Roxanne Rhoads's Blog, page 187

Tales of Unexplained Mystery by Steph Young

Tales of Unexplained MysterySteph Young
Do you love unexplained, cryptic, and intriguing mysteries?
Why was a man found in the same spot he disappeared, but 4 years later, with a hole in his head that no surgeons could explain, and what did this have to do with a séance, doppelgangers, and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln?
Why did a man write the Fibonacci sequence as a clue and tell a stranger he was “Looking for the Beast,” before he disappeared in the barren plains of a desert?
Why did five boys run from their car into the snowy wilderness, to certain death, yet not try to save themselves, at all? They found food but did not eat it. What were they running from? And why?
Who are Hecate? And what did they have to do with people disappearing in the countryside of England?
How did an introverted lady die on the top of an ancient fairy mound, on a remote island: her face locked in an expression of terror?
Why did a man die of fright atop a coal pile after disappearing for days, and why could no scientists identify the strange ointment found on his body? Where had he been? And what had happened to him?
How could a man be found after a plane crash, lying on a moor, with no injuries at all; yet his body had not been there when the plane had crashed and searchers had combed the area multiple times looking for him.
Also featuring an in-depth investigation into the strange death of Elisa Lam, found dead in a water tower on the top of a hotel roof in LA. Who were the two men who came to see her, and what was in the mystery box they gave her?
Steph Young has appeared on national radio shows and podcast including the UK's The Unexplained and Coast to Coast Am, talking about many of these mysteries of the Unexplained, which are her passion...
These stories are some of the most intriguing, enigmatic, and ultimately unfathomable & unexplained true tales she has ever come across and they continue to fascinate and completely puzzle her.
#mysterioustales #theunexplained #truetales #unexplainedstories #crypticmysteries #weird #strangebuttrue
https://amzn.to/2LIhi3g
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tales-Mystery-Unexplained-Podcast-ebook/dp/B08245M34D/ 
https://www.amazon.com/Stephen-Young/e/B00KE8B6B0
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChY-I52fp98kMJm0aIoW-NA/videos

Oakly’s Christmas Present A Short Story By DK Davis

Oakly’s Christmas Present – short story(Include characters from Secret: Of Amber Eyes)By DK Davis
“Oakly, you’ll find someone. Don’t look so down.” Morgan, my twin brother’s soul-mate, patted my shoulder.
Rowan stepped next to her, never leaving her side for long. His arm went possessively around her waist. He punched my arm and grinned, and then led his woman toward the kitchen table.
Watching my brother and Morgan instilled the deep loneliness plaguing my cougar, like a blade stabbing my chest. I needed the forest, an escape from the crowd of family and friends sitting around the table and working on Christmas decorations for the fortress we all called home. The place, for all its space, gave me a fit of claustrophobia.
I snuck out the front door. Brisk air and tufts of falling snow threw my cougar into an adrenaline rush to run. The animal scratched against the inside of my skin. I jogged down the porch steps and into the trees, dropping my clothes next to a giant oak and shifting into my animal.
Four large paws carried me for miles away from home. I crossed a couple of dirt roads and continued through the thick forest, cutting footprints through the snow. The wind picked up, and gray clouds blanketed the rising moon. The cougar’s night vision kicked in, and I stopped to sate my thirst at a babbling brook.
When I raised my head, a force hit my senses so hard it knocked me on my butt. I shook my head to get a bearing of what drew my complete mind and body. Then a shriek followed by a snarl, close by, across the stream. I launched over the water at full speed.
Snapping jaws, growls, and yips, I scented wolves.
A cat screamed and snarled in a way to scare off a predator or to defend itself. Another scent filled my olfactory, female cat, not a cougar. I bounded through the dense shrub sounding like an army and blew through the other side with the effect of distraction.
A bobcat surrounded by three wolves. She stood her ground, but red colored the snow around her. All wolves stared my way.
I roared my deepest snarl and charged, the only thought snapping through my mind, save her.
Two of the wolves sprang toward me, leaving one for the she-cat. I caught one by the throat, shook the hell out of him and tossed him against a tree trunk. The other had jumped on my back and snapped his jaws over the back of my neck. Its claws caught my shoulders and my back haunches.
I ran straight at a downed tree, flipping into it, so the wolf caught the sharp branch. The teeth piercing the sides of my neck released, and I pulled away from its claws. It fell to the ground, the branch protruding from its back, and then it crawled away.
The she-cat held her own, snarling and clawing, but the wolf clenched his jaws on a front leg. Bones snapped, and the she-cat went into a biting frenzy across the dog-faced snout. I pounced on the wolf’s back, sinking my claws around its neck. The she-cat dropped from its mouth, and I forced the wolf away, and then gave chase until the distance satisfied me.
When I got back to the Bobcat, she lay on her side, panting and looking like a bloody mess. Her head lifted as I stepped closer. I crouched beside her and licked at the wounds. She lapped at the gouges on my neck. After a bit, we both settled together and slept.
* * *Someone shook me awake. As I opened my eyes and yawned, the morning sun created a glistening coat of mini prisms across the snow.
“What the hell are you doing way out here? You’re miles from our territory.” Rowan eyed me. “It looks like a bloody war zone. You’re covered in blood and a significant amount of another cat’s scent, brother. A shifter. Care to explain?”
I glanced next to me. An imprint of the she-cat’s smaller body had colored the snow dark red. She’d vanished. I jumped onto my four-paws. Sniffing the air, I noticed the smaller-sized paw prints leading in the opposite direction of home.
“Come on. Everyone is worried about you. A lot of them are out looking for you.” He huffed. “You didn’t let anyone know you went for a run.”
Everything inside me said to follow the she-cat shifter, but I knew she would come back here as I would.
Rowan pulled a cell phone from his pocket. “Dad, I found him. Let everyone know. It’s going to take us a while to get home.” Then he paused, listening. I heard him explaining where we were and to use the tracking app to find his phone. It sounded like someone would be driving a vehicle to a close location.
My attention faded in and out from his conversation as my head filled with thoughts of the female Bobcat.
“I will come back to see you tonight like you want to do,”a female voice filled the inside of my mind like a loud whisper.
I instantly shifted into human form. “Hey, tell me why you and Morgan can mind-communicate.”
“Good grief. Your junk’s gonna freeze. I didn’t bring any clothes for you.” Rowan grinned and pointed.
Yea, parts of me wanted to hide from the cold, but most of my body remained hot-blooded. “I gotta know about you and Morgan.”
“Fine, but we gotta jog. Dad’s going to pick us up on a dirt road a few miles away.” Rowan picked up the pace. “Morgan and I exchanged blood, and because she’s my soul-mate, we can mind-communicate. I understand that only happens with a soul-mate.”
“Does your soul-mate need to be the same kind of shifter?” My head reeled with the thought.
* * * “You’re not leaving the fortress tonight. Tomorrow’s Christmas and your mother will have my hide if I allow you to go for a run like you did yesterday.” Dad’s eyes narrowed, but his focus wandered. “Unless you drove the truck to the spot where I picked you up. Then I’d know you’d get back here before morning.” His intense gaze landed on me. “The only reason I’m considering this is from the questions you asked Rowan. And you can thank him that he talked about it to me.”
Dad handed me his keys. I ran out the front door before he changed his mind.
Darkness had already settled over the tree line as I parked along a small clearing off the edge of the dirt road.
As I climbed out of the truck, her presence melded into mine and shivered through my body. “Where are you?”
Her scent drew me farther into the forest, and then I saw her. Beautiful long platinum-blond hair drifted down her shoulders. Smoldering blue eyes met mine. She lifted away from the large oak tree she’d leaned against and ambled toward me in a sleek feline two-legged prowl.My breath left me and then came back in a gasping gulp, leaving me dizzy and drunk on her scent. My legs finally mobilized, and I strode to her, wrapping my arms around her.
She slid her hands around the back of my neck. Her fingers twined into my hair. I leaned down, and she lifted on her toes, lips uniting in a crash of cracking whips and stormy lightning. My whole body blazed in fire for this meek little woman, but then, nothing about her seemed timid.
Her tongue ran across my lips, sending a tremor through me. She giggled. Her hands pushed my chest, and we broke apart.
“My name’s Sky. I believe you’re my Christmas present for life.” Her smile radiated through my chest, stealing my voice.
“I believe you’re my life Christmas present also,” my mind-communication responded.“Let’s go meet my parents, and then we’ll meet yours. We have a lot to talk about.” Sky reached for my hand, and when our fingers wove together, my cougar agreed we’d both found our most significant other.
I drew her back to me and sealed our moment with a kiss. Sky’s tender lips sent my cougar into purr-mode, something I’d never experienced before tonight. Then, Sky’s bobcat answered with a contented purr. “Merry Christmas,” our mind-communication whispered as one.


Secret: In Wolf Lake
D.K. Davis



Genres:  SciFi, PNR


Publisher:  BWL Publishing, Inc.  
Cover Artist: Michelle Lee
Date of Publication: January 1, 2017
ISBN: 9781772993899ASIN: B01N7O41FM
Number of pages: 120Word Count: 41,200
Tagline: Samantha discovers a gifted creature living in Wolf Lake; now his life depends on her saving him.
Book Description:
Samantha’s dealing with a lot of emotional blow-back from her mother’s new marriage. Then she discovers a gifted creature living in Wolf Lake, and life suddenly becomes all about keeping his existence a secret, earning his trust. That is until his life depends on her saving him. But she won’t be able to do it alone…
Amazon     BN     Kobo      Smashwords

Secret: At HL WoodsD.K. Davis
Date of Publication: December 15, 2017 
ISBN: EPUB 978-1-77362-990-2ASIN: B077ZT2H5V
Number of pages: 199Word Count: 60,200 words
Tagline: A high school ghost-seer, an all-star jock, and a bully, cross paths, sparks spew, and lives change…
Book Description:
Bri, a seventeen-year-old ghost-seer, keeps her ability under wraps at the new school until a murdered couple from the 60’s asks for help.
Kyle, a high school jock, realizes the new girl lives next door; she’s crazy cute, goth-odd, and too convenient to ignore.
Max, Kyle’s best friend, only sees Bri as a wicked threat.
Luke, Bri’s gay best friend, moves in for the summer, escaping his abusive father.Paths cross, sparks spew…will anyone remain the same after?
Amazon      BN       Kobo      Smashwords     Books2Read

Secret: Of Amber EyesD.K. Davis
Date of Publication:  November 2018 Release
Kindle 978-0-2286-0621-5Amazon Print 978-0-2286-0623-9ASIN: B07KGGHG3P
Number of pages: 197Word Count:  58,500
Tagline:  Instinct draws Morgan and Rowan together, a human and a shifter, until a wildcard wildcat threatens Morgan’s life, changing her forever.
Book Description:
Morgan Redding, a seventeen-year-old high school graduate, gets sent to her aunt and uncle’s wildlife rescue and preserve, a therapeutic place for not only nature.
Rowan Marcus, an eighteen-year-old cougar shifter, helps at the wildlife refuge. He’s part of a secret society of shifters guarding the preserve lands.
Instinct draws Morgan and Rowan together.
Then one wildcard wildcat within the shifter community kills for the needy, but the killing escalates and threatens Morgan’s life, changing her forever…
Amazon      BN     Kobo       Smashwords
Excerpt from Secret: Of Amber Eyes
Word Count - 964
“Gotta’ run honey,” she said over the glass sunroof of the Cadillac. “Our flight leaves in four hours, and I still have a few things left to pack.”I immobilized as Mom dove into the car to retrieve her phone. She tapped the screen and started the car. I didn’t wave as she shifted into gear and drove off with her cell phone stuck to her ear.  She never even glanced my way.  From my peripheral, Uncle Charlie and Aunt Becka looked at each other. They weren’t smiling anymore. Mom had never said a word to either of them. She didn’t say goodbye to me, either, unless I counted the trail of dust marking her exit.Good riddance. Oh, and have a happy life with Jack. My stomach fluttered, and the inside of my throat tightened like it might collapse in on itself. A load of moisture gathered, blurring my vision. Some trickled alongside my nose. I’m not crying. Extra baggage doesn’t cry; instead, I go to prison. My body relaxed as if a heavy weight shifted and slipped off. Why not make the best of this crappy situation? I was on the back burner, but not being dumped down the garbage disposal. I wiped away the water littering my face and picked up my two duffle bags. Aunt Becka scooped up my backpack; her thick long blond braid slid over her shoulder.“This way, dear. You’ve come at a good time with the weather. We’ve got a warm streak going. It isn’t normally nice warm temperatures until much later in the summer.” Aunt Becka led the way into the house. She wore faded denim shorts with a baggy sky-blue T-shirt, short white socks, and high-top hiking boots. She and Uncle Charlie were sun-browned and looked the same age as Mom. The muscles in Aunt Becka’s calves stood out as she climbed the circular stairway. She continued, “It’s still pretty cool in the mornings and later in the evenings, which makes for great sleeping weather.”At the top of the stairs, I walked across the open loft to the wall-sized window, dropping my bags mid-way. Two bright red barns stood off to one side. I recognized the green T-shirt and dark blue baseball cap Uncle Charlie wore. He pushed a wheel-barrow into one of the barns. Another guy walked behind with a huge bag of something balanced on his shoulder. The muscles in his arm bulged. He stopped in mid-step and swung around to look upward, at the window, and then at me. My stomach suddenly churned into warm pudding as our gazes collided. The guy’s eyes glowed, amber, a trick of the sun I was sure. My breath sucked in. Aunt Becka stepped beside me and glanced out. “Oh, that’s Rowan Marcus. He’s here pretty much every day helping with chores and with the other kids that aid us at the refuge.”Rowan swung around and followed Uncle Charlie into the barn. A tremor slid through me, and then I exhaled, realizing I’d completely stopped my lungs from working. What the heck? Amber eyes?Aunt Becka pointed to the other side of the barn toward tall wire fenced-in areas. “We keep recovering deer or goats in those.” Then she pointed along the outside of the barns, to smaller wire pens. “Those hold fawn or other small animals that need special care.” I attempted to stay focused on her words, but the image of Rowan and those eyes. My brain fogged over with his image burnt on the inside of my eyelids.She waved a finger at the dirt paths that connected everything and waited until I looked to continue, “We have cleared pathways to every area that requires our attention, and that tree line marks the perimeter into our wildlife preserve. We own a lot of forest acreage that’s a safe place for our healed wildlife to live.” A.K.A. my prison grounds.She squeezed me to her. “It’s wonderful here. I know you’ll love it as much as Charlie and I do.”I didn’t know how to respond, other than to go rigid and silent. My aunt acted like this was going to be a vacation for me, not punishment. Pulling away from her, I paced the room, taking inventory. Aunt Becka watched me from near the window.A bed, nightstand, desk, and dresser, all built of knotty pine or logs. A narrow door opened to a closet and beside it, another narrow door led into a small bathroom. Most of the walls and all of the ceilings and floors were knotty wood. No carpet, no curtains. Like being inside a sterile prison, not that I frequented the inside of a real prison cell, but this shiny clean room gave me the impression of ‘no fun, all work.’I plopped down on the bed and bounced on it a little. Comfortable. “So, Kate said you and your step-dad are kind of on the outs with each other.” Aunt Becka strolled over and plopped on the bed beside me. “To be honest, Charlie and I didn’t even know Kate had gotten married.”“Let’s just say I’m used to Mom having flings with her escort men, but she’s never married one of them,” I said, the words slipping from my mouth like a spray of negative ick.Aunt Becka frowned, and then her face softened. “You’ve had it tough, haven’t you?”I stared at her, another question I didn’t know how to answer. My nose tingled, an itch inevitable. So, again, I blurted, “No, I’ve been just fine. Mom and I played our roles the best we knew how, and then our roles changed. That’s all.” I rubbed the crap out of my nose, jumped off the bed and unzipped one of the duffle bags.


About the Author:
DK Davis writes YA sci-fi, supernatural, and fantasy with a good dollop of all the relationships woven in between. When she’s not writing, editing, or reading, she’s hiking, RV’ing, fishing, spending time with grandchildren or her favorite muse (her husband) in Southwest Michigan.
She also writes mainstream supernatural, suspense-thriller romance as S. Peters-Davis.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DKDavisBooks    
FB: https://www.facebook.com/dk.davis.92      
Website: http://suda788.wixsite.com/dkdavis
BWL Publishing Inc.: http://bookswelove.net/authors/davis-dk-ya-paranormal/   
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-davis-8660542/




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Celia’s Holiday Playlist

Celia’s Holiday Playlist
Music is a big part of our holiday celebrations.  Here’s one of our playlists for the December holidays. Happy listening!
“Another Christmas Song,” Stephen Colbert
“Not Tonight Santa,” Girls Aloud
“Frosty the Snowman,” Cocteau Twins
“Christmas Time Is Here Again,” Ringo Starr
“Sleigh Ride,” The Ronettes
“The Lonely Jew On Christmas,” Kyle Broflofski with Special Celebrity Guest
“Santa’s Beard,” They Might Be Giants
“Winter Wonderland,” Cocteau Twins
“Christmas (Baby Please Come Home),” Darlene Love
“Thanks for Christmas,” XTC
 “December Will Be Magic Again,” Kate Bush


Under A Mating MoonBlack Hills WolvesBook 27Celia Breslin
Genre:  paranormal romance
Publisher: Decadent Publishing
Date of Publication:  September 18, 2015
ISBN: 9781613338940ASIN: B0148W4RHW
Number of pages:  114Word Count: 32,200
Cover Artist: Fiona Jayde
Book Description:
British Alpha wolf Jake Matthews spends his days among humans, pursuing a lucrative music career and avoiding his pack’s politics. When his current DJ tour takes him to the US, he stops in Los Lobos to visit family, and runs into the one Wolf he never wants to see again—the mate who rejected his claim.
While visiting her brother in Los Lobos, free-spirited Lexi Luparell is shocked to encounter the Wolf she’d denied when they were teens. Now she must face her guilt for the cruel way she spurned him all those years ago, make amends, and admit the truth. Jake was right all along—they’re meant to mate.
Lexi would love to explore the mate concept and her overwhelming attraction to virile, alpha Wolf Jake, but he wants nothing to do with her. How can she break down his defenses when she’s the reason he built them in the first place?
Jake dates only human women now. Lexi had her shot at being his mate, and she threw it away. But when her life is threatened, he may have to rethink his position and do whatever it takes to claim his one true mate.
A standalone novel in the Black Hills Wolves World
Amazon US      Amazon UK       Amazon CA       BN
BookStrand      Kobo      Apple Books       GoodReads
Excerpt:A billion butterflies battered Lexi’s stomach. She shifted her attention from Ross to the piano. Sure enough, the music had stopped, and Jake faced her from his seat on the bench. Man oh man, the heavy stare from those sky blue eyes sent shivers skittering down her spine. His gaze held the same intensity she remembered from him as a kid, as if he saw into the heart of people, exposing their deepest secrets. It had driven her crazy back then, and she’d spent much time teasing him, pulling his hair, trying to distract him from being so serious all of the damn time. They were teenagers—partying was supposed to be their sole focus.With his ice-blue stare locked on her, Jake rose to his feet, all taut muscle and predatory power. His energy swept over her like a tsunami, forcing all of the moisture to abandon her mouth while parts much lower wept with want. Her inner wolf howled, answering the call of this Alpha, the first Dominant male ever to make her sit up and take notice. Holy crap. Her muscles shook with the need to bound over to him, jump in his arms, wrap her legs around his torso and writhe against his hard, hot, tattooed body.Jake said something to his uncle then stalked straight at her, cutting a path right through the middle of the tables and the many, too-curious patrons.A whimper escaped her throat.Surprise sparked in her brother’s brown eyes. “You’re kidding me. Him?” He burst out laughing. “Wow, sis, that’s some major, big-time irony right there.”Darci’s expression conveyed her bewilderment. “Now what are you two talking about?”Her annoying brother grinned. “See that angry Alpha headed our way? My sister here rejected him when they were teens and he's apparently her—”Lexi socked her brother in the ribs. “Shut it, Ross.”“Ouch.” Ross rubbed his side and chuckled at her plight. The jerk. “Come on, Lexi, you have to admit the hilarity of the situation.”No, she did not. Nor did she have to admit that J-Bird was right all those years ago. He was her mate. O to the M to the G…. They were mates.

About the Author:
Celia lives in California with her husband, daughter, and two feisty cats. She writes urban fantasy and paranormal romance, and has a particular fondness for werewolves, vampires, and the Fae. Her stories are action-packed and typically include one of the many varieties of romantic entanglements: fated mates, second chance, rescue romance, opposites attract, friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, and more.
When not writing, you’ll find Celia exercising, reading a good book, hanging with her family, or indulging her addiction to Joss Whedon’s TV shows and movies, as well as everything in the Marvel Universe franchise. Of course!
Web site: http://www.celiabreslin.com/
Blog: http://www.celiabreslin.com/blog/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/celiabreslin

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CeliaBreslinAuthor

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/CeliaBreslin

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/celiabreslin/   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/celiabreslin/
Newsletter:  http://eepurl.com/bxqwRL




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Interview - Release Day Blitz Shifter’s Storm by Carol Van Natta

What inspired your story?
SHIFTER’S STORM is the convergence of two inspirations. The first inspiration came from my readers, several of whom mentioned they liked deputy sheriff and leopard shifter Chantal Hammond from her previous cameo appearances and wanted her to get her own story. The second inspiration was seeing what Hurricane Maria did to Puerto Rico. The news stories about all the work it took (and is still taking!) to clean up after it were amazing.
Is the setting to your story important?
SHIFTER’S STORM is set partly in a fairy fantasyland. Think of it as a pocket universe with the often-whimsical rules set by the fairy who created it. Unfortunately for the hero, Dauro de Mar, he’s been captive in one for a long time. What’s worse, the fantasyland is dying. The arrival of a lost sheriff deputy gives him and his fellow captives hope that they might make out alive. Of course, it’s not as easy as that, and the real world holds perils of its own. Not to mention the distraction notion that the sexy sheriff’s deputy might just be his true mate.
When did you first consider yourself a “writer”?
I can’t remember a time when I couldn’t read. Similarly, I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t writing stories.  However, back in the Jurassic age when I was young, being an author didn’t pay the rent, so I decided I’d be a doctor. I liked science and helping people. Unfortunately, I didn’t like chemistry, and math and I weren’t on speaking terms, so that career was out. I’ve bounced around through a lot of jobs since then, from security guard to singing telegrams to business continuity specialist, but throughout all of them, I was always writing.
What genres do you normally write in?
I currently write space opera and paranormal romances. I’ve been a science fiction and fantasy fan ever since I burned through my parents’ collection of those one summer when I was young. I fell in love with romances when I was a little older, so my muse insists on both. My muse also insists on creating series, even if I fondly imagine I’m writing a standalone short story. <Cue evil laughing from Carol’s muse.>
Is there a genre you haven’t written in that one day you’d like to tackle?
I’d like to try romantic suspense because I admire the excellent stories by many of those authors, including Dana Marton and Rebecca York. I’d also love to explore steampunk, perhaps set in the American West instead of London. I have so many files of plot bunnies that I’d probably need to live to be 200 years old to get them all written. It’s like the old saying, so many books, so little time!
What was the first book you ever published? 
The first book I published was Overload Flux (Central Galactic Concordance Book 1). It starts my space opera romance series that currently has 8 books, and is in the middle of a big damn story arc about evolution and rebellion. The first book in my more recent Ice Age Shifters paranormal romance series (now with 5 stories) is Shifter Mate Magic. As it happens, Jackie, the heroine of that book, is the mother of Chantal, the heroine of SHIFTER’S STORM. Curious coincidence, eh?

Granny Johnson’s Turkey Dressing and Gravy

Granny Johnson’s Turkey Dressing and Gravy
This recipe is a treasured one from my childhood. We would gather at my grandmother’s home on Christmas Eve, nearly forty of us some years, and this would be on the menu every year, along with a big turkey and candied sweet potatoes and everyone’s favorite side dish. One of my proudest accomplishments is learning to make it just like Granny did. The recipe is admittedly complicated, but the end result is more than worth it!
(1)     Two pans or baking sheets of homemade biscuits. Any homemade biscuits will work.
(2)     Three recipes of buttermilk cornbread below.  (Two if just the 6 of you.)
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups yellow or white cornmeal
2 tablespoons flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
2 cups buttermilk or something like ½ and ½ if your bunch doesn’t like buttermilk
2 large eggs
Heat oil in 10 inch cast iron pan, pie pan, or whatever in a 450 degree oven for 15 minutes.  Combine cornmeal, flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Mix and make a well in center.  Add buttermilk and eggs and pour into skillet or pie pan.  Bake 20-30 minutes or until golden. (The time kind of depends on the oven.  Just watch and don’t let it burn.)
(3)     Dressing itself.
Cornbread and biscuit mixture described below
10-15 eggs, fewer if 2 recipes, more if 3
1-2 cups onions, fewer if 2 recipes, more if 3
Salt to taste
Rubbed sage to taste-I usually end up using most or all of a jar so buy 2.Whatever turkey juice collects in the bottom of the pan-I always add water to the bottom of the pan to get more juice.  If the turkey juice is loaded with butter, so much the better.
LOTS of chicken broth-I’ve seen the time that, with three recipes, I’ve used almost a gallon of broth.  The cornbread and biscuits soak up the fluid like crazy.  This may seem like a lot, but that’s what makes it moist and creamy.  Too little and it will be dry.   Don’t try to do this with the little cans-buy several cartons.  Better yet, make your own.  I collect chicken parts for several weeks-the skin and bones of breasts or the backs and innards of whole chickens or both and boil them for several hours.  It’s way cheaper to make your own.  If you do buy the cartons, be careful about the amount of salt you add as those are frequently salty already.
Cuisinart biscuits and cornbread.  Mix in a 3 cornbread/2 biscuit ratio by volume until cornbread is gone. (Eat rest of biscuits for breakfast.)  Cut up and boil onions until they are soft and clear.  Add onions and cooking broth.  Add eggs.  Add turkey juice and chicken broth until downright wet and it stirs easily.  Add salt (carefully if using prepared chicken broth) and sage to taste.   (Note-at this point if it grew in the pan and you have a lot more than you think you can use, freeze part of it to bake later.)  Bake in large, deep baking dishes like Corningware or a Dutch oven.  (It will dry out in a cake pan.)  I usually cover mine so it stays moist.  Cook 1 ½ hours or until set throughout but you can and should stir it occasionally so it cooks evenly and doesn’t get hard along the sides of the pan.  If it starts to dry out add more broth.
Please, please cook this separately from the turkey itself.  With this many eggs, I worry about it not getting up to temperature in the cavity of the turkey.
I usually make the cornbread and biscuits the day before so they can cool completely before I run them through the Cuisinart.
You will need a HUGE mixing bowl to do this.  My mixing bowls are those great big metal ones that are actually wider than my sink.  Treat yourself to one if you don’t have one.
Gravy
Innards and neck from turkey
½ cup of flour
Two boiled eggs
Some turkey broth from turkey if desired
Salt
Boil the innards from the turkey in 1 or two cups of water.  Keep adding water for an hour or two until you have the goodness from the turkey parts.
Brown the flour in the oven 13-20 minutes until it’s light brown.
When dinner is close, remove the innards and the neck.  If desired, chop the liver, gizzard, etc. and return to the broth.  Add the flour and stir until it reaches the consistency you desire.  You can also add a little of the broth from the turkey itself to add a bit more flavor.  Add salt but do it carefully as some of the ingredients already have salt in them.  Slice the boiled eggs and add to the gravy.
Note: This can be cut down to one cornbread recipe, one sheet of biscuits, 5 eggs, ¾ cup onion plus whatever broth is needed for a smaller dinner.  I made it last night to go with a baked chicken and used the juice from the chicken along with the broth.  It was good but did suffer some from not having the actual turkey juices.


Maggie’s Starring Role
Durango St. Theatre Series
Book Two
Emily Mims


Genre:  Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Boroughs Publishing Company
Date of Publication:  Sept. 23, 2019
ISBN: ISBN 978-1-951055-16-5
Number of pages:  198Word Count: 68,000
Cover Artist: Boroughs Art Department
Tagline: It’s all about the money, honey.
Book Description:
Maggie Gutierrez’s job is to keep the Durango Street Theatre afloat financially. In other words, she spends her days sticking her hand in people’s pockets in the hopes of pulling out cash. Well, euphemistically.
The Harrington Foundation grant would go a long way to ensuring the theater’s continued survival, but the administrator of the grant is the guy she used to crush on in a big way, and the last time they saw each other…let’s say things didn’t go so well. As in, he blames her for his father’s death.
Soooo…what’s a girl to do? Anything she can to get that grant, including spending time with him, which takes them down a road that might just lead to a forever neither envisioned.
Books2Read     Smashwords     Amazon    BN     Kobo

Excerpt:
She settled into her desk chair and Kirby sat down across from her. “So are there any questions I can answer for you?” she asked, cursing the faint flush she could feel on her cheeks. She wasn’t sure if it was from wanting to impress him on the theater’s behalf or Kirby himself.“No. Not a one.” He leaned forward with an unreadable expression. “Don’t get your hopes up about the grant. The only reason I came today was because the Rileys insisted. I have no intention of letting those people award their grant to the Durango.” She caught a smirk starting to cross his face before he schooled it into impassivity.The rustling coming from the other office stopped. Maggie willed herself not to look up at the gap at the top of the temporary wall. “May I ask why? Don’t we meet the parameters of the grant?” she asked, feigning confusion.“Actually, you do. If things were different, I would be happy to see them award the grant to the theater. But with things the way they are, I intend to see that they send the grant another direction. I’m sure you understand.”Maggie’s heart sank as she looked at him. So the grant was lost because of his antipathy toward her. He really was going to take his anger with her out on the whole theater. Damn him, she thought hotly. He was a prick. Some things never change. The grant might be gone, but he wasn’t going to get away with a stunt like this. She’d be damned if she let him walk out the door with no repercussions. He was going to explain himself to everyone at the Durango and the chips could fall where they may. She had nothing to lose. “No, I’m afraid I don’t understand. If we meet the parameters of the grant, why are you so determined that it go elsewhere?”“Because of your association with the theater,” he said, his voice calm and his expression cold. “I absolutely refuse to work with you. You are directly responsible for my father’s death and I will not work with you, have anything to do with you, or award the grant to the theater that employs you.”“So let me be clear. You’re mad at me, so you’re willing to take it out on everyone here at the Durango, despite the wonderful proposal, and even though we meet the parameters and need the money desperately. Do I have that right?”“I wouldn’t have put it that way, but yes. You have that right.” He leaned forward. “Karma’s a bitch, isn’t she?”“Oh dear. I am so disappointed.” She leaned forward so that they were barely a foot apart. “Especially since your old friend Josh Goldstein, who’s my boss and the executive director of the theater, assured me you’d be fair despite your feelings toward me. Why, he sat in that office next door, the one he’s sitting in right now eavesdropping on this entire conversation, and said you weren’t the kind to take out your feelings about me on the theater.” She looked up and raised her voice. “Did you hear all that, Josh? Guess you were wrong. He doesn’t plan to play fair.”“Yes, I heard every damned word,” Josh yelled.“I did, too,” Rachel shouted from her office two doors down.“So did I,” a deep voice piped up from the lobby.Kirby’s face morphed from a vindictive smirk to unmasked horror. “You…you knew they were listening,” he gasped. “You knew they’d hear every word.”“They needed to.” Maggie regarded him steadily. “You’re breaking faith with the Rileys and you’re breaking faith with us. I told you yesterday we both needed to behave in a professional manner. Instead you decided to use the grant as a weapon to pay me back for something in our past that you hold against me. You’re being unfair to the Durango and you’re being unfair to the Rileys. Somebody needs to know. Hopefully someone who will inform the Rileys of your duplicity.”Kirby opened his mouth but glanced up and closed it again. He muttered something under his breath as he stood up and yanked the door open, slamming it behind him.Maggie leaned her elbows on the desk and put her chin in her hands. That had been sneaky, but damn it, Kirby had no right to punish the theater because he was mad at her. They deserved a fair shake, and if that meant getting Kirby in trouble for admitting he was using the grant as a weapon, so be it. She giggled as the sound of raised voices filtered into her office. Good. Josh was giving Kirby a deserved ration of shit. And if she wasn’t mistaken, the voice she’d heard in the lobby was none other than Wade Baxter. The Rileys’ grandson. She smirked even as she rubbed her aching temples.
Yes, Kirby, Karma can be a bitch.
About the Author:
Author of nearly forty romance novels, Emily Mims combined her writing career with a career in public education until leaving the classroom to write fulltime. The mother of two sons, she and her husband split their time between their home in San Antonio and a second home on Lake Buchanan, and make frequent trips to Tennessee to visit their grandchildren. For fun, she plays the piano, organ and dulcimer, and plays her ukulele and sings in two different performing groups. She says, “I love to write romances because I believe in them. Romance happened to me and it can happen to any woman-if she’ll just let it.”
Website:   www.emilymims.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/emilymimsauthor  
Facebook:   www.facebook.com/EmilyMimsAuthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mims_emily/




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Blake Manor by Maghen Connolly

Maghen's Top 10 Favorite Paranormal Novels
Dracula
House of Night
Twilight
Daughters of the Moon
Body Finder
Thirst
Fallen
After Life


Blake ManorMaghen Connolly
Genre: Supernatural Fiction
Date of Publication: August 23rd 2019
ISBN:  9781088498682ASIN: B07W3QCQNQ
Number of pages: 407Word Count: 90,938
Cover Artist: Michael Weick
Tagline: Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it.
Book Description:
Be careful what you wish for, you just might find it...
Kyra Blake just wanted the answers to who her mother was before she was born. What kind of family she was a part of. With her mother's untimely death years ago, she thought those were answers she would never receive, until a phone call changed her life. She discovers from one phone call, three things. A town deep in the backwoods of Maine that her mother was raised in. Within that town a house she never knew her family owned. All left to her by an uncle she never knew existed. Finally, she will discover, along this trip to the deep parts of Maine, not only who her mother was, but who she truly is as well. She will learn of a legacy that she cannot escape, one covered in mystery, shrouded in blood, and fated from the moment she took her first breath.
She wants answers, well she's about to get them. The only question is, can she live with what she discovers...
Within the halls of Blake Manor, secrets will feed off of you. Family secrets will be discovered, and the past is never at rest, it's just been waiting for Kyra to come home...

Amazon Excerpt:
Prologue
20 years…It's always been this way. 20 years of laying my head on my pillow at night just to wake up the folliwing day exhausted and confused . A feeling of melancholy always consuming me. It’s getting to the point that I am begging to question what’s real and what’s just in my mind. It all comes down to those damn dreams.20 years I’ve dreamed of her. I don’t know her name or who she is, or if she’s even real. But I know the gentle touch of her hand as it reaches for mine. Know the power of her gaze as she uses there full weight to stare at me. Never once looking threw me but looking at me as if we are long forgotten friends. I smile at her as I always do and extend my hand towards her. Knowing that she will take it as she always has before.20 years and we’ve never spoken, not one word. We just stand frozen before one another, not being able to say the things were really feeling. Or put into words the randomness and oddness of this recurring dream that we both seem to share. I slowly feel myself being pulled back into the world of the living. Into the world of reality and being pulled farther away from her. The one place even in silence I feel completely myself. How I hate to leave her.She smiles at me as I begin to fade and soon wake. I can feel it almost cut into the air like a sharp blade. The change she looks behind her for the first time into the nothingness surrounding us. She turns back. Whipping her strawberry blonde hair out of place. Fear grips her angelic features I can see the fear in her Light green eyes.‘Help Me’’.Her voice cut through the quiet and makes me suck in a shaky breath. So beautiful she sounds even more so then I could have ever dreamed. This would be beautiful if I didn’t hear the complete terror in her voice.I stand frozen I try to speak but it’s as if my lips are glued shut. She walks over towards me and places her hands on either side of my face. I avert my gaze for what felt like a mere moment but who knows how long it actually was. I see a mark on her wrist and try to adjust my eyes to get a clearer look. A Blue butterfly spreading out its wings is burned into her Right wrist.A tattoo?‘’Help me.’’.She pleads with me. Her eyes begin to tear I can see the look in her eyes begging me to understand what she’s trying to say. Instead however I am left more confused than ever.‘‘Say Something!’’.She screams.I look right into her sea green stare truly look. For the first time my lips start to unlock.‘‘How do I help you? I don’t even know who you are. You’re not real just a figment of my imagination. I wish you were real after all this time but you’re not you can’t be so you see I can’t help you. Because you don’t exist.’’.She smirks at my reply.‘‘Nothing is a dream Alex.’’Suddenly the room we are standing in begins to take on a more definite shape and as my eyes begin to adjust more to the light I notice a pale hand gripping her left shoulder.I walk closer towards herSuddenly the Hand falls from her shoulder and a woman steps forward.Looking no older than me. She looks at me with identical Emerald eyes as the girl I have dreamed about for as long as I can remember. She looks at my Dream girl and smiles a kind knowing smile. Suddenly I am overcome with the Feeling of love and joy and something bitter … Something I can almost taste on my tongue. Regret. She steps closer to me and grabs my hand into hers I can feel the heart radiating from her grip like a hot iron I moan slightly at the pain. I try to remove my hand from hers but she’s got it tight within her own. She looks at me and smiles like a mother would to a beloved child.She opens her mouth to speak and I am taken aback by how much she sounds like the young woman next to her who I feel I have known all my life. ‘’ She’s coming home. You’ll know her the second you see her’’She turns her head looking at the young woman and then back at me‘’ But the problem is she won’t know you so you’ll have to help her to remember’’.‘‘Remember what?’’.She smiles at pats my hand reassuringly.‘’ Help her to Remember You. Help her to remember who she truly is. Help her to Remember me. But most importantly keep Her Safe Alex. We're all counting on you to keep her safe...? To help her whatever comes ‘’‘’ Who is Counting on me you and who else?’’For the first time I can see true sadness come over her beautiful features She scowls and downcast her eyes and I can feel the true pain whatever this is overtaking her.She looks back up at me ‘’ I hope for your sake and hers you never find out that answer. Just promise me you will do as I say.’’I didn’t even hesitate.‘’ I promise.’’I can feel myself slowly waking up being pulled awake the image in front of me begins to fade my dream girl has disappeared completely … All I can see now is the face of this Other woman I hold on as hard as I can.’’‘’ Wake up Alex’’‘’ What’s her name?’’She turns around also noticing she is no longer with us. I see a tear slide down her cheek.She turns back at me and right when I think I can no longer hold on I hear her answer my question with a whisper.‘’ Kyra’’.I sit bolt upright in bed trying to catch my breath and still my raging heart. None of that has ever happened before. We’ve never spoken or asked the other for any type of help. It was just a silly crazy dream I try to tell myself. Like all the other nights before. My mind is once again playing cruel tricks on me.At least that’s what I tell myself. Suddenly I hear light pounding on my window Paine. I stand and slowly walk over to my window and throw open the blinds. What I see shocked me and run's my blood cold. I pinch myself almost certain it’s another dream. I pinch myself and soon realize it can’t be I’m awake.Something is definitely wrong in my small town of East brook Maine. A lot of crazy things have happened here in the past but what I see before me is certainty a first. Waking up to a snowstorm in the middle of July.Needless to say I grabbed my car keys and got the hell out of there. I ran not walked to my car and drove pajamas and all to the only person in the world that would understand this. The only person in the world that wouldn’t think I’m crazy. My sister.‘What the hell is going on either I’m losing my mind which is a very real possibility I admit. Or something really wrong is happening in East Brooke and I know in my bones it has something to do with her.The girl with the Deepest green eyes I’ve ever seen.The most beautiful Strawberry blonde hair.What really takes the cake is her tattoo a butterfly. It’s the first solid thing to make me believe she’s real and not some crazy figment of my imagination. Just when I think I’m over analyzing the situation. Hale the size of a basketball breaks my windows. I swerve almost completely off the road.  Oh yes something is definitely wrong in East Brooke and no matter what I’m going to find out what it is. And as much as I’m still in the dark about all of this I have something now that I never had before. Something to hold onto when my mind begins to think it’s all a dream.I have a Name…Kyra.

About the Author:
Maghen Connolly is a writer from New York born and raised in Manhattan’s West Village with her mother, father, and a very cute cat.
She has always been an avid reader. She loves to read anything she can get her hands on, but her favorite genre is mystery. She’s also a huge horror fan having grown up on all the classics. The love of the scare has helped her create some of her most interesting and complex characters over the years.
She now lives in Queens with her fiancé and 2 rescue cats, Shadow and Shade.  She spends her days writing, over analyzing, watching horror movies, spending time with family, and eating some of the best food New York City has to offer.
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/maghen.connolly
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/meggaboo0823/
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/47888073-blake-manor
Amazon Author   https://www.amazon.com/Maghen-Connolly/e/B0813XLK14/

A Vampire’s Wish by ML Guida - Deck the Halls with Books Holiday Extravaganza

A Vampire’s Christmas
Deirdre looked around the decorated house with a twinkling Christmas tree, presents carefully put underneath the branches, and the sweet scent of pine filling the room, but it wasn’t Christmas.Something was missing.Her pulse quickened and her insides quaked. She smiled. She knew exactly want to do. Janus had done so many wonderful things for her––most of those presents were for her––that she wanted to do something for him that he’d never expect. Luckily, he was still in the death sleep.Giddiness swept over her. She grabbed her purse and practically skipped to their SUV. Snow swirled around the windshield, putting her in the mood for baking.Within minutes, she was at the grocery store. She grabbed flour, margarine, sugar, eggs, and anise from the pharmacy.She could hardly wait to see Janus’s face. He was just now being able to eat certain things beside blood and she hoped he could add her grandmother’s special recipe to his repertoire.After she parked the SUV in the garage, she unloaded her precious ingredients, then she pulled out her grandmother’s old pizzelle iron. Janus had offered to buy her a new one, but her grandmother’s was seasoned not just with traditions, but memories.Deirdre melted a pound of margarine in the microwave. She broke fifteen eggs into a large mixing bowl.“What are you doing?”She squeaked, nearly jumping out of her skin. “Janus.”He grinned leaning against the wall and yawned. Her mouth watered at his naked chest and she bit back the desire to run her fingers over those sleek packed abs. “I thought you were asleep.”He cupped her chin. “You left and I woke. I can always feel when you’re gone.” He brushed his lips over hers and she shivered.“I wanted to make you a surprise.”He lifted an eyebrow. “Cookies? Unless there’s blood in them, I doubt I can eat it.”She frowned. “But you’ve been eating other things.”“Rare meat and red wine.”She kissed his hand. “Will you at least try? It just isn’t Christmas without pizzelles.”“You know I can deny you nothing.”She bit his lip. “If it doesn’t work, I’ll add blood to it.”“If you don’t stop tempting me, those cookies will never be made.” He lightly scraped his fangs over her neck. Chills ran down her back, and her heart skipped a beat. She put her hands on his wide chest. “Janus, not know.”She laughed at the disappointment  in his eyes. She clasped his hand. “Here, you can help.”He did a double take. “I can?”“Yes. Put two and half cups of sugar in the bowl while I get the margarine out of the microwave.”Janus did as he was told. He was such a magnificent man not only with his perfect abs, but his long dark hair that flared over his wide shoulders. She could never get enough of him or thank him for saving her from a nightmare. She trembled and her knees weakened.“Are you cold?” He wrapped his arms around her and snuggled his head in the crock of her neck. “I could make you warm.”She took a deep breath. “I know you could, but I really want to do this for you.”He slowly released her and she already missed his warmth. “As you wish.” She smiled. Her favorite line from The Princess Bride.“What do you want me to do next?”She gestured. “Sit at the counter and relax.”“Would you like some wine?” “Sure.”Janus poured them both a glass of wine from his favorite vintage sent all the way from Italy while she added the margarine to the eggs and sugar. She flicked on the Kitchen-Aide mixer. He set a glass on the counter. “Here, you go.”“Thank you.” She leaned over and brushed her lips over his.“So tempting,” he murmured. “How about if I take you on the floor like we did the other night?”Her heart jumped at the memory and blood immediately pooled between her legs.  “You promise.”He sighed and settled on to barstool. “I know I did.”She could hardly wait to see if he could eat these. She’d be so disappointed if he couldn’t. But he was Janus Morano––Master Vampire.She added six cups of flour to the egg, sugar, and butter mixture. “Now, for my favorite part.”He frowned. “What’s that?”“You’ll see.” She opened the small bottle of Anise oil and added it to the dough. The smell of Christmas spread through the kitchen like the blowing snow outside.The creases of Janus’s frown disappeared and he flashed her a smile that always turned her into a hot mess.“What is that?”“Anise oil.” Once again, the mixer churned the dough, releasing more of Christmas.“Now what?”“We have to let it rest for a half hour.”“Good. I’ve waited long enough.” He grabbed her and kissed her like a starving man.Her body turned alive. She indulged in running her hands over his thick muscles, marveling at his strength. He was so powerful that vampire killers quaked when they heard his name.And he was his. All hers.He slipped his hand underneath her T-Shirt and she gasped. “Janus. Not yet. The cookies.”“Seriously?” His husky breath almost made her want to forget the pizzelles.Almost.“I promise you won’t be sorry.”“They better be damn good.” “They are.” She left him before she allowed him to make good on his promise.She brought the bowl over to the pizzelle iron that was nice and hot. Janus’s passionate gaze made it hard for her to concentrate. She dipped a teaspoon into the mixture with her shaking hand and dabbed a spoonful onto the snowflake-shaped iron.“Am I making you nervous?” She glared. “Yes.”This time, he laughed. She liked the sound of his laugh. It was deep from his diaphragm and always erased her slightest frown.She squeezed the iron tight, flattening the dough. The scent of anise grew stronger.She carefully took out the cookie with a fork and placed them on the counter to cool. They were a perfect golden color.“They look delicious,” he said, but she could hear the wariness in his voice. Certain foods could make him deathly sick.“Try one.”He gingerly picked up a pizzelle.She held her breath. Her chest tightened. She shifted nervously from foot-to-foot as he nibbled.His eyes widened and a smile spread across his handsome face. “These are delicious.”“Are you feeling okay? Are you sick?”“I’m fine. I can’t tell you the last time I ate a cookie.”“Hundreds of years ago.”He gobbled up the cookie, then drew her into his arms. “Thank you.”She searched his face. “Are you sure you’re not ill?”“Only sick from not loving you.”“I wanted to share something special from my past with you. Making pizzelles with my family has been one of my favorite traditions. And now, you’re part of my family.”He grinned mischievously. “Let’s add another tradition to making pizzelles.” She laughed and indulged in a sweet pleasure that brought making pizzelles into a hot, sinful delight.




A Vampire’s WishVampires on Holiday
ML Guida



Genre:  Paranormal Romance


Publisher: Buffalo Mountain Press
Date of Publication:  December 19, 2018
ASIN:  B07M95BCYL
Number of pages:  139Word Count: 33452
Cover Artist: Megan J Parker-Squires
Tagline: He lost her once in another time. Will she give their love another chance?
Book Description:
Janus : I lost her once in another life. I’ve found her again, but she’s with another man. A man who beats her.
I won’t let him hurt her again. But if I move too fast, she’ll disappear again. Will I ever win her heart or am I destined to live alone for eternity?
Deirdre: A vampire’s claims he knew me over two hundred years ago, and I was his wife. He wants to pick up where we left off.
I can’t deal with his fantasies. I have enough troubles with escaping from my boss who is my fiancé.
Unfortunately, my only chance to escape from him is to trust Janus who stirs up feelings that I’ve never felt for any other man. They scare me. What if he’s right? What if in a former life I was in love with him? Could I possibly be feeling desire for a vampire?
A Vampire's Wish is the first book in ML Guida's new sexy, vampire series. If you like page-turning action, dark heroes, kick-ass heroines, then you'll fall in love with new series from an award winning author.
Amazon

Excerpt:
“Yes, spoiled me actually. Fancy dinners. Expensive clothes. But it wasn’t the money I loved. It was his humor and his tenderness.” She lowered her gaze. “He’s my boss. I’m his secretary.” “Your boss?” “He’s an attorney. A powerful one.”“And?” She strolled over to his small Christmas tree. “You’ve got a beautiful tree.” She glanced at the box of ornaments on the coffee table. “How come you haven’t decorated your tree?”“My family’s tradition was to decorate the tree on Christmas Eve.” He left out that that it had been their tradition, one he had kept up after all these years.She reached into the box of ornaments and pulled out a white porcelain horse ornament with roses on the saddle. “Brandon helped me out during some dark times.” Janus held his breath. Interesting she focused on that one. She had cherished the little horse when she’d been alive. He’d given it to her their first Christmas. She stroked the horse, just like she had when she was alive as Delores. Wishing, hoping, he tried to remain calm, but his hands shook. The slip of a woman was about to bring a master vampire to his knees. He nodded. “There’s a story that goes with that horse.” His voice trembled, and she lifted her slender eyebrow.“Oh?”“The story goes that a little girl came to Jesus’s manager. Heartbroken, she had no gifts to bring to the poor infant, so she cried. Her tears turned to roses when they splashed onto the ground. She quickly gathered the blossoms and offered him a bouquet of red blooms. The roses on the horse’s saddle are a tribute to the little girl.”“What a lovely story. I love roses.” She sat on his leather couch and crossed her legs. “They’re my favorite flower.” Janus forced himself not to move. Delores had a magic touch with gardens. Her flowers were grand and brilliant, and at each of their homes, their rose gardens shadowed their neighbors. At midnight, she used to stroll in the garden and inhale their fragrant scent, but he liked to spread her naked body on a bed of rose petals, the moon shining on her skin, her brown hair fanning over the petals. He ached to take her again, to kiss her, to spark her memory. “Brandon is allergic to roses.”He gripped the arm chair. “Allergic?” “Yes. However, he’s a great gardener. Has a green thumb and grows zucchini, squash, tomatoes, and cucumbers. Before we started living together, he’d bring his produce into the office.” “You were telling me why you’re with him.”“A drunk driver killed my parents on New Year’s Eve.” She brushed more tears off her face. “Sorry.” He handed her a box of tissues. “Thank you.” She wiped her cheeks and blew her nose. “This is the first holiday without my parents.” She broke down and sobbed.

About the Author:

Award Winning Author M.L. Guida loves science fiction and the paranormal. From Star Trek to Dark Shadows to Supernatural, she fell in love with things that go bump in the night. But it was the heroes, she loved the best. No matter what happened, those characters never gave up. Now, her heroes are following their footsteps. Whether it's a shape shifter from outer space or a vampire from the past, her wounded heroes always find a way to conquer battles and win the heart of the feisty heroine. Because even in a world of darkness, true love survive.
Sign up for M.L. Guida's Supernatural Scroll on her website at http://mlguida.com  to learn about new releases and giveaways. She also has a readers Facebook Group called ML Guida's Supernatural Lounge. She has giveaways, news, and ways for her to connect with you.
https://mlguida.com
https://facebook.com/groups/MLGuidasSupernaturalLounge
https://www.bookbub.com/profile/m-l-guida





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Gori Suture’s Top Eleven Favorite Fictional Authors

Gori Suture’s Top ElevenFavorite Fictional Authors
Honorable Mention: Christina Wendall from Hemlock Grove- Although technically she never wrote anything, she deserves an honorable mention.  She certainly has the heart of an author, and her strong desire to write ultimately leads to her doom.  She is the embodiment of writer’s block, the author who can’t pen anything and falls to ruin because of her desperate need to put pen to paper.

10. Agnes Nutter from Good Omens - 17th century witch who penned The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch

9. Joshua Ray from the Quantum Leap Halloween episode "The Boogieman" – a hack horror novelist possessed by Sam who inadvertently inspires Stevie King

8. Mike Noonan from Bag of Bones by Stephen King – a delve into writer’s block by the master himself!

7. Jonathan Strange of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke – For some reason, my copy of his book The History and Practice of English Magic just disappeared!

6. Crassius Curio from Morrowind, author of The Lusty Argonian Maid – A true classic!

5.  Edgar Allan Poe in Nevermore by Harold Schechter – this fictionalized version of Poe is a blast!

4. Carl Kolchak from Kolchak: The Night Stalker – this reporter had the most interesting scoops!

3.  Bilbo Baggins from The Hobbit – Without him, we wouldn’t have the masterpiece There and Back Again.  Seriously though, I watch The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings movies every winter.  It helps me endure the cold.

2.  Emma Larsimon from Marianne. -  I can certainly relate to her!  It often feels like our characters are controlling us, not the other way around!

1.  Sutter Cane from In the Mouth of Madness – I love the plot of this story.  As an author creating worlds, the line between the mind and the external world often blurs.  It’s so easy to get lost in your own world.  What if you never came out of it?  What if you influence the world in such a way that you change it forever, for the worse?  Scary.



Asphyxia
The Paradox Chronicles
Book One
Gori Suture



Genre: visionary paranormal erotic horror
Publisher: Inside Henry’s Head
Date of Publication: re-released October 30, 2019
ISBN: Paperback 9780359916146,ISBN: epub 9780359941834
Number of pages: 420Word Count: 81,920
Cover Artist: Apothekari, Gori Suture,& B.H. Young
Book Description:
Nathaniel, teenage occultist, is in love with Jithinia, a nihilistic sexpot.  All is well, until they meet Eldridge.  A shape-shifting creature from another dimension, he is quite mad.   He still feels the ghostly remnants of his amputated wings.  He can smell them rotting, feel the squirming maggots eating them.  The only thing that eases his suffering is devouring souls.  Cursed with this hunger, he knows that he is a monster, which only feeds his lunacy.  He is moments away from killing Nathaniel when he discovers something so astounding, he cannot continue.  As he falls in love with Nathaniel, he learns that true horror lies not in his monstrosity, but in his growing humanity. 
Danielle was abducted and physically mutilated in the name of God for years. Her vile keeper, Preacher, tortures his broken dolls until they pray, to help them find God.  One day, Danielle does.  She reunites with her lost love Jithinia, whose world is now spinning out of control. 
What follows is a magnum opus of magick and the true nature of God as the characters make their way through the sordid underbelly of modern Christian America.
Expand the mind, expand the soul!  The Paradox Chronicles are a series of metaphysical allegories which use extreme imagery and scenarios to jolt the psyche as a catalyst for spiritual growth.  Mind expansion doesn’t mean to simply elevate one’s thoughts in the highest direction; one must also debase one’s thoughts in the lowest direction.  Only then is the mind truly expanding in a balanced and veracious fashion. 
This book series attempts to rouse people from their hypnotic waking sleep. 
The Paradox Chronicles utilizes shock and horror juxtaposed with higher spiritual thinking to catapult the ego past its blockades, allowing for a deeper understanding of the veiled essence of divinity.  Asphyxia illustrates the power of perception and will, of enlightenment sought through debauchery, of awakening through titillation. 
Falling somewhere between the genres of visionary fiction and paranormal erotic horror, Asphyxia is a unique blend of depravity and insight.
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Excerpt:A dreary dirge, thick like molasses, wept from a single organ as Jithinia gave her grandmother one last kiss goodbye.  She took a seat on the pew next to Nathaniel.  Despite the bitter cold outside, the funeral chapel felt like July in the Deep South.  She pulled a hand fan from the hymnbook rack and cooled herself.  On one side, there was a picture of white Jesus, and on the back, there was the twenty-third Psalm.  She read, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil:”   The hymn ended, and the pastor began his hollow bit — ashes to ashes and dust to dust, the bitch is dead; don’t make a fuss.Jithinia heard the flapping of wings and a woeful coo.  She looked up and saw four doves trapped in the heating vent above her.  Two of them were dead; their stiff little feet hung down through the shit-caked metal grid.  She elbowed Nathaniel.  “Look up,” she whispered.When he saw the birds, he remembered the dove from his dream, flailing its wings and screeching as its chest split open, and a feeling of foreboding washed over him.The heat came on.  The birds squawked and hopped about.  The clicking of their feet sounded like Sammy Davis Jr. doing a tap dance.  Feathers rained down upon Jithinia and Nathaniel.  The hot air spilled over the carrions and filled the room with the rancid stench of decay. Jithinia felt caged, too, like she could do so much more with her life, be anything, even fly, if the Fates would only release her from their trap.   Just then, the vent fell open.  The dead birds landed at Jithinia’s feet with a fleshy thud, and she felt dizzy and hollow as she began to hyperventilate. The two live birds flew around the chapel in a panic.  The acoustics of the room caused the flapping of their wings to amplify and echo.  One dove flew to the skylight and began thrashing against the glass.  The other flew back and forth from the pulpit to the doors, finally lighting on a rafter above the pastor.A thick, white glob fell from the bird’s ass, landed on the pastor’s right eye, and then slowly slid down his cheek.Murmurs filled the room as everyone shuffled in their seats and looked at other things.  Jithinia’s mother turned a fan over and over in her hands.  Her uncle looked down at his watch.  Those with no other distractions scrutinized the hardwood floor.  The pastor paused his sermon.  He cleared his throat, wiped his eye with his sleeve, and began again as if nothing had happened.  However, he hadn’t gotten it all.  He had snow-white bird shit smeared across his face.  He looked like he’d been making out with a mime.Jithinia didn’t mean to laugh aloud.  What began as a stifled giggle became an unreserved guffaw.  Everyone stared at her, but she couldn’t stop laughing.  She felt vacuous; her chest ached, and her limbs felt numb.  Her skin flushed red as she became enraged.  “What’s wrong with you people?”  she cried out.  “Can’t you see how funny this is?  Don’t sit there and pretend like none of this is happening!  This is hysterical!”Loving arms wrapped around her.  “It’s okay.  It’s okay,” Nathaniel said.  “Calm down.  Come on.”  He led her outside.She fell into his embrace and wept uncontrollably in his arms.  “What the fuck’s wrong with me?  I ruined my grandmother’s funeral.”“No, the chapel ruined your grandmother’s funeral.  You just laughed at it.  No big deal.”“I’m so embarrassed!”“Why?  ‘Cause you had the balls to face what everyone else chose to ignore?  Fuck them!”“You don’t understand!”He pulled back from her and looked at her in disbelief.  “I don’t understand?  Come on, now.  Who are you talking to?”  He lit two cigarettes and handed one to her.
She took a deep drag.  “Let’s just go home.”

About the Author:
Hailing from the outskirts of Mayberry, North Carolina, Gori Suture has been writing fiction since she could hold a crayon.  In addition to penning Grand Guignol style horror stories and audiobooks, she is also the creator of a hybrid genre of literature that melds metaphysical and visionary fiction with erotic horror for the purpose of spiritual advancement. Presented in a series of seven novels called The Paradox Chronicles (formerly The Smut Sagas), these books are allegorical, chronicling man’s pursuit of understanding God and the god within, juxtaposing eroticism and horror with metaphysical introspection for the sake of jarring the reader into an altered mental state.  Additionally, as an occult theorist, Gori Suture is the mother of modern Paradoxism, her interpretation of the mind-bending nature of God as Paradox, expounded upon on her blog The Color of Paradox (and soon to be in print), where she presents radical elucidations on color theory, Kabbalah, the dimensions, and the gods.  As an artist, Gori illustrates her own blogs, short stories, and audiobooks, and she co-creates the covers of her novels.  For fun, Gori enjoys tabletop role-playing, Arkham Horror board games, and video games.

www.gorisuture.com
http://gorisuture.blogspot.com   
http://thecolorofparadox.blogspot.com
https://twitter.com/GoriSuture
https://www.facebook.com/Erotic.Horror
http://www.tumblr.com/blog/gorisuture
https://myspace.com/horror_author
https://www.amazon.com/Gori-Suture/e/B006MH5L2C
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/gori_suture
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1388666.Gori_Suture
http://www.librarything.com/profile/Gori


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Soundtrack for Reading The Eidola Project by Robert Herold

By Robert Herold, author As any good filmmaker knows, a soundtrack is a key element in creating mood. Employing this technique by listening to music while reading my horror novel will enrich the experience, providing a soundtrack to the movie in your mind. For most folks, I recommend actual soundtracks and classical music, as pop, jazz, and other genres are often too intrusive. But if you’re cut from that bolt of shroud cloth, I will list a number of pop, jazz, rock and blues tunes at the end. Are you ready? Dim the other lights in the house and cue the conductor!
1) Evard Grieg’s In the Hall of the Mountain King. This is a short but famous piece that would work especially well at the start of the novel.
2) The Remastered 1979 Alien original soundtrack.  This unnerving score was written by Gerry Goldsmith and is masterful. The original Alien film is incredibly intense and Goldsmith’s score helped to make it so. In fact, it may be too much for some. If you’re up for it, you could even loop it as you read the entire book! (I’ve yet to try this.
3)  Dracula Soundtrack 1979 . For those preferring something more lush, John Williams’s fantastic soundtrack to Frank Langella’s take on Dracula will go right to the heart of the matter (like a stake)! Largely forgotten, and undeservedly so, this is an excellent film with a wonderful soundtrack. John Williams has done many more soundtracks than for Star Wars, Jurassic Park, & Indiana Jones movies. Dracula ranks among his best.
4) Gustav Holst’s The Planets.   Holst’s orchestral suite is cinematic and has been used by many films, especially the first part, Mars. It is dark, brooding, and ominous—perfect for my book!
5) Mussorgsky’s A Night on Bald Mountain . This is a famous short work that Disney used in Fantasia (1939). I strongly recommend you see this segment, if you haven’t yet (it’s my favorite part of the film); however, you can’t watch it while reading, so I’m including the link to another version. The piece is less than ten minutes and is both scary and powerful. I suggest you put a bookmark in the text for page 268 and listen to it for the last ten pages.
6) Camille Saint-Saëns – “Danse Macabre.”  Another short Classical piece with some spooky moments.
7) Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.  This is it, the granddaddy of all horror music themes! You’ve heard it before, but admit it, the beginning can’t be beat. 
Pop, Jazz, Rock & Blues Tunes
8) “I Put a Spell on You,” Screamin’ Jay Hawkins  
9) “Spooky,” Classic IV – Spooky
10) “Don’t Fear The Reaper,” Blue Oyster Cult
11) “Black Magic Woman,” Santana
12) “The Ripper,” Judas Priest
13) “The Monster Mash,” Bobby Boris Pickett (Introduced by Dick Clark)
14) “Fire” The Crazy World of Arthur Brown
15) Squirrel Nut Zippers – “Ghost of Stephen Foster”
16) “You've Got Me Voodoo'd” by Charlie Barnett & Mary Ann McCall (1940)
17 ) “Haunted Heart” by Jo Stafford .  IMPORTANT: Listen to this immediately after reading the book!



The Eidola Project
An Eidola Project Novel
Book One
Robert Herold


Genre:  Horror


Publisher:  Wild Rose Press (Black Rose Imprint)
Date of Publication: November 18, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5092-2406-7 PaperbackISBN: 978-1-5092-2407-4 Digital
Number of pages:  290Word Count: 69870
Cover Artist:  Debbie Taylor
Tagline:  The Eidola Project is recruiting. Dare to join them?
Book Description:
It's 1885 and a drunk and rage-filled Nigel Pickford breaks up a phony medium's séance. A strange twist of fate soon finds him part of a team investigating the afterlife.
The Eidola Project is an intrepid group of explorers dedicated to bringing the light of science to that which has been feared, misunderstood, and often manipulated by charlatans. They are a psychology professor, his assistant, an African-American physicist, a sideshow medium, and now a derelict, each possessing unique strengths and weaknesses.
Called to the brooding Hutchinson Estate to investigate rumored hauntings, they encounter deadly supernatural forces and a young woman driven to the brink of madness.
Will any of them survive?
Amazon
Book Trailer: https://youtu.be/SZovJ-MZQ5Y


          Excerpt:             Sarah retrieved the lamp and twisted the peg. The outhouse door swung open on its own, and she gasped.            “Momma?” Sarah asked as she held out her lantern. No. A ruined version of Molly stood in the doorway.             Before her disappearance, people often commented on the sixteen-year-old’s beauty, but in the last twenty-eight days birds pecked out her pretty blue eyes, and maggots now swam in the sockets. Molly’s head hung to the left at an odd angle. Her skin looked mottled with patches of gray, blue, and black. A beetle crawled out of Molly’s half-opened mouth and darted back in.             Sarah’s heart leaped to her throat, and she jumped back. She lost her footing, fell onto the outhouse seat, and dropped the lantern to the floor. She bent to retrieve it; thankful the glass globe did not break. Sarah looked up and saw an empty doorway.            Impossible, she told herself. Must’ve dozed off, had a nightmare, and woke up when I dropped the lamp. Her heart still pounded in her chest, and Sarah took a deep breath to calm herself.             Holding the lamp before her once more, she crept out…

About the Author:

The supernatural always had the allure of forbidden fruit, ever since Robert Herold’s mother refused to allow him, as a boy, to watch creature features on late night TV. She caved in. (Well, not literally.)                   As a child, fresh snow provided him the opportunity to walk out onto neighbors’ lawns halfway and then make paw prints with his fingers as far as he could stretch. He would retrace the paw and boot prints, then fetch the neighbor kids and point out that someone turned into a werewolf on their front lawn. (They were skeptical.)
He has pursued many interests over the years (among them being a history teacher and a musician), but the supernatural always called to him. You could say he was haunted. Finally, following the siren’s call, he wrote The Eidola Project, based on a germ of an idea he had as a teenager.
Ultimately, he hopes the book gives you the creeps, and he means that in the best way possible.
https://robertheroldauthor.com/
https://www.facebook.com/RobertHeroldauthor/
https://twitter.com/RobertHerold666





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A Cowboy Christmas by Shanna Hatfield - Deck the Halls with Books Holiday Extravaganza

A Cowboy Christmas    
Shanna Hatfield

Genre:  Non-fiction, Holiday, Cooking, Ranch Life
Publisher: TwoDot



Date of Publication:  September 17, 2019
ISBN: 1493042343ASIN:  B07V718QRB
Number of pages:  304
Tagline:  The jangle of spurs mingles with the jingle of sleigh bells in this celebration of Christmas—cowboy style!
Book Description:
Welcome home to an amazing western holiday with A Cowboy Christmas. A collection of unique holiday décor, traditions, recipes, and guides for entertaining with ease make this your go-to resource for an amazing western Christmas.
Filled with stories of real-life ranch families and rodeo cowboys, get a glimpse into their traditions, try their family recipes, and experience their lifestyles. From preserving memories of the past to tips for wrapping presents, discover the special touches incorporated throughout this book that make it a holiday keepsake you’ll cherish for years to come.
Brimming with holiday cheer, recipes with full-color photographs, and one-of-a-kind ideas, this book is a wonderful celebration of the holidays that will help make your Christmas unforgettable.
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Shades of black randomly interspersed with hues of tan and gray surrounded me as I gazed over a sea of cowboy hats at the Las Vegas airport.
After working our way through the crowd, my husband, Captain Cavedweller, and I settled at our gate to wait for our flight. While he read the newspaper and jiggled his boot-covered foot impatiently, I observed those milling around. Like us, hundreds of cowboys prepared to depart after attending the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo and many of the accompanying activities.
Each December, the city of Las Vegas takes on a country vibe as the rodeo comes to town, bringing hundreds of vendors, thousands of spectators, and a whole lot of fun.
As we sat at the airport that morning, the idea for a story began churning in my head.
Since so many of the cowboys who compete professionally spend a good deal of time traveling, I began to wonder how many of them flew from one rodeo to the next. If they were flying, it made sense that they might meet a girl at an airport who turned their head.
I began jotting down notes for a story idea and by the time we reached home, The Christmas Cowboy (Rodeo Romance Series Book 1) was born.
While researching details for The Christmas Cowboy , which involves a saddle bronc rider as the hero, I became aware of a wonderful organization — the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund.
For those unfamiliar with the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund, the organization provides help to injured rodeo athletes. The men and women who are professional rodeo athletes know it isn’t a matter of if they get hurt, but when. Many of them are uninsured, so when an accident happens, it can be devastating physically, emotionally, and financially.
That’s when the JCCF steps in and offers a hand up to steps in offer financial assistance to rodeo athletes who’ve sustained catastrophic injuries that leave them unable to compete for an extended time. Rather than worry about how they’ll pay their bills, they can focus on healing. One thing I especially admire about the JCCF is that 100 percent of the donations go to the cowboys who need it. They don’t take out administrative expenses or fees.
This is the sixth year for my  Read a Book, Help A Cowboy campaign that raises funds and awareness for the JCCF. Now through Christmas Eve, I will donate ten percent of the proceeds from every book purchase to the JCCF.
A wonderful addition to this year’s campaign is A Cowboy Christmas . The book features 300 pages of western holiday fun with more than 70 full-color recipes.
The jangle of spurs mingles with the jingle of sleigh bells in this celebration of Christmas—cowboy style!
Welcome home to a western holiday with A Cowboy Christmas . A collection of unique holiday décor, traditions, recipes, and guides for entertaining with ease make this your go-to resource for an amazing western Christmas. Filled with stories of real-life ranch families and rodeo cowboys, get a glimpse into their traditions, try their family recipes, and experience their lifestyles. From preserving memories of the past to tips for wrapping presents, discover the special touches incorporated throughout this book that make it a holiday keepsake you’ll cherish for years to come. Brimming with holiday cheer, recipes with full-color photographs, and one-of-a-kind ideas, this book is a wonderful celebration of the holidays that will help make your Christmas unforgettable.
Several of the rodeo cowboys featured in the interviews talk about how the JCCF offered a hand up to them and their families when they most needed the help. And a few of them shared their favorite holiday recipes!

Don’t miss this holiday keepsake! 
About the Author:

USA Today bestselling author Shanna Hatfield is a farm girl who loves to write. Her sweet historical and contemporary romances are filled with sarcasm, humor, hope, and hunky heroes. When Shanna isn’t dreaming up unforgettable characters, twisting plots, or covertly seeking dark, decadent chocolate, she hangs out with her beloved husband, Captain Cavedweller.
Website: http://shannahatfield.com
Newsletter: http://tinyurl.com/shannasnewsletter
BookBub - https://www.bookbub.com/authors/shanna-hatfield
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorShannaHatfield
Pinterest:  http://www.pinterest.com/shannahatfield/boards/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4981400.Shanna_Hatfield
You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ShannaHatfield?feature=watch
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShannaHatfield
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shannahatfield/

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Shanna-Hatfield/e/B0056HPPM0




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