I can't believe that we are already in the month of December. I'm not ready for the cold and the dark, but I'm always ready for...
Publication date: November 23rd, 2021 Links: Amazon | Goodreads A shape-shifting spirit haunts a family in England during the depths of ...
Review || Once Upon a Winter: A Folk and Fairy Tale Anthology
Publication date: November 23rd, 2021
A shape-shifting spirit haunts a family in England during the depths of winter.
My mother once said to me love is an edge you will fall over, and she was right.I think about it often as I walk the woods. She is dead and shrouded in the earth, and I feel her with every bare-footed step throughout the dirt.
You only have to walk into any store to be buffeted by Mariah Carey and see that retail has vomited red and green over everything. Finding...
Ho-Ho-Horror || 12 Tales of Christmas Terror
You only have to walk into any store to be buffeted by Mariah Carey and see that retail has vomited red and green over everything. Finding the perfect gift, budgeting, baking and cooking, family, ugh—The holidays are stressful!
It's no surprise then that horror fans turn to seasonal horror for comfort. Just look at all the Christmas movies out there: Black Christmas, Gremlins, Krampus, Silent Night, Deadly Night, Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (one of my personal favorites), Anna and the Apocalypse, and there are so many more.
What about us bookworms who just want to curl up in our comfy chair with a fuzzy blanket, a cup of something hot, and tune out the world for a little while? Here are twelve Christmas horror reads for those of us that want to slay the holidays.
DEAD OF WINTER
BY KEALAN PATRICK BURKE
WHERE THE DEAD GO TO DIE
BY AARON DRIES AND MARK ALLAN GUNNELLS
Goodreads | Amazon |
SNOWBALL
BY GREGORY BASTIANELLI
Goodreads | Amazon |
A MIDNIGHT CLEAR ED. BY LINDY RYAN
(My review can be found here)
SNOW
BY RONALD MALFI
THE VALANCOURT BOOK OF VICTORIAN CHRISTMAS GHOST STORIES Volumes 1-5
Goodreads | Amazon |
BAH! HUMBUG! AN ANTHOLOGY OF CHRISTMAS HORROR STORIES
HARK! THE HERALD ANGELS SCREAM
ED. BY CHRISTOPHER GOLDEN
MISTLETOE BY ALISON LITTLEWOOD
Goodreads | Amazon |
SECRET SANTA
BY ANDREW SHAFFER
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree... what lurks among thy branches...
Christmas can be the most wonderful time of the year. Candy canes and hot cocoa. Snowmen and sleigh rides. The love and hope that the Nativity brings. Cold milk and warm cookies for Santa. Family, friends, and the cheerful laughter of children.
But, beneath the festive wrapping paper and the gleam and glitter of the lights and tinsel, things less jubilant may lie in wait. The holiday season can bring love, peace, and benevolence... but it may also spawn a darkness lurking amid the shadowy boughs of the Christmas tree, ornaments that should have never seen the light of day, let along hung on festive branches, and bones that jingle and dance, in search of Santa's crimson suit... and the flesh that resides within.
In this collection of harrowing holiday tales, Ronald Kelly leaves ten frightful and horrific gifts in the Christmas stockings that hang from the mantle of your cheerful fireplace. Ghastly and gruesome presents that slowly unwrap and burst into life while you are tucked, snug and warm, in your bed and take on nightmarish form in the icy winter hours of Christmas Eve, turning comfort and joy into terror and dread.
Goodreads | Amazon |
Publication date: October 19th, 2021 Links: Amazon | Goodreads What if your lifelong curse is the only thing keeping you alive? Abandoned...
Guest Post || JP McLean - Naming Characters
Publication date: October 19th, 2021
NAMING CHARACTERS by JP McLean
In his famous Romeo and Juliet soliloquy, Shakespeare asked, “What’s in a Name?”
Quite a lot, as it turns out. I don’t have children, so the only names I’ve bestowed are on my fictional characters and my dogs. Happily, my choices have yet to be challenged (at least by the dogs).
Still, it’s important to find a good fit between the character and the name you choose. A name invokes an image in a reader’s mind. The way the name is spelled, how it rolls off the tongue, how it looks visually on a page—all these things add nuance to the character.
There are many elements that influence a name choice:
The era in which the story is set: Consider that Zeus and Apollo are now names reserved primarily for pets (the gods would not be pleased). The most popular names of any decade are readily available online.
The gender of the character, whether male, female, or gender variant: Consider Taylor, Charlie, Emerson.
The location within the country: If your characters are in the southern US, they may have uniquely southern names like Gunner and Knox, or Dixie and Hattie.
The personality of the character: Are they a no-nonsense one-syllable Jane or Bill, or a complicated three-syllable Abigail or Joshua? Is your character a wallflower or minor character you don’t want to draw attention to? Plain names such as June or Joe slide under the radar. If your character is the serious type, they may choose Judith over Judy, or Theodore over Teddy.
Age also plays a role. Younger characters might use a nickname, like Billy for William or Caddie for Caroline. Sometimes, nicknames stick throughout adulthood, and sometimes they’re used ironically: Stretch for a shorter person, Tiny for a larger person.
The entire cast of characters must be considered: Mix it up so the names don’t all start with the same few letters of the alphabet or aren’t all the same syllable length.
To help readers differentiate between characters, it’s important the names don’t look or sound too much alike. As in Abe and Abigail. Or Emery and Emelynn (yeah, that was one of my mistakes—Emery’s name got changed to Avery).
Writers also need to consider the nationality of the characters. Does your cast reflect the mix of people you’d see in your neighbourhood? In the grocery stores and libraries? If not, fix it. You can find lists online of names by nationality.
A resource I use all the time is the local telephone book. The flimsy paper books aren’t as prevalent or thick as they once were, but they’re rich in interesting names. Best of all, these are the names of people of all nationalities who live in your neighbourhood.
The best part about finding the perfect name for your character is that the name does some of the work for you in defining the character’s role and personality. Names have connotations, so it’s important to make the most of them. And even if your fictional children hate the names you’ve given them, they’re not likely to disown you for your choices.
Today's Author Spotlight is author Daniel James! Read on for the full interview. Publication date: October 27th, 2021 Links: Amazon | ...
Author Spotlight || Daniel James, Author of Heathens
Today's Author Spotlight is author Daniel James!
Read on for the full interview.
Publication date: October 27th, 2021
What's your latest release?
Can you start out by telling us a little about your latest work?
Where did you get the inspiration to write this story?
When you developed the characters, did you already know who they were before you began writing or did they develop organically?
Which of your characters was your favorite to write and why?
What was more important to you when you were writing: character development or plot?
Both are integral and compliment each other.What was one of the most surprising things you learned (about your story, about yourself, etc.) while writing?
I learned how anti-social I am, ha-ha. Seriously, I learned how great it feels to purge your ideas onto the page. Like a colonic for the brain.In your opinion what makes a good story?
Likable characters are paramount. Naturally, the story needs to be engaging, with a good pace and interesting stakes, but even with those elements, the characters have to be likable and memorable enough (villains too!) to carry the reader through.How did publishing your first book change your process of writing?
I realised how bad my first effort was, and knew I had to practice, practice, PRACTICE.I'd like to say I've improved some.
Do you read your book reviews? What do you consider "good" /"bad"?
Yes, I read them, only because I'm not exactly inundated with them. The first time you get a bad one sucks, but equally, when you get a good one you're floating on air. The most annoying ones are bad ones because the reader/reviewer was a dope e.g. penalising your work because they don't like that genre...? It's like, "Then why pick it up in the first place?"What led you to start writing?
I had grown bored at university, and decided to put some of my ideas down on paper. Turned out I loved it, even though it was woefully amateurish. But time and experience are great teachers.Do you have any writing superstitions?
Yes, I think that by being a stressed-out and moody ar#!hole it might somehow elevate my craft. Hope it's working!What attracted you to the genre(s) you write in?
Robert McCammon, Dan Simmons, Clive Barker, and F. Paul Wilson. Pure imagination, with healthy doses of violence.What is one of your favorite words? OR Is there a word you find yourself using too often?
I swear under my breath too much. So much so I annoy myself sometimes.What are you currently reading?
Broken Souls (Eric Carter #2) by Stephen Blackmoore, Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky.A lot of authors have a soundtrack while writing. Are there are songs you had on repeat?
Whoops, touched on this earlier. Yes, too many too count. Normally fist-pumping rock anthems or super atmospheric 80's synthwave. It's better than caffeine.If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
Do it for the love of creating characters and worlds, because its a damn hard job, particularly the promotional side!What are a couple of your favorite movies to kick back with to relax?
Anything by James Gunn (particularly Super), or Romero's Day of the Dead.Would you rather live in a haunted mansion or a cottage surrounded by fairytale creatures?
Are the fairytale creatures ravenous carnivores or playful and whimsical? I'll take a gamble and hope the fairytale creatures aren't fresh from a Brothers Grimm story.What is something about the genre that annoys you?
I'd rather not say for fear of inciting a torch and pitchfork mob.What would you say is your most interesting writing quirk?
I like to make my action set-pieces as cinematic as possible. I also like to emphasise on the antagonists almost as much as the protagonists. I didn't realise that was even a noteworthy thing, but a few reviewers have picked up on it.Are you on social media and can your readers interact with you? What are your links?
I'm on Twitter @DJauthor85What advice would you like to pass on to aspiring writers that is unconventional but true?
Make some awesome playlists to help tune out and motivate you. Personally, I stick to hard 80's rock and synth wave, but you do you.Do you have a WIP? If so, can you tell us anything about it?
Well, my next book, The Ferryman's Toll (Hourglass #2) is already finished, but I don't want to release it until I've wrung Heathens dry. So in the meantime I've been working on a horror screenplay, which makes a nice change of pace from writing novels. Some of it is based on my experience as a hospital domestic, but a bit more bizarre, Faustian, and body horror-ish.Thanks so much for participating in the Author Spotlight! Anything you'd like to add?
Thanks for reading my waffle, Valerie. You're a legend!Publication date: October 31st, 2021 Links: Amazon | Goodreads W hen Ellen decides to buy a fixer-upper in an art community in Santa Fe, ...
Feature Fiction || The Shade of Santa Fe (The Mystery House Series Book 7) by Eva Pohler
Publication date: October 31st, 2021
When Ellen decides to buy a fixer-upper in an art community in Santa Fe, New Mexico, she’s reassured by the realtor that nothing evil has ever occurred there. What she doesn’t know is that the bridge near the back of the property is notoriously known in the town as Suicide Bridge. As she and her friends try to uncover why so many people have taken their lives there, they are shocked by what they find. Can the reunion of Ghost Healers, Inc. untether the troubling spirits near Ellen’s fixer-upper, or will their discoveries be too much for them this time?
Publication date: November 1st, 2021 Links: Amazon | Goodreads A mong the immortals that inhabit our world, Arnaud Demeure is known as th...
Feature Fiction || A Wish Too Dark and Kind by M.L. Blackbird
Publication date: November 1st, 2021
Among the immortals that inhabit our world, Arnaud Demeure is known as the man who can fulfill your one true wish or who can also conjure your worst nightmares.
Thousands of them, maybe millions, all crammed within glass walls.
The youngest sat at the center of the glass prison. It was taller than the tallest mountain. It was quiet amid the frenzy of its brothers. Its head so high it saw beyond the ceiling of its prison, straight into the realm of the Eldest Lords. Light leaked from underneath its shaking, half-closed eyelids. It peeked into the future.
As the prophet watched them, the creatures stared at him from far away. He could see them, yet his mind could not make full sense of their shapes, only of a few features. A crowd of wings, fangs, stingers, and every piece of every animal he could think of, and some he had never seen, crawling on each other while human parts pushed their way through. The tall one, its eyes closed, hummed over and over.
“We are so close. It won’t be long.”
The others followed its chanting and moved back and forth in front of the glass holding them prisoners, just like animals expecting a bite of their prey.
The prophet almost missed the nun’s arrival. She ran up the stairs, hesitating as she put one foot on the first step.
Unseen, the prophet followed.
From the roof, he tasted the entire city. A forest of concrete and metal spreading in every direction, so much so that nothing existed if not within it. The sun blinded him, shining in white and gold. Dawn was a miracle. He stood still, in awe of the most magnificent city, and he almost forgot he had followed someone.
But there she was, the young sister, standing close to the balustrade, her arms raised to the sky, her shape dark against the sunlight.
The tall metallic tower pierced the sky and stabbed the sun, just like an arrow. The star bled, scattering its light all over the town.
White particles fell from the sky. Snow perhaps, or dust, he could not say. He dared to look up. The sky had turned dark despite the sun shining in it, light still leaking over the city.
In the cold air, no sound but the wind.
Nothing else made a noise. No sound of cars or their horns. No talking or music playing, no chirping of birds.
The prophet stood transfixed.
Cars were still on the asphalt, their lights on. Some stuck in place, some coasting along the streets. Many had slid, hitting nearby objects. Tombstones in an old graveyard, they lay against each other, against lampposts, or sat on the sidewalks.
Men and women, asleep, still clung to their steering wheels.
Their heads blasted out of the windshields or hung from the windows. Hundreds and hundreds of bodies covered the sidewalks and the streets. More must have been resting within the buildings, unmoving, untouched.
Here and there, white, black, and red stains, each tens of meters long, covered the streets—flocks of birds caught in whatever happened.
Nobody moved, nobody talked, everyone rested in this cemetery, testimony of a dark miracle.
The world had moved on. The city, now empty, stayed behind.
Paris was dead, and the Great Ones were free.
In high school, he spent way too much time watching B movies, playing video games, and reading everything he could get his hands on, provided it wasn’t recommended by any authority figure.
M.L. spent most of his college years and adult life writing in languages only machines can understand until he decided to put some of his stories on the page.
After a few years spent in Scotland, now M.L. lives in Seattle with his wife, his cat, and a large assortment of books. When not writing, he still enjoys playing video games and explaining board game rules to his friends.
You can follow M.L. on: https://mylittleblackbird.com.
M.L. also writes as Sebastiano Merlino.
Today's Author Spotlight is author L.N. Mayer! Read on for the full interview. Publication date: September 30th, 2021 Links: Amazon | ...
Author Spotlight || L.N. Mayer, Author of Yves, or the Man Who Wasn't
Today's Author Spotlight is author L.N. Mayer!Read on for the full interview.
Publication date: September 30th, 2021
What's your latest release?
Can you start out by telling us a little about your latest work?
My latest work is the sequel to Tell, or the Adventures in Themiddle. It's called Yves, or the Man Who Wasn't. If I had to describe the series in five words: "Strength of will meets imagination."
Where did you get the inspiration to write this story?
SPOILER ALERT :) When I was a senior in college, I scribbled the beginning of an idea about a boy trying to make sense of a nonsensical world in the margins of one of my economics textbooks. It was only a few years later as I kept chipping away at the story that I had the idea to write the arc of a would-be villain over the course of three books. The premise: What would be the trials and tribulations of a 12-year-old boy who could manifest anything he imagined, without knowing he had such a power? My drive to finish the story is because I care deeply about the underlying message: Each of us possesses the power to manifest the things we imagine.
When you developed the characters, did you already know who they were before you began writing or did they develop organically?
I developed them ahead of time through character development exercises.
Which of your characters was your favorite to write and why?
One of my favorite characters to write was a double-bodied character named Weekend & Weekday. Simply put, he's a man with two bodies. He was fun to write because his internal conflict and self-doubt manifests as a running conversation he has with himself. I also liked his character because he's someone who always wants to do the right thing despite his inner turmoil.
What was more important to you when you were writing: character development or plot?
Both!
What was one of the most surprising things you learned (about your story, about yourself, etc.) while writing?
Ooh, I like this question! The thing I've learned over the past few years is that if you have absolutely no motivation to sit down and work on your writing, there's a 99.9% chance that once you force yourself to sit down, you'll actually work on your writing.
In your opinion what makes a good story?
The unexpected ;)
How did publishing your first book change your process of writing?
I started taking more care to map out my chapter plot structures. I highly recommend this method because it forces you to clear up your ideas. The exercise is simple: 1) Write down what happens in the chapter, then 2) Explain why it happens (how the chapter is contributing to the overall plot).
Do you read your book reviews? What do you consider "good" /"bad"?
Not all the time. For me, a bad review would be one that I feel misses the crux of the story. Unfortunately this is just sometimes the reality!
Do you have any writing superstitions?
I do believe that my most creative writing is late at night... I also am becoming increasingly convinced that good song-writing only happens if you sit down and write song lyrics on one take!
What attracted you to the genre(s) you write in?
I wasn't attracted to the genre so much as I wanted to write a specific story and had to pick a genre. In the case of Tell, or the Adventures in Themiddle (and the sequel), the book is classified as coming-of-age action adventure for upper middle grade and young adult.
What are you currently reading?
On the Shortness of Life by Seneca
A lot of authors have a soundtrack while writing. Are there are songs you had on repeat?
I admire those who can listen to music while writing!
If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
What are a couple of your favorite movies to kick back with to relax?
Because I'm currently writing for an upper middle grade audience, I'll say The Neverending Story, The Princess Bride, Muppet Christmas Carol, The Labyrinth--all of these movies had a profound impact on me when I was younger. I was completely smitten with the characters and the world-building. The last film I saw that I loved was the latest Dune film with Timothée Chalamet. The soundscape and the images were amazing!
Which animal would you say is your spirit animal and why?
My English cocker spaniel, Oslo
Would you rather live in a haunted mansion or a cottage surrounded by fairytale creatures?
Cottage surrounded by fairytale creatures, of course!
What is something about the genre that annoys you?
That readers are often conditioned to expect a certain type of format within the fantasy genre.
What would you say is your most interesting writing quirk?
Again, you have such great questions! I have a silly way of rewarding myself after typing up my hand-written notes on my laptop. To feel like I've accomplished something, I stamp my notes with a date stamp that includes the French word 'SAISI' (the equivalent meaning in English would be something like "logged"). It is so silly... but so effective :)
Are you on social media and can your readers interact with you? What are your links?
Yes! Via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, you can find me at @lnmayerofficial
Do you have a favorite line that you've written? What is it and why do you like it?
"Sensitive sense how senselessness stows lessons sense can borrow." I like it for so many different reasons, primarily because logical explanations are not the answer to everything ;) It's also a reminder to loosen up a bit and to not take oneself so seriously.
What advice would you like to pass on to aspiring writers that is unconventional but true?
Don't wait for someone to label you a writer. Give yourself permission to call yourself one.
Do you have a WIP? If so, can you tell us anything about it?
Yes, it's the third and final book in the Tell Trilogy. I'll tell you that one of my favorite characters in the series makes her debut in Book 3...
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