I’ll be there when this comes out, you can count on it!
Are you going to go see it?
~~~~
The Last Stand
Sheriff Ray Owens (Schwarzenegger) moved out of Los Angeles and settled into a life fighting what little crime takes place in sleepy border town Sommerton Junction. But that peaceful existence is shattered when Gabriel Cortez (Eduardo Noriega), the most notorious, wanted drug kingpin in the western hemisphere, makes a deadly yet spectacular escape from an FBI prisoner convoy. With the help of a fierce band of lawless mercenaries led by the icy Burrell (Peter Stormare), Cortez begins racing towards the US-Mexico border at 250 mph in a specially-outfitted Corvette ZR1 with a hostage in tow. Cortez’ path: straight through Summerton Junction, where the whole of the U.S. law enforcement, including Agent John Bannister (Forest Whitaker) will have their final opportunity to intercept him before the violent fugitive slips across the border forever. At first reluctant to become involved, and then counted out because of the perceived ineptitude of his small town force, Owens ultimately rallies his team and takes the matter into his own hands, setting the stage for a classic showdown.
~~~
Arnold always said, “I’ll be back!” And he sure is for me.
I found this sleeper on Netflix. I’d never even heard about it.
The Last Stand
Great casting and the villain is sexy and cold as ice.
Lots of laughs, cliches, and action that will blow you away.
As long as Arnold keeps doing films, I’ll keep watching them.
Thanks for visiting my stop on the tour for Retaliation by Imogen Rose.
This is the third book in the Bonfire Chronicles and it’s a thriller read!
I love the supernatural world and there’s plenty of fascinating characters and plots in this series.
Enjoy my review and the exciting excerpt.
And don’t forget to enter the giveaway!
~~~
Retaliation
Bonfire Chronicles
Imogen Rose
Genre: YA/Paranormal/Horror
Publisher: Wild Thorn Publishing
Date of Publication: 03/15/2015
Number of pages: 400 /Word Count: 84000
Cover Artist: Consuelo Parra
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My Review
I don’t usually start a series with the third book and I worried I wouldn’t be able to follow the story and enjoy it. That was not the case with Retaliation.
I quickly became immersed in Cordelia’s story and as I got attached to the characters all I was thinking was, I have to read the other books.
It’s been a year and a half since Code Uprising was deactivated and things are back to normal, as much as they can be in a supernatural world.
Cordelia now works for King Sebastian and her romance with the sexy Fay, Jagger, is going strong. The human world is safe from further attacks by Sebastian’s now missing power hungry daughter, Katerina.
But something new is starting to happen. A Haiku is left at a gruesome scene involving the kings assistant that may be connected to Katerina. A school is attacked in Japan, leaving all humans dead and another occurs in the US with casualties over a thousand.
A cloaked figure supplies GRIP with a formula they suspect is targeted towards humans. Could it be Katrina’s doing? And why would she only be targeting humans?
The council has a policy of not getting involved in human matters but they may have to change that if they are being attacked by a supernatural entity. While the humans are unaware of their existence, that may change.
Imogen has created a complex world with many strong voiced characters. While I joined this series late, I was provided with enough background to easily follow their stories and connect with past ones.
There are terrorists, spies, all kinds of supernatural beings and humans co-mingling to get to the bottom of the attacks and the action steps as the attacks escalate.
This book came across as believable. You could take out the supernatural element and have a hack of a good action thriller, but the added otherworldly characters and world made it much more interesting and unpredictable.
I’m sure the many that have read the first two books in the Bonfire Chronicles will love this next installment and those that haven’t will want to read them after this great follow up.
5 Stars
~~~~
Book Description:
Ever since Bloody Fall, humans have lived in fear.
Even though the apparently senseless human massacres have ended, President Elizabeth Ryan’s administration has been under a cloud of disapproval for failing to bring the terrorists to justice.
She braces herself as a new spate of carnage is unleashed.
Cordelia and Faustine are recruited back into action as the supernatural agencies go on high alert. Has their nemesis re-emerged?
I kneeled down for a better look. Whatever it was, it was clearly alive, and it shirked away, obviously frightened out of its wits. Could it be one of those pets humans liked to keep around? I transformed back to my human state so the poor little thing wouldn’t have a heart attack. “Here,” I whispered gently. “I’m not going to hurt you. Come on out.”
“Demon?” a little voice whispered. It was clearly something supernatural.
“Yep, you?”
“Troll.”
Troll? I’d never met a timid one before. “What are you doing here?”
“I sorta live here.”
“Can you come out?”
The troll scurried from behind the vent, crawled out of the fireplace, and stood up beside the couch. It couldn’t have been more than eight inches tall. I’d never seen one so small before. It was clearly female, with a pink bow attached to her unkempt blond Afro. She was rather grubby, I guessed from her journey through the fireplace. She wore little green dungarees bedazzled with pink rhinestones. And she had the most enormous green eyes that seemed to glow. “What’s your name?”
“I don’t have one.” Now that she wasn’t whispering, her voice sounded like a bee trying to speak human. “None of the underground trolls do,” she continued. “I guess we’re not important enough.” She lowered her eyelash-devoid eyelids, her lips trembling.
I touched her hand gently with my finger. “What would you like to be called, if you could choose your own name?”
“Anything?”
“Yes, anything at all.”
“Humm. That’s hard. It’s hard to commit to a name. What’s yours?”
“Cordelia.”
“Huh? That’s kind of old-fashioned. Where did that come from?”
Old-fashioned? That troll cheekiness didn’t take long to surface. “Cordelia is a family name; I’m named after my grandmamma. I like it, and wouldn’t want to be called anything else.”
“None of my family have ever had names,” she said, her lower lip trembling again. “Each subterranean troll family has a number, assigned by the Don. Then each family member gets given a letter. I am 4695h.”
“That doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. Tell you what. Pick a name you want me to call you, and if you don’t like it, you can change it as many times as you want until you find one that’s ‘you.’”
“Humm.” She looked confused. “I can’t think of any nice names. Can you pick one for me?”
“Sure. How about…” I tried to think of a simple one, since she was unfamiliar with names. “Lucy?”
She nodded slowly. “I can… maybe… do that… Lucy.”
“Well, Lucy. What are you doing here?”
“Like I said, I live here. When I don’t live at home, that is. Do you want to see the room I sleep in when the demons are not around? It’s the same one that Dorian uses.”
“Sure, in a moment. Which demons are you talking about?”
“Dorian and his soap buddies mostly. And his son, Luke. I like Luke. He’s kinda hot.”
“When was the last time they were here?”
“Dorian was here a couple of hours ago.” She started fidgeting, lowering her eyelids and shifting from leg to leg.
“Do you know where he went?”
She shook her head. Then she pursed her lips.
“What is it?”
She stared at her feet.
“Lucy?”
She smiled. “I like that.”
“Focus, Lucy. Tell me everything. What’s with the odd expression?”
“Well,” she whispered, her voice so low that I had to bend down to hear her, “something bad happened.”
“Like?”
She raised her hands. “I don’t know.”
“Come on, Lucy! How do you know something bad happened, then?”
She suddenly crawled under the couch like a bug, and just as I was about to grab her tiny ankles and haul her out, she slithered back toward me—dragging something heavy.
I couldn’t get a good look at it. “What is that?”
“It’s Dorian’s arm,” she puffed, as I grabbed it, pulling it out—a bloody, shredded demon limb.
~~~~
About the Author:
Globetrotter Imogen Rose was born in Sweden, educated in London (where she received a PhD in immunology), and is now an all-American Jersey girl. She is the author of two bestselling YA series— the Portal Chronicles and the Bonfire Chronicles, both of which have been translated into German, French, Spanish, and Japanese.
In addition to writing, Imogen loves to travel, explore Madison Avenue (she is a self-confessed Hermès addict), watch movies, listen to music, and hang out with her family, friends, and Chihuahua. When she is not writing, she can usually be found sipping a chai latte at an ice rink while watching her daughter slam pucks.
I haven’t read the first two Hellfire & Damnation collections but I will fix that soon.
Most of you know how much I enjoy short stories and collections and horror and I got all of that with these.
Check out my review.
Enjoy the excerpt.
And enter the giveaway to win a copy!
Hellfire and Damnation III
by Connie Corcoran Wilson
Publisher: Quad City Press (March 1, 2015)
ISBN:978-0-982444-487-0
Category: Psychological Thriller, Suspense
Tour Date: March 16-April 30, 2015 Available in: Print & ebook, 114 Pages
My Review
I’m huge on short stories and collections so I knew I had to read this batch. The author states at the end of the book that she drew inspiration form true events on all but two of the stories. That explains why one of them felt familiar to me.
Some are scary and some are twisted. A few had me grinning sardonically. All are good.
There are the nines sins or as the author titles them, The Nine Circles of Hell. Each delves into crimes and punishments.
Circle One: Limbo – The Cave Robber
You’ll have an encounter with a giant cave spider.
Circle Two: Lust – The MOnster Within
Meet Brian, “The unhappiest man in El Reno,” who’s plotting revenge against his neighbor.
Circle Three: Gluttony – The Battle of Gate Pa
Crawl with the Maori warriors through the first tunnels used in warfare.
Circle Four: Avarice & Prodigality – Boxed In
Be there when a kidnap victim turns the table on his kidnapper.
Circle Five: Wrath & Sullenness – Do Not Go Gently
A cancer patient who thought he’d live forever does not go gently. Vows to be the worst patient ever.
Circle Six: Heresy – The Final Victim
A Reverend needs one more sacrifice for Satan.
Circle Seven: The Violent – KILLAL
An innocent computer game might not be so innocent.
Circle Eight: The Fraudulent – The Mirror
A heated car mirror solves a cold case.
Circle Nine: The Treacherous – A Losing Hand
It wasn’t hypothermia. It was murder.
I enjoyed all of these stories and enjoyed the authors comments afterwards. She explained a bit about each of the stories that came from true events and then where she got her inspiration for the two that weren’t. It was fascinating.
And the pictures peppered throughout the book made it creepier.
While most of these weren’t truly scary, they did have sin in each one. I think I sinned a bit myself when I celebrated some of the characters deeds.
These would be great reads for when you have only a short time, but I’d set aside enough time to finish all of them. They do suck you in and keep you going from one to the next, to the next…
4 Stars
~~~~
Description
Hellfire & Damnation III by Connie Corcoran Wilson is another tour of the 9 Circles of Hell described in Dante’s Inferno. It picks up where the first two collections of short stories left off, using the same framing device of stories that explore the sins or crimes punished at each of the 9 Circles of Hell in Dante’s Inferno.
The first book was the winner of the Silver Feather Award (Illinois Women’s Press Association), and the Gold Medal E-Lit Award (Horror category) from the Jenkins group. Five-time Bram Stoker winner Gary Braunbeck said of Book II in the Hellfire & Damnation collection: ” Seriously, Connie: can’t you write just one stinker so the rest of us will feel a little bit better?” Braunbeck added, ” Her writing is stronger, streamlined, and often lyrical, despite the nastiness her words describe. This is another impressive collection of tales from a writer I could very well learn to hate if she gets much better.”
Hellfire & Damnation III is another tour of the crimes or sins punished at each of the Circles of Hell in Dante’s “Inferno.” Like the second book in the series by Connie Corcoran Wilson, there are images whether it is a cave where teenagers are trapped, the lair of a psychopathic minister manipulating a young man of limited intelligence into murder, or a rage-fueled airplane traveler unleashing his pent-up fury on a Flight Attendant.
The author adds a From the Author, an informative peek into the creative mind of the author and the genesis of these 9 Tales of Terror. As one reviewer said (of Hellfire & Damnation II), “Connie Corcoran Wilson has written a book of short stories that will not only keep you up late nights reading, but might also keep you up long after you have stopped reading.”
He drove off in Dave’s truck, heading for Reverend Jeremiah Jones’ trailer, the useless wooden peg leg making a hollow tumbling noise in the empty bed of the truck, like a bird hitting a glass window. It sounded like a heavy object tumbling inside a package. It was a sound like a tennis shoe tumbling in the dryer, only with sharper percussions.
When he reached the trailer park, Lee parked under a large tree near the Laundromat just at the entrance of Happy Hollow Trailer Park. He grabbed the peg leg from the bed of the truck, tucked it under his jacket so no one would see what he was carrying, and began walking towards the Reverend’s plot. This was part of the plan. Jeremiah had explained to Lee that it wouldn’t do for them to be seen together. He wanted Lee to make sure he wasn’t followed and to come to his trailer on foot, using the back way. Lee did all this, as requested.
Upon reaching the entrance to the shabby trailer, Lee knocked on the door. He knocked a second time, more loudly. Lee was standing near the entrance to the attached Sacrificial Shed, as Jeremiah referred to the wooden shanty nearby. Lee thought he heard a noise coming from within. It was a faint sound, no doubt muffled by the sound-proofing. It sounded like a bleating animal. Lee turned away from the trailer door and moved towards the doorway of the nearby Sacrificial Shed. It was slightly ajar.
Within, he saw the specter of Jeremiah Jones, knife raised. A terrified creature, approximately three feet high, eyes glazed with fear, helpless, was tied in front of the Reverend. It was a small goat, immobilized by ropes. Jeremiah brought the axe-like weapon down on the animal’s head just as Lee opened the door to enter.
Jeremiah was breathing heavily from his exertions. The struggling wounded goat was bleeding and making a horrible noise in its death throes, still pinioned at the Reverend’s feet. Jeremiah Jones looked up at Lee Elliot and smiled the evil smile of an ogre. The grin of a conscienceless monster. The smirk of a manipulative Machiavelli.
“Did you bring his leg?” Jeremiah asked.
Lee shook his head yes. He reached beneath his jacket to pull forth Dave Downing’s prosthesis.
Jeremiah glanced at the leg. He looked up at Lee, stepping over the still struggling dying creature to come closer to Lee, bloody axe still in his hand.
“Where’s the money?” the Reverend asked.
“There wasn’t any,” said Lee.
“What? No money? There HAS to be. You took the cash, didn’t you?” Jeremiah screamed.
“No, Sir,” replied Lee. “There wasn’t any money. I killed Dave just the way you said to. I threw his body in a ditch out past Colona. Out near Interstate 80. I took his leg off. But there wasn’t anything inside it.”
“LIAR!” screamed the enraged minister as he lunged at the timid young man, bloody axe raised. “Stupid fucking liar! You took it, didn’t you? You took the money! Where is it? Give it to me!”
The Reverend Jeremiah Jones approached Lee with menace in his manner and murder in his heart.
In that moment, Lee Elliot wished he had brought the large butcher knife with him. But Lee had done as the Reverend Jones had instructed. He had thrown the knife into the raging Rock River, which was at near-flood levels this wet spring. Lee had no weapon. Nor had he thought he would need one.
The man he had trusted and aided in committing the most heinous act of his life was about to betray him. Almost the last thing Lee Elliot saw was also the last thing the goat had seen: a heavy axe-like weapon descending on his skull. Coming down so quickly and so forcefully that Lee had no time to fend it off.
As the weapon found its mark, Lee heard birds twittering. He was not sure if he was once again seeing the birds of Lucifer’s sign to him—the European starlings on his front lawn that day—or if neurons were firing stored memories in his head in death. With that last mortal impression of flocks of black birds tearing at the ground, ripping apart the blades of grass, laying waste to everything they touched, Lee Elliot became just one more in a long string of the Reverend Jeremiah Jones’ sacrifices.
The Reverend stood above him, bloody axe poised to strike again, muttering, “You moron. Lucifer always meant for you to be the final victim.”
View the Trailer:
Praise for Hellfire and Damnation II by Connie Corcoran Wilson:
“This collection of 11 short stories in the horror genre is organized around Dante’s 9 circles of hell in the Inferno–limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, wrath, heresy, violence, political corruption, and treachery. The stories are by turns chilling and blood boiling. The two times I read one of these just before sleeping I deeply regretted it. NOT bedtime stories folks. Haunting and satisfying.”– Joystory
“I love scary books. Among the first adult books I ever read were Stephen King and Dean Koontz. However, these days I find it hard to find good scary books – ones that don’t make me feel like I’ve read this before…and then I was asked to read Hellfire & Damnation II. Corcoran takes us by the hand and leads us through the 9 Circles of Hell, whispering to us the tales of those we find there and the events that have lead them to this nightmarish place. From the first story set in Limbo, Cold Corpse Carnival (giving me yet another reason to not want to be buried!), to the final circle of The Treacherous and The Bureau the reader will be checking behind doors, under the bed and sleeping with the light on!”–Kylie Purdie, Little Black Marks
“‘Hellfire and Damnation II’ is the sequel to Connie Corcoran Wilson’s first book of short stories published in 2011. This book is another tour of Dante’s ‘Nine Circles of Hell’ from his Inferno. It features eleven original short stories: from the 132-year-old corpse of Norwegian immigrant Ole Monson seeking revenge against the living for the desecration of his final resting place in ‘Cold Corpse Carnival’ to the most intimate betrayal suffered between two brothers in ‘The Bureau’. Each story highlights its particular Circle in a novel way, but is partially based on fact as explained by the author at the end. I really enjoyed this book – it was suitably horrific for me. Each story is well-crafted and believable, and I found myself very satisfied with each story’s pacing. I give ‘Hellfire and Damnation II’ an A+! and I look forward to reading more books by Connie Corcoran Wilson in the very near future!”– Mareena McGirr, Emeraldfire’s Bookmark
“Connie pens “Hellfire & Damnation II” in a plot that will really leave the horror with you. The illustrations are just unbelievably good and will get you really thinking about what you just read. I was totally satisfied with the amount of detail within each “circle of hell” she writes about. Now I really need to find the first book in the series to catch up with. Highly recommended for all who love the thrill of horror.”-Susan, My Cozie Corner
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I’ve read Connie’s The Color Of Evil Series and very much enjoyed them.
Award winning author, Connie Corcoran Wilson (MS + 30) graduated from the University of Iowa and Western Illinois University, with additional study at Northern Illinois, the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Chicago. She taught writing at six Iowa/Illinois colleges and has written for five newspapers and seven blogs, including Yahoo, which named her its 2008 Content Producer of the Year.
She is a member of ITW (International Thriller Writers), where she is a writer for their online newsletter, and a member of IWPA (Illinois Women’s Press Association, Chicago chapter), which awarded her its Silver Feather Award in 2012 and 2014, MWA (Midwest Writers Association), AWP (American Writing Program) and MWC (Midwest Writing Center), which named her its Writer of the Year in 2010. She has won numerous E-Lit awards, a NABE Pinnacle award, an ALMA (American Literary Merit Award), Lucky Cinda competition and two IWPA Silver Feather Awards (2012, 2014).
Connie’s third book in “The Color of Evil” series, ‘Khaki=Killer’ was just named a Page-turner of the Year 2014 by “Shelf Unbound” and Writer’s Digest magazine in its December/January 2014-2015 issue!
Her stories and interviews with writers like David Morrell, Joe Hill, Kurt Vonnegut, Frederik Pohl, William F. Nolan, Anne Perry, r. Barri Flowers, Valerie Plame, Allen Zadoff and Jon Land have appeared online and in numerous journals.
Connie Corcoran Wilson’s work has won prizes from “Whim’s Place Flash Fiction,” “Writer’s Digest” (Screenplay) and she has 25 published works. Connie reviewed film and books for the Quad City Times (Davenport, Iowa) for 12 years, wrote humor columns and conducted interviews for the (Moline, Illinois) Dispatch and maintains her own blog,www.WeeklyWilson.com, while also twittering (@Connie_C_Wilson), Connie Wilson Author.
Connie Corcoran Wilson was a presenter at the Spellbinders Conference in Honolulu, Hawaii over Labor Day (2012) and at Love Is Murder in Chicago (February, 2014) and will be a presenter at Writers for New Orleans December 19-21st. She has three ongoing series: THECOLOR OF EVIL, HELLFIRE & DAMNATION (short stories organized around the crimes or sins punished at each of the levels of Hell in Dante’s Inferno) andTHE CHRISTMAS CATS, which she writes for her granddaughters. (www.TheColorOfEvil.com; www.RedIsforRage.com; www.KhakiEqualsKiller.com; www.HellfireAndDamnationTheBook.com; www.TheXmasCats.com)
Connie lives in East Moline, Illinois with husband Craig and cat Lucy, and in Chicago, Illinois, where her son, Scott and daughter-in-law Jessica and their five-year-old twins Elise and Ava reside. Her daughter, Stacey, graduated from Belmont University in Nashville, and is currently a Southwest Airlines Flight Attendant.
Publisher: White Whisker Books (April 20, 2015)
ISBN: 978-0-9863265-0-9
Category: Suspense/Thriller
Tour Date: March 16-April 30, 2015 Available in: Print & ebook, 176 Pages
My Review
Nicole, a high school sophomore, could be described as a child protege. She prefers the term science nerd. Her father works on the Nasa Panel, traveling a lot, and her mother runs her own lab at the university, so Nicole’s proclivity for science and biology are no surprise.
It soon comes to Nicole’s attention that the crows are leaving her small town of Isla Vista. When people’s pets mysteriously vanish, body parts are discovered, the homeless start disappearing from their sleeping spots in the park, and a strange gooey substance starts cropping up, Nicole uses her smarts to try to solve this deadly dilemma.
This is a truly creepy story. It starts like an average day in small town America and morphs into the truly bizarre very quickly.
The characters, even the minor ones, will become as familiar as your next door neighbors. Living in a small town myself, I could relate to the claustrophobic feeling of everybody knowing everybody’s business. Adding in the homeless people made it more intense. The odd behavior of some and the dangerous outbursts of others built the suspense.
As to what’s causing all of this; you know that saying “can’t fight your way out of a wet paper bag?” It doesn’t matter if you are the best of the best. When you run into one of these things, you’d better be an Olympic sprinter or your dead.
I’ve always enjoyed horror like this. Something deadly comes to town. You don’t know where it came from, or why it chose your town. The tension and terror builds, slamming forward to that grand face off when you find out who wins or loses, who lives or dies. Once it’s all over your pounding heart finally slows to a normal rhythm and you mull over the story. I did anyway. Wondering what if this happened instead of that? What if so and so lived instead of died? And so on.
I’m also curious how the author came up with the horrific things that attacked the good people of Isla Vista. Well done on giving me something new to be afraid of. I’ll never look at an innocent object the same way again.
4 Stars
~~~
Blurb
In the college town of Isla Vista, California, small, odd things start happening. Science-geek Nicole notes the crows are leaving. Meg Burdigal can’t find her tabby cat, Schrand. Brian the postman feels uneasy at the rustlings, the shadows he’s seen at the edge of his vision on his delivery route in town. Now Nicole sees fewer and fewer homeless in the park. Using her knowledge of biology and forensics, Nicole searches for answers—but will anyone take the horror she finds seriously?
In this unusual thriller, ‘Watch the Shadows’, author Robin Winter explores where the ordinary slams against the extraordinary.
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Praise for ‘Night Must Wait’:
“’Night Must Wait’ is a knockout. Robin Winter really delivers the goods with her twisting tale.”-Norb Vonnegut, author of The Trust
“The world Robin Winter takes us to in ‘Night Must Wait’ is not the fantasy of Dorothy and Toto, no longer in Kansas; it is the scary, all too-real Africa.”-Shelly Lowenkopf, author of The Fiction Writers’ Handbook
“Readers never know when they pick up a novel if the story will become so compelling that they are taken away to that magical place where one finds oneself inside the world of the book’s characters, conscious of little else. ‘Night Must Wait’ did this for me. I read, forgot that I existed.”– Gina Rose St John, Amazon Reviewer
“Robin’s way around a sentence is nothing short of gorgeous. The beauty of her prose only highlights the tragedies of war and betrayal. In an era when women were still relegated to wife or teacher, Robin’s characters want, and get, more in ways both shocking and violent. I might not want to go to war torn Africa, but I do want to go on more adventures with Robin.”– Kathleen O’Donnell, Amazon Reviewer
Praise for ‘Future Past’:
“Robin Winter’s ‘Future Past’ is an original, meticulously crafted science fiction tale that blends the fantasy of Pinocchio and the hero’s journey with elements of time travel, redemption, and a post apocalyptic world that brings readers to a satisfying, yet unexpected conclusion.”– Matthew J. Pallamary
“Truly imaginative, unique, and gripping — I really really liked it! Robin Winter has a gift for inventing a world we’d be interested in saving, characters we’d be enriched to meet, and ideas about the human condition we’d be wise to ponder.”– John Foran
“Winter shows the strength and versatility of her writer’s voice in ‘Future Past’. Published shortly after her debut novel Night Must Wait, in which the setting offers a strong sense of place as a separate character, the science fiction themes of ‘Future Past’ haunts the reader long after the book is finished. Her first person approach with Ash gives chilling insight into a man-made world with apocalyptic consequences. Winter’s prose is crisp and her pacing sharp, giving fans a science fiction a thrill that is worth the spooky ride.”– Gretel Russell
~~~~~
About Robin Winter:
Robin Winter first wrote and illustrated a manuscript on “Chickens and their Diseases” in second grade, continuing to both write and draw, ever since. Born in Nebraska, she’s lived in a variety of places: Nigeria, New Hampshire, upper New York state and now, California. She pursues a career in oil painting under the name of Robin Gowen, specializing in landscape. Her work can be viewed at Sullivan Goss Gallery in Santa Barbara or on-line at www.sullivangoss.com/Exhibits/RobinGowen2012.asp
Robin is married to a paleobotanist, who corrects the science in both her paintings and her stories. She’s published science fiction short stories, a dystopian science fiction novel, Future Past, and Night Must Wait, a historical novel about the Nigerian Civil War.
I loved Laura’s Anya Kalinczyk Series and her The Hallowed Ones Series and was so excited to read Dark Alchemy. It’s a whole new ball game with this fantasy/urban fantasy. A strange new world in Temperance, Wyoming.
Have a seat. Wash the dust out of your throat with a shot of rye. And enjoy my review.
And don’t forget to enter the giveaway.
~~~
Dark Alchemy
by Laura Bickle
On-sale: 3/24
ISBN: 9780062389862
Stephen King’s The Gunslinger meets Breaking Bad in Laura Bickle’s novel Dark Alchemy.
My Review
This was one wild, weird experience. With a little imagination, it was more like I was watching this then reading it. I drew my visuals from the many science fiction, fantasy, and horror movies I’ve watched. All of those genres rolled up into one fantastic book was such a treat.
Petra came to Temperance to find her missing father. It’s also far away from the sea and a tragedy she can’t bear. Her training as a geologist is put to the test with the strange bodies, the otherworldly Gabriel, and the power that seems to live beneath the surface of the town.
There’s one heck of a mystery. Why are the bodies calcified? Who is behind it? What is Gabe and his Hanged Men? And what’s with the ravens?
Next is the originality. This story reeks of the old west but takes place in the present. I kept thinking of the movie Wild, Wild West with Will Smith. It’s not so much steam punk as magic, with weird devices and rituals. It feels hot, dusty, and otherworldly.
There’s also a bit of Native American lore laced into the story. I think that added to the western atmosphere and made it strange and creepy.
Now we come to the characters.
Petra is a mix of Annie Oakley and a female Clint Eastwood. She has this really cool leather duster and slings a pair of antique pearl handled .44s. She’s weighted down with some guilty baggage, yet she’s tough as a cactus and just as prickly. She’ll ‘make your day’.
With so many characters I can’t break each one down for you. There are the meth heads, in a delusional thrall to Stroud. There’s Sal and his insatiable desire for eternal life. All of these characters are dangerous. All of them want something Petra has discovered. All of them are gunning for her.
Then there’s the non human characters. Gabriel and his group of Hanged Men. They might once have been human, but not anymore. I don’t want to say they are evil so much as they ‘do’ evil. And there’s a weird connection between them and the ravens.
My favorite of all the non human characters was Sig, Petra’s coyote. He attached himself to Petra and became her companion, protector, and early warning system. Kind of like a familiar. He was my hero.
As for romance, there’s none. Well, there’s a spark but I don’t see where it could work.
Last but not least is the horror. It’s subtle, quiet, then it strikes. So unusual, steeped in magic and something ancient. How do you fight it? How can you stand against it?
I loved Laura’s The Hallowed Ones Series and her Anya Kalinczyk Series so there was no question about reading Dark Alchemy. It’s listed as a stand alone but the ending could lead to more adventures with Petra and her side kick, Sig. It would be great to meet these guys again.
5 Stars
~~~~~
Book Description:
Some secrets are better left buried…
Geologist Petra Dee arrives in Wyoming looking for clues to her father’s disappearance years before. What she finds instead is Temperance, a dying Western town with a gold rush past and a meth-infested present.
But under the town’s dust and quiet, an old power is shifting. When bodies start turning up – desiccated and twisted skeletons that Petra can’t scientifically explain – her investigations land her in the middle of a covert war between the town’s most powerful interests. Petra’s father wasn’t the only one searching for the alchemical secrets of Temperance, and those still looking are now ready to kill.
Armed with nothing but shaky alliances, a pair of antique guns, and a relic she doesn’t understand, the only thing Petra knows for sure is that she and her coyote sidekick are going to have to move fast, or die next.
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, also writing contemporary fantasy novels under the name Alayna Williams.
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. THE HALLOWED ONES and THE OUTSIDE are her latest young adult novels.
Title: Risen II: The Progeny Author: Krystal Lawrence Publisher: Telemachus Press Pages: 281 Genre: Horror/Suspense Format: Hardcover/Kindle
My Review
When I first starting reading this I was worried becuase it’s the second book in the series and I hadn’t read the first one yet.
It made no difference as the author wove in the back story seamlessly in all the right places.
Imagine this. Lorna is only seven years old. She doesn’t remember much about her abduction by Francis Barclay, the vampire who wreaked vengeance on the town until he was finally destroyed..
Now she’s changing. She has a craving for raw meat, for blood. Being so small, without the strength to take down victims, she must get creative and get her blood with surprise attacks and while the prey is sleeping. Feeding off her baby brother isn’t enough and he’s so tiny she worries she’ll hurt him. Drinking from the homeless drunks in the park works for a while until something finally goes very wrong and Lorna could be exposed for what she is, or arrested for murder.
Risen from the ashes, and now mostly ash himself, Francis is coming back to rescue his progeny, little Lorna. His time is short and he senses she’s out of control. She’s waiting for him, but it might already be too late.
This book is so good. The writing is excellent, the back story is slipped in without slowing the reading momentum, and the characters are real. You can almost picture them.
Lorna is scary. She’s just a little slip of a girl, but her blood lust makes her a monster. With no guidance, she’s vicious, dangerous. She feels no remorse for what she does to get the blood, and she’s so close to reaching the point of no return.
Her mother notices her starnge cravings for raw meat and her change in character, but hasn’t quite connected the dots yet.
Her father is an adulterer. A real loser. Every time it seems like he’ll follow the right path, his other brain lands him in another affair, risking losing his family. I wouldn’t have minded if Lorna had fed on the loser.
New to Alder Lake, Beatrice moved there and opened a small antique shop, looking for a fresh start after her divorce. She begins a tentative romance with Detective Blaze. and she’s soon drawn into the madness when Lorna shows up at hetr door in the middle of the night covered in blood.
Blaze is lead detective in the murders and sees a connection to Francis Barclay. Could the vampire have risen? Was he back?
All of these characters are connected to each other through the murders that are popping up all over town. Each has flaws, some have secrets, and all of them fear Francis Barclay.
I’m always looking for something new in this genre and I got it. Have you ever heard of a vampire dog? I wonder if they can turn other dogs or humans? Lots to learn.
And the ending. Oh boy, it was a bonus all by itself.
You’d think vampire stories would get old, but not for me. Especially with Risen II. I drained this book in a matter of hours, much like a thirsty vamp, and loved every drop of it!
5 Stars
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Sharing some parts I loved!
She fed as quickly as possible, then wiped her lips with the back of her hand. Backing away from the snoring figure, she said softly, “Thank you, sir.”
**
“Oh, you have to be kidding me,” he groaned. “Just what the hell is he doing with her?”
“If you have dolls, I can show you,” Bebe spat with pure venom.
~~~
Synopsis
Producers take note! Francis Barclay is back and he’s ready for prime time.
Fans of horror/suspense masters Stephen King and Dean Koontz are sure to delight in the return of Francis Barclay, the vengeful and bloodthirsty vampire resurrected from the dead after 200 years, in RISEN, by the “Mistress of Macabre,” Krystal Lawrence. Barclay, cremated at the end of RISEN, has once again returned from the ashes — and this time he’s not alone!
In Lawrence’s riveting sequel, RISEN II: THE PROGENY, Barclay is working his slow and agonizing way back to Alder Lake, determined to save the child he accidentally sired.
RISEN began the tale of Francis Barclay’s return to Alder Lake to avenge the centuries old
murder of his family. In this spellbinding sequel, Barclay is determined to save his progeny. When last we left Alder Lake, seven year-old Lorna was waiting patiently by the window for her blood-father’s return. Her wait is now over. She has inherited Francis Barclay’s luminous glowing eyes as well as his taste for blood.
Alder Lake is once again plagued by murder. Only this time, the suspect will surprise everyone!
The “Risen” books may remind readers of the SOOKIE STACKHOUSE NOVELS by Charlaine Harris or Stephenie Meyer’s TWILIGHT series, but Lawrence reaches farther back for inspiration in the undead genre. She calls her novels “vampires for grownups,” in the manner of Bram Stoker’s DRACULA, the most famous bloodsucker of them all.
The main similarity of the RISEN novels to Harris’ and Meyer’s books lies in their rich potential to be adapted into the kind of theatrical or television films that can’t miss in attracting hordes of dedicated fans.
Discuss this book at PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads.
Book Excerpt:
The sun was sinking behind the mountains as the dead boy walked on, every bone in his
over-taxed body aching from strain. The constant cloud of dust and ash that floated about
him like a grimy halo made flagging down car rides impossible. This journey would be
made on foot, and there was a very long way to go, especially for a boy who should have
been resting peacefully in his grave for some three hundred years.
As the boy felt the rising breeze lift his long hair from his brow, he raised his hands
to his face and groaned. He watched in silent horror, as his fingers dissolved into fine
grains of ash and floated off into the mild California evening. If he did not find shelter for
the night soon, there wouldn’t be much of him left to lie down tonight at all.
Five years before, Francis Barclay had been cremated and interred in a vault one
hundred miles east of his hometown. Though he was no stranger to rising from the dead,
the first time around he was given a fully formed body to work with. This time he was
comprised of hundreds of thousands of tiny flakes of burned ash, and they didn’t stay put
when the wind grew restless. Worse was the odor clinging to him like an unwanted lover.
He smelled like a poorly tamped-out brush fire, lingering cinders smoldering on his skin.
Francis stumbled. He watched with dismay as his left foot began evaporating into
fine powder, swirling in the air before him. It turned to mist, and rose into the sky above
him like a departing soul, taking that miserable burnt smell with it.
~~~~
Author Krystal Lawrence
Krystal Lawrence was born and raised in Southern California, where she was a child actress. In her late teens and early twenties she redirected her creative energy into radio, and hosted a successful talk show in Las Vegas for many years. She is the author of two previous books and numerous short stories. She now lives in Seattle where she is working on her fourth novel, PHONE CALL FROM HELL.
If you’ve been following my blog, I’m sure you’ll recognize this Author. I’ve read all but a couple of his stories and loved them!
For today I’ll be sharing Trailer
A Short Story by Edward Lorn
My Review
Edward Lorn is a master of the short horror story. This one is no exception.
It’s not fit for man nor beast with a nor’easter raging outside, but Kay has no choice. She left her husband lying in a pool of blood, the frying pan she used to kill him sticking out of his face. Bullying her was one thing, but abusing her son, Tony, a boy with Down Syndrome, was not to be tolerated.
Now, on the road in the middle of the night in a blinding snow storm, Kay must find shelter from the storm when the car breaks down.
Her son had spotted a mailbox a ways back so they find it and follow a narrow path through the trees to a decrepit trailer.
But, before they can get to it, something rises from the snow. Something white, with glowing silver eyes and very sharp teeth and claws. Soon. more rise out of the snow and it’s a race to get to the trailer.
But will the trailer be protection from the screeching beasts outside?
Well, you know I can’t answer that question.
I’ll tell you this though. The beasts are determined to get inside and eat them up and the trailer has been long abandoned and falling apart.
The best thing about Edward’s short stories is his characters. He has this ability to flesh them out quickly. You feel you know them. But don’t get too attached to them. He’s not above knocking them off for a good scene.
Must not forget his creatures. They are all uniquely his own creations and bloody nasty too.
4 Stars
~~~
Synopsis
The less you know, the better.
~~~
AboutEdward Lorn and where to stalk him.
Edward Lorn is an American horror author presently residing in the southeast United States. He enjoys storytelling, reading, and writing biographies in the third person. Once upon a time, during a session of show and tell, a seven-year-old Edward Lorn shared with his class that his baby brother had died over the weekend. His classmates, the teacher included, wept while he recounted the painful tragedy of having lost a sibling. Edward went home that day and found an irate mother waiting for him. Edward’s teacher had called to express her condolences. This was unfortunate, as Edward had never had a baby brother. With advice given to her by a frustrated teacher, Edward’s mother made him start writing all of his lies down. The rest, as they say, is history. Edward Lorn and his wife are raising two children, along with a handful of outside cats and a beagle named Dot. He remains a liar to this day. The only difference is, now he’s a useful one.
In the Woods (Based upon the original screenplay by Lynn Drzick)
Genre: Horror/Thriller/Suspense
Published by: Katharsys Pictures Publishing
Release Date: January 17, 2015
Length: 201 Pages
My Review
Horror is my favorite genre. Adding in something supernatural, not human, makes it even better. I had a great time reading In The Woods.
The very title, In The Woods, is scary. I can’t think of anything good coming out of there, and something very very bad does in this book.
Evil was born into the world a long, long time ago. A foul bargain was struck. One brother was rewarded, one condemned, and payment was made.
When the brothers clashed on the battlefield, a fiend from Hell was unleashed. To stay the beast, another bargain was struck. Again, payment was made. One beast is tasked with guarding the remains of the other. Deep in a forest, it keeps it’s vigil.
One day, many many years in the future, two firemen are out hunting and stumble upon a grave deep in the woods. They know a serial killer is stalking the people of their town, so they dig up the grave, sure they’ll find one of the killer’s victims. Instead, they find the bones of a beast, something that shouldn’t, couldn’t be. Now they’ve awakened the guardian, and luck is on their side when they escape it’s wrath. Or do they?
The beginning takes place long in the past and introduces the beast. Then you move into the present when the creature is unleashed again.
It gets creepy really quick. Something is leaving gifts for Alex, one of the firemen that survived the encounter in the woods. A bloody torso here, part of a shoulder there. Kind of like when a barn cat brings you the mice it kills. Such a pleasant surprise it is. My cat used to leave the feet and the tail by my bed. It was so gross when I’d get out of bed and step on the tiny body parts. I can only imagine how gruesome and terrifying it would be to find human body parts.
Soon the whole town is in danger. Don’t forget there’s also a serial killer out there, stalking his next kill too. The author ratchet’s up the suspense and thrills.
Alex goes from victim to suspect and the local chief of police has got his killer. Once he focuses on Alex, he looks no further. This could be big for him. Get his name in the papers, get him elected to a higher office. He’s such a jerk, you love to hate him.
Poor Alex. How can he prove he’s not the killer? Can he stay alive long enough to do that? Why is the beast following him, leaving his bloody gifts?
From the very beginning, I ate this book up, tearing through it, rubbing my hands together in glee. Creatures, a serial killer, suspense, thrills, terror. All things I love to read about.
I loved this bloody book and can’t wait for the movie!
5 Stars
~~~
Synopsis
Hundreds of years ago their battle began . . .
In an age of knights and sorcery, a good king must raise a monster to protect his people from the demon unleashed by a dark-hearted enemy determined to claim his kingdom. But once called forth upon blood-drenched fields, can such evil ever be truly laid to rest?
To a present day community held hostage by fear, a serial killer will soon be the least of its worries after two off-duty firefighters enter a forest and find a grave. What they dig up isn’t a victim or family pet. When they race from the woods, they bring a timeless hell with them . . .
Based upon the original horror screenplay IN THE WOODS by Lynn Drzick, now an independent motion picture.
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About Nancy Gideon
.
With over 58 sales since her first publication in 1987, which was written in long hand then typed up on a manual Smith Corolla, Portage, Michigan author Nancy Gideon’s writing encompasses romance genres from historicals and regencies to contemporary suspense and the paranormal.Under her own name, she’s a bestseller in contemporary romantic suspense, has written an award-winning vampire romance series, and has a six book shape-shifter series with Pocket Books. Also listed on the International Movie Database (IMDB), she collaborated on Indie horror films In the Woods and Savage with screenwriting and ADR script credits, and even played a small role, that of “bar extra.”Writing historical romance as Dana Ransom, she’s a “Career Achievement for Historical Adventure” and “K.I.S.S.” award winner with books published in Romanian, Italian, Russian, Danish, Dutch, Portuguese, French, German, Icelandic and Chinese.
As Rosalyn West, she’s a HOLT Medallion winner with nominations for “Best North American Historical Romance” and “Best Historical Book in a Series.”
A prolific writer, Nancy attributes her creative output, which once peaked at seven novels in one year, to her love of history and a gift for storytelling. She also credits the discipline learned through a background in journalism and OCD. The due date for her third book and her second son were on the same day . . . and both were early! When on deadline, she turns on the laptop between 4:30 and 5:00 a.m. to get a chapter in before heading in to her full time job as a legal assistant. She’s a member of GDRWA, MMRWA, FF&P and dotes on her critique group.
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.
Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page.
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
~~~
My Tease for this week is from
Demon Energy
by Anthony Renfro
My Tease is from 18% in the eBook.
He felt his soul losing again. The demons were crawling around inside of him, pushing his soul back to the shadows.
~~~
My Review
I’ve always been fascinated and scared sh%!tless by stories of possession. I went to see The Exorcist when it came out and didn’t sleep good for years afterwards.
This poor man is possessed by a legion of demons. They will not leave. He weakens. They linger.
Not able to exorcise the demons, the people took him to a cave and chained him to a bed.
Three priests then arrived. They prayed over the man. They fought the demons. The battle waged on.
At around 20 pages, this only took me a few minutes to read. I’d love it if the author took this and made it into a full length novel. I’d like to know who the possessed man was. How he came to be possessed. And who the heck the three priests were. They were something else.
It’s really short but packs a punch!
3 Stars
~~~
Synopsis
1 Man – A 1000 Demons Possession. Redemption. Salvation. This short story is about one man tormented by evil, and his journey into the light.
~~~
I’ve read almost every book Anthony Renfro has written. I just love how he doles out his horror. Bring it on Anthony!
I have a great horror story to share with you today.
Like being scared? Afraid to keep reaching, but have to now what happens?
You’ll get a lot of this in Horror Business. Very emotional and creepy.
So come in in. Let’s dim the lights. And get rolling!
Oh yeah, don’t forget to enter the giveaway!
~~~
Title: Horror Business
Publication date: February 2015
Publisher: Month9Books, LLC.
Author: Ryan Craig Bradford
My Review
Jason and his twin brother are into making their own horror films. They are trying to finish the latest when Jason’s brother disappears. He’s just the first.
As more and more teens go missing in Silver Creek, other strange things happen as well. Jason is no longer dealing with botched lines and fake blood. Reality is much scarier and he’ll have to be smart to find his brother and the other missing teens and not become a fatality himself.
Whether reality or fantasy, nothing can be more terrifying than missing kids. How people treat Jason after his brother goes missing is so genuine. Some people don’t mention it at all, while others over compensate and treat him like he’ll break. It’s hard to know what to say or do. And his parents aren’t doing much better.
I’m struggling to tell you about this book without spoiling it. So many creepy and awesome things going on. I want to tell you all about them. Since I can’t, I’ll tell you what the story is like.
It’s like a really good B-Movie. You know, the ones you love but don’t want to admit it. Why do they make so many of these movies? Because they scare the crap out of you, give you outrageous scenes to tear apart with your friends, and the really good ones take you back to when the atmosphere scared you as much as the monster or whatever did.
Horror Business has kids making horror movies. What a great set up. The author has freedom to take the story wherever and uses flashes of past and present to keep the suspense rolling. Anything can happen, and some strange and creepy stuff does. It sneaks up on you, jumps out at you, goes quiet, and then, cue the music, the ending is unleashed.
Horror Business is a horror/slasher/ zombie story, yeah there’s this zombie dog thing, he’s my favorite.
I also enjoyed the movie mentions, seen a lot of them, and discovered some new ones.
The book read super fast and made this horror fan very happy.
4 Stars
Armed with a passion for classic B-grade horror movies, a script co-written by his twin brother, and a wicked crush on his death-obsessed neighbor; hardcore horror fan Jason Nightshade must finish his student film.
But his plans are derailed when the children of suburban Silver Creek start disappearing – his twin brother among them. Battling a possessed video camera, a crazy zombie dog, a monstrous bully, and a frighteningly broken down family life, Jason embarks on a mission to find his lost brother so the two can write an ending for his story.
As any horror fan knows, saving the day won’t be easy, as Jason finds himself forced to face the real world where death isn’t just a splash of fake blood on a camera lens.
ABOUT RYAN CRAIG BRADFORD:
Ryan grew up in Park City, Utah. His fiction has appeared in Quarterly West, Paper Darts, Vice, Monkeybicycle and [PANK]. He currently lives in San Diego where he acts as Creative Director for the nonprofit literary arts organization So Say We All. He’s the co-editor of the anthology Last Night on Earth and founder of the literary horror journal, Black Candies.
