Catherine Edward's Blog, page 2
May 12, 2023
Upcoming Release: Beyond the Story: 10-Year Record of BTS by Myeongseok Kang and BTS
Beyond the Story: 10-Year Record of BTS
Written by Myeongseok Kang and BTS.
English translation led by Anton Hur, in collaboration with Clare Richards and Slin Jung.
The mystery best seller (announced earlier as 4C Untitled Flatiron Nonfiction Summer 2023 by an anonymous celebrity) is finally revealed to be Beyond the Story: 10-Year Record of BTS.
The memoir will be released on 9th July 2023, which is also the day their fandom name (A.R.M.Y - Adorable Representative MC for Youth) was introduced and is celebrated as A.R.M.Y day.
The septet debuted on 13th June 2013 and is currently on a break from group activities to fulfill their mandatory military service.
The hardcover book still does not have a book cover or a title, which makes it more intriguing. It has 544 pages and includes exclusive photographs of the septet.
It is currently available for pre-order on:
Amazon (pre-order 40% off)Target (Buy 1, get 1 50% off select books)B&NOne of the translators, Anton Hur took it to his Twitter to announce the news earlier today.
This project was conducted under so much secrecy that it still feels very odd to be suddenly allowed to share this, and we want to leave the surprises in the book a secret for as long as possible out of respect for ARMY, but yes, Slin, @clarehannahmary and I are its translators. pic.twitter.com/NeehXJPjAT
— Anton Hur (@AntonHur) May 11, 2023
Source: Rolling Stone, NY Times
May 6, 2023
Cover Reveal: Girl of Asture by Keeley Holmes
Girl of Asture
Keeley Holmes
Publication date: June 2nd 2023
Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult
My world controls when I can use my wings.
They control everything.
I’ve always felt trapped by the Order in Asture.
Quite literally.
You can’t escape unless you fly, or you defy. There’s no way out of this nightmare, not one without losing my family and everyone I love. I must follow the rules, align to their expectations. Time is running out. The constraints of the Order are pushing me in a direction I’ve always felt I would fight against. My rescue comes in a unique form.
An Otherworlder.
Ironically, the cage I hate so much is the only way I can see him. It’s our only way to be together.
To change the way of Asture, one must overthrow those who rule, but I’m not sure my level of rebellion and trickery can save everyone from the way of life enforced upon us.
Author Bio:
Bestselling author of The Serendipity Series and The Three Sisters Trilogy.
When Keeley isn't writing romantic comedies, you will find her studying and writing college assignments, preparing herself to become a counsellor.
She might, if she can carve out the time, spend time with her fiance, go for walks with their seven-year-old Morkie, Darby, and watching films.
Goodreads / Facebook / Instagram
—
May 5, 2023
Cover Reveal: The Art of Husbandry by Jay Hogan
The Art of Husbandry
Jay Hogan
Publication date: June 1st 2023
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance
When life drowns you in lemons, to hell with making lemonade. I wanted to burn the whole world. But eighteen months from the day my life was torn apart, I’m tired of the anger. Tired of the nightmares. Tired of putting one foot in front of the other just trying to survive.
Three months on a high country sheep station in the middle of nowhere is exactly the reboot I need. A chance to break free. To breathe again. To find a way forward. I put my entire life on hold and head south to Mackenzie Country.
But falling for the captivating young station boss was never part of the plan. Holden Miller might be smart and sexy and push all of my dusty buttons, but we come from two different worlds. I’m not looking for a relationship. I’m not interested in love. I’m done with all that.
But Holden doesn’t care about my rules. Nestled safely in the arms of the spectacular Southern Alps, on an isolated sheep farm at the top of the world, Holden begins knitting my battered heart together one careful stitch at a time. And with every pass of the thread, every braid of the river on our doorstep, I catch a tantalising glimpse of something I’d almost given up on.
Happiness, and maybe even love.
If I have the courage to reach out and grab them.
Author Bio:
Heart, humour and keeping it real.
Jay is a 2020 Lambda Literary Award Finalist in Gay Romance and her book Off Balance was the 2021 New Zealand Romance Book of the Year.
She is a New Zealand author writing mm romance and romantic suspense, primarily set in New Zealand. She writes character driven romances with lots of humour, a good dose of reality and a splash of angst. She's travelled extensively, lived in many countries, and in a past life she was a critical care nurse, nurse educator and counsellor. Jay is owned by a huge Maine Coon cat and a gorgeous Cocker Spaniel
Find Jay in all the places: https://jayhoganauthor.contactin.bio/
—
October 30, 2022
First look at Whispers of the Hallow Night (Editingle Halloween Anthology Vol.4)
Whispers of the Hallow Night (Editingle Halloween Anthology Vol.4)
Publisher: Editingle Indie House
Summary:
You have been warned before, but there will be no more.
So one must pay and become the prey.
As you holler and plead, they might make you bleed.
But, alas, your voice will not be heard while you take in the horror that occurred.
Oh, you sorrowful soul, should have listened to my warning, for you might have made it till morning.
Give up the fight; you’re a victim of Whispers Of The Hallow Night!
Here's an exclusive first look into the sample chapters of each story...
A Samhain Night’s Scream by J. D. Edwards
Chapter 1: The Wages of Sin
Hatred burned in the old crone’s eyes beneath her hooded cowl. She watched from a shadowed alley as boisterous teens traipsed through the town, disregarding others and their property.
Vermin… filth! she hissed,glaring at them in disgust. Each generation is worse than the next. They come here each year on my birthday and defile my home with their lude and vulgar antics.
Dipping her head, the crone reached within her cloak and clutched a ruby pendant connected to a golden necklace. Within seconds, her aged infirmities faded, revealing a tall, attractive woman with smooth olive skin and flowing auburn hair. She flipped open a compact mirror, surveying her new body and dark, sultry eyes.
Yes… very nice. Time to get to work. I’m not getting any younger… yet.
Stepping from the shadows of the vacant alley, the crone scanned the bustling village of Pluckley for her first victim. Her dress swayed in the cool night breeze. A waiter and his twin caught her eye at Pisano’s Kitchen. She sensed their duplicity, which she confirmed when one of them swiped another server’s tip from the table.
A sly grin played at the corners of her mouth.
Oh yes… this should be fun.
Crossing the street, the crone reached for the door when it flew open, and a hulking young man plowed into her, knocking her to the ground. “Oi! Watch out, young man!”
He glanced down at the crone, his lust-filled eyes lingering on her chest. “Oh, pardon me!” He extended his hand to the crone, his gaze tracing the woman’s voluptuous contours as he helped her to her feet.
Gripping his hand with strength belying her slender frame, she exhaled a fine golden mist.
I claim you for my own… The mist hung in the air before dissipating into his chest. Forget me for now…
On Jensen’s Farm by Brandon Ebinger
The Autumn of 1690
Somewhere in the Hudson Valley
The ropes cut painfully into Emma's wrists. Though her eyes were bleary with tears, she could still make out the masked figures that encircled her. These figures held torches in their hands, the flickering lights casting a surreal illumination on the proceedings going on around.
Emma knew that under the masks were friends and neighbors, people she had interacted with since she was a small child, people who she had always greeted with a smile and kind words. Many of them, she was sure, she had grown up with, played with as a child, laughed, and learned with.
It was, after all, a small settlement.
Beyond the torchlight, Emma could barely see the poppetje, carefully built and lined up by the villagers as part of the ritual. They were simple things, really, just bits of cloth and corn husk, with sacks of potatoes as rudimentary heads. The craftsmanship was not very good, but Emma knew it didn't need to be. They would suit the ritual just fine the way they were, and the ritual would protect everyone in the village.
Everyone except her.
One of the figures broke through the circle of torches, tall and strong, and stood in front of her. While the other members of the procession wore their everyday clothing, this figure was dressed in a long white robe, its mask more detailed than its brothers' and sisters'. Yet, despite the mask, Emma recognized it at once as the colony's governor.
Surely he won't go through with this. Emma thought to herself. He, of all people!
Surely he will take pity on me and cut me down. We can always find another way to end this nightmare, a way that doesn't involve bloodshed.
The governor started to circle the pole that Emma was lashed to, intoning a prayer softly under his breath. It wasn't a prayer that Emma had heard before, and no matter how much she struggled to hear, she couldn't make out the words. Once the circling stopped, the governor pulled something from his belt, something that glistened and glimmered in the torchlight. Only when he brought the object to Emma's neck did she recognize it as a blade, the same blade that had cut her countless meals of lamb, pig, or game fowl.
“Please,” Emma whispered, gathering every inch of sadness and desperation she could muster into her eyes. Surely it would be enough. “Please, father...”
“Forgive me, daughter,” The governor apologized with a heavy tone. “I am truly sorry for what I am about to do. Still, it must be done.”
With a tear in his eye, the governor slit his daughter's throat.
Dead Wait by Asa Swift
The Suicide
Everyone knew Johnny Lang was a good kid. Of course, he got in trouble from time to time like other kids in high school, but all in all, he was a good citizen and a hard-working lad.
Johnny was a senior at Mill Grove High School. He played football for his school team, the Wildcats, and helped his father on the farm whenever possible.
In nineteen hundred, his great-grandfather, Jonah Lang, built the family farmhouse. It was a substantial three-story house to accommodate a large family. Many children would be needed to run the farm in the future, and this house would ensure plenty of room for them. Now there was no large family. It had dwindled down to only Johnny and his parents.
Other than playing football and helping out on his father’s farm, Johnny liked to go hunting. But, mostly, he liked to spend as much time as he could with the love of his life, his girlfriend Christina Blanchard, who also attended Mill Grove High.
Johnny was six feet tall with a large frame. He had deep blue eyes, the color of an island ocean on a white coral sand beach, and wore his brown hair in the new style that Elvis Presley had started. When Love Me Tender came out, he began to slick his long locks back as Elvis did. The pomade made his light brown hair dark and shiny. He was a sensitive soul, but he hid it well lest anyone think him not manly.
However, what's more impressive was the girls were attracted to his solid physic, formed from the hard work of a farm boy and football player. But, as far as he was concerned, he belonged to Christina and no one else. Of course, he noticed other attractive girls, but his devotion was to her alone.
Convenstown by Draven M.
Deenya Vaughn stared at the front page of the Covenstown Press. She scowled at the picture of Officer David Hine on the page. She really hated that man. The headline above his head made Deenya want to laugh out loud.
OFFICER DAVID HINE SAVES THE LIFE OF A YOUNG GIRL.
And in the subheading:
CONSIDERED A HERO.
Deenya groaned at the unfairness of it all. That case was hers, and she almost cracked it. But, thanks to Officer Hine for duping her, she lost out big on this one. She gasped and looked around the pumpkin patch in frustration. Her feet were freezing, and wisps of fog came out of her mouth in huffs. She wanted to toss the newspaper on the ground and stomp on David’s stupid face, but the patch owners probably didn’t want her littering, and they didn’t deserve it anyway.
“Deenya?”
Her mom Elena called and came over with a cart full of pumpkins. Deenya’s eyebrow raised in question instantly. Now what? She hoped that her mom wasn’t expecting her to carve all these pumpkins. Unfortunately, she had been given the boot by Chief Vaughn, her dad, and superior. Well, not exactly the boot, but he didn’t want her coming to the station for at least a week. So with Halloween in the next two days, she decided to head to a party with two of her friends. Tucking the newspaper under her arm, she ran over to help. The older woman smiled and thumped one of the pumpkins.
“Which one do you want? Do you want them all or just one… or two?”
“Mom, are you serious?”
Surveying the cart, Deenya picked out the smallest one and another that was easier to carry. Elena gently sat the pumpkins on the ground, and with a hand on her hips, she gestured towards the pumpkins in her daughter’s arms with a frown.
“But you know your father wanted us to get the biggest one.”
“Well, Dad isn’t the one that has to carry these big lugs back to the car and get them into the house, is he?”
Elena giggled silently as Deenya went to the owners and paid for the pumpkin. All the while cursing David the whole way back to the car. Thanks to him, she was sure that she would be doing desk work for the rest of her life once she returned to work. And was convinced she probably wouldn’t be able to work on high-profile cases again. As usual, her mom wanted to enjoy the experience of having her daughter drive her around and quickly got into the passenger side. This fueled Deenya’s annoyance even more, and she sighed while putting the pumpkin in the backseat.
“Where to now?” Deenya asked, getting into the car and hooking her seatbelt.
“Well, I have to go pick up my medicine from the pharmacy,” Elena replied with a sweet smile. “Then I have to get the beef for the stew tonight.”
“Yeah, Yeah.”
Deenya sped out of the parking lot. She would head to the pharmacy first. For some reason, she thought she’d need medicine for migraine in a couple of days.
Tina Diarrhea by Ashe Woodward
Since their freshman year started, Tina had been arriving at school early, knowing Jason Marman took the bus and always arrived at eight-thirty. It was only a quarter after eight when Tina threw her overstuffed backpack to the floor in front of her lockerand started twisting the dial on her locker door. Her head moved to one side as the metal on her headphones pulled at a few strands of hairs and ‘White Wedding’ blared in the earpiece.
Tina jumped, and her headphones slipped off, but got caught halfway to the floor in her frizzy curls. Someone had slapped her hard on the back. Then, before she could catch her breath and turn, she heard a voice.
“You know Halloween is still a week away. Why do you look like that Diarrhea?”
It was Jason Marman.
Tina had her hand on her hip, and one toe pointed toward him, ready to lay it all out. Jason Marman had been calling her Tina Diarrhea for as long as she could remember. Even though she had never had diarrhea at school, her name only barely rhymed with it, and they’d both officially been in high school for a full month. Hadn’t she suffered enough? How immature could he be to keep her ridiculous nickname going for the next four years?
“Eat a dick, Braceface,” Tina threw back.
But Jason was too quick, a master at bullying and teasing since kindergarten.
“At least one day my braces will come off, but you’ll always look like Diarrhea,” he said with a ridiculous, wet smile. It almost didn’t matter what he said anymore, his high-pitched screeching voice mocked you no matter what.
Tina felt her face getting hot and her lungs filling with anxious pressure, making her want to scream. But instead, all she could do was spin one hand and flip him off. “How do I look li––”
But it was too late. Principal Stewart was steps away and had definitely not missed Tina’s flying middle finger.
“Excuse me, Miss. Do you mind telling me what has you breaking school rules first thing this morning?”
“He started it. He won’t leave me alone.” Normally Tina wasn’t such a tattletale, but she was determined to not get in trouble at her new school. Not yet, anyway.
“What’s this?” Principal Stewart asked Jason. Her mauve pencil skirt stayed straight and barely moved as she turned to him.
Jason Marman put his head down and didn’t talk back. Tina would have given anything to have the power to make him do that.
“Are you harassing this young woman? You know we have a zero tolerance for bullying here, young man. Both of you, come with me.”
“Thanks for throwing me under the bus,” Jason Marman mumbled from the side of his mouth as he and Tina walked behind Principal Stewart.
“I’d love to throw you under a bus anytime.” Tina wanted to say, but they were entering the quiet atmosphere of the Principal’s office. ‘Beast Of Burden’ queued up in Tina’s mind.
“I see here you’ve both joined us from Northcrest. So you two know each other. Is that correct?”
“Yes ma’am.”
Jason Marman was laying it on thick. Tina had never heard him be so polite in his pathetic life. But she was thankful he’d answered first before she said something snarky like, “Unfortunately, yes. We’ve been in the same class since kindergarten, and the murder fantasies have gone on for just as long.”
“Well then, I believe this has gone on long enough. You two are going to work together on a project of healing for me. You’ve heard that song on the radio, ‘Heal the World, make it a better place?’” The Principal sang the melody of the title with a wide-eyed grin.
Tina tried to not to laugh but desperately hoped she wouldn’t sing the entire song. When she looked over at Jason she could tell he was thinking the same, but trying really hard to not look disrespectful and get himself into more trouble.
“I’d like a presentation that you’ll both present to the freshman class at the next assembly. It will serve to both welcome our new students and inform them of our bullying policy. We need to be sure everyone feels welcome, don’t we Miss Jeneaux?” The principal’s drawn-on eyebrows were raised and pointed.
Tina nodded back to her, wordlessly.
“And Mr. Marman, I trust going forward, you will treat Miss Jeneaux and all our other female students with respect for the remainder of your time here and onward in life.
“Yes ma’am.”
Tina and Jason both got up from their chairs and walked together to the office doors. Jason opened and held the door for Tina on the way out.
“We can work at my place if you want. I have the album at home and a whole set of encyclopedias,” Jason suggested, and Tina gave a single nod with her eyes closed.
“After dinner?” Jason asked.
Tina nodded again. It was the best she could do since she couldn’t believe that she actually agreed to spend after-school time with Jason Marman at his actual house.
Purple Moon by Phil Hore
1816 – Geneva
The rain outside seemed to double with intensity, and a single, mighty fork of lightning illuminated the heavy clouds above. A rare event had heralded the storm; a Purple Moon that threw its weird light across the landscape around us, firing conversations about how peoples of the prehistoric past gathered around campfires and created tales about their world. This led to a strange little competition that would echo throughout the ages.
I sat in a dark room lit only by some candles and a roaring blaze in the fireplace. Along the far wall, a group of other shadowy figures were also just enjoying the night and the fire.
“I still cannot believe there were really ice giants!” exclaimed Lord Byron.
I smiled at the poet. “I was there, and your grandfather swore black and blue that he and those shipwrecked with him had seen giants walking around Patagonia. Just so you know, one of Captain Cook’s officers also claimed to see the same thing a few years later.”
Proving he had studied the world of his famous grandfather, Byron pointed out—“I believe the French voyager Louis-Antoine, Comte de Bougainville claimed he’d seen the bones of these Patagonian giants, but believed they were just the remains of elephants.”
I had only recently met this strange group of friends and found them witty and warm. The oppressive weather would typically sour most holidays, but this party had decided to use the brooding atmosphere to their great advantage. The poet Lord Byron was the one who suggested each should come up with a horror story they would later recount while the weather howled outside.
The first night a young physician, Dr John William Polidori, had told an amusing story about a vampire. Then, having failed night after night to tell her tale, the very pregnant Claire Clairmont had finally begged our forgiveness and permanently abstained, claiming she had just been unable to think of anything worth retelling. And to cover her absence, I had agreed last night to pass on some of the true stories of horror I carry with me from the past. Some had become legendary tales or even stories from mythology, while others were known only to me. One was about watching the siege of Troy and how I had helped encourage Odysseus to enter the battle. Another was about watching early humans harness fire for the first time.
When someone pointed out this meant I was claiming to be both Prometheus and Palamedes, it was Byron who moved the conversation forward. “Storytellers should never be called on to tell the truth because the truth is stranger than fiction.” The poet looked like he’d been struck over the head and began furiously scribbling.
Tonight we got onto the idea of dangerous giants living in remote areas as we had just heard a story by Miss Godwin, the stepsister of Claire, who had taken something from everyone’s stories, including mine, and came up with a tale that would still be told centuries in the future.
“It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld my man completed …”
It was a hell of a start to a tale.
On this astonishing holiday, Byron, Godwin—or Shelley as she would become known—and the others had created not only the first vampire story but Frankenstein, The Modern Prometheus. Of course, these tales would be duplicated, plagiarised, serialised, and reinvented hundreds of times. I personally like to think Shelley had been inspired to create and name her creature after me and that I had more than a little to do with Polidori’s vampire creation as well.
Mirror Mirror Minotaur by M. M. Ward
>> The Beast<<
The Minotaur Princess, Kiretana, rushed into the atrium room in the center of the Minotaur Heir’s labyrinth prison, where he spent most of his time. “Tauran, the witch found her!” The princess looked around in dismay as he struggled to his feet.
Lowing in pain, he told her, ‘She is in the labyrinth somewhere.’
“What did you do?” Kiretana demanded with her hand on her hip, and head tipped in judgment, her expression accusing with her lips pressed together in a twisted scowl.
‘What did I do?! I don’t know. I smiled at her because I was happy, and she attacked me,’he mooed in the language of his beast, remembering how his One crouched in terror, then punched and kicked him before throwing him across the room. His clawed hand cupped his bullness gently. It would be bruised for days.
“With your smile, she probably thought you were going to eat her.” Snorting, Kiretana laughed in a very un-princess-like way, then gasped when they heard the stone door moving. “I’ll try to find her. Keep Mother busy.”
She sprinted in the direction where she could smell the terrified female, grinning to herself because she was happy his Daisy was a fighter. A strong and compassionate queen was just what the kingdom needed after her mother’s cruel reign. She followed the scent back and forth as she listened to the murmurs of her mother and her brother’s bellowed denials. After a few turns around the circling corridors she was shocked to find herself at the crevasse that led to her room. Quickly, she squeezed through the gap and tumbled out to find her father and a wizard talking in her bedroom.
“Who are you?” she demanded, halting the discussion between them.
“I am Oren Oleander. I came about your mother’s petition, but find what she wants to be done abhorrent. It cannot be accomplished without erasing your brother’s mind completely.” The wizard bowed to her. “Princess Kiretana, if you are seeking your brother’s soul-half. I sent her to the home of my mother’s family. She will be safe there until the autumn equinox.”
“Can you send me to join…” Kiretana started to ask as her mother, and another wizard rushed in.
“Where is she? Where is that common cow?” Queen Dejanira shrieked as she glared at Oren. “Wizard Oleander, what are you doing with my family? You refused my request.”
“Queen Dejanira, the thing you are requesting is too dangerous.”
“More dangerous than my son losing himself to his beast as my husband did? I do not think so. Tauran may choose from the royal stable; there are many heifers of high status families in his harem.” She glanced at the guards and her warlock. “Seize them.”
The king bellowed and lowered his head, pulling his daughter behind his bulk as the queen’s warlock pointed a wand at them. “Sominatosa minotaurus!”
“Stop!” Oren shouted as the two minotaurs collapsed unconscious, then Dejanira shattered a potion bottle at the warlock’s feet and Oren yelped in surprise. Within a second, he was engulfed in flames. A few moments later, only a pile of ash remained.
“Seal him in a bottle,” Dejanira ordered, “And toss it in the sea.”
“Yes, my queen.” The warlock scooped up the ashes, putting them in a blue glass bottle, and retreated as two burly minotaur guards hefted the king.
“Put my husband in with our son,” the queen ordered.
“And what about the princess?” A third asked as he picked up Kiretana gently.
“Put her in the harem. If she doesn’t choose a mate from among the royal lords by the summer solstice, she can join her father and brother.” Dejanira hissed, then turned around the room. She opened a secret drawer and pulled out one of Tauran’s sketchbooks, flipping through the pages until she found several of the common cow’s human face. She tore the pages out. “Show these to the guards. Find this girl and bring her to me. She is in the palace somewhere.”
Baby by Sayali D.
Trigger Warning: Pregnancy Loss
Chapter 1
She was late. She had been for three weeks now. But she wasn’t really holding her breath after seven years of dashed hopes. It was only a few weeks back they had decided to stop trying, which is why this came as a shock more than a surprise.
She hadn't taken a test and didn't have the two lines to validate what she already knew. But knew she did.
Despite herself, her heart started to pound, and with a shaky hand, she swept the liner on her eyes. Her lips were compressed, her mouth grim. She had stopped smiling ages back.
But what terrified her were her eyes. Bright and soulful, full of hope.
Taking a deep breath, she looked at the bathroom floor. Hope was a terrifying thing. She didn't want to be hopeful again; she didn’t want to hop onto the roller coaster of soaring ecstasy and crash into her soul-crushing reality. So instead, she learned to accept her fate.
But now, she was late. Sooner or later, she would have to bear the consequences.
She resisted the urge to cover her womb with her hand to protect the new life inside her.
Suddenly, the hair on her nape stood up as she felt it, the shadow always lurking behind her.
She had felt its presence before, a dark figure just out of the periphery of her vision. But she didn't know what the shadow wanted with her. Why did it always find her when she had new life growing inside her?
And never left her until she was alone.
Again.
She squeezed her eyes shut at the unfairness of the situation and dug her hands into her scalp, pulling her hair with all her might. “Stop! Please!” she implored the shadow. “Please leave my baby and me alone!”
She collapsed on the bathroom floor, sobbing like a baby.
The tap dripped a staccato as it echoed throughout the empty house.
About the Authors
Asa Swift
Asa Swift is a police officer in Indianapolis and has been in law enforcement for thirty-four years. He is married to his wife Janet and they have three sons. Ready for something new and having a creative side, he took to writing horror, his favorite genre of books and movies. Born in Hartford, Indiana, despite getting a late start in writing, he improves every day. Swift enjoys fishing, firearms, cooking and his grandchildren, and of course, HORROR! As a means of continue writing, he keeps his grandparents close to his heart and mind for always encouraging him to not give up.
Brandon Ebinger
Brandon Ebinger is a horror/dark fantasy author who lives in upstate New York with his fiancé and two cats. He holds a BA in creative writing. He enjoys horror films,Gothic rock and punk music and video games. He is a huge fan of haunted attractions, and spends October as a haunt actor. Brandon has written four horror/dark fantasy novels, Ash, Hollow Hills, The Afflicted and Rose. He has also published a handful of short stories within the genre. He has recently finished his most recent novel Broken Night and is at work on a new one.
Phil Hore
Phil likes to point out he was one of the last children born before man walked on the moon. He’s worked at Australia’s National Dinosaur Museum, the Australian War Memorial, National Film and Sound Archives, the Australian National Botanic Gardens, London’s Natural History Museum, the Field Museum in Chicago and The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. Published in newspapers and magazines across the globe, Phil is the paleo-author for the world’s longest running dinosaur magazine, The Prehistoric Times. He’s also been a comic shop manager, a cinema projectionist, a theatre technician and gutted chickens for a deli. All of these influences seem to make an appearance in his writing, especially the chicken guts bit. His first novel Brotherhood of the Dragon contained another Amun adventure, while 2020 sees the release of his WW1 trench murder mystery, Golgotha.
Draven
Draven is an author who writes paranormal/supernatural which includes vampires and werewolves, and ghosts. Her works include The Immortals Saga vampire series and the Bane Werewolf Colony series. She’s working on a revenge crime series of short stories and a science fiction series. She’s a graduate of Full Sail University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing for Entertainment. She has experience with script-writing, comic writing, and game writing. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading books, specifically paranormal romance novels and watching anime. She loves to listen to classical music, rock music, and kpop.
M.M.Ward
M.M.Ward - Mama Magie Ward- Farm mom and author who writes as part of my stroke recovery. My stories are a walk between shadow and light. I write stories about and for those who have been through much. There will be triggers for survivors, things I would wish on anyone, but sadly, these are the trials many face in today’s world. Some of will overcome, some will succumb, and I encourage all to seek help. Weep, cope, reach out. You are not alone. There is always the choice... Become Better, not bitter. #MMWard
J. D. Edwards
J. D. Edwards is the award-winning author of The Faerie Chronicles, Killing Time, The Soul Reaper, Dry Bones, and Indomitable. His writing awards include The Charl Ormond Williams Fund, The Ohio Genealogical Society, Notebook Publishing’s #IndieApril, and Lulu’s Share Your Scare Writing Contest. Since 2012, J. D. Edwards has published over 60 genealogical articles in the United States and Great Britain, winning over a dozen historical writing competitions internationally. Future projects include historical fiction books set in the 18th to 19th centuries and further fantasy series regarding Faerie and Celtic Mythology.
Sayali D.
Sayali (who cannot pronounce her own last name), has been writing from childhood, starting from poems and essays that won her acco- lades to writing murder mysteries for her gang of girls. Embarking on a technical career after college made her appreciate her world of mystery and make-believe even more. She dove into romance as a teen and mostly writes stories about strong, relatable characters who meander their way into love. Her books also contain suspense and mystery, with a lot of plot twists that keep the readers engaged. Sayali is married to her college sweetheart and has a cute kid. She writes when her imagination gets the better of her and her charac- ters demand to be written about. It’s the only way she can stay sane, though anyone who has seen her daydream and talk to herself, will disagree. Sayali can be found on FB, Twitter and Instagram, chattering away to all within earshot.
Ashe Woodward
Ashe Woodward is a horror writer from Ontario, Canada. She has been writing spooky stories since she was old enough to type on a Commodore 64. She lives with her husband and their menagerie of pets and poisonous plants.
For more information visit: Editingle Indie House
September 11, 2022
Review: Clash of Storms (Legends of the Storm, #3) by Bec McMaster
Review: Clash of Storms (Legends of the Storm, #3) by Bec McMaster
The old eddas speak of dreki—fabled creatures who haunt the depths of Iceland's volcanoes and steal away fair maidens.
Malin wants none of such myths. As a half-blood dreki, she's beneath the notice of the arrogant warriors who rule the skies—except for Sirius Blackfrost, the most ruthless dreki within the court. This dark prince watches her every move, but he's more villain than hero, and in her favourite fairy tales the servant never earns the prince's heart. But is there something more to the look in the Blackfrost's eyes?
To love her would be to curse her to a fate worse than death…
The second he saw her, Sirius knew her for his fated mate. But Malin is a nobody in the dreki court and her very presence is a threat to the queen's ambitions for him. Forced to hide the truth and accept the match his queen has made for him—to mate with the princess Malin serves— he dares not reveal his heart.
But when the princess flees, he must find her—and his only clue is Malin, who aims to thwart him at every step. With danger surrounding them, they must forge a truce. But can Malin ever give this wicked prince her heart? Because, while Sirius's kiss burns through her like lightning, to love him would be to defy the stars themselves…Available at
eBook: Apple Books | Kobo | Nook | Google Play | Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon AU | Amazon CA | Booktopia
Print: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Booktopia
Review:
Where do I even begin??? If I thought book 1 and book 2 was a wild Rollercoaster, book 3 send me a ride on a dragon flying right into the storm.
Honestly, this is the best book so far. I don't know what is awaiting ahead. I've always enjoyed slow burn but this easily takes the cake. The angst, the mutual pining and everything else is just so good.
I liked Sirius the moment I met him in book 2. I had a feeling there's more layers to his character than the eyes saw. His confrontation with Ardis fueled that. I also had a feeling if he wanted he could have caught Haakan and Ardis in the village. I wasn't wrong. He knew.
So I believed there's more to his character. Sirius Blackfrost is someone everyone fears, he's the villain in everyone's eyes. But the worst part is that his true flame Malin believes that too. She doubts his intentions and doesn't realize the weight of her words or what it could do to Sirius.
Sirius is bound by honor. He's a proud male dreki through and through. Hidden under all that hard exterior is a loving brother and a helpless dreki who was caught in the webs of the mad queen as a young boy.
He's ridden with guilt and nightmare, he's driven into the corner with no choice yet he keeps fighting for the ones he love and cares for.
Malin thinks the worst of Sirius like everyone else. She hides and run away but when the circumstances force them to stay together, she has no choice but rely on him. Only because she wants to save the princess from him somehow.
But with time the two slowly come together and she manages to slowly chip at his hardened walls. They navigate this attraction but she's sure she can't have him as long as he was bound to the princess. The constant push and pull as they try to find the princess before Roar and others keeps at an edge.
There are lot of politics and the last few chapters are a wild ride and a reader has to buckle up. I'm glad things ended good for them but the epilogue that opens for the next book is just wow. It left me intriguing when I just thought all is good now they have taken care of the queen.
Can't wait to dive into book 4.
About the Author:
Kidnapped by a dread pirate when she was a child, USA Today Bestselling Author Bec McMaster was raised on myth and legend, and offered her younger siblings to the goblin king many a time. Unfortunately, he did not accept.
Now she writes epic fantasy romance with a dark and sexy twist, which is almost as much fun. She has a secret weakness for villainous heroes, wicked fae princes and dangerous vampires, though in all her daydreams, she’s the one rescuing them.
Bec lives happily-ever-after with her very own hero and princess-in-training in the wilds of Australia, where she can often be found drinking tea or plotting her next travel adventure.
Escape the ordinary at www.becmcmaster.com
Join Bec's mailing list at http://eepurl.com/F_LkD for all the latest news on releases, exclusive excerpts, cover reveals, and epilogues.
September 1, 2022
Review: Storm of Desire (Legends of the Storm, #2) by Bec McMaster
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The old eddas speak of dreki—fabled creatures that haunt the depths of Iceland's volcanoes and steal away fair maidens.
Haakon wants none of such myths. For years he's searched for the beast that stole his wife, desperate to slay the golden dreki and rescue his precious Árja. He has sacrificed everything to find her—including his honor—but now Haakon knows the truth. His entire marriage was a lie. The woman he knew as his wife was no victim, but the dreki herself. And when he finally tracks down the deceitful princess, there will be a reckoning of passion and glory....
She came to him on a storm...
Long ago, Árdís gave her heart to a mortal man, despite knowing it could only end in tragedy. When her clan summoned her home, she had no choice but to leave—or see her husband pitted against her vicious cousin, Sirius.
When Sirius insists upon a betrothal that will help him gain the dreki throne, she is forced to flee—straight into the arms of the now-ruthless dragon hunter she once called husband. But can Haakon ever forgive her deceit? And can she save him from a spurned dreki prince who would see them both dead?
Available at:
eBook: Apple Books | Kobo | Nook | Google Play | Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon AU | Amazon CA | Booktopia
Print: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Booktopia
Review:
Another wild ride full of adventure and action.
Book 2 follows Haakon as he goes in search of his missing wife now he knows the truth. With a trick or two up his sleeve, he manages to lure her from the palace. But his trick binds her powers and she's left as a mortal unable to anything.
With her mating ceremony fixed, she's forced to flee the palace. She has nowhere to go and to lift the bind on her powers she would need Haakon's help. Hence begin the journey of this couple who would go to any extent to protect each other.
This was nothing short of twists and turns. Just like Magnus, I disliked Roar from the get go. But there was something mysterious about Sirius and I was right.
Once again, the climax is full of pleasant surprises and fluffy moments. This series is so interesting and now onto book 3 :)
About the Author:
Kidnapped by a dread pirate when she was a child, USA Today Bestselling Author Bec McMaster was raised on myth and legend, and offered her younger siblings to the goblin king many a time. Unfortunately, he did not accept.
Now she writes epic fantasy romance with a dark and sexy twist, which is almost as much fun. She has a secret weakness for villainous heroes, wicked fae princes and dangerous vampires, though in all her daydreams, she’s the one rescuing them.
Bec lives happily-ever-after with her very own hero and princess-in-training in the wilds of Australia, where she can often be found drinking tea or plotting her next travel adventure.
Escape the ordinary at www.becmcmaster.com
Join Bec's mailing list at http://eepurl.com/F_LkD for all the latest news on releases, exclusive excerpts, cover reveals, and epilogues.
Review: Heart of Fire by (Legends of the Storm #1) Bec McMaster
Review: Heart of Fire by (Legends of the Storm #1) Bec McMaster
The old eddas speak of dreki--fabled creatures who haunt the depths of Iceland's volcanoes and steal away fair maidens.
Freyja wants none of such myths. Dreki seducing young ladies? Ha. They probably eat such foolish girls. But when the local dreki steals her last ram--costing her any chance of feeding her ill father through the winter--Freyja intends to confront the fearsome myth.
Sentenced to a life of exile from his clan, Rurik is fascinated by the furious woman who comes to claim her ram. She reeks of mysterious magic and challenges him at every step. He intends to claim the passionate firebrand, but to do so he must take mortal form. It's the only time the dreki are vulnerable, and with a dragon-hunter arriving on the shores of Iceland, he can barely afford the risk--but lonely Freyja, with her elf-cursed eyes and pragmatic soul, tempts him in ways he's never felt before. Is she the key to reclaiming his heritage? Or will she be his downfall?
Available at:
eBook: Apple Books | Kobo | Nook | Google Play | Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon AU | Amazon CA | Booktopia
Print: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Booktopia
Review:
This was one hell of a ride. Absolutely loved it!!!
This book was recommended by a friend in one of my book groups. I'm glad I read it. I found my next favorite author to binge on. Bec's writing style is impeccable and so engaging.
Freyja's small village and the lands around it are ruled by a most powerful Dreki. When the villagers fail to pay the tithe as promised to keep their end of bargain, the dreki takes the things into his own hand. Unfortunately for Freyja and fortunately for us, he hunts her only ram.
Furious, she enters the dragon's lair demanding her ram and unintentionally challenging him. Intrigued by her courage, the dreki allows her leave with one condition. And hence begins our journey.
Heart of Fire takes the reader through a wild journey through the countryside of Iceland and the beauty of its mountains. The plot is intricate with lot of interesting twists that kept me hooked from the get go.
The naturally woven humor and sarcasm is entertaining. Freyja is an entertaining character and Ruirk is mysterious but earns our respect. Well, I couldn't help but fancy him and had to remind myself several times that he's a fictional character.
He's blunt, fearless and honest to the cote but also twist his words. The budding romance is refreshing and we too fall in love along with them.
I disliked Magnus from the get go, but felt the pain for Haakan though he's a dragon hunter. Andri is certainly my favorite supporting character in this book. He's young, but his role is so well done.
Ruirk is so protective of Andri. Their bond is so delicate and goes deeper than just as a squire under Ruirk.
The story starts with Freyja but as we read, the secrets and conspiracies unfold. The twist in the climax is absolutely my favorite. Can't wait to start book 2 in the series.
About the Author:
Kidnapped by a dread pirate when she was a child, USA Today Bestselling Author Bec McMaster was raised on myth and legend, and offered her younger siblings to the goblin king many a time. Unfortunately, he did not accept.
Now she writes epic fantasy romance with a dark and sexy twist, which is almost as much fun. She has a secret weakness for villainous heroes, wicked fae princes and dangerous vampires, though in all her daydreams, she’s the one rescuing them.
Bec lives happily-ever-after with her very own hero and princess-in-training in the wilds of Australia, where she can often be found drinking tea or plotting her next travel adventure.
Escape the ordinary at www.becmcmaster.com
Join Bec's mailing list at http://eepurl.com/F_LkD for all the latest news on releases, exclusive excerpts, cover reveals, and epilogues.
August 20, 2022
Review: Ex Marks the Perfect Spot (Wilde Ways, Book 16) by Cynthia Eden
Review: Ex Marks the Perfect Spot (Wilde Ways, Book 16) by Cynthia Eden
He can’t be the hero.
One moment, Chelsea Ember is sitting on a gorgeous, tropical island and sipping a cute drink, but in the next instant, she’s being tossed in the back of a van and spirited away. She’s terrified, desperate, and sure that she will never see her family again…then he rushes to her rescue. Her ex. Her gorgeous, hyper-controlled, heartbreaker of a former lover, Colt Easton.
He isn’t the lover she remembers…
Suddenly he’s knocking out bad guys and showing a dangerously brutal edge that she never expected. He’s fierce, vicious with the enemy, and there is no sign of the polished and cool businessman she knew before. But the attraction she felt for him since the very beginning—that scorching, consuming desire—is still there. Even if Colt does seem to be a complete stranger.
Trapped in paradise, all their secrets will be exposed.
Colt met Chelsea while he was working undercover. She never had an opportunity to get to know the real man beneath his mask, and he’s tracked her down because he wants a second chance with the woman he can’t get out of his head. When Chelsea is taken, he knows a boring, good guy won’t be able to help her. But the real Colt can. Time for Chelsea to see just how wild he can be.
A lot can happen on a hot island night.
Danger stalks Chelsea from every turn. And her best bet of getting off the island alive? Her ex, the most unlikely hero ever. A man who is proving to be a complete badass as they trek through the heart of the island and dodge the foes on their trail. He’s savage, rough, and definitely not a civilized gentleman, but Colt is exactly what she needs in order to stay alive. As they fight to survive, Chelsea realizes that she might just be in danger of falling for him all over again…
Author’s Note: When you’re trapped in paradise, you need just the right hero to help save the day. Sometimes, the “right” hero is dangerous and deceptive, and he’s also down to do anything to protect the woman he wants. Prepare for some hot island fun and for two lovers who are about to scorch the tropical night with their passion. A second chance, a lover in disguise, twisting secrets, and some edgy danger are inside EX MARKS THE PERFECT SPOT.
Available at:
Apple BooksAmazonBarnes & NobleKoboGoogle PlayAmazon PaperbackAmazon Hardcover
Review:
Wilde Ways is an action packed romance series which I love. You can read the books in this series as a standalone too.
Ex Marks the Perfect Spot starts with Chelsea breaking up with her date who barely has any time for her. She just wants to move on with her life and have one vacation she thinks she deserves after everything that had happened recently. She books her tickets and hops on a place for the much-needed beach vacation. Everything should be fine right?
But nope...things take a nose dive before she could even finish her drink. First, her ex shows up in the island and next someone tries to abduct her. Luckily, her ex, Colt is there to save the day. But the dangers doesn't stop there. She is being hunted but she doesn't have a clue by whom or for what. She lives a simple life.
However, as more incidents happens she has no option but to stick to Colt for her safety. But that is easier said than done. Colt was someone she thought she could spend the rest of her life with, but as she uncovers the secrets one by one, she realizes Colt might not be someone she thought he was.
Her emotions are in turmoil as the situations keeps putting them together. As they navigate through their strained relationship, they must figure who wants Chelsea and for what.
This is such a fun read and Chelsea is a fun character. She's refreshing and realistic. Her responses are witty and she's intelligent. I enjoyed reading this and looking forward to next book in this series.
I received an ARC in exchange for my honest feedback.
July 31, 2022
31 Quotes related to reading this August
31 Quotes related to reading this August
Feeling demotivated and finding it hard to drag through the day? Reading can offer you solace and give you the refreshment you badly need. Here are 31 quotes to encourage your reading habits this August.
Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all. – Henry David Thoreau
Let others pride themselves about how many pages they have written; I’d rather boast about the ones I’ve read. – Jorge Luis Borges
A capacity, and taste, for reading gives access to whatever has already been discovered by others. – Abraham Lincoln
People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading. – Logan Pearsall Smith
Reading—the best state yet to keep absolute loneliness at bay. – William Styron
The unread story is not a story; it is little black marks on wood pulp. The reader, reading it, makes it live: a live thing, a story. – Ursula K. LeGuin
If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking. – Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood
Reading is an act of civilization; it’s one of the greatest acts of civilization because it takes the free raw material of the mind and builds castles of possibilities. – Ben Okri
My personal hobbies are reading, listening to music, and silence. – Edith Sitwell
Reading is a form of prayer, a guided meditation that briefly makes us believe we’re someone else, disrupting the delusion that we’re permanent and at the center of the universe. Suddenly (we’re saved!) other people are real again, and we’re fond of them. – George Saunders
Reading—even browsing—an old book can yield sustenance denied by a database search. – James Gleick
We read to know we’re not alone. – William Nicholson
Reading is an active, imaginative act; it takes work. – Khaled Hosseini
I am reading six books at once, the only way of reading; since, as you will agree, one book is only a single unaccompanied note, and to get the full sound, one needs ten others at the same time. – Virginia Woolf
Reading means borrowing. – Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
Salvation is certainly among the reasons I read. Reading and writing have always pulled me out of the darkest experiences in my life. Stories have given me a place in which to lose myself. They have allowed me to remember. They have allowed me to forget. They have allowed me to imagine different endings and better possible worlds. – Roxane Gay
Read. Read. Read. Just don’t read one type of book. Read different books by various authors so that you develop different style. – R.L. Stine
The best moments in reading are when you come across something – a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things – which you had thought special and particular to you. Now here it is, set down by someone else, a person you have never met, someone even who is long dead. And it is as if a hand has come out and taken yours. – Alan Bennett, The History Boys
It wasn’t until I started reading and found books they wouldn’t let us read in school that I discovered you could be insane and happy and have a good life without being like everybody else. – John Waters
Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no libraries. – Anne Herbert
Children know perfectly well that unicorns aren’t real, but they also know that books about unicorns, if they are good books, are true books. – Ursula K. LeGuin
A good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read. – Terry Pratchett
If there is a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, you must be the one to write it. –Toni Morrison
Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them. – Lemony Snicket
What a blessing it is to love books as I love them;- to be able to converse with the dead, and to live amidst the unreal! – Thomas Babington Macaulay
Of course anyone who truly loves books buys more of them than he or she can hope to read in one fleeting lifetime. A good book, resting unopened in its slot on a shelf, full of majestic potentiality, is the most comforting sort of intellectual wallpaper. – David Quammen
I owe everything I am and everything I will ever be to books. – Gary Paulsen
Happiness. That’s what books smells like. Happiness. That’s why I always wanted to have a book shop. What better life than to trade in happiness? – Saran MacLean
Books should go where they will be most appreciated, and not sit unread, gathering dust on a forgotten shelf, don’t you agree? – Christopher Paolini
Books are no more threatened by Kindle than stairs by elevators. – Stephen Fry
Writing comes from reading, and reading is the finest teacher of how to write. – Annie Proulx
July 2, 2022
31 Quotes related to reading this July
31 Quotes related to reading this July
Reading is escape into another world. Here are 31 quotes to encourage your reading habits this July.
1. A peasant that reads is a prince in waiting. – Walter Mosley
2. A word after a word after a word is power. – Margaret Atwood
3. Only a generation of readers will spawn a generation of writers. – Steven Spielberg
4. Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours. – John Locke
5. Read, read, read. Read everything — trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it. Then write. If it’s good, you’ll find out. If it’s not, throw it out of the window. – William Faulkner
6. Once you have read a book you care about, some part of it is always with you. – Louis L’Amour
7. Reading is departure and arrival. – Terri Guillemets
8. Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers. – President Harry Truman
9. Reading is escape, and the opposite of escape; it’s a way to make contact with reality after a day of making things up, and it’s a way of making contact with someone else’s imagination after a day that’s all too real. – Nora Ephron
10. A truly great book should be read in youth, again in maturity and once more in old age, as a fine building should be seen by morning light, at noon and by moonlight. – Robertson Davies
11. Leaders are always readers. – Kevin Trudeau
12. Books are everywhere; and always the same sense of adventure fills us. Second-hand books are wild books, homeless books; they have come together in vast flocks of variegated feather, and have a charm which the domesticated volumes of the library lack. – Virginia Woolf, Street Haunting
13. Never put off till tomorrow the book you can read today. – Holbrook Jackson
14. Think of this – that the writer wrote alone, and the reader read alone, and they were alone with each other. – A.S. Byatt, Possession
15. If you stop to think about it, you’ll have to admit that all the stories in the world consist essentially of twenty-six letters. The letters are always the same, only the arrangement varies. From letters words are formed, from words sentences, from sentences chapters, and from chapters stories. – Michael Ende
16. She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain. – Louisa May Alcott
17. If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all. – Oscar Wilde
18. In the end, we’ll all become stories. – Margaret Atwood
19. Reading is my favorite occupation, when I have leisure for it and books to read. – Anne Brontë
20. I still love books. Nothing a computer can do can compare to a book. You can’t really put a book on the Internet. – Ray Bradbury, Farenheit 451
21. Do not read, as children do, to amuse yourself, or like the ambitious, for the purpose of instruction. No, read in order to live. – Gustave Flaubert
22. So Matilda’s strong young mind continued to grow, nurtured by the voices of all those authors who had sent their books out into the world like ships on the sea. These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: You are not alone. – Roald Dahl, Matilda
23. Only the very weak-minded refuse to be influenced by literature and poetry. – Cassandra Clare
24. What really knocks me out is a book that, when you’re all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn’t happen much, though. – J.D. Salinger
25. You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, who had ever been alive. – James Baldwin
26. Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world. – Voltaire
27. If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that. – Stephen King
28. No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader. – Robert Frost
29. Reading was my escape and my comfort, my consolation, my stimulant of choice: reading for the pure pleasure of it, for the beautiful stillness that surrounds you when you hear an author’s words reverberating in your head. – Paul Auster
30. I read for pleasure and that is the moment I learn the most. – Margaret Atwood
31. Some books should be tasted, some devoured, but only a few should be chewed and digested thoroughly. – Sir Francis Bacon
