New Dr. Cushing's Chamber of #Horrors #werewolf #mummy

Wow! If you like monsters, you're gonna love this! 

Dr. Cushing's Chamber of Horrors, Stephen D. Sullivan  - (Pre-Order, Releases Aug. 30)  Check out the cool cover by Mark Maddox of Screem Magazine fame! And it's a big book at 437 pages!

The monsters aren’t only in the museum! Despite a lifetime of traveling with their father to collect strange artifacts, twins Topaz and Opal Cushing have never fully believed in monsters or the supernatural. Oh, sure, they share an eerie psychic connection, and their tarot card readings often come true, but… Werewolves? Vampires? Living mummies? None of those could be real. Those legends are just for rubes. Right? 

Since the girls’ father has been away, though, strange things have been happening in the family’s little exhibit—and in the waxworks studio that shares their dilapidated Victorian mansion on the outskirts of London. Now, the twins’ dreams of a fun, romantic summer season are turning into a nightmare, and the monsters are running... 

Dr. Cushing’s Chamber of Horrors! “Dr. Cushing is easily Sullivan’s best creation to date! Mixing the roller-coaster thrills of the Universal monster rally films like House of Frankenstein with the moody sexiness of Hammer’s 1960s gothic horrors, he throws in more monster fun than anyone has a right to expect! I’m ready for the sequel—now!” — Rodney Barnett, film scholar and co-host of the NaschyCast horror podcast.

 “I just loved this eerie and fun offering with its Vincent Price-inspired wax museum and lots of old-time monsters creeping about in the shadows, from the Werewolf to the Mummy, and more. Sure to give you good shivers that'll keep you up all night!” — C.A. Verstraete, author of the Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter series

Christmas Reads: Werewolf Puppy Sci Fi Book by Juli Monroe

Today's featured Christmas Read is a sci fi-fantasy, The Case of the Werewolf Puppy (The Warlock Case Files Book 2) by Juli Monroe.

About the Book:

I've said it before. It's tough being a gay warlock in Washington D.C. And hanging out with my vampire buddy hasn't made it any easier. A tentacled demon killing people near the Washington Monument followed by a naked werewolf puppy on my doorstep? Really? This isn't something the local pound can take care of, so once again it was on me to figure it out.

Sure, the vampire helped me out a bit, but hey, you all know who the real hero of this story is, right?

Links:

Amazon.com - Barnes & Noble - Blog - Facebook

Inspiration:

    When I write, I usually start with a “what if”? My “what if” for this book was “What if my main character came home at dawn, saw a puppy in front of his apartment, and that puppy turned into a little boy.”

I love this particular excerpt because it’s the beginning of a scene that wasn’t supposed to happen until the next book in the series. Paul, my vampire character, had different ideas, and he said something unexpected, which led to here. It’s still one of my favorite scenes in the series.

The set-up is that Paul needs Dafydd's help reading the aura of some of the vampires. This scene actually has little to do with the book it’s in, but it’s foreshadowing for the next book in the series.

Excerpt:

Paul and I entered the lounge, and a burly gentleman at the door checked our IDs. I glanced around, trying to keep the two parts of my sight (aura and human) separate for a moment. I wanted to get a feel for it as a physical place before I "looked" at it with my other senses.

It was a nice enough place. The bar was circular and large, with three bartenders busy serving the crowded front area. Small tables and round chairs dotted the room. Three big screen TVs dominated the far wall, tuned to sports channels and news. Loud music hammered through speakers. Mostly 90s rock. Not quite my taste. I was more into dance and electric.

The color theme was red, which I thought explained the attraction to the vampire crowd. Lighting was dim enough to be comfortable while still allowing you to see. And, trust me, there was plenty to see.

I immediately recognized I was in the presence of a group of predators. Mostly they seemed to be restraining themselves, but I saw the occasional flash of overly long fangs. Women prowled by in flowing dresses, except for the ones in skin–tight clingy black things. The men ranged from formal wear to jeans and t–shirts. Not surprisingly, black and red were the dominant colors, though a few were daring in blue or deep purple.

That was just the colors of the clothes. When I looked at their auras, I saw even more. A dark, vibrant green flashed from the aura of a male vampire, arguing with another. A female vampire, her expression smug, looked on, her aura shifting between an unwholesome red and a sickly green–yellow. Near the bar, another vampire’s aura caught my eye. It was shot through with purple and blue, and I guessed he was young and not yet completely lost to evil. Or he was like Paul and didn’t completely embrace everything about the vampire lifestyle.

Paul nudged me down the short flight of stairs to the front room. "What do you think?" he asked, his voice pitched low.

"How can the humans here fool themselves into thinking this is normal? Can’t they feel the atmosphere here? I mean, even without aura sight, I’d know this place was a hunting ground."

He sighed. "And we’re actually on our best behavior here. You should come by a private meeting some time."

I shuddered. "No offense, but I’d rather not."

Talking with Eva Gordon's Witch in Apocalyptic Moon

Today we're talking with Dora from Eva Gordon's zombie-werewolf and witch book, APOCALYPTIC MOON (After the Bane) and the recently released book two, RAVEN MOON (After the Bane.)

About Apocalyptic Moon: 

Dr. Dora Adler's life has been in disarray since the beginning of the zombie apocalypse, but when she gets bitten by one of the undead, her whole world is turned upside down. Held captive in a secret underground lab, the tall, muscular hunk in the next cell is her only hope for salvation. Unfortunately, he claims to be a werewolf. Yeah, and she's supposedly a witch.

Dirk Gunderson is an alpha Arbor pack werewolf. Captured and collared, he's sold to the zombie lab in hopes his blood serum can create a vaccine. He needs to escape, but not without the hot little brunette witch. In the midst of enemy werewolves and the hordes of undead, Dirk and Dora's sexual tension ignites a blaze hotter than the desert highway. Along their journey, they battle the inevitable: a werewolf must never take a witch as a mate. - from Amazon.com

About Raven Moon: 

In a world ravished by zombies, animal shifters vow to save human survivors and combat zombie hordes. Ravenna, princess of the northern raven conclave, joins forces with witch Dora Adler and the Fenrir werewolf pack. On a mission for a vaccine against Z-phage, Rave and her team fly to a remote biological research facility. They battle a new breed of zombie, faster and stronger than the human variety, and with an appetite for shifters.

Benandanti Templar Maddox seeks revenge against the Kindred leader who killed his team. He rescues a trapped woman, Ravenna destroyer of the Benandanti bloodstone. His wolf longs to claim and protect the sexy raven shifter. His Benandanti faith commands she stand trial.

While facing zombies, merciless tankers, and zealous Benandanti werewolves, Rave and Maddox struggle against their forbidden passion. They must set aside their conflicts and strike at the new zombie threat before the new virus spreads.  - from Amazon.com

MEET DORA!

What do you want from life?

Survive the zombie hordes, and reach California to find my brother and his daughter. Escaping with a werewolf is a definite plus, however, a pack of enemy werewolves want me dead for being a witch. And, here I thought my only worry would be billions of zombies

If you were granted three wishes, what would you ask for?

A cure for the Z-phage, Peets brewed coffee, and place where I can practice medicine again.

What three things would you take to a Desert Island?

A sailboat for easy escape. Since Z-phage has reached even desert islands, I would bring along my weapons and my hot badass zombie-fighting werewolf along.  

How do you fall in love? At first sight? Over a long period?

Over a long period, however, on seeing Dirk, the alpha werewolf for the first time, I immediately fell in lust?

How do you decide if you can trust someone? Experience with others? With this person? First impressions? Intuition? Do you test the person somehow? Or are you just generally disposed to trust or not to trust?

I used to be more trusting, but since the Z-phage pandemic, people are in survival mode and will kill for a tank of gas. My trust in humanity dropped to level zero after kept in an underground lab by a mad scientist determined to find out why I am immune to Z-phage.

What's the worst thing you've ever done? Why?

Killing zombies. As a doctor, I want to heal the diseased but when your patient sees you as their favorite subway sandwich that’s where I draw the line.

What are you most afraid of?

Apparently because I’m a witch, something I just recently learned, I’m immune to becoming a zombie. My biggest fear is being eaten while I’m still alive.

How do you feel about your life right now? What, if anything, would you like to change?

Scared and always on survival mode. I would go back in time and find the source for Z-phage and then nip it at the bud.

What makes you laugh out loud?

Falling in love in the middle of the zombie apocalypse with a werewolf. A werewolf who is forbidden to take a witch as a mate and one with a mate waiting for him when he returns to his pack.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Surviving this long. Call me in another week.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Finding the cure for Z-phage. I also fantasize about being with Dirk, but I know that’s not possible. A girl can still dream, right?

What is your current state of mind?

I’m experiencing a constant dose of an adrenalin high.

What is your greatest fear?

I fear the impossibility of stopping the billions of zombies. They exhibit some sort of herd behavior as they leave the cities in search of the living.  On a more personal level, I fear finding out my brother and niece have turned.

What do you most value in your friends?

Honesty, humor, and I’m starting to appreciate a man who can turn Hollywood Horror movie werewolf to combat zombies.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

I’m a Star Trek nerd, so I tend to overuse Star Trek quotes. Only when I’m stressed, though, which is pretty much all the time.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

Learn more about my emerging witch powers. Maybe I can use this new gift to save the world.

Which living person do you most despise?

Dr. Mansfield who experimented on me.

What is your biggest regret?

Besides paying most of my student loans? If I’d known the zombie apocalypse was coming I would have gone to Paris, instead. On a more serious note, not doing my residency near my family.

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?

It breaks my heart to see zombie children.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

My stubborn mind that doubts I’m a witch with powers.

How would you like to die?

Of old age, in the arms of, okay, this is wishful thinking; in my sleep with Dirk at my side.

If you were to die and come back as a person or thing, what do you think it would be?

The same person since I am apparently a witch, immune to Z-phage. Unfortunately, as a witch I’m hunted by the Benandanti werewolves. Fortunately, Dirk’s pack is more accepting. I think?

Witches are executed by the Benandanti pack when her powers awaken at age 27 years. I would go back in time and stop my mother from being murdered. She could have taught me more and maybe we could have stopped the Z-phage. Wait! Shhh. I heard something outside the door...

  About Eva Gordon: 

Eva has a BS in Zoology and graduate studies in Biology. She once taught high school Biology, Environmental Science and Anatomy/Physiology. 

* See her on Facebook or her blog.

When not in her den writing, she can be found at steampunk conventions, zombie runs, at work at the raptor rehabilitation center, wolf sanctuaries, or to satisfy her inner Hemingway on some global eco-adventure. 

Horror and Fantasy Titles for Halloween

It was a great time at the Racine, WI Barnes and Noble's Horrorfest last Sunday. I got to meet a great group of impressive writers and thought I'd introduce you as well to them and their work. (See links at end.)

 (** Check out my ZOctober interview at My Book Addiction - sign in to win a Kindle copy of GIRL Z: My Life as a Teenage Zombie)

  

If you don't like spiders, stop reading, but if you do, you'll be missing out on one incredibly-creepy-read in Bram Stoker Award-winning author John Everson's latest (and seventh) book, VIOLET EYES, (Oct. 1, Samhain Publishing).

He said it was time to switch from the demonic horror he'd been doing… "So... spiders!," he said.

The small town near the Everglades was supposed to offer Rachel and her son a fresh start. Instead it offered the start of a nightmare, when an unknown breed of flies migrated through the area, leaving painful bites in their wake.

The media warned people to stay inside until the swarm passed. But the flies didn't leave. And then the radios and TVs went silent. That's when the spiders came. Spiders that could spin a deadly web large enough to engulf an entire house overnight. Spiders that left stripped bones behind as they multiplied. Spiders that, like the flies, sought hungrily for tender flesh... through Violet Eyes.

A sample line: ".. The bugs had been worse than usual this summer… Now he was hearing that buzz. It wasn't the buzz of tinnitus, but of thousands of wings…"   (Yikes!!)

  * * * 

 W.D. Gagliani had a good reason for choosing to write about werewolves instead of vampires when he began his series about Nick Lupo, a werewolf cop. The first book, WOLF'S TRAP, a Stoker-award nominee now re-released from Samhain Publishing, features Nick Lupo, a good cop--with the instincts of a great detective... or maybe a wolf. 

Lupo has a lot in common with wolves, which is only natural considering he's a werewolf. He's battled the creature inside him for years, but now there's another predator in the area. A bloodthirsty serial killer is leaving a gruesome trail of victims, and it's up to Lupo to track him down and stop the slaughter. Will Lupo dare to unleash one beast to stop another? 

He began writing about Lupo (never thinking it'd be a series) since "everything was vampires and I was just sick of vampires," Gagliani  said. "You get a sense that vampires just enjoyed being vampires. Larry Talbot (the werewolf in The Wolfman film) was just tragic. He didn't want to be the monster."

Gagliani admits finding a kinship with his character. "I always enjoyed the idea of him being unable to control his change," he said. "He's been a werewolf since he was a teen and he's only now (in his 40's) beginning to control it."

The series includes Wolf's Trap, Wolf's Gambit, Wolf's Bluff , Wolf's Edge and book five, WOLF'S CUT, coming in March 2014 from Samhain Publishing.

* * * 

Noted nonfiction author Linda S. Godfrey  has tackled everything from Haunted Wisconsin, to Monsters of Wisconsin and written about other things unexplained. Now she delves into that favorite Halloween character, the werewolf, in her latest book, REAL WOLFMEN: TRUE ENCOUNTERS IN MODERN AMERICA.

For Godfrey, a reporter turned choronicler of the mysterious, it's as fun as writing fiction, but "the beautiful part is there is nothing I have to make up. These things are being reported by real people. These are reports of things real people claimed happened to them."

The book offers the definitive account of today’s nationwide sightings of upright, canine creatures – which resemble traditional werewolves – and a thorough exploration of the nature and possible origins of the mysterious beast.

  Godfrey also has written her first fiction novel, an urban fantasy with touches of other genres called GOD JOHNSON: THE UNFORGIVEN DIARY: Straight-laced wannabe actress Liberty agrees to be the sole disciple of a minor deity and Abe Lincoln lookalike oddly named God Johnson, in exchange for a fast track to world-hunger-fighting-super-celebrityhood. As Liberty tries to give him her heart – and a certain portion of her aura -- she breaks his Major Rule which is that humans shall not play god with other humans. He then must abandon her to the other lesser deities for their sport until she pays for her sin or dies.

 By the time Liberty discovers what the gods really want from her, she knows that what she wants from God Johnson is worlds away from her original plan. She must either accept the considerable and attractive sacrifice God Johnson makes for her, or leave the natural world and create her own brand of do-gooder stardom as the glamazon goddess she has become.

* * * 

A big congratulations to Christian A. Larsen, whose first novel, LOSING TOUCH, (Post Mortem Press)  is catching attention—and includes a foreward by noted author Piers Anthony.

The short story writer-turned novelist describes the book as "Breaking Bad without the meth and with a superpower" and tells the story of a dad who finds he suddenly has the power to walk through walls, also known as "phasing through matter."

In LOSING TOUCH, Morgan Dunsmore feels like everything is out of reach-a paying job, a healthy marriage, and even a good bowel movement. He tries to protect his family from his  anxieties, not to mention their financial burdens, but that just pushes them away even further. And in the middle of it all, he starts to lose his tangibility.

He may be able to walk through walls, but that ability comes with a price. He has to learn not just how to control it, but how to use it without anyone finding out, not even his family. He doesn't want to become a circus freak or government test subject while providing for his wife and kids, but there doesn't seem to be any honest work for a man who can secretly phase through solid matter. The temptations, on the other hand--the temptations are endless, and when he succumbs to the first, the rest begin to fall like dominoes...

* * *

  Brian Pinkerton still smiles when he recalls his weekly childhood trips to the library. "My mom was a high school English teacher," he said. "My favorite memory is going to the library every week and I'd come home with a stack of books. I always enjoyed the act of telling stories."

He's been writing novels for 10 years and as a George Romero  ("Night of the Living Dead") fan, wanted to write a zombie novel but as "the genre was overcrowded," he took a slightly different approach in his book, HOW I STARTED THE APOCALYPSE (Severed Press). Chaz Singleton is a lone zombie battling for survival against a hostile humanity.  He holds the fate of the world in his hands, whether he likes it or not. He is dead. He is angry. He is contagious. And he is hungry.

** And coming soon… HOW I STARTED THE APOCALYPSE, Book 2.

"I thought, what about having the poor zombie against humanity," he explained. So, in his book, his character Chaz, is "the zombie in the house and the people want to run him out of town."

  He also took a different approach in his writing in his new book, "KILLER'S DIARY, (July 2013, Samhain Publishing.), a psychological horror novel about a woman who finds a journal and realizes the man she's dating may be a serial killer.

"I always had a fascination with the true crime books," Pinkerton said, wondering, "what goes on in people's minds that they can do these acts?"

* * *

  I also talked about my book, GIRL Z: My Life as a Teenage Zombie,  - the 2013 Young Adult winner of the Halloween Book Festival.

One of my favorite parts of writing about the main character, Becca, and her transformation into a part-zombie was creating some of the things she has to deal with in her new "life" like prejudice, bullying, feeling that she doesn't fit in... and there is the unsureness of just who she is and what she is becoming. 

But she's also strong, knowing that she still has a role (helping protect her family), and perhaps even a future... with a good-looking part Z named Gabe. 

But she's still a kid - with feet in both the present and the future... and no one really knows what is coming next.