Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Tuesday #Paranormal Author Writing Tips

In between Summer of Zombie - (check out the full schedule!) - I wanted to break in for today's #Paranormal Author Writing Tips:

Today multi-published author Stephen D. Sullivan shares some good  - no, excellent - writing advice. (And be sure to check out his free, fun series, "The Canoe Cops and The Mummy.")



My Favorite Writing Tip Is...

"Park on the down-slope."

As all of us know, it's easier to get a car going (especially with a manual transmission) if you park it going downhill rather than uphill.  That's what "park on the down slope means," and the same principal applies in writing.

You never want to leave off writing on an "uphill slope."  That is, you shouldn't stop writing for the day when you're stuck.  That makes starting the next day all the harder, and we all know how difficult it is to keep writing day-after-day in the first place.

So, you want to stop each day with a clear, downhill path ahead of you the next day.  End on the high point that will make coming back to the story easy the next day.  Often, I'll even rough-plan out upcoming plot points for the next day or two, and jot them down in the manuscript.  Sometimes this is as easy as just transferring notes from your outline into the main writing file.  And when you do that, you may find some new ideas (or better ideas) than you had when you planned things out in the first place.

That really makes writing a joy the next day.

Also, if you can anticipate a tricky spot -- a place where you might get stuck -- coming up, stop well before you reach that.  Let your mind consider it overnight (while you sleep), while you work, etc., and then use your down-slope position on the next day to get a running start at that "uphill" problem.

You'd be surprised what difficult problems your brain can work out while you're doing other things.  For instance, today, a great solution for an upcoming story problem popped into my head while I was mowing the grass.  Now that'll go into my outline, and it will be there as part of my "down-slope writing" when I get to that part of the book.

Always Park on the Down-Slope.


Your writing habits and word count will thank you for it. #



Stephen D. Sullivan's is the author of 40+ books including his latest movie-based books, Manos: The Hands of Fate (nominated for a media tie-in award) and his own Godzilla version, Daikaiju Attack

Great advice, as always! 

Friday, May 27, 2016

Super Busy week - time for lawn work

Since it's super busy this week, made me think of weather and how we have to almost cut the lawn - again....

Or maybe not. haaa!





I'll just leave this for you to consider. Have a safe Memorial Day and remember those who served. (These are from  http://revenantfx.com/index.php/product-category/zombie-garden-gnomes/)

Stay safe!



Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Another #1LineWed - Lizzie Borden, #Zombie Hunter #Horror

It's again #1LineWed- or 1 Line Wednesday, so I'm sharing another line from my upcoming book,  Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter. (see new 2nd edition & new cover!)

 (See website to keep up with any new details. Right now, I'm waiting on blurbs and reviews, and the edits back from the editor.)



lizzie borden, zombie hunter http://cverstraete.com


I know, I know, it's so hard to tell it all in only one line. But I'm not going to cheat. I'm just gonna give you that teaser... 


Today's Line:


 Another growl and a moan, and she lunged, arms rigid, her stubby hands held out like claws.



About the Book:


Every city has its secrets…

Everyone thinks Lizzie Borden murdered her father and stepmother one hot August morning in 1892 for the oldest of reasons—greed, social status, frustration… But what if she did it because she had to?

Discovering Mr. and Mrs. Borden have become zombies thrusts Lizzie into a horrific world where the walking dead are part of a shocking conspiracy to infect not only Fall River, Massachusetts, but even the world beyond. Now Lizzie enters the fight, vowing to do everything she can to protect her sister, Emma, and her hometown, from this horrid scourge.

But who really killed the Bordens—and why? Lizzie and Emma try to unravel the mystery, even as Lizzie faces the gallows for murder and another fear: what role did her father have in these horrors?

Nowhere in nineteenth-century Fall River seems safe from either these nightmarish ghouls or from the influential conspirators controlling them.

Yet, for Lizzie, uncovering her city’s—and  her family’s—secrets may come at a terrible price…

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Tuesday #Mystery #Paranormal Writing Tips

It's Tuesday, so here are some more sage words of wisdom - that is, some pretty decent writing tips from top authors. 


* Read last week's tips from authors Jeffrey Westhoff and Terrie Farley Moran. *

Multi-published and USA Today Bestselling author Jean Rabe has a couple of new titles out with a paranormal twist. These include:



Pockets of Darkness about businesswoman and thief Bridget O'Shea, whose latest relic theft comes with a curse and an ancient Sumerian demon out to kill everyone Bridget knows until it gets what it wants.


And The Love-Haight Case Files (with Donald J. Bingle), the story of two attorneys representing OTs - Other than Humans (ghosts, vampires, maybe even a zombie) in San Francisco during the Summer of Love. 

With so many new ideas (between ball-tossing sessions with her favorite dogs, that is, and maybe little sleep), you wonder how Jean manages to sit down and crank out the words. But she does, and offers pretty simple advice to doing the same: 
“Butt in chair, fingers on keyboard, don't quit for the day NO MATTER WHAT, until you've reached the desired word count.


Camille Minichino, (writing as Margaret Grace) is author of the fun Miniatures Mystery series. Her latest, Matrimony in Miniature, is book nine in the series and also comes out Sept. 9. 

About the Book: 


When murder happens in the small town of Lincoln Point CA, there aren’t many degrees of separation between the victim and retired teacher Gerry Porter. How can she stay away from the investigation when the crime scene is the venue for her marriage to Henry Baker? But this time, nephew Detective Skip Gowen tries to discourage Gerry’s and granddaughter Maddie’s efforts to solve “The Case.” He couldn’t live with himself if the murderer learns of their efforts and comes after them....

Camille's writing tip comes comes from one of my favorite authors as well. She says: 


“My fave is really Stephen King's: Write with the door closed; edit with the door open.
 She also offers this good advice: "“I have an endless list of beta readers to help edit so that my manuscripts are very clean by the time they're submitted.

Sunday, May 22, 2016

Now out! Happy Homicides 3, Summertime Crime Mystery Anthology

Now out!

Happy Homicides 3: Summertime Crime includes stories from 12 authors - includes my story, "Surf's Up," in which my part-zombie girl, Becca (from my book, GIRL Z: My Life as a Teenage Zombie) helps solve a murder mystery coinciding with a miniatures competition. Yes, it has miniatures, too! 

 You may recognize the miniature entry in the contest!  (Right now, it's on sale -only 99 cents!! - see link.  - And see the contest below. Hurry before it ends!)



zombie girl short mystery

Be sure to come to the launch party, Sunday, May 22, 1-4 p.m. EST in the Facebook group, http://www.Facebook.com/HappyHomicides. You might win a bag of beach goodies!

Be sure to check out the fantastic giveaway! Enter to win $150 worth of great beach gear!!

Win  a Beach Bag Full of Swag from your friends at Happy Homicides!


Everything you need to have a great day at the beach (even if it's just pretend). A thick, plush towel. Yummy cookies and hibiscus tea. A stunning water bottle. Margarita foot cream. Sunblock. Relaxation oils. And of course, the fabulous beach bag. 




a Rafflecopter giveaway





Saturday, May 21, 2016

The US and its Monsters

Saw this and had to laugh... so it's zombies in Wisconsin (though there's not much difference between that and cannibals... ha! )






Friday, May 20, 2016

New Mystery Anthology - Happy Homicides 3 Cover Reveal!

Today is reveal day! Check out the fantastic cover for the upcoming mystery anthology, Happy Homicides 3: Summertime Crime.


zombie girl short mystery


Be sure to come to the launch party, Sunday, May 22, 1-4 p.m. EST in the Facebook group, http://www.Facebook.com/HappyHomicides. You might win a bag of beach goodies!

The book includes my latest short mystery, "Surf's Up," in which my part-zombie girl, Becca, (from my book, GIRL Z: My Life as a Teenage Zombie) helps solve a murder coinciding with a miniatures competition. Yes, it has miniatures, too! 

Be sure to check out the fantastic giveaway! Enter to win $150 worth of great beach gear!!

Win  a Beach Bag Full of Swag from your friends at Happy Homicides!


Everything you need to have a great day at the beach (even if it's just pretend). A thick, plush towel. Yummy cookies and hibiscus tea. A stunning water bottle. Margarita foot cream. Sunblock. Relaxation oils. And of course, the fabulous beach bag. 




a Rafflecopter giveaway






Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Tuesday #Mystery #Thriller #Writing Tips

For a change of pace, I asked a few other authors to share some of their favorite writing tips, bit and small. To start, here's what a couple of them had to say:


  


Jeffrey Westhoff, author of the YA spy thriller, The Boy Who Knew Too Much, says his favorite writing tip is simple: 

" When you finish up writing for the day, leave off in the middle of a sentence. When you resume writing again, it should be easier to get back into the flow."



About the Book:



The adventure of Brian Parker's dreams has just become a nightmare. While on a school trip to Europe, Brian hopes for just a taste of the glamour and excitement from his favorite spy novels. He gets way more than he bargained for when he stumbles across a wounded spy in a Lucerne alley. Brian faces a deadly path, but reading all those spy novels has taught him a few tricks of the trade. They just might save his life.





Terrie Farley Moran is author of the fun Read em and Eat Mystery series. The next book, Read to Death, comes out July 5.  She has not one, but two writing tips she says have helped her get to where she is now. Good advice!

" I have two favorite writing tips, both borrowed from other authors. I rely on these two because, as the Queen of Procrastination, I need constant prodding to sit down and write. So I take advice from these fabulous writers. "I only write when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes at nine o'clock every morning." William Faulkner, author of  The Sound and the Fury. "Don't write it right, right it down." Gillian Roberts, author of the Amanda Pepper series.


And here's more about her latest,  Read to Death,  coming in July:


The national bestselling author of Caught Read-Handed revisits Fort Myers Beach, Florida, where the proprietors of a local bookstore café occasionally take a stab at solving murder...
 
At their seaside Read ‘Em and Eat bookstore café, Sassy Cabot and Bridgy Mayfield offer fresh scones, great books, and excellent detective work…
 
With their book club season wrapping up with The Florida Life of Thomas Edison, Sassy and Bridgy decide to take their group on a day trip to the beautiful Edison and Ford Winter Estates. Hiring driver Oscar Frieland, who’s known for his colorful stories  and love of the café’s Robert Frost fruit tartlets, the bibliophiles set off for a day of sunshine and history.
 


After a lovely excursion, the club returns to the café for lunch and a book discussion, but the group falls silent after Oscar is found dead in his van. The sheriff’s deputies have some questions of their own for the group, and if the ladies don’t find some answers soon, the next book they read might be from a prison library.

Monday, May 16, 2016

Bram Stoker #Horror Award Winners

Big Congrats to all the winners of the 2015 Bram Stoker Awards from the Horror Writers Association.

The 2015 winners (just awarded this past weekend) include: 

Superior Achievement in a Novel
Winner: Paul Tremblay – A Head Full of Ghosts (William Morrow)
Also nominated:
Clive Barker – The Scarlet Gospels (St. Martin’s Press)
Michaelbrent Collings – The Deep (self-published)
JG Faherty – The Cure (Samhain Publishing)
Patrick Freivald – Black Tide (JournalStone Publishing)
Superior Achievement in a First Novel
Winner: Nicole Cushing – Mr. Suicide (Word Horde)
Also nominated:
Courtney Alameda – Shutter (Feiwel & Friends)
Brian Kirk – We Are Monsters (Samhain Publishing)
John McIlveen – Hannahwhere (Crossroad Press)
John Claude Smith – Riding the Centipede (Omnium Gatherum)
Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel
Winner: John Dixon – Devil’s Pocket (Simon & Schuster)
Also nominated:
Jennifer Brozek – Never Let Me Sleep (Permuted Press)
Michaelbrent Collings – The Ridealong (self-published)
Tonya Hurley – Hallowed (Simon & Schuster)
Maureen Johnson – The Shadow Cabinet (Penguin)
Ian Welke – End Times at Ridgemont High (Omnium Gatherum)
Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel
Winner: Sam Weller, Mort Castle, Chris Ryall, & Carlos Guzman (editors) – Shadow Show: Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury (IDW Publishing)
Also nominated:
Cullen Bunn – Harrow County, Vol. 1: Countless Haints (Dark Horse Comics)
Victor Gischler – Hellbound (Dark Horse Books)
Robert Kirkman – Outcast, Vol. 1: A Darkness Surrounds Him (Image Comics)
Scott Snyder – Wytches, Vol. 1 (Image Comics)
Superior Achievement in Long Fiction
Winner: Mercedes M. Yardley – Little Dead Red (Grimm Mistresses) (Ragnarok Publications)
Also nominated:
Gary A. Braunbeck – Paper Cuts (Seize the Night) (Gallery Books)
Lisa Mannetti – The Box Jumper (Smart Rhino Publications)
Norman Partridge – Special Collections (The Library of the Dead) (Written Backwards)
Scott Edelman – Becoming Invisible, Becoming Seen (Dark Discoveries #30)
Superior Achievement in Short Fiction
Winner: John Palisano – Happy Joe’s Rest Stop (18 Wheels of Horror) (Big Time Books)
Also nominated:
Kate Jonez – All the Day You’ll Have Good Luck (Black Static #47)
Gene O’Neill – The Algernon Effect (White Noise Press)
Damien Angelica Walters – Sing Me Your Scars (Sing Me Your Scars) (Apex Publications)
Alyssa Wong – Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers (Nightmare Magazine #37)
Superior Achievement in a Screenplay
Winner: David Robert Mitchell – It Follows (Northern Lights Films)
Also nominated:
Guillermo del Toro & Matthew Robbins – Crimson Peak (Legendary Pictures)
John Logan – Penny Dreadful: And Hell Itself My Only Foe (Showtime)
John Logan – Penny Dreadful: Nightcomers (Showtime)
Taika Waititi & Jemaine Clement – What We Do in the Shadows (Unison Films)
Superior Achievement in an Anthology
Winner: Michael Bailey – The Library of the Dead (Written Backwards)
Also nominated:
Ellen Datlow – The Doll Collection: Seventeen Brand-New Tales of Dolls (Tor Books)
Christopher Golden – Seize the Night (Gallery Books)
Nancy Kilpatrick and Caro Soles – nEvermore! (Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing)
Jonathan Maberry – The X-Files: Trust No One (IDW Publishing)
Joseph Nassise and Del Howison – Midian Unmade (Tor Books)
Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection
Winner: Lucy A. Snyder – While the Black Stars Burn (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
Also nominated:
Gary A. Braunbeck – Halfway Down the Stairs (JournalStone Publishing)
Nicole Cushing – The Mirrors (Cycatrix Press)
Taylor Grant – The Dark at the End of the Tunnel (Cemetery Dance Publications)
Gene O’Neill – The Hitchhiking Effect (Dark Renaissance Books)
Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction
Winner: Stephen Jones – The Art of Horror (Applause Theatre & Cinema Books)
Also nominated:
Justin Everett and Jeffrey H. Shanks (ed.) – The Unique Legacy of Weird Tales: The Evolution of Modern Fantasy and Horror (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers)
Michael Knost – Author’s Guide to Marketing with Teeth (Seventh Star Press)
Joe Mynhardt & Emma Audsley (editors) – Horror 201: The Silver Scream (Crystal Lake Publishing)
Danel Olson – Studies in the Horror Film: Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (Centipede Press)
Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection
Winner: Alessandro Manzetti – Eden Underground (Crystal Lake Publishing)
Also nominated:
Bruce Boston – Resonance Dark and Light (Eldritch Press)
Ann Schwader – Dark Energies (P’rea Press)
Marge Simon – Naughty Ladies (Eldritch Press)
Stephanie M. Wytovich – An Exorcism of Angels (Raw Dog Screaming Press)


Friday, May 13, 2016

A Comic Con Kind of Weekend

Heeeeey, friends! I hope you’ve had an amazing week and are looking forward to a spectacular weekend. I know I am. I get to go to Cheyenne Comic Con! It doesn’t get much better.

My boys and I will be heading over on Saturday to check things out, then on Sunday I will be giving my Surviving Zombies workshop. It’s going to be a blast! We’re very excited to see the different costumes. The boys contemplated dressing up, but then decided against it because the helmets to their Stormtrooper costumes are broken. Dang it all!

I love being able to do these kinds of things with my boys. It’s my job to make sure they are raised right, and that means appreciating and experiencing the nerdy, dorky things in life. Makes them well-rounded citizens.

Aside from that fun, I’ve finished the first draft of the first book of my next young adult zombie novel. It’s called Humanity’s Hope. I mentioned last week that I’m not sure what will happen to it, and it’s still up in the air. However, I’ve taken a few baby steps to get back into indie publishing, including applying to Books of the Dead Press and participating in a Twitter pitch yesterday called #PitDark. I had some interest in the book, but I’m honestly not holding my breath. I’m not convinced my book is exactly what they are looking for. It’s dark—and not just because it has zombies in it.

Would you like a glimpse of what the book is about? I had to write a query and a synopsis, so I’ll share what I have. Not all of it, of course, because I don’t want to spoil it for anyone. Here ya go:

Seventeen-year-old Caleb survived the zombie uprising, but he’s scarred mentally and physically. Humanity is trying to rebuild, but after the loss of his family and friends, Caleb walks a path of self-doubt and self-harm. Caleb gets up every morning and goes to work at Zomtech, writing computer code so that the scientists can find a cure. Today, though, regulars—zombies—escape the ghetto and kill his neighbor, and the death is a message directed at him. He receives an email with a video of someone unleashing zombies onto her. The video says if Caleb doesn’t give them what they want, more people will die.

Then he and his friend Samuel are attacked by a hoard of undead in a park. These aren’t typical undead. In addition to regulars, there are mutants known as BZs and RBZs—Big Zombies and Really Big Zombies. A regular bites Caleb, and things only get worse when he discovers he’s immune to whatever turns a person into a zombie. Caleb has to make a choice: will he become humanity’s hope and save them from the undead menace, potentially becoming a pawn in a power struggle, or will he finish what he started long ago and end his own life?

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

#1LineWed -1LineWednesday - #Lizzie Borden #Horror #zombies

Are you tired of hearing about Lizzie Borden yet???


http://cverstraete.com borden zombies



Just Say No!!!! 

I hope not, as they'll be much, much more to be said in the upcoming months leading up to the release of my book, Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter.

Sign up for my mailing list at my website and friend/follow me on Facebook (be sure to click that notifications are on) to get updates and news on the upcoming release date, cover reveal, launch party, prizes and more-more-more!!! 


*** For now, it's #1LineWed - 1 Line Wednesday again!!

I know it's hard getting a full picture, given you don't get the full context, but hopefully a line here and there whets your appetite for more!

So, picking one of my favorite lines from the upcoming Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter (coming this summer/fall):  (New 2nd edition & new cover out!)


Then Lizzie spotted it: the worn hatchet Father had left behind after he’d last brought in the newly chopped wood. 
And
....???? Is it what you think will happen?? Stay tuned for more sneak peeks!

About the Book:


Every city has its secrets…

Everyone thinks Lizzie Borden murdered her father and stepmother one hot August morning in 1892 for the oldest of reasons—greed, social status, frustration… But what if she did it because she had to?

Discovering Mr. and Mrs. Borden have become zombies thrusts Lizzie into a horrific world where the walking dead are part of a shocking conspiracy to infect not only Fall River, Massachusetts, but even the world beyond. Now Lizzie enters the fight, vowing to do everything she can to protect her sister, Emma, and her hometown, from this horrid scourge.

But who really killed the Bordens—and why? Lizzie and Emma try to unravel the mystery, even as Lizzie faces the gallows for murder and another fear: what role did her father have in these horrors?

Nowhere in nineteenth-century Fall River seems safe from either these nightmarish ghouls or from the influential conspirators controlling them.


Yet, for Lizzie, uncovering her city’s—and family’s—secrets may come at a terrible price…


Monday, May 9, 2016

Meme Monday: Lizzie Borden #Zombie Hunter, The Reward

I found this photo online... an issue I did address in the upcoming book, 
Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter by C.A. Verstraete...





Excerpt, Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter by C.A. Verstraete...

“Yes, please sit there, I’ll get you some tea and then we need to work on an advertisement for the newspaper. We should provide a reward, so it will be taken seriously. How much should we offer? Is two thousand dollars enough?”
Emma’s words made Lizzie look up. Neither of them dared voice their thoughts aloud—that no one would ever catch the real killer. No, not her, but whoever had passed that dreadful illness or whatever it was on to Father and Mrs. Borden.


Friday, May 6, 2016

I Have No Idea What the Future Will Bring

Things have been crazy lately. I found out last weekend that my publisher will be closing, and I took it really hard. So hard, in fact, that I’m not sure I want to continue writing.

My previously published books will still be available, but I’m not sure what will happen in the future. I’ve been working on a new young adult zombie series called Saving Humanity, and I recently finished the first book. It’s called Humanity’s Hope, but I have no idea what is going to happen to it.

I’m going to spend some time figuring out what to do and if I want to risk getting into the publishing world again. I’ve been through a lot, and at the moment, I don’t have the energy to keep going.

To see exactly how the closing affected me, you can read my blog post here.

I hope you all have an amazing weekend!

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

#1LineWed - 1 Line Wednesday - #Horror #zombie Lizzie Borden

Time for another #1LineWed - 1 Line Wednesday.

Here's a line from my upcoming book, Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter....


lizzie borden, zombie hunter cverstraete.com


Today's one line: 

Dark red spots—blood, Lizzie’s mind whispered—dotted the floor and streaked the sides of the older woman’s dress and sleeves.


About Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter - coming this summer/fall:

Every city has its secrets…

Everyone thinks Lizzie Borden murdered her father and stepmother one hot August morning in 1892 for the oldest of reasons—greed, social status, frustration… But what if she did it because she had to?

Discovering Mr. and Mrs. Borden have become zombies thrusts Lizzie into a horrific world where the walking dead are part of a shocking conspiracy to infect not only Fall River, Massachusetts, but also the world beyond. Now Lizzie enters the fight, vowing to do everything she can to protect her sister, Emma, and her hometown, from this horrid scourge.

But who really killed the Bordens—and why? Lizzie and Emma try to unravel the mystery, even as Lizzie faces the gallows for murder and another fear: what role did her father have in these horrors?

Nowhere in nineteenth-century Fall River is safe from these nightmarish ghouls or the evil forces controlling them.


Yet, for Lizzie, uncovering her city’s—and family’s—secrets may come at a terrible price…


Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Haunt Jaunts' #Paranormal Day-Haunting of Lizzie Borden

Today is Paranormal Day  over at friend Courtney Mroch's fantastic Haunt Jaunts Site! 

 


So, what's up?

Some spookiness and what not, that's what!

So, here's my post about....


The Haunting of Lizzie Borden

Rumors abound that the house at what was numbered 92 Second Street in Fall River, Massachusetts is seriously haunted. Not surprising since it was the place where Lizzie Borden allegedly hacked her father and stepmother to death with an ax in 1892.

It would make sense, of course, that something lingers, given the gruesomeness of the crime. Is it a spirit? A feeling of unease? Something darker? (Read the Borden autopsy reports—if you dare.)

You can find out on your own, of course, by booking a night at the former home of Lizzie, now the Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast at the house, now numbered 230 Second Street. The owner even claimed being spooked out of the house when she first bought it, according to Bio.

Maybe it was nerves or an overactive imagination. Maybe it was the eerie history. Others have claimed to have sensed things… Some have claimed to hear a cat meowing… some have seen shadow people… some have heard voices, or felt someone – something – brush against them, so it’s claimed at Haunted Houses.com.

And, well, it’s a good selling point for the business, right? Not that such stories need to be manufactured. People have long had a fascination with the macabre and the ghoulish… In Lizzie’s day as today when people stop to look at a traffic accident, they lined the streets to get a glimpse of her and gathered outside the house to watch and gossip. The trial itself was reported nationwide and became the first “trial of the century.”

            Whether the Borden house is haunted, of course, falls into the same category for many as the crime itself –is it or isn’t it? Did she do it or didn’t she?

            My theory? She did it… but for a good reason…

About Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter –book coming this summer/fall!

Every city has its secrets…

Everyone thinks Lizzie Borden murdered her father and stepmother one hot August morning in 1892 for the oldest of reasons—greed, social status, frustration… But what if she did it because she had to?

Discovering Mr. and Mrs. Borden have become zombies thrusts Lizzie into a horrific world where the walking dead are part of a shocking conspiracy to infect not only Fall River, Massachusetts, but also the world beyond. Now Lizzie enters the fight, vowing to do everything she can to protect her sister, Emma, and her hometown, from this horrid scourge.

But who really killed the Bordens—and why? Lizzie and Emma try to unravel the mystery, even as Lizzie faces the gallows for murder and another fear: what role did her father have in these horrors?

Nowhere in nineteenth-century Fall River is safe from these nightmarish ghouls or the evil forces controlling them.

Yet, for Lizzie, uncovering her city’s—and family’s—secrets may come at a terrible price…


* Follow me on Facebook – sign up for my periodic newsletter at the website to keep tuned in for details!! All kinds of cool stuff – cover reveal, prizes, etc. and the launch!!– coming!

Monday, May 2, 2016

Meme Monday Lizzie Borden #Zombie Hunter Book Coming!

Going to share some lines from my upcoming book, Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter...

One line that says it all: 



(Coming this summer/fall)

Every city has its secrets…

Everyone thinks Lizzie Borden murdered her father and stepmother one hot August morning in 1892 for the oldest of reasons—greed, social status, frustration… But what if she did it because she had to?

Discovering Mr. and Mrs. Borden have become zombies thrusts Lizzie into a horrific world where the walking dead are part of a shocking conspiracy to infect not only Fall River, Massachusetts, but also the world beyond. Now Lizzie enters the fight, vowing to do everything she can to protect her sister, Emma, and her hometown, from this horrid scourge.

But who really killed the Bordens—and why? Lizzie and Emma try to unravel the mystery, even as Lizzie faces the gallows for murder and another fear: what role did her father have in these horrors?

Nowhere in nineteenth-century Fall River is safe from these nightmarish ghouls or the evil forces controlling them.


Yet, for Lizzie, uncovering her city’s—and family’s—secrets may come at a terrible price…

Sunday, May 1, 2016

StoryADay in May!

It's May! Time to begin the annual StoryADay in May challenge!



It's pretty cool. Check the site/link above to sign up for daily prompts and write or read!

I'm going to try to do some short flash stories, I hope, and some unique posts about Lizzie Borden and my upcoming book, Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter.  Stay Tuned!