My Books and Why I Write Them
On most websites this is where you would find a short blurb about the authors book/books, packed full of buzz words and SEO optimized, all designed to get you to click on the link for the book and buy it. While I’m certainly not against book sales or money, I mean, that is why we take the time to research and write them, I decided to do something a little bit different.
There will be a photo of the book cover and a link to Amazon where you can find out more about each of them, but instead of a book description (you can read that on Amazon), I decided to write a little bit about my reasons for writing the book in the first place. Sort of a “backstory to the story” kind of thing. If it leaves you with any questions about any of the books don’t hesitate to reach out to me at bud@budsteed.com and I’ll try to answer you back as quickly as I can.
This is the newest book in the America’s Ghosts series and one that was very interesting to write. I’ve been collecting stories about Alabama for over 11 years, interviewing people who had firsthand experiences, visiting the places myself when I could, and corresponding back and forth via email with numerous witnesses; it’s been a book long in the making.
Part of the reason behind the book is my love for the south. It’s a land rich in history and heritage, and the people are quick to share their experiences. They take pride in their histories and stories as it represents, to a degree, part of who they are. I can honestly say that I’ve never had a bad research trip to Alabama and that once people found out why I was there, they opened up without hesitation and shared their stories of ghosts and hauntings with me.
I’ve written other books about the south and have a lot more scheduled to write; I just hope that my future books are as easy to research as this one has been. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Since I have lived in the Ozark Mountains for well over twenty years it seemed natural to write a book about some of the ghosts and hauntings associated with the hills and hollers of the Ozarks.
The Ozarks reminds me quite a bit of the Smoky Mountains in that a lot of the early settlers were of Scotch/Irish descent and brought a lot of their beliefs and superstitions with them. Those made their way into, and contributed to, some of the ghost stories that were told about the area.
This was an interesting book to research too, since it was literally in my back yard. Going to the sites, talking with people, doing investigations, and researching old newspaper and historical records was a breeze. No long road trips or hotels required. I could spend the whole day on research and still be home in time for dinner.
This was the first book that I wrote and published and it is probably my favorite out of all of them. I had been placed off work for almost a year due to medical issues and was going a little stir crazy, being cooped up in the house all day. I woke up one morning and told my wife that I was going to write a book and by the end of the day I had a signed contract to write the Haunted Natchez Trace; I had no idea that it took most authors years to get a book deal, so, I guess in this case ignorance was bliss.
The Natchez Trace had always held my interest and I knew a lot of stories from years of riding my motorcycle up and down the trace. I even had a few personal experiences along the trace that I couldn’t explain. The more I researched into the stories the more I got hooked and figured out that the history behind the haunting was just as important as the ghost story itself.
The rest, as they say, is history, and here I am eight books into a writing career that I had never intended on starting in the first place. Weird, huh?
The Haunted Mississippi Gulf Coast was the second book that I’ve written and I chose it because I was very familiar with the stories and legends associated with the area from having lived in Biloxi MS for several years.
It’s an area that has a long history, having been settled since around 1699, and is also the home of Beauvoir, the last home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. The area is just teeming with history and along with that history comes its fair share of tragedy and death, all of which lends itself well to ghosts and hauntings.
There was also a surplus of really good stories about ghosts and hauntings as well as top notch historical societies from which to research the history behind the stories, so, for a guy like me, it was a win-win situation. The result of it all was a book that turned out exceptionally well.
Haunted Baton Rouge was one of those books that just seemed to write itself. I was very familiar with the area as my brother and his family have lived there for over 25 years, and I had heard plenty of stories of ghosts and hauntings over the years. I was even fortunate enough to do a few investigations in Baton Rouge and had several experiences that I couldn’t come up with a rational explanation for.
As with most everywhere else I’ve researched and/or investigated, the people of Baton Rouge love their stories of ghosts and were quite willing to share them with me. It was almost a matter of civic pride that their community had some really excellent stories. Several people who shared their experiences with me even went so far as to take me to the spot where they witnessed the unexplained and walked me through what happened. As a writer and investigator you can’t get much better than that.
Baton Rouge has a long history filled with strife, battles and sickness, and the loss of life over the years added to the amount of ghost stories and recorded instances of hauntings. It really is a cool place to check out.
Haunted Northwest Arkansas was one of those books which didn’t come easy, and not because it wasn’t fun to research and write. It just seemed to take longer than usual because of just how many stories there actually were to choose from.
It has an interesting history ranging from civil war battles to quack cancer doctors to gangsters, all of which not only contributed to the history of the area but generated a fair share of the stories about ghosts and hauntings. It was a chore trying to decide which stories made the book and which didn’t based on word count limitations placed by the publisher (which is why I self-publish now). I tried to pick only the best which is why I really like the way this book turned out.
The research was pretty fun too and my youngest son Sean went with me to check out a lot of the places, even driving me when I had the flu and should have stayed home, but, deadlines wait for no one. Writing this book also led me to commit to writing a book on haunted bed and breakfasts in Arkansas, simply from how many stories I uncovered. Be sure to watch for that one, it’ll be a really good book.
Haunted Ft Smith and Van Buren was the last traditionally published book that I’ve written and the research part of the book was awesome! There is so much history in the area it’s ridiculous. Civil war battles, “Hanging” Judge Parker, the “Hell on the Border” jail, and so many other bits of history it was almost overwhelming.
Like Haunted Northwest Arkansas, this area had far too many stories to pick from and it was tedious at best trying to pick just the best ones. In fact, it took me so long to pick just the right stories that I almost missed my submission deadline!
Adrian and Tina Scalf of River Valley Paranormal, good friends and excellent investigators were kind enough to take me to a few of the places I wanted to check out and share some of their experiences with me. It seems as if first hand interactions like that always produce an excellent book.
I hope you enjoyed finding out a little of why I decided to write each book. As you can probably tell, history played a big part in my decisions, as did the abundance of ghost stories and encounters. Paranormal investigations and research will always be one of my true passions as will sharing stories of ghosts and hauntings with you through books. In my opinion, books, especially ones like I write, help to keep the stories of a particular location alive, to be enjoyed by future generations who might not ever be exposed to them.
So whats next on the list to be written? I’ve got plans for a series of books on haunted bed and breakfasts in Arkansas, as well as Mississippi and Louisiana, and a book planned for ghost stories and hauntings of the Smoky Mountains, which will be pretty fun to research and write.
Additionally, I plan to write a book titled, Lost Treasures of the Natchez Trace (along with about a hundred other lost treasures books) as part of the America’s Lost Treasures series; that will be a really fun book to write too.
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