Madeleine D'Este's Blog, page 14

Evangeline and the Mysterious Lights – sneak peek

Would you like a little taster of Evangeline and the Mysterious Lights? A wee amuse-bouche?

Well, here’s an extract from Chapter 1.[image error]

If you like what you read, Evangeline and the Mysterious Lights is available for pre-order now and is out 11th October 2017.

Or if you’d like all four novellas in one Collection, The Antics of Evangeline is also available for pre-order.

Evangeline and the Mysterious Lights Chapter 1

Evangeline closed her eyes and rocked with the rhythm of the open-top carriage,...

Hand-me-down superstitions: magpies, silver coins and calendars

With my writing and research for Folklore Thursday, books I’m reading and ideas for a new story knocking round my head, I’m in a real folklorish and superstition-filled place at the moment.

My mum passed a few superstitions down to me. No shoes on the table, no open umbrellas inside and cutting crosses in brussel sprouts. So now, I’m curious what superstitions and folklore traditions other people inherited and still follow today.

I put a question out to the Folklore Thursday community

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Here’s...

Evangeline and the Mysterious Lights: pre-order now

Evangeline and the Mysterious Lights
Evangeline and the Mysterious Lights is available now for pre-order, released on 11th October 2017.

Lights in the sky. Magnets and letters. Old friends and new.
Evangeline and the Mysterious Lights is the fourth novella in The Antics of Evangeline series of mystery and mayhem in steampunk Melbourne.

Coming back from a Sunday at the seaside, Evangeline and her family witness three strange lights darting across the sky, manoeuvring in a most peculiar way.

Me...

Evangeline and the Spiritualist – free until 6 August

Evangeline and the Spiritualist is free on Amazon until 6th August (midnight PST).

Grab yourself a fun little bargain.

And if you like it, please leave a review.

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Evangeline and the Spiritualist

A sarcophagus, séances and seed cake. Evangeline is back with another adventure.

Mrs Picklescott-Smythe’s mummy unwrapping soiree doesn’t quite go to plan, and for once it’s not Evangeline’s fault.

Evangeline is a seventeen-year-old ex-urchin and aspiring world-famous inventress, recently rese...

Superstitions, Steampunk and Speculative Fiction Reviews

I’m back in the swing of this writing thing after a brilliant holiday and so what’s next for me?

Origins of Common Superstitions monthly series
I’m writing a monthly series for the fabulous Folklore Thursday exploring the origins of common superstitions.
So far, I’ve written about;
· Bad Luck comes in Threes: Matches, Murderers or Mathematics
· The Origins of ‘Touch Wood’: Tree Spirits, The True Cross, or Tag?

And there’s another eight more to come….

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Evangeline and the Mysterious Lights

Evan...

Borek, biryani and skyr: notes from flaneuring

I’m back at my writing desk after a four week break of flaneuring and flouncing about Europe.

From the buzz and crowds of sunny summer London. Pints on the pavement, sun-bathing in the park, striking a stony Tube face, history intermingling with hipster. A city uniting against tragedy, once again.

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To the majestic peaks of Iceland. Twenty four hours of daylight without warmth. Sweet scent of freshly baked sugary cinnamon rolls. Cold toes and sunburnt noses. Blue crystalline ice-bergs and blac...

Recent reads – Vigil by Angela Slatter

Vigil by Angela Slatter is an urban fantasy set in Brisbane, Australia.

Brisbane has a number of nicknames, I generally call it Brisvegas but this book uses Brisneyland. Whatever you call it, Brisbane has a cliched reputation for warm weather, theme parks and palm trees. But Vigil shows Brisbane in a completely different light.

Verity Fassbinder is a woman who strides between two worlds. The world of the Normals, us everyday types and the Weyrd, the paranormal underworld sitting just below th...

Evangeline and the Bunyip – free until 7th June

Get a copy of Evangeline and the Bunyip for free on Amazon until 7th June 2017 (PST).

Evangeline is back with another adventure with Balls, Bunyips and blancmange.

In 1882, Melbourne is under threat from a fearsome Bunyip and The Argus announces a reward for the capture of the beast. But Evangeline is not afraid, this is a perfect chance for Evangeline to test out her new monster catching device and save the day. With help from her best friend, Mei, and plenty of raspberry tarts of course.

Ev...

Recent Reads – She Walks in Shadows

Today, an anthology of short stories inspired by HP Lovecraft all written by women. The collection is called She walks in Shadows  edited by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Paula R Stiles, published by Innsmouth Free Press in 2015.

HP Lovecraft is a founding father of the horror genre but he’s well known for his lack of female characters and his dubious perception of anyone who wasn’t of English descent.

For those unfamiliar with HP Lovecraft, his work is filled with dark, gory, lush imagery  and hi...

Good scary versus bad scary – drawing the line in horror

I’ve got horror all around me at the moment. My current work-in-progress is a gothic horror novel, I’m watching a lot of Twin Peaks, enjoying Devil’s Candy and The Stone Tape, anticipating Raw and working my way through the back catalogue of Shirley Jackson.

My question today is why do I like some dark, spooky, scary stuff but not others.

Firstly, I’m curious. Why do we like to be scared?

Doing a little research, it’s all about the adrenalin, the ‘fight or flight’. Our primitive brain trying...