Tracy Petry

What's the most important thing to you about a book? For me, it's the characters. If the characters are interesting, and believable, I can forgive a lot of flaws with the plot. But if the characters don't grab me then the best plot in the world isn't going to hold my attention through a book. But maybe that's just me. I was a huge Stephen King fan when I was growing up. I cried when Larry and Glenn died in The Stand. I mean cried. I felt like I'd lost two of my best friends. There have been times when I've dreaded the end of books because I wouldn't be able to visit with certain characters anymore. When I first started writing it was just on a whim. The internet was a very new thing back then - yeah, I know, I'm feeling old now, too. I had just gotten my first PC; an AT&T 6300. Wait, I king of lie, that was my first PC but it wasn't my first computer. My first computer was a Radio Shack TRS80. I had that when I was in high school and I ...

Have you ever tried to imagine what the Garden of Eden must have been like? Think about the most beautiful, most pristine piece of nature you've ever beheld. Maybe it was a trip to the mountains; the freshness of the air, the array colors in the fall, the sound of the birds in the trees and the peacefulness that just seeps into your soul. Or maybe you're more of a beach person; the tangy salt air, the cries of the gulls, the blue water and the sound of the waves crashing. So, with that most beautiful image in your mind...realize that all the beauty you perceive is like someone with failing eyesight looking at something without their glasses on. The pure, unadulterated, unspoiled magnificence of what God created in the Garden can't even be imagined by you or I. Adam and Eve had absolutely everything they could ever even think to ask for. They had perfect bodies that were meant to go on for all time. They had no sickness, no hunger, no unfulfilled needs. There were glo...

Matthew 12: 43-46 “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it.   Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order.   Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.” Let's say you have a house guest. Let's say it's someone you meet who doesn't have a place to live and you let them come stay in your guest room for a couple of weeks; just until they get on their feet. We've all done that, right? And we all know what happens - the guest gets too comfortable there, makes a mess, meddles in your life, screws up your marriage, steals from you and eventually you get to the point where you have to throw them out. Maybe you tell them that you need the room for ...

To be more clear, when speaking of possession in general and my friend Mary in particular - there can be periods, long periods even, when the person who's possessed might seem completely normal. This is all part of Satan's ruse, his game to make you doubt what's going on. Such is the case that I mentioned in part one of this series of blogs - the case in Rome with Cristina. She has periods of time where she's snarling like some kind of beast and cursing and snapping, and then minutes later she's laughing and smiling and carrying on a normal conversation with the people around her, totally unaware of her behavior just before. Even to this day Mary doesn't remember many of the incidents I'm writing about. Here's a point they don't often dwell on in the movies - possession can only occur through invitation. The invitation doesn't have to be engraved, or explicit. The invitation can be quite accidental, through ignorance as opposed to purpose. If...

Matthew 13: 18-23 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path.  The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy.  But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.  But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” I've read that parable so many times. I'm sure most of us have. It's kind of a Bible Study staple. Yet, as many times as I'...

Matthew 12: 43-46 “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it.   Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order.   Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.” I have a friend named Mary. We've known each other for quite a few years now. We met when I had just moved into my house in East Haven, CT. I joined a "paranormal investigation team". Yeah, I know, it sounds ridiculous to me, too now. But at the time I was very excited about ghosthunting and making friends. It was a social thing to do in a new place and took my level of scare-seeking to the next level. Mary was the group's "medium". Since she was a small child she'd been se...

Just the other day I was going through my closet, looking for something. You know how this goes after you hit the age of 50, right? You start looking for one thing and find something else and get so totally sidetracked that you never even remember what it was you were originally looking for, right?  So, I was looking for a shoe. I figured it might be in my closet. I may never know, because every time I go to my closet for something.... Anyway, at the back of my closet is a metal lock-box. I don't have a key for it so I hope it never actually gets locked. I don't even know where the box came from but it seems like I've had it forever. The box is stuffed full of the past. There are a few photographs in there, and I can't figure out why they're in there instead of with the other photos in the house, but there they are. There's a copy of my high school newspaper from my freshman year. I know why that's there - that was the year Marty (now my husband) gr...