I'm very happy that NIGHTMARES CAN BE MURDER, the first in the new Dream Club Mysteries is available for pre-order right now!! Release date is September 2, 2014. Want the inside scoop on Nightmares? Business consultant Taylor Blake has returned to Savannah, Georgia, to help her sister Allison turn her dream of running an old-fashioned candy store into a reality. Allison is also interested in dream interpretation and invites Taylor to her Friday night Dream Club, where members meet once a week to share and analyze their dreams.
When a local dance instructor, Chico Hernandez, is found dead in his studio, and the murder scene has an eerie resemblance to one of the dreams shared at their meeting, Taylor can't help but be intrigued. And when her sister, who was briefly involved with the dance teacher, becomes the prime suspect, Taylor and their fellow club members can't be caught napping. It's up to them to dream up a solution to the murder before Allison faces a real-life nightmare
I wrote a little companion guide to the series called DREAM INTERPRETATION, a psychologist's guide, that you might find helpful.What are your dreams trying to tell you? Do you ever dream of being stranded in a strange city in the dead of night, along and afraid? Do you dream of wandering through a beautiful house and discovering hidden rooms filled with treasures? Do you ever dream of loved ones who have passed? Dreams are our passport to our unconscious mind and this brief guide will help you unlock their secrets.
Hope you will visit me at www.marykennedy.net and see what other exciting projects are going on. I'm re-printing my Penguin teen novels with new covers and new titles, GOLDEN GIRL, SECRETS and MOVIE STAR and they'll be up soon. Love to hear from my readers, you can find me on FB, Twitter and LinkedIn. And I blog on The Cozy Chicks (a group of 7 cozy mystery writers) every Saturday. www.cozychicks.com. Happy reading! Mary Kennedy
You can pre-order Nightmares can be Murder here:
Hi Shelley, thank you so much for featuring Nightmares can be Murder--I hope readers enjoy analyzing dreams as much as I do! And the Savannah ladies in my series just love to uncover clues in their dreams that will help them solve a murder. (so far, they have solved 4 murders!) If anyone has any dream questions, I'll be happy to try and answer them. Totally unscientific and all in fun, of course!
ReplyDeleteHi Mary, It's Peg here. I do have a dream question. I have a recurring dream that I am out away from home doing whatever--shopping, etc., and I need to us a ladies room but I can't find one with a clean toilet! All the toilets are clogged or backed up. Yuck! I have this dream over and over. Does it mean anything?
ReplyDeleteSometimes it means you REALLY do need to use the ladies' room and it's nature's way of waking you up to get out of bed and go. Seriously. But the fact that all the toilets are clogged or awful, puts this in the character of an "anxiety dream" (in the sense that you are faced with an obstacle you have to overcome.). But as a writer, I know you are up to the task! The life of a writer is filled with daily obstacles and seemingly insurmountable hurdles! Thanks for stopping by...:-)
ReplyDeleteI'll remember having dreams when I wake up but not remember what they were about.
ReplyDeleteSandy, sometimes the dream comes back to you the next day. You see or hear something that triggers it, a sight, a sound etc. If you wake up during the night, it's fun to keep a "dream diary" by your bed and jot down a few words.
DeleteI think I may need therapy concerning my dreams. I have dreams about flying to escape danger and sometimes to show off. I also have nightmares about someone trying to hurt me. I have a gun, pull the trigger, and then the bullet falls to the floor. Or I run into a room shut the door to hide from intruders only to find the door is too small for the door frame. There are more but you may think I'm truly crazy. Anyway, can't wait to read your book. BTW, I do have happy dreams not just bad ones.
ReplyDeleteHI Mary Anne, don't worry, you're not crazy! Just remember that nothing we do in dreams is "real." We can let our imagination fly and think of all the interesting your brain can come up with. You might be dreaming of murder and guns because you watch a lot of crime shows? (just guessing here, maybe you don't). And the dreams about being threatened by intruders is an "anxiety" dream--it usually means that you are under stress in some area of your life (could be a relationship, or job problems, or money concerns, etc etc). In real life, you might feel overwhelmed or threatened by these concerns and your brain creates a "story" to address you concerns. So instead of being threatened by the loss of your job, you're threatened by intruders. And your escape route is blocked off (the door in your dream is too small to fit through). It might reassure you to know that all the dream scenarios you describe are actually very typical, very common. Hope you get some good rest with no more nightmares. The best "cure" for nightmares is to take 45 minutes before you go to bed and just "unwind." Totally relax...a hot bath, listening to music, etc. See if this helps...thanks for stopping by!
DeleteI dream all the time and they are never scary. Lots of times I seem to be going someplace. I never seem to park the car though. LOL I can't think of any specific one now but they are usually funny when I do think about them. My friend said some of them would make a good book.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you have pleasant dreams, Diane. Dreams are really fascinating. Some dreams relate to specific concerns (like the ones Mary Anne described above) but some just revolve around the "residue of the day," and relate to all the little things that have happened to you during the day. The brain is always working, always "processing" information, even when we sleep. Thanks for stopping by!
DeleteI had a dream it snower last night but that is probably from our cold weather up north!!! I tend to dream about things I'm thinking about before bed.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your new book Mary. I can't wait to get a copy for my shelves.
HI Anna, yes, a lot of my clients report that their dreams seem to revolve around things they think about right before they go to sleep. That's why it's really important to take some time to unwind and relax before you go to bed. You want to go to sleep in a peaceful frame of mind. Thanks for stopping by!
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The night before last I had the weirdest nightmare. I was listening to a Schmaltz Opera featuring Barry Manilow. And I'm not talking young Barry--I'm talking old-falling-apart-Barry. The lyrics sung to a girl about twelve on stage:
ReplyDeleteHello Mommy/Hello Daddy/This is Caroline/My Intended/You don't like her/I'm sorry
Rising emotive strings in the background and I am STUCK there. UGH
Hi Rebecca, this is a tough one! Whenever I think of Barry Manilow I think of that song about the Copacabana! I wonder what made you think of that, it's interesting. It always amazes me that the brain stores things in "files" and we never know what is going to pop up! Thanks for stopping by.
DeleteWould love to read this! I do have dreams about animal totems and I have been known to tap into someone else's dream through intuition without realizing it.
ReplyDeleteMargie, one of the characters in the Dream Club, Sybil Powers, is a "dream-hopper." Everyone envies because she has the rare gift of hopping into other people's dreams!! That is wild, you are the first person who has mentioned this. Thanks for stopping by!
DeleteI hate whenI'm dreaming in story form and get woken up! You never get back into it. I dream about falling into empty space, waking up clutching pillow or bed. I am sure it's because I am terrrified of heights. will be very interesting to read a series like this.
ReplyDeleteSome people actually do manage to wake up and then return to their dream state. And they pick up the dream right where they left off! This doesn't always happen, though. Sometimes it depends on where in the dream cycle (the REM sleep) you are when you wake up. Thanks for stopping by!
DeleteI dream all the time. Some of my worst ones involve my dogs running loose and me trying to find them. I have and show Schipperkes and they are notorious for being runners if they get loose.
ReplyDeleteHi Marlene, I have the same dream about my 8 cats! In my dreams, I've always taken the cats to an unfamiliar place, it's late at night and they are all scattered everywhere. It could be that you are under stress, you might fear "losing" something (a job, a relationship, finances, etc) or it could be that you feel you are not up to a certain task, in real life. Hope these nightmares go away! Thanks for stopping by!
DeleteI had a dream recently that involved my parents who died 12 years ago, approx. 6 months apart. They were with me and I was a little younger than I am now but not a child. When I woke from the dream I felt confused.
ReplyDeleteHi Robin, usually dreams like that are comforting and come in a time in your life when you need to feel the warmth and love of a family. All of long occasionally for our childhood, when we experienced unconditional love, a sense of being safe, and a sort of freedom from every day cares. Usually we have these dreams when we wish we could return to a happier, less troubled time. Hope this helps, thanks for stopping by!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like such a wonderful book - I placed it on my wish list as soon as I heard about it. :) Dreams are so interesting to read about and to learn about.
ReplyDeletebrookeb811 at gmail dot com
HI Brooke, I'm surprised and happy at how many people are interested in talking about dreams. They are constantly fascinating...thanks for stopping by.
Deletemy dreams always start out where I'm IN the dream, then it'll shift to where I'm WATCHING the dream, like a movie..........
ReplyDeleteI also tend to dream sequels, but I won't be aware of the 1st dream, until I dream the sequel......then once I remember them, the dream doesn't continue anymore..........