As I read the short stories of Land of Bones by Glen Rolfe, filled with macabre horror, scares and screams, fright and terror, I hope for a deeper glimpse into his writing and was rewarded with a novella that left me shaking my head and saying WTH… He loves to kill his characters off in some gruesome and sad ways. Loved it.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Land of Bones by Glen Rolfe.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Demon lights, granted
wishes, strange things, and brutal love at the Lucky Lounge Motel. A
haunted sister, desperate parents, a little human touch, and the end of
the world…
These are the stories whispered among dead leaves, the
script etched bare for all to see. When the chills sink deep and your
heart begins to pound…are you alone?
Welcome to Glenn Rolfe’s LAND OF BONES
14 tales of the strange and macabre
ABOUT GLEN ROLFE
Glenn Rolfe is an author, singer, songwriter from the haunted woods of New England. He studied Creative Writing at Southern New Hampshire University, and continues his education in the world of horror by devouring the novels of Stephen King, Jack Ketchum, Richard Laymon, and many others. He and his wife, Meghan, have three children, Ruby, Ramona, and Axl. He is grateful to be loved despite his weirdness.
He is the author of Becoming, Blood
and Rain, The Haunted Halls, Chasing Ghosts, Boom Town, Abram’s Bridge,
Things We Fear, Land of Bones, The Window, Out of Range, and Slush.
He is hard at work on many more. Stay tuned!
“With
slashing claws and blood-soaked fur, Glenn Rolfe’s novel will have you
howling in terror and delight. A welcome addition to the werewolf mythos
and proof that we’re in the presence of a rising star in the genre.
Highly recommended!” – Ronald Malfi, author of December Park
“(Rolfe)
takes his writing cues form Richard Laymon, Jack Ketchum, with some
haunts thrown in via the eerie style of Ronald Malfi.” – Oh, For the
Hook of a Book
“Glenn Rolfe’s writing is a breath of fresh air,
followed by a jolt of adrenaline.” – Iain Rob Wright, author of The
Final Winter
“Glenn Rolfe runs at the front of the pack with the
best of today’s emerging horror authors.” – Terry M. West, author of
Heroin in the Magic Now
“Rolfe weaves a wonderful tale of big, bad things happening to a small, good town. A sure winner!” – Hunter Shea, author of The Mantauk Monster – (on Boom Town)
I have made a huge dent in back reviews that have been sitting, waiting…and waiting. I am close to reaching my goal for this year, the first round through my notebooks and review list. I won’t get everything done, but I am happy with the challenge and my progress.
I read Gideon on 6.2.16 and gave it a 5 star rating for this debut thriller. I love Alex Gordon’s work and can only imagine how far Alex Gordon will go in her career. I plan on being around to see.
Lauren’s fate is sealed with the death of her father. He tried to protect her, but the lure for answers about death and danger surrounding her beckons her to Gideon, where He waits.
Alex Gordon”s story takes us from Seattle, Washington, to Gideon, Illinois.
Gideon was a crossroads for evil.
HE is surrounded by woods and darkness, where the dead don’t stay dead. Have I hooked you yet?
The town’s people job was to keep the darkness from crossing over.
Could Lauren be the one to stop HIM for good? Would innocence and naivety in the ways of evil and magic win out?
From the 1800s and burning at the stake to cell phones, potions and spells, evil rises and good does it’s best to prevail.
Both good and evil characters will die, so be careful who you get attached to and be prepared to grieve for the characters taken before their time.
I was a bit slow to get involved, but once Lauren traveled to Gideon, I found the pace picking up and my need to know what happens next rising to such a high level I found it hard to put the book down.
BUT…the story is not over and I am so happy to have Book II, Jericho, here at my side, ready to crack open and see what challenge faces Lauren next. I wrote that in my notes, but I reviewed Jericho before Gideon. Don’t ask me why, because I don’t know. LOL
Gideon wraps up the story in a great way and I feel it can stand alone, but I rated Jericho 5 stars, so I think ,once you begin, you would have to know more.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Gideon by Alex Gordon.
5 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Preston & Child meets
Kim Harrison in this edge-of-your-seat debut thriller—a superb blend of
mystery, urban fantasy, horror, romance, and the supernatural.
When
Lauren’s father dies, she makes a shocking discovery. The man she knew
as John Reardon was once a completely different person, with a different
name. Now, she’s determined to find out who he really was, even though
her only clues are an old photograph, some letters, and the name of a
town—Gideon.
But someone—or something—doesn’t want her to
discover the truth. A strange man is stalking her, appearing everywhere
she turns, and those who try to help her end up dead. Neither a shadowy
enemy nor her own fear are going to prevent her from solving the mystery
of her father—and unlocking the secrets of her own life.
Making
her way to Gideon, Lauren finds herself more confused than ever. Nothing
in this small Midwestern town is what it seems, including time itself.
Residents start going missing, and Lauren is threatened by almost every
townsperson she encounters. Two hundred years ago, a witch was burned at
the stake, but in Gideon, the past feels all too chillingly present . .
.
ABOUT ALEX GORDON
Alex Gordon, author of the
supernatural thrillers GIDEON and JERICHO, was born in the Northeast,
grew up in the South, and now resides in the Midwest. When she isn’t
working, she enjoys watching sports and old movies, long walks, and the
company of her dog, Gaby. She dreams of someday adding the Pacific
Northwest to the list of regions where she has lived. And maybe the
south of France.
She is not the Alex Gordon who has written
several books about English footballers. She also has never played for
the Kansas City Royals.
Photo by Libby Bulloff
Alex also writes Science Fiction and Fantasy under the name Kristine Smith.
I have been remiss in keeping up with my challenges and am now crossing off the Z for my Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge, Zombies v Ninjas by R A Barnes. I have K, Keeper of the Peace by Jennifer Malone Wright, X, EXtinct by Ike Hamill (which I am currently reading), and You Can Run by Willow Rose to finish it off. I pulled them from my Amazon free downloads. I will be squeezing the reviews in before the end of the year, because I like all my challenge books to be reviewed.
I picked this up on 9.10.15 for free and it was still FREE when I created this post.
The tile for Zombies v Ninjas made me have to pick this up. I was curious how they would come together and it happens quickly.
An island, the Undead, an evil mastermind…and ninjas, there has to be a lot of slash ’em up, rock ’em sock ’em action…and there is. Have I died and gone to…HELL?
This is a different slant on zombies and how they came to be and the ninjas are recruited to save humanity from the apocalypse.
I felt like that’s cool, oh yeah, i like that, all right, way to go, but I never felt like OH NO! OMG! Run for your lives. Watch Out.
All in all a fun read and I would continue with the series.
3 Stas
GOODREADS BLURB
The dead are coming alive on an island in the North Atlantic Ocean. A bullet isn’t going to stop them. They feel no pain.
Flesh-eating walkers have been taking sheep and cattle from the fields. A minor inconvenience until someone, or something, starts to organize them.
A force of pure evil, building an army of undead offspring, planning the end of mankind. Only the ninjas are suitably skilled to identify the undead, understand them and cut off their heads. So few against so many.
Will the human race survive?
Featuring Ruby Barnes, John Baptist and D.I. Andy McAuliffe.
Wicked is his name. He watched her from the dark, barely able to control himself.
Gwen saw him approach from the dark, tall, heavily armed and looking like the warrior he is.
At first I had trouble figuring out who was talking, him or her. It took a moment to catch the shift.
How she becomes a vampire is a bit different and so are these vampires. I am always on the lookout for an author that represents them in a new to me light. They are accepted as part of the human world.
When I heard Gwen say, “Well, hurray for me. Don’t I feel special?”, I knew I was going to love this character. LOL I love her sarcastic wit. She is a Halfling, half vampire and half human.
We have other supernatural characters visiting and, in my book, we can never have too many.
Have you ever felt like…one minute I was attracted to him and wanted him to kiss me and the next I wanted to punch him in the face and watch him bleed.
As Gwen sits at his beside, tears rolling down her face, I came close to crying with her. I love a story that evokes emotions.
He met his match in her, but will she be his mate? In the supernatural world, love and romance is on a different timeline and I love to go with it, letting the author take me where they will.
Kayden…I laughed and worried about him. He is a great warrior, but, deep in his soul, who is he really?
Great and a bit gory fight scenes and sweet lovin’. This is not erotica, but I highly recommend it for adults only. The sex scenes are more sweet and loving than erotic.
As I saw the end coming, I knew what would happen, with 500 pages left, I was racing through the pages as I see the story undold right before my eyes. I worry so much more for Kayden than I do for Gwen and Wicked. After all, they are the stars of the show and can’t be killed off…can they?
Whew…no cliffhanger, unless you count the tease, which did its job and hooked me. I have to know more and this is one of those series that I want to read to the very end.
I am hooked on the characters, the vampire warriors, and Evi’s ability to spin a tale that captured me totally, completely. I was afraid I would have to wait for the next book in the series, but, no worries. It has been written. The only problem I see is there is no Kindle version available. Hey, Evi, help a girl out, please. I have to know more!!!!!!!
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Wicked Night by Evi Rhodes.
4 Stars
BLURB
Follow
the journey of a strong, independent, yet caring woman as she navigates the
supernatural world she is thrust into. Gwen steps out of a dysfunctional family
life and into a world filled with danger she never realized lives at every
turn, fiery passion, and a love that is ever binding. How will she handle her
strange new surroundings as well as the man with the intense and overbearing
personality who threatens to destroy the emotional barriers around her heart?
Wicked, the next in
line to become the vampire king, is caught off guard when he grudgingly agrees
to take on a charge, something he never wanted to do. He is unsure how to
handle the fierce and vibrant woman with the unsettling green eyes. It doesn’t
take long for them to clash, but will it end passionately or burn down around
them?
EXCERPT
Wicked stood in the darkness staring at his soon-to-be
charge and felt like a deer in the headlights. He couldn’t take his eyes off of
her and just stared, blinking with wide eyes.
“I didn’t expect you to be so beautiful,” he whispered to
himself. He was late meeting her but he
could not face her yet, not until the blood in his veins cooled and his
breathing returned to normal. The last thing he needed to do was make an ass of
himself by acting like a high-school boy hyped up on hormones. He had never in all his 148 years felt this
kind of draw toward anyone. He had the strongest urge to reach out and touch
her hair, to whisk her off her feet into his arms and kiss her until their lips
hurt and she breathlessly begged him to stop.
His blood felt as if it were boiling in his veins as the image of this
woman in his arms flickered across his mind.
Out of the blue, she laughed aloud, seemingly for no
apparent reason, but it was almost his undoing. It was like she was purring in
his ear; he could feel her breath against his skin as if she were standing
right beside him. He growled under his
breath and then turned around and closed his eyes as he ground his teeth
together in response to his body’s reaction. Good God, he wanted to march
across the short expanse separating them and do something that he would
definitely regret later, like push her up against the wall and take her right there. He could picture ripping open her jacket and
lifting her off the ground . . .
AUTHOR Bio and Links
Evi Rhodes has
always had a passion for writing and likes to spend as much time as possible
hanging out with the array of rescue animals on her farm in Ontario, sipping on
a cup of coffee and typing on her laptop.
In addition to
getting her degree in business as well as competing in her favourite equestrian
sport, dressage, she is an entrepreneur, and has coached many of a riding
enthusiast, but she has always found herself coming back to wanting to write
full-time.
“I just want to
be me and to be authentic. To tell a story that others can immerse themselves
in and enjoy is what I have always wanted.”
I loved Perry Prete’s Ethan Tennant series, so I was curious how he would handle these four dark tales of horror…and I think they are a complete success. Well done Perry.
The stories are short, so I didn’t have time to get lost in them, but I thoroughly enjoyed each and every one. If I had to pick a favorite, it would have to be Social Studies.
THE ELEVATOR: This was one creepy story and it had my mind wondering what was real and what was I imagining as I got lost in the dark…trapped in the elevator and in my own mind. Well done. 4 Stars
REUNION: It had been five years since his girlfriend went missing when the creature attacked and he had been back for a family reunion. Sad, frightening, but ya gotta hang in til the end because ya just never know. 4 Stars
SOCIAL STUDIES: One assignment = one grade and it took over her life. I didn’t see where this going and, wow, it was all over the place and I loved it. 4 Stars
HIGHWAY 7: Predictable, now you see it, now you don’t, but with a twist and I loved it.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Highway 7 by Perry Prete.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
A terrifying tale of
claustrophobia reveals a dark secret even more disturbing than the
present ordeal. What should be an idyllic family reunion turns to trauma
when a demon from the past reappears to claim its victim. An innocent
girl investigating a series of brutal murders becomes warped in ways one
cannot imagine. And a pit stop along a long highway drive may lead to
love, or it may be the final destination in a bizarre twist of fate…
Award-winning
mystery novelist Perry Prete returns with Highway 7: 4 Dark Tales, an
anthology of unsettling horror stories that are sure to leave you
shivering as you triple-check your locked door. Get ready to experience a
weird world as you journey along Highway 7!
ABOUT PERRY PRETE
Perry
Prete is a Canadian crime writer and paramedic. His first novel, All
Good Things, introduced us to Ethan Tennant, a City of Ottawa paramedic
who looks at crimes from the medical perspective.
Perry continues to work full-time as a
paramedic and uses his thirty plus years of life changing and sometimes
dramatic experiences to bring realism to his gripping medical novels.
His other works include, The Things That Matter Most and All Good
Things.
He is also a business owner,
specializing in the pre-hospital care field. His company sells medical
equipment across North America, primarily to EMS agencies.
A native of Sudbury, Ontario, Perry, graduated from Fanshawe College in London but now lives and works in Brockville, Ontario.
The eerie cover of Beneath London’s Fog by Ilona Caldwell makes me think of Jack the Ripper and ghosts. Are you creeped out yet?
Jonathon has made himself a prisoner in Raven Hollow Manor, along
with his daughter, Holly. He lost his love, Anna, but her ghostly
presence lingers.
His past is coming back to haunt him when a serial killer goes wild in the foggy nights of London.
He is able to transform himself and I loved it. He becomes a cat, a
Great Dane, or a mist in the night. Being immortal allows him to see
without being seen. He is very protective of Holly and struggles to
allow her some freedom. He is easily able to ‘spy’ on her, assuring her
safety. After all, he knows first hand the monsters that lurk in the
shadows. His oasis is by Anna’s gravesite. He reads Poe and Robert Frost
to her.
Holly knows that he is an immortal. Authors have the freedom to
create the immortal they want to portray, and I love Ilona Caldwell’s
version.
I begin to wish for his happiness, for him to move on and create a new life, without Anna.
Enter…Walter Deverough, a detective on the hunt. I wonder….I feel we’ll be seeing a lot more of him.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned and SHE will scorch the earth with her need for revenge.
We, also, have Leland…a hero to the end.
Fast paced. Suspenseful. A vampire of a different color. Great world
building as I pictured him walking the streets of London, damp and
weary. Ilona Caldwell draws pictures with her words.
I voluntarily reviewed and ARC of Beneath London’s Fog by Ilona Caldwell.
4 Stars
Beneath London’s Fog Iona Caldwell Published by: FyreSyde Publishing Publication date: October 30th 2019 Genres: Occult Fiction, Ghost Story, British Literature
Jonathan is the immortal master of Raven Hollow Manor – a decrepit mansion riddled with superstition, murder and restless ghosts. Beneath it lies a restless malice.
Its previous owner driven mad, violently kills his guests with a rusted ax, creating the perfect venue for Jonathan to seclude himself in a prison of his own device.
When the streets of London begin to run red with blood; the bodies exhibiting disturbing signs and baffling wounds, the identity of the killer remains elusive to police.
The bodies are just the beginning of Jonathan’s troubles. A mysterious letter accusing Jonathan of committing the murders appear, raising suspicion in the police. Hidden beneath the mangled bodies, Jonathan soon realizes he is being forced to face demons he thought died in a forlorn past he attempted to escape.
One thing Jonathan knows for certain: He must deal with the demons of his past if he is to survive his future. Not only him but those he has come to love as well.
For fans of Jim Butcher, Stephen King, Darcy Coates and Nick Cutter.
I want it known before this tale begins – I am not a hero but a villain. I want no sympathy from whomever reads this recalling of my story; no mourning for the tragedy that befell my life. I am not an innocent man but a sinner forced to face the ravaging demons and ghosts of his own creation.
My story began as many do – a lie, a fire and murder. One of my kind murdered the woman I loved in the coldest of blood in one of history’s darkest times at the behest of a possessive noble.
After a run in with him in Nottingham, I soon found myself fleeing for my life from hunters, framed for a murder I had not committed.
Forgive me, I am getting ahead of myself.
Let me begin where this part of my story took place.
A bloody civil war ravaged London followed shortly by the Great Fire in 1666. A glorious time for me and those like me to take advantage of the chaos and remain hidden in the shadows.
I managed to pursue the one responsible for nearly getting me killed two centuries prior to the plague which befell London before the fire.
Within the shadows of the flickering flames of St. Peter’s Cathedral, I struck him down and departed the city, thus avoiding my demise.
I had yet to escape him, however, when his vengeful spirit devoured the souls of the innocent in a mad bloodlust.
Though greatly injured, I managed to drive his spirit to my new home Raven Hollow Manor in London, imprisoning him in stone coffin in the crypt beneath it.
Peace resumed in my life and nobles of all kinds enjoyed lavishly hosted parties within the halls of my estate.
Unfortunately, the short lived splendor at the hands of the hauntings filled the ears of the locals and my beloved home decayed into a tangled web of blood-filled rumors and superstition.
My once glorious halls became infested with dust, its crystal chandeliers covered with cobwebs, their spiders fat on the insects buzzing around the decay and mold-covered wallpaper.
Yet, there I remained as it proved a decent place to not only contain my greatest sin but served also as a castle of solitude.
The tides of time swept by in a cacophony of modernization and the movement from superstition to things only mortal science could explain.
I still needed to venture into the city, not only to feed but also to purchase other items needed for everyday living.
It wasn’t until the winter of 1910 that my silence would be disrupted in the form of a girl named Holly, a young street urchin accused of theft. I took her with me after using a bit of “persuasion” on the local officers to let her go.
They did not need to know where I would take her and she soon grew into a wonderful messenger on my behalf. She became a rather attractive young woman with bouncy blonde curls who kept me company with stories of what went on in the city.
I am sure, at one time, she became infatuated with me. It did not surprise me. To mortals, my kind held a certain allure they found difficult to ignore. I ended her infatuation quickly following a stern talking to and dousing with cold water.
One day, while in my labyrinthine garden, Holly came to me in tears.
When the people of London learned where Holly lived, the townsfolk dubbed her a practitioner of black magic.
One day, I found Holly sitting on one of the marble benches in the garden, sobbing. I picked a flower and put it in my daughter’s hair, sitting next to her beneath the statue of a praying angel.
“You need not worry about them, dearest. Mortals are always quick to place labels on what they do not understand.”
Holly sniffled and sobbed, wiping her nose and offering me a smile. “But why do they avoid this place, Jonathan?”
“Mortals fear what they cannot comprehend. Pay them no mind. You are a wonderful young woman,” I purred, brushing a blonde curl from her face.
The words appeared to have placated her as she smiled and joined me in a moonlight stroll through the garden.
***
Around midnight, after dinner with Holly, I dismissed her to bed. Once she departed, I sought out sustenance in the city.
A dense fog rolled in due to the cool winter weather and the recent days of rain.
Combined with the darkness of the streets and alleyways, I managed to meet a young working woman on the corner and wooed her into joining me for a walk to the park. As with other women, I made sure she understood I respected her body with gentle caresses and loving words murmured into her ears.
Once I placed her deep under my spell, I kissed the tender flesh of the woman’s throat and exposed shoulder, thanking her for her gift.
My fangs pierced her flesh, earning a moan of pleasure as her body surrendered its precious life force without any significant damage. Her body pressed against mine, her moans increasing with pleasure at my kiss.
I preferred this method to those of many of my other brethren who tore their victims apart during a feeding, choosing power to subdue instead of sexual allure.
When signs of weakness began manifesting I released my hold, picking her up after licking the small puncture wounds, my saliva healing them, leaving no marks or scars.
To assure she received care, I took her to the nearest hospital and deposited her on the steps without anyone noticing.
As always, I used hypnotic suggestion to erase her memory and leave her with a pleasant dream.
During the wee hours of the morning, I tended to enjoy the calls of the birds and the chirping of the crickets to help relieve the burden on my mind.
Not a soul roamed the streets near the bridge where I liked to sit and write poetry or read a book.
In the midst of the silence, a horrifying shriek caught my attention, almost startling me.
My pupils narrowed to those one might see in a viper or a cat. I let my body dissipate into the form of a black mist, hovering over the city in search of the source of the scream.
I found it in the shape of the body of a mangled man.
The whites of his eyes consumed most of the portion of the glossy orbs in his skull, mouth gaped open mid-scream.
I knelt before him, my own brows furrowed in frustration at the recognition of the familiar puncture wounds on the man’s throat. This cannot be. No other has hunted here in centuries.
The disturbing find made something clear.
Many of my kind preferred not to hunt in one place occupied by another of higher status, or in another’s territory for that matter. We changed due to the growing number of human hunters who would kill any of us they came across.
Despite the city’s size, my reputation often kept others out of my hunting grounds, for which I remained grateful.
This new kill had been malicious.
If I allowed such behavior to continue, it could draw the attention of the hunters or the local police to my home.
Whomever the responsible party, I needed to locate them and have a word with them or kill them if necessary.
My eyes closed, a heavy sigh drawing up from within my lungs. I placed my fingers over the man’s eyes, using a gentle touch to close them. “Forgive whichever of us did this to you. You did not deserve to die in such a horrific manner.”
Searching through the pockets of his trench coat, I located his identification card and vowed to send some money and roses to his family.
Sounds of sirens and the calls of the corner watchmen announced the arrival of the authorities. I left them the man’s wallet so they could inform his family of their loss.
I lurked in the shadows listening to the inspectors scrutinizing the scene.
“Bloody mystery, it is. This is the second mangled body we found this week. One has to wonder if we might be witnessing the birth of another blighter of a serial killer.” One of the inspectors scratched his head beneath the dome shaped hat.
I recognized him as Bertrand Abrams, a well-known officer and one of the only men who aided Holly during her visits to town.
From his looks, one would expect him to hail from Scotland. A bushy mustache and stringy hair with the consistency of sheep’s wool held the color of fire. Dimples set into high cheekbones and a double chin made me smile. A portly belly betrayed his affinity for too many scones and perhaps Scotch.
He had been wrong. This death held no mystery. I merely needed to find the one responsible before it resulted in too much of a personal dilemma.
Following the release of the corpse to the medical examiner, I took the form of black mist and drifted back to Raven Hollow.
The beginnings of my night would be haunted by dreams of a past filled with love, vengeance and pain.
It would be filled with shining auburn locks and eyes the color of the fresh leaves of spring.
Author Bio:
Iona Caldwell is the lover of all things arcane, folklore, nature and magic.
She is the author of the British Occult Fiction, Beneath London’s Fog set to be published by FyreSyde Publishing October 2019. Her second title, Hell’s Warden is forecasted to release in February of 2020. When she’s not busy weaving worlds of the arcane and dark, she’s spending time out in nature. An avid lover of books, Iona claims her biggest inspirations are H.P Lovecraft, Stephen King, Neil Gaiman and Edgar Allen Poe.
She believes storytellers should tell the stories they want to tell. As such, most of her titles are stand-alone novellas she hopes will leave her readers immersed in magical worlds.
She is also an extremely active book blogger who will review primarily horror, suspense, supernatural thriller, mystery, and occult/gothic fiction.
This is my introduction to Michaelbrent Collings and I wonder why I haven’t read any of his work before. I immediately remedied that after reading Scavenger Hunt and followed his blog, getting two more books to read just for signing up.
Michaelbrent Collings does his own covers and I LOVE this one. How about you?
As soon as I saw the cover, I knew I had to read Scavenger Hunt by Michaelbrent Collings. Why I haven’t read any of his work before, I can’t say, but I am glad HE found ME and offered me an ARC.
At first, I was confused and thinking, uh oh, is this one of those books I am going to struggle through. Well, I didn’t have long to wait to find out that I was too quick to judge.
THEN: The bottom dropped out of five lives as they are thrust into a deadly game of Scavenger Hunt and I quickly find out how the bloody smiley face on the cover comes into play.
Bloody, gory happenings as we flip between the past and the present, learning each characters life, exposing the reason for them being chosen to PLAY the game.
The camera is on and it could be watching YOU!
There’s more going on than the Scavenger Hunt. We have Thaddeus…a rich muckety muck and Hope, a young girl haunted by her past.
WOW…WOW…Scavenger Hunt is turning out to be so much more than what I expected. Michaelbrent Collings has a wicked mind. I haven’t read a book quite like this and it took me to a really dark place. I love the DARK.
I wondered how the stories would all come together, why these particular characters were chosen and it took me a while to see the common factor. As each character’s history is revealed, the threads weave together, though the perpetrator continues to elude me
I love the ending, and for all you high and mighty muckety mucks out there who think you are above the law…BEWARE.
You may think the same thing I did when I first began reading, but don’t give up too soon. The story just keeps getting better and better as it unfolds.
Scavenger Hunt’s originality, fast paced action and tension filled pages makes this an unputdownable book. I read it in one day, while at the dentist, at the eye doctor and finished it up while watching my Detroit Lions play the Green Bay Packers on Monday Night Football. Anything that takes my eyes off the game has to be great!
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of Scavenger Hunt by Michaelbrent Collings.
5 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
“I already know all your names. As for me… you can call me Mr. Do-Good.” *** Five strangers have woken up in a white room.
Apparently
chosen at random, they have been kidnapped, drugged… and chosen to
play the world’s most high-stakes scavenger hunt.
Run by Mr.
Do-Good, a madman who ides his identity behind a bloodstained smily-face
mask, the contestants are given a series of deadly tasks to complete.
All they have to do to survive is…
… complete every task… … on time.. … and not break any of Do-Good’s rules.
Breaking
the rules is forbidden, and failure is not an option. Because Do-Good
has plans for these strangers, and refusing to play the game carries the
most deadly of consequences…
ABOUT MICHAELBRENT COLLINGS
Michaelbrent Collings is an internationally-bestselling novelist, multiple Bram Stoker Award nominee, produced screenwriter, and one of the top indie horror writers in the United States.
He hopes someday to develop superpowers, or, if that is out of the question, then at least to get a cool robot arm.
Michaelbrent
has a wife and several kids, all of whom are much better looking than
he is (though he admits that’s a low bar to set), and also cooler than
he is.
Michaelbrent also has a Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/MichaelbrentC… and can be followed on Twitter through his username @mbcollings. Follow him for cool news, updates, and advance notice of sales. You will also be kept safe when the Glorious Revolution begins!
I have been reading and reviewing some books that authors have requested and they have been a pleasant surprise. Nightfall on New Babylon by Carmen Taxer and Richard Wheeler is one of these books.
Nightfall on New Babylon by Carmen Dominque Taxer and Richard T Wheeler is told from multiple character viewpoints. At times I found it confusing trying to remember who was who and what’s happening to them, but I do love my vampire stories, so I read on and I’m glad I did.
Things started falling into place. Characters are being exposed for who they truly are. Horrors arise and they are not only the vampire kind.
The women seem to pay the biggest price. As I learn more about the four main characters, I find their lives tragic and frightening. There is more going on than meets the eye and the ending set me up for wanting to know what comes next.
The setting seems like the time of Jack the Ripper in England, but I could visualize the street and ruins of Italy too.
Cliffhanger ending that hooked me.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Nightfall of New Babylon by Carmen Dominque Taxer and Richard T Wheeler.
3 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Nightfall on New Babylon (Gaslight Vamp #1)
A Gothic Political Thriller Serial in a Victorian Vampire Horror Setting
In a city built on sin, the immortal Lords of Night move all the pieces.
New
Babylon is a city of sin, built on lies told over generations. The
inhabitants may think they are the masters of their own destinies at the
dawn of the Scientific Revolution, but as night falls on New Babylon,
the true Lords of Night once again move their pieces across the playing
field in a secret war for dominance – Devika Templeton is a girl who has
it all, including a nightly visitor; Roald Black has lost it all, but
the truth is even more painful than the loss will ever be; Dalla Arnesen
must rebuild her scuttled career, a tenuous feat in a city set against
her; and Victoria Campbell has a secret that she must share with her
rich suitor if she has any hope of escaping the streets.
Binding
all four together with strings of obligation and pain is House D’Asur,
the disgraced Lords of the Glass Manor – Those who would be Lords of
Night again.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Carmen Dominque Taxer: Author, artist, and sometime philosopher, Carmen Dominique Taxer was born in South Africa with familial roots across the globe. She began her career with early scribblings of the dark and twisted, and this love of dark Gothic Horror, and equally dark Romance, has only grown over the years. Her first love was vampires, and to this day she cannot write without the words pouring out in the shape of roses, blood, and thorny kisses. Carmen uses the presence of vampires in a fictional setting to give voice to the struggles and successes of humanity, painting a portrait of the world that is both dark and beautifully highlighted with love conquering death above all else.
She and her husband and co-author, Richard T. Wheeler, have constructed a universe of these vampires with the affectionate title of Sanguinem Emere. All of these stories take place in the fictional city of New Babylon, a melting pot of cultures, ethnicities, and desires.
About Richard T Wheeler: Richard T. Wheeler is the co-author of the Sanguinem Emere Gaslight Vamp novel serial and runs Dauntlesswriting.com, helping writers become authorpreneurs.
Kendra is an author of mystery romance novels. A woman after my own heart. She is also a ghost whisperer. She doesn’t leave her comfort zone, whether in fashion or personality. That will all change when Jenna seeks her help
Jenna is her best friend and quickly becomes a ghost. Fantastic personality and I can relate to her. She is afraid for her FBI father and hangs around, refusing to go into the light. She wonders how Jenna could be her best friend and she not realize she was gay. It makes her question herself. Kendra’s mind just never went there.
The plot thickens and bodies fall.
Kendra will be working with Derek Knight, who Jenna was investigating the death of numerous FBI agents with. I feel a romance in the making. The attraction was quick and it developed rapidly, them being pushed together all day, every day.
Of course, I knew she would have to do something stupid, ignoring her intuition. It happens in all romantic suspense novels. It can be frustrating, but builds the suspense, knowing she’s in big trouble with a capital T.
Well, I was right about one thing, but it wasn’t the killer and it didn’t go down the way I thought. I love when an author can surprise me and keep me guessing. And…now I know.
There’s more to come in this series and I want to be there with the gang. I can imagine all the hoots, laughs and danger that will be coming their way.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Unorthodox by S Peters Davis.
4 Stars
Ghost-Riddance!
A short story by S. Peters-Davis
“Do you have any idea how long I’ve wandered around, waiting for someone to see me?” I studied her misshaped face. Her eyes read, ‘who gives a rip.’ A deep sigh later, I zoomed through the air to catch up with her. “So, what’s your name?” Something about her seemed familiar to me.
“Go find someone else to pester.” Only a short side-glance at me, and she hiked on, trekking through the forest, ever closer to where my bones lay.
“How long have you been able to communicate with the dead?” I would engage her, make her listen to my story, and why would that even matter? All of my family had long passed from this world. “Do you ever take a beat to rest?”
She stopped and glared at me. “If I talk to you for a minute, then will you leave me alone forever?”
“Forever?”
Her eyes misted over. “I’m not feeling friendly. I don’t wish to chat, and certainly not to a stranger. Can’t you see I’m upset?” A tear took a nosedive and slipped off her chin.
“Who’s responsible for your misery? I’ll haunt them ’til the end of time.” I stomped my foot, even though it made no sound and actually slipped below the ground surface for a second.
She laughed. Her voice rose above the birdsong and then ricocheted off the trees eerily like a haunted forest. She fell to the ground with uncontrolled gasps and guffaws of laughter. Her eyes leaked a lot as she rolled half in and half out of the ground, and then suddenly, she stopped with a hiccup. Her brilliant blues swept over me. She sat up with her legs stretched out in front of her.
“I meant what I said, not a joking matter haunting someone ’til the end of time.” I folded myself to the ground beside her, arms crossed over my chest to impress my seriousness on her.
Her full, shapely lips stretched into a smile. “So, why are you stuck in the forest? Who are you anyway?”
“Landus James, at your service.” I reached my hand toward her, and she grabbed it. My eyes went wide as did my mouth that we could actually touch each other.
“Yea, so…what does one ghost say to the other?” She grinned and stood.
I followed suit, rising from the ground as I recognized those lovely blues staring back at me. “Zee?” I held her at arms-length. “How? Why?”
“You’re not the only one wandering through this forest in search of your significant other.” She studied me, scanning. “What happened to you? Half of your face is gone.”
“It is?” I touched my cheeks, feeling raw tissue and bone on the right side of my face. Something I’d never been able to do before now. What a nightmare I must look like after being mauled by a grizzly. “I had no idea my spirit-self would be portrayed as I must have appeared in death.” I studied her face, parts swollen, discolored, and gory. “What happened to you?”
“Someone attacked me from behind. I don’t know who as I lost consciousness with the first blow to the back of my head. I had gone looking for you the next morning. You had taken the gun long before nightfall, looking for supper while I set up our camp.” She looked around me, her focus on the ground underneath the branches of a big oak tree, where my bones rested. “All this time I’ve been looking for you, and there you are.” Her attention drifted back to me. “Let’s go bless your bones, then I’ll show you where mine lay to rest.”
We ambled over to the tree. Zee spoke the words, “Blessed are those who live in love.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the south. “Let me take you to where I lay so you may speak a blessing for me.”
We moved with the wind as it hurled us between the trees and shrubbery. My heart lifted to heights it hadn’t visited for many centuries. Our fingers entwined a little tighter as we passed through miles of wooded terrain. Then suddenly, Zee drew my body closer, we slowed and settled beneath a huge walnut tree.
“Here I am,” she said, looking toward the ground.
Her remains resonated within my spirit, and I knew exactly where she lay. “You lay here.” I bent to touch the earth, and my hand vanished below the surface. “Blessed are those who live in love.”
As soon as the last word left my lips, everything went dark, and I wondered if I’d gone to hell…
* * *
My body shook incessantly to the words, “Wake up. Wake up right now! Landus, please wake up.”
I opened my eyes to Zee. Her lovely unmarred face hovered above mine, the sun creating a halo around her beautiful blonde hair. “Where are we?” I asked, raising to my elbows and looking around. The forest appeared the same.
She pinched me.
“Ouch. Why’d you do that?” I stared at her, noticing how beautiful she looked. How fresh and alive her cheeks blushed.
She started laughing like before.
The brambles, sticks, and dirt poked into my forearms, and I sat to brush it off, realizing I could actually feel the outside world.
My breath sucked in, my lungs filled, I breathed.
“We get a second chance, darling.” Zee settled on my lap, her lips gently finding mine.
I responded, fervent for more but not fully understanding how we could be together after being apart for so long.
She pressed her body against mine. Her heart thrummed against my chest.
We were alive.
Her eyes fluttered open, and she drew back, licking my lips as we parted. “I want you right now, right here.”
I sucked in another breath, fully aroused and on fire for her. “Blessed are those who live in love.”
“Ghost riddance,” she muttered against my lips and then proceeded to rip my shirt from my body.
Unorthodox
A
Kendra Spark Novel
Book One
S. Peters-Davis
Genre: Paranormal
Suspense-Thriller Romance
with a good dollop of
Supernatural
Publisher: Books We Love
Publishing
Date of Publication: September
15, 2017
ASIN: B073MZZPVM
ISBN 978-1-77362-303-0
Number of pages: 153 pages
Word Count: 63,000
Cover Artist: CoverUp.Net
Book
Tagline:Kendra’s ability of
communicating with the dead is requested by her FBI criminal analyst friend to
stop a killer from murdering agents.
Series
Tagline: Kendra sees ghosts, and then her BFF, Jenna, becomes one. The two
friends and FBI agent Derek Knight fight for justice to the victims of heinous
crimes.
Book Description:
Kendra Spark, suspense-mystery
romance author and communicator with the dead, is requested to hop on the first
flight to D.C.
Jenna Powers, FBI criminal
analyst and estranged best friend of Kendra, gets ghosticized in a fatal
accident before relaying all the details of the FBI killer case.
Derek Knight, a dedicated FBI
Special Task Force agent, takes lead on the case.
The investigation into the FBI
agent killings continues as Kendra, Jenna – yes, even after death – and Derek
work together on the case before Director of the Special Task Force Jackson
Powers’ number is up. He’s Jenna’s father and the end-game of the killer’s
target list.
Somehow the elusive killer
remains undetected, until Kendra’s unique ability produces results and a final
possibility at stopping his killing spree before it’s too late.
Tagline: Trafficked girls marked to lose their souls by a malevolent
supernatural entity require someone with explicit abilities for their rescue.
Will Kendra be able to save them?
Book Description:
Kendra Spark, suspense-mystery
writer and communicator with the dead, signs on to the next FBI Special Task
Force case, trafficked girls that are marked to lose their souls.
Jenna Powers, ghostified criminal
analyst, sticks close to the case as she and Kendra are also marked by the same
malevolent supernatural force.
Derek Knight, lead FBI Agent on this
case, learns of the malevolent entity and the deeper paranormal realm of
danger.
Kendra’s unfiltered feelings for
Derek struggle to take a backseat, and as the menacing threat grows more
intense, so does her passion for Derek.
Derek faces uncertainties he’s
never dealt with in his past, like malicious entities and the loss of his heart
to love. How can he protect Kendra against forces he can’t see?
As boundless supernatural danger
intertwines with the future reality of the trafficked teens, Kendra and Jenna
realize only they can shoulder the rescue by calling in a voodoo priestess…
Tagline: A cold-case
investigation ends in facing the ultimate psychopaths, a highly-accredited
police director gone crime lord and a beautiful malevolent “albatross of a
spirit.”
Book Description:
Kendra Spark, Derek Knight, and
“ghosty” Jenna Powers, members of an FBI special task force, investigate a
cold-case and end up facing the ultimate psychopaths, a highly-accredited
police director gone crime lord and a beautiful malevolent “albatross of a
spirit.” Both want Kendra for her unique abilities but might settle for Jenna
instead.
Derek stops at nothing to keep
Kendra and Jenna safe, but what if the worst-case scenario happens, an
unstoppable villain and villainess of the dark plane that picks the earth plane
as their stomping ground?
S. Peters-Davis writes
multi-genre stories, but loves penning a good page-turning suspense-thriller,
especially when it’s a ghost story and a romance. When she’s not writing,
editing, or reading, she’s hiking, RV’ing, fishing, playing with grandchildren,
or enjoying time with her favorite muse (her husband) in Southwest Michigan.
As DK Davis, she also writes YA
and NA paranormal, supernatural novels that involve diverse and mature subject
matter.
The dead are easy to talk to. Live people, not so much.
Charlie Sulliven thinks she knows all the secrets of the dead. Raised in a funeral home, she’s the reluctant “Ghoul Girl,” her reputation tied to a disastrous Halloween party. But navigating her life as a high school sophomore is an anxiety-inducing puzzle to her. She haunts the funeral home with her parents, emo older brother, Garth, their pistol-packing Gramma, and the glass-eyeball-devouring dachshund, Lothar.
Chewed human bodies are appearing in her parents’ morgue…and disappearing in the middle of the night. The bodies seem tied to a local legend, Catfish Bob, who has resurfaced in the muddy Milburn river near Charlie’s small town. When one of Charlie’s classmates, Amanda, awakens in the cooler as a flesh-eating ghoul, Charlie must protect her newfound friend and step up to unravel the mystery…and try to avoid becoming lunch meat for the dead.
I
don’t know what else to say. My brain just shuts down.
She
is wearing the sheet, wound around her like a toga. It trails behind her bare
feet, sort of like a painting about Greek goddesses I’ve seen in art books.
She’s leaning over another body stored in the cooler unit on a cart. Her back
is to me, and I can only see her pale skin and her burgundy-black hair
shuddering.
“Amanda.”
She
turns at the sound of my voice, seeming only to hear me for the first time. Her
face is covered in dark blood. In her hand, she’s holding a big chunk of purple
flesh. Her eyes are half-closed. The autopsy incision on the elderly body below
her has been ripped open, and I’m pretty sure that what she’s holding is a
lung.
“So
hungry…” she murmurs.
I
retreat until my back presses against the cold door. A whimper escapes my lips,
and I drop the laundry basket with a sharp crack of plastic on the tile floor.
This has to be a dream. A screwed-up anxiety dream that I’ll wake up from any
moment now…
Amanda’s
black eyes snap open. She stares at the chunk of flesh in her hand. “I…Agh…What’s
going on?”
Lothar
waddles over to her and begins to beg. Bile rises in my throat. “That’s Mrs.
Canner,” I manage to answer. “She’s seventy-two and died of surgery
complications for varicose veins. Deep vein thrombosis, I think. I don’t
remember.” I’m babbling, trying to keep the bile down.
Amanda
drops the lung with a wet splat. The dog scrambles to it and begins scarfing it
down. Her hands are trembling. She presses them to her temples. “I don’t
understand. I don’t understand.”
I
nudge the laundry basket closer to her with my foot. “I brought you some
clothes. And, um. Food. You should get dressed.”
I
think I should be afraid. I think I really ought to be. But Amanda seems
genuinely confused. She reaches for the clothes I’ve brought her. To be polite,
I know that I should really look away. But I can’t move. I am not turning my
back on her. My heart pounds, and I struggle to take deep, uneven breaths.
Amanda
unwinds the sheet and slips into my clothes. Though I avert my eyes, I see that
her shoulder and side are still torn open. But my mother hasn’t begun the
autopsy yet, so there is no Y-incision across her chest and abdomen.
“Do
you remember what happened to you?” I manage to ask. I congratulate myself for
having a rational thought. Woot.
Her
voice is halting, and her brow wrinkles as she struggles to button my jeans. “I
remember…something was chasing me. Jesus, it hurt…” Her hand comes up to her
neck, and she seems to remember, fingering the edges of the wound. “Am I in a
hospital?” she asks again.
I
suck in a breath. “No. You’re at my house.” It’s not a lie. Not really.
She
scans the room, as if registering the sight of the cadavers. “You’re the girl
whose parents run the funeral home. The Ghoul Girl.”
“It’s
gonna be okay,” I tell her.
“Why
am I here?” Her breath makes ghosts in the cold air.
“The
Sheriff found you, alongside the road.” That’s true also, even if not the whole
truth. “I think we should get you upstairs, so you can talk to my parents…”
She
shakes her head, and her dark hair slaps across her face. “No. I…Oh my god. I’m
here because…somebody thought I was dead?”
I
swallow hard. “Yeah.”
About the Author:
Laura Bickle grew up in rural Ohio, reading entirely too many comic books out loud to her favorite Wonder Woman doll. After graduating with an MA in Sociology-Criminology from Ohio State University and an MLIS in Library Science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, she patrolled the stacks at the public library and worked with data systems in criminal justice. She now dreams up stories about the monsters under the stairs. Her work has been included in the ALA’s Amelia Bloomer Project 2013 reading list and the State Library of Ohio’s Choose to Read Ohio reading list for 2015-2016.
More information about Laura’s work can be found at:
