Karen Vance Hammond

Answer: When I befriended Jennifer Stone, she told me her story about living in the famous Horton House in Texas. After speaking with her, I was blown away. After all, you don’t hear about people too often living inside of a haunted house as long as she and her family did. I felt like her story was plausible. I came to her a few months later and asked if I could have permission to write her story and make it into a novel.

In 1899, Maggie Horton was the epitome of what every young woman wanted to be— married with children. She led a charmed life on her homestead in Ellensville , Texas , alongside a husband who worshiped the ground she walked on and a former lover who still desired her.

Answer: People are intrigued in the fact that I was born with a reading disability combined with dyslexia. Writing Shoe Marks was a challenge for me. I didn’t know if I could do it. But at least I had to try and if I didn’t then I knew the answer was always going to be no. My parents and special education teachers always told me that even though I had a disability and dyslexia that I could do anything that I put my mind to it.

Answer: Yes, I do. I use the Dragon and I absolutely love it. I can speak my words and nothing is backwards.

Answer:  I was never expecting anything like this. When I found out that Shoe Marks was the number one bestseller at Synergebooks, I was elated. In fact, I cried and I called one of my teachers and told her about it. If it wasn’t for my parents and my teachers, I would not be an author today. The credit goes to them; not me.

Answer: Yes, I couldn’t believe it. Shoe Marks has staked its claim in the paranormal genre.

Answer: A professional screenplay writer contacted me. I am thrilled to know Shoe Marks is now being written as a screen play. We will see if it is going to be made into a feature film.

Answer: The Monastery Murders part 1 Secret in the Shallows’ and The Monastery Murders part 2 ‘Devil in the Details’ in collaboration with contributing editor, Kimberly Brouillette will make its debut. Following with the series will come Identity all to be published by Synergebooks.

Answer: John Irving because he has dyslexia. Stephen King, Nora Roberts, and Dean Koontz.

Excerpt:

Chapter 1

August 1899

 

 

Maggie Horton opened one eye, and then shut it to avoid the bright sunlight that penetrated straight through her bedroom window. Fatigued and sleep deprived, she rolled over, moaned, and covered her face with a floral print feather pillow.

Her baby whimpered as she sat up on the side of the bed. With gentle hands, she picked up her firstborn son and cradled him in her arms. “There, my sweet little James.”

After his feeding, she placed him back down in the new cradle her husband, James, had custom-built for her before the baby was born.

Maggie opened the chifarobe door and reached for the same gray dress she’d worn for the past three days. She covered her blistered, sore feet with socks, along with a pair of black-laced leather shoes with one-inch heels. After coiling her long brunette hair into a tightly woven bun, she squeezed her rosy cheeks.

Studying her reflection in the mirror, she whispered, “Well, this is as good as it’s going to get.” Maggie was dressed for the day with nowhere to go. She did, however have a great deal of work to accomplish.

Before starting her daily chores, Maggie smiled at her baby, who was sleeping soundly. She sat down at her secretary desk. After dipping her writing feather pen into the black ink, she proceeded to write a letter to her son with the hope that one day she would give it to him.

When Maggie was finished writing, she walked down the wooden staircase and went into her husband’s smoking room. With a hammer in hand, she removed the nails in one of the floor planks where she secretly kept the family safe box. Inside the old family heirloom were rare coins, paper money, and an antique family Bible her mother had given to her before succumbing to yellow fever.

Maggie opened the large leather-bound Bible and, with a feather pen, entered her new addition onto the Horton family tree. Then she placed the love letter to her son between the pages of Psalms, along with a black and white photograph taken of her husband, herself, and their baby, James Junior.

Knowing her treasure was safe; she lowered the wooden plank back into the floor and hammered the nails into the wood. “There. All done,” she said, grinning and wiping her hands.

Every day was the same: milk the cows; wash the clothes; cook the meals; churn butter; and try to keep the fire going in the wood-burning cast iron stove.

But for some reason unbeknownst to her, she felt that this day was going to be different.

Maggie opened up the barn doors and greeted Matilda and Madeline, who stood at their hay troughs. She sat down on her stool, with her forearm, wiped the perspiration from her brow, and proceeded to milk her favorite brown and white cow.

Hearing a strange noise, she stood up and peeked over Matilda’s furry back. In a nearby stall, a man was sleeping.  It was her former lover, John Smith, who was turning to one side as he slept soundly with his head against his leather saddle.

Startled yet somehow not very surprised, she couldn’t help but smile. Then she wondered why he was there and how quickly she could get him to leave before her husband found him there.

 

Buy links:

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Amazon:

Paperback: http://www.amazon.com/Shoe-Marks-Karen-Vance-Hammond/dp/0744314712/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1361932972&sr=8-1&keywords=shoe+marks

Kindle version: http://www.amazon.com/Shoe-Marks-ebook/dp/B005HZ0F9E/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1361932972&sr=8-2&keywords=shoe+marks

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