Horror Author Joe M Solomon: Why I like Horror (The Darkness: Giger, Texas) + giveaway

Why I Like Horror

When I was a little boy, weekends meant horror when it came to television. The kids and parents would pile in front of the TV and enjoy Friday and Saturday cheesy B-movies. Inevitably, something would come on that scared me. But my father would always say, “Don’t worry. It’s make-believe.” That helped, since I was about five years old, a kept me glued to the screen. By the time I was a teenager, I was hooked. On weekends, certain scary movies would replay regularly. Psycho and The Birds were particular favorites and never grew old. But when I saw Night of the Living Dead . . . Wow! My world was turned upside down.

George Romero and John Russo wrote the screenplay. And, for me, the biggest attraction of the film was that the plague infected almost the entire world. Loved it! Then the film brought together a mixture of people who probably would not have engaged in very much interaction were it not for the plague. But circumstances forced them to listen to each other regardless of age, race or gender. Because the zombies were ecumenical when it came to killing.

That was when I started to think: I want to do that. And off I went. In high school, I wrote a lot of short stories and poetry that were lost over the years. Then in college, I was stuck in L.A. one day, waiting for a flight that was six hours away. I needed entertainment, but I had no money. So I began to write what ultimately became my first full-length story. (It’s a trunk novel that I plan to revisit and rewrite.) After that, I wrote stories like mad. After studying playwriting and screenwriting in college, I would write the same story as both a novel and a screenplay. Sometimes as a play. I wrote long hand, on the computer. It didn’t matter.

Most of what I wrote was horror. I just love the way you can use horror as a metaphor for life and, at the same time, be completely entertained. But I also enjoy placing normal nine-to-five people in extraordinary situations and seeing how they react after the initial shock. I know character growth isn’t always vital to the enjoyment of the story, but I like seeing who changes and who doesn’t and the metamorphosis some undergo. Horror can draw a character into the most private part of him- or herself, or show them that that something much more ominous lurks outdoors.

And, of course, I can’t get enough of the adrenaline-spurring action scenes. You’ll find plenty of those in The Darkness: Giger, Texas.

The Darkness: Giger, Texas 

by Joe M. Solomon
October 3, 2017
Genre: Horror/Supernatural
Publisher: NES Publishing, LLC
ISBN: 978-0-9990024-0-7
ASIN: B07435H5YR
Number of pages: 372
Word Count: 106,029
Cover Artist: Syneca Featherstone
When night falls in Giger, Texas, shadows gather as they always do in dim corners and other areas bereft of light. But this time they consolidate and attack any who tread too close. Michael Warren, a twenty-four-year-old resident of Giger, finds himself at the epicenter of this horror and is stunned by the losses suffered overnight. Then the sun sets and the shadows again coalesce, growing more aggressive, the darkness eviscerating anyone it touches.

His only weapon light, Michael struggles to survive and searches frantically for his girlfriend, aiding friends along the way. When Hurricane Daniel roars ashore, wind gusts shred trees and tear down power lines, plunging all of Southeastern Texas into blackness that only feeds and strengthens the encroaching darkness. Rising floodwater provides easy thoroughfares from which the darkness can strike as Michael and his friends contend with the elements, clash with criminals, and battle their way to his residence where they will stand against the darkness and fight to survive.

Amazon Kobo BN iTunes

Excerpt:
Startled, Eddie blinked and wiped at his own eyes. “What was…? Hello?”

No answer.
His pulse picked up. “C-Curt, you in here… you a-a-a-asshole?”

A box fell behind him.

Eddie spun around, body tight as a knot, eyes wide as their sockets would allow. “Wh-h-h-h-who the hell’s that?” he demanded with as much sternness as he could inject into his quivering voice.

Soft whispers trickled out of a minuscule pocket of emptiness near the back door on the farthest wall. There, amid the gloom, something progressed toward him. At first, its movements appeared mechanical, inelastic. Then it evolved into a smooth flow. A soft ripple. A consolidated wave of darkness.

About the Author:
website-FB-twitter
Goodreads
Joe M. Solomon earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of St. Thomas, followed by both master’s and doctoral degrees from Rice University. Joe’s supernatural thriller The Darkness: Giger, Texas released in 2017. A second novel—The Light: Houston, Texas—and a collection of short stories that arise from the macabre will soon follow.

Bonus Pre-Order Giveaway Ends October 3

bit.ly/TheDarknessGiveaway

Tour giveaway 

1 $50 Amazon gift card 

1 $25 Amazon gift card 

3 prize packs featuring The Darkness: Giger, Texas swag packs which include: a coffee mug, a pen, a postcard, bookmark, and a trading card. Open to US Shipping.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Second Look Book Review: Night Shift (Midnight, Texas #3) by Charlaine Harris

Midnight, Texas TV series is set to premier April 30, 2017 on NBC

http://www.nbc.com/midnight-texas?nbc=1

Night Shift (Midnight, Texas #3)
by Charlaine Harris

May 3rd 2016 by Ace

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Sookie Stackhouse novels—“the Mark Twain of things that live under your bed”*—comes a new novel of Midnight, Texas, the town where some secrets will never see the light of day...

At Midnight’s local pawnshop, weapons are flying off the shelves—only to be used in sudden and dramatic suicides right at the main crossroads in town. 

Who better to figure out why blood is being spilled than the vampire Lemuel, who, while translating mysterious texts, discovers what makes Midnight the town it is. There’s a reason why witches and werewolves, killers and psychics, have been drawn to this place. 

And now they must come together to stop the bloodshed in the heart of Midnight. For if all hell breaks loose—which just might happen—it will put the secretive town on the map, where no one wants it to be...

It seems that people are coming to Midnight, Texas, and killing themselves right at the main crossroads of this small town. Something is going on, with the first suicide happening in October, and Lemuel, the vampire who works at night at the local pawnshop, Midnight Pawn, owned by Bobo Winthrop, is reading and translating ancient texts to find out clues. As more and more he delves into the book, he begins to realized something terrible is driving these people, most who have done some sort of harm or not a good friend of the local witch, Fiji Cavanaugh. That t might even be the reason that supernatural beings like him and tiger shapeshifters, witches, killers and psychics come to this town. 

Bestselling author Charlaine Harris who brought the Sookie Stackhouse series I loved a lot, has me addicted to this trilogy with this last book. I really wish this town was real, so I could take a trip and visit it and its unusual inhabitants along with the mundane ones living there too. Edgy at times and down to earth at others, Night Shift captures the reader’s imagination with a paranormal mystery hook, line and sinker.

Review: Midnight Crossroad & Day Shift (Midnight, Texas #1 &#2)
Review: Night Shift (Midnight, Texas #3)

I give Night Shift 5 sheep.

SharonS

About the Author:
website-FB-twitter
Charlaine Harris is a New York Times bestselling author who has been writing for over thirty years. She was born and raised in the Mississippi River Delta area. Though her early works consisted largely of poems about ghosts and teenage angst, she began writing plays when she attended Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. She switched to novels a few years later, and achieved publication in 1981 with Sweet and Deadly.

Personally, Harris has been married for many years. She mother of three wonderful children and the grandmother of two. She lives in central Texas, and when she is not writing her own books, she reads omnivorously. Her house is full of rescue dogs.

Book Review: Night Shift (Midnight, Texas #3) by Charlaine Harris

Night Shift (Midnight, Texas #3)
by Charlaine Harris

May 3rd 2016 by Ace

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Sookie Stackhouse novels—“the Mark Twain of things that live under your bed”*—comes a new novel of Midnight, Texas, the town where some secrets will never see the light of day...

At Midnight’s local pawnshop, weapons are flying off the shelves—only to be used in sudden and dramatic suicides right at the main crossroads in town.

Who better to figure out why blood is being spilled than the vampire Lemuel, who, while translating mysterious texts, discovers what makes Midnight the town it is. There’s a reason why witches and werewolves, killers and psychics, have been drawn to this place.

And now they must come together to stop the bloodshed in the heart of Midnight. For if all hell breaks loose—which just might happen—it will put the secretive town on the map, where no one wants it to be...

I love this series for many reasons, but the biggest is Harris' writing style. It isn't just a story, it is a reading experience. From the first line "The first suicide arrives one October night." I feel like part of the town of Midnight, Texas, flawlessly slipping into each character's head when the point of view changes. And I like everyone in the town. Would I live there if it was real? Hell, yes! You should see the weretigers... *fans self*

Something is waking up underneath the crossroad in Midnight and the very secretive residents of the town must work together to figure out what it is and how to stop it. We finally get to learn about everyone's past, but unfortunately all the loose end were tied up so it appears this will be the last Midnight, Texas book...and that makes me sad. I will miss quirky Fiji, adorkable Manfred, awkward Bobo, scary Olivia, mysterious Lemuel, somber Rev, contrite Chuy and Joe, and hanging out at the Pawn Shop.

Many thanks to Harris for letting me move into Midnight, Texas for a little while.

Review: Midnight Crossroad & Day Shift (Midnight, Texas #1 &#2)

5 "Ritual Sex" Sheep

SharonS

About the Author:
website-FB-twitter
Charlaine Harris is a New York Times bestselling author who has been writing for over thirty years. She was born and raised in the Mississippi River Delta area. Though her early works consisted largely of poems about ghosts and teenage angst, she began writing plays when she attended Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. She switched to novels a few years later, and achieved publication in 1981 with Sweet and Deadly.

Personally, Harris has been married for many years. She mother of three wonderful children and the grandmother of two. She lives in central Texas, and when she is not writing her own books, she reads omnivorously. Her house is full of rescue dogs.

Book Review: Day Shift (Midnight, Texas #2) by Charlaine Harris

Day Shift (Midnight, Texas #2)
by Charlaine Harris
Hardcover, 320 pages
Expected publication: May 5th 2015 by Ace
In Midnight Crossroad, Charlaine Harris “capture[d] the same magic as the world of Bon Temps, Louisiana, and [took] it to another level" (Houston Press). Now the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Sookie Stackhouse novels returns to the one-traffic-light town you see only when you’re on the way to someplace else…

There is no such thing as bad publicity, except in Midnight, Texas, where the residents like to keep to themselves. Even in a town full of secretive people, Olivia Charity is an enigma. She lives with the vampire Lemuel, but no one knows what she does; they only know that she’s beautiful and dangerous.

Psychic Manfred Bernardo finds out just how dangerous when he goes on a working weekend to Dallas and sees Olivia there with a couple who are both found dead the next day. To make matters worse, one of Manfred’s regular—and very wealthy—clients dies during a reading.

Manfred returns from Dallas embroiled in scandal and hounded by the press. He turns to Olivia for help; somehow he knows that the mysterious Olivia can get things back to normal. As normal as things get in Midnight…

Midnight Crossroad (Midnight, Texas #1)
by Charlaine Harris
Hardcover, First Edition, 305 pages
Published May 6th 2014 by Ace Hardcover
FIRST IN A NEW TRILOGY
From Charlaine Harris, the bestselling author who created Sookie Stackhouse and her world of Bon Temps, Louisiana, comes a darker locale—populated by more strangers than friends. But then, that’s how the locals prefer it…

Welcome to Midnight, Texas, a town with many boarded-up windows and few full-time inhabitants, located at the crossing of Witch Light Road and Davy Road. It’s a pretty standard dried-up western town.

There’s a pawnshop (someone lives in the basement and is seen only at night). There’s a diner (people who are just passing through tend not to linger). And there’s new resident Manfred Bernardo, who thinks he’s found the perfect place to work in private (and who has secrets of his own).

Stop at the one traffic light in town, and everything looks normal. Stay awhile, and learn the truth...

I read book one, Midnight Crossroad, and then book two right after. What a great way to spend my week. People either love or hate the new Midnight Texas series from Harris. I’m on the loving side. The biggest complaint the “haters” have is the  so called "slow boring pace." And if it had been written by another author with less talent then yes, that would have been the case. But I wasn't looking for a fast and furious story…and I do love those! But the joy of this story is found in the craft of writing as much as it is the characters and town where they live.

Subtle is the word I’d use. A stroll through the life of these unique and fascinating characters. I also love the multiple POVs, which a lot of people don't. For me, it added more dimensions to the story. As you read, it seems like the town and characters are mundane, but next thing you know, you turn a dark corner and something unexpected has happened. 

There is a murder mystery that needs to get solved and Harris mentions or brings in some characters from her other series. Namely Manfred. You meet him in two other of Harris’ series as a minor character, but in Midnight, TX he is the new guy in town and through him, the reader is too, and you get to discover Midnight’s secrets along with him.

This isn’t a wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am story. It is a lie back in the porch swing and sip your sweet iced tea kind of read. In book one, I didn’t know “whodunit” till the end. In book two I guessed it pretty early on, but the mystery I was much more interested in was what was up with the Reverend Sheehan.

I liked book two a bit more than book one. But we are talking the difference between 4.5 and 5 sheep.

The Midnight, Texas series gets 5 “secretive” Sheep

SharonS

About the Author:
website-FB-twitter
Charlaine Harris is a New York Times bestselling author who has been writing for over thirty years. She was born and raised in the Mississippi River Delta area. Though her early works consisted largely of poems about ghosts and teenage angst, she began writing plays when she attended Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. She switched to novels a few years later, and achieved publication in 1981 with Sweet and Deadly.

Personally, Harris has been married for many years. She mother of three wonderful children and the grandmother of two. She lives in central Texas, and when she is not writing her own books, she reads omnivorously. Her house is full of rescue dogs.