A Moon by any other name...

Photo by Peter de Vink from Pexels

Full moons in 2020, according to NASA: 

Jan. 10 Wolf Moon 

Feb. 9 Snow Moon 

Mar. 9 Worm Moon 

Apr. 7 Pink Moon 

May 7 Flower Moon 

Jun. 5 Strawberry Moon 

Jul. 5 Buck Moon 

Aug. 3 Sturgeon Moon 

Sep. 2 Corn Moon 

Oct. 1 Harvest Moon 

Oct. 31 Blue Moon 

Nov. 30 Beaver Moon 

Dec. 29 Cold Moon

American Indian (Cherokee)

 January: Cold Moon       July: Ripe Corn Moon 

February: Bony Moon       August: Fruit Moon

March: Windy Moon    September: Nut Moon

 April: Flower Moon    October: Harvest Moon

       May: Planting Moon   November: Trading Moon

        June: Green Corn Moon     December: Snow Moon

Chinese

January: Holiday Moon     July: Hungry Ghost Moon
February: Budding Moon     August: Harvest Moon
March: Sleepy Moon     September: Chrysanthemum Moon
April: Peony Moon     October: Kindly Moon
May: Dragon Moon     November: White Moon
June: Lotus Moon     December: Bitter Moon

Head over to Keith's Moon Page to find more moon names from these other cultures--along with anything you need to know about the moon.

Colonial American

American Indian (Choctaw)

American Indian (Dakotah Sioux)

Celtic

English Medieval

Neo-Pagan

New Guinea

Exclusive Cover Reveal: Dark Queen (Jane Yellowrock #12 ) by Faith Hunter

Look at this beautiful cover! The twelth book in the Jane Yellowrock series. I know what you are thinking...that looks familiar. It should...

...it's a color/image mirror of Cold Reign!

Release Date: May 1, 2018

384 pages

Publisher: Ace - Penguin Group

Jane Yellowrock is a shapeshifting skinwalker, and as the chief enforcer for the Master of the city of New Orleans, she's the woman that rogue vampires fear most. But now a blood challenge has been issued to Leo by the ancient emperor of vampires, and Jane must stand and fight.

preorder today!

amazon-B&N

New to the series? Check out the book that started it all...

Skinwalker (Jane Yellowrock, Book 1)

by Faith Hunter

May 22, 2009

Jane Yellowrock is the last of her kind-a skinwalker of Cherokee descent who can turn into any creature she desires and hunts vampires for a living. But now she's been hired by Katherine Fontaneau, one of the oldest vampires in New Orleans and the madam of Katie's Ladies, to hunt a powerful rogue vampire who's killing other vamps...

amazon link to series

Be sure to pre order the third book in the Soulwood Series!
amazon 

About the Author:

website-fb-twitter-blog
Faith Hunter, fantasy writer, was born in Louisiana and raised all over the south. She writes three Urban Fantasy series: the Skinwalker series, featuring Jane Yellowrock, a Cherokee skinwalker who hunts rogue vampires. The Soulwood series, featuring earth magic user Nell Ingram. And the Rogue Mage novels, a dark, urban, post-apocalyptic, fantasy series featuring Thorn St. Croix, a stone mage. (There is a role playing game based on the series, ROGUE MAGE.)

Under the pen name Gwen Hunter, she writes action-adventure, mysteries, and thrillers. As Faith and Gwen, she has 30+ books in print in 29 countries.

Hunter writes full-time, tries to keep house, and is a workaholic with a passion for travel, jewelry making, white-water kayaking, and writing. She and her husband love to RV, traveling with their rescued Pomeranians to whitewater rivers all over the Southeast.

Exclusive Excerpt Spotlight: Cold Reign (Jane Yellowrock #11) by Faith Hunter + giveaway

Cold Reign (Jane Yellowrock #11)
by Faith Hunter
Release date: May 2, 2017
Publisher: Roc
Price: $7.99
ISBN: 978-1101991404
Jane Yellowrock is a shape-shifting skinwalker…and the woman rogue vampires fear most.

Jane walks softly and carries a big stake to keep the peace in New Orleans, all part of her job as official Enforcer to Leo Pellissier, Master of the City. But Leo’s reign is being threatened by a visit from a delegation of ancient European vampires seeking to expand their dominions.

And there’s another danger to the city. When she hears reports of revenant vampires, loose in NOLA and out for blood, Jane goes to put them down—and discovers there’s something unusual about these revenants. They never should have risen.

Jane must test her strength against a deadly, unnatural magic beyond human understanding, and a ruthless cadre of near-immortals whose thirst for power knows no bounds…
Amazon -B&N-IndieBound-Kobo-Google Play-Audible


Excerpt:
Eli had his battle face on: no emotion. No reaction. Edmund looked dead. His fangs should have flipped down. He should have ripped into Eli’s arm. He should have vamped out, insane with hunger. But he did nothing, which was infinitely worse. Eli pressed his bleeding wrist to Edmund’s mouth, gravity draining the blood in over Ed’s tongue. Some drizzled out his lips. Pooled in his cheek.

“Come on,” Eli demanded. “Drink, you sorry, fanged piece-a’-shit.”

Nothing happened. Except watery blood pooled slowly on my floor. “Jane,” Eli said. “Call him.”

“What?”

“You’re his master. He’s healed you, so he’s tasted your blood and shared his own with you. Call him. Make him drink. Keep him alive.”

I started to say I had no idea what he was talking about, but Eli snarled, “Do it.”

I started to say I didn’t know how, but Edmund looked like death-still dead, real dead, not undead. I closed my eyes and crossed my legs in a half-guru position. Beast? I called my carnivorous half. She didn’t answer, so I took a breath and dropped slowly into the Gray Between. Silver mist shot through with blue-black motes of power filled my mind. Beast? I know you’re here. How do I call Edmund?”

Beast does not know.

Gimme an idea. He’s . . . dying.

He is dead. He is dead for longer than Beast is alive.

Beast didn’t lie well, if at all, except by obfuscation. A thought occurred to me. How did you call kits when they got away?
She made a little mewling, coughing sound, which wouldn’t help at all.

Then I remembered the electric velvet feel of Sabina’s magics on the air when she called the Mithran vampires of New Orleans for a gather. And the raw, slicing power of Leo calling his scions to him prior to a feeding frenzy. That magic was all vampire, rich and deep and potent as death itself.

I reached out into the Gray Between. Took the silver mist and motes of my skinwalker magic into my . . . not hands. Into my mind. I usually used the magic to shift into an animal for which I had enough DNA material. But when I called Beast, it was different. Easier. I . . . I just thought about her, called her into being. I opened my eyes and looked down at the vampire. He was surrounded by the Gray Between. In the mist of my magics, he looked dead, pale and bloody and unbreathing, heart not beating.

About the Author:

website-Facebook-Twitter

Goodreads

New York Times Bestselling author Faith Hunter writes three series: the Jane Yellowrock series, dark urban fantasy novels featuring Jane, a Cherokee Skinwalker; the Rogue Mage novels, a dark, urban fantasy / post apocalyptic series and role playing game featuring Thorn St. Croix; and the Soulwood Series featuring Nell Nicholson Ingram.

Giveaway!

There’s a tour-wide giveaway for copies of COLD REIGN and totes featuring Beast! Open to US residents only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Blast: Long Claws by Steve Peek + giveaway

Welcome to the Longclaws book blast.  This one of a kind horror novel by Steve Peek is an amazing journey into a different kind of horror story, with a new version of the mythology the reader might not expect. With an average of 4.7 stars out of 5, this is an amazing book that will take you places you don't expect.  Interested?  Read more!

Their world is crowded with active volcanoes, sulfur and acid rains, permanent thick clouds turn day into deep twilight. It is a violent place: moment-to-moment survival is victory, every creature is constantly predator and prey, sleep is certain death. This is home to the longclaws, beings of super-human speed, strength and senses. Their predatory skills allow them only a tenuous niche in their hellish environment. Though smart and fierce, their rank in the food chain is far below the top. One clan leader draws from ancient legends of paradise and devises a plan to escape and take his clan to the otherworld - a world filled with slow, defenseless prey. The clan activates an Indian mound deep in southern forests and enters our world -hungry for prey. Torrential rains and washed out bridges force a runaway teen, an old dowser and a Cherokee healer to face the horrors of the clan's merciless onslaught. Mankind's legends are filled with vampires, werewolves, dragons and other nightmarish. Perhaps our legend of hell is based on the world of the Longclaws.

Steve has only recently seriously taken to writing. Though he wrote and managed to have a couple of books published during his life, something clicked a few years ago and now, for better or worse, he sits at his table researching and writing about things that interest him. His wife, Annie takes care of him. She keeps him eating too well and laughing often in their old farmhouse halfway up the Blue Ridge Mountains. Steve’s forty year career in the game industry allowed him to travel extensively and explore histories and myths of peoples and places. His books on Amazon include: Longclaws, Alien Agenda, Coyote Dreaming, Otherworld and The Game Inventors Handbook. In addition to writing, he works in a vegetable garden trying not to be herbicidal, walks in the woods with a rescued dog and gathers imaginary eggs from a few cut-out, wooden hens. e loves all things ancient and appreciates the magic of life and the interconnection of all things.  He would like to hear from you via jstephenpeek on facebook or send me a message via his contact form.

After Father came home from work, they piled into their family car: a six-year-old 1949 Oldsmobile Futuramic station wagon.  Painted hunter green, their car possessed real wood trim around the side windows. He and his brother sat on blankets in the back, where the third seat had been laid flat to create space for them and the two suitcases. Tom’s sisters—Amanda and Allison—occupied the backseat, with a picnic basket between them. The basket contained sandwiches and cookies, as well as two of their mother’s green-apple pies that she had made for the new widow in Alabama.  Tires in those days were real rubber and produced hypnotic, whining sounds as the car cruised along the highway, causing occasional dogs to give chase. Their father started the car and enumerated the road-trip rules for the Mason family, which applied only to the Mason kids: no horseplay, no loud talking, no teasing brothers or sisters.  They could play games, talk, or tell stories, but in low voices.  If they stopped, everyone would go to the bathroom, real bathroom available or not.  Their estimated time of arrival was 10:00 p.m.  The host family and their guests might all be asleep or ready for bed, so as soon as introductions concluded, the kids were to go to sleep wherever their host placed them. The Futuramic hummed through the moonless darkness.  Boredom settled in, and sleep overtook all the kids except Tom.  Tom clipped his Boy Scout flashlight to the neck of his T-shirt and reread the Superman annual comic book for the thirtieth time. Tom felt the car slow and then turn onto a dirt road packed hard by a summer of little rain.  The tires vibrated on short stretches of washboard ruts in the dirt road.  Tom sensed the edge of motion sickness, so he put away his comic and sat up to stare out the back window through an accumulating layer of reddish dust. His brother, Russ, slept at his side.  At fourteen—the oldest of the Mason kids—their parents expected Russ to become the surrogate father when adults were absent.  Tom never admitted it, but he idolized his brother.  Russ was as close to a hero as Tom could imagine.  Tom knew he could depend on Russ, no matter what. Amanda, two years Tom’s senior, was the more feminine of the two sisters.  Allison—one year older than her sister and the prettier of the two—preferred mud fights and tree climbing to dolls and frilly dresses.  She tried to mother Tom when he hurt himself or fell ill, but Tom would have none of it. Tom stared out the back window.  The taillights cast a scary, red glow behind the car as the tires kicked up dust, which twisted into horizontal dirt-devils streaming from the rear of the car.  Beyond the red glow of the taillights, the complete darkness frightened Tom a little. Tom's father and mother exchanged words.  His mom twisted her body and faced the backseats.  “Wake up kids.  We are going to be there in a few minutes.  Wake up and make yourselves presentable.” The sisters stirred, emerging from whatever dreams had been born of the bouncy car and the background rhythm of the eight-cylinder engine. Mother looked past the girls at him and said, “Tom, wake up your brother.  We are almost there.” Knowing they would be at their mysterious destination soon, Tom’s phobia of meeting new people—especially new kids—welled up, feeling like the anxiety of walking to school to face a waiting bully. Without taking his eyes off the illuminated portion of the road, their father said aloud, as if making an announcement over the school intercom, “I want you on your best behavior.  The folks here are good people.  They are our relatives.  If an adult asks you to do something, do it.” He cleared his throat and continued, “So mind your Ps and Qs.  Oh, and one more thing: last time I visited, they did not have a bathroom in the house; they have an outhouse.” He paused as if preparing to issue a warning or instruction, thought better, and simply said, “You’ll get used to it.  But until you do, no complaining.” Tom saw some lights up ahead: an island in the dark. When they turned right onto the track serving as the driveway to the old country house standing fifty yards from the road, Tom looked at the layout.  The front yard was not really a yard at all.  Once part of a forest, it had been cleared long ago, and now only a few huge pine trees were left, rising over beds of needles.  Tall grass grew here and there, but gave way to dirt paths where people had walked between the pines. Light came from every window.  An electrical wire stretched fifty feet from the top of the front porch to the biggest pine tree Tom had ever seen.  Six bare bulbs—affixed to the wire—dangled about seven feet above the ground. In one of the circles of light beneath the wire, folding chairs formed a perimeter.  The chairs were occupied by men of all ages.  In the center of the group, where a fire might be in fall, sat a large washtub filled with melted ice and bottles of Coca-Cola, RC, and Nehi soda pop.  The men stopped talking to study the Masons’ car. “Hello, stranger,” one of them called, walking toward their car.  Their father nearly leapt out of the car and grabbed the man’s extended hand, which quickly pulled them together for a hug. Russ and Tom climbed out the tailgate and stood alongside the car, watching as a group of twelve or fifteen men and kids approached from the string of light bulbs. The house looked as if it had never seen a coat of paint.  The gray planks warped and strained against the rusty nails, which bled dark-red streaks from years of rain.  The steep, tin roof was nearly invisible in the night sky.  Where the main metal roof ended, another began.  A shallow slope formed a roof for the porch, which ran across the front and left sides of the house. Underneath the porch roof, bare bulbs with dangling pull-strings cast a yellow glow on all the women sitting in rockers.  Conversation halted while they examined the new arrivals. “This is my cousin, Royce.”  Their father indicated the man he’d hugged. “Hello, Royce,” their mother replied with a smile, adding, “Children, say hello to your cousin Royce.” The man was tall and thin, but somehow seemed stronger than he looked. “Hello, ma’am,” he said, offering his hand to their mother.

Follow Steve on social media!

Facebook | Twitter | Add Longclaws on Goodreads | Steve's Blog | Amazon

Buy the book!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Steve will be touring later in the year with the Finishing Fairies.  Please sign up for our mailing list to get more information!