paranormal – Page 3 – Karenna Colcroft

Do you want to see how Tobias Rogan became a werewolf and rose to become Alpha of Boston North Pack? Tobias’s origin story, Fresh Meat, is now available in PDF format for free!

Fresh Meat was originally published in 2012 by Featherweight Press, a children’s/young adult imprint of MLR Press. MLR was the original publisher of the Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat series, so when I decided to write Tobias’s story as a young adult novel, I approached Featherweight to publish it. Because at the time I was still trying to keep Karenna Colcroft *completely* separate from my young adult persona Jo Ramsey, the publisher and I agreed on the explanation that “Jo Ramsey” was a fan of “Karenna Colcroft” who’d gotten Karenna’s permission to write Tobias’s story. I’m outing myself now: Jo Ramsey and Karenna Colcroft are both me.

When I started rereleasing the Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat novels, I debated what to do with Fresh Meat. I wanted the story to be available, but currently I have no plans to self-publish my young adult stuff, since that’s a harder sell than romance. (I may reconsider that over time, but right now, I am focusing solely on romance.) But recently, as I realized I’d had the same giveaway short story for over a year, I decided to make Fresh Meat the new giveaway.

Until May 2024, the e-version of Fresh Meat, revised and re-edited, is available exclusively to those who sign up to receive it. Due to technology disagreeing with me, Fresh Meat is available only in PDF format. (The file is hosted through this website, and the website won’t allow me to upload EPUB format.) Fresh Meat does include content that is potentially triggering for some readers, so I have an alternative story available for those who want to sign up for my mailing list but don’t want to read Fresh Meat; instructions on how to get the alternate story are in the email you’ll receive when you sign up.

To get your copy of Fresh Meat (or the alternative short story “Christmas Eve Snow”), just fill out the brief form at https://karennacolcroft.com/get-your-free-story/. This will add you to my monthly newsletter list; you can unsubscribe at any time.

Tired of constant fighting at home, fifteen-year-old Tobias Rogan dreams of getting out. Of never having to care for his younger sisters again. Of living a life far from New Hampshire. And when Tobias meets Larry Denning, he believes he’s found his chance.

But in one afternoon, Tobias’s life is turned upside-down . Larry attacks him. Tobias awakens to find that he’s been changed into a werewolf. The local pack Alpha takes him in, and Tobias begins to adjust to his new life as the pack searches for Larry to punish him for breaking shifter law in changing a minor.

Then Larry changes another boy and dumps him at the Alpha’s home as a warning to Tobias. Tobias is no longer willing to wait for the pack to find Larry. He sets a plan in motion—a plan for revenge.

This book was previously published in 2012. This version has been revised and re-edited from the original. It includes an inappropriate relationship between a 15-year-old boy and a man who claims to be 22; on-page emotional abuse and an incident of physical abuse; an on-page though vaguely described incident of SA; and a werewolf killing another werewolf. Some readers may find this content triggering.

A psychopomp is a being (sometimes human, sometimes not) who guides spirits into or through the afterlife. Psychopomps appear in various world mythologies as well as in popular culture; for example, Stephen King’s The Dark Half references psychopomps represented by a flock of sparrows.

While people tend to think that a psychopomp is purely a fictional or mythological thing, there are those of us in real life who consider ourselves psychopomps.

Yeah, I said “us.”

I was about five years old the first time I “saw” a spirit. I put that in quotation marks because it wasn’t so much something I saw with my physical eyes as it was a mental image that my brain sort of projected into reality. My great-grandmother had passed away, and I saw her as my parents were discussing or preparing for the funeral. It’s been 48 years, so I don’t remember the exact context, but I do remember seeing my great-grandmother. I didn’t know why I was seeing her or why my parents got upset when I mentioned it, but I did learn pretty fast that seeing dead people wasn’t something I was supposed to talk about.

Since then, nearly every time someone with a connection to me has passed away (and even sometimes with people who have no connection to me), I’ve “seen” them in a similar way. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned to identify whether they’re just appearing because they want to say goodbye or whether they need help finding where they’re supposed to go next. When they need help, I try to help them. It’s a process of visualization, mostly, in which I bring them to someplace that has meaning for them and help them find the light they’re supposed to cross into. If you’ve seen the TV series Ghost Whisperer, it’s similar to that, except I don’t solve crimes. And I do have a choice; if a spirit comes to me and I’m not comfortable helping them, I say so and my guides help them find someone else to assist. Sometimes my guides run interference for me when they believe it would be detrimental for me to work with a certain spirit, as they did last year when my mother passed away.

I know all this sounds kind of weird and “out there,” and that’s fine. You don’t have to believe in anything you’d rather not believe in. But there are those who do this work intentionally, sometimes assisting spirits after they pass and sometimes assisting them in the passing.

As I was starting work on Fill the Empty Spaces, I was also rewatching Ghost Whisperer and thought, “It would be cool to have a romance character who’s a psychopomp. I don’t think I’ve seen that in any of the books I’ve read.” And then I thought, “I’m writing a book. And I have a character who could be a psychopomp; why not?” Thus was born Lochlan, the friend-with-potential who my main character Del meets when he starts volunteering at a cat cafe.

Like me, Lochlan had his first experience as a psychopomp at age five with his late great-grandmother. The way Lochlan guides spirits is similar to how it works for me as well; after all, “write what you know” is one of the most common pieces of advice for authors. But his experiences and the spirits he guides during the story or tells Del about are not at all similar to anything I’ve dealt with. For which I’m thankful; Lochlan gets put through the wringer.

Fill the Empty Spaces is available now in Kindle and paperback formats on Amazon. To thank the Kitty Cat Cafe and Adoption Lounge in Peabody, MA, for allowing me to use the names of some of their real-life cat residents and the picture of Charlie the Sweater Cat on the cover, I am donating a portion of my royalties to the cafe, so your purchase of the book (or should I say “purr-chase”… sorry, I blame the bad pun on not having had enough coffee this morning) will help feed, house, and provide medical care for multiple furry (and, currently, one not-furry) feline friends. If you want to help support the cafe or pay a visit, you can also check out their website.