A retelling of ghost stories creates dilemma with Amazon Books.
Writer-Poet, Don Foxe of Bluffton, South Carolina set out to reexamine famous ghost stories from the Lowcountry. His mix of history, culture, hauntings, and paranormal contacts produced a collection of retold ghost stories bound together with poems "written" by the spirits who did not move on after death.
The chapbook, a small collection of tales, was created for National Poetry Month. Amazon does not have a sub-category under Poetry for poems by ghosts. The collection was placed under Regional & Cultural, and sub-categorized to Native American and African American poetry. The only sub-categories with direct ties to the collection.
On the second day following release, Paranormal Poetry became an Amazon Kindle #1 New Release in Native American Poetry. The title topped the Top 100 Bestsellers lists for Native American and African American poetry. It also made Hot New Releases for Poetry, and into Top 100 lists for Regional and Cultural poetry. (Source: Amazon Books. Don Foxe's author page: Paranormal Poetry. Book positions are updated hourly.)
"I never set out to create a work specific to any culture," Foxe said. "The section on a Yamassee Medicine Man and another section about spirituals and work songs by plantation slaves led to the inclusion into Native American and African American poetry categories."
Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing division is expanding the ghost stories into more than the traditional three categories assigned books. The expanded genres include History and Short Stories.
The confusion is easily understood when you read the book. Foxe uses an imaginative means of contacting ghosts associated with locally famous haunted sites. In the process of developing the "bait" for each spirit, he provides a brief, entertaining overview of the time and cultural realities surrounding the ghost's lifetime and death. An interview with the specter reveals new information and adds credibility to stories often told differently, or without context.
Foxe's hook for obtaining the cooperation of these lost souls is asking they relay their ties to the living by creating an original poem. The poem is the climax for each tale contained in the chapbook.
The South Carolina Lowcountry has centuries of attracting diverse cultures into the region. "Paranormal Poetry" includes stories of a French Huguenot dwarf, a Yamassee Native American Medicine Man, a young woman from the 1890s, pre-Civil War slaves, a rock and roll era musician, and a Welsh Quaker and indentured servant prior to the Revolutionary War.
It is a creative way to explore ghosts, history, and cultures whether your preference is poetry, history, or short stories.
Contact: Don Foxe - don@donfoxe.net - donfoxe.com
Interview Requests: 843-681-6161
(Beach City Health & Fitness, HHI, SC)
Go to Don Foxe's Amazon Page for "Paranormal Poetry" in Kindle or Paperback.
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