Background into "Carnival Ride"

I've received a handful of questions in regards to my first novel, Carnival Ride since it came out late last year. Since this blog is shared on my Amazon page as well as Goodreads page, I'll answer a few of those question to give some insight into my first, but not last, novel.

What is Carnival Ride about?

To keep it short, I’ll include the elevator synopsis: Years after being locked away in an asylum, a carnival worker haunts a young girl for retribution with what happened to his own family.

Where did the story for Carnival Ride come from?

For the idea itself, I’ve always had a love for old roadside attractions and old rides at theme and amusement parks. I would rather feel the bumps, rattles, and hear the clicking chains of a 100 year old wooden roller coaster compared to the fast thrill of a looping steel coaster. I remember playing the PC game Rollercoaster Tycoon years ago and built more wood coasters than steel, even though they cost more to make, they brought that nostalgic feel. Many riders who to go carnivals or amusement parks who see old, rusty and outdated rides will likely want to ride something more intense or safer. Yes, carnival rides are safe but a lot of bad press surrounds the rides since they travel so frequently and are built so quickly. Taking just hours to build a ride, I’ve often wondered myself how safe the rides really can be. Then, taking in the fact of the life of a carnie and who’s operating the carnival and the rides, one can only wonder. I’ve always wondered what the life of a carnie would be, especially a carnival worker from fifty years ago and how much times may, or may not have changed throughout the years. With those thoughts in mind, I remember going to Old Town, Florida once and feeling a connection to a Scrambler ride they had there. Feeling the connection, I wanted to research it further and was able to find out that it was the very first produced Scrambler ever made, back in 1955. The ride wasn’t very fast and the whipping motion weak due to the gas-powered engine compared to electric, but the old fashioned feel made the ride worth it. Suddenly, the ride vanished. I contacted Old Town with no luck, and then the ride manufacturer with no luck where the ride seemed to have vanished. It was gone a couple of years until reappearing and vanishing again just as quickly. I then thought and wondered about a story in regards to a haunted ride that vanishes. Taking the haunted ride idea, I figured in an evil carnie in a traveling carnival and slowly came up with the idea. Side note: An article is coming out soon about that Scrambler ride in the upcoming journal from the Society of Commercial Archeology.

What’s next?

Besides a few articles and a book collection regarding pieces of family history, I’ve finished a final draft of my second novel. I’m sending out queries to agents and publishers to hopefully get a bite soon and be able to get the second novel published. It has to do with a psychic who kills, a haunted camera, and a curse that is awoken upon a family. Investigations into the deaths brings a family closer to the truth than they wanted. In the meantime, awaiting responses, I’ve started the third novel also.

Please check out the link to both the hard copy and e-book of Carnival Ride if interested!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0982643616/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i1

Bringing Life Back to the Forgotten

Ever since I was young, I’ve enjoyed antiques. What is it about an old object that is interesting? Well, so many things! First, antiques represent a former time when items were built with care and quality. Items from our former generations were built to last and with a little upkeep, they will. Whether a 1930’s toaster, an 1880’s rocking chair, or 1920’s end table, products were built to be durable. A lot of end tables today are usually built of cheaper wood which chip or break easily and toasters are cheap to buy and are easy to replace. Back decades ago, toasters cost more and when one broke, you were to take it to a local store, usually down main street to get it fixed. With love and care, my three toasters from 1909-1930 are still working better than any new toaster.

Many people have asked, why did I buy that for? What are you going to do with that? In regards to when I acquire a new antique. I’ve bought and gotten antiques free at many different venues including garage sales, flea markets, antique stores, thrift stores, and found them elsewhere such as on a curb. My last one for free was found via Craigslist so I always keep my eyes out. What’s fun about getting a worn out antique is understanding the item’s life. What is the items past and where has it been? The item was built so long ago and constructed to be useful. I have compared myself to antiques many times which is why I have a love for restoring forgotten about antiques. People sometimes are forgotten about and left to fall apart. Sometimes, people are broken and shattered inside and sit, needing to be repaired before they are beyond repair. Sometimes it’s too late and people and things cannot be fixed. But, it’s important to find that challenge beforehand so it’s not too late and once you find what needs to be fixed, fix it and bring life back to the forgotten.

Antiques often sit forgotten about until they are found and either sold cheap or given away or sadly and worse, thrown away. People often sit, sad and depressed, fragile and broken, waiting for someone to cross their path and show care and concern. I’ve sat like that before and felt just like a forgotten about, uncared for antique. One way I felt less lonely and to serve more of a purpose was to help antiques that were forgotten about like I was. I’ve restored many old radios, televisions, electronics, appliances, and a variety of furniture. All the work and pain sanding, staining, painting, soldering, and so forth with the antiques, it felt so great seeing a finished project – especially in regards to electronics. Once safe, plugging in that old appliance or electronic item and hearing sound come from the item such as a radio made the whole trouble worth it. To bring life back to the forgotten is quite satisfying. I hope my wife feels the same way with me. She brought life back to me as I was once the forgotten about antique, that sad feeling of being old and unwanted with no purpose in life. She and I crossed paths and she brought me into her life and repaired me and brought me back to life once again.

Stopping Time, if Only for a Second

Welcome everyone to my first blog! With that being said, I’ll keep the introduction short since you can read more about me on Amazon, Goodreads, Facebook, etc. and I’ll add more as we go along, so, for now, we’ll get this first blog started. I love photography! I have been a photo hobbyist for many years and always using outdated cameras and technology, I love photography and preserving history by taking photographs of historic areas. I love to travel to old buildings and one love of mine is ghost towns. There is nothing more relaxing and historically satisfying than walking around an abandoned and desolate area where life once thrived but now, nothing except silence. Walking down the dusty street where buildings now decay in ruin, I wonder what happened in that area one hundred years prior and who was there, who walked where I was and can only imagine by reading books and historical texts of the area. Another way to not only learn history and the past but see history is by photography. For just a slight second, less than one second, history is frozen and captured in a screen – either on film or digitally. Not only are you freezing that image but you’re stopping time and holding history. Whether the photograph will be held in your family for one or more generations until the images and figures in the photographs become unknown and forgotten about or used for historical purposes, stopping time can preserve so much. When I look at photographs of a ghost town through the town’s birth until its demise at the present time, there are and have been many visitors to the land who took pictures and shared them and near the ruin where I walk, I can look at the photographs that were taken through the past century and not only realize the sadness of forgotten memories dispersing in the gentle breeze on a hot day, but see the deterioration of such a town and the town’s history. Once people left the town and those people have passed on in their own gentle breeze through memories of others, their lives became forgotten just as the town’s history if it wasn’t for historical texts but also, historical imagery – photographs. Take as many photographs as possible because who knows how much longer the wood slats will be held on top of the frame of the rotting wood building until eventual collapse and the building is gone forever. Who knows how much longer the trees will be free to release green imagery and clean oxygen before a parking lot is paved or even, how much longer that special person will be able to have their image taken in order to preserve their life for future generations and people to see them once more. Freeze that image, stop time, and preserve history by stopping time, if only for a second. Please check out some of my historical photography on www.benjaminmollenhour.weebly.com