Skye Young
NEED TO KNOW
- Samantha Ross is a debut author whose novel Possible Springs blends ’90s music, Australian rural life and the paranormal.
- The former DJ manifested her Penguin Random House book deal using techniques passed down by her late psychic grandmother.
- Her fiction novel follows a young woman who develops psychic abilities after a near-death experience.
Debut author Samantha Ross always knew she wanted to write.
“With just such a passionate love for books, I knew that was something in me that one day would just sort of snap and decide, I’m going to write,” she tells New Idea.
With a career history including being a DJ and featuring on several hit songs, Samantha told us that she knew it was time.
Her novel, Possible Springs, pays homage to three of her favourite things: ’90s music, Australian rural scenery, and all things paranormal.
The fiction novel is part coming-of-age and part mystery, set in a small Australian town where the main character, Jimny Adams’ near-death experience leaves her with an unnerving psychic ability.
Although Samantha says she is very unsettled by the spirit world, she’s used her real-life experiences as inspiration for her book.
Her late grandmother was a psychic medium, which made her aware of paranormal activity from a young age.
“We were really close. She wasn’t what you would picture a medium to be; she was just your normal-looking grandmother with her tight perm and her cat-eye glasses, although she did used to dye her hair bright pink!” she tells us, adding, “she was just someone that was born being able to see the dead.”
Although Samantha says she didn’t “inherit her gift”, she tells us her grandmother taught her a lot, including the power of manifestation.
Samantha reveals to us that she used this power to manifest her book deal with Penguin by envisioning her future publisher smiling while reading her manuscript.
“My grandmother was a great believer that if you can make yourself wholeheartedly believe that it has already happened, it will happen.”
“You can’t wish for something to happen, or you can’t hope that something is going to happen – you literally have to live what you want to happen in your mind as though it already has in order for it to manifest itself. It’s sort of along the lines of witchcraft and pagan beliefs,” she says.
When it worked, Samantha told us she couldn’t believe it.
“It was mind-blowing because I’ve never done that before,” she says.
“Being published with Penguin Random House was the equivalent of winning a lottery for me.”
