Just in time for Christmas, my paranormal novel, The Alchemist’s Bride will be be free to download on Kindle Dec. 11-15. The world’s been a rocky place lately, so consider it an early Christmas gift. I hope you enjoy, and I wish everyone a happy holiday. And as always, peace to everyone.
The Alchemist’s Bride
Enter the mystical world of 1883 historic New Orleans.
From a young age, Emmeline Lescale has been raised as an outsider by her aunt’s family on the lavish estate of Belle Coeur in Vacherie, Louisiana. Ostensibly an orphan, she is treated as an unpaid servant. But in her twenty-fifth year, with her eyes on a dismal future, something radically changes.
Her father, a renowned physician who has ignored her existence most of her life, suddenly insists that she come to live with him. And New Orleans in the 1880s seems like no place for a proper young lady, especially when her father is embroiled with a mysterious young doctor whose interests venture deeply and dangerously into the world of the supernatural.
Jack Fallon, the protege of Emmeline’s father, lives a life filled with secrets. His home, deep in the French Quarter on Bienville Street, is much more than meets the eye. And before too long, he draws Emma into the crosshairs of an existence that questions the nature of reality itself.
Well, as I am now finally in the last edits for The Alchemist’s Bride, I wanted to share a few things. I have a cover for the new book and have also released a teaser video on YouTube. I hope you check it out and drop by my YouTube channel, Evelyn Klebert’s Tales of the Paranormal, to see what I’m up to over there. And when you do, please like and subscribe. The support means a lot. I hope you enjoy. 🙂
The Alchemist’s Bride
Enter the mystical world of 1883 historic New Orleans.
Emmeline Lescale might as well be an orphan. Her mother is dead, and her father wants nothing to do with her. She has been raised by an aunt in Vacherie, LA and virtually treated as an unpaid servant. But suddenly, her neglectful father insists she come live with him. New Orleans in the 1880’s is no place for a proper young lady, especially when her father is embroiled with a mysterious young doctor whose interests venture deeply and dangerously into the world of the supernatural.
This summer, I’ve been intensely involved in deep edits for my novel The Alchemist’s Bride. This book, entirely set in turn-of-the-century New Orleans, has afforded me the opportunity to dig around in New Orleans’ illustrious past. And finding a few historical nuggets that I had no idea existed previously.
As this book touches on some metaphysical concepts, such as astral projection, alternate planes of existence, and mesmerism, it was of great value to me to discover that a group formed back in the 1850s, composed predominantly of French-speaking citizens, studied mesmerism, drawing from the renowned work of Franz Mesmer. They were called The Société du Magnétisme de la Nouvelle-Orléans or The Society of Magnestism of New Orleans. During its existence, its membership included doctors, attorneys, and brokers.
“The Société du Magnétisme de la Nouvelle-Orléans was the largest, most active, and most enduring American mesmeric (hypnotic) organization of its day.
This important group was officially established in 1845 and was in existence until the time of the Civil War. French influence upon the early course of development of hypnosis in America was significant in New Orleans, and also New England. The New Orleans Society’s transactions were published in a Paris-based French-language periodical, Journal du Magnétisme, the constitution was published in the 1847 volume.
Rules of the New Orleans Society of Magnetism
The study of magnetic phenomena and research into their origins, as well as the most appropriate procedures for bringing them about. The dissemination of magnetism by informing the world of the universal means of healing and preservation that nature has given to each of us. The therapeutic application of human magnetism to the treatment of diseases. To reach that goal, the New Orleans Society of Magnetism, founded on the 9th of April 1845, established …
The New Orleans group dissolved probably because of the blockade of the South which disrupted contact with France and other difficulties occasioned by the conflict. … No hypnosis organization of consequence subsequently appeared on the American scene until nearly a century later when the Society for Clinical and Experiment Hypnosis was founded in 1949.”
Gravitz, M.A., Gerton, M.I. (1986) The Société du Magnétisme de la Nouvelle-Orléans: its place in the early history of hypnosis in America. International Journal of Psychosomatics. 33(4):11-4.
It is no secret, or perhaps in our present-day society it is, that the Spiritualism movement, which took root overseas in the early nineteenth century, also gained a foothold in New Orleans, attracting considerable study in the realm of esoteric arts. It seems that the lost Society of Magnetism may have also been part of that wave.
There is no question that there are still treasures in the past and knowledge that may require a bit of rediscovery.
I am very excited to announce that my new book, The Story of Enid: Vol. 2 of The Clandestine Exploits of a Werewolf, will be released at the beginning of July. And just as a little teaser, I am posting an excerpt from the book. I hope you enjoy. 🙂
The Story of Enid
What happens when your one true love reincarnates, and you just happen to be a werewolf?
Ethan Garraint is an old soul. He has been alive for hundreds of years, battling countless challenges and foes along the way. Not the least of which was living through the genocide of the Cathar people at Montsegur, a society that wholly embraced him despite his lycanthropic nature. But in Volume 2 of The Clandestine Exploits of a Werewolf, he faces a dilemma that brings his past and present full circle, merging them both.
In The Story of Enid, the sequel to The Broken Vow
Long ago, before he was Ethan Garraint, before the Cathars, before he became a werewolf, he was a man living in a land where enchantment ruled. He was a Knight known as Geraint who served a King. And it was then that he met the one woman who would own his heart.
“There was someone for you once.”
“Yes, a long time ago.”
“Someone very special to you that, I think, perhaps you still mourn.”
“She was my wife.”
“And she left you.”
“Not of her free will, but yes, most do.”
When one realizes that a long-lost soulmate has been reincarnated, it poses some complications. When you have been a werewolf for nearly a millennium, the complications explode exponentially. Ethan Garraint understands that he should stay far away from Erin Holt, but she is in his city, New Orleans, and possibly in danger. And the truth is, he doesn’t want to stay away. He only wants to remind her of the lifetime they lived long ago, when they were more than lovers, when they became legend.
Excerpt:
She stood across the room from him, face pale, greenish-brown eyes wide and unmistakably filled with fear, but fear of what exactly he could not discern at the moment.
“Erin.” Ethan stood up. Nearly imperceivably, and, no doubt, only caught by him because he was watching her so closely, she stepped backward a fraction of an inch. Ah, it was clear that she was fearful of him for some reason. Cautiously, he moved around the desk. She held her ground, though, still watching him with those enormous eyes filled with shadows. Once he reached her, he couldn’t stop himself from gently placing his hands on her arms. “What’s happened?”
She was breathing deeply. He could feel the rhythm in his skin, his blood. Strange how he was so connected to someone whose real flesh-and-blood company he’d actually spent so little time in. But then again, this was a spiritual connection, a fact that Brother Guidrade had so repeatedly drummed into his head. It defied logical sensibilities. It simply was.
And then she closed her eyes, sighing deeply and slumping forward a bit so that her head was resting on his chest in what he could only describe as emotional exhaustion. “It’s going to sound ridiculous.”
He pulled her closer into his arms, stroking her lovely auburn hair that he’d become so fond of. “Ridiculous things can have their moment,” then he added, “Tell me, Erin.” However, admittedly, he had that pesky precognitive sense that he already knew.
“It was a dream but a very realistic one,” again, a deep sigh that he was not comfortable with. The thought that their entanglement had become so burdensome to her weighed on him considerably.
She pulled her head up and looked into his eyes in a way that startled him, not fearful now, not tired, but seeking deeply. “You were in it.”
He let his hands drop. Why, he couldn’t say. Perhaps he was a coward. Maybe he’d idyllically hoped they could spend these few days together unencumbered by the truth. “And?” he said because he had no choice.
“There was something with you in the dream, a creature. Well, actually a kind of wolf.”
He bravely held her gaze, though now he understood her initial fear. “I see.”
“You said it was your constant companion.”
And then he smiled. He couldn’t help it. What a benign thing for him to say. “Well, what do you think, Erin?”
She looked confused, “What do I think?”
He stepped backward, leaning against the desk but still watching her closely. “Yes, sorry, what do you feel might be a better question.”
She crossed her arms in front of her. Though he had an inkling, she had no idea she’d done so. “I-I don’t know. It was just a dream. It doesn’t mean anything.”
He watched her closely, feeling the jagged nuances of what she was wrestling with. Her modern sensibilities told her to ignore what her genuine innate senses were telling her. It was somewhat painful to witness how the mores of a world determined to ignore the old ways ostensibly split its inhabitants apart. “Erin,” he spoke softly so as not to further agitate her. “I need you to stop and take a moment. Try to forget what you think you should say, and use your senses, your inner self. And tell me what you truly feel.”
Her eyes widened a bit in confusion. He felt the battle within her. When she was younger, when she had no sight, she was not under such scrutiny, such pressure to suppress her very real and tangible gifts. But once she gained her sight, she was forced or perhaps even forced herself to quickly conform to a world that gave no credence to such abilities. Essentially, she had buried part of herself.
“I-I don’t know.”
He frowned because that was not at all what he felt. She did indeed know but was afraid to say. He reached out and grabbed one of her hands, pulling her closer to him. “It’s all right,” he murmured. “You know, I was foolish to believe it would take a backseat and remain hidden from you.”
Hesitantly, she spoke, “It? What does that mean?”
“Dreams, you know, aren’t meaningless. The spirit within us takes flight in dreams, leaves behind our earthly form, and explores other dimensions and realities, revealing truths we cannot easily reach in the physical world.”
“Ethan, you’re scaring me.”
“You don’t have to be afraid, Erin. You just have to open your mind to other possibilities.” And then he squeezed the hand that he held in his own. “Now, tell me, my dearest one. What do you feel?”
She looked at him almost sadly, and it pierced his heart deeply in a way that he had not thought was still possible. How was it that she could so easily reach him when others were wholly incapable of breaching the ice built up around his emotions through centuries of his protracted existence? “You hold the key to each other, one that is unique and cannot be denied.” They were words from the Cathar Master, still so poignant and relevant now.
“I,” she stopped herself, so frightened of letting go.
And then he took the other hand in his, perhaps to give her strength, perhaps to provide him with some. “Yes,” he said softly.
“It’s real,” she murmured.
“Yes,” he repeated. He wasn’t looking at her. He was looking at those lovely, gentle hands he held clasped in his own.
“How can that be?”
And then he looked up into her beautiful eyes that seemed in this moment as though they would engulf him. “Well, it happened long ago when the world was still filled with magic and demons. Although it still is, though much better hidden, one might say.”
She shook her head, “I don’t understand.”
And then he laughed at the twisted sort of perversity of the moment. How did one deliver the news to his lover that he was not a man but a sort of devil? “I am a werewolf, Erin. It’s that simple.”
And then there was something else in her eyes, a fire that he remembered from long ago and was very glad to see in some respects. Very deliberately, she pulled her hands out of his grasp. At this moment, he realized this would be much more complicated than he had anticipated. “Ethan, that’s simply impossible.”
She realized, granted not for the first time, how she despised feeling as though she was not in control of things in her life, not in control of her decisions. It was a scar, she supposed, from that huge expanse of time when it felt like everyone else in the world was making decisions for her. That very frustration prompted her to get on that plane from Arkansas and come here alone to New Orleans. And that frustration was now pushing her to whole-heartedly reject this preposterous assertion that the man in front of her had just made.
Werewolf, indeed, did he think she was so naïve to swallow any ridiculous thing he might throw her way? Did he think she was so swept up in this romantic spell, this fog she’d seemed to be operating under, and simply embrace any laughable delusion he decided to feed her?
She didn’t stop to think that it indeed had been her dream.
She didn’t stop to think that the memories she’d recovered about their relationship before she regained her sight were in her head, her mind.
She was frustrated and, in a rage, born of a life that had left her largely powerless.
He hadn’t said anything. He was just looking at her, still casually leaning back against his desk. It reminded her of the first time she’d seen him in the French Quarter, watching her from across the street, with no expression, just waiting, waiting for what she couldn’t imagine.
“Aren’t you going to say anything?”
“What would you like me to say?” he responded rather flatly.
It felt a bit like a punch. She wasn’t at all sure what she’d expected but not this. “You do understand how ridiculous that sounds. Werewolves? They’re imaginary, made-up stories.”
“Old stories from long ago.”
“Yes,” she said a little shakily. It felt like she was losing ground, though she didn’t know why.
“Where do you think those stories come from? Those old legends?”
“So, I suppose you’re going to tell me vampires exist as well.”
“I spent a good amount of time with one when I was a priest at Chartres Cathedral in France.”
She took a quick breath that felt oddly painful. “What? When?”
He stood up straight but did not walk forward even an inch toward her. “It was around 1350.”
“1350? Do you really expect me to believe—” Then she stopped, almost choking on the words.
“Do I expect you to believe me? Evidently not, though I assure you that it is wholly and sadly the truth.”
“I-I can’t just accept this. I—” And then she felt the room begin to spin, actually quite purposefully spin all around her in a cataclysmic motion.
It made her feel sick. It made her want to drop to her knees, but somehow, somehow, she didn’t.
When it finally, thankfully, stopped, she was somewhere else. She was in another room, a cold room made of stone.
A Quiet Moment has just been released as an audiobook on Audible. It’s been quite a journey to bring this book into the audio format. I remember so long ago when I first began writing the novel, I didn’t really have a plan. I just wrote a paragraph about a man coming out of a wintry storm into a bookstore. That paragraph sat on my computer for about a year until one day I was looking for inspiration to write, and I found it again. It wasn’t unusual for me to start something or just have pieces of it and pick it up at a later date.
Well, the second time around this story took fire and after a while took shape as well. It’s a love story that’s very special to me, and I am so happy to be able to share it now in audiobook form. I do hope you check it out.
Jacob Wyss is caught in a rut, in fact on the verge of being engulfed by it. After an excruciating and disillusioning divorce, his life as an artist in a sleepy college town at the foot of the Appalachian mountains has become quiet, routine, and maddening in its predictability. One wintry day, his deep restlessness drives him out in precarious conditions to a largely empty bookstore nearly devoid of another living soul, nearly.
Aimee Marston isn’t like everyone else. On the surface, she lives a sedate life working as a feature writer for a small local newspaper in addition to several other editorial jobs to help make ends meet. But just beneath, her existence is largely not her own. She is a sensitive, an empathic psychic, guided by her calling to use her gifts to help others. Unfortunately, as a result, her secretiveness has made her defensive and protective of herself, preventing her from having much of a life of her own.
A psychic call for help sends Aimee out on a freezing January morning, where her destiny and Jacob’s collide, sending both their lives spiraling onto an unexpected and often disturbing track. Two lonely souls connect, not by accident but by design. Theirs is the intersection of two spiritual paths, two lovers who must struggle to overcome the phantoms of a past life as well as the challenges of their inner demons to carve out an extraordinary future together.
Well, I’m excited to report that the A Quiet Moment audiobook is now in the hands of Audible and should be released later this month. This has been an intense and somewhat challenging project for me and strangely bittersweet at its conclusion. It was quite an experience revisiting these characters and bringing them to life again in the audio format. While all the books I’ve written are special to me in different ways, this is unquestionably one of my favorites.
I hope you take some time to check it out in either book, eBook, or soon to be Audio format. I am linking a new YouTube video that I created down below. All the best.
A Quiet Moment
Jacob Wyss is caught in a rut, in fact on the verge of being engulfed by it. After an excruciating and disillusioning divorce, his life as an artist in a sleepy college town at the foot of the Appalachian mountains has become quiet, routine, and maddening in its predictability. One wintry day, his deep restlessness drives him out in precarious conditions to a largely empty bookstore nearly devoid of another living soul, nearly.
Aimee Marston isn’t like everyone else. On the surface, she lives a sedate life working as a feature writer for a small local newspaper in addition to several other editorial jobs to help make ends meet. But just beneath, her existence is largely not her own. She is a sensitive, an empathic psychic, guided by her calling to use her gifts to help others. Unfortunately, as a result, her secretiveness has made her defensive and protective of herself, preventing her from having much of a life of her own.
A psychic call for help sends Aimee out on a freezing January morning, where her destiny and Jacob’s collide, sending both their lives spiraling onto an unexpected and often disturbing track. Two lonely souls connect, not by accident but by design. Theirs is the intersection of two spiritual paths, two lovers who must struggle to overcome the phantoms of a past life as well as the challenges of their inner demons to carve out an extraordinary future together.
I wanted to share some of my new videos from my YouTube channel, Evelyn Klebert’s Tales of the Paranormal. I’m new to this YouTube biz but will be adding new content along the way. I hope you will drop by YouTube and check out my channel. And if you feel inclined, subscribe to it. So, I do hope you enjoy.
My brand new eBook collection, The Journey of the Adept, is now available on Kindle and at most other online eBook platforms. This compilation contains some of my newest paranormal novels, including The Lady in the Blue Dress, Dumaine Street, and The Tethering: A Portent of Crows. And right now, it’s on sale for $4.99!!
For the adept, the world is a different, more challenging place, and the unseen, the supernatural, is laid bare. Follow three fascinating heroines on their transformative journeys in this collection of paranormal novels by Evelyn Klebert.
The Lady in the Blue Dress When she was a child, Mika Devalieur was introduced to her grandmother’s most precious possession — a priceless and mysterious painting that she simply called The Lady in the Blue Dress. Upon Adele St. Clair’s death, the painting is left in the care of her granddaughter with only one stipulation. Mika must hand over the family heirloom to a total stranger. Mika Devalieur desperately wants to deny her beloved grandmother’s last request, but she can’t. Torn between her Gran’s last wishes and her desire to hold onto the Lady, she ultimately journeys to rural Virginia, where an enigmatic man shows her that this painting is only the beginning.
What quickly becomes clear is that James Clairmont knows much more about her and the Lady than he is letting on. He begins to slowly unravel a powerful supernatural connection that spans three generations of her family. Mika finds herself desperate to uncover the entire truth before she falls in love with a man filled with so many secrets — secrets about him, about her, and most especially about The Lady in the Blue Dress.
Dumaine Street A New Orleans paranormal and psychic romance.
Voices in her head, catastrophic emotions, hallucinations — Rebecca Wells is more than convinced that she is losing her mind. And as a last-ditch effort, she contacts a self-professed counselor who seems convinced he can help.
Gabriel Sutton has abandoned the world of medicine to navigate a realm filled with psychic phenomena. Diagnosing Becca with extreme empathic abilities, he struggles to help her stabilize her gifts while trying desperately not to fall in love with his patient.
From the realm of vulnerability into a crusade to use their profound gifts to rescue others from peril on the other side of death, these two follow an astonishing and unpredictable path into each other’s hearts.
The Tethering: A Portent of Crows Deborah Brandt’s beloved Aunt Gena always told her that she was special, a bit different, and would have to live her life, unlike other people. Of course, this she disregarded as the ramblings of her lovely but notably eccentric aunt. Although there were the things that Aunt Gena said that seemed true — like Deborah being sensitive to energy shifts, having potentially psychic impressions, and dreaming of a spirit guide — none of it could be real. But the most ridiculous thing that her Aunt Gena told her before she died was that someone special was out there for her. She said that he was an extraordinary man who was not only her perfect match but someone who she would learn from so that they could help the world in difficult times. How ridiculous! It sounds like a fairy tale, and no such person exists.
Daniel Wren is unique. He has been raised and trained from a young age to hone his psychic gifts. He lives in a world unimagined by most. And he has been waiting for years to contact his counterpart, soulmate, if you will. But the problem is that she is painfully unaware of the type of life that he lives and the life she would be entering into if they came together.
His dilemma becomes how best to proceed. How can he win her over and move forward before outside forces take that decision away from him?
With 2024 almost in the rearview mirror, I thought I’d share a little bit of what is on the horizon, at least in my world, for next year.
Releasing Sanctuary of Echoes this year as an audiobook was definitely a pinnacle for me, given its personal significance in my writing career. Having finally gotten Sanctuary, all sixty chapters of it, published as an audiobook I got the bug to bring some of my other works to the audiobook format as well. Currently, I am working on A Quiet Moment which should be released sometime early in the year. And hopefully, following will be several other books that have been patiently waiting their turn.
On another front, as announced a few months ago, Amazon discontinued their Kindle Vella platform. This left me with several projects in limbo. Currently, I am doing deep edits on “The Alchemist Bride,” with eyes on releasing this former Vella as a novel by early Spring. The story is a metaphysical romance set in turn-of-the-century New Orleans. I am working hard to incorporate elements of the Spiritualism movement that took the country and New Orleans itself by storm at that time.
Following that I will be working on several sequels, one to The Tethering, one to The Broken Vow, and the fourth book in the New Orleans Paranormal Mystery series.
And for those of you looking for something to read right now, all three of my eBook collections: The Mystic’s Collection; Ghosts, Witches, and Werewolves; and New Orleans Paranormal Mystery Collection are on sale for $4.99 through the New Year at most eBook online retail platforms.
So, wrapping things up, I do truly wish you all peace through the rest of the holiday season and all the best for the coming year.
Evelyn Klebert 