Today I am featuring a guest post from Taryn Browning, author of the new novel Whispering Hills.  I asked Ms. Browning to write about communicating with the dead.

Communicating with the Dead
Personally, I’ve never communicated with the dead, but I suspect it would be pretty creepy. Alexis feels the same way when she suddenly hears the intentions of a killer – only at first she has no idea the murderer is actually…dead.
For as long as she can remember, Alexis has been able to hear the decisions people make. Not all the decisions are pretty, but hearing someone’s plans to abduct and murder a teenage girl from her high school sends her on a quest to find the truth. Only she can’t tell anyone what she knows. No one would believe her. Alexis soon learns she has a connection to the ghost who has returned to her quiet suburban town of Whispering Hills, Virginia.
As Alexis discovers, there’s nothing worse than hearing the thoughts of a ghost who wants you dead.

Book Description

For as long as she can remember, seventeen-year-old Alexis Forbes can hear the thoughts of others.  Most recently, she is disturbed by the dark, unfamiliar voice of a frightening killer: callous, cunning, charismatic…and dead.  She hears his every sinister thought.  But she can’t tell anyone.  No one would believe her.  Alexis is suddenly being haunted by a terrifying past she doesn’t remember, and a ghost with a serious score to settle.  Even Chance, the gorgeous new guy she’s falling for, has his own ghostly secret.  He’s definitely not like any guy she’s ever met.  Alexis soon discovers she has a connection to the dead and it runs much deeper than she could ever imagine.  And if the sociopathic entity has his way, she’ll finally be sentenced to the fate she escaped thirteen years ago.  

And an excerpt:

“I’m going to kill her.”
Dread shot through my veins. I lost my balance. My back slammed into my locker. The cool metal stung my bare shoulders and the grated slats dug into the exposed skin above my fitted tank. I gasped, dropping my notebook onto the waxy linoleum floor. The plastic binding bounced and settled to the ground with a hollow slap!
My heartbeat thudded in my ears. Clutching my sweater, I squeezed the soft thin cotton until my nails punctured my palm.
Someone rushed by, snapping my focus up. His heavy footfalls pounded my chest with fast hard blows. The boy slung his backpack over one shoulder and skidded past a teacher through an open classroom door. A girl laughed. Still frozen in place, my eyes shifted. She giggled once more and slid out of her boyfriend’s embrace.
I stood, paralyzed, pressed firmly against my locker. That unfamiliar voice, those words, the thought— “I’m going to kill her”—held me captive.

Life at Whispering Hills High went on around me.

About the Author:

Taryn Browning writes young adult paranormal romance and urban fantasy novels. Her debut novel, DARK SEEKER, is available on Amazon and B&N. The sequel, DARK RETURN, comes out in late, 2012.
Taryn graduated with a BS in Education from Towson University and went on to earn a MS in Reading from Hood College. She lives in Virginia with her husband, two young sons and their dog. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading, spending time with friends and family, music, movies, and the beach. Visit her at www.tarynbrowning.com, on twitter and facebook.