The Story Behind the Story: Japanese Horror - Poa by Derek Vasconi

"A master of modern Japanese horror." 

After the bestselling, award-winning success of the Japanese horror sensation KAI, Derek Vasconi returns with his most disturbing vision yet: a chilling exploration of devotion so absolute it consumes everything in its path.

 

Write what you know. Live what you don’t know.

Whenever I write horror stories, I always think about how to make the story feel as real as possible. To do that, my method of writing involves me getting as close to whatever it is I’m writing about and learning everything there is to know about it. For example, for my first novel, KAI, I went to Japan for the very first time in my life in order to immerse myself in Hiroshima culture. 

 

KAI’s main character is a young Japanese girl living in Hiroshima who wants to destroy the world. I grew up near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in America. I had never been out of the country before, so going to Japan was a really big deal for me. However, I felt it was really necessary to live in Hiroshima for a few months and connect with the locals there so that I could research and find out the little details about Hiroshima that tourists would never see or know about. And I did just that. I met a young woman who grew up in Hiroshima and had lived there all her life. She allowed me to live with her and showed me so many things that helped me depict a real Hiroshima in KAI. True. Honest.

Of course, in KAI, many of the horrific elements are supernatural in nature. Yet, readers can accept these supernatural elements because everything else in the story is not fiction, but based on facts and truth. This approach to writing seems to have worked, as KAI went on to win many awards and was a bestseller on Amazon in 2016.

When I finished writing KAI, I jumped right into researching the story that would eventually become my second novel, POA. What I didn’t realize was how crazy my life would become as a result of doing research for POA. The whole writing process took a decade. By the end of it all, I had interviewed Japanese porn stars, drunk with a yakuza drug lord, and sat down face-to-face with perhaps one of the most dangerous men on the planet. I flew to Japan six times for research purposes, and eventually, ended up moving to Japan so I could finish writing POA.

The interesting thing for me is that the inspiration for POA came to me after I had a discussion with a Japanese woman one day, about twelve years ago. We were talking about family, and how much she loved her father, in particular. This woman said she would do anything for her father, as she truly loved him with all of her heart. So, half-jokingly, I asked her what she would do if her father asked her to bomb Shinjuku Station—would she do it? The woman thought about my question seriously, and with a straight face and with no smile anywhere to be found, she said she wouldn’t hesitate to kill everybody inside of Shinjuku Station for her father. If there is such a thing as feeling ice sliding down your veins, I experienced such a chilled sensation in the moment she said this to me. I will never forget it. Even after I pressed her harder on the subject, she didn’t back down from her conviction that no matter what her father asked her to do, she would do it without question. Even murdering millions of innocent people.

This kind of blind devotion of a daughter to her father intrigued me. So, I then started to think about how I could use this idea as a basis to write a story about a Japanese woman obsessed with a Japanese male porn star, and the lengths she would go to to make this porn star belong to her in every way possible.

Through a Japanese interpreter whom I hired who had amazing research skills and connections, I was able to set up a meeting with Japan’s number one male AV actor (in Japan, porn is referred to as “AV”). Actually, he’s not called an “AV actor,” but is known in the Japanese AV industry as an “eromen.” This is a type of male AV actor who is known for looking exceedingly handsome, much like a Japanese male idol singer, and is also kind to women in AV movies. There are many eromen, and they almost all perform in special types of AV films that target women, not men, as their main consumers. These types of AV films aren’t like normal AV films either, as there is a lot of story and very little sex. And the sex that there is in the films tends to focus on the pleasure and happiness of the female AV actresses. These eromen are usually polite and respectful archetypes, and the actors playing them assume these roles to perfection. As such, the actors themselves have legions of female fans who treat them like they are rock stars in real life.

Setting up an interview with Japan’s number one eromen actor took over a year of negotiations with his agency to arrange. It also took a lot of money. When I was finally able to interview him, we had a very long discussion about his life, shooting eromen films, and what it’s like to be an eromen as compared to his normal, regular life. I learned so much from him. I also remember when the interview was over, he asked me if I had ever considered becoming an eromen. I reminded him that he didn’t need to charm me like he does his female co-stars, but I could see why women consider him to be the cream of the eromen crop. He even tried to make me feel special, and this was after the cameras had stopped rolling!

Fast forward a few years later, and I needed to understand how the flow of illegal items takes place in a strictly regulated country like Japan. There is a certain section in POA where the main character gets involved with something highly illegal and extremely dangerous. Who better to teach me about this type of thing than a yakuza member? They are the notorious gang members of Japan who, historically, have controlled things like the drug trade and prostitution that take place in cities like Tokyo, Osaka, and smaller cities as well. If I needed to know about anything illegal going on in Japan, talking to a yakuza member seemed like a good place to start.

Somehow, it was easier to set this interview up than it was with the eromen actor. The yakuza member, after doing a brief background check on me, agreed to meet with me. He was reluctant at first to talk about his gang’s current business activities, but after a while, he loosened up. He was really curious about my tattoos. I have 98 hours of tattoo work all over my body. This was my way in with him, as yakuza are known for their tattoos. I eventually learned about acquiring illegal items in Japan. What items I’m referring to, or the method I learned, I can’t discuss, but this information helped me really put together a viable story of destruction that happens in POA. In other words, I pretended as though I would be the one committing the horrific acts that take place in POA’s later chapters. I pretended right up to the point of actually doing these horrible things I’m talking about. Of course, I didn’t, but knowing that I could get away with the things I was researching with relative ease both scared me and motivated me to proceed with writing POA. I felt that by the time readers reach the end of POA, the consequences of the main character’s blind devotion to another will be scarier after realizing that what she does could really, in fact, happen in Japan. I am frightened myself just thinking about it!

Perhaps the craziest thing I did to achieve the level of horror that is reached in POA happened because I sat face-to-face with one of the most dangerous men not just in Japan, but in the entire world. I can’t say who it was, but let's just say he was part of a dangerous group of people who completely altered the history of Japan in a terrible and tragic way. This man did not go to jail nor was he executed for what the group he belonged to did, either. I was quite shocked to learn this in my research, as POA’s story is glued to the history and fate of this man and this dangerous group.

Somehow, after three years of tracking this man down in Japan and arranging an interview with him, I found myself talking to him inside of his apartment. He spoke fluent English and was, surprisingly, very open and forthcoming with me with his answers to my questions. Well, I really had only one main question I wanted to ask him, as he was part of an event that, historically, does not have a lot of documentation available online to fact-check. When he confirmed what I had suspected all along about what really happened with this event, the discussion between us became personal. I asked him about his life, and he told me about his father leaving his mother when he was young, and how this paved the way for him to join this dangerous group that was led by a charismatic father-figure type—someone who could replace the absentee father in this man’s life. The problem was that this father figure was a murderer who drove his followers to commit the single worst act of terrorism in the history of Japan. Maybe it’s obvious who I’m talking about, but I prefer not to even mention this man’s name, as it’s stained with the blood of many innocent people.

I am not sure why I didn’t feel scared for my life sitting across from the person whom I interviewed who belonged to this dangerous group. We talked for nearly three hours. I have a degree in a psychological field, and I found our discussion to be utterly fascinating from the perspective of sociopathy. To not feel anything for causing the deaths of so many innocent people, and to feel as though these deaths were justified in order to cleanse the world and cleanse these people who died of their bad karma and sins… all this played into the motivation for what this man and his group did. And that idea of justifying horror for devotion to a belief, or in the case of my main character, another person… this is really what POA is all about. What will a person do for love, or belief, or both? Attempting to answer this question in my story scared me way more than talking to this dangerous man.

I’m being intentionally vague because I don’t want to ruin the surprise plot twist in POA. I’m sorry for that. I also feel like, in the decade I spent researching POA, I experienced what madness and sociopathy look like up close and personal. I don’t regret doing this, though, as this is my writing style.

Write what you know. Live what you don’t know.
-----

Poa

by Derek Vasconi
June 25, 2026
Genre: Horror /Cult/Japanese Horror
Word Count: Approx. 85,000 words (334 pages)
Content Warnings: Graphic Sex, Graphic Violence, Suicidal Ideation
Josh Ramos (Cover Art)

Her love is a virus: quiet, invisible, and perfectly patient...

Ayano is a predator.

While the world sees only a woman of flawless beauty, her perfection is a calculated front maintained through ascetic yoga and a deliberate immersion in the sex trade. She did not become a prostitute for money, but for an education in the mechanics of human intimacy-learning about the desires of men while mastering the art of manipulation. She is a woman obsessed, sculpting herself into the only shape capable of catching the eye of Taka Yoshino, Japan's most adored eromen idol.

After meeting Ayano at a DVD release event and later an arranged fan date, Taka-a professional at selling a gentle fantasy of love to the housewives and lonely women of Japan-believes he has finally found a fan he can truly be himself with. He is impressed by Ayano's beauty and feels they have a rare, genuine connection.

He was wrong. Dead wrong. Because for Ayano, Taka is only the first step into total, absolute madness.

In the tradition of Ryu Murakami's Audition, the curated grace of the "perfect woman" is merely a shroud for a horror that defies comprehension. But where Murakami's nightmare was an intimate betrayal, Ayano's is a global contagion. Indeed, her devotion is to a vision far more sinister and devastating than a simple obsession. Everything she does is for somebody who has shaped her entire being since she was a child, molding her into an instrument of destruction that will bring about the end of the world-in order to save it.

But can she save herself?

Amazon 

 

About the Author:
website
Derek Vasconi is an award-winning horror novelist, filmmaker, and game designer based in Tokyo, Japan. He is the author of the bestselling, award-winning novel KAI (winner of the National Indie Excellence Award for Best Horror Book) and its highly anticipated psychological follow-up, POA. Deeply embedded in the underground Japanese music and subculture scenes, Derek also founded the international e-commerce platform IdolUnderworld.com and wrote and directed the theatrical documentary series Flowers of Passion. When he isn't writing twisted dark fiction, he can be found designing narrative-driven retro RPGs, playing guitar, or uncovering the hidden, gritty realities of Tokyo's neon streets.

Science Fiction: Cloud Hands: The Disclosure Files - Book One by Nancy J. Nelson + excerpt

I’ve actually seen UFOs!

Because I write science fiction, people often ask whether I believe in UFOs—and whether I’ve ever seen one. The answer to both is yes!

A few months ago, I paid $90 to attend a UFO-spotting event in Sedona, Arizona. We gathered in a park at the edge of town—ideal for sky-watching since Sedona is a “dark skies” community and the stars shine amazingly clear in the high desert. The organizer, Melinda Leslie, handed out military-grade night-vision goggles, told us where to focus—behind a mountain deep in Coconino National Park—and briefed us on what to expect.

The goggles intensified any light but didn’t provide clear outlines. With the naked eye, we could see nothing. Through the goggles, we saw shifting blobs of light—it was like looking at a drop of water through a microscope and seeing the swarming of amoeba.

Melinda explained how to identify what we were seeing by the strobe patterns: commercial planes flash differently from military ones. (There were plenty of military aircraft that night, but no commercial ones.) The lights weren’t satellites or drones, and she told us to watch for the steady, unblinking ones that suddenly “powered up,” glowing brighter for 15–30 seconds before dimming again, sometimes shifting to amber, red, green, or blue. Sometimes their movements made it look like whoever was flying them had figured out anti-gravity.

Sedona also has other strange stories. It’s a hiker’s paradise, but some hikers report being stopped by armed men in fatigues on certain trails—only for the same path to be clear the next day. Lockheed Martin recently bought a local cement plant and installed unusually tight security, and Blackhawk helicopters are often seen overhead.

Melinda believes all this points to a DUMB—a Deep Underground Military Base—in the area. She admits it’s hard to know whether these craft are extraterrestrial or advanced military technology, but at least three people have claimed to have worked there and claimed that humans and aliens operate side by side.

Personally, I hope that’s true. It would mean we’re not alone—and that the universe is full of other civilizations waiting to be discovered. But if it’s only the military, that means anti-gravity tech exists and is being kept from the rest of us.

Either way, it gave me great material. I even worked a secret underground base into my third book—so I’m pretty sure the $90 I paid is tax-deductible.

Cloud Hands: The Disclosure Files - Book One 
by Nancy Nelson
A grieving diplomat. Three teenagers. A secret worth killing for.

When Vicki Heywood accepts a quiet summer job watching over the teenage children of her former professor, she expects a peaceful reset. Instead, she finds herself in the middle of a deadly conspiracy involving covert alien technology and a powerful corporate conglomerate determined to control it at any cost.

The Partnership is not a rumor. It’s real, ruthless, and above the law.

And the aliens aren’t happy about it.

Suddenly on the run, Vicki must rely on her training, her instincts, and the fragile trust forming between her and the young people depending on her. As they uncover what the Partnership is really hiding, they realize they’re facing something far beyond politics or espionage—something that could reshape global power itself.

And the Partnership will stop at nothing to silence them.

Cloud Hands launches The Disclosure Files™, blending science fiction, geopolitics, and spiritual evolution. The series rips open the veil on power, control, and the weaponization of truth. As governments fracture and old powers cling to secrecy, it’s the youth who turn rebellion into revelation—hacking the system, rewriting the code, and igniting a movement that spans worlds.

The next frontier isn’t space—it’s us.

For fans of the X-Files and author Amie Kaufman.

Ages: 14+

Amazon

 

Prologue
I used to think this story was about me. After all, isn’t everyone the

star of their own life? It was only later that I realized we are all just

bit players in some ever-repeating, cosmic pattern—a fractal pattern

made up of love, hardship, desperation, joy, sorrow, and hope.

Let’s never forget about hope.

—Victoria Heywood

Excerpt from address to the UN

There was a little cluster of forget-me-nots arranged in a vase on the table in front of Vicki. They had been Beth's favorite flowers. Small and vibrant, so cute they made you smile. Just like Beth herself.

The waitress put a cup of coffee and a pastry before her, and the same in front of the man seated across the table. Kurt Martinsson—she had called him Professor Martinsson when he taught her senior business seminar a decade earlier—added some sugar to his cup before he took a sip. Well-built, dark hair with a touch of gray at his temples. He had aged well. His bespoke sports jacket, manicured nails, and expensive haircut suggested he was also doing well.

“It was kind of you to look me up, Professor Martinsson, especially after all this time. To be honest, I haven’t been getting out much.” She hadn’t been getting out at all. What was the point? Their parents had died in a car accident several years back, and now Beth was gone too. Per her request, there had been a closed casket; the chemo had ravaged her body and taken all her hair. There was no amount of makeup, no wig good enough, that could have fixed that.

“I heard about your sister, Vicki; I’m so sorry. I understand you left your position at the Department of State to look after her.”

Beth had argued against that. “I’m young and strong; I’ll be able to beat this—there’s no reason for you to leave the job you worked so hard to get. Mom and Dad were so proud that you became a diplomat—they wouldn’t have wanted you to give that up.” She had been wrong about being able to beat the cancer, but right that their parents had been proud. They would have been just as proud to see their youngest open up her own flower shop in a prime location in downtown Los Angeles.

“I took a year’s leave of absence when it became clear my sister’s illness was terminal. I have another four months before I either return to work or submit my official resignation.”

“So, you haven’t decided what you'll do?” Professor Martinsson cocked his head to one side and looked at her. He had finished his croissant. She hadn’t even started on hers.

“No, I haven’t. Every time I start thinking about it...” She looked down at her coffee cup. It was too hard to think. Too hard to think about the future or anything else. She had officially shut down Beth’s flower shop the week after her sister died, although it hadn’t been in operation for a couple of months before that. At Beth’s urging, her two part-time employees had both found other jobs, and the shop sat dark and shuttered. She supposed she should do something—make arrangements to sell the building or rent it out —but she just didn’t have the bandwidth.

“I have an idea that might interest you. I need to do a lot of traveling over the next few months. My two children are more than old enough to stay home by themselves—Brad is sixteen and Jessica is twenty-two—especially since there’s household staff. But I’d feel better if someone was around to keep tabs on them specifically.”

He paused, then casually asked, “You do still have a Top-Secret Clearance, don’t you?”

Vicki looked up from her coffee and stared.

.

About the Author:
website
Nancy Nelson retired after 25 years as a U.S. diplomat, during which she served in Venezuela, Nicaragua, Estonia, Canada, and Washington, D.C. She spent a few more years launching her kids and traveling the world. She now lives in California.

Time-Travel SciFi Author: Kim Megahee - The Best Writing Advice I Ever Got! + excerpt

Every moment matters — and in Marc McKnight Time Travel Adventures by Kim Megahee, even the smallest choices can unravel the universe.

  

The Best Writing Advice I Ever Got!
My sister Laura invited me to her church one Sunday. To my surprise, the program that day was more secular than religious.

The speaker challenged us — “What are you doing with the time of your life? Are you spending your time doing things that improve your heart or mind or soul?”

This pushed me onto a path of thought I had never gone down before. How was I using the time of my life?

“WORKING” was my first response. I worked 60+ hours a week for a computer consulting firm. It was fun, fulfilling work, and I enjoyed it. But it occurred to me I had no social life and no outlet for pent-up energy.

Then I remembered my TIME LIMITS book. I’d worked on it for two years but completed only a few chapters — and I wasn’t satisfied with them.

“I should finish my book,” I said to Laura.

We talked about it as we drove home, and Laura suggested we stop at a local Starbucks for coffee. She didn’t have to ask me twice. If coffee is involved, I’m there!

We ordered in so we could chat and spend time together. We continued to talk about the book. In the conversation, I mentioned that I rarely have time to work on it.

Someone touched me on the shoulder. I turned, and next to me sat a man with glasses and a cane.

“Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I’m an author, and if you aren’t writing every day, then you’re kidding yourself.”

The stranger was Shane Etter, a successful horror-suspense writer.

That night, his words surfaced repeatedly in my mind. I knew they were true words, and I didn’t have the time to write.

Another piece of advice came to mind. “If you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.”

Okay, I thought … If I decided to find the time, how would I proceed?

I looked for time, and presto! — I found it. I could get up in the morning thirty minutes earlier. I could write on airplanes and at the airport. I could write in my hotel room, at the bar, or at a restaurant.

It worked! Eight weeks later, I had a final draft of TIME LIMITS, ready for editing.

The best writing advice I ever got — write at least a little every day.

Captain Marc McKnight thought he understood time. A soldier turned investigator, he leads a specialized team tasked with preserving the timeline — until their work exposes the fragile boundaries between fate and chaos. Time Limits introduces McKnight’s fateful mistake, a mission gone wrong that redefines who he is. The Time Twisters transforms politics into temporal warfare, where truth itself can be edited. Time Revolution thrusts McKnight into a world decades ahead, where the ideals he once defended have twisted into something unrecognizable. And in Time Plague, the fight becomes personal, as McKnight faces a dangerous operative from the future and the devastating possibility that love — like time — can destroy as much as it saves. With relentless pacing and emotional depth, Megahee’s series captures the human side of science fiction: courage, guilt, and the fragile hope that something broken can still be mended.

Amazon-Goodreads 

An Excerpt from Chapter 2 of TIME LIMITS
by Kim Megahee
A few minutes later, they were on a path in a pine forest. A light breeze eased the heat of the Georgia sun and the pines whispered to them as they walked further into the woods.

McKnight glanced back in the direction they had come, then at the trail ahead. There was no one in sight. He pulled a form and a pen from his pocket and handed them to Tyler.

“First, the paperwork, Lieutenant. What I’m about to tell you is top secret and cannot be shared with unauthorized personnel, regardless of whether you accept the assignment. Is that understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. Sign the paper.”

Tyler signed and handed it back.

“Very good. Lieutenant, they've asked me to assemble a team to plan and execute missions using a new technology. The size of the team is fewer than ten, including two civilian scientists. I’d like you to be my exec for operations. I need a mission planner with leadership ability, and you’re it. The rest of the team’s still under construction, except for one scientist. We’ll be reporting to General Drake with oversight from Senator Lodge.”

“Working for the Dragon would be good. Oversight from Lodge? That’s not so good. He’s my Senator, but I didn’t vote for him. He’s a damned crocodile. I don’t trust him.”

“Lodge is the General’s problem. We’re the grunts. Our job is to execute.”

“So, what’ll we be doing?”

“The team is being called the HERO Project.”

Tyler rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, I know. Stay with me, Lieutenant. HERO stands for Historical Event Research Organization. In a nutshell, we’re going to be researching and validating historical events. Here, let’s take a load off.”

They sat on a wood bench alongside the running trail. McKnight looked across the path at a dogwood in full bloom and a bank of azaleas in unrestrained spring glory. Bumblebees hummed in and around the flowers.

“If you’re trying to sell me on how exciting the project will be, you’re failing miserably. Sounds like we’d be spending the next few years in the library and on the net, writing papers. Doesn’t sound like fun to me. Is there something I’m missing here?”

A thin smile formed on McKnight’s face. “Well, Lieutenant, I daresay we’ll be doing paperwork. I didn’t mention libraries or the net.”

Tyler scrunched up his face. “Then how? No library, no net. Where’s that leave us? Interviewing elderly witnesses?”

McKnight shook his head, waiting for Tyler to make the leap. Tyler sat on the bench, his elbows on his knees, his hands clasped together and his head down. After a moment, he looked at McKnight.

“You can’t be suggesting what I’m thinking.”

He’s getting there. “And what is that, Lieutenant?”

“Nope. I’m not going to say it. I must be missing something.” He paused. “All right. How do we witness an event in the past? We don’t have the technology to…. Wait, you mentioned a new technology, didn’t you?”

“I did.” McKnight allowed himself a little smile. One last hint. “You took physics at the Point, right?”

“What? Of course.”

“Um-hmm.”

Tyler stared at him. His eyes narrowed and darted around. He resumed the position with his elbows on his knees and his eyes on the ground.

“Who’s the scientist?” he said without looking up.

“Robert Astalos. He does research at MIT–”

“I'm familiar with him. I read a white paper he and his family wrote last year about interstellar propulsion. Son and grandson, I believe, all with the same name. Let’s see… Einstein related speeds close to the speed of light with time slowing down. Nobody has proved that wrong. And gravity is not a force, but a distortion of time-space. Everitt validated that.” Tyler sat up straight and looked McKnight in the eye. “Astalos invented time travel?”

Bingo. “Well, I’ll let him share the specifics with you, but that’s the bottom line. Interested, Lieutenant?”

“Are you kidding? Who wouldn’t be? Anything else you want to tell me? Do we have aliens in Area 51?”

McKnight laughed. “Not that I know of. Want the rest of the details, Lieutenant?”

“Yes, sir. You bet I do.”

“I thought you might. Here’s the short form. We’ll operate out of the DC area. Only a few people know about this. The charter for the HERO Team is strictly research. We’re forbidden to do anything that might affect history. There’s a mandatory risk/benefit analysis and research period required before traveling to make sure we cover the bases. No options, no exceptions, unless the President issues an Executive Order to bypass the process.

“The other civilian on the team will be another planner, your civilian counterpart. He or she hasn’t been picked yet. The General’s reserved the right to pick that person. You and I get no say,” McKnight said, holding up his hand to cut off any objection. “We need a shitload of testing before we can do any work. We don’t know enough about the technology yet. Questions?”

“Ha! Only a few hundred. This is supposed to be secret? Nobody outside the organization knows about it?”

“Well, for as long as that lasts. Congress is involved, right?”

“Yeah. I’m surprised the word isn't out already.”

McKnight shrugged. “The day is young. But yes, until we hear otherwise from the General, the project doesn’t exist and we’re working on special projects for Colonel Stewart.”

“Okay. Why do we need the civilian planner?” Tyler asked.

“The official word is to balance the team. I suspect it’s because Congress doesn’t trust the military. I assume it’ll be an egghead guy with serious credentials and no government ties. Drake wants someone with no agenda.”

“Got it. Do you have anyone else in mind for the team?”

“I do,” McKnight said. He pulled a folded piece of paper from his breast pocket and handed it to Tyler. “What do you think?”

“Lieutenant Mitch Wheeler. From North Georgia College, right? Good pick. Has a degree in physics if I remember correctly.”

“Yep. That one was easy. And his buddy Hatcher, too.”

“Yes, sir. Should be a good team.” Tyler handed the list back.

“Glad you approve.” McKnight checked the time on his phone. “I need to go catch a plane, Lieutenant. Transition your work ASAP and report to me in DC Monday week. Questions?”

“Yes, sir, but they can wait until next week.”

“Very good. I have two more instructions for you.” He stood and Tyler followed.

“What’s that, sir?”

McKnight smiled at his new executive officer. “Number one, don’t bring any preconceptions about time travel with you. Doctor Astalos says most of what the science fiction writers came up with was wrong.”

“And number two?”

“The other two Robert Astalos’s? The men that coauthored that paper?”

“Yes?”

“They aren’t his son and grandson. They’re all him. They call themselves Robert, Rob and Robby, but they’re all the same guy.”

About the Author:
website
 Kim Megahee’s storytelling blends the precision of science with the poetry of second chances. A teacher turned technologist turned author, he writes from experience — the lessons learned in classrooms, boardrooms, and quiet hours of reflection. His first publication, “The Camping Parachute,” in SouthernReader.com, marked the beginning of a journey that would merge intellect and imagination. From his home in Gainesville, Georgia, where he lives with his wife, Martha, and their spirited poodle, Leo, Kim continues to explore how humanity and technology intersect in unexpected ways. You can find him on his website, Instagram, and Facebook. 

The Witches Who Went to War: The Real History Behind Her Darkest Hour by Suzy Henderson

The Witches Who Went to War: The Real History Behind Her Darkest Hour

When I started writing Her Darkest Hour, I wasn’t just inspired by the idea of witches in wartime—I was captivated by the real, historical belief that magic could be used to defend Britain.

In researching the book, I discovered a lineage of magical resistance stretching back centuries. In 1588, when the Spanish Armada threatened England, tales emerged of magical circles cast to summon storms. During the Napoleonic Wars, rural communities quietly turned to cunning folk—herbalists, charmers, and wise women—to protect them from invasion.

But perhaps most fascinating of all is the rumour that during WWII, a group of witches gathered in the New Forest to perform a ritual known as the Cone of Power. Their aim? To stop Hitler from setting foot on British soil. It sounds like folklore—but it’s part of Britain’s strange, often forgotten magical undercurrent. The war wasn’t just fought on beaches and battlefields. It was fought, too, in glades and gardens, by those who believed the spiritual realm had a part to play.

That hidden history became the beating heart of Her Darkest Hour. Eliza Maclean, a young Scottish witch, is drawn from her quiet life on the Isle of Mull into a war she never expected to fight. Recruited by MI5, she finds herself hunting a German spy in Cambridge—but with magic, not guns.

I wanted to honour both the women who stepped into wartime roles and the lesser-known stories of those who used ancient knowledge to protect what they loved. Eliza’s magic is not flashy or cinematic—it’s rooted in emotion, empathy, and intuition. And that, perhaps, is what made it so powerful.

In the end, this book is a tribute to the quiet guardians of our past—those who lit candles, traced symbols, whispered prayers to old gods, and believed, fiercely, in their country’s protection.

What if those rituals worked?

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy discovering Eliza’s journey in Her Darkest Hour.

Suzy Henderson
Author of Her Darkest Hour
#HerDarkestHour #HistoricalFantasy #WartimeWitches

Her Darkest Hour
by Suzy Henderson
Publication date: May 8th 2025
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Historical
In the shadow of war, a young woman must choose: deny her magic or wield it to stop a traitor before Britain falls.

England, 1939. A young witch. A nation at war. A spy hiding in plain sight.

As war looms over Britain, Eliza MacLean wants nothing more than an ordinary life. Raised on the Isle of Mull, she’s spent years denying her gifts—just as her mother insisted. But her grandmother taught her differently, whispering ancient knowledge of herbs, charms, and spells.

When her grandmother dies, Eliza seeks refuge in Cambridge with her cousin and the women of the WVS. But beneath its spires and blacked-out streets, Cambridge hides more than just scholars and soldiers. A secret network of witches is working to protect Britain from an enemy who knows magic is real—and seeks to weaponise it.

Drawn into the fight, Eliza is thrust into a world of espionage, deception, and occult warfare. Her rare abilities catch the attention of MI5 agent Alex Fletcher, who needs her help to unmask a deadly spy before it’s too late.

As she learns to harness her power, Eliza finds herself torn between duty and love, risking everything for Jim, a fighter pilot whose fate seems written in the stars. But war is ruthless, and magic has a price.

With the spy closing in and the war reaching new heights of peril, Eliza’s only hope of saving those she loves is to embrace the very magic she’s spent a lifetime hiding—no matter the cost.

But some powers were never meant to be used.

Perfect for fans of A Discovery of Witches and The Rose Code, Her Darkest Hour blends historical fiction with supernatural intrigue in a gripping tale of war, witchcraft, and sacrifice.

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About the Author:
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Suzy Henderson is the author of The Beauty Shop, Madame Fiocca, and SPITFIRE, novels which are set during the turbulent times of World War Two. She also writes romance and recently released a novella, Christmas in the Highlands, a best seller on Amazon UK.

Her debut novel, The Beauty Shop, was awarded the B.R.A.G. Medallion. It is based on the true story of pioneering plastic surgeon, Sir Archibald McIndoe, and the Guinea Pig Club – an exclusive club for RAF pilots and airmen who required plastic surgery as a result of their war injuries and were under the care of this enigmatic New Zealander.

Madame Fiocca is also based on a true story. This gripping adventure follows the tempestuous life of SOE heroine, Nancy Wake before and during the Second World War.

Suzy lives with her family on the edge of the Lake District, where she can be found rambling around lakes, country lanes or roaming the fells. Armed with a pen, a love of reading and a growing obsession with military and aviation history, she is often lost in the 1940s, writing historical fiction.

To receive all Suzy's latest book news, do join her reading group here & claim a free story: https://www.suzyhenderson.com

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The Story Behind The Story: Places of Power by Linda Thomas-Sundstrom

Hi Sheepsters...

I have just released a book that I started in 1995 while traveling through the UK because it recently, as before, whispered the story to me. No plotting necessary.

I had jotted the story down on a series of paper napkins at several pubs in England and Scotland... and had a good start, when I rediscovered those napkins a while ago and wrote the whole thing down as it was supposed to be.

Places of Power derives from a group in the UK known as The Dragon Project, who in the late 1900s studied standing stones and ancient sites, monitoring with their equipment. There were no cell phones then, or modern day ghost-hunter equipment that would have been helpful back then in understanding why these ancient sites are said to hold power and energy. So my book picks up on things as they were in 1995 and all of the sites are real sites that can be found on any map.

The only thing I added to a mostly non-fiction tale, are the characters themselves. All of the research on England's King Arthur were factual at the time.

Places of Power leads readers on a merry chase between ancient sites, and what might happen to people there who really pay attention to their surroundings, and could just have more in their lineage than most folks.

I have included a few photos of the sites in the book. I hope you enjoy following the tale of one woman who feels things more than most, and meets a handsome, sympathetic tour guide who tries to comprehend what's going on.

   

 

1. Stonehenge 2. stones - Trethevy Quoit photo 3. UK portal 4. Tintagel castle from the air

Happy reading!

Linda

Places of Power
by Linda Thomas-Sundstrom
April 2, 2025
Genre: Arthurian Fantasy, Magic Romance
Morgan Faulkner is a young historian used to living life through the pages of old books and the stories her father has told her. Her specialty, as was her father’s, is early British centuries, the times and legends of the Arthurian sagas.

Following in her father’s footsteps, Morgan has vowed to find the missing link in the Arthurian sagas that her father had always sought, which makes her ripe for the seemingly spontaneous meeting with John MacQuarrie, an attractive tour guide who could possibly soften the intense loneliness she feels. . . if she’d let him.

But she hears whispers on the wind as she stands on the cliffs. . . Or does she?
Those whispers compel her to dig deep inside herself for ways to get on with the research.

Or maybe those whispers hint of something else? Something to come?

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About the Author:
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Linda Thomas-Sundstrom is an award-winning author of paranormal romance and urban fantasy, with books from Kensington, Amazon Montlake, Harlequin Nocturne, and GothicScapes.

Linda lives in the west and swears she has "paranormal" in her DNA. A teacher by day and a writer by night, Linda delivers gothic, supernatural fare, both contemporary and historical, and invites you to come on this wild ride with her.

Called gothic, dark, atmospheric, sophisticated, spell-binding, delicious and even yummy, Linda's writing might just incite your passion for the paranormal.

Linda is also part of the urban fantasy trio "GothicScapes."

You can find Linda on Facebook at facebook.com/LindaThomasSundstrom.

Halloween/Days of the Dead tour- Author Gail Z. Martin talks Costumes, Candy, and Characters

Costumes, Candy, and Characters
By Gail Z. Martin

I love to see creative costumes at Halloween, especially the off-beat, homemade ones. A boy once came to our door wearing a table (completely with tablecloth) that had a big serving dish on top. When he lifted up the lid, his own head—with plenty of gory makeup so it looked severed—lay on a plate. He definitely got extra chocolate for that!

The most adventurous I ever got was dressing up as a Roaring Twenties flapper when I was in graduate school. At the time, the town had an amazing costume rental store!

That got me thinking about what the characters in my series would wear if they went trick-or-treating or to a costume ball.

For the medieval series (Chronicles of the Necromancer, Fallen Kings Cycle, Ascendant Kings Saga, Assassins of Landria), ‘costumes’ are usually disguises, used to help collect information or avoid being arrested. In peacetime, the characters might have attended a costume ball, but the stories are set during times of upheaval, so elegant events need to wait until order has been restored. The same is true of the characters in our Wasteland Marshals near-future, post-apocalyptic series. For Jake Desmet and his friends from our steampunk series, going to a costume party would probably mean dressing up like historical figures or characters from books.

In the modern-day stories (Deadly Curiosities, Night Vigil, Spells Salt and Steel, and Joe Mack), it’s fun to think about how the characters might approach Halloween and what costumes they might consider.

My Deadly Curiosities crew would have fun with the concept. They use magic and psychic skills to stop the things that go bump in the night, but they wouldn’t hesitate to decorate Trifles and Folly, Cassidy’s antique shop, for the season, or give out candy.

I can definitely imagine Cassidy, Teag and their friends dressing up on Halloween as the cast of Buffy, knowing that most people won’t get the in-joke that Cassidy and her team really do fight monsters.

Sorren, the nearly 600 year-old vampire who is Cassidy’s business partner, wouldn’t pick a Bela Lugosi costume. He’d be more likely to dress like the real European nobility he mingled with hundreds of years ago.

Travis and Brent from the Night Vigil might take the easy costume choice of dressing like the Winchesters from Supernatural, since they also fight demons. Or they could go as characters from The Walking Dead, because they’ve dealt with more than their share of zombies as well. If they felt particularly sarcastic, Travis still has his old suits and clerical collar shirts from when he was a priest, and Brent could do a dark suit and fedora as a private eye.

If Mark Wjocik from the Spells, Salt, and Steel series went to a bar that threw a Halloween bash, he could be a zombie hunter (since he hunts monsters in real life) and pay homage to Dawn of the Dead and Night of the Living Dead which were filmed not far from his corner of Pennsylvania.

Joe Mack, who is immortal after being brought back from the dead by a Slavic god in the late 1800s, could pick from any of the eras of his long life. I think he might favor dressing up like Eliot Ness from the 1920s.

One thing I’m sure of—they all like Halloween candy and would never turn down chocolate! 

Deadly Curiosities (6 books)

 

Night Vigil (2 books)

Jake Desmet Adventure (2 books)

Joe Mack Chronicles (4 books)

Spells, Salt and Steel (2 books)

Chronicles of the Necromancer (4 books)

The Darkhurst (3 books)

Assassins of Landria (6 books)

 

Wasteland Marshals (1 book)

 

 The Ascendant Kingdoms Saga (4 books)

The Fallen Kings Cycle (2 book)

About the Author
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Follow me on Facebook in the Shadow Alliance reader group (www.Facebook.com/Groups/MartinShadowAlliance), X/Twitter, @MorganBriceAuthor on Instagram and @MorganBriceAuthor on TikTok!Gail Z. Martin writes urban fantasy, epic fantasy, steampunk and more for Solaris Books, Orbit Books, Falstaff Books, SOL Publishing and Darkwind Press. Urban fantasy series include Deadly Curiosities and the Night Vigil (Sons of Darkness). Epic fantasy series include Darkhurst, the Chronicles Of The Necromancer, the Fallen Kings Cycle, the Ascendant Kingdoms Saga, and the Assassins of Landria.

Together with Larry N. Martin, she is the co-author of Iron & Blood, Storm & Fury (both Steampunk/alternate history), the Spells Salt and Steel comedic horror series, the Roaring Twenties monster hunter Joe Mack Shadow Council series, and the Wasteland Marshals near-future post-apocalyptic series. As Morgan Brice, she writes urban fantasy MM paranormal romance, with the Witchbane, Badlands, Treasure Trail, Kings of the Mountain and Fox Hollow series. Gail is also a con-runner for ConTinual, the online, ongoing multi-genre convention that never ends.