Christine Rains's Blog, page 39

Review for Once Upon A Nightmare & Sale!

Blurb:A legend awakens…

A monster hunts us. After hibernating for a decade, it’s ravenous. We long to stop this nightmare, but the end of the road is far. There is no waking up once a legend sets its sights on you.

Disappearances every ten or so years make little impact on the small town of New Haven, Virginia. Hikers get lost. Hunters lose the trail. Even when a body is discovered, the inhabitants’ memories last about as long as the newspaper articles.

No one connects the cases. No one notices the disappearances go back beyond Civil War times. No one believes a legendary monster roams the forests in Southwestern Virginia.

I don’t either until the truck breaks down on an old mountain trail. Cell phones won’t work in this neck of the woods. It’s amazing how much a person can see by starlight alone. So what if we can’t feel our fingers or toes as we hike toward the main road. How many more miles left to go?

Crrraaack!

Hear that noise? 

My review:Three chilling tales that will keep you awake on long winter nights.

We begin with a short terrifying piece that gives the reader a peek into how a monster is born. Nightmare at the Freak Show pulls at your heartstrings and leaves you pale and horrified, sitting with your mouth agape. Cherie Reich builds great tension in this opening tidbit. It'll leave you hungry for more.

Once Upon A December Nightmare grips you with its vivid detail and nail-biting suspense. It seemed like a normal night for the young folk, but I fast on the edge of my seat, and I couldn't relax even when I reached the end. The most unique part of this story is that the reader is allowed to see through all the characters' eyes. Each of the four characters have their own sections, and it's like peeling back layers of an onion. More is revealed about the dynamics of the group and each individual's inner most feelings. Cherie does a marvelous job with characterization.

Nightmare Ever After is my favorite of the stories. It takes place a decade after the last tale, and lets the reader peek into the life of someone who survived one horrible night. Cassie is a fascinating character that must not only deal with living with the trauma of that night, but also with the fact no one believes her. She struggles with her fears, but she's a survivor. Tim is the perfect complement to her character. They're thrown into the chaos of a case that's never been solved. The mystery haunts the reader through the pages, slowly unveiling the horror. The tension builds as the number of murders grow until you're on the edge of your seat waiting to see what's going to happen. The story has a definite X-Files feel. Though Tim is more Scully where as Cassie would be Mulder.

This is an amazing collection of horror stories. An intriguing mystery, masterful characterization, and heart pounding suspense. Oh, you'll see your fair share of horrific things, but there's so much more to these tales.


Buy links: Amazon * B&N * Book Depository * CreateSpace 

Add it to read on Goodreads. 

Haunt Cherie Reich here.

Friday Five for October 9, 2015

1. If you missed it, I was featured earlier this week at Yolanda Renee's blog with some Halloween fun. Find out what creepy super power I'd want and why Halloween is my favorite holiday. Also, check out Yolanda's blog all this month for scary interviews with other authors. We all were given the same start for a story. Read all the different ways we finished it!
2. My mom's been visiting this week. We've had lots of fun. It's going to take at least a week for me to catch up on my online stuff!
3. I ate way too much.
4. I had a breakthrough for settings in a new story. Yes!
5. Maybe some pumpkin patch fun this weekend. And a nap. I really just need a nap.

Have a great weekend!

#IWSG for October 2015

The Insecure Writer's Support Group (IWSG) is the brilliant idea of Alex J. Cavanaugh. The purpose of the group is to share doubts and insecurities and to encourage one another. Please visit the other participants and share your support. A kind word goes a long way.

The awesome co-hosts for this month will be TB Markinson, Tamara Narayan, Shannon Lawrence, Stephanie Faris, and Eva E. Solar!

It's that month of things that make us squirm, give us chills, and frighten us to death. For writers, that's every month when it comes to our insecurities.


 


Just remember...
You are not alone. Don't pull a horror movie faux pas and go off by yourself. We can survive if we stick together.

Review for Demon in the Basement

Blurb:Thirty-two stories, including a novelette by the same title, to keep you awake at night.

A time-traveling Chevy, an ancient church of evil, a house possessed by black magic. Stories to fill you with dread, draw you into places you'd rather not go, smack you in the face with ironic possibilities.

Meet the monsters of myth, the creatures that lurk under your bed, the phantoms you thought didn't exist. Travel to the real Atlantis, strap in for the Bermuda Triangle. Terror lurks in the ocean, while an asteroid hides a secret .
Leave a nightlight on before you go to sleep. Something's coming for you.
My review:
A chilling collection of thirty-two horror stories that will make your skin crawl and your heart race. Evil like you've never known it and, more frightening, evil that you do know with terrifying twists. It doesn't matter if the characters are good or bad. Each of them live their own nightmares, and some never to wake.

Some of my favorites include "Food Chain" where something so innocuous becomes a Lovecraftian monster. "Metamorphosis" brings us to the beautiful Atlantis with its horrifying secret. And finally, we have the novella which holds the collection's name. Robert is tormented by a demon through his teenage years, and years later, he returns to battle it. But how to defeat it?

Buy it here: Amazon * B&N * Kobo * Smashwords
Add it to read on Goodreads.
Stalk River Fairchild here.

Friday Five for October 2, 2015

1. The edits for Poltergeist's Pleasure (The Paramours #2) are finished. I'm having a great time working with my new editor. She's quick and efficient. That means I have a release date: October 23rd. Just in time for Halloween!
2. I've been editing and critiquing this week, but I managed to get started on the second novella in my Totem series. Totem. Yes, I really like it. The more I type it, the better it feels. It's the same way I felt about the 13th Floor, and I'm still in love with that series.
3. Next week I'll be absent from the internet. It's my son's fall break and my mother will be visiting. We'll be doing lots of fun fall activities which include celebrating my birthday! We'll be going to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner one night. Mmmm... I'm already drooling thinking about the desserts. I do have a book review for Monday and my IWSG post for Wednesday all ready to go.
4. Tomorrow my family and I will be going to a nearby Renaissance Faire with friends. A way to warm up for the Realms Faire festivities coming next month! Keep your fingers crossed that it won't rain.
5. Last but not least, the Realms Faire Thunderclap has been fixed. Huzzah! Please lend your support on social media to help promote this fantastic event. Just click HERE and pick how you'd like to help out.


Have a wonderful week!

Wicked Wednesday - pleasing the perfectionist

I confess, I'm a bit of a perfectionist. When it comes to certain things, my standards are sky high. This makes me my own worst boss when it comes to writing full-time.
Last week, I was struggling with my WIP. But I pushed through and finished it. The first draft of the first book of the Totem series is done. (Yes, you might notice I even have a name for the series too! No more BS!)
It has to be the roughest rough draft I've ever written. Because I am a perfectionist, it stresses me out. Only in the past few years have I come to accept that my first drafts aren't going to be brilliant. Rewriting does make a good story better. Rewriting again makes it shine even more. Polish, polish, polish until the perfectionist in me is pleased.
My high standards do stress me out, but they also push me forward. I am tenacious. I won't give up on my dreams.
Once upon a time, that dream was to be the next Stephen King. Now I want to be the first Christine Rains. My journey is different from King's and I will savor every step of it. (But, you know, if I happen to end up the next Stephen King, I won't complain!)
Hold yourself to high standards and push yourself to be better. You deserve it.

Thundering for Realms Faire 2015 & Mayhem in the Air Tour

The Realms Faire is fast approaching. A Thunderclap was created for it, but the date was wrong in it. It's currently being fixed, but everyone who signed up for it will have to do so again. There is no way to transfer over the supporters to the new Thunderclap. We appreciate every single person who lent us their help and hope they will do so again.

* * * * *


Ten thrilling tales from the super talented authors of Untethered Realms. Get exclusive excerpts on this tour and enter for a chance to win a $40 gift card!

Dancing with the Ghosts

The Paramours - ghost hunting with a kiss.

When Nina Azure’s talent as a ghost dancer doesn’t persuade a handsome phantom to talk, she entices him with sizzling sexual energy. Ben Moore’s spirit is tied to this world with guilt, but he breaks his self-imposed silence for the beautiful Nina. Lust makes him fully physical and she loses herself to desire. She must help him carry on to the afterlife, but her attraction to him is immensely powerful. She must push aside her own feelings and let him go—and perhaps find romance among the living.


Purchase links:
Ellora's Cave * Amazon * B&N * Kobo
Add it to read on Goodreads.

It's here! It's here! (I'll update the purchase links later today. They were late coming up!)
This project was a spur of the moment one for me. I wrote all three stories in less than a month. Of course, they were already planned out in my head, and ghost hunting is something I'm immensely interested in. The words just flowed.
Everything came together swiftly with my publisher too. Ellora's Cave dubs these novelettes Quickies. Each one in this trilogy is about 13,000 words. Perfect to cuddle into bed with on a cool autumn night.

Wicked Wednesday - when things get tough

You have this fantastic idea. It's shiny and beautiful. You can't wait to start writing. But it won't come out right. The words just aren't flowing. This idea, it needs to be shared. It won't leave you alone.
When things get tough...
Flopping down onto the ground and crying can help release some of the stress. So can eating a tub of ice cream. Though your stomach will hate you for it.
My current WIP is tough. I haven't nailed the protagonist's voice and I'm over halfway through. I know her two sisters very well (and they'll be the protagonists of the next novellas), and her hero is so much fun to write. I don't have a title for the book or the series yet. And yes, that is bothering me much more than it should. There are so many things I need to set up in this first story, I hope I'm doing it smoothly.
I want it to be awesome. The story deserves my best. No. Better than my best. I have to push myself further.
My anxiety is even higher because I put aside the previous novel I started earlier this year because it was tough. Though the problem with that one was different than this.
So now here I am tackling an even bigger project. It's intimidating. But that makes me want to go for it even more.
What do you do when things get tough?
(Sidenote: This photo of my son is of the first time I set him in a pile of leafs. Clearly he didn't like it. Nowadays, if there is a pile of leafs, I can't keep him out of it!)

Snow on Cinders cover reveal

How far would you go to protect your family?

A peculiar metamorphosis has taken shape since the final days. And the planet is in the throes of healing.

Fulvio McTullan leads his family and a band of misfits to form a new settlement, far from Tallas and it’s nefarious Elites. Their journey takes them into uncharted territories where strange creatures are lurking. It’s a battle of survival, not only from the creatures, but the mutated earth as well. 

Meanwhile, Pomfrey Addler, an oppressive Elite squashes the insurrection in Tallas. Suddenly, citizens begin to vanish in the middle of the night and his daughter, Paniess is hell bent on revenge.

Fraught with mishaps, Fulvio finally locates the perfect place to settle. They begin to rebuild until they receive a call. A call which will lure them back into the clutches of Tallas.


Snow on Cinders by Cathrina ConstantinePublisher: CHBBCover Design: Melissa Stevens of The Illustrated AuthorRelease Date: October 24, 2015Genre: Dystopian/Family Saga/Paranormal ThrillerSNOW ON CINDERS is a TALLAS sequel.