M.J. Rose author of The Reincarnationist Series ~ Guest Post and Giveaway

 

A giveaway and guest post from M. J. Rose ~ author of The Hyptnotist. It is the third in her Reincarnationist series and the book offered today.

The series is within the thriller genre, but with a few other elements in the mix such as historical fiction, and a lot of the paranormal – reincarnation.

Here M. J. tells about her very interesting experience around why she wrote the series. Love it!

At the Museum ~ by M.J. Rose

Growing up, I didn’t want to be a writer; I wanted to be an artist. We lived a block away from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and I started taking Saturday morning art classes there when I was just seven years old.

I’ve often felt art is my religion and that museums in general but the Met specifically is my temple of choice. It’s where I go to be renewed, refreshed and inspired. I don’t think I’ve ever gone longer than a month without visiting there.

So its not all that surprising that sooner or later I’d write a novel with a museum as one of my main characters and that I’d pick the museum that was in my backyard when I was a kid.

But how I got idea for the Hypnotist is surprising, at least to me.

One day about three and a half years ago, on one of my regular pilgrimages to the Met, I headed straight for one of my favorite spots. The Mastaba Tomb of Perneb is a tiny bit of 5th Dynasty Egypt transplanted to Manhattan. A gift from Edward S. Harkness to the museum in 1913.

You can enter the limestone tomb from the left or the right. One doorway leads to the main offering chapel. I took the other, which leads to a second ritual chamber. The space is very small and only three or four people can fit at the same time. I was lucky to be in the intimate ritual chamber alone and looking through the slot in the wall at a wooden statue of Perneb in the room beyond known as a serdab. In ancient times this passage way allowed for family and priests to offer up incense and chants to the deceased.

I heard footsteps. A little girl about seven or eight had entered and came up beside me to look through the slot. She had long blonde hair and was wearing a school uniform. I watched her examine the space, giving every section careful attention.

“It hasn’t changed much at all,” she said finally in a wistful voice.

I asked her what she meant.

“Since the last time I was here,” she said.

Something about the way she said it made me curious. “When was that?” I asked.

“When I lived in Egypt.”

“You know this tomb has been on display in this museum since 1916.” I said.

“I lived in Egypt way before that,” she said and smiled. She was about to say something else when from outside the chamber an older woman’s voice called out.

“Veronica, it’s time to go. Now. Please.”

The little girl ran off, quickly, without looking back, without giving me a chance to ask her anything else.

Even though I write about reincarnation, I haven’t had any meaningful reincarnation episodes of my own. I don’t get visitations. I’ve never seen a ghost. But I’m not sure what happened that afternoon.

I can picture Veronica in her navy jumper and white blouse that had a dark smudge on the collar. She had a one-inch scratch on her left hand. Her hair was pulled off her face with a silver barrette. A lot of curls had escaped. She had a child’s voice but it was so charged with adult emotion.

It was that emotion which sparked the idea for my novel, The Hypnotist. And the paintings and sculpture at the Metropolitan Museum that fueled it.

If you go the Met, please go visit Perneb’s tomb. And if you see a little girl there with long blonde hair and a blue school uniform… ask her if her name is Veronica… and if it is, thank her for me.

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For more in depth information on the series please see Layers of Thought’s Preview for the Reincarnationist series.

Author Bio:  M. J. Rose is the internationally bestselling author of several novels and two non-fiction books on marketing.

Her 11 novels are -  Lip Service, In Fidelity, Flesh Tones, Sheet Music, Lying in Bed, The Halo Effect, The Delilah Complex, The Venus Fix, The Reincarnationist, and The Memorist. The Hypnotist was published May 1, 2010. The FoxTV show Past Life,  was based on her Reincarnationist series. Rose is also the co-author with with Doug Clegg of Buzz Your Book.

She lives in Connecticut with Doug Scofield , a composer, and their very spoiled dog, Winka.  Connect with the author on her website, Goodreads, Twitter, and Facebook.

Some additional links around the series and the author:

• A June 16, 2010 NPR Podcast Interview with MJ Rose
• Her book promotion website Author Buzz (M. J. is an amazing business person).
• A free 100 page sampler of The Reincarnationist series.
• A Youtube trailer for The Reincarnationist Series.

This guest post and giveaway are associated with TLC Book Tours. For the complete list of bloggers on the tour link through the badge to the right.

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The Giveaway:

Since the book will be sent by the author - you do not need to be a “reader” for this giveaway. Anyone can enter, but the book is only available for mailing inside the US and Canada.

Contest Info:

To enter you must:

• comment
• include in the post your email so that I can contact you

For optional extra points you can do any, or all of the below for 1 entry point each. All entries may be included in one single comment.

1. Be a subscriber of Layers of Thought – google or facebook. (I need to be able to see you – to get updates in facebook feed and add me as a friend otherwise it does not count.)
2. Blog it - side bars are great - please provide links
3. Tweet it  – provide links please
4. Friend on Twitter
5. Friend on Goodreads
6. Friend on Book Blogs
7. Friend on Glue  - new to glue? have questions? let me know.

As stated above, this giveaway is for the US and Canada only.

Contest ends Sunday September 5, 2010 at 12 pm US Pacific time. Winner will be posted and notified on Wednesday September 8, 2010.

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In case you cannot wait - here is the purchasing info from Amazon:

• The Reincarnationist ~  links are for US/UK/Canada.
• The Memorist ~ links are for US/UK/Canada.
• The Hypnotist ~ links are for US/UK/Canada.

I loved The Reincarnationist, am really enjoying The Memorist, and hopefully will get The Hypnotist finished for a combo review to be posted on August 18th.

*We do not respond to comments for our giveaways unlike other posts. If you do have a question you can email me/Shellie through my profile. Additionally posting of comments will be delayed due to travel. Please bear with us.

Good luck and thanks for entering!