I love scary stories. I’m also a total chicken. I grew up telling stories on the playground, huddled around trees or crawling into quiet places with friends to to listen to urban legends and frightening tales, from La Llorona to to Bloody Mary, to strange tales of a woman with the ribbon around her throat that literally held her head on to creepy dolls come to life the moment you closed your eyes to sleep at night…I couldn’t help myself. I devoured them!
In class, we learned more about La Llorona (a figure that inspired my novella, Weep, Woman, Weep), Baba Yaga, and all sorts of spooky stories that gave me a good chill but were rather less terrifying than what I heard on the playground.
Of course, there was no better time to tell and listen to these stories than the fall, as the season slowly ripened into Halloween, the days got shorter, and the cool evenings and turning leaves were the perfect backdrop for stories that reminded us that there is more to this world than meets the eye.
I would come home from school filled up on those terrible tales and, after playing in piles of leaves in my backyard, would feel a growing sense of unease as the sun began to set and darkness took over. I was certainly grateful for the comforting presence of my dogs when darkness stole across the sky. The feelings were pushed away with dinner, in the cozy brightness of the kitchen and the warmth of family, but readily came back when I was tuckedin bed later that night.
Every creek, howl of wind, or cricket chirp sounded like aghostly footstep, theweeping woman, or all manner of supernatural threats. Mirrors were not to be looked in, when the sun went down. Windows must be closed at night, lest La Llorona find a way in. Blankets were to be tucked around you up to your chin to protect you from whatever might be lurking under the bed.
I felt would never fall asleep!
But, of course, I did. And with the coming sun, came the confidence of youth that there was nothing truly scary in this world and I went right back to the playground ready to consume more lurid and horrible tales.
They were terrifying. They were also thrilling. I couldn’t help myself—even when they gave me nightmares and my mom tried to get me to stop listening to these stories—they had this allure to me, pulling me into a world of the strange and gothic.
The feeling didn’t go away as I got older. Take, for example, the time I went trick o’ treating with a friend in middle school, one of the last times I would venture out on that childhood ritual. I was no stranger to haunted houses—there were plenty in my neighborhood. I livednext door to one and there was another a few blocks away that looked like something out of a gothic novel: big, dark, looming, and a story about a murder so strange and unexpected it devolved into its own neighborhood legend with everyone having a slightly different explanation for why the house just felt…off.
My friend and I were alone on the street and were doing our best to casually walk past the house, feeling very brave and very adult in our fairy costumes, proud of the fact that we could trick-or-treating unchaperoned. But once we neared that house, suddenly home felt so very far away, the other groups of Halloween revelers so very far away. There was only the darkness surround us and the specter of that gina those before us.
Then we heard something—a yip, a yell, from someone in the distance—and we screamed, running for the safety of my home.Gone were the bold, brave adults and in their place were two frightened children who wanted nothing more than the warm lights and safety of home. As it turns out, the noise we heard was from a bunch of wildpartiers, but it became so much morefrightening when it was disembodied and the shadows fed my imagination, as did all the terrible tales I’d been coming that season.
As scary as that was, and as silly as my friend and I felt in retrospect, there was no denying the fun we had, nor the deep sense of comfort we felt in returning to my house. That’s what scary stories do for us. They bring us home. We find catharsis in facing the darkness and making it out the other side. We appreciate the light where and when we can find it.
Here I am now—still loving scary stories. Still a total chicken. Still ready for a good tale of terror…in the daylight. Still not looking in mirrors and closing all my windows at night. And I speed up whenever I have to walk by that haunted house, indeed any haunted house, less the specters inside think to invite me in.
That’s the beauty of these early childhood frights. They gave me a solid appreciate of the thrills of a good scary story and a healthy respect for the unseen worlds or even vibes I get that tell me a person or situation is more than meets the eye.
This is why I tell spooky stories today. They reveal so much more about ourselves and the world around us than many an ordinary tale. From writing horror comedy about the terrors of dating in Hungry Business to the haunting wails of La Llorona in Weep, Woman, Weep, all my tales are inspired by the ordinary gothic all around us, pairing catharsis as we face the dark and find the light. What do you love about scary stories?
MY REVIEW
Hungry Business by Maria DeBlassie is a quick read horror story with a little snark on the side. Dating during a zombie apocalypse is not and easy thing to do. Are you eating or being eaten? Do they have a heartbeat, even if half their face is missing? Will she be alone for the rest of her days? Is there any point in leaving the house? The cat in the window….
Hungry Business by Maria DeBlassie is an okay read and the cover does intrigue me.
2 Stars
Hungry Business: A Gothic Story about the Horrors of Dating
Maria DeBlassie
Genre: horror, comedy
Publisher: Kitchen Witch Press
Date of Publication: October 12, 2020
ASIN: B08L48MVHD
Number of pages: 20
Word Count: 4400
Tagline: Dating. It’s hungry business.
Book Description:
Looking for love can be deadly…
A short story on the horrors of dating during a zombie apocalypse by bruja and award-winning writer and educator, Maria DeBlassie.
“Simple yet detailed, unique, and innovative. A brilliantly written little gem that is equal part creepy with the plague of walking dead and equal parts cozy with the hot chocolate and watching the neighbor’s cat.”
“Drawing parallels between the pitfalls of dating and dating in the zombie apocalypse, this short story packs a big world into a few pages.”
“Just the right size to occupy your time while waiting. I hope you find the humor I found.”
You know how it goes.
You go out, hoping to meet someone.
You wade through your fair share of brainless automatons, lifeless bodies, and ravenous undead, good at passing as human.
The more you go out, the less hope you feel and the colder your body gets.
But you keep at it.
All you need is one beating heart to match your own before yours stops pumping altogether.
How hard can it be to find one living, breathing human in a city full of bodies?
He said he’d
love to have you for dinner—but you are careful.
A woman has to
be careful. Never give them your address. Don’t drink too much.
Be aware of your surroundings at all times. Carry grave dirt to
throw at them if they get too forward. Be ready to run to the nearest
safe space if needed. The good news is that the Hungries, while
persistent, are dumb as fuck (brain rot, you know) and slower than the sickness
overtaking their bodies. Unless, of course, they are well fed, which is
rarely the case.
This one looks a
little better, you think optimistically.
You sit across
from each other at the dinner table. The white tablecloth is as smooth
and unblemished as his collared shirt. He has dressed for the occasion,
taking care to hide the evidence of his affliction as best he can (though truly
there is only so much he can do with a missing ear and half a brain).
Still, the tuxedo and carefully applied makeup are enough to create the
illusion of pumping blood beneath his pallid, blush-stained cheeks—in the right
light. Which is another reason why you chose this place. Candlelight can
hide a multitude of sins.
His manners are
studied and smooth, as if he has spent a lot of time practicing more human-like
movements and behavior. You admire a man who makes that kind of effort.
He watches you as much as you do him, as if he is trying to remember what
it was like to be alive. When you reach for your wine glass, so does he—only
his thick decaying fingers almost crush the stem, whereas your nimble live ones
carefully bring the dark red liquid to your mouth. You try not to notice how he
stares at your lips—stained now from the wine—wondering, perhaps, how you
taste. As it turns out, he does get a taste of you. You’ve been surreptitiously
picking at a hangnail on your pinky finger—that’s how scintillating the
conversation is—when you looked down and realize it is your whole fingernail
that has come off. You stare at it in horror, letting the truth of your
situation sink in.
At least he has
the decency to wait until you’ve left the table before grabbing your napkin and
stuffing your bloodied nail in his mouth. A little color comes back into
his face. He groans in ecstasy.
Nice to know you
could still have that effect on a man.
About the Author:
Maria DeBlassie, Ph.D. is a native New Mexican mestiza blogger, award-winning writer, and award-winning educator living in the Land of Enchantment. Her first book, Everyday Enchantments: Musings on Ordinary Magic and Daily Conjurings (Moon Books 2018), and her ongoing blog, Enchantment Learning and Living are about everyday magic, ordinary gothic, and the life of a kitchen witch. When she is not practicing her own brand of brujeria, she’s reading, teaching, and writing about bodice rippers and things that go bump in the night. She is forever looking for magic in her life and somehow always finding more than she thought was there.
Books from the Backlog is a fun way to feature some of those
neglected books sitting on your bookshelf unread. If you are anything
like me, you might be surprised by some of the unread books hiding in
your stacks.
Hailey spent her life dreaming of a dark prince falling in love with her. He never showed up, until now. A short tale set on the spookiest day of the year, Halloween. Be careful what you wish for!
I added The Old Vampire by Emma Meade to my TBR on 2.12.13. I have read some of her other work and loved it, so this was a no brainer. I am wondering why I have not read The Old Vampire because it is a short story and…VAMPIRES. Love ’em. Soooo…once I catch up on reviews that I need to write I will conquer this one. It will need to wait so I can write a review while the book is still fresh in my mind. Do you ever let reviews needing to be written stack up? Knowing it would be easier to write it while it’s fresh, but wanting to dive right into the next book?
Here’s the playlist I created for my paranormal historical romance, Witch of the Cards.
It’s set in 1932, so I mixed in a couple of era classics having to do with witches, magic, and the ocean, where an epic battle takes place between the witches in my tale. Enjoy!
Tagline: Fiera was born a sea witch with no inkling of her power. And now it might be too late.
Book Description:
Witch of the Cards is a supernatural romantic suspense set in 1932 on the Jersey shore. Fiera has left the Brooklyn orphanage where she was raised and works in Manhattan as a nanny. She gets a lucky break when her boss pays for her vacation in Asbury Park. One evening, Fiera and her new friend Dulcie wander down the boardwalk and into Peter Dune’s Tarot & Séance, where they attend a card reading.
Fiera has an unsettling ability to sense future events and people’s hidden agendas. She longs to either find out the origin of her powers or else banish them because as is, they make her feel crazy. When, during the reading, her energies somehow bond with Peter Dune’s and form an undeniable ethereal force, a chain of revelations and dangerous events unspool.
For one, Fiera finds out she is a witch from a powerful sea clan, but that someone is out to stop her blossoming power forever. And though she is falling in love with Peter, he also has a secret side. He’s no card reader, but a private detective working to expose mediums. Despite this terrible betrayal, Fiera must make the choice to save Peter from a tragic Morro Cruise boat fire, or let him perish with his fellow investigators. Told in alternating viewpoints, Fiera and Peter each struggle against their deep attraction. Secrets, lies, even murder, lace this edgy fantasy.
From Lovers of Paranormal: “Interesting story of witches, deceit, secrets, romance and friendship. Fun and creative.”
If I only had a
week in this glorious beach town, I wanted to catch up with sleep and plunge
into as many escapades as possible—even bewildering, outlandish ones.
We walked in, to
the jangle of Mr. Dune’s door chimes. I skated around, ogling the
floor-to-ceiling shelves brimming with leather-bound books on cosmic mysteries,
spiritualism, and witchcraft. Two immediate standouts were Ten Ways to Practice Mentalism and Dona Bella, Memoirs of a Southern Witch. These were my fare,
similar to a favorite book at the public library—a tome on dark magic. The most
stirring part was about each witch dynasty having its own grimoire, a sort of
magical recipe book. I had no clue as to why dark tales tickled me so, and
often wondered about my taste.
Still, I read
everything I could get my hands on, even boring books that drifted me right off
to the Land of Nod. At my nanny job, I was so desperate for stories I even read
the tedious articles about cooking and how to throw a proper cocktail party in
Mrs. Cuthbert’s Reader’s Digest and Home Arts magazines.
Mr. Dune strode toward us. His handsome aura
and towering presence intimidated yet thrilled me. He was dressed in crisp,
charcoal gray pants and a vest with a double-breasted pinstriped jacket. “Are
you lovely ladies here for the séance?” He held out a long, elegant hand, studded
with a silver ring. I barely collected my wits enough to shake it and nod.
Dulcie’s hand whooshed out and hardly touched his before she clamped it
protectively back to her side.
No doubt about
it, he was the most striking man I’d ever seen. His thick mop of dark hair
tapered into long sideburns, rendering his jawline a tad dangerous. I guessed
he was in his mid-twenties. When his coffee-brown eyes gleamed at me, my breath
caught, and a heat greater than any moonshine fired through me.
We paid the dime
admission. He escorted us to a round, wooden table with lion-footed legs where
we joined a heavyset older couple and a reedy gentleman with thin, blond hair.
His lime-fizz eyes darted over to Dulcie, and then away. Two empty chairs still
beckoned.
Dulcie looked
terrified, so I smiled at her. She calmed enough to take a seat.
Mr. Dune strode
to the window, loosened the crimson curtains, and lowered their heavy velvet
over the windows, lending the already-pensive storefront a mystical aura.
About
the Author:
Catherine Stine is a USA Today bestselling
author of paranormal, urban and historical fantasy. Witch of the Wild Beasts won a second prize in the Romance Writers
of America’s Sheila Contest. Other novels have earned Indie Notable awards and
New York Public Library Best Books. She lives in New York State and grew up in
Philadelphia. Before writing novels, she was a painter and fabric designer.
She’s a visual author and sees writing as painting with words. Catherine loves
spending time with her beagle Benny, writing about supernatural creatures,
gardening and meeting readers at book fests.
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Kirsten Weiss will be awarding a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
It’s Halloween season in small town San Borromeo, and Abigail and Hyperion are determined to make Beanblossom’s Tea and Tarot spooktacular. But when Hyperion’s boyfriend, Detective Tony Chase, is arrested at Beanblossom’s for murder, the duo is certain someone’s playing a nasty trick. And when the official investigation turns into a witch hunt, the stakes to unearth the truth are raised…
But a clever killer has plans to squash their investigation… and the two amateur detectives. If they don’t solve this puzzle—and fast—it will be out of the cauldron and into the fire for them both.
Never Say Chai is the fourth book in the Tea and Tarot cozy mystery series. A fast-paced and funny cozy mystery, packed with quirky characters, pets, and murder! Perfect for fans of Jana DeLeon, Janet Evanovich, and Donna Andrews. Buy the book and start this hilarious caper!
Tearoom recipes in the back of the book!
Read an Excerpt:
Never panic-shop.
Also, never drink and shop. And especially never panic, drink, and shop.
I’d done all of the above.
The tearoom’s oven broke last month while I was baking quiches. The estimate for its repair had been nearly as much as a new oven. In a fit of panick and piña coladas, I’d bought a new one.
The thought still made my insides curdle like over-whipped clotted cream. Industrial ovens ain’t cheap.
I hated budget pandemonium, especially when I was its cause. There was a certain joy in watching numbers fall into place, especially on the profit side of the ledger. And I’d just messed with my carefully balanced tearoom universe.
So I was more than a little anxious as I studied our tearoom. Miniature pumpkins lined its broad windows. Paper bats dangled from hanging lamps and sprouted from tiered tea trays.
Even the costumed Tarot readers had gotten into the Halloween groove. The scent of baking sugar and pumpkin hung in the air. Women chatted at their tables, teacups clinking.
It was October first, day one of the Halloween season, and San Borromeo (saint of heartburn) was becoming a Halloween town. This was a good thing for those of us dependent on tourism. Tourists don’t flock to the Pacific beach quite as often in October, despite the occasional day of spectacular weather. The Halloween festivities meant more customers.
Beanblossom’s Tea and Tarot needed those customers, especially after that new oven. It was a really awesome oven, though.
About the Author: Amazon bestselling author Kirsten Weiss writes laugh-out-loud, page-turning mysteries. Her heroines aren’t perfect, but they’re smart, they struggle, and they succeed. Kirsten writes in a house high on a hill in the Colorado woods and occasionally ventures out for wine and chocolate. Or for a visit to the local pie shop. Kirsten is best known for her Wits’ End, Perfectly Proper Paranormal Museum, and Tea and Tarot cozy mystery books. So if you like funny, action-packed mysteries with complicated heroines, just turn the page…
Old Hallows Eve, when things go bump in the night, Children come to play, and the witches provide the fright. For 19 authors, USA Today and international bestselling, The Halloween tales become more than this foretelling. In the Soul’s Day Boxset, a mansion feeds on souls, A gargoyle captures them, and a demon dungeon master makes the calls, Campers gets picked off one by one, The Karnaval’s corn dogs are less than fun, Ghosts lurking around every bend, ‘I do’ at the wedding is the very end. A boxset of chills and thrills to keep you up at night, One-click pre-order to snap your copy filled with fright. On old Hallow’s eve when creatures come to play, With this spine chilling pages, it’s where you’ll want to stay.
A boxset filled with all kinds of weird, the unexplained, terror and survival from unearthly beings.
Azaaa Davis has a story in this boxset and I am so excited to share it! I have read her Nadira Holden Demon Hunter series and loved them.
Sooooo, let me introduce you to Jilted and Azaaa Davis:
My story in SBD: Jilted by Azaaa DavisCover image attached. Page count: 60Blurb:
Administrative
assistant by day and boss lady on social media by night, Theresa enjoys
sharing her charmed life with half-million followers. The only thing
she loves more is being engaged to the hottest doctor at the clinic
where they both work. Cementing her fame by reaching one million
followers would be the icing on her wedding cake.
Life
stops running smoothly when her husband vanishes on their wedding night
and a leaked photo of a barely-dressed Theresa yelling at the police
sparks a viral sensation. With everything at stake—love, reputation,
followers, and job—she embarks on a reluctant voyage of discovery.
Follow Theresa as she stumbles over her new husband’s secrets and
develops her inner strength.
Murder in the Bayou Boneyard: A Cajun Country Mystery
by Ellen Byron
About Murder in the Bayou Boneyard
Murder in the Bayou Boneyard: A Cajun Country Mystery Cozy Mystery 6th in Series Publisher: Crooked Lane Books (September 8, 2020) Hardcover: 304 pages ISBN-10: 1643854607 ISBN-13: 978-1643854601 Digital ASIN: B082H3BT6F
Maggie Crozat has the
Halloween heebie-jeebies in USA Today bestselling and Agatha
Award-winning author Ellen Byron’s howlingly funny sixth Cajun Country
mystery.
Maggie Crozat, proprietor of a historic
Cajun Country B&B, prefers to let the good times roll. But hard
times rock her hostelry when a new cell phone app makes it easy for
locals to rent their spare rooms to tourists. With October–and
Halloween–approaching, she conjures up a witch-crafty marketing scheme
to draw visitors to Pelican, Louisiana.
Five local plantation B&Bs host
“Pelican’s Spooky Past” packages, featuring regional crafts, unique
menus, and a pet costume parade. Topping it off, the derelict Dupois
cemetery is the suitably sepulchral setting for the spine-chilling play
Resurrection of a Spirit. But all the witchcraft has inevitably conjured
something: her B&B guests are being terrified out of town by
sightings of the legendary rougarou, a cross between a werewolf and
vampire.
When, in the Dupois cemetery, someone
costumed as a rougarou stumbles onstage during the play–and promptly
gives up the ghost, the rougarou mask having been poisoned with
strychnine, Maggie is on the case. But as more murders stack up, Maggie
fears that Pelican’s spooky past has nothing on its bloodcurdling
present.
About Ellen Byron
Ellen’s Cajun Country Mysteries have won
the Agatha award for Best Contemporary Novel and multiple Lefty awards
for Best Humorous Mystery. Her Catering Hall Mystery series, written as
Maria DiRico, launched with Here Comes the Body and was
inspired by her real life. She’s an award-winning playwright and
non-award-winning TV writer of comedies like WINGS, JUST SHOOT ME, and
FAIRLY ODD PARENTS, but she considers her most impressive credit working
as a cater-waiter for Martha Stewart. A native New Yorker who attended
New Orleans’ Tulane University, she lives in Los Angeles with her
husband, daughter, and rescue furbaby. Sign up for her newsletter at https://www.ellenbyron.com/
Halloween has always been an important holiday in my home and a time for food
and parties. This book contains traditional, bootiful Halloween
recipes prepared from nondairy and cruelty free ingredients.
With 41 bewitching recipes to chose from, you will have a spooktacular
selection of recipes to inspire your little ghost or goblins to
gobble up their plates! Being a mom of two, and so no stranger to
hosting Halloween parties for little ones, I understand the
importance of presentation. If the food is fun and engaging, children
and adults alike, will want to try vegan options. The recipes come
with creative decorating ideas, party suggestions and terribly
terrifying recipe names, to get your cute little ghouls eager to bake
with you in the kitchen.
Best Selling Amazon Author of Hybrid: Adapt or Die. Her debut novel was
The Lady Raven: A Dark Cinderella Tale, which was published in 2017.
The Lady Raven, is for those who have an infinity for fairy tales
retold with a link to witches, magic and the macabre. Rebecca’s
second novel, Louisiana Latte, a chick lit comedy was released
February 28th 2019. Louisiana Latte, is a feel good comedy that
focuses on the bonds of sisters, and how audacious life can be when
you have a diva for one! Rebecca’s third novel Hybrid: Adapt or Die,
is a sci-fi, horror, romance novel. It takes the reader on a wild
ride of government conspiracy theories, ancient aliens but also
touches your heart with a tender love story. Hybrid was released
August 1st 2019. Her fourth novel Conjure Lake, a ya, dark fantasy,
horror novel will be released in 2020. The entire first chapter is
included at the end of Hybrid first edition copies. You can find all
of Rebecca’s books on Amazon.
Rebecca Henry is a world traveler living abroad in England. Besides being an
author, Rebecca is also a podcast talk host on the show The Latte
Talk. The podcast was inspired by her latest novel, Louisiana Latte
and her diva sister Deb. She is a serious vegan, gardener, crafter,
wife and mom who practices yoga. She loves to laugh, her drug of
choice and loves all things witchy with a hint of the macabre. Her
favorite holiday is Halloween and her favorite movie of all time is
Practical Magic.
**images are linked to Amazon (I am an affiliate)**
LATEST HAPPENINGS
Hi All. Glad to see you here. Halloween is over and I was glad to see we had more treaters than usual. We don’t get a lot so I hand out handfuls of candy. The only bad thing is, I eat almost as much as I give away. I LOVE chocolate. Time is going by so fast and the cooler weather is setting in. We had a lot of rain last week and needed it. Today the sun is shining and, even though it’s only 66 as I write this post, it feels warmer.
Well, that’s about it for this week. Leave a link and I’ll stop by and check you out.
Spooktacular
Guest Blog – Binge-worthy Shows for Halloween
Halloween month is the perfect
time to binge on surreal, spooky, otherworldly shows. Here are some of my top picks for your
viewing pleasure. Enjoy!
* Wacky witches and a good vs.
evil struggle: Chilling Adventures of
Sabrina
* Zombies in a quarantine zone,
aka Seattle: iZombie
* Vampire Diaries spin-off, a
school for all the preternatural folk: Legacies
* Surreal setting and quirky
people with powers: Legion
* One sexy devil and a kickass
cop: Lucifer
* Harry Potter-esque fantasy with
magicians/college students: The Magicians
* Flawed superheroes and some
“wibbly wobbly timey wimey”: The Umbrella
Academy
Happy viewing and Happy
Halloween!
Xo,
Celia
ORIGINS
Tranquilli Bloodline
Book 3
Celia Breslin
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Champagne Book Group
Date of Publication: September 9, 2019
Number of pages: 250
Word Count: 94,000
Cover Artist: Melody Pond
Tagline: The Chosen One is home. Bad little vampires beware…
Book Description:
In HAVEN and DESTINY, San Francisco nightclub owner Carina Tranquilli finds love and fights her vampire family’s enemies. Now, in ORIGINS…
En route to reunite with her estranged father in Italy, Carina is kidnapped by a human organization intent on vampire genocide. Beaten, starved, and forced to fight fellow captives, she finally manages to escape. Along the way, she encounters the group’s leaders—their identities shock her to the core.
Once home, Carina warns her family of this new threat, but dear old dad is missing. In his absence, the Tribunal, the governing body for all vampirekind, lies in disarray, with an old enemy making a bid for her father’s throne. What’s worse? The usurper wants her for his queen…and slave.
With a human-vampire war looming on one side and a vampire-vampire battle brewing on the other, Carina will have to rally her troops, take back the throne, and fulfill her destiny as the Chosen One. If not, her whole world will fall, taking everyone she loves with it.
The car stopped. I couldn’t convince myself to step out. What if this was a freaking, injection-induced hallucination? What if I was still back in the damn prison?
Besnik helped me out.
The mansion’s mammoth double doors eased open. The man illuminated in the doorway chased away the numbness, pumped my heart so hard it might pound right out of my chest. He opened his arms wide, calling me. My lips curled upward in the first true smile I’d cracked since the last time he’d held me in his arms. That man, my man, loved me more than any other on this whole damn planet.
“Alexander.”
I ran to him.
Alexander’s arms closed around me, his hold so tight I could barely catch a breath. Tremors ran through his hard body, again and again.
“Carina,” he croaked, voice sandpaper rough. “Carina.”
Nuzzling his neck, I planted fevered kisses along his tan, heated skin. He’d fed recently to be this warm under my lips. Temptation had me licking his pounding pulse, nipping at the vein. Couldn’t resist it. My fangs slid home.
Energy exploded between us, our mate bond bursting to life and tearing away whatever magical wall had separated us for far too long. My bite, the catalyst, his blood the cure. Awash in the force of our reunion, Alexander staggered then clutched me closer while I pulled out of his neck and laved the rapidly healing holes.
As our power continued to bubble and stitch us back together, he whisked us into the grand entryway, planted my ass on an ornate, antique cabinet, and devoured my mouth like a starving man. His hands roamed everywhere, searching, cataloguing, as if to reassure himself this wasn’t a hallucination, that I was really here, in his arms, relatively unharmed.
The more he kissed me, the more those wonderful, golden threads of our connection resurrected inside me, around me, between us, and I felt like freaking Sleeping Beauty awakened from her magical slumber by a kiss from her fated handsome prince. The silly thought made me giggle against Alexander’s seeking mouth, and then I was crying while my love cupped my face between his hands, wiped away my tears with his thumbs, and pressed tender kisses to my forehead, my cheeks, the tip of my nose…
“Alexander.” I fisted his shirt tight. Please, God, let him be real. “I… I don’t want to wake up.” Please, don’t let this end.
His smoky blue eyes bored into mine, his brown hair spiked in every direction, a bit longer than in my memory. It’s not a dream, baby. You’re here. You’re home.
Oh my God, I can hear you. I swiped some willful bits of hair away from his forehead, touched his full lips, ran my fingers along his strong jaw, taking in the whole handsome, bad-boy package. You’re back in my head. I’d never been happier to have someone inside my mind. Silence was seriously overrated.
And back in your arms.
About the Author:
Celia lives in California with her husband, daughter, and two feisty cats. She writes urban fantasy and paranormal romance, and has a particular fondness for werewolves, vampires, and the Fae. Her stories are action-packed and typically include one of the many varieties of romantic entanglements: fated mates, second chance, rescue romance, opposites attract, friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, and more.
When not writing, you’ll find Celia exercising, reading a good book, hanging with her family, or indulging her addiction to Joss Whedon’s TV shows and movies, as well as everything in the Marvel Universe franchise. Of course!
I must confess, my playlist isn’t
the typical fare of “Monster Mash” and “Love Potion Number Nine.” It’s about
the soundtrack I like to listen to when I’m writing my paranormal tales. These
are for my series Booke of the Hidden that takes place during all of the month
of October and culminates on Halloween. The series wraps up with the fourth
book, THE DARKEST GATEWAY. Tea proprietor Kylie Strange finds and opens the
mysterious Booke of the Hidden, and must capture deadly creatures she’s
unwittingly unleashed, while juggling the advances of an alluring and dangerous
demon and a very human and handsome sheriff. So I need different tunes to get
me in the mood.
So let’s start with “Devils” from Say Hi.
Because my urban fantasy deals with a supernatural Booke and a demon guardian
who gets intimately close to Kylie, the song deals with the devil getting hold
of everything in the singer’s life, even “he make it to my heart”—just like
Kylie.
The next one is Valerie Broussand’s “A
Little Wicked”, because Kylie and Erasmas Dark, the demon, do get a little
wicked. Especially when she can’t decide between the handsome sheriff or the
demon. Who would YOU chose?
And then there’s “In the Shadows” by Amy
Stroup. This mysterious and evocative tune really takes you there. There
may be humor in these books, but there is still something not quite right,
not…quite…human going on. It’s a song that gives me the shivers.
And just to lighten things up—and
because the First Werewolf comes out of the Booke and bites one of Kylie’s
friends—there’s the incomparable Warren Zevon’s “Werewolves
of London”. Who doesn’t like a werewolf with a pina colada in his hand
“…and his hair is perfect.”
And finally, a haunting song that
will spirit you away, right to the dark shadows of Samhain, Halloween, with all
the dangers and powers that shimmer and awaken this night. Loreena McKennitt’s “The
Mummer’s Dance” recalls strange and secret Celtic festivals in a darkened
wood lit only by moonlight.
The
Darkest Gateway
Booke
of the Hidden
Book
Four
Jeri
Westerson
Genre: Urban Fantasy/Paranormal
Romance
Publisher: JABberwocky Literary
Date of Publication: October 2,
2019
ISBN: 978-1-625674-25-8
ASIN: 978-1-625674-23-4
Number of pages: 301
Word Count: 90,181
Cover Artist: Mayhem Cover
Creations
Tagline: “Whoever said country
life was dull didn’t know Moody Bog.”
Book
Description:
With the arrival of Samhain, the
supernatural Booke of the Hidden is set to release a barrage of deadly creatures
onto the hapless village of Moody Bog, Maine.
Tea proprietor Kylie Strange
knows the showdown is coming and wants to end the Booke for good. But the only
way to accomplish this is a journey to the Netherworld and get the help of the
only being powerful enough to destroy the Booke: Satan himself. And, though the
brooding and elusive demon Erasmus Dark has captured Kylie’s heart against her
better judgment, she ignores his repeated warnings that the mission guarantees
her doom.
The sound grew
louder. It couldn’t be anything except hoofbeats. They clopped, not in a gallop
but in a leisurely canter. And soon, there was the Dullahan coming around the
curve. His head looked even greener and slimier under his arm than it had
before, if that were possible.
His weirdly
roving eyes spotted me easily. He kicked his red-eyed horse’s sides and hurried
toward us. All the while, he swung that spine whip. With each revolution around
his headless neck, the weapon grew longer and longer.
I kept the spear
close to my side. I didn’t want that whip to catch it the way it had gotten the
crossbow the last time.
He was almost
upon me when he shrieked, “Kylie Strange!”
“That doesn’t
work on me, you idiot!” I yelled.
The face frowned
under his arm. It cast its googly eyes toward Erasmus and opened his mouth to
yell his name.
“He’s a demon,
remember? We’ve been through this before. Boy, you sure have a short memory.
Must be because your brain is decaying faster than the rest of you. Looks like
a bad case of melting Roquefort you got there.”
His dead face
either grimaced or it really was melting. “Then I don’t need to say your name,”
he said in a high screechy voice.
He spun the
whip. Before I could get out of the way, it came at me and wrapped around my
body, trapping my arms at my sides. I barely got out a yell before I was yanked
off my feet.
The horse
started galloping and I was flung out behind it almost parallel to the road. I
couldn’t bring the spear up. I was whipping around in the air and getting a
little seasick, but it was better than being dragged behind on the asphalt.
There wouldn’t have been much left of me after that.
The bones of the
spine whip were digging sharply into my skin. I tried wriggling free. If
Headless decided to fling me off a cliff, there wasn’t much I could do about
it. I knew Erasmus must be around somewhere, but this was up to me to figure
out…if I could.
The Dullahan
galloped around a sharp curve and I was thrown and dragged through the limbs of
pine trees shouldering the road.
“Dammit!” I
yelled, spitting out pine needles. “I am so going to kill you!”
He lifted his
head up with his other arm. It swiveled and glared at me. “Not if I kill you
first, Mistress Strange.”
“No need to be
so formal,” I grunted, struggling. I slammed into some holly bushes and OW!
The face cackled
and turned away, tucked back under his arm again. Then I looked up and saw what
he was cackling about. The next curve of the road didn’t have any nice prickly
holly bushes or spikey pine boughs. It was just granite all the way up the rock
face. “Shit!”
About
the Author:
Los Angeles native JERI WESTERSON
is the author of twelve Crispin Guest Medieval Noir Mystery novels, a series
nominated for thirteen national awards from the “Agatha” to the “Shamus”. Her
fifth novel BLOOD LANCE was named one of the Ten Hot Crime Novels for Colder
Days by Kirkus Reviews, and her sixth, SHADOW OF THE ALCHEMIST, was named Best
of 2013 by Suspense Magazine. For BOOKE OF THE HIDDEN, her urban fantasy
series, Publishers Weekly said, “Readers sad about the ending of Charlaine
Harris’s MIDNIGHT, TEXAS trilogy will find some consolation in Moody Bog.” The
fourth and final in the series, THE DARKEST GATEWAY, releases October 2, 2019.
Jeri also writes the humorous SKYLER FOXE LGBT MYSTERIES under the pen name
Haley Walsh. Jeri’s short stories were included in several mystery anthologies,
including Shaken: Stories for Japan (for the 2011 Earthquake Relief Fund). Jeri
was also featured on two local NPR shows, “My Awesome Empire” and KVCR-Arts.
She has served two terms as president of the Southern California Chapter of
Mystery Writers of America, twice president of the Orange County Chapter of
Sisters in Crime, and as vice president and California Crime Writers Conference
co-chair for the Los Angeles Chapter of Sisters in Crime. See more about Jeri
at JeriWesterson.com, BOOKEoftheHIDDEN.com, and
SkylerFoxeMysteries.wixsite.com/novels.
