At the age of eight,
Arista Kelly was frantically swept up by her parents and whisked off to an
isolated town in the California redwoods. Two days later, her parents were
gone. Now at the age of twenty-three, she has settled quite nicely into an
eclectic lifestyle, much like her great aunt, and guardian since childhood,
Bethie. She enjoys the use of herbs and crystals to help her commune with the
energy and nature around her and finds pleasure in the company of her beloved
pet, Royal. Usually quite satisfied with her mundane life high in the Santa
Cruz Mountains, life becomes unsettling when a new recurring vision of an
ominous tattoo as well as increased activity from the ghostly presence within
her own cottage invade her once-harmonious existence. But life in this mountain
sanctuary takes an even darker turn when the body of Arista's former classmate
is found in the nearby river. As other young women fall prey to a suspected
serial killer, Arista realizes that the terror is coming to her.
Purchase a copy of Murder
Under Redwood Moon
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Under-Redwood-Moon-Paranormal/dp/1685133886
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/murder-under-redwood-moon-sherri-l-dodd/
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https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/206022905-murder-under-redwood-moon
What is Magick Realism?
Google makes defining magick realism on paper quite easy. You take the
first part – magick – and realize that adding a ‘k’ to the word known for black
silk hats containing plush white bunnies makes it into a reference toward
occult or spiritual practice. The second word – realism – is accepting a
situation as it is and being prepared to deal with it.
“Did you say occult?” you may ask in a recoil, with either
your heartrate picking up or your mind shutting down further discussion. I do
not blame you. The occult has long been associated with demons and black
magick. But it also consists of fun pastimes like astrology or tarot readings
when you feel that random urge to meet with a mystical woman to find out about
the promotion you applied for. Come Monday, all is confirmed by your generous
manager. These readings are even more fun when they involve your love life, as
a friend of mine found out when she visited a reputable seer. Feeling unwanted
after her recent breakup, she was pleased to discover that she would soon meet
her future husband and was given his profession and initials. About three
months later, her and I are enjoying the late-eighties downtown dance scene
when she totally hits it off with a random guy. By the end of the night, she
realized that while it was not quite the profession as she had envisioned it,
his career matched, as did one initial. By the next week, she found their
astrology signs paired well, too. While the details were intriguing it was the
actual chemistry that led to their engagement the following year. Only then did
she realize his surname before adoption matched the missing initial. The seer’s
premonition, complete.
Magick realism is also rooted in contact with deceased loved ones.
My favorite magickal moment happened on what would have been my revered
grandmother’s hundredth birthday. Late-afternoon, I ‘told’ her how much I
missed her and asked for a sign that she heard me. Not expecting the ‘response’
anytime soon, I donned a swimsuit and soaked in the hot tub with my husband.
With no rain in the forecast, due to it being out of season and a drought,
within thirty minutes of my request, a small shower trickled down upon us from
a passing cloud, complete with that fresh natural scent. My grandmother loved
rain as much as I, so it was easy for me to see the magick realism of the
moment. Further, we watched the small cloud slowly dissipate as it drifted from
our vicinity, giving no one else the experience.
For me, magick realism is seeing the world beyond the mundane.
Sure, we can explain away most things with dry, grounded, and scientific
reasoning. But why? When there is happenstance, so flukey, that you scratch
your head with a scrutinizing suspicion, why lose out on a chance for a novel
experience? Yes, keep one foot on the ground, as you do not want to end up being
a regular in the evaluation ward, but to work on rekindling that fantastical
perspective you had as a child can bring a richness to your life that makes it
just a little bit brighter.
About the Author, Sherri
Dodd
Sherri was raised in southeast Texas. Walking barefoot
most days and catching crawdads as they swam the creek beds, she had a love for
all things free and natural. Her childhood ran rampant with talk of ghosts,
demons, and backcountry folklore. This inspired her first short story for sale
about a poisonous flower that shot toxins onto children as they smelled it. Her
classmate bought it for all the change in his pocket. It was not long after
that her mother packed the two of them up and headed to the central coast of
California. She has ping-ponged throughout the area ever since.
Her first real step into writing was the non-fiction
fitness book, Mom Looks Great – The Fitness Program for Moms published in 2005,
and maintaining its accompanying blog. Now, transmuting the grief of her
father's passing, she has branched into Fiction, specifically the genre of
Paranormal Thriller with generous dashes of Magick Realism! Her Murder, Tea
& Crystals Trilogy released book one - Murder Under Redwood Moon - in March
2024. Book two - Moonset on Desert Sands - released in March 2025, and the final
book in the series – Hummingbird Moonrise – became #1 New Release in Occult
Supernatural on Amazon in October 2025!
You can follow the author
at:
Website: www.sherridodd.com
Instagram:
@Sherri.Dodd.Author https://www.instagram.com/sherri.dodd.author/
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