Luxe Beat Magazine OCTOBER 2014 | Page 92

Paranormal Thriller Author Making Movie Magic By Sherrie Wilkolaski T he Salem witch trials has always been of interest to me since I was in elementary school. We made our weekly trip to the school library and were allowed to check out one book a week. My personal struggle was selecting the next book in the Nancy Drew series or to grab another book on the history of Salem. Our library was small and I ended up reading the same books over and over again, never tiring of the stories and always wanting more. As an adult, I’m still fascinated with the history of Salem. In December 2011, I was launching my book publishing house, Pressque Publishing, with my business partner, Ellie Maas Davis. She brought me a manuscript that I knew was just the right headliner to kick-off our catalog. The story was a modern day twist on the Salem witch trials, written by first time author, Jack Heath, titled Salem VI: Rebecca’s Rising (First of a trilogy). By day, Jack was a successful radio talk show host of NH Today and former TV news station manager and reporter. What made his story so different from everything else out there about the witch trials was the question he asked, “Who were the real witches?” Jack Heath is more than just an amazing storyteller. He is also a direct descendant of Rebecca Nurse, who was tried and executed for practicing witchcraft in Salem, MA, on July 19, 1692. Additionally, he has a bad bloodline coursing through his veins because he is related to one of the Salem witch trials accusers, Ann R. Putnam. All of this adds to the mystique behind the book trilogy. With Halloween quickly approaching, I thought it would be fitting to introduce Jack Heath to our audience. He grew up in in Swampscott, MA, a suburb a few minutes just outside of Salem, MA. He is the former News Director and Vice President of WMUR-TV in New Hampshire, and a former TV reporter for WCVB-TV in Boston and WABI-TV in Maine. Jack has a unique and varied background in news media and business. In 2000, Jack also founded Biznews24, now Pinpoint Global Communications, a software-based media company in New Hampshire, which provides sales training management systems to the financial services and insurance industries. When he is not running his media consulting company, he is marketing and promoting the book series. 1