Today we’d like to introduce you to Ann Hite.
Hi Ann, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My writing habit began before I could write. I would tell my stories to anyone willing to listen. Often I feel I’ve channeled my fictional Appalachian characters from several of my eccentric relatives from long ago. I was born in Georgia and left before I was a year old. I didn’t return for good until I was ten. That’s when my mother brought my brother and me back to live with my grandmother. It was then I began to absorb both the wonderful and eerie tales told by my extended family. One of the first stories I heard upon arrival at my grandmother’s home in Marietta was about a fighter pilot—Dobbins Air Force base was nearby her house—had recently crashed into the house down the street. The eighty-year-old home was owned by two old maid sisters: one who had spent her life in a wheelchair and the other caring for her. The whole street ran to watch the fire. Some claim to have seen the pilot in the front seat of the jet trying to get out. Others claim to have heard one of the sisters screaming. The only survivor was the sister in the wheelchair. If that’s not the stuff that makes a storyteller, I don’t know what is. This atmosphere of tall tales, spells, and spirits gave birth to Black Mountain, the setting for my novels. I didn’t have a name for the community back then, but I spent many hours writing and forcing my little brother to listen to my stories of ghosts and goblins. Ah, but children do grow up. Or do they?
The fictional community of Black Mountain finally got its name while I was cooking hamburgers in my kitchen one night in the spring of 2004.
“Mama warned me against marrying Hobbs Pritchard. She saw the future in her tealeaves, death.”
These two sentences shot through my mind in a strong Southern voice that was not my own. Nellie Pritchard was alive and begging to tell her story, And so it was to be. Not only did she appear with much to say, but several different characters lined up to tell their tales and inherently tell more about Nellie in the process. Many short stories later a novel appeared: Ghost On Black Mountain.
As some of the old folks on Black Mountain would say: ‘The mountain is alive as me or you. If you listen, you can hear her breath. You can feel her moan. Once you get her in your blood, they’re ain’t no leaving. No matter how far you go it’s the only home you’ll ever know.’
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I began trying to publish my first novel in 2006. In 2008, I came close but the deal fell through at the last minute. This was such a disappointment I promised myself I would never write again. Instead, I decided to paint my office a lavender color and turn it into a den. I finished one wall and went back to work on my writing. I kept that wall this color until I moved. to remind me to never give up on my passion. Finally, when I least expected it, when getting rejected was the norm, I received a phone call from my agent. Simon & Schuster wanted the novel. This was in early 2010, four years after having finished it. I was fifty-one when the book came out on September 10, 2011. And, now looking back, I wouldn’t change a thing. There have been challenges since then, but the belief in my being a writer has sustained me.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My novels are set in Depression-era Appalachia in Western North Carolina a place called Black Mountain, just 15 northeast of Asheville. My seven works of fiction are old fashion ghost stories with a kick. My characters deal with murder, conjuring, haints, and mountain magic. The stories are laced with real-life challenges we deal with today like domestic violence, women’s rights, and mother and daughter relationships, fathers and sons.
My fiction to date have garnered many awards. Ghost On Black Mountain won Georgia Author Of The Year in 2012 for its first novel and was a Townsend Prize finalist. Sleeping Above Chaos won second place in the Author Of The Year Awards of 2017. My most recent book, Haints On Black Mountain: A Haunted Short Story Collection, recently won Bronze Winner in the Foreword Indie Awards. This is a national literary prize with over 3000 entries. Over 200 librarians around the country judge this award. Haints also won second place in the short story category in the Georgia Author Of The Year Awards 2023.
What sets my work apart from other supernatural writers is the fact that I set them in Appalachia and they are layered with events we all can relate too. I’m not afraid of addressing those hard subjects some shy away from.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I grew up an Air Force brat until I was ten. I lived most of my childhood in Germany during the sixties. I returned home to Marietta, Georgia in 1965, right smack in the Civil Rights Movement. While the Air Force at the time was perfect when it came to race, it was much more diverse than Marietta in 1965. Moving here was a culture shock. I had a hard time fitting in with my new classmates. One day my grandmother handed me a book to read and told me I would enjoy the story. The book was Jane Eyre. I was ten. I devoured the book falling in love with it. The next book I was handed was a new book called To Kill A Mockingbird. These two books convinced me I could become the writer I longed to be. My first ghost stories were heavily influenced by a TV show at the time called Dark Shadows. I would run home from school every day to watch this. My mother didn’t approve, but my grandmother, who was from Appalachia, loved it and watched it with me. Reading and listening to music became my lifeline as a child and still is today.
Pricing:
- Ghost On Black Mountain 15.95
- The Storycatcher 18.00
- Where The Souls Go 17.00
- Sleeping Above Chaos 17.00
- Haints On Black Mountain 20.00
Contact Info:
- Website: www.annhiteauthor.com
- Instagram: @annhiteauthor
- Facebook: Facebook/annhite1
- Linkedin: annhite
Image Credits
All images were taken by Jerry Hite
