A.L. Butcher's Blog, page 56
October 19, 2022
Halloween Themed Books – Messenger #Cozy #Supernatural #Thriller
Title: Messenger
Author: Erika M Szabo
Genre: Cozy supernatural thriller
Main character description:
Lauren is a doctor who was raised believing the supernatural and omens. Taking her spirit guide’s warning seriously saved her life.
Synopsis:
Lauren has everything she’d ever wished for. Great career, financial security, loving husband, and devoted friends.
When her Raven spirit guide warns her of impending danger, she takes the omen seriously, but she doesn’t have enough time to perform the protection spell her grandmother taught her. Someone breaks into her office and after the brutal attack and the Raven’s repeated warnings, she knows her life is still in danger. Who wants her dead and why?
Brief Excerpt 250 words:
Finally. I’ll be a mom. Lauren put her hand on her belly and couldn’t stop smiling.
Suddenly, she heard a deep, throaty kraa sound. Lauren took a deep breath. She knew what the all too familiar sound meant. Her eyes shot toward the tall oak tree across the street where the eerie sound came from. The Raven’s shiny, black eyes fixated on her and let out another loud screechy sound. Lauren’s stomach shrunk into a knot and a dreadful feeling washed over her. No! Please not again! She screamed in her mind. “Shoo!” she yelled out loud. “Nothing bad is going to happen.”
The Raven flapped its wings, called again even louder, which sent sheer terror through Lauren’s nerves as she remembered her grandmother’s warning. “The Raven is your messenger, and it warns you that something bad is about to happen which will change your life. You must perform a protection ritual and call on the Wolf spirit to protect you from harm.”
A sign of something bad coming wasn’t what she needed. Not with the happy news confirmed this morning. Lauren rushed to her desk and yanked the bottom drawer open. In there was a box with her grandmother’s spellbook, candles, and herbs.
She looked up feeling anxious when she heard the front door of her office opening.
Why should readers buy this book (50 words max)?
If you like fast paced novellas with relatable characters, supernatural elements, betrayal and danger, this story is for you.
Link:
https://books2read.com/MESSENGER-by-Erika-M-Szabo
Halloween Themed Books – Here Be Ghosts Bundle – #Ghosts #Paranormal
Here Be Ghosts Bundle
#Ghosts #Paranormal
https://books2read.com/HereBeGhostsBundle
https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/here-be-ghosts
Amazon https://amzn.to/2NP1nCN
I books https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1436455347
Myth, Monsters and Mayhem Volume 6
Who are they? What are they? The souls of the long departed, or wicked manifestations of sin?
Tales of ghosts and spectres have enthralled us since time began. From ghostly servants, spectral possession, a space-going ghostbuster, to Halloween horrors, wicked toads and missing children these tales bring chills and thrills.
Ancient horrors, long-dead rockers, family secrets and helpful murder victims join them in providing the shivers and the quivers.
Dare you venture with the dead-walking?
13 tales of spooks, lost souls, and weird adventures.
Communication Breakdown – Dayle A. Dermatis
Alfred Lets Loose – Linda Jordan
Seventh – Debbie Mumford
Crossing the Naiad – J.M. Ney-Grimm
Full Circle – Kate MacLeod
Roadside Ghosts: A Collection of Horror and Dark Fantasy – Steve Vernon
The Palace – Leah Cutter
A Burning Rainbow Man – Ann Straton
The Whole World for Each – Kate MacLeod
The Queen of Toads – Joe Bonadonna
Ghosts and Ghoulies – Deb Logan
The Secret of Blossom Rise: A Ghost Story
The Popcorn Thief – Leah Cutter
October 17, 2022
Halloween Themed Books – Here Be Aliens #Aliens #Scifi
They come from distant stars and worlds beyond our own. Strange, dangerous, fascinating – dare you face the aliens? Dare you learn their secrets?
Here Be Aliens!
https://books2read.com/HereBeAliens
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/here-be-aliens-stefon-mears/1136928952
https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/here-be-aliens
https://books.apple.com/us/book/id1510261478
Part of the Here Be – Monsters, Myth and Mayhem series.
Featuring:
Fade to Gold – Stefon Mears
Scifi Motherlode – Robert Jeschonek
The Great Succession Crisis – Laurel A. Rockefeller
Alien Blue – DeAnna Knippling
Alien Influences – Kristine Kathryn Rusch
The Sun Doctors- Meyari McFarland
Adventurer (Star Minds Lone Wolves) – Barbara G.Tarn
Cursed Planet – Linda Maye Adams
Earth Plan – David Sloma
Chasing Chipmunks – Rebecca S. W. Bates
Cianna’s Fortune Blog Tour and Giveaway – Medieval #Fantasy #Romance
Cianna’s Fortune
The Caragh Chronicles Book 3
by Rachel Rossano
Genre: Medieval Fantasy Romance
As a daughter of a former ambassador, Cianna grew up in distant lands and unusual climates. Now she uses these experiences and connections to keep a small shop stocked in exotic goods. With her father dead, the shop supports her stepmother and stepsister as well. The task would be easier if her stepmother didn’t spend money as fast as Cianna made it.
Cyrus is haunted by the memory of a young girl he met in his uncle’s garden when he was twelve. While on an ambassadorial mission, he embarks from a ship and spots a familiar face. Cianna doesn’t recognize him, but he remembers her. But how to renew a friendship with someone who might not even remember him? Determined to give it a try, Cyrus embarks on a scheme to persuade her to let him into her life again.
Three young women, bound by friendship and faith, seek the Lord’s will in their lives in The Caragh Chronicles. Each book brings a tale of love and faith in a medieval fantasy novella. Cianna’s Fortune contains touches of Cinderella, the exotic spice of foreign lands, and a sweet friends-to-lovers romance via letters.
Rachel Rossano is a happily married mother of three children. She spends her days teaching, mothering, and keeping the chaos at bay. After the little ones are in bed, she immerses herself in the fantasy worlds of her books. Tales of romance, adventure, and virtue set in a medieval fantasy world are her preference, but she also writes speculative fantasy and a bit of science fiction.
Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads
Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
$20 Amazon
a Rafflecopter giveaway https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js
October 16, 2022
Halloween Themed Books – The Watcher – A Jack the Ripper Tale #Horror #HistoricalFiction
The year is 1888, and the place is Whitechapel, in the very heart of London. But the heart is bleeding. A mysterious killer is stalking women of the streets – his true name is unknown, but his legend will go down in history. This is a short tale of Jack the Ripper.
18 rated for scenes of violence.
https://www.books2read.com/TheWatcherJTR
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Book Spotlight – Web of the Succubus #Occult #Horror #Halloween – Andrew P. Weston
Title: Web of the Succubus – Book 4 of the Cambion Journals
Author: Andrew P. Weston
Genre: Occult Horror
Main character description (short): Think of Damon Salvator from the Vampire Diaries mixed with a dark-haired version of Geralt, the Witcher, and you’ll be on the right track.
Synopsis:
Augustus Thorne has his work cut out, trying to juggle his recuperating capabilities with a turbulent personal and professional life. On the plus side, things have improved dramatically with Colleen Wolf. But, as he endeavors to cement his relationship with her, events conspire against him.
It transpires there are elements within some of the most powerful human governments who are secretly collaborating with the demon court. Their goal being to turn the majority of mankind into chattel. Brood livestock, whose only purpose is to serve the demondim’s ghastly appetites. Augustus simply can’t allow that to happen. He sets out to frustrate Asmodai’s machinations, unaware that a spider is waiting in the dark.
And it’s ready to pounce.
Brief Excerpt 250 words:
“Is it ready?” Marissa bit off each word as if they were offensive to her palate.
“Soon my love, soon,” Lamia crooned. “But tell me, why the sudden urgency?”
Marissa’s hair stood on end, the sheer potency of the charge coursing through her body generating fingers of lightning that crackled from her extremities like hungry tentacles. “That bitch seems determined to screw me over. They’re engaged, for Azazel’s sake. Engaged!” Her last remark was laced with sufficient venom to poison Leviathan.
“What?” Lamia gasped. “When? How did . . . how in the devil did they . . .”
“You tell me,” Marissa cut in. “One moment things are progressing wonderfully. I’d been careful not to get too clingy or take advantage. I bided my time, established a trust, built up mutual rapport—and then bam! He comes home leaking all sorts of puerile shit from his overexcited vapid little man brain about a spontaneous proposal at the airport. Oh, and get this. Not only did he propose, but he used a void signet to seal the deal. Not just any void signet, mind you. That wouldn’t be good enough for the esteemed Colleen Wolf. She’s gone and landed herself one of the original five. A Pentagryst, for pity’s sake! Neither of them have a clue what it is, which is just as well, because if they learn how to activate the damned thing, she’ll be virtually untouchable. Fucking pasty-faced flesh bag!”
Why should readers buy this book (50 words max)?
Because it will call to you on a deeply personal level. It’s as dark and menacing as a brewing thunderstorm on All Hallows Eve, and deals with the very real issues governing volatile relationships between passionate, supernatural creatures.
Links etc.
Amazon https://amzn.to/3RYfenj
Author Bio:
Andrew Weston is a bestselling author from the UK who now lives on the beautiful Greek island of Kos with a growing family of rescue animals.
As creator of the critically acclaimed IX Series, the Cambion Journals, and Hell Bound, Hell Hounds, and Hell Gate, (novels forming part of the Heroes in Hell universe), Andrew has the privilege of being a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, the British Science Fiction Association, and the British Fantasy Society.
He also enjoys writing review articles for Amazing Stories and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.
All links:
Website/blog: https://andrewpweston.blogspot.com/
Twitter: @WestonAndrew
TikTok: @andrewpweston666
October 15, 2022
Halloween Themed Books #Dystopian #DarkFantasy
The Last Forest – A short story of the wrath of Nature.
#Dystopian #Darkfantasy.
Universal Link https://books2read.com/TheLastForest
Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SKCXJRW
Amazon UK https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07SKCXJRW
Apple https://books.apple.com/gb/book/the-last-forest/id1466266071
Barnes and Noble https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-last-forest-a-l-butcher/1131805266
Kobo https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/the-last-forest-2
Audio
https://www.audible.com/pd/B08S46627Q
https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/B08S5JP35Y
https://www.audible.fr/pd/B08S5B65SX
https://www.audible.de/pd/B08S489KKM
Halloween Themed Books #Ghosts #Horror – The Secret of Blossom Rise
When a young nurse accepts a job at a former military hospital, she unearths a family secret and finds the spectral occupants a little too familiar.
A short ghost story.
https://books2read.com/SecretBlossomRise
Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07H44YJTN
Barnes and Noble https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-secret-of-blossom-rise-a-l-butcher/1129483755
Kobo https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/the-secret-of-blossom-rise-a-ghost-story
Apple https://books.apple.com/gb/book/the-secret-of-blossom-rise-a-ghost-story/id1435494381?
Amazon.com audio https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Blossom-Rise-Ghost-Story/dp/B08CNCBNJC/
Amazon UK audio https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Blossom-Rise-Ghost-Story/dp/B08CNF6KJP/
October 7, 2022
Guest Post – 5 Mistakes to Avoid in Worldbuilding – Rose Atkinson Carter
Today I’m pleased to welcome back Rose Atkinson Carter – who brings and informative post about worldbuilding.
Rose – over to you…
5 Mistakes to Avoid When Worldbuilding
Building a whole new world for a fantasy novel is a massive undertaking. You have to consider every detail, from the overall geography to the minutiae of everyday life. Although your fantasy novel doesn’t need to be set in another world, there’s something appealing about disappearing into a place that’s completely new and different, and the process of creation can be just as fun as writing the actual narrative.
That said, there are so many moving parts involved in worldbuilding, that a lot that can go wrong and pull your reader out of the story. To help you avoid that, here are five worldbuilding mistakes you should watch out for.
1. Skipping, or glossing over the historical backgroundWe meet our protagonists as they set off on their quest to find an ancient treasure, but whose treasure is it, and if it’s so old, why does it matter now? This is one mistake many beginner writers make. Simply starting your story and making up the world’s past as you go along can be tempting. What tends to happen though, is the history ends up disjointed and sparse, not really giving the sense of being a real world. Much like your characters, the setting also has a backstory that grounds it in the present day and should be considered with as much seriousness as you would give your main character.
If you’re a pantser, it’s fine to make things up as you go if that’s what helps you stay productive on the first draft — but make sure to reconsider everything carefully when self-editing.
Remember, a history that’s too clean and linear can be a problem as well, because it can come across as too simplistic. Rarely is any history cut-and-dry, so adding some twists, turns, and misconceptions will give your world extra depth.
2. Getting too detailedOn the opposite end of the spectrum from underdeveloped history is the writer who loves the details. While there is a benefit to thinking out every aspect of the world from what clothing different cultures wear to the feuds going on between different royal families, it shouldn’t bog down your plot. This mistake often leads to the dreaded infodump, pulling people out of the story as they start to wonder when you’re going to get back to the action.
A lot of worldbuilding is about striking a balance between too much and too little detail. Detail can help your writing remain plausible, but explaining the political and cultural significance of the monarch’s crown jewels when they don’t feature heavily in the plot isn’t useful to you or the reader. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t mention it, but keeping it to a few sentences rather than a few paragraphs will give you the effect of realism you want without overwhelming the story.
3. Societies that don’t interact with each otherIt’s far too easy to fall into the trap of making each setting entirely separate from the others. Obviously, you don’t want your fantastical magic race to be exactly like the neighboring human kingdom, but it would be strange if nothing passed between them, whether that’s legends, clothing trends, languages, or useful inventions.
Even the most isolationist of countries will have some interaction and trade with other places. Consider how different peoples interact and what the effect on the overall world would be. Each country’s approach to trade, political alliances, and even intermarriage will have an important impact on the world and shouldn’t be neglected in your writing process.
4. Everyone within a culture is the sameNo culture is an absolute monolith. People are different and can have varying views even if they were raised in the same place with the same values. Even if the elves in your world largely believe humans are weak and inferior, it wouldn’t make sense for every elf the reader encounters to think that way. There could be differing degrees of this belief, from extreme hatred all the way to extreme compassion, but no two people should or could have the exact same opinion.
Culture is also prone to change and rarely remains stable for decades, let alone centuries. Though certain ideas may persist, the strength of them will likely be variable over the years, influenced by current events and even other countries. It stands to reason then that people will be just as variable. After all, culture is just the overarching or dominant point of view that exists, not the only one.
If you’re having trouble visualizing what this can look like, think of all the regions within countries seeking or talking about independence, from Catalonia to Scotland. Then, think of the many ethnic minorities existing in every place — it would make sense for a fantasy world to have minority groups within its society, too, whether that’s due to differences in religion or actual species.
5. Having an inconsistent magic systemPeople come to fantasy novels for the magic, to see impossible things become probable. When anything is possible, it’s tempting to create all kinds of interesting powers and artifacts. But this can easily lead you into the trap of having magic that only works when the protagonist needs it to, without any reasoning behind it. In order for your world to be believable, there should be some rules to its magic.
You don’t have to include Brandon Sanderson levels of detail for your magic system to make sense. Having a few simple guidelines for yourself will create a consistent world without an overpowered protagonist and keep your readers interested. Considering the limits of power will allow you to not only write an interesting story, but add underlying themes as well.
There’s a lot that can go wrong beyond what’s been outlined here. The process itself can be magical though — the sheer number of fantasy and sci fi novels published on Amazon every year are testament to that. If you’re struggling with worldbuilding, concentrate on having fun and being imaginative — you can always work with an editor later.
Rose Atkinson-Carter is a writer with Reedsy, advising authors on all things publishing, from finding a literary agent and crafting a successful query letter to understanding ISBNs and book copyrights. She has previously written for Books Uplift , WritersFirst , and more. She lives in London.
October 3, 2022
NN Light Trick or Treat Halloween Giveaway
Celebrate Halloween all month long at N. N. Light’s Book Heaven’s third annual Trick or Treat Book Bonanza. 49 books, 39 authors, $75 Amazon gift card giveaway plus discover what Halloween costumes these talented authors choose to wear! https://www.nnlightsbookheaven.com/trick-or-treat-book-bonanza
I’m thrilled to be a part of this event. My book, Echoes of a Song, will be featured on October 5th and The Watcher on October 24th. Wait until you read what my Halloween costume would be. You won’t want to miss it.
Giveaway Information –
One lucky reader will win a $75 Amazon (US) gift card.
https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/92db7750191
Bookmark this event and tell your friends
