HNS -New England Chapter's October Workshop

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October 15, 2025

7:30 PM EST

Magical realism might be said to emerge at the overlap of differing worlds and frequencies. Once upon a time of great hardship, it was believed that scratching lines like a spider’s web into the wood beside a door could trap baneful spirits. Though magic was thought evil, some god-fearing folk used it as best they could. One herb might be fine and salvific, but another that fictional Catherine Bennett knew and used, called floss, could kill or save, depending on what was wrong. So a healer was one who was willing to stand shin-deep in the gradient between death and life, and for this her family might pay a steep price.

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Having researching healing, herbs and superstition for her book, The Rowans, Beverly Cooper Pierce discovered the elements provided her with their own special magic, helping to reveal setting and culture, deepen character, create tension, and move plot. Truly, there was even an apparition that helped shape a character and backstory!

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In our October workshop, she shares how.

 

About Beverly Cooper Pierce

Growing up in Salem, Massachusetts, Beverly had no idea that John and Elizabeth Proctor, both convicted of witchcraft, were her father’s sixth great-grandparents, or that some of the oldest houses in towns along the coast held stories of his family.

 

After living in Minnesota many years and bringing two sons into the next generation, she now lives and writes north of Boston on Cape Ann, where the bones of her novel, The Rowans, are familial and real. She is at work on a sequel set in Maine.

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This meeting will be recorded for those unable to attend.

 

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84961489874?pwd=fFIm7DwP7D1KgRFMAM89dhaT3b6MYG.1

 

Meeting ID: 849 6148 9874

Passcode: 018237

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SEPTEMBER ZOOM RECORDING

 

For those who missed it, September brought a wonderfully candid and entertaining evening with bestselling author Serena Burdick.  You can watch a tape of her interview here.

 

 

UPCOMING HNS-NE ZOOM TALKS

 

October: Healers, Herbs, and Superstitions by Beverly Pierce

November:  Writing Family and Personal History by Beth Kephart

December: Let’s Talk About Character Arcs by Barb Wallace (& Friends)