All posts tagged: giveaway

THE BAD ROOM: Residential haunts in Malden and Somerville

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We welcome Sam Baltrusis, author of Haunted Boston Harbor to the blog. He’s very kindly written about residential haunts in Malden and Somerville. But before we get to his guest post, read a little bit about his book, below.   Haunted Boston Harbor Haunted America Sam Baltrusis Genre: Ghosts and hauntings, Local/Regional History Publisher: History Press/Arcadia Date of Publication: August 22, 2016 ISBN: 9781626199569 Number of pages: 144 pgs Word Count: 35,000 Cover Artist: Cover photo by Frank C. Grace Book Description: Ghosts lurk in the waters near Boston’s historic seaport, haunting the secluded islands scattered throughout the harbor. Boston Harbor brims with the restless spirits of pirates, prisoners and victims of disease and injustice. Uncover the truth behind the Lady in Black on Georges Island. Learn about the former asylums on Long Island that inspired the movie Shutter Island, and dig up the skeletal secrets left behind by the Woman in Scarlet Robes. From items flying off the shelves at a North End cigar shop to the postmortem cries of tragedy at the centuries-old …

Flash Fiction! What Happens at Midnight, Stays at Midnight

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We welcome Krista Carlson, author of Gryphon’s Passing. She’s written some original flash fiction for the Halloween Spooktacular (see below), but first, here’s a little bit about her book, Gryphon’s Passing. And be sure to check out the giveaway at the bottom of the post! Gryphon’s Passing        Krista M. Carlson Genre: Supernatural fiction Date of Publication: March 23, 2015 ISBN-10: 1505848148; ISBN-13: 978-1505848144 Number of pages: 270 Word Count: 79,553 Cover Artist: Krista M. Carlson Book Description: When her older half-brother unexpectedly commits suicide, Crystal is devastated. The only thing she thinks will take away the pain is understanding why he did it. What she doesn’t know is the danger her search will create for her family when she dabbles in magick and calls something forth from the grave that wasn’t what she intended. If she can learn how to control and subdue the supernatural, she may find the answers she seeks. If not, the thing that led her brother to commit suicide is going to continue picking off her family members one by one. …

The Multimedia Angle—The Use of Journals, Videos, and Book Quotes In Books

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Welcome to author Laura Diamond, who is guest posting about modern-day epistolary form. But first, a little bit about her dystopian YA novel, Dawn of the Vie! (And be sure to check out the giveaway at the bottom of the post). Share this on Facebook>>> DAWN OF THE VIE IMMORTAL ALIENS BOOK ONE Laura Diamond Genre: Young Adult scifi/dystopian Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press Date of Publication:  October 3, 2016 Number of pages: 320 approx Word Count:  80,000 Cover Artist: Curiosity Quills Book Description: Since their Arrival less than 30 years ago, immortal Vie rule the planet like the super-predators they are. Enslaved humans are their servants…their entertainment…and their food. Anemies—humans with various types of anemia—are simply exterminated. Their nutritionally deficient blood is useless to the Vie. Or so it’s thought… Alex, an Elite Vie, is a bit of a Renaissance Alien. Part scientist, part Raid Specialist, part drug addict, he knows Anemie blood is valuable. Rather than blindly carrying out his boss’s kill order, he convinces some colleagues to spare a few Anemies, not only …

Writing Paranormal Sci-Fi: No One Puts Cherry in the Corner

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Guest post by Casey Wyatt Hi, everyone. Thank you ParaYourNormal for hosting me today. If you’re a geek girl, ahem, women like me, then you know we are living in a Golden Age. At long last, popular culture has embraced things that are different, strange, and outside of the norm in television and movies. Super heroes, time travelers, space ships, magicians, and all manner of paranormal and mystical beasts can be found. Those of us who are readers have a leg up since the paranormal, sci-fi and fantasy genres have been around for a lot longer. Think Mary Shelley, H.G. Wells and Bram Stoker. Yeah, things that go bump in the night have been fashionable for a long time now. One of the great things about so much openness to all things mystical and otherwise is that there is no shortage of ways to twist tropes and bend genres. My first published paranormal romance novel, Mystic Ink, takes gods and goddesses from myth and legend and deposits them in present day Mystic, CT (a real place). …

Book Spotlight: Witches Protection Program

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Witches Protection Program Michael Phillip Cash Genre:  Witches, Action, Adventure Publisher:  Chelshire, INC. Date of Publication:  May 14, 2015 ISBN:  1511411341 ASIN:  B00YANTA4K Number of pages:  239 Word Count:  45,518 Book Description:  Wes Rockville, a disgraced law enforcement agent, is given one last chance to prove himself and save his career when he’s reassigned to a 232 year old secret government organization. The Witches Protection Program. His first assignment: uncover a billion-dollar Cosmetics company’s diabolical plan of using witchcraft for global domination, while protecting its heiress Morgan Pendragon from her aunt’s evil deeds. Reluctantly paired with veteran witch protector, Alastair Verne, Wes must learn to believe in both witches and himself. Filled with adventure, suspense and a rousing good time, Michael Phillip Cash creates a tongue-in-cheek alternate reality where witches cast spells and wreak havoc in modern day New York City. Book Trailer: https://youtu.be/fMn2EgYQr8s Amazon    BN Excerpt: “Follow me, kid.” She led him down a gray hallway with mulberry-colored carpet, more plush than anything he’d ever seen in a governmental office. The place had to …

enchanted guardian

Myth Shopping in Camelot

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Guest post by Sharon Ashwood. Share this on Facebook>>> Arthurian legend is a bit like the big box store of source material, with every size and color of story in stock. I wanted to incorporate threads of the original in my Camelot Reborn series, but soon found myself forced to pick and choose among endless variations. Some tales date back to the Celts, and every generation since has rewritten the adventures to suit the times they lived in. The enduring appeal of Camelot’s tales must owe something to the powerful symbols and archetypes that show up throughout the many versions. For instance, some scholars believe the Grail Quest, with its imagery of a chalice and the wounded Fisher King, has its roots in pre-Christian myth. Likewise, the Green Knight who loses his head but still manages to crash Arthur’s party is a dead (undead?) ringer for a pagan vegetation god. But while all that fascinates the scholar in me, I wanted something I could easily use in a fun time-travel story crammed with delectable heroes. …

Book Spotlight: Reliquary

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Mattie Carver’s engagement party should have marked the start of her own personal fairy tale. But when her fiancé, Ben, is violently abducted the next morning, her desperate quest to find him rips her away from small-town life and reveals a shattering truth: magic is real—and Ben is hooked. It’s not the stuff of storybooks. It’s wildly addictive, capable of producing everything from hellish anguish to sensual ecstasy almost beyond human endurance. Determined to find out who took Ben and why, Mattie immerses herself in a shadowy underworld and comes face-to-face with the darkly alluring Asa Ward, a rogue magic dealer, infamous hustler…and her missing fiancé’s estranged brother. Asa has the power to sense magic, and he realizes Mattie is a reliquary, someone with the rare ability to carry magic within her own body, undetected. Asa agrees to help find Ben on one condition: Mattie must use her uncommon talent to assist his smuggling operations. Now, from magic-laced Vegas casinos to the netherworld clubs of Bangkok, Mattie is on a rescue mission. With Asa by …

Where It’s At: Setting in Worth Dying For

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Guest post by Kory M Shrum Like most readers, I love to visualize the settings presented in a story. And while my imagination can do the job just fine, I’m usually interested in what the author imagined when they were writing and like to compare it to the setting I’ve created in my mind. Share this on Facebook>>> So for you Jesse Sullivan fans, here’s your chance to do just that. Three primary settings dominate my latest novel, Worth Dying For: the streets of New York, the French Quarter of Louisiana, and an abandoned military base in Arizona. And here is a close approximation when I imagined writing those some of my scenes: The Streets of New York The novel opens in New York, Jesse and the gang are celebrating New Year and watching the ball drop. Then they return to their super posh hotel paid for by Gideon. But when federal agents storm the hotel, Jesse, Ally, Maisie and the pug are forced to escape to an alley where a major fight goes down. …

The Bizarre and Fantastic: How Fairy Tales Transformed my Novel

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There was a grotesque eloquence in which the Grimm Brothers carried out their stories. I vividly remember hearing about how bloody the original Cinderella was compared to the happy go lucky Disney version. There were still talking animals in the original. They weren’t friends with Cinderella but rather just tattled on the Step Sisters whose desperation for status led them to chop at their own feet. Share this on Facebook>>> “The girl cut a piece off of her heel, forced her foot into the shoe, and swallowed the pain.” Reading that now, makes my stomach churn. Such simple text but the beauty comes in their message. The bizarre and fantastic can be a vehicle to open a dialogue to discuss the greater themes in literature. Choice and the overarching idea of selflessness have always been topics that intrigued me. Each of the Grimm Brother’s stories had a lesson of morality. They are meant to teach but before that can be digested the reader is led through a maze of the strange. I loved the fairy …