Welcome to my stop on Emma Meade’s December Blog Tour. Today I’ll be revealing her beautiful cover, giving you a teaser excerpt, telling you my thoughts about The Awakening & Other Stories, and I’m hosting a giveaway!
The Awakening & Other Stories
by Emma Meade
Put on the kettle, close the curtains and curl up by the fire. Dive into 8 short tales, each with a slice of the paranormal.
Ghost Story
While walking her grandmother home, Jessica and her friend Michelle can’t help but notice the house. It’s supposed to be haunted. Stories are that you can see a shadow of a man in the bedroom window. The discussion turns to who he might be and why he lingers there.
On their way back, the two best friends decide to check out the old house and see if the stories are true. Jessica will learn something tonight. She ‘ll learn that ghosts are real and that maybe she was meant to enter the house on Rambles Lane.
I got a surprise with this story. I didn’t have any idea where it was going and I love that! It’s not often that I don’t see what’s coming.
The Awakening
She remembers being ill. She remembers the mysterious dark man coming to see her. She remembers the blood.
She sleeps and when she sleeps she dreams. Now she wants to wake up. Why can’t she wake up. Wait, did she hear something? Is she waking up?
I really liked this one. The ending is one of those, Oh No! ones.
End of the Line
It’s midnight and Cassie stands on the train tracks waiting for death. Here it comes. She will not jump out of the way, she won’t. Then she jumps.
Now she’ll have to come back tomorrow night and finish what she started, even if she has to use liquid courage to do so.
If she does meet death, will it be the end of the line?
I feel sorry for Cassie. She’s so sad, so lost. Failing the first time, I wonder if she really wants to die, or if she just needs a reason to go on living? This one stuck with me for some time.
Milsa Loris
The kingdom of Milsa Loris has just one night each year to come alive. The once majestic but now long abandoned home will host old friends tonight. They gather to pay their respects to an era that’s past.
The king’s witch, Noraleen, is brewing up something special for them. She just has to do this one thing and then she can finally rest.
Witchy good. I wouldn’t want to be invited to the party.
The Knocking
Alison tries to be patient with her grandfather. He’s old, losing his memory, and really tests her mettle. Tonight is no different from any other night.
Then there’s a knocking at the door. She opens it. No one’s there. Not long after, there’s more knocking. Again, there’s no one there. The knocking is much more violent the third time, but again, no one is there.
What’s come knocking?
That’s what I asked myself. What’s at the door?
The Boy on the Beach
When Kate was a little girl her grandmother read the tea leaves for her but wouldn’t tell her what she saw. As the years passed and Kate grew into her teens, her grandmother still wouldn’t tell her. Then she passed away and Kate thought she’d never know what the tea leaves said.
When she finally finds out what they said, she’s just confused. Her grandmothers warning from the grave gives her the shivers.
B-E C-A-R-E-F-U-L D-A-R-K B-O-Y W-A-N-T-S Y-O-U
“He will have the strangest green eyes you’ve ever seen… He will use trickery if needs be.”
This is one of my favorites. Kate tried to heed her grandmother’s warning.
Snowglobes
Two young lovers arrive at Calvin’s Cabins for the Christmas holidays. They’re here to try to mend their failing relationship.
Will they be able to get back what they once had?
Maybe Calvin could help them.
This is another favorite for me. It’s magical.
The Old Vampire
Hailey’s dreams aren’t about a knight in shining armor riding up on his white steed to rescue her. Her knight is a vampire, or maybe a demon or ghost. Any of these would do.
She’s longed for the supernatural world her whole life. Is she really destined to a hum-drum existence or is there something more for her.
She dreams and she waits. And she waits. And waits. Will she ever meet her knight?
This is a good old horror story. Horror just the way I like it.
Emma sprinkled some razzle dazzle on these pages and zinged me but good. I love short stories and in her book, you get a smorgasbord of paranormal and horror. I didn’t meet a story I didn’t like.
Five snowglobes for The Awakening & Other Stories
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Excerpt from “End of the Line”
In the distance, the familiar, white light appeared, cutting through the dark of midnight. She’d watched it come before, but always from the sidelines, imagining what it would be like to face such a beast.
Cassie drew in a shaky breath and steeled herself. Legs splayed, arms by her sides, fists tightly clenched, she waited on the tracks as the train approached. Her legs shook, and strands of hair licked her cheeks in the gentle night’s breeze.
She swallowed the fear threatening to override her. Hang in there, she told herself. Another sixty seconds, and it will all be over. No more drowning, murky thoughts, heavy dreams or stilted breathing. She lifted her head and stared straight ahead, willing her body to freeze.
Closer now, but not coming fast enough. She was scared. As much as she desired to have it all over with, the fear gained ground. Could the driver see her yet? No, still too far away. Why had time slowed down? An ache began in her ankles, spreading up her legs and winding its way around her thighs and into her clenched hands.
The feel of her fingernails scraping the soft flesh of her palms roused her, just as she became aware of the vibrations on the tracks.
Cassie stumbled into the grass growing beside the tracks and ran, tears running down her cheeks. She stopped as she reached the first line of trees and leaned over, resting her hands on her thighs, trying to get her breath back.
Damn it! She wanted to die. Why couldn’t she have stuck it out?
The train thundered by, unaware of the woman hunched over in the darkness, sobbing. She raised her head to watch the carriages pass, slithering alongside Wilkins Woods like a dark snake. In thirty seconds, the night was once again silent.
She’d try tomorrow night. Maybe pick up a bottle of Jack Daniel’s after work. Might help with the nerves.
Slowly, her breathing returned to normal, and she wiped the tears away. Cassie followed the edge of the woods the mile back to her squalid flat. She let herself in and headed straight to bed. One more day. She could make it that far.
Giveaway
I have one e-book copy to give away.
To enter, leave your email address and answer this question, “Are you making a New Years resolution?”
Giveaway ends Dec. 23rd.
About Emma Meade and where to find her
Author of Nights Sighs and Under the Desert Moon.
Emma Meade writes paranormal fiction. She lives in rainy Ireland and loves all things supernatural. Stephen King’s The Stand is one of her most loved books. Books, DVDS & TV show boxsets take up lots of space in her home and she collects all the Point Horror books she can get her hands on. She is not ashamed to admit that Dirty Dancing and Twilight make her top ten movie list but wishes to point out that The Last of the Mohicans, Reality Bites, Dead Poets Society, Stand by Me and The Goonies are in there too.
Writing supernatural stories & watching marathon re-runs of Buffy are some of her favourite ways of escaping reality.
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You can purchase The Awakening & Other Stories for $1.99 at these links:
Amazon
Smashwords
To get your copy just click on the cover image!
Get your copy by clicking on the cover image.
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