Showing posts with label zombies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label zombies. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 5, 2025

A New Lizzie Borden Zombie Story & Anthology!

  


NEWS!! A new anthology is coming out featuring Lizzie Borden!

The anthology, edited by author and editor Sèphera Girón is being launched on Kickstarter. (Love that cover!)

* Hurry! Get in on the Kickstarter now for all kinds of goodies! A party at the Lizzie Borden House, seance, books, and more. It includes more than 20 stories by authors including NYT Bestselling Author Heather Graham, Stoker-award winning author Linda D. Addison, and others. 

NEWS! I have a new Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter story in it: "You Can Go Home Again."  Another Lizzie and Pierre adventure with zombies, thrills, chills, and some surprises, taking the Lizzie story into a new direction!

     Edited by Sèphera Girón, multi-published author and former head for nearly 30 years of the Ontario/Canadian Chapter of the Horror Writers Association. She's worked in the film industry, recently delivering a low-budget slasher screenplay to a local film company in Toronto. She's had roles in films including Slime City Massacre, Killer Rack, Pandora, and Pandora’s Return, and has done background work appearing in episodes of What We Do in the Shadows, Schitt’s Creek, The Boys, Interview with a Vampire, and dozens of other shows and movies. 


Monday, October 14, 2024

Halloween Reading: Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter & Others

 


Want something scary for Halloween reading? 

Several scary books, including Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter, are featured in the Publishers Weekly's Booklife Indie Spotlight for October! 

See my website for details on the book!

Thursday, October 12, 2023

October Frights: Lizzie Borden & Zombies? Excerpt.

WELCOME to another day of OCTOBER FRIGHTS!

And what better day to share zombies, and horror, oh my! Than FRIDAY THE 13TH!!! 

 Get some great horror freebies, read some scary fiction, and all kinds of spooky fun! 

* 10/11:  Spooky reading list and a  bonus giveaway. 


 * Don't forget to check out the 31 Days of Horror on the Creepy Podcast. I'll update when my story, "Sweet Dreams" is scheduled. See website for latest episodes.

* 10/12: Who doesn't like skeletons? See the Skellie Mystery Reading List!

  ** Stop by the participating OCTOBER FRIGHTS blogs and see what they have going on:

Participant List

Today here's an excerpt perfect for Friday the 13th.

Excerpt, Chapter One - Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter by C.A. Verstraete

Q. You saw his face covered with blood?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Did you see his eyeball hanging out?

A. No, sir.

Q. Did you see the gashes where his face was laid open?

A. No, sir.

—Lizzie Borden at inquest, August 9-11, 1892

 

August 4, 1892

   Lizzie Borden drained the rest of her tea, set down her cup, and listened to the sound of furniture moving upstairs. My, my, for only ten o’clock in the morning my stepmother is certainly energetic. Housecleaning, already?

   THUMP.

   For a moment, Lizzie forgot her plans to go shopping downtown. THUMP. There it went again. It sounded like her stepmother was rearranging the whole room. She paused at the bottom stair, her concern growing, when she heard another thump and then, the oddest of sounds—a moan. Uh-oh. What was that? Did she hurt herself?

   “Mrs. Borden?” Lizzie called. “Are you all right?”

   No answer.

   She wondered if her stepmother had taken ill, yet the shuffling, moving, and other unusual noises continued. Lizzie hurried up the stairs and paused outside the partially opened door. The strange moans coming from the room sent a shiver up her back.

   When she pushed the door open wider, all she could do was stare. Mrs. Abby Durfee Borden stood in front of the bureau mirror clawing at her reflected image. And what a horrid image it was! The sixty-seven-year-old woman’s hair looked like it had never been combed and stuck out like porcupine quills. Her usually spotless housedress appeared wrinkled and torn. Yet, that wasn’t the worst. Dark red spots—blood, Lizzie’s mind whispered—dotted the floor and streaked the sides, of the older woman’s dress and sleeves.

   Lizzie gazed about the room in alarm. The tips of Father’s slippers peeking out from beneath the bed also glistened with the same viscous red liquid. All that blood! What happened here? What happened?

   She gasped, which got the attention of Mrs. Borden, who jerked her head and growled. Lizzie choked back a cry of alarm. Abby’s square, plain face now appeared twisted and ashen gray. Her eyes, once bright with interest, stared from under a milky covering as if she had cataracts. She resembled a female version of The Portrait of Dorian Gray. Another growl and a moan, and the older woman lunged, arms rigid, her stubby hands held out like claws.

   “Mrs. Borden, Abby!” Lizzie yelled and stumbled backward as fast as she could. “Abby, do you hear me?”

   Her stepmother shuffled forward, her steps slow but steady. She showed no emotion or sense of recognition. The only utterances she made were those strange low moans.

   Lizzie moved back even further, trying to keep out of reach of Mrs. Borden’s grasping fingers. Then her foot hit something. Lizzie quickly glanced down at the silver hairbrush that had fallen to the floor. Too late, she realized her error.

   “No!” Lizzie shivered at the feel of her stepmother’s clammy, cold hand around her wrist. “Abby, what happened? What’s wrong with you?”

 * Get more details at https://www.cverstraete.com/lizzie-borden-zombie-hunter.html

 💀******* BONUS: Limited Time Halloween Sale! *********💀

Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter & Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter 2: The Axe Will Fall.

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Check out these sites also:

October Frights Book Fair: https://afstewart.ca/october-frights-book-fair/

October Frights Giveaway: https://storyoriginapp.com/to/fPAZCcZ

* Thanks for stopping by this week! Stay tuned for more posts and Halloween fun! *




Thursday, October 13, 2022

#Halloween #Horror Reading List 2

READ SOMETHING SPOOKY!! 

There are sooo many good new horror offerings that I can't keep up! Turn the lights off and get reading! haaa!

* A gift for you through Halloween! Get some great creepy Halloween reads free here.

* Don't forget to visit the October Frights Blog Hop participants here and below:  

Always Another Chapter - Be Afraid of the Dark - Hawk’s Happenings
Carmilla Voiez Dark Reads and Intersectional Feminism - GirlZombieAuthors
Frighten Me - Brain Matter – The Official Blog of JG Faherty - Angela Yuriko Smith -
 James P. Nettles

HALLOWEEN HORROR RECOMMENDED READS

Anthologies


 

Horror Quickies, Vol. 1, Steve Hudgins - Short flashes of horror. Over 30 Tales of Terror The seance was just fun and games until they asked the spirits to give them a sign that they were there. • A young woman hears her mother talking in the basement. The problem is, her mother is not at home. • Strange tales emerge from those who made the mistake of traveling through the eerie town of Allensburg. • The hospital is abandoned. So, why is there a patient standing in the corridor? • A house sitter fears she may not be alone in the house. (*First of 5-book set was free at time of posting.)

Literally Dead: Tales of Halloween Hauntings,  Gaby Triana, Editor. Stories by Jonathan Maberry, Gwedolyn Kiste, Tim Waggoner, Lisa Morton and others. Nineteen spooky ghost tales that you'll want to read while under the covers (and the lights on!)  

Monsters in the Weird West : A Collection of Gunslinging Adventures, KC Grifant - Kindle Vella. Read issues 1-3 free. In the Weird West, unflappable sharpshooter Melinda and her easygoing partner Lance hunt a menagerie of monsters. From cannibalistic gremlins to psychic bugs, there's nothing this gunslinging duo can't handle--or so they think.

Tavern of Terror, Vol. 2 - Scare Street assorted authors - (New! Sale, 99 ctsAn artist struggles to hold on to her soul as she feverishly completes a deadly masterpiece. The death of a movie producer unleashes an ancient reel of film with a dark secret worth killing for. And a woman gets the scare of her life as strange intruders break into her home...Welcome back to Hannigan’s, the tavern of a thousand tales. In this cozy neighborhood pub, everyone has a story to tell. But those stories don’t always have a happy ending.

As you sip your drink and listen to another nightmarish tale, you slowly realize the crowd around you has changed...It’s closing time. And it looks like the last drink is on you…

 Audiobooks: Zombie

 

Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter, C.A. Verstraete - One hot August morning in 1892, Lizzie Borden picked up an axe and murdered her father and stepmother. Newspapers claim she did it for the oldest of reasons: family conflicts, jealousy, and greed. But what if her parents were already dead? What if Lizzie slaughtered them because they’d become...zombies? 

Thrust 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, Lizzie battles to protect her sister, Emma, and her hometown from nightmarish ghouls and the evil forces controlling them.

Nekropolis 1 -Meet Matt Richter. Private Eye. Zombie., Tim Waggoner -  (Half-off sale to 10/18)

This is fun. Includes sound effects. Be sure to listen to the sample at the link above! Centuries ago, when Earth's Darkfolk -- vampires, werewolves, witches and other creatures -- were threatened by humanity, they departed our planet's dimension and journeyed to a shadowy realm, where they built the great city of Nekropolis. Matt Richter is an Earth cop who came through a portal to Nekropolis on a case, died, and was resurrected as a zombie. Unable to return home, he works as a private investigator on the very mean streets of this shadowy, dark city. And in this first case, Richter must help a delectable half-vampire named Devona recover a legendary artifact known as the Dawnstone, before it’s used to destroy Nekropolis itself. That is, if he can survive the variety of horrors that infest the city.

Audiobook - History/Monsters

Children of Salem, Robert W. Walker - A spy working for religious organizations, Jere Wakely is summoned to Salem Village Parish, where it has become obvious to church authorities that there is serious trouble. He is reluctant to return to his hometown for many reasons, not the least being that his heart is broken, and he's worried about running into his former lover, Serena Nurse. 

During his investigation, he has no expectation that their love will be rekindled. But their renewed passion parallels a greater fire - one of terror amid the infamous Salem Witch Trials. A witch hunt in this important election year of 1692 is backdrop to a romance filled with intrigue and mystery; the history is accurate, and the truth is disturbing yet fascinating. 

GHOSTS

The Haunting of Dr. Bowen, A Mystery in Lizzie Borden's Fall River - 
Limited Time Halloween Sale (99 cts!)

Dr. Seabury Bowen—physician to the infamous Lizzie Borden—swears he’s being stalked by spirits, though his beloved wife thinks it’s merely his imagination. But the retired doctor insists that neither greed nor anger provoked the recent sensational axe murders in Fall River. Rather, he believes the city is poisoned by bad blood and a thirst for revenge dating back to the Indian and Colonial wars.

Now, two years after the Borden murders, Dr. Bowen is determined to uncover the mysteries stirring up the city’s ancient, bloodthirsty specters. Can he discover who, or what, is shattering the peace before Fall River runs red? Or will he be the next victim?

Horror 


A Head Full of Ghosts, Paul Tremblay -  2015 Bram Stoker Award Winning Novel. 

The lives of the Barretts, a normal suburban New England family, are torn apart when fourteen-year-old Marjorie begins to display signs of acute schizophrenia.To her parents’ despair, the doctors are unable to stop Marjorie’s descent into madness. As their stable home devolves into a house of horrors, they reluctantly turn to a local Catholic priest for help. Father Wanderly suggests an exorcism; he believes the vulnerable teenager is the victim of demonic possession. He also contacts a production company that is eager to document the Barretts’ plight. Fifteen years later, a bestselling writer interviews Marjorie’s younger sister, Merry, who recalls long-buried secrets and painful memories that clash with what was broadcast on television. 

 (Sale 99 cts!)* ​

THERE IS SOMETHING STRANGE HAPPENING IN PLACIDVILLE!

It is 1962. Kathy Anderson, a serious actress who took her training at the Actors Studio in New

 York, is stuck playing Vivacia, the Vampire Woman on Vivacia’s House of Horrors for a loca
l
 Chicago TV station. Finally fed up showing old monster movies to creature feature fans, she

 quits and heads to

 New York and the fame and footlights of Broadway.She stops off to visit her parents and old

 friends in Placidville, the all-Ameican, middle-class, blissfully normal Midwest small town she

 grew up in.But she finds things are strange in Placidville.

* ​Deals on books with Deadly Thoughts, Murderous Plots- Oct. 18-Nov. 18

Dr. Cushing's Chamber of Horrors, Stephen D. Sullivan  - 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. 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


Fun Halloween Read! California's Haight Ashbury district is full of magic - and all kinds of monsters. And there's a law firm who'll rep these "other-than-humans" when they need help....  Check out some of their most unusual cases in  The Love Haight Case Files Book 1 - Jean Rabe and Donald J. Bingle.  

Horror Deals - Freebies:

* A gift for you through Halloween! Get some great creepy Halloween reads free here.

* Looking for something new and spooky to read? 

See the October Frights Authors Books Showcase here

*

HALLOWEEN BOOK DEALS! 

* Get some Spooky Halloween Tales - Oct. 11-Nov. 13  

Deals on books with Deadly Thoughts, Murderous Plots- Oct. 18-Nov. 18


In Kindle Unlimited? Get some free spooky mysteries & more, Oct. 30- Dec.2:

*

Interested in books with alternative storylines? 

Check out these Altered History book deals, Oct. 31-Dec. 2.


Tuesday, October 11, 2022

#Halloween #Horror Reading List: #Zombies #monsters #creepy



It's that time of year! For October Frights, I'm including a lucky 13 horror reading list - see below. I've been finding so many cool, creepy horror books that I decided to make two lists plus shorter listings in coming days. It's been fun checking out books I haven't read and seeing new recommendations in book groups. Rev up that Kindle and get your reading list ready for some new additions!

* Be sure to check out the other participants in the October Frights Blog Hop here and below:  

Always Another Chapter
Be Afraid of the Dark
Hawk’s Happenings
Carmilla Voiez Dark Reads and Intersectional Feminism
GirlZombieAuthors
Frighten Me
Brain Matter – The Official Blog of JG Faherty
Angela Yuriko Smith
James P. Nettles

* A gift for you through Halloween! Get some great creepy Halloween reads free here.

******************************************************************


HALLOWEEN READING LIST:

Monsters, Oh, My:

 The Last StormTim Lebbon - Lebbon, known for his creepy book-turned movie, The Silence, has a knack for bringing weird monsters to life. I saw the movie and his latest is the first book I've read of his. 

Famine and drought control the now apocalyptic world. Ash, the last in a family of rainmakers, thinks she can bring rain to the parched landscape by plugging herself into her weird apparatus like her father. But also like her father, she brings down more than rain - scorpions, odd snakes, spiders and more unspeakable horrors. Now her father and his estranged wife hunt for Ash and hope to stop her before it's too late. (And wow! I read this recently. Great story and some cool, creepy monsters!)


Creepy, Strange Covers

The covers say it all....

 

Dreamwraith: A Horror Novel, Jay Bower - When Jewel Carrington's daughter runs away, she's soon tormented by the Dreamwraith, and must do everything she can to save her daughter before it's too late...  

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke And Other Misfortunes, Eric LaRocca - Seen this mentioned various places, so I'll be reading this as well. Three dark, disturbing horror stories... What have you done to deserve your eyes?

Creepy Anthologies & Collections



At Home With the Horrors: 14 Chilling Tales, Sammy Scott - Fourteen tales explore the mundaneness of everyday life extending into the supernatural, the alien, the ghostly, the chilling, and the things that terrify us all. 

Grave Dangers, A Thriller, Suspense, Horror Collection, Maegan Beaumont and others - Fifteen authors offers stories where no one is safe from the dark side of human nature. What's dead doesn't always stay buried...

Paint It Black and Other Stories, Sarah Jane Huntington -  Thirteen twisted tales of ghosts, folklore, hautings, the snake oil man, and more...

The Strange and Weird 

 

Stolen Tongues, Felix Blackwell - Heard pros and cons on this one. Felix and Faye  hear noises, animal screams and whispers in the woods near their cabin. Then he realizes his terrified fiancée is whispering back... 

The Laughing Policeman, Brimstone Chorus Book 1, Elizabeth J. Brown - An aging detective who specialized in grisly crimes finds the ritualistic deaths of three teens are similar to one of his most notorius cases. Now he realizes the Caravan Cannibal is back, and he must confront his own demons to protect the last of the family from unspeakable evil. 

Zombies

 

Deck Z, The Titanic, Chris Pauls & Matt Solomon - Zombies have infected about everything else, so why not? A virus is unleashed and Capt. Smith and crew are embroiled in a Victorian bloodbath as the steamer speeds toward that famous iceberg.

Dead Sea, Brian Keene -  The city streets are no longer safe. They are filled instead with the living dead, rotting predators driven only by a need to kill and eat. Some of the living still struggle to survive, but with each passing day, their odds grow worse. hese desperate survivors are completely isolated from the dangers of the mainland. But their haven, an old ship at sea, will soon become a deathtrap, and they'll learn that isolation can also mean no escape! 

 


Entombed, Brian Keene - Follow up to Dead Sea - it has been several months since the disease known as Hamelin's Revenge decimated the world. Civilization has collapsed and the dead far outnumber the living. The survivors seek refuge from the roaming zombie hordes, but one-by-one, those shelters are falling.Twenty-five survivors barricade themselves inside a former military bunker buried deep beneath a luxury hotel. They are safe from the zombies... but are they safe from one another? 

Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter, C.A. Verstraete - Remember that rhyme? Lizzie Borden took an axe, gave her mother 40 whacks... But what if she did it because her father and stepmother had become... zombies? (Also available in audiobook on Audible.)

We Will Rise, Tim Waggoner - In Echo Hill, Ohio, the dead begin to reappear, manifesting in various forms, from classic ghosts and poltergeists, to physical undead and bizarre apparitions for which there is no name. These malign spirits attack the living, tormenting and ultimately killing them in order to add more recruits to their spectral ranks.A group of survivors come together after the initial attack, all plagued by different ghostly apparitions of their own. Can they make it out of Echo Hill alive? And if so, will they still be sane? Or will they die and join the ranks of the vengeful dead?

Bonus! A ghostly love story...




The Haunting of Dr. Bowen, A Mystery in Lizzie Borden's Fall River - 
Limited Time Halloween Sale (99 cts!)

Dr. Seabury Bowen—physician to the infamous Lizzie Borden—swears he’s being stalked by spirits, though his beloved wife thinks it’s merely his imagination. But the retired doctor insists that neither greed nor anger provoked the recent sensational axe murders in Fall River. Rather, he believes the city is poisoned by bad blood and a thirst for revenge dating back to the Indian and Colonial wars.

Now, two years after the Borden murders, Dr. Bowen is determined to uncover the mysteries stirring up the city’s ancient, bloodthirsty specters. Can he discover who, or what, is shattering the peace before Fall River runs red? Or will he be the next victim?

* Come back tomorrow for more spooky reads!