Halloween is an important event in the O’Brien family.  Just read Destiny’s Gate starring Paige Maddison, teen heroine. Little did she know that moving to the O’Brien Manor, with her ailing grandfather and spunky grandmother, would open up a whole new world to her. Many worlds, in fact. It makes sense that author Lee Bice-Matheson is busy in the month of October. It all began with a Book Reading and Signing at the Orillia Public Library, hosted by Lindsay Toutant, and 3 lovely volunteers. While the turn-out was not as expected, the people who did attend made it a very memorable afternoon for the author. It was lovely to have an intimate gathering. The Q&A was wonderful and everyone had a chance to ask questions on what it’s like to be a writer, how to get published, and about the Paige Maddison Series, itself. Thank you for having me on October 17th, Friday, from 4-5:30 pm in the Teen Section.

Lindsey Toutant and 3 volunteers plus audience members that wanted to have a picture with Lee.

Delightful late afternoon event. Lee Bice-Matheson brought hors d’oeurvres and cupcakes Paige Maddison loves made by the Mariposa Market.

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Thank you for sharing this on Twitter @InspireTIBF

If you haven’t heard of TIBF, don’t worry. It’s the inaugural year for INSPIRE! TIBF. There will be more than 50,000 book lovers and authors in the North Building at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre,  Halls A & B. Imagine that! It was Rita Davies and John Calabro, both Executive Directors, who are behind this re-imagined book fair.  I am honoured to be included in such a festive event. And it’s just in time for Christmas shoppers! Yes, I have thought of that myself. I will be speaking on Saturday, November 15th, from 3 – 3:20 pm, onstage at The Hub Soapbox. I am suspecting the name ‘The Hub’ is from the word hubbub. It’s going to be a lively, action-packed space. I cannot wait to meet the readers and other authors and publishers. We are all getting ready to present our best to the public. Stop by The Hub H39 to my table and enter for a chance to win a

Drop by H39 in The Hub for a chance to win.

Kindle Fire 7 HD.  A very special thank you to our Publicist, Gilbert Zachary of Pro Book Marketing for contacting me about this Inaugural Event. And to the INSPIRE! team who coordinated my entry and events. Here they are:

Jesse is the Activations, Digital Creative Director. Great Help Jesse! Thank you so much. Lee

Maddy is the Executive Coordinator. Thank you kindly Maddy for all of your help.

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How great was it to return to my hometown of Sarnia for the first book signing for Destiny’s Gate? Awesome! I love to start each book tour with a visit to the charming Susan Chamberlain and her wonderful staff to kick off another novel in the Paige Maddison Series. It is co-authored with our son, J.R. Matheson. It was unfortunate J.R. was unable to attend from Montreal but we all understood…you know…university and all. 🙂 The book signing took place Saturday, September 20th, from 1 – 4 pm. Tables were in place and we brought along Sasha Grace and Blue Eyes! They are two characters from book one and two, respectively. I adorned the table with a blue sequin scarf across the beige tablecloth and spiders! Yes, spiders. I always ask the readers in attendance to autograph my Guest Book as a gift to me from the people who showed up. It was, after all, the last weekend of Summer! Many weddings, parties, and other events were taking place. You can imagine how pleased I was just under 100 people turned out. It was a hustle and a bustle in the store.

Destiny’s Gate is dedicated to Marion Waters, her deceased husband Wayne, and the Aamjinaang First Nation located south of Sarnia. In fact, if you are interested, pick up a copy and see why. I wanted to thank you Marion, publicly, for coming this day and accepting copies of Wake Me Up Inside and Destiny’s Gate as a thank you to all you have done for me. Also to your daughter, Kim, for accepting the books on behalf of the Band. It was so lovely to meet your daughters and your grandchildren. Kevin and I had heard about the members of your family from Wayne. It was nice to put a face to their stories. He loved you all so very much.

The first person to line up for a signature, was a young woman, named Katie. She told me she loved Wake Me Up Inside and was on Ch 14 in Destiny’s Gate. She had been waiting for this book signing since it was first announced. We had a lovely chat and Katie shared she is writing a novel. Best to you, Katie.

Something that changed for me from the Wake Me Up Inside book signing, to the Destiny’s Gate signing? People lined up further from the table and one by one each person approached. I had one-on-one time with each person in attendance. Everyone had a story to share about their lives and I was honoured they entrusted me with them.

So many talented authors come through The Book Keeper doors. Chris Hadfield’s on the board too!

On the counter of The Book Keeper. And on shelves. Fantastic!

And friend, Nancy. Thank you to all who came out to help celebrate the launch of Destiny’s Gate.

Lovely Marion and her family attended. This was taken after the dedication to Marion and her deceased husband, Wayne and the Band.

Thank you to all who came out from family, to friends, to new fans of the Paige Maddison Series.

Thank you Susan Chamberlain for hosting my second book signing at The Book Keeper, and to all of your staff for being so supportive. I’ve carried the energy and spirit from this day with me on my many public events that have been held since. This is priceless to me, indeed. #grateful

A special thank you to my sister Cindy for organizing the hors d-oeuvres for this event! They were very much appreciated by all! And a big thank you to both Cindy and Lynn for the Destiny’s Gate cake and beautiful flowers!

In the middle is store owner Susan Chamberlain and staff member.

Tasted as good as it looks. Thank you to my sisters.

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J.R. and I are pleased to announce our giveaway on Goodreads for our International friends who want to read about Paige Maddison’s journey. We’ve received a 5 star review on Amazon and are thrilled. It’s the first review since we released the book in August. Many readers email us and write they loved the novel. We would love it if  readers could post a review when they finish Destiny’s Gate. Whether it’s Google books, Goodreads, Amazon, your choice. We’d be truly grateful. Have a wonderful weekend Everyone! And Happy Thanksgiving to our Canadian family, friends and fans of Paige Maddison.

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In celebration of Halloween, here is an excerpt from Destiny’s Gate:       

                        CHAPTER ELEVEN

   Devil’s Night, Hallowfire  and Sam…what?

Exactly four nights before All Hallows’ Eve, I heard a voice
as I struggled to fall asleep. The voice was authoritative and
acknowledged that I was doing my protection prayers very
well. And that now was the time for me to start saying the
following prayer each night, and as many times throughout
the days ahead as I could, I am praying for the lost souls that
walk this earth to transition through the white light for the good
-ness of humankind. I answered back: Might I add — and for the
goodness of themselves? And the reply was: Of course. Without
hesitation, I prayed hard each night and day for the spirits
that walk this earth, lost souls, to join the spirits of the light.
On devil’s night, I tossed and turned in bed and could not
quieten my mind. I felt excitement in the air as energy
swirled around me. In fact, I had sensed the energy growing
in the past few days although I could not detect where it
was coming from. I was agitated to say the least. I tried to
focus on a centering thought, the moment when mom and I hugged on the stairwell leading down from the attic; the day she shared her favourite childhood memories of her hideaway and the porcelain dolls stored in the attic at O’Brien Manor.

Then my mind wandered back to our arrival at the estate.
Upon first glimpse of the grounds, I remembered a sensation
of mystery, mixed with glory and anticipation, in meeting my
grandparents and discovering my heritage at O’Brien Manor.
It seemed so very long ago. There was an air now of excited
energy whirling around my bedroom; it was so distracting, I
could not stand it any longer and bolted from my room to the
kitchen. I found grandpa seated at the breakfast nook staring
into space. Not wanting to scare him upon my approach, I
cleared my throat to announce he had company.
Grandpa jumped and demanded, “Paige, what are you
doing up at this time of night?”
“I might ask you the same thing? You haven’t been well,
grandpa. Does this mean you’re feeling better? Or is it
because your birthday’s tomorrow, on Halloween?” I smiled
broadly. “Hanna told me.”
Grandpa chuckled, “Well, I’m glad we have some alone
time. Come here and sit with me awhile.” He patted the
bench seat next to him and I hurriedly sat down. Grandpa
continued, “Not because of my birthday, Paige. I don’t like
to celebrate it. Chappy’s coming.” Grandpa looked at me
quizzically, then continued, “You know…nicky nicky nine
door? Samhainn?”
“Sam…what?” I responded, my left eyebrow arched.
“Oh, I should have guessed you wouldn’t know what that
is. Of course! It saddens me that through the estrangement
with your mom and grandma and I, our heritage was never
shared with you. My fault….” he said as his voice trailed off.
Grandpa snapped out of it and proceeded, “Samhainn is a
Gaelic word for the biggest of Celtic festivals. It was believed on the last day of the old Celtic calendar, when it grows dark at sunset, time is neither of the old year ending on Halloween
or the new year which starts November 1st. It is also a time
where interactions between humans and the spirit world, or
the Otherworld, are at their peak. Samhainn means hallow
tide or season, the feast of all-souls. The souls of the dead are
said to be free on the new day of the year called All Souls’ Day,
November 2nd..In Celtic history, November 1st was All Saints’
Day, celebrating all saints, and November 2nd was All Souls’
Day which involved praying for those souls stuck in purgatory
and asking for their release to Heaven. It was on this day
that my ancestors believed the sins of the evil dead could be
atoned for with gifts and sacrifices to the Otherworld. These
included offerings of food, religious rituals, and entertainment…
But on Samhainn many folks believed people were
highly influenced by forces of the Otherworld. Divination
was performed so predictions or omens of the future could
be achieved. Sacrifices were offered.” Grandpa stopped
talking and shivered, before carrying on. “Bonfires were built
atop hills to rejuvenate the sun and to guide the good spirits
on their journey and to banish the evil ones. Feasts were
prepared to feed their ancestors’ souls, to appease them, and
spells were sometimes invoked during this time. Afterwards,
people would wear scary masks they thought protected them
from evil but what also reflected the evil spirits milling about
in the darkness…the evil invisible to the naked eye. The
masks and costumes you see today have been passed down
from my Scottish ancestors, generation to generation. This
custom was called galoshans and children in Scotland had to
perform a song, a joke, or sometimes a card trick to receive
coins, apples or nuts. It eventually became known as the
Eve of all Hallows or All Saints and the more modern term
Hallowe’en. Anyway…that is why I am up tonight. I’m dreading
what may come tomorrow night.” Grandpa retrieved his hanky…

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Thank you so very much for the welcome reception of Destiny’s Gate, the second book in the Paige Maddison Series. J.R. and I are ecstatic to see this response. First day of sales it hit #15 top paid eBooks on iTunes?! A month later it’s #23 as tracked by App Annie who tracks over 2 million eBooks.  This is fantastic news. What shocked J.R. and I most? The first book in the series hit #14 top paid eBooks, two weeks ago, and is now at #36. Well, Paige Maddison is happy to know that she is a welcome figure in the world of the readers.

We have been grateful for all of the support from many bloggers, such as Lillian Brummet’s Conscious Blog Discussions, to the Urban Paranormal Book Blog who hosted our contest, and Laurie’s Thoughts and Reviews on the Paranormal. Thank you for allowing us to share information about Destiny’s Gate.

Isn’t it great Goodreads allow authors to run Giveaways on their site? We have two going: one for Canadians and the other for Americans. Don’t worry, more contests in many other countries will follow.

Many thanks to CK Webb and DJ Weaver for having me on their BlogTalkRadio Reading Room show!! There was a very warm and happy welcome from these two authors of the Innocents Series. I cannot wait for the release of their third book!! In fact, we had so much fun, they asked me back with J.R. Let’s hope the stars align and this will happen. It’s hard to catch J.R. while at McGill finishing his fourth year.

We are also looking forward to Saturday, September 20th at The Book Keeper. J.R. and I will return home for our first ever joint book signing. What a dream come true for a Mom with her son. Our family is grateful for this opportunity, once again.

There are so many more events coming up and I will add to this blog post over time with full details. For today, I have happy tears for all of the success Destiny’s Gate is experiencing.  J.R. and I are over the moon. Thank you kindly to all of the supporters of Paige Maddison and the authors.

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Readers please leave your name and email address when you subscribe to our blog and you are automatically entered to win a copy of Wake Me Up Inside, Book One in the Paige Maddison Series. Two paperbacks and 5 ebooks will be awarded randomly. Thank you and good luck! Thank you Dee Vah of The Urban Paranormal Book Blog, for hosting  a giveaway for the second book in the Paige Maddison Series, Destiny’s Gate, written by Lee Bice-Matheson and J.R. Matheson. Soon to be released, September 5, 2014. 

Book One, Paige Maddison Series by Lee Bice-Matheson

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As an author, it is highly advisable to find your toughest reviewer and send them your galley (final copy of the novel before it goes to print) and ask them to read and review it. It is not my intention to release a book that readers will find unenjoyable, not grammatically correct, or just dull and boring. So, this being said, I found my critic from the first book I released called Wake Me Up Inside. This is what she wrote about Destiny’s Gate, soon to be released in September, 2014:

Well I must say that your new book kept me well entertained on the cold and rainy days at the cottage, thank you! Another winner on your hands and I am sure that this one will far out pace your original book. I actually took up a James Patterson with me BUT didn’t open it; that’s a first so you know that your book was better than “good.” Congratulations, here’s hoping your readers can sleep at night! L.S.

J.R. and I thank you, thank you for this wonderful, heartfelt review, L.S.

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It’s finally here! The August 1st long weekend and aren’t we all excited to host a barbecue, karaoke party, dinner with our favourite summer salads from potato to coleslaw! Woohooo. Swimming will be at its best this holiday weekend. Enjoy it everyone. J.R. and I are anticipating the debut of our first novel written together, Destiny’s Gate. We can hardly wait for reader reactions. It will definitely be a catalyst to many conversations among friends and family members on the topics of ghosts, spirituality, afterlife, paranormal, coming of age as a teen, friendships and relationships. We wish you all the best. Come join us on Saturday, September 6th for our book launch. Thank you to all who support the Paige Maddison Series. Don’t forget to slip off and read a good book! 🙂 Wake Me Up Inside

Ghostly Gatherings was a success as each teen thanked us and said they enjoyed it through-out the night. Fantastic group of kids.

the first book in the series is available online.

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