Excerpt: Masqueraded: Act One by Alexis Dees + giveaway

Masqueraded: Act One 
by Alexis Dees
September 18, 2020
Genre: Dark Fantasy, Urban Thriller
The ebook version of this book is currently available for pre-order at a discounted price until the official release on September 18th.

Being haunted by a sinister circus wasn't unusual for the spunky Estela Nannette Sinclair. Neither was the abuse she faced from her adoptive parents. But one was just a dream and the other would resolve in two weeks upon her eighteenth birthday... or so she mistakenly presumed. Her life was a complex façade of lies that hid how deeply she's entangled with three powerhouses of dark magic. Had she been that ignorant of the masquerade before her? An ignorance that wasn't bliss. And an ignorance that meant her corpse would likely decorate an amusement attraction in a mere two weeks' time.

**On sale for only $4.99!!** 

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Excerpt:
On our way down the midway, we crushed underfoot littered popcorn and stuffing that floated in the wind from mutilated stuffed animals. The wooden frames of the games and concession stands were rotting in addition to the paint peeling off of them. They looked a day away from collapsing in on themselves. Perfectly topping off the pitiful state the circus was in was the sound of a haunting calliope playing slowly in the distance.

As familiar as we were to each other, he had no name that I knew of. This was another part of the game he played in my dream. He knew quite well, however, who I was. This being to my disdain. The Ringmaster was fond of humoring himself at my expense.

“How is your family doing, Miss. Sinclair?”

The smooth arrogance of his voice made me an impulse away from socking him in the face. He’d probably just catch my hand, too, like he did with any other projectile.

With a slightly crazed smile on my face, I copied his voice, “I don’t know. What about yours?”

His jaw tightened and I knew I finally hit some sort of spot with him. His typically empty eyes darted to me with a deadly glint in them. If he wasn’t living in my head rent free, I knew he would’ve murdered me.

The grin I gave back only made him tense even more, “Ah, pity.”

About the Author:

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Alexis Dees is a lifelong creative writer and storyteller of all tales enchanting and unsettling. She focuses on stories that maintain a balance of whimsical fantasy, morbid darkness, and offbeat eccentricities... which sometimes ties into the matter of amusement attractions, an industry she's been involved with professionally for nearly ten years as an entertainer. As all sensible intellects do, instead of pursuing a traditional 9 to 5, she's ran away with the circus more than once; and when she's not tied up in aerial silks or reading the Brothers Grimm for the millionth time, she's likely traipsing about an abandoned amusement park.

Giveaway 

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Double Book Review: Fountain Dead by Theresa Braun

Fountain Dead

by Theresa Braun
November 18, 2018
Genre: Mature YA/ Horror/ Paranormal

Publisher: Unnerving
Length: 68,000 words (187 Kindle pages)

ASIN: B07H9KBK2P 

ISBN: 9781989206058
Mark is uprooted from his home and high school in the Twin Cities and forced to move with his family into a Victorian in Nowhere-ville. Busy with the relocation and fitting in, Mark’s parents don’t see what’s unfolding around them—the way rooms and left behind objects seem alive with a haunted past.

Of course, Mark keeps his ghostly encounters to himself, all the while sinking deeper into the house's dark, alluring, and ultimately terrifying history. As romantic entanglements intensify, the paranormal activity escalates. Past and present come together. Everything is connected—from the bricks in the walls to the hearts beating in their chests, all the secrets of Fountain Dead are finally unearthed.

Reviewer: Pamela K. Kinney

I gave Fountain Dead 4 haunted sheep

Fountain of Dead is a coming-of-age story woven into a ghost story. Mark moves with his father, mother, and sister into a Victorian house in the Eighties. At first, only Mark seems to have encounters with ghostly apparitions, shadows, and other supernatural happenings in the house. 

Using alternating chapters, the story of a young woman in the 1800s is told.  Her mother was poisoned by an evil man. Her father and one of her brothers blames her for her mother’s death to distract from their own dark changes. Her father feels he can do anything in the basement of his house…the dungeon. But his mistreatment of the Indians in his mad experiments will bring the spirits down on him and his…but not all of them are bad.

If you enjoy YA stories, coming-of-age mixed with creepy haunted house tales, this novel will fit the bill for you. 

Reviewer: Jeanie G

Getting 3.75 (get out of the house) sheep!

I think this type of storyline is hard to pull off. Two time periods, and 2 (or more sometimes) POV’s make for a “PAY ATTENTION READER” format. Teresa Braun did a great job of trying to keep the reader engaged in the story without a lot of frustration.

Looking back, I think this might make for a good movie screenplay. A house haunted by ghosts of a tragic past (not an original theme) reenacting or influencing actions to try and save a tragic ending to a romance.

You must try to piece together the similarities to grasp the current objective of the haunting and I have to admit, in the beginning the connection is a little thin. But, hey, hang in there and I think everyone will get the clear picture by the end!

Some of the cultural biases may be disconcerting but was probably true to the time period. I was appalled and saddened. It definitely gave more horror to the story and made me root for the young main character to “solve” the mystery and save his family from a repeat tragedy. I enjoyed the read and applaud the author for navigating a complicated storyline with aplomb.

Excerpt
Emma sensed the shockwaves of the earthquake before it struck. The air fizzled with rage.

If Sasha hadn’t run off to get married while Emma was away, the maidservant might’ve proven a heroic buffer to what was to come. Emma missed working alongside her assistant. Now even more than ever.

Emma’s underarms dampened, despite the chill seeping in through the windows. Her trembling hands fiddled with the tray of bandages, ointments, and miscellaneous implements as she mimicked organizing them. When would she get Jonathan alone to update him on her trip? She wondered if having already spoken to him would’ve done any good at the moment.

The door thwacked open.

Riley stormed into the room and menaced beside her.

She straightened her spine to avoid cowering.

His gravelly voice indicated a control of his anger. “Remember what I told you?”

As he neared, Emma’s knees locked, her eyes closed. Where was Jonathan? The entire house had fallen eerily still. God, where was Hugh? Was he ever returning home?

“You’re coming with me.”

His directive left no room for resistance.

“This is as good a time as any to tell you your precious brother’s dead. So you can get it out of your head that he’ll come rescue you. He ain’t ever coming back. And, Pa, well—”

Emma still hadn’t turned to acknowledge him. Even if she did, he’d merely be a haze of color through her tears. The need to know what happened to Hugh attacked her like a swarm of bees. A desperate sadness was the brutal sting. Could the news be accurate? Or was it the cruelest invention meant to debilitate her? She shamefully wished Riley had been the one to die. Tempted to rectify that, she lamented her pistol lay back in her bedroom.

When she didn’t move, he seized her by the arm.

Noticing her attention on the dark object in his other hand, Riley raised it to her face and twirled it between his fingers.

It was Jonathan’s pipe. Had he not taken it with him that next morning? Did Riley discover it in her room? Is that what this was about?

When her brother jerked Emma away, the tray of medical supplies crashed to the floor. Her feet stumbled along through the dining room, into the kitchen, and then down the stairs into the basement. The Mason jars of blood, fluids, and organs stared at her from the shelves, in commiseration, or condemnation. She couldn’t fathom either.

The metal door to the safe gaped wide like a broken jaw.

Her arms and fingers numbed.

Riley shoved her sidelong through the open maw, into the remnant of daylight within.

Praying he’d have a last minute change of heart, Emma faced him, her eyes pleading.

“You better not be carrying that red-devil’s spawn—or I’ll do you like I did that squaw. Don’t think I won’t.”

What was he talking about? One of his war atrocities? Could she be pregnant—the thought hadn’t occurred to her.

“Please,” she begged as the door banged shut, the light snuffing out.

“Think about what you’ve done, you whore.”

He spun the combination lock. The clatter and clicks equaled the lit fuse on a stick of dynamite.

Emma battered the door. “Let me out.”

Riley’s stifled yelling thundered on the other side.

“Please.” Her cheek smashed against the frigid iron.

The tramping of his boots overwhelmed her sobs.

About the Author:
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Hmmm. What’s this? Looks like Ms. Braun left her computer on and her Goodreads bio open.

This should be fun.

What can we say about Theresa? I mean other than the fact that she’s weirdly obsessed with smiley faces :-). Like, seriously obsessed >:-*. It’s kinda scary :-O.

I think she thinks she’s from Renaissance England or Venice or something. I never could figure out which one it was. (She’s really bad at doing accents.)

She likes romance novels and crime TV, which are pretty much the same thing when you think about it. Ha! Am I right?

She has a hell of a singing voice. Seriously. It’s, like, seventh circle of hell bad.

She likes editing. A lot. Just wait till she gets a load a this.

Cats. Shoes. Chips and salsa. In that order.

Yeah, that last part didn’t make sense to me either.

Book Review: America’s Most Haunted: The Secrets of Famous Paranormal Places by Eric Olsen and Theresa Argie

America’s Most Haunted: The Secrets of Famous Paranormal Places
by Eric Olsen and Theresa Argie
Publisher: Berkley
September 30, 2014.
Throughout the United States, there are places haunted by souls both malevolent and benign. Places where paranormal activity runs rampant. Places where we can glimpse the other side…

In America’s Most Haunted, “Haunted Housewife” investigator Theresa Argie and journalist Eric Olsen team up to take you on a first-person tour of some of America’s most active paranormal hotspots.

Experience the crawl through the death tunnel where visitors have reported sightings of an inhuman creature that creeps along the walls and ceilings. Walk the decks of the Queen Mary with the hundreds of souls that met their ends in watery graves. And get to know the spirits that wait in jails, mansions, lunatic asylums, and even a stately old hotel.

Combining spine-tingling stories, documented evidence, and interviews with some of the top names in paranormal investigation—including the stars of TV’s “Ghost Hunters,” “Ghost Adventures,” and more—America’s Most Haunted gives you a terrifying chance to tour our nation’s most famous haunted places.

Are you brave enough to take a look?

As someone who writes nonfiction ghost books and investigates the paranormal, both for fun, Paranormal World Seekers, and even for my books, when I had the chance to review this book, I agreed and settled in to enjoy it, which I did.

Mr. Olsen and Ms. Argie take readers through a spooky tour of what they consider the most haunted spots in the United States. Ms. Argie has teamed with fellow Haunted Housewife Cathi Weber (both are part of a three member team based along the shores of Lake Erie in the eastern suburbs of Cleveland that has done “Paranormal Challenges” on TV) for investigations in some of these places. Like the Queen Mary in Long Beach, the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in West Virginia, and many of the others. Some, she has done with Mr. Olsen, like at the infamous Stanley Hotel in Colorado, the same hotel where Stephen King had written his terrifying novel, The Shining. Included also, are various interviews with people who work or live at these places, along with investigations led by Zach Baggins of Ghost Adventurers and SyFy’s Ghost Hunters, too.

Both authors draw you into these their adventures with the supernatural and whether an investigator of the paranormal or of the armchair variety, or even a skeptic, this book out just in time for Halloween and the cooler nights of autumn, will bring chills skittering up your spine and have you making sure all the lights are on in your house or apartment before you continue to read on.

I give America’s Most Haunted: The Secrets of Famous Paranormal Places 5 ghostly sheep!

Pamela Kinney

About the Authors:

Theresa Argie (the original Haunted Housewife)

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Was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. She is a wife, a mother, and ghost hunter who's focus is on the historical side of hauntings. She teamed up with para-historian Cathi "The Ghost Lady" Weber to form the dynamic "Haunted Housewives" duo. The Haunted Housewives have been featured extensively on radio and TV, including appearances on The Travel Channel, A&E, Biography, Syfy and NBC networks. Theresa's book, America's Most Haunted, was a collaboration with journalist and epic blogger Eric Olsen. Their work together as America's Most Haunted - the brand - includes a popular radio program, website, and a huge social media following.

Eric Olsen

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Career media professional and serial entrepreneur Eric Olsen has an enviable track record of quality, leadership, influence, and success.

In 2002, Olsen founded online magazine Blogcritics.org, the multiple award‐winning "sinister cabal of superior bloggers," which he led to great heights and sold to Technorati in 2008.

Olsen then conceived and supervised the creation of a vibrant original content organization for Technorati.com in 2009 and 2010 before co-founding The Morton Report in 2011.

He has now flung himself into the paranormal world, is founder of the America's Most Haunted brand and co-author of the AMH book (Berkley/Penguin Sept, 2014).

Over a 30‐year media career, the proud father of four and husband of legendary blogger Dawn Olsen, has written influentially on a vast array of topics for periodicals, books, TV, radio, and the Internet.

Olsen is the principal author of Networking In the Music Industry (Rockpress, 1993), The Encyclopedia of Record Producers (Billboard Books, 1999), and co-author of America's Most Haunted (Berkley/Penguin, 2014).

Olsen founded and operated Olsen Entertainment, one of the leading DJ companies in hyper‐competitive Southern California in the '80s, established the "Cool Tunes" radio and TV brand in the '90s. Olsen was named a Trendsetter on the AlwaysOn/Technorati Open Media 100 power list in 2005, and has been a featured speaker at numerous industry events including BlogWorld and the Future of Music Coalition Summit.