Halloween Stories, Horror Events Coming!

Oak Grove Cemetery, SD Sullivan

 I know, it's been a while!

But it's time to gear up for Halloween and more spooky fun!! Some ghoul stuff coming up soon!

So far:

* My favorite eerie story, Sweet Dreams, will be appearing in 31 Days of Horror on the Creepy Podcast! Can't wait to hear this and the other stories! Stay tuned for the schedule! See the FB page.  See episodes on their website. 

* October Frights! Oct. 10-15.  Annual creepy-fest! Freebie stories and more from various authors. See the giveaways here. See the FB group. 

* Back to the beginning: I'm joining up again with an event I participated in when I first entered the zombie book world. Winter of Zombie will offer all kinds of events with 12 authors from Jan. 1-31, 2024. Join the FB group for details. I'll share more here as I get it. 

I'll be adding new information and other events, plus I'm working on some new creepy reading lists, too, so stay tuned!

New Ghost Story in Scare Street Horror Anthology!

 

(Image: Pete Linforth/Pixabay)

They say Paris is haunted....

 

Anjie soon learns the truth about the city's oldest secrets in my  latest story, "The Ghosts of Paris" in the new anthology, Night Terrors Vol. 26, from Scare Street.

 On sale now! See details. Plus! It was listed as #1 in new  releases in Horror Anthologies on Amazon! Let me know if you're interested in reviewing, too.

  New scary anthology with 18 stories torn from the shadows, filled with bone-chilling fiends, skin-crawling monsters, and malevolent spirits.

Night Terrors Vol. 26 features the following stories:
1. Mother Thing by Mathew L. Reyes
2. The Bar Visitor by Travis Lee
3. The Suicide Dead by Mason Gallaway
4. Eternally Yours by Jesse Rosenbaum
5. All the Children of Lesnaya Street by Sabrina Howard
6. The Wrong Kind of Attention by Angela Sylvaine
7. Neighborhood Watch by John Gallant
8. Snow by Edmund Stone
9. The Creek by Joshua Orr
10. Spooks by Christopher J. Nardone
11. B2 by David Barclay
12. My Wife Is Having an Affair by J. M. White
13. High Tension by Justin Boote
14. The Ghosts of Paris by C. A. Verstraete
15. Mark Breaks Up the Band by Ethan Robles
16. The Pitch Pine Witch by E. J. Werrlein
17. An Ocean Black by Stacey Dighton
18. Just Passing Through by Ron Ripley and Kevin Saito

Paranormal Romance: Wicked Grace

Time for a new book post! Today, we welcome Luna Joya author of Wicked Grace, book 3 of the Wicked Series. Check out the excerpt and giveaway below.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

   He’s a grumpy demon prince. She’s a sunshine magical orphan who’s his fated mate and forbidden. But can he survive rejecting her?

Demon prince Alexei is ruthless in business and deadly in battle. The mafia boss will do anything to protect his family, even consider an arranged marriage with a royal he doesn’t love.
   There’s just one problem.
   When the grumpy hero rescues a sunshine princess locked away in a tower, he knows she’s his fated mate. She also seems to be a freakin’ forbidden angel. Like the villain he is, Alexei rejects her without saying why.
   Despite her tortuous childhood, Jolene is determined to find her real family and win her grumpy prince. Come on—the man has wings! But loving her antihero makes him a target of her human enemies who are out to destroy all supernaturals.
   These two opposites attract in all the wicked ways. But when supernatural children in Alexei’s hometown start disappearing, the two must work together, and Jolene will have to reveal that her sunshine-and-sparkles magic isn’t what it seems. Can they find their happily ever after or will their differences and enemies destroy them both?

Excerpt from Wicked Grace: (Buy at Amazon.)

Her long hair spilled out of a braid in unusual shades of bronze, gold, and copper that reminded him of his mother’s decor designed to flaunt their position and wealth.
   “Do you know these boys?” he asked, emphasizing the last word because no man would need to prove himself by terrorizing a kid. A pull of worry that he’d only felt for family knotted in his gut, and he wished he had the magic to read her emotions or to send her enough reassurance that she would look at him.
   “Nyet.” She kept her head bowed.
“   Have they hurt you?”
   “Nyet,” she said.
   He wasn’t convinced. She didn’t have fresh bruises or marks, but blood stained her clasped hands and her hairline. Staring at the bully, he told him, “Hand over her book and anything else you took from her.”

   The boy did as ordered, a flash of anger sparking his gaze.
   Alexei couldn’t let that insult go. He flicked a look over all three teenaged boys. “I could kill you. Do you think anyone would come against the Maronov prince?”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Luna Joya writes sexy hexy romances in the award-winning Legacy Series.
   Fluent in sarcasm and penal code, Luna prosecutes by day and writes at night. She loves history, especially Los Angeles and Hollywood lore.
   A survivor of traumatic brain injury with steel body parts, she lives in SoCal with her combat veteran husband and their two-pound terror of a rescue pup.
Find more about Luna Joya on her website: https://lunajoya.com/

   Check out her completed Legacy Series, her on-going Syn City Shifter Series. 
   Want to keep up to date on Luna's work? Follow her on Amazon, Bookbub, Goodreads, and join her street team group, Luna's Lovelies, for excerpts, giveaways, and sneak peeks at upcoming work.

* a Rafflecopter giveaway    

What I'm Reading: #Crime #mystery

Besides reading horror and zombie books, I also like to read in various genres, from mystery and historical, to fantasy and others.

Currently, I was thrilled to discover books by Victoria Thompson, a multi-published author I hadn't read before. 

    While she also  has a long-running, 26-book gaslight mystery series featuring a midwife,  (Book 1 is Murder on Astor Place.) I was intrigued by her Counterfeit Lady series I came across featuring a unique con artist family, also set in the early 1900s. I'm always thrilled when I can find a series that is really fun to read, and I'm enjoying this one. I hope to try her gaslight series also as it does look intriguing. 

Given the restrictions of the time period, it's interesting to read about a female con artist who works with her father and others to use their "skills" as grifters to right certain wrongs.  Even more interesting is how the Counterfeit Lady series makes the time period come alive through the big events of the day.

I happened first on book 5 of the six-book Counterfeit Lady series, City of Shadows, at the library so I've been reading the series backwards. In City of Shadows, Elizabeth Miles helps a friend to save her mother from an unscrupulous medium.  Set after World War I and the Spanish flu epidemic.

 

 In Book 1, City of Lies, Elizabeth tries to escape a man whom she'd help con out of a large sum of money, and joins a group of Suffragist women protesting by the White House. Excellent portrayals of the hardships women endured fighting for the right to vote. 

Book 2, City of Secrets, has Elizabeth trying to help a widow who was cheated out of her fortune by her late husband, and uncover who was behind a scheme to blackmail him and keep scandalous secrets hidden. Interesting details on a hidden underworld of brothels.

In book 3, City of Scoundrels, while Elizabeth 's lawyer-fiancé, Gideon Bates is waiting to be called up for the draft in World War I, he is drawing up wills for other soldiers before they're shipped out, among them a soldier who wants to protect his new wife and unborn child. But when that soldier is killed in the war and the bride reveals herself to his entrepreneurial family, Elizabeth, Gideon and others work to locate the missing will and protect the wife after a vicious attack. 

 

 

 I am now reading book 4, City of Schemes, where Elizabeth is planning her wedding and Gideon's old friend Logan comes home from the war. Now Elizabeth helps to uncover a scheme of who is trying to con Logan out of money by pretending to be a woman he knew who wants to leave the devastations in France after the Great War ends. Worse is that the man she conned now knows she isn't dead and is hunting her. 

Since I've read out of order, next up is book 6, City of Fortune, set in the world of thoroughbred racing and the Belmont Stakes.  After that, I sure hope this series continues!

 

New Year, New Review O is for Outbreak #horror

 It's always fun to get feedback on something you wrote, especially when it's positive.

 

Reviewer Sherry Fundin recently reviewed my story, "The Rumor That Refused to Die" and the anthology it's in, O is for Outbreak, book 15 of the A to Z of Horror series from Red Cape Publishing. He're's the B&N.com link also.

Here's part of the review. See the full review at Goodreads:

MY REVIEW for "The Rumor That Refused To Die" by Chris Verstraete

“Do you mean that story wasn’t true?…It says the policeman died in 1950 after his car fell into a giant sinkhole. I thought newspapers had to print the truth?”

“You be the judge,” her teacher said.

"The Rumor That Refused To Die" by Chris Verstraete shows how quickly a story changes, from person to person and time to time.. Amanda takes her school assignment and runs with it, digging deep, and I love where Chris went with the story. It had me smiling, because I have seen a movie with a creature like this, so it was easy to visualize....

MY REVIEW for the anthology as a whole

I was caught up in the creepy and didn’t stop until I read the last story. The wonderful thing about an anthology, you can pick it up for a quickie no matter where you are.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of O Is For Outbreak. 4 of 5 stars.

A Scary #Horror #Mystery: O is for Outbreak

One of my favorite strange stories I wrote, "The Rumor That Refused to Die" is now out in O is for Outbreak, Book 15 in the A to Z of Horror anthology series from Red Cape Publishing. Check out the cover! (Pre-order, releases Nov. 18)

The pandemic-flavored book features 13 stories of government conspiracies, historic plagues, otherworldly viruses, deadly insects, and more.

In my story, Amanda Hayes tries to solve the mystery behind a 1950s accident - and discovers that some secrets and rumors are best left buried. 

* Reviewers: contact me if you want to review the book!

Happy #Halloween Viewing: Spooky Movies Coming Up!

 I have to say that Netflix has really been scheduling some cool spooky stuff lately!

Watch the trailers at the links.

First, was The Munsters movie by Rob Zombie. Campy fun.

Then already started, and which I have to watch, is Cabinet of Curiosities.

And coming Nov. 23, Wednesday (from the Addams Family).  I'm really looking forward to this:

Another eerie thriller movie which I happened to catch was Inheritance. Pretty good.

Happy Halloween viewing!