C.M. Rosens's Blog, page 47
June 8, 2020
Reading Group ~ 25th June 2020
Hi everyone, The Crows is now £2.99/$2.99 as it is going to be a Book Club read on 25th June! This is with the Romancing the Gothic book club, so go check out the reading schedule and other events on the website: www.romancingthegothic.wordpress.com.
Buy the paperback and Kindle version from your preferred Amazon site: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.es, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr
Buy the eBook from any of your preferred online stores: Smashwords, Kobo, Scribd, Barnes & Noble, Apple (iBooks), 24Symbols, and Canadian indie creator/seller/author Kerri Davidson.
20% free sample available from Smashwords – the first five chapters are also free to read on Wattpad in their entirety.
June 5, 2020
Romancing the Gothic June Class Schedules
Really looking forward to these June classes! I’m hoping to live-tweet the ones I get to attend. Last month’s are all uploaded to YouTube – subscribe to Dr Sam Hirst @ RomGothSam’s YouTube Channel!
6th June 2020Heroines, Wives and Demons: Women in the GothicSam Hirst13th June 2020Title TBA – Mexican Gothic and FilmValeria Villegas Lindval20th June 2020Russian Roulette: The Russian Gothic Fantastic as a Game You Just Can’t WinSam Hirst27th June 2020Be Gay, Do Crimes: Queer Gothic ReimaginingsSam Hirst11th July
2020Danse macabre: Gothic Ballet from Swan Lake to Black SwanKaren Graham18th July 2020Title TBA – American GothicAmy Bridehttps://romancingthegothic.wordpress.com/class-schedules/
Sign up here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdT5Cftt2uqDjEB9uAfzBcFNv6FEbn8os84RnFKXK6CFn9BOQ/viewform?usp=send_form
May 28, 2020
Red Cape Publishing’s Review: The Crows by C. M. Rosens
A lovely mini-review on their website! I have taken a screenshot as it’s not a separate post but rather one in a list on a static page. For those with screen readers, I’ve copied and pasted the text.
[image error]https://redcapepublishing.com/book-reviews/
I was blown away by this book, I just couldn’t put it down. There were so many twists and turns I didn’t see coming, I needed more. Carrie Rickards finds herself head over heels in love with a total wreck of a house (Fairwood, but the locals called it The Crows), not realising that her life would change drastically forever! The Crows is cursed, and Carrie needs to find out why. Well written and gripping from the start, this book will keep you wanting more. I’m very excited for the sequel. Buy UK and US
https://redcapepublishing.com/book-reviews/
May 26, 2020
Meredith Debonnaire Book Review: The Crows by C. M. Rosens
Another wonderful review for my first novel, THE CROWS! Follow Meredith Debonnaire’s blog for some great reviews, original fiction and more. Check out her book, TALES FROM TANTAMOUNT – cover art by Tom Brown who did the internal illustrations for THE CROWS.
“You won’t fit in there, Caroline.”
This is a fantastically surprising work of gothic horror. I loved it. Every single time I thought I had an idea of what the plot was doing the plot twisted around and bit me, gleefully. So for example, at the beginning we have Carrie Rickards, who has recently left a (terrible) relationship and somewhat impulsively/compulsively bought a crumbling ruin of a house (known as the Crows) and spent all her money doing it up. And so as a reader I thought “oh yeah, gothic horror, single woman in a spooky house it’s gonna do That Thing where it’s all Atmospheric and maybe there is a plausibly deniable ghost”. And then we get the POV of her neighbour, who knows that Carrie will die in 33 days because he read it in the entrails of the girl he just killed. And for the first of…
View original post 383 more words
Book Review: The Crows by C.M Rosens
Another wonderful review for my first novel, THE CROWS! Follow Meredith Debonnaire’s blog for some great reviews, original fiction and more. Check out her book, TALES FROM TANTAMOUNT – cover art by Tom Brown who did the internal illustrations for THE CROWS.
“You won’t fit in there, Caroline.”
This is a fantastically surprising work of gothic horror. I loved it. Every single time I thought I had an idea of what the plot was doing the plot twisted around and bit me, gleefully. So for example, at the beginning we have Carrie Rickards, who has recently left a (terrible) relationship and somewhat impulsively/compulsively bought a crumbling ruin of a house (known as the Crows) and spent all her money doing it up. And so as a reader I thought “oh yeah, gothic horror, single woman in a spooky house it’s gonna do That Thing where it’s all Atmospheric and maybe there is a plausibly deniable ghost”. And then we get the POV of her neighbour, who knows that Carrie will die in 33 days because he read it in the entrails of the girl he just killed. And for the first of…
View original post 383 more words
May 24, 2020
Erebus Horror Book Review: The Crows by C. M. Rosens
A great review from Erebus Horror for my first novel, The Crows! You can buy it from Amazon, Smashwords, Kobo, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, and loads of other places! Check out my Fiction page for all the buy links.
Carrie Rickard, leaving an abusive relationship back in London, tries to escape her own past by throwing herself into her restoration project: Fairwood House, known to locals of Pagham-on-Sea as The Crows. Unable to resistas it whispers to her, Carrie’s obsession only grows when she discovers it was the site of a gruesome unsolved murder.
As Carrie digs deeper into the mystery surrounding the bloodless child stuffed up the kitchen chimney in the 1950s, she awakens dark and dangerous forces that threaten her own life.
Cue an introduction to her eldritch neighbour, Ricky Porter, a foul-mouthed modern-day Merlin in a hoody and a tracksuit, who claims he can see the future. But Ricky, as obsessed with The Crows as Carrie is, has an agenda and several secrets of his own, not least of which are what’s really under his hood, and what he’s got in the cellar…
View original post 385 more words
The Crows
A great review from Erebus Horror for my first novel, The Crows! You can buy it from Amazon, Smashwords, Kobo, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, and loads of other places! Check out my Fiction page for all the buy links.
Carrie Rickard, leaving an abusive relationship back in London, tries to escape her own past by throwing herself into her restoration project: Fairwood House, known to locals of Pagham-on-Sea as The Crows. Unable to resistas it whispers to her, Carrie’s obsession only grows when she discovers it was the site of a gruesome unsolved murder.
As Carrie digs deeper into the mystery surrounding the bloodless child stuffed up the kitchen chimney in the 1950s, she awakens dark and dangerous forces that threaten her own life.
Cue an introduction to her eldritch neighbour, Ricky Porter, a foul-mouthed modern-day Merlin in a hoody and a tracksuit, who claims he can see the future. But Ricky, as obsessed with The Crows as Carrie is, has an agenda and several secrets of his own, not least of which are what’s really under his hood, and what he’s got in the cellar…
View original post 385 more words
May 19, 2020
#AmReading: From The Dust Returned by Ray Bradbury
From the Dust Returned by Ray BradburyMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Weird and Wonderful
I really enjoyed these stories of the House and its Family: the influence on /of Charles Addams is readily apparent, which I loved, and I really enjoyed the ambiguity and open-ended nebulous feel of the stories. I like how the shorts that stand alone have been woven into the book with small interlinking chapters.
Timothy and Cecy are my favourite characters throughout the book, although there is no coherent plot except for Timothy’s gradual growing up and growing into his own path of life.
Standout chapters/stories for me were the ghastly passenger on the Orient Express, the wild cousins trapped in Grandpère’s head, Cecy wanting to fall in love, and Uncle Einar the winged man.
The ghastly passenger was my favourite as a story, and a concept. I loved the idea of feeding on belief, how a spectral apparition is solid and real but fades and withers in the face of relentless rationality that sucks the (un)life from it. It read to me like a love story with folklore and folk-belief, especially those things by which we are most frightened, mourning its loss as an enriching part of childhood and human experience. That England was its saving grace, a place where such beliefs linger and are nurtured, made me really sad. That’s a very idealised view of England which I’m not sure is true or ever was true, but I’d like it to be. England was as ‘rational’ as Germany etc at the time the story is set, so I didn’t think that worked more than as authorial wish-fulfilment. It would be nice to think that folklore (and folk horror) is now appreciated here again, though!
I think this ties in with Timothy’s childhood at the House: growing up spooky but choosing to live a full life ‘like others do’ resonated with me. You can be enriched by an awareness of death, mortality and immortality, and all the things in the world and beyond it which defy explanation, but you do have to choose how you live your own life, too. There’s a sense in which you leave these things behind and a sense in which you always carry them with you, both at once.
Some of these tales are not for everyone, I think, and not all of them struck a chord with me. I really liked this as a whole collection though, as (deliberately) disjointed and incomplete-jigsaw a book this is!
View all my reviews
May 16, 2020
#AmWriting: Call for Betas
Hi all! This is a quick post to shout-out to anyone who wants to beta read my fiction. And, unusually for me, you actually have a choice! It’s not just one thing! *le gasp*
I need some feedback on a novel (98k words) and two (2) short stories. If you would like to have a go at any of these, please comment on this post, or @ me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram!
The Novel: THIRTEENTH
The novel is around 98K words, and I’m looking for comments either overall on the pacing, characterisation, character development and plot, or chapter-by-chapter; I have some betas who I know prefer to give broader feedback, so I’m hoping for the micro-feedback too, in small chunks. Whatever your style, I’d be glad of the perspective.
The best way to describe it (probably) is The Dunwich Horror X Hannibal Rising with a good dash of Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas. Basically, bubblegum body horror meets my take on [and parodies] a version of the Lovecraftian mythos.
It’s Adult, although the story is mainly about a 17yo antiheroine figuring out her destiny to cull/brutally dismember her family of eldritch abominations, while also coming to terms with turning into one. All very Innsmouth, but less fishy.
It follows the dilemma this poses to other family members, like her older brother – a human-passing polyamorous playboy whose ‘forgettable’ appearance drives people over the edge of sanity – and their cousin, an eyeball-eating soothsayer obsessed with a sentient house, who already thinks he’s a god.
{Representative quote: when a creature rises from the Stygian depths of its dimension at one point, a character squints at it, pauses, and says “Cor, that’s a bloody big frog”}
DEADLINE: I’ll be sending the MS off to betas in June (2020) so I’d like comments back by the end of August so I can start revising and formatting for a December 2020 release.
To sign up to beta this one specifically, there’s a form!
Short Story #1: Love Song For The Crows
WORD COUNT: Under 2K (min. word count is 1500 words)
GENRE: Gothic, Spec Fic
PREMISE: A reflection on decay and mortality from the perspective of a ruined house. I’m submitting to the New Gothic Review, and I’d like to know if it’s Gothic enough, if it works as a short piece, etc.
TIME SCALE: Aiming for it to be beta-ready by 18th May: I’d like comments by 30th May.
VOLUNTEER AS TRIBUTE: please comment on this post, or @ me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram!
Short Story #2: The Sound of Darkness
WORD COUNT: Under 5K
GENRE: Psychological Horror
PREMISE: An adult man faces a dark room in his own flat, and tries to overcome a lifelong fear. In doing so, he dredges up childhood memories of his creepy council estate where fear of the dark was a survival trait, and the time he was trapped in a lift with a friend as the lights flickered on and off. Was there something with them in the lift that night? Will he ever know? And can he overcome his fear as a grown man to step into his living room with the lights off?
TIME SCALE: Aiming for it to be written and beta-ready by 24th May: I’d like comments by 10th June 2020.
VOLUNTEER AS TRIBUTE: please comment on this post, or @ me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram!
May 13, 2020
Let’s Talk About Wolves #6: Werewolf Talk with Mari Hamill
Werewolves are never far from my mind when I’m writing stories set in Pagham-on-Sea, and while I’ve had a short hiatus with the Werewolf Talk series, I’ve still got a fair few werewolf books in my TBR! One of them is Werewolf Nights by Mari Hamill. We connected via Twitter and a Facebook Group (Horror Novels) and she agreed to one of my author interviews!
[image error]Mari Hamill
Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Mari Hamill graduated from Harvard with an A. B. in English and the University of Michigan with a Ph.D. in comparative literature. A world traveller who has lived in Puerto Rico, the United States of America, Canada, France, Italy and Switzerland, Mari speaks French, Spanish, German and some Italian. She has been featured several times on Evan Carmichael’s list of the Top 100 Twitter users in Los Angeles.
Her debut novel is Werewolf Nights. Since the novel’s publication, she has talked to college students about writing, has had several appearances on the radio and at author events, and has even been the guest of honour at an improv show.
Find her on Facebook /MariHamillAuthor – Twitter @MariHamill – Goodreads /MariHamill
Werewolf Talk with Mari Hamill
[image error] Werewolf Nights by Mari Hamill
WHAT’S THE FASCINATION FOR YOU WITH WEREWOLVES?
A good werewolf movie on a full moon night puts me in a good mood. It’s hard to pick a favorite because of there are so many good ones, but The Wolfman (2010) with Benicio del Toro, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, Wolf (1994) with Jack Nicholson and Michelle Pfeiffer, and Wolves with Jason Momoa are great. When it comes to werewolf movies, I can’t say no.
The loss of control at the moment of transformation fascinates me. As a metaphor for life, it makes me think about how much our reality can change from one moment to the next. I think werewolves continue to have the power to terrify us because they’re dangerous, unpredictable, and hard to kill.
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO WRITE ABOUT WEREWOLVES?
Because of their resilience and their refusal to go away. Also, I like the superpowers they have whether they’re good or evil. As a comic book retailer and fan, I dabble in superpowers and double identities daily, but werewolves really hooked me. I wanted to create a world that revolved around them and that’s when I came up with Wereville. My novel has comic book references that fans of the medium will enjoy.
WHAT’S THE BEST WEREWOLF TRANSFORMATION?
Werewolf transformations can be a form of body horror depending on whether one perceives them as a gift or a curse. An American Werewolf in London has one of the best scenes. I’ve watched that one over and over again. Werewolf Nights has key shapeshifting moments. I think the moment a human turns into a werewolf in a book or a movie, the energy of the scene changes too. It’s infused with raw power, which makes it exciting.
WHERE CAN WE GET MORE INFO ON WEREVILLE AND WEREWOLF NIGHTS?
[image error]
You can find me and more about Werewolf Nights on these sites:
https://www.facebook.com/WerewolfNightsBook/
https://www.facebook.com/The-Full-Moon-Bakery-634819059965525/
https://www.facebook.com/AuthorStreetTeam/
https://www.instagram.com/marihamill/?hl=en
https://twitter.com/Werewolf_Nights
