November Black Friday Reading List! #horror #zombie #crime

 

Been seeing some neat books lately so figured I'd put together a Black Friday and Thanksgiving Reading List. It's always fun to discover new books and authors I wouldn't know about, too, except for others' recommendations. Enjoy some great deals!! Have a great holiday and be safe!

Anthologies:

 Hellcats  Anthology - Sixty-nine stories of feline adventure, from Mr. Darcy to Hunter S. Thompson as a cat. Including with stories by various authors including "Lead Me Not Into Temptation" by Craig Martelle. (Great concept!)

Peace, Love and Crime: Crime Fiction Inspired by Songs of the '60s - This is a fun concept if you like '60s music! Twenty-three stories by assorted authors,including "It Ain't Me Babe" by Terrie Farley Moran and "Suspicious Minds" by John M. Floyd. Peace, love, and harmony were the goals. Meditation, mysticism, and psychedelic drugs were the way to enlightenment. Peace, love, and crime were often the result, sometimes humorous, sometimes deadly. 

* Black Friday - 99 cent specials: * 

Black Friday & Thanksgiving specials! Nov. 24-31.

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* All genres, Black Friday Book Blast!

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Black Friday - Cyber Monday sale to 12/1.

Fantasy & Sci Fi

* Holiday Sale to Jan. 1 

Ghosts

 The Haunting of Dr. Bowen, A Mystery in Lizzie's Borden's Fall River, C. A. Verstraete (On sale, 99 cts.!) - A ghostly mystery/love story companion novella to Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter from the viewpoint of Lizzie's doctor and neighbor, Dr. Seabury Bowen. Bowen was the first official on the horrific axe murder scene in 1892 of Borden's father and stepmother. 143 pgs.

Holiday Horror 

 

Holiday Horror Collection: Flash Fiction Anthologies, Eleanor Merry, Cassandra Angler, Brian Scutt - Killer Easter bunnies to a malicious Santa and more. Five different holidays with over 500 flash fiction stories. 

 Murder Machinery & Snowflakes, A Trio of Festive Terror, Mark Cassell - Three holiday-themed short stories that put the red in your Christmas stocking. (Great title!) 

Horror

Sci-Fi and Horror Specials through Dec. 25

 

Ink , Jonathan Maberry - Tattoo-artist Patty Cakes has her dead daughter’s face tattooed on the back of her hand. Day by day it begins to fade, taking with it all of Patty’s memories of her daughter. All she’s left with is the certain knowledge she has forgotten her lost child. The awareness of that loss is tearing her apart. Something is out there. Something cruel and evil is feeding on the memories, erasing them from the hearts and minds of people like Patty and Monk and others.

Pestilence, Breathe If You Dare, Brian L. Porter - English countryside, 1958. The idyllic village of Olney St. Mary has stood in its peaceful location for over 900 years. Until one day, when two teenage boys are struck by a mysterious illness. The newly arrived Doctor Hilary Newton suspects a common flu to be the cause of their malady. Before long, the doctor and residents of Olney St. Mary are plunged into a nightmare, as the disease ravages the local population. Despite the doctors employing the latest medicine available, the death toll keeps rising. Someone in the village knows the reason behind the pestilence that has struck at the heart of the village, but can the medics learn the truth before it’s too late, or will they join the growing list of names that appear on the death roll in Olney St. Mary?

The Good House: A Novel, Tananarive Due - The house Angela Toussaint's late grandmother owned is so beloved that townspeople in Sacajawea, Washington, call it the Good House. But is it? Angela hoped her grandmother's famous "healing magic" could save her failing marriage while she and her family lived in the old house the summer of 2001. Instead, an unexpected tragedy ripped Angela's family apart. With the help of Myles Fisher, her high school boyfriend, and clues from beyond the grave, Angela races to solve a deadly puzzle that has followed her family for generations. She must summon her own hidden gifts to face the timeless adversary stalking her in her grandmother's house -- and in the Washington woods.

The Water Shed, Suzanne Madron -After receiving an impossible phone call, Sam returns to old stomping grounds to discover who - or what - is calling from beyond the confines of an old property. (Short fiction, 42 pgs.) 

Magical Realism

Defying Gravity, Jack Wallen - Wil Jackson's dream is about to come true. Broadway. Playing the Emcee in "Cabaret". Willkommen to the world of professional theater, where the blinding lights of the stage transcend time and give life new meaning. When the soul-healing joy of creation breaks the bonds of reality, nothing is what it seems.

Mystery

 

If Wishes Were Dragons: A DragonEye PI Story, Karina Fabian - When Vern's gaming friends find a genie's lamp, they wish for a real-life adventure - and boy, do they get it! Vern's party is transported to Faerie to fight monsters, crawl dungeons, rescue fair maidens...and deal with some of Vern's old schemes that have come back to bite him in the tail. Vern even gets his secret wish fulfilled when he sees his dragon kin for the first time in centuries. But the genie is not what he seems. The Wish World is the real-world Faerie of Vern's past...and their adventure is no game. Book 2 in the DragonEye PI series.

No Good Deed, Victoria Pitts Caine - Jessa Fisher grew up in the small mountain community of Montaña Verde, but when she and her fellow detective, Eric Lane, are assigned to a murder case she begins to question what she knows about the town’s inhabitants. Is her current case linked to multiple deaths spanning decades? What are the connections, and who holds the answers? As she unravels these secrets, she’s inspired to look into the mysterious disappearance of her great-grandmother.

The Haunting of Bechdel Mansion, Roger Hayden - A young couple move into their dream home only to find a dark presence lurking from within. For Curtis and Mary, the small town of Redwood, Indiana seems too good to be true. Everything is perfect, including the Victorian mansion they purchased at a great price. But they soon experience terrifying supernatural encounters tied to the deadly secrets of an unsolved mass murder. Can they solve the mystery in time? Or will they face the same doomed fate as the tenants who came before them?

The Highway, CJ Box - Watchng the TV series. Pretty good though I see the book is different, which isn't a surprise but then makes it worth reading. Private investigators search for two missing girls and a killer in Montana. 

Women's Fiction

Deceiving Elvera, Peg Herring  - (Pre-Order, releases Dec. 4) A tale of friendship, love, loss ,and the transformative power of helping others spanning the decades from the 1960s to the present. A ship's steward on a cruise in Thailand vows to succeed in helping the difficult Elvera where others have failed.  The more steward Michael learns of Miss E’s past, the more he suspects that she harbors a host of secrets, (including people smuggling) even in her seventh decade and despite functional limitations and constant pain. Getting to know Miss E brings Michael to a reckoning with his own past, which brings them both to a suspenseful situation and a shocking conclusion.

Zombie

Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter, C.A. Verstraete - Think you know the Lizzie Borden story? You know... Lizzie Borden took an axe.... She was acquitted but... what if she did kill her father and stepmother for a good reason? They'd turned into.... zombies! Follows the real-life events of the trial with some twists!

Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter 2: The Axe Will Fall, C.A. Verstraete - The story continues past the trial. Now Lizzie and the citizens of Fall River must battle a new surge of flesh-eaters, this time with a heartbreaking twist: the infected creatures are friends and family, hidden away by their grief-stricken caregivers. When her sister Emma becomes a pawn in the growing war against the undead, Lizzie has no choice but to pick up her axe again. With the help of her charming self-defense instructor, Pierre, she vows to end the horrific zombie menace, once and for all. But can she overcome her personal demons and the rampaging monsters, no matter the cost? NOTE: There are spoilers if you haven't read book 1.

 

The Underclass, Dan Weatherer - In a world where the rules of death suddenly no longer apply, thirty-something Lee Callows, prepares for the greatest day of his largely uneventful life: promotion to the first rung of middle management. However, his (after) life takes an unexpected turn when he is involved in a fatal road traffic accident on his way to work. Yet his death is the least of his problems!

Zombie Jig and Jive, Karla Brading - For fun, a children's book with seven "blood-curdling" short stories of ghosts on the moon, to zombie best friends and more!

Zombie Mermaids from the Deep,  Chris B -  In 2113., nations under the control of GlobalCore nations have united to feed the masses and protect the elites inside gated cities from the undead virus, dubbed Zbola. Outside the walls, those who are able-body seek safety against raging weather and changing landscape. When destiny meets prophecy, a band of Outsiders clash with a group of Insiders on their way to the coast where they find worse creatures crawling ashore turning tropical dreams into a biting nightmare.

New Release! The Rose: Alien #Vampires #SciFi #Dystopian

 New Release!

The Rose, PD Alleva - (99 cents, limited time sale!) A masterful, dystopian science fiction thriller of telepathic evil greys, mysterious rebellion, martial arts, and Alien Vampires.

Sandy Cox believed WW3 was over. But for those Alien Vampires, war has just begun.Forty-eight hours after a World War 3 treaty is signed Sandy Cox awakens in an underground compound unable to move. Tied to machines, she screams for help but no one answers. At least no one human. And they’ve taken her unborn child.

Phil is a rebel freedom fighter who has had more than his share of Alien Vampires. Armed with The Blades, a sacred alien martial arts weapon, he enters the compound on a mission to find Sandy. But as he battles through the compound, Phil discovers Sandy has her own agenda. Finding her stolen child is all that matters. But the Vampires have their own plan and Sandy’s baby is at the heart of their diabolical plot. 

Joined by a crew of rogue soldiers, they must navigate the underground compound, combating genetically mutated humans, aliens, and monsters. When battling Alien Vampires, one thing is certain…Get Ready To Bleed!

Learn more at:  Amazon - Goodreads - Bookbub - Website

Excerpt:

“It’s in the blood, dear,” said Ellen, one of the women Sandy shared time and space with, her skin worn by age, hard labor, and days spent under the sun. Blotches, liver spots and creases led the observer to the eyes. One dark, the other a cataract milky white and she always wore a dark shawl draped over the head and shoulders. Sandy was afraid of Ellen, she reminded Sandy of a gypsy or witch from a fairy-tale.

 “Come again?” said Sandy, her eyes shifting from soldier to Ellen to soldier then back to Ellen.

 Ellen had cut herself transferring a wood bucket filled with rice to add to an already large trough of buckets. A thick wood splinter pinned in the bottom of her palm dripping with a thick stream of blood. She turned to Sandy raising the bloodied palm and caught a drop of blood in her unwounded hand. “The blood dear,” said Ellen. “All magic comes from the blood.”

 Sandy cringed at the sight; she’d always been squeamish. Her stomach bumped, blood curled. Magic, Sandy thought. If only magic was real. How wonderful would that be? Sandy understood she was naïve, the result of an isolated childhood and her parents’ death when she was ten years old. Not that they had taught the young Sandy about the world she lived in either. They’d kept her under lock and key, never so much as offering a glimpse or advice on the outside world. They were always so cryptic with their explanations, living in an abundant and overgrown mansion as if luxury were a The Rose by PD Alleva – Press kit childhood friend. Sure there were plenty of rooms for a child to explore but as time went by those rooms seemed more like a prison than a home.

 Years of neglect, isolation and secrets were as torturous as physical suffering. And she was tired of secrets. She wanted to know truth. Truth was like a blanket that keeps you warm in the coldest winter. 

“The blood, Sandy,” said Ellen who clenched her fist around those crimson droplets, shaking her hand in front of her face. “All is in the blood.” Excerpt 2: Dr. Blum escorted an alien vampire, a Drac, down the pristine hallway. 

* Contest: Enter the Rafflecopter here for a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card. 

New YA, Dark #Fantasy, Of Fire and Water

Today's selection is a new YA/Dark Fantasy! Of Fire and Water (Heir of Blood and Fire Book 2), Cameo Renae


About the Book:

Calla escaped Morbeth only to find herself fighting for her life once more. Incendia seemed the perfect sanctuary of escape. The stories told of the mystical island claim all inhabitants were annihilated. Those tragic tales . . . were lies.

Desperate to keep their truth hidden, the islanders take Calla and her friends prisoner. Despite her dire situation, something about that beautiful—yet deadly—paradise speaks to Calla’s soul, whispering the powerful secrets pulsing through her veins. As Roehl hunts for her, eager to claim his murderous vengeance, Calla searches for answers she believes only Incendia can offer.

Can Calla harness the power surging within her in time to protect herself, and those she loves, from Roehl? Or, no matter where she runs, will the twisted royal continue to chase her to the farthest reaches of any realm?

Creepy Goings On at The Gallagher Hotel #horror #haunted

 How about a perfect read for Friday the 13th?

What's better than a creepy hotel? How about a haunted one?

 In T he Haunting of Gallagher Hotel by K.T. Rose, pride and greed infect the soul, anchoring the dead to Gallagher Hotel.

 When Chris, a master thief, and Riley, a contract waitress, get mysterious invites to an exclusive party at the haunted Gallagher Hotel, they discover more at play than simple celebrations. Hidden truths are revealed, and all hell breaks loose. But the "party" has just begun. Now, Chris and Riley face their demons as they fight to survive a hellish nightmare full of spoiled secrets, carnage, and vengeful spirits lost to the hotel dating back to the turn of the 20th century. Will they survive the night? Or will their souls be devoured by the most haunted building in Michigan?

Contact the author:

 Amazon - Website/blog -  Twitter -   Facebook -  Goodreads

Teaser Excerpt: (Read the rest at her website here.)

She’ll never forget the day she died.

Torches lit up the town square, illuminating scowling and shouting faces. The townspeople launched stones and spit, pegging Trudy’s arms and face as she trudged through the abhorrent mob. She cringed when a pebble struck her cheek. Pain erupted, shooting through her face like lightning striking the earth.

Deputy Hill yanked her arm, leading her through the narrow path the townspeople created. Fists balled, Trudy groaned as the rope around her wrists dug into her skin. Her bare feet picked up glass shards and debris from the cobblestone path as she shuffled along.

She glared around at the angry faces and recognized the men, women, and children of Holloway. She’d done more for them than any God before her. Many of those people owned the very businesses that lined the stone slab she marched across that night. Building and financing the rows of wooden businesses lining the town’s square accounted for half the things she’d done for Holloway. She fed the hungry, made clothes for cold children, and taught woman’s independence. The ever-growing list of the townspeople’s wants was endless. At one point, she didn’t mind the busy work. Fulfilling dreams of the once poor town kept her boisterous and distracted from her bitter reality. Trudy was Holloway’s personal shepherd, making the people her needy sheep.

Interesting creepy book find #reallife #horror

 Well, when you're a writer, you read odd, er,  different things. Actually, I was reading about mob killings and Chicago history long before I became a writer. But I found this at Goodwill. It sounded interesting and you never know when you need a "new" way to kill off someone... in fiction, you know... a character.  What were you thinking? ha!

Final Exits: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of How We Die, Michael Largo - According to death certificates, in 1700 there were less than 100 causes of death. Today there are 3,000. With each advance of technology, people find new ways to become deceased, often causing trends that peak in the first year. People are now killed by everything, from cell phones, washing machines, lawn mowers and toothpicks, to the boundless catalog of man—made medicines. In Final Exits the causes of death—bizarre or common—are alphabetically arranged and include actual accounts of people, both famous and ordinary, who unfortunately died that way. (Ants, bad words, Bingo, bean bag chairs, flying cows, frozen toilets, hiccups, lipstick, moray eels, road kill, starfish, and toupees are only some of the more unusual causes.)

Juan of the Dead Blog Tour #zombies #dayofthedead

 

Today I welcome Jacalyn Boggs, author of Juan of the Dead. 

Something unique with a little snark, some romance, zombies and a Day of the Dead influence.

See the contests below.

About the Book:

Go on a cruise, they said. Learn about other cultures, they said. It’ll be fun, they said. 

Yeah, I thought my birthday cruise would be all sexy pool boys with fruity drinks and me working on my epic summer tan. Instead, I sacrificed my favorite Jimmy Choos and my gorgeous Coach handbag to some awful earthquake while shopping in a crappy Mexican port. That place is getting zero stars.

Oh yeah, and I sacrificed my life. Lucky for me this totally hunky (but nerdy) anthropologist, Jon, hauled my hot corpse in to the nearby ancient Mayan or whatever temple and performed some sort of creepy voodoo ritual on me. 

Forget all the garbage from Hollywood about shuffling, brain-obsessed, homicidal corpses. Maybe that's how it was in the 70's but those misguided souls also thought polyester was a good fashion statement. What the movies got right is that someone always wants to kill off the undead, and I'm no different. I'm too young and too hot to leave the party this soon. I've got a second chance, but Jon and I need to know what's going on with my post-life situation before someone finishes me off for good.

Buy: Amazon - B&N - Books-A-Million - IndieBound  - Add it on Goodreads 

Excerpt of Juan of the Dead:

Through teary eyes, I looked over the side of the tub and managed to find the towel. I wiped my face with the towel, but the tears continued to flow. I gave up. I let the tears come, quietly sobbing. Something snapped inside of me with the release of the tears. I sat in the tub, hair dripping, crying until I could cry no more. I cried for the loss of my purse and my belongings on the ship. I cried for the loss of identification, making it hard to function in the world. I cried for the loss of my life, robbed from me at such an early age.

I cried for the life I’d never known I wanted and now never would. I was living on borrowed time and something inside of me knew that more than just a slower heart and fantastic eyesight changed inside of me. I somehow knew that the things I’d avoided in an attempt to remain young, footloose, and fancy free were no longer options.    

BONUS Contest! (In addition to the RC below, comment to be entered to win an ebook copy of Juan of the Dead. (If you can't comment, email me at the website. Subject: Juan.) 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

#Halloween-After Flash #fiction

 I've got a short flash story up at Spreading the Writer's Word as part of the Ladies of Horror project - 

Everyone is given a photo to write about... be sure to check out the other stories, too. 

Mine is The Old Deserted House