night. If you want to watch a video about our stay there, you can find it on my You Tube channel.
The name “Parker Brown” comes from the fact that my son can never remember Gram Parson’s name and, consequently, always refers to him as “Parker.”
I combined several different stories of singers’ deaths and struggles with addiction to create the idea of “Parker.” Lenny is entirely made up. No such person ever existed.
Country music and music in general lost a great talent the day Gram died. He was a beautiful man with a sad, tormented soul. I became very close to his memory as I wrote this book. As a result, I found parts of this book hard to write. I became extremely involved, to the point where I had to put the book down and pick it back up again months later (I wrote
A Broom with a View
in the middle).
The name “Ruby Jane Morgan” comes from two of my aunts–Jane and Ruby. Aunt Jane is responsible for introducing me to a lot of musicians I’ve come to like as an adult. She gave me an Emmylou duets album when I was a freshman in college and “Gulf Coast Highway,” her duet with Willie Nelson, changed my life and the way I viewed music from there on out. My Aunt Ruby always felt more like a sister than an aunt to me. When my Aunt Wilma, a big influence on my life, passed away in the fall of 2015 I knew I needed to do something in honor of the other two relatives who had meant a lot to me over the years. It was Aunt Jane who turned me on to Gram Parsons and Aunt Ruby who, along with grandmother, solidified my love of Elvis. This book is, in part, a tribute to those fine ladies who love music as much as I do.
David and Matt are fictional. People who are close to me will see a resemblance of a childhood friend I grew up with in Matt. He is also equally based on the character of “Spencer Reid” from “Criminal Minds.” David is entirely made up and, alas, exists only as a figment of my imagination.
Free companion story to
Windwood Farm
!
Want to know what the elderly gentleman in Chester’s Restaurant on Main Street REALLY saw that fateful night in 1958? He claimed he’d never tell a soul, but Rebecca has unlocked his secrets…
Haunted: Houses
is a collection of short stories about haunted houses.
“The Devil’s House” is one of Rebecca’s contributions and it is the recounting of the gentleman’s tale.
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Visit
Black Raven Inn’s
Amazon page at:
http://www.amazon.com/Black-Raven-Inn-Paranormal-Mystery-ebook/dp/B01D284RB4/
Rebecca Patrick-Howard is the author of several books including the first book in her paranormal mystery trilogy
Windwood Farm
. She lives in eastern Kentucky with her husband and two children. The picture above features her in her homemade Nudie Suit, made especially for this book.
Visit her website at
www.rebeccaphoward.net
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Want to learn about Taryn’s beloved grandmother and get a glimpse of Taryn when she was a child? The companion novella to the Taryn’s Camera series entitled
Stella
is 100+ pages and available in the
Ghost Children
anthology.
For more information visit:
http://www.rebeccaphoward.net/haunted-ghost-children.html
Visit Rebecca’s website at
www.rebeccaphoward.net
for ordering information.
Taryn's Camera Series
Windwood Farm
Griffith Tavern
Dark Hollow Road
Shaker Town
Jekyll Island
Taryn’s Pictures: Photos from Taryn’s Camera
True Hauntings
Haunted Estill County
More Tales from Haunted Estill County
A Summer of Fear
The Maple House
Four Months of Terror
Two Weeks: A True Haunting
Three True Tales of Terror
Other Books
Coping with Grief: The Anti-Guide to Infant Loss
Three Minus Zero
Estill County in Photos
Haunted: Ghost Children Stories from Beyond