The ornate glass doors of St. Charles Avenue Uptown, the Victorian Plantation homes in the Garden District, the shotgun houses with gingerbread trim in Mid-City—all give New Orleans her beauty.

My personal favorite area is Mid-City, located near City Park and Bayou St. John. Cemeteries are scattered throughout the area, almost creating a border around these eclectic neighborhoods. Shotgun houses with wide steps approaching the front door line both sides of the street. The houses are in every color from mauve to sage to dusty-blue. Front porches are decorated with dangling ferns and potted flowers.

The Garden District is another area for beautiful Plantation homes and ornate black-iron fences. One note of caution, however. Make sure you remain in your car. Do not walk the Garden District streets to gaze at the gorgeous homes. Tourists are often unaware that this area boasts one of the highest mugging rates.

You may notice the Fleur de Lis (pronounced Flerr da Lee) symbol on the sides of buildings, too, or perhaps painted on walls. While originally known as the icon for the New Orleans Saints football team, the Fleur de Lis has, over time, become a symbol of resilience. A visible means of surviving any hurricane or disaster which might affect New Orleans. Tourists can easily find this iconic symbol being sold on t-shirts, as earrings, bracelets, etc.

Elaine Calloway grew up in New Orleans and can still do a decent  Cajun accent on request. She writes paranormal romance and fantasy,  setting these stories in iconic cities such as New Orleans. Book One of  her Elemental Series will be out on 2/1/2013. Visit her website, www.elainecalloway.com, for more information.

Some of my favorites include:

1. The Audubon Zoo. Located in historic Uptown, Audubon Zoo showcases animals in outdoor environments that let the little ones see the animals and get some exercise walking the grounds. There are often kid-themed events on weekends, and you can spend as much time seeing the many categories of animals as you like. Website: http://www.auduboninstitute.org/visit/zoo#ref=topnav
2. The Aquarium of the Americas. Located near the Mississippi Riverfront adjacent to the French Quarter, this is an ideal activity for anyone staying right in the Quarter. Large tanks of aquatic life make this spot a must-see for kids and adults alike. Website: http://www.auduboninstitute.org/visit/aquarium

3. A paddle-wheel cruise along the Mississippi River. Tickets and boarding are right near Jackson Square in the Quarter. Our family did a daytime cruise that lasted two hours, but there are night dinner cruises as well. Plenty of food and drink are on the boat, photo opportunities abound, and the captain even let my young stepson at the time look at the engine room. The Mississippi River is the heartbeat of New Orleans, and this is a great way to enjoy the water and see the riverfront. Website: http://www.steamboatnatchez.com/harborcruise.html
4. City Park. Located in Mid-City, one of my favorite areas, the park hosts kid-friendly activities all the time. There are train rides, many playgrounds, and abundant space to run and play under the live oaks. For those parents needing a pick-me-up while keeping the young ones busy, head to the front area of the park and enjoy a cup at Morning Call coffeehouse. Parents can drink coffee while watching the kids play on the adjacent playground.

Elaine Calloway grew up in New Orleans and can still do a decent  Cajun accent on request. She writes paranormal romance and fantasy,  setting these stories in iconic cities such as New Orleans. Book One of  her Elemental Series will be out on 2/1/2013. Visit her website, www.elainecalloway.com, for more information.

Long associated with delectable food and drink, New Orleans is a place where millions return so they can get their crawfish etouffee fix, purchase hot sauces not available anywhere else, or enjoy beignets and café au lait.

While there are more fantastic restaurants than I can possibly list, below are some of my favorites. Each one is a different price range, so you can budget your trip and dining excursions accordingly.

Casual and Affordable:

Café du Monde – popular place for beignets and coffee in the French Quarter. This is a tourist must-see. Go early, there are often long lines. Tip: You can get your order to go and it’s quicker.
Morning Call – less crowded than Café du Monde with the same menu. This is where the locals go, whereas tourists go to Café du Monde. There are several locations around the city.

Zea’s Rotisserie & Grill – Great place for lunch or dinner, at less than $15 per person. Best Red Beans & Rice on the planet!! Be sure to order sides of Red Beans & Rice and the Corn Roasted Grits. Both are heavenly! Zea’s also serves gourmet salads, rotisserie dishes, and seafood. Anything you could possibly want, all for a reasonable price. There are locations throughout the city.

On the Pricier Side:

Crescent City Brewhouse – located right near Jackson Square. This is an ideal seafood, hamburger, salad, whatever you want restaurant that also serves homemade brews. It’s close proximity to many sightseeing things in the French Quarter, and the atmosphere is nice and laid back. Website is http://www.crescentcitybrewhouse.com/

Tujague’s – located near Jackson Square in the French Quarter. On the pricier side, but one of my favorite restaurants. Great for special occasion dinners, not to mention the place is the 2nd oldest restaurant in New Orleans. Seafood, cocktails, crawfish etouffee to die for. Website is http://www.tujaguesrestaurant.com/

Tujaque’s marquee Crawfish Etouffee

Elaine Calloway grew up in New Orleans and can still do a decent  Cajun accent on request. She writes paranormal romance and fantasy,  setting these stories in iconic cities such as New Orleans. Book One of  her Elemental Series will be out on 2/1/2013. Visit her website, www.elainecalloway.com, for more information.

THE 5TH REALM-NEW ORLEANS VOODOO CHRONICLES

by:  Constance Gillam

Until a few years ago, I wrote only adult fiction. I’d had requests for fulls and partials, but they hadn’t netted me an agent or publishing contract. I needed to try something different.

Twilight was all the rage, so I made myself a promise. By the next December I would have completed a young adult novel.

Everything about writing this book was a first; first young adult, first paranormal, first time writing in first person. I finished the novel, but it wasn’t easy. Plagued by self doubt, I added and discarded the number of POV’s in the story, moved from first to third person and from past back to present tense. My opening changed a zillion times (I’m never satisfied with my openings for any of my novels).

My one certainty- I was excited about my characters and setting.

I love New Orleans. I’ve visited many times, have a brother who lives there, and both my daughters attended college in or near New Orleans. I’m a history buff, and I’m married to a history professor. I visit cities that ooze history; Charleston, Savannah, St. Augustine, and Boston. New Orleans is the only city where I walk the streets of the quarter and feel as though I’m transported back three hundred years. The city is so colorful and alive I wanted to bring that sense of history to my young adult contemporary paranormal novel.

In New Orleans different cultures come together, creating interesting and beautiful faces. Taking what I knew of the history, along with the different people who inhabited the region, I created my main character. Lisette is a fifteen year old girl of Spanish, French, Haitian and Choctaw Indian heritage- a Creole.

Because the book was set in N.O., Voodoo was a natural paranormal element to add, but I needed a twist. Lisette is orphaned and lives with her paternal Grand’mere, who doesn’t tell her about her mother’s Haitian family who are alive and well, practicing Voodoo in the bayou.

I had a lot of fun writing this story, even though I pulled my hair out at times. I especially enjoyed creating my secondary characters, Scooter, Eric and Hancock.

Scooter is Lisette’s best friend, a high school dropout and a street thug. Although he’s the youngest child in his single family home, he’s the man of the house. He cleans up his big brother’s scrapes with the law and keeps his mother grounded. He’s very protective of Lisette and doesn’t understand her attraction to the mysterious, preppy Eric from her high school.

Eric is an enigma, the bad boy that every girl wants to tame. He has a girlfriend, who happens to be Lisette’s arch enemy, but Lisette can’t help being attracted to him. He’s the only one in her high school that makes her feel less like a freak.

When strange things start happening to Lisette, it’s Eric, not Scooter, who comes to her rescue with some unusual skills of his own.

By the end of the book, Lisette has come to terms with who she is and has to save herself and her two friends, at the risk of losing her soul.

Excerpt:

The bayou at night is alive. I see very little in the darkness, but my hearing is heightened. Insects buzz, creatures call to each other, and fish splash in this byway cesspool. Like the kinky gray hair of an old lady, Spanish moss trails in the dirty water of the swamp, eerily beautiful. I shudder to think what is caught in the tangles of her hair.

My head jerks in the direction of a huge splash. Something large slithers into the water.

“Alligators,” my uncle says, piloting the pirogue with a long pole around another bend in the waterway.

Shivering, I strain to make out more, but can only see darkness behind us. I sit on my hands, more to still their trembling than for warmth. Long before the canoe reaches the spot, I feel the drums. The pounding travels through my nerve endings until my whole body is pulsating. I feel the same as I did several nights ago when I wandered the Quarter, restless and possessed.

**

Connie, thank you so much for joining us today…and in addition, she would like to offer a $25.00 Amazon gift card to one of our lucky commenter today.  Just leave a comment to be in the drawing…..And GOOD LUCK !!!

The 5^th Realm is available in e-book and print format: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords.            http://amzn.to/KqkmNn

Visit me at my website: www.constancegillam.com, or facebook: http://tinyurl.com/78x60hg  

Or twitter:@conniegillam

Thank you for having me today! The Weather Channel stays on my tv set August through September because of hurricane season. Betsy and Katrina tried to drown out my hometown, but St. Bernard just keeps on fighting back:  

September, 1965

“Mr. President, aside from the Great Lakes, the biggest lake in America is Lake Pontchartrain. It is now drained dry. That Hurricane Betsy picked the lake up and put it inside New Orleans and Jefferson Parish …. My wife and kids are still alive, so it’s OK…. Mr. President, … we need your help.” Senator Russell Long to President Lyndon Johnson , September 10, 1965, 2:26 p.m. Citation #8847, WH6509.03. LBJ Library

I was useless. Cranky from a low fever and tonsillitis coming on, and scared of something outside called Betsy that had Mama in a panic and voices squawking out of Daddy’s ham radio – she’s comin’ straight at’chya. My brother hauled whole drawers upstairs and my sister swept up armloads of dolls and everybody was short tempered in their haste to get their treasures to safety. Shooed out of the way, I laid down in my clothes to suck my thumb and listen to the mimosa tree beat against my window, begging me to let it in and put it with the dolls and Mama’s silver and Daddy’s books, safe from Betsy.

When I opened my eyes the next morning, grey light colored the windows. My leg was straight up in the air and Mama was cramming a sneaker on my foot, saying grab your raincoat and get upstairs!

The carpet was a wet sponge that squished underfoot, and water lapped up the walls and filled the hallway like a stretch-bathtub. Betsy was gone, but the spillway, overwhelmed with the water she sucked out of Lake Pontchartrain and dumped into the Industrial Canal, couldn’t hold.   

Four  years old and in denial of having a sore throat, I saw a pool, an adventure – a party!  Miss Laverne and her girls had already waded over.  More neighbors and playmates arrived, wet, anxious, and confused. Instead of drinking coffee and pouring cereal, they were sloshing across the street in water up to their chests, mamas holding their babies high to avoid snakes and crabs. The men went to Mr. Pete’s Texaco on the corner for gasoline to fuel up their johnboats. We had the only two story house in the neighborhood, the highest point for blocks. Everybody came, and our foyer became a harbor with a chandelier. Daddy opened the double cypress front doors to let the boats sidle up to our staircase, now a pier. Those of us without a care played hide and seek or played with each others’ dogs.

Daddy hugged us goodbye and kissed Mama, telling her everything would be okay, no looters would take anything while he had shells for the shotgun. Mr. Richards hoisted my sister and me above his hipboots like wriggling crab traps and dropped us into a rescue boat.

Quarantined on the third floor of Domino’s Sugar Refinery – my brother had the same fever as me – we had a public water fountain, canned creamed corn and grape popsicles, bare bulbs that stayed lit day and night, and empty boxes to sleep under. But us kids owe our survival to Mama’s presence of mind to grab her purse, filled with Doublemint gum, cigarettes and – thank you Jesus! – a new lighter. If only those grape popsicles could’ve turned into wine….

Three days later the National Guard moved us in a caravan uptown to St. Charles Avenue and the Times Picayune snapped our picture as we were unloaded. Strangers – I’ve never learned their names – took us in, gave us their bathtubs and fed us hot soup and gifted us with clean underwear – boys’ underwear.  My brother didn’t mind, but my sister and I did.   

 Our family’s touchpoint is Betsy. Mama will say “Oh, we lost that in The Flood,” and immediately I’m four again and my throat hurts. It was months before we lived together as a family again, back in our home. We had nothing, but after what we lived through, we had everything in each other. We really didn’t lose that much in The Flood.  

Epilogue:

I visited my old house just last June. Mr. Frank’s house that was next door is now a weedy, concrete slab. Concrete footprints like that are sprinkled between homes that still sport the black demolition ‘X’. Looters got our chandelier, but the mimosa tree still stands by my old bedroom window. My cousins who run the lumber company my great grandfather started over one hundred years ago remain in ‘da parish’. They painted one color on the walls up to twelve feet – Katrina’s water line. And yes, they’ve met Brad Pitt.   

=======================

Pamela Mason has survived more hurricanes since Betsy, but if she can survive raising her two sons, that will be a real accomplishment! She writes New Orleans romance – sweet, spicy, and HOT! When she’s not writing down her characters’ stories, she’s writing her experiences on WriterMason.com and BetterAfter50.com.  She lives outside Atlanta in Georgia’s tornado alley.

To say this was a dream come true is putting it mildly.  I’ve always wanted to visit New Orleans but no one would ever go with me!   It always seemed like this far off jewel that I could read about and never see.  Which is sad really as I live in Georgia, only an eight hour drive away.

From our hotel room, there was a great view of the Mississippi River.  Though, of course, I hardly stayed in the hotel.  I was in the Big Easy, a place I’d only read about before and I was planning on enjoying every minute of it.  Believe me, I did.

Visiting New Orleans, I had a taste of the magic that the town holds.  I finally understand the pull it has to so many people.  Its not something you can describe to someone who hasn’t been there themselves.  Its kind of like trying to describe falling in love or child birth.  Its something you must experience to truly understand the true magnitude of it.  No, you have to experience it for yourself.

There is just something in the air that calls to you.  The rich history and culture, the readily available alcohol.  There was even a casino!  I wanted to try everything but I only had four days and a conference to attend on top of that.  Even so, I didn’t waist even a minute of my time.

Our first morning visiting the Big Easy, we, of course, had to try beignets!  Now, I know Cafe Du Monde is the go-to place but we decided to try out a smaller, lesser known establishment called Cafe Beignet on Royal Street.

It was this quaint little place set up with mismatched tables and chairs.  The cobblestone flooring and sky mural gave the illusion of sitting outside in a French garden.  What’s more, the beignets were only 3 for $2.99.

It was the perfect way to start off our trip.  Hot beignets, fresh, sweet strawberries and an iced mocha.

From there, my roommate, Nancy Knight (one of the founders of Georgia Romance Writers and the woman in charge of Dragon*con‘s Writer’s Track), told us about the coolest little tea shop on Chartres Street called Bottom of the Cup.  Not only does the place sell tea, it does tea leaf and card readings!

Well, when in New Orleans, right?

So we all got our cards read. It was actually a lot of fun.  I won’t go into detail on everything he said to me, but even if you don’t believe in this kind of stuff, the Bottom of the Cup is definitely worth a try.  Its been in the same family for 80 years!  How amazing is that?  Outside of being known for their psychics, it makes a mean cup of tea.  I ended up buying a half pound of their Peach Ginger Tea.  Yummy!

Friday night, after our first classes at the conference, they set up a chance for us to go on a Ghost and Vampire tour.  I was honestly really afraid that this would be corny, what with the vampire stuff and all but I was actually really, really impressed with it.

We took the New Orleans Haunted History Tours and I lucked out enough to get in the group with Kalila Katherina Smith.  Now I don’t know how good the other guy was (though his group raved about him as well) but Kalila was an excellent storyteller.  I think she was highly aware she had a group of writers with her.

On top of showing us some popular hauntings, she told of the history of vampire serial killers who frequented New Orleans since the beginning of the city.  She gave us a rundown of vampire folklore and what actually existed in the folklore and what was created by Bram Stoker.  It was really interesting.  Very… inspiring even.

Kalila also threw in some pop culture spots such as where they filmed parts of Interview with a Vampire and places used in both Anne Rice’s books as well as Sherrilyn Kenyon’s.

At the end of the tour, Kalila informed us that she actually had a book published out there if we were interested.  The book featured all the stories we heard that night and some we didn’t.  I of course got my own copy of New Orleans Ghosts, Voodoo, and Vampires:  Journey Into Darkness…  That in itself shows how much fun I had on this tour, right?

The Tour began and ended at Pirates Alley, a bar that served Absinthe!  A whole bunch of us stayed behind to try the drink, served in the traditional French style.

Our Bartender was very informative, sharing the history of the drink and any questions we might have.

For those who don’t know how Absinthe is served, let me give you a quick break down.  You take these special absinthe spoons – pretty much silver spoons with decorative holes in the bottom, and place them over the glass.  On top of this, you place a sugar cup.  You pour the Absinthe over the sugar cube and than set the sugar cube on fire.  As it starts to burn out, you move it under some slow dripping water.  The water drips over it until the sugar cube is completely dissolved into the drink.  Enjoy.

This stuff taste just like black licorice and is really yummy.  I quite enjoyed it.  For those of you who are thinking:  Isn’t this also known as the Green Fairy?  Isn’t it a hallucinogenic?  This is both yes and no.  In other countries, yes its a hallucinogenic but not in America.  What makes Absinthe cause hallucinations is not the drink itself but the things they use to lace in the drink like cocaine and such.  So this is a perfectly safe drink and really worth going and giving a try.  Believe me, you’ll brag about the experience.  

Pirates Alley is now on my “Must Stop” lists for whenever I go to New Orleans from now on.

Just a warning in advance.  This is a Cash Only establishment so come prepared and tip your bartenders well.  They know their stuff.

As you can see I had a blast in New Orleans.  I tried lots of new food, new drinks, met new people.  It was full of new experiences!

A few days is just not enough.  I only got to see a small portion of New Orleans and I still filled up every minute with a new experience.  I can’t wait to go back.

New Orleans is like visiting an old friend.  The people are friendly – for the most part at least – and the moment you leave, you can’t wait to get back there.

Have any of you ever been?  What should I try next time?  If you haven’t been, I hope this helps plan your own trip a little.  I definitely want to hear about it!