Mystery Thriller: The Devil's Ward (The Devil's Archive) by Dharshaini G

A little taste for the spooky season to come! Check out The Devil's Ward by Dharshaini G!

The Devil's Ward (The Devil's Archive) 
by Dharshaini G
Aug 2, 2025
Genre: Mystery/Thriller/ Horror Big brother-little sister bond

• Mystery-thriller
• Creepy hospital
• The killer is back
• Asian MC
• Folklore

She was ten when her brother vanished. Now he’s calling—and so is his killer.
Signal meets The Haunting of Hill House in this chilling mystery thriller.

Shadows haunt the corridors of Deacon Hospital. Seventeen years ago, patients were murdered. Dr. Tharn, the prime suspect, vanished.

But Tara knows the truth. Her big brother was framed—and murdered. Now a doctor herself, she starts work at Deacon Hospital with one mission:

To find the killer that stole him.

During a busy night shift, her work phone glitches…and rings its own number.

Tharn answers—seventeen years in the past, just weeks before his death. He's holding the same battered work phone.

For Tara, this is a chance. To rewrite the past and save her brother.

But in her present, the bodies are piling up again.

The killer is back.

And they can’t wait to meet her.

AVAILABLE ON AMAZON

Triggers: Murder. Violence. References to child abuse, racism and suicide. 

About the Author:
website
Dharshaini Ganapathy is a British writer of mystery-thrillers with horror elements. As the oldest of four, sibling bonds often lie at the heart of her stories. She works as a doctor by day, and enjoys writing through the night.

Stories have shaped Dharshaini’s life since childhood, and she has an enduring interest in ghost tales, the uncanny, and the shadows that cling to human nature.

That said, no matter how dark her story becomes, she promises never to let the dog die.

And that there will always be hope in the end.

IG: @dharshainig @rrbooktours

Tags:
#rrbooktours #rrbtTheDevilsWard #paranormalbooks #thrillerbooks #horrorbooks #mysterybooks #booktours

New Release: The Quantum Revelations by Stuart Heinrich + Giveaway

The Quantum Revelations
by Stuart Heinrich
July 31st 2025
Genres: Adult, Mystery, Science Fiction, Thriller
The world is on the brink of an apocalyptic climate crisis and quickly spiraling out of control into a dystopian nightmare.
As everything collapses around them, two scientists struggle for relevance in their quest to build the world’s first practical quantum computer. They discover so much more: a mystery of physics that goes deeper than they could have ever imagined.

Goodreads-Amazon-Book Website

PRAISE

“Heinrich offers an engrossing metaphysical excursion through the quantum realm to discover the meaning of life in this contemplative debut…[His] rich, multilayered backdrop of existential food for thought propel this story to a truly transcendental experience.”
— Publisher’s Weekly

“Science and faith combine in this nuanced and compelling sci-fi eco thriller… [that] cleverly explores and intertwines the well established science vs religion discourse in a way that, I think, does credit to both sides.”
— LoveReading (featured under “Indie Books We Love”)

“The Quantum Revelations is a wildly unpredictable narrative with a show stopping climax, pondering the interplay of science, religion, and technology in a way that is as captivating as it is disturbing.”
— Independent Book Review

 

GIVEAWAY!
Blitz-wide giveaway (INT)
    $25 Amazon gift card

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Interview with author D.L. Orton: The Mind Behind Hive, Madders of Time Book One

“Hive is an eminently engrossing read, full of heart, humor, and horror alike, with a surprisingly dark turn in its 11th hour that will have readers chomping at the bit for what’s next.”
—Publishers Weekly’s BookLife Reviews

Another alternate reality for Isabel and her beloved Diego, Hive sends Diego back to the past, changing everything for the course of the world, including Diego and Isabel’s own futures. The first in the new Madders of Time series, book four of this series will ALSO be book four of the Crossing in Time series, melding the two alternate paths into one brilliant ending.

What could be better in a series all about time travel and its effects, than the books themselves playing with all the potential timelines?

Diego and Isabel, the protagonists of your new novel Hive, are also the leads of your Crossing in Time series. What about these characters made you return to them once again?
Isabel and Diego have always been at the heart of my stories because they embody what I love most in fiction—messy, complicated, deeply human characters struggling against impossible odds. Their relationship isn’t just a love story; it’s a battle of wills, a testament to resilience, and proof that some bonds can transcend time itself.

Can you explain to us how this new series, Madders of Time, will connect to your Crossing in Time series?
Both series exist within the same multiverse, but Madders of Time expands the scope beyond the personal stakes of Crossing in Time. While the first series asked, What would you risk for love?, this new series asks, How far would you go to save humanity?

In Hive, we see an alternate timeline where the misuse of the spacetime bridge has led to catastrophe. The future is grim, but it’s not hopeless. Diego and Isabel (or rather, versions of them) are still fighting for survival, trying to undo the mistakes of the past. Familiar characters return, but their roles and circumstances may not be what readers expect. There are also deeper dives into the ethical dilemmas of time travel, AI consciousness, and the unintended consequences of scientific ambition. Fans of Crossing in Time will recognize the core themes, but Madders of Time takes the stakes to a whole new level.

I’m also planning to connect both the original and new series with book four (in both timelines). Yes, this is probably not a great life choice.

Where do you gain your inspiration—books, current events, other media, your own life?
All of the above! I’m a voracious reader, from classic sci-fi like Asimov and Le Guin to contemporary authors pushing the boundaries of fiction. I also pull a lot from current events—climate change, artificial intelligence, the way technology shapes our lives in ways we don’t always anticipate. Some of the most terrifying sci-fi concepts come from reading the news. (I wrote all three books in the original series before the covid pandemic arrived—and before DJT “escalatored” into politics.)
And of course, my own life seeps into the story in ways both big and small. The relationships in my books—the way people love, fight, and forgive—are drawn from real emotions and experiences. The science is grounded in research, but the heart of the story always comes from inside me.

If there's one thing you hope your readers take away from reading Hive—other than enjoyment of the story and a hope for the next in the series to come out soon—what would it be?
That even in the darkest of times, there’s always hope.
We live in a world that sometimes feels like it’s on the edge of collapse—political unrest, climate disasters, technological upheaval. Hive is, in many ways, a cautionary tale about the consequences of our choices. But it’s also a story about resilience, about the power of love and determination in the face of overwhelming odds. I want readers to come away not just entertained but inspired—to believe that even small actions matter, that fighting for a better future is always worth it.

What led to you becoming a writer of sci-fi?
I’ve always been fascinated by “what if” questions. What if time travel were real? What if AI could evolve beyond human control? What if we made the wrong choices and had to live with the fallout? Science fiction lets me explore these ideas while still telling deeply personal stories. I started writing sci-fi because I love science, but I stayed because it’s the perfect lens for examining what makes us human.

Are there any other projects you are working on?
Always! Right now, I’m deep into the next book in the Madders of Time series, which will take Diego and Isabel even further into the multiverse’s tangled web of climate change, AI, and (of course) love in impossible circumstances.

Hive (Madders of Time Book 1)
by D. L. Orton
May 6, 2025
In a crumbling biodome surrounded by endless seas and swarms of microdrones, humanity’s last survivors cling to hope. For Isabel, a dying scientist, and Diego, the man she loves, time is running out—literally. The Earth is ravaged, and the biodome that was meant to save them is failing. But when Isabel stumbles upon a long-lost time bridge, the possibility of changing the past emerges, offering one final chance to rewrite history.

There’s just one problem: only one person can make the journey.

As they grapple with the weight of impossible choices, love, and regret, Isabel and Diego must decide whether altering the course of time is worth the risk. Will their sacrifice save the future, or will tampering with the past ensure humanity’s extinction?

Tense, emotional, and thought-provoking, Hive is a story of survival, love, and the ultimate cost of second chances. When the future is at stake, how far would you go to change it?

Amazon

About the author
THE AWARD-WINNING & BEST-SELLING author DL ORTON lives in the Tropics with her husband, a golden retriever mutt, a Siberian cat with a crewcut, and a bazillion geckos.

In her spare time, she's building a time machine so that someone can go back and do the laundry.

Ms. Orton is a graduate of Stanford University's Writers Workshop and has received numerous literary awards including two Indie Book Awards, the BookLife Prize in Fiction, a USA Best Book Award, and an International Book Award. She was recently shortlisted for the Hoffer Book Award Grand Prize and was selected by Publishers Weekly as one of "The Best of the Best" Indie authors.

Visit her website to sign up for free books!

Deck the Halls with Books: Supernatural Mystery Author Nicola Solvinic + giveaway

Winter Solstice
By Nicola Solvinic

The sun god is gone
He stripped the leaves when he went
Trampled the grasses
And swept into the bronze sunset

The winter god is here
The stag-horned watcher
Known only by cloven tracks in the snow
And the weight of his gaze under snow-spangled lashes

Heavy twitching branches of green
Once obscured the moon in summer
That seething night
Of cicadas, crickets, bullfrogs singing

Night’s perfectly still now
Except for the crunch of snow
And the moon burns through skeletons of bare trees
With the thousand flickers of dead stars

Underground, curled in thick earth
Prey dreams of summer days,
He will dig it up, drag it, bellowing and twitching
To the surface

In the red and white field
Prey races across the snows
He will overtake it, felling it
In a tangle of broken legs and sinew

He is the hunter in both seasons, king of these woods
Seething and silent
Searching out his precious sacrifices
Sunless, in shadow, he reigns.

The Hunter's Daughter
by Nicola Solvinic
May 14, 2024
Genre: Supernatural Mystery, Serial Killer Thriller
Publisher: ‎Berkley
Hardcover: ‎ 384 pages
ISBN-10: ‎0593639723
ISBN-13: ‎978-0593639726
A hypnotic, sinister debut mystery about a seemingly good cop who is secretly the daughter of a notorious serial killer.

Anna Koray escaped her father’s darkness long ago. When she was a girl, her childhood memories were sealed away from her conscious mind by a controversial hypnosis treatment. She’s now a decorated sheriff’s lieutenant serving a rural county, conducting an ordinary life far from her father’s shadow.

When Anna kills a man in the line of duty, her suppressed memories return. She dreams of her beloved father, his hands red with blood, surrounded by flower-decked corpses he had sacrificed to the god of the forest.

To Anna’s horror, a serial killer emerges who is copying her father – and who knows who she really is. Is her father still alive, or is this the work of another? Will the killer expose her, destroying everything she has built for herself? Does she want him to?

But as she haunts the forest, using her father’s tricks to the hunt the killer, will she find what she needs most…or lose herself in the gathering darkness?

Penguin Amazon

 

Excerpt:
“I didn’t mean for you to find out like this, Elena.”

A soft voice echoed from the other side of the house. I turned my gaze to a pile of rotted fallen beams. My dad sat there quietly in the dark, perched as he would in a tree stand in the forest. His hat was low over his head, and his rifle was slung over his shoulder.

“I didn’t mean for you to find out at all.”

I whimpered.

He sighed.

“Are you a monster?” I demanded. The word didn’t seem adequate. “Monster” sounded like a word for fairy tales. Not my beloved dad.

He looked at the bodies arranged around the room. “Maybe.”

He stretched his legs and slid down the pile. I backed up against the rusted stove. Liquid sloshed, and something cold and wet splashed down my side. I recognized the smell immediately: curdled blood. A metal bucket turned over and crashed on the floor, spilling the rest of the blood over my sneakers.

I was frozen. I saw the outline of the door, and I should’ve run. But I was rooted in place, as motionless and helpless as any of these women.

My dad loomed over me. His face was strange, his eyes too dark and still. This man who stood over me was not my dad. He was some changeling who had come to take him, leaving an evil shell in his place. A monster.

“What have you done with my dad?” I croaked.

He reached out to touch my cheek. I flinched.

“Your dad is gone.” His voice was a low hiss, like rain in a gutter.

And I knew then what I saw. It was my dad’s Forest God, the one he called Veles, dark and terrible and devouring everything under this roof. He wanted me. I didn’t know if he meant to consume me like those other women or if the Forest God was wanting to do to me as he was doing to my dad, wearing my skin like his own . . .

The door crashed open. The Forest God spun, reaching for his rifle, but he was tackled by a snarling dog. Percival.

An armed shadow stood in the doorway. Agent Parkes. “Freeze,” he ordered.

The Forest God had no intention of obeying anyone’s orders. He wrestled with the dog, and the rifle went off. A new hole was blown in the roof, and I was partially blinded by muzzle flash and deafened by a gunshot in a closed space.

“Drop it!” Parkes commanded. His voice was faint and tinny over the ringing in my ears.

The Forest God scrambled away from the dog, kicking Percival in the chest. He sighted his rifle on the dog.

I screamed.

The Forest God hesitated for an instant—only an instant.

It was enough.

More gunfire, muzzle flashes. The Forest God tumbled across the floor. Parkes advanced on him, shouting, his shoes slipping in the blood. Percival was growling, clamping my dad’s right hand in his jaws. The rifle spun out on the floor, the barrel skidding up against my sneakers. It was hot, and it singed the rubber of my shoe.

“Put it down!” Parkes yelled. The man who had once been my father had gotten his hunting knife loose from his belt and was slashing at Percival. He’d pulled himself up into a half crouch, dripping on the floor, snarling like a cornered animal.

“Put it down now!”

I knew Parkes was going to kill my dad.

Trembling, I reached down for the gun at my feet.

About the Author:
Website-FB-X
Instagram-PenguinRandomHouse

Nicola Solvinic has a master’s degree in criminology and has worked in and around criminal justice for more than a decade. She lives in the Midwest with her husband and cats, where she is surrounded by a secret garden full of beehives.
  a Rafflecopter giveaway

A Grim Reaper's Guide to Catching a Killer (A SCYTHE Mystery) by Maxie Dara

A Grim Reaper's Guide to Catching a Killer (A SCYTHE Mystery)
by Maxie Dara
October 1, 2024
Genre: Humorous Fantasy, Women Sleuths
Murder is (literally) not her department, but this grim reaper has to solve one—fast—or her new client won't be able to move on.

Kathy Valence is forty-two, mid-divorce, and pregnant with her ex's baby. She's also a modern-day grim reaper employed by S.C.Y.T.H.E. (Secure Collection, Yielding, and Transportation of Human Essences), but frankly that's the easiest part of her life right now. Or at least it was, until her latest client's soul goes missing.

When she finally tracks down seventeen-year-old Conner Ortiz, he angrily denies he died of natural causes, despite what his file says. He insists that someone at S.C.Y.T.H.E. murdered him, and he demands Kathy find out who and why.

Kathy has only forty-five days to figure out what happened to Conner and help him move on before the boy's soul is doomed to roam the Earth as a ghost forever. She’s forced to rely on the help of her retired mentor, her almost ex-husband—and some sneaky moves by Conner himself. This is the wildest case of her career. . .and one wrong move could cost Kathy her job, not to mention her life.

“This debut paranormal mystery offers humor, love, and a strong cast of characters who form a found family. S.Y.T.H.E. is a fascinating premise that offers great possibilities for future mysteries.”—Library Journal, Starred Review

“Fun and lighthearted despite the presence of death, the characters are relatable and funny, and the paranormal aspects are balanced with the ordinariness of Kathy’s messy life.”—Booklist

"Come for the mystery, stay for the punched-up pairing. This new series is one to watch.”—Kirkus Reviews

“I’d follow this grim reaper anywhere. Wildly creative and impossible to put down, sure to induce both belly laughs and tears, A Grim Reaper's Guide To Catching A Killer is full of heart and soul(s).”—Laura Hankin, author of One-Star Romance

About the Author:
Instagram-Tiktok
Maxie Dara is a writer and actor from Ontario, Canada. She has been a freelance journalist focusing on the local arts and culture scene for more than five years, with bylines in publications such as Hamilton Magazine and Beyond James, among others. She is also a two-time award-winning playwright, taking home the Best of Fringe award at the 2017 Hamilton Fringe Festival for the musical comedy This Is Not a Musical: The Musical! and the 2020 Torpedo Prize for her play Alone Together, a pandemic drama. Maxie knew she wanted to be a writer at the age of seven, when she first fell in love with the written word. She also wanted to be a mermaid but has mostly focused on the writing side of things.

Excerpt: A Curse for Samhain (The Skeleton Crew Paranormal Cozy Series Book 1) by Dahlia Donovan + giveaway

Welcome to the Skeleton Crew. Bring your knitting needles and a good, strong brew.

A Curse for Samhain (The Skeleton Crew Paranormal Cozy Series Book 1)

by Dahlia Donovan
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Cozy Mystery
Welcome to the Skeleton Crew. Bring your knitting needles and a good, strong brew.

Gender fluid, autistic vampire Hyde Snodgrass runs Between the Leaves—a cosy village book store. Their life revolves around books, all things autumnal, and the two cats who rule their world. The shop also plays host to a weekly knitting group called the Skeleton Crew.

When one of the leaders of the village coven fails to show up for the weekly knitting meeting, Hyde finds themselves investigating a horrific murder side by side with their long-term crush, Teresa Vega.

Suspicion immediately falls on other members of their group. Hyde and Teresa struggle to find answers to the growing list of questions. It’s made all the more difficult when the killer has them in their sights.

Can working together spark the romantic flame within them?

Will they solve the mystery before death comes too close?

Amazon-Apple-B&N-Kobo-Smashwords-Books2Read-Bookbub-Goodreads

 

EXCERPT
“What do you think, Mortar? Pestle?” Hyde finished adjusting their button-down collar out of the blue sweater and glanced at the two cats observing them. One meowed quite loudly while the other sniffed before licking a paw. “You’re both remarkably unhelpful.”

The outfit of the day was one of their favourites. A lovely blue sweater with a well-worn button-down underneath. Jeans. A little boyish style from yesteryear with their trousers tucked into their socks and a vintage pair of brown boots.

I am a chubby ginger icon. I can seize the day.

Or I can seize a book to read.

That sounds better.

I’ll seize a book.

A particularly loud yowl caught their attention. The cats were definitely ready for their breakfast. They both looked pitifully up at Hyde.

“All right. Come on, you two.”

Mortar was a stunningly beautiful Persian with startling blue eyes who’d definitely been a queen in a previous life. Pestle, on the other hand, had probably been a court jester. His long ginger fur and almost glowing yellow eyes certainly set him apart, as did his sense of mischief.

They were Hyde’s constant companions. They ruled the roost. And more often than not, they kept the right people in the shop and the rest from overstaying their welcome.

Between the Leaves had been Hyde’s passion project for almost eighty years. The building had been a gift from the woman who’d taken them in as a child. A little shop with a comfortable flat on the second floor, it had once been a place serving afternoon tea, but books had been more interesting to Hyde.

Returning to stare at the mirror, Hyde attempted to corral their short, curly red hair into some semblance of a style. It was going to be a hat day. A hat day. It was a mostly nonverbal day. And a they day.

Being a vampire had its perks; being almost a hundred yet having stopped ageing at thirty was certainly a plus. Being an autistic one, though, had drawbacks. Every sound and smell was amplified by what felt like a thousand. The world could be an incredibly overwhelming place. It was Flossie who’d come up with the idea for the signs.

Flossie Vandermark was one of the three witches who ran The Spiked Cauldron, the village pub. She also happened to be a proud member of the Skeleton Crew, a weekly knitting group who met up at Hyde’s bookshop. Flossie had suggested a sign for days when Hyde didn’t want to talk or when they felt more they than she.

It made Hyde feel accepted. Everyone wanted to do what made them comfortable. It was part of the magic of their village.

Acceptance.

Everyone knew about South Myrddin. The little village on a loch in the Scottish Highlands was founded by Merlin himself, or so the lore went. It had a reputation for taking in the abandoned.

Hyde had come as a child when their family vampire coven had rejected them. South Myrddin was the place for stragglers, odd ones, and outliers. A place to find family if one wanted.

A place to find home.

The village had a healthy coven of witches. A few vampires. The odd werewolf. A collection of naiads, dryads, and brownies. Druids and shifters. A stray kelpie. An incubus and succubus, who were Italians who ran a restaurant. And one lone fae who’d been in South Myrddin since the beginning, or so they claimed.

The eclectic bunch of magical beings had all made South Myrddin their home. Most of the villagers came searching for a place to feel comfortable in their own skin. Hyde considered themselves grateful to have been left there all those years ago.

 

About the Author
Website-FB-Twitter

Instagram-Bookbub

Amazon-Goodreads

Newsletter
Dahlia Donovan wrote her first romance series after a crazy dream about shifters and damsels in distress. She prefers irreverent humour and unconventional characters. An autistic and occasional hermit, her life wouldn’t be complete without her husband and her massive collection of books and video games.
 

Giveaway
$5 Amazon
Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

https://www.silverdaggertours.com/sdsxx-tours/a-curse-for-samhain-book-tour-and-giveaway

Excerpt: Failsafe by Jeff Sylvester + giveaway

The world runs on code, but not all code is safe.

Failsafe
by Jeff Sylvester
September 3, 2024
Genre: Science Fiction Action Thriller
The world runs on code, and not all code is safe. This is why Anna Flynn has a job.

Matter Manipulation Devices alter the physical world, turning dreams into reality. But some dreams are treacherous, and the streets are filled with mods that manipulate matter in illegal and dangerous ways.

As a seasoned MMD agent, Anna fights back against the criminals who misuse these devices and traffic in illegal mods. When she intervenes in a plot to assassinate one of the world's most respected political leaders, her methods draw the ire of her superiors, and she finds herself under investigation from her own agency.

Increasingly isolated and unsure whom she can trust, Anna works to unravel a conspiracy that would unleash the worst potential of matter manipulation technology on the world.

Amazon-B&N-Bookbub-Goodreads

Failsafe Excerpt
She had to move. Popping her eyes open, she pushed forward into the room as quickly as she dared. As she entered, she found the security guards taking cover behind various pieces of furniture. Klein—the only man in a security uniform—carried a staff like Anna’s. The two women with him had smaller handheld devices. None of the three had engaged with Ben, wisely taking her advice, and that had probably kept them alive. She hastened her pace, trying not to reveal her presence while still making it to Ben before he reached the bedroom door. She assumed the door was sealed, but also that this wouldn’t pose a problem for Ben.

Indeed, Ben gestured, and the door disassembled. He did have access to manipulate Shah’s home. Anna wasn’t surprised.

He turned to shuffle backwards, focusing on the security guards while retaining the same awkward firing stance. With the direction he was facing, Anna knew when she got close enough, he’d see her regardless of whether her concealment mod was still active or not—light and sound bending only worked at a distance. Intending to startle him, she clicked off the mod and lunged forward, aiming her staff at his gun.

The effect was exactly what she’d hoped for. Ben’s eyes went wide as she materialized out of thin air. He was still registering her sudden appearance when her staff connected with his hand and the gun went flying. At the same time, Klein and the two other security guards bounded out from behind their cover. Ben grunted as he recovered, then crouched down to face Anna, his body tense and ready to strike. She prepared for it, pivoting her weight back into a defensive stance. One attack by him and she’d have him incapacitated. It would all be over.

Except he didn’t attack. As the three guards closed in, his eyes shifted to them in alarm, and he turned and bolted into the master suite.

“Who are you? Stop!” Shah’s panicked voice spilled through the open doorway.

“I’m coming!” Anna dashed in after him, Klein and the other two guards on her heels. She found the councilwoman and her husband backed up against the far wall, Ben advancing on them. She leapt at him and landed a strong blow across his back, crumpling him to the ground. Moving past him, she placed her body in front of the Shahs.

The three security guards lined up across the doorway, blocking any escape. Klein gave Anna a curt nod. Their communications had saved his life, and he knew it—she thought she could count on him not to mention her use of the concealment mod.

Anna looked down at the defeated man with an icy stare. She wanted to pity him, knowing that whatever this had been, he hadn’t been sure of his actions. But people had died, and he’d shot her partner. Empathy has its limits.

“It’s over, Ben.”

“It’s not.” He stared up at her, a sudden calm taking over his features. His voice contained no trace of its former waver. Right now, at this moment, his determination was absolute. “I can do this. And I will.”

He rose to his feet and extended his arm. His hand held something small and dark green. It appeared to be military. A weapon. A bomb.

“No.” The protest escaped Anna’s lips as a whisper. Her staff shook in her hand as she arced it forward toward the explosive, but before it could connect, the world around her vaporized in a brilliant flash. And then there was nothing.

Book Trailer:
https://youtu.be/DqmFjC-t2ZY

Check out the entire book in audio on Youtube!

About the Author
Website-FB-Discord
Amazon-Goodreads
Jeff Sylvester has been a professional software developer most of his life, but also enjoys writing and creating music. He and his family live in Suwanee, GA.

 

Giveaway
$10 Amazon
Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

TV Show Review: Outer Range: Season 2 (TV Series) on Amazon Prime (Spoiler Alert)

Spoiler alert

Outer Range: Season 2 (TV Series)
2022- present
Created by: Brian Watkins
Genre: Drama; Mystery; Neo-Western; Science fiction; Thriller
Network: Amazon Prime Video
Cast: Josh Brolin, Imogen Poots, Lewis Pullman, Tom Pelphrey, Isabel Arraiza, Tamara Podemski
The Abbotts are coping with the disappearance of their daughter-in-law when the neighbouring Tillersons make a play for their ranch land. Tension comes to a head when a mysterious black void arrives in the Abbotts' pasture.

Outer Ranger Season 2 on Amazon Prime stars Josh Brolin, Lili Taylor, Imogen Poots, Lewis Pullman and Tamara Podemski. I had a free month of Prime shipping so I figured, what the heck I'll try this. Holy Moly. What a crazy show!

Season 1 leaves us with so many questions, what is this hole? What is the purpose and why is it just popping up? There's so much to unpack. We know Josh Brolin who plays Royal Abbot is somehow a key of sorts to this whole sci fi phenomena, but we don't know much else.

We watch Sheriff Joy who got trapped in the past and thankfully she gets back to her family. Although so mush time has passed on her end. My girl is CHANGED. To her core. She's seen some things man and I can not blame her for coming back with all kinds of PTSD. Of course she wants to talk it out with Royal, but he's trying to save his family and possibly the world from this dang-gum hole!

All the bodies and debris they keep throwing in that thing, have to be just piled up some place in time. Some poor souls in another time are just seeing bodies fall from the sky. No wonder we believe in Alien abductions! But I digress, this town has so much going on it's hard to keep track.

Plus, this show feeds you just a drop at a time. I feel like so many cards are being held back, maybe more unseen players are coming up. I have no idea and often find myself almost frustrated to watch another episode. Yet, I do. The show is very compelling, I just wish they would explain more. My god, talk Royal! Use your words! He's so closed lipped, it's like pulling teeth with a fork! You're killing me dude.

I have no idea why Amy/Autumn is so being so weird, why she thinks that she's almost like a god. But she's got some real mental health issues and hopefully more will come in season 3. Is she really going to be bad? I'm not so sure, but it's very hard to tell.

Getting 4.5 Sheep

KD

 

Cover Reveal: The Ocean Hugs Hard by Eric Avedissian

 

The Ocean Hugs Hard
by Eric Avedissian
Releases: June 24, 2024
Horror/Mystery
Publisher: Shadow Spark Publishing

Surfside City, New Jersey. 1966. Cub reporter Harman Bass is cutting his teeth in the fast world of local journalism and getting out-scooped by the competition. Facetious, cocky, and always quoting Nietzsche, Harman isn’t making any friends both in and out of the newsroom.

All that changes when the daughter of a prominent family is found dead on the beach, handing Harman the juiciest news story of the year. But she wasn’t any old beauty pageant queen; she was his high school girlfriend. Harman’s dogged reporting into the young woman’s death reveals pushback from the authorities and pulls the newshound into the resort’s darkest corners.

After one of his sources is murdered, the routine story becomes dangerous and personal. Something watches Harman from the shadows, something ancient and hungry, worshiped by powerful men who kill to keep their secrets. Harman’s job and life are soon threatened, and the once brash reporter must battle his boss, rival journalists, and his own sanity before filing what could be his last story.

THE OCEAN HUGS HARD is a mystery with the salty whiff of the ocean, a tinge of nostalgia, and a dollop of mind-shattering eldritch horror.

 

About the Author
Website-Twitter-Instagram
ERIC AVEDISSIAN is an adjunct professor and speculative fiction author. His published work includes the novels Accursed Son, Mr. Penny-Farthing, Midnight at Bat Hollow, and the role-playing game Ravaged Earth. His short stories appear in various anthologies, including Across the Universe, Great Wars, and Rituals & Grimoires. Avedissian received a 2024 Fellowship in Prose from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and a ridiculous number of books. Find him online at www.ericavedissian.com if you dare.

Book Review: Thirst by Marina Yuszczuk

Thirst
by Marina Yuszczuk
March 5, 2024
Publisher: Dutton
ASIN: B0C773SH3T
ISBN: 9780593472064
It is the twilight of Europe’s bloody bacchanals, of murder and feasting without end. In the nineteenth century, a vampire arrives from Europe to the coast of Buenos Aires and, for the second time in her life, watches as villages transform into a cosmopolitan city, one that will soon be ravaged by yellow fever. She must adapt, intermingle with humans, and be discreet.

In present-day Buenos Aires, a woman finds herself at an impasse as she grapples with her mother's terminal illness and her own relationship with motherhood. When she first encounters the vampire in a cemetery, something ignites within the two women—and they cross a threshold from which there’s no turning back.

With echoes of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and written in the vein of feminist Gothic writers like Shirley Jackson, Daphne du Maurier, and Carmen Maria Machado, Thirst plays with the boundaries of genre while exploring the limits of female agency, the consuming power of desire, and the fragile vitality of even the most immortal of creatures.

Amazon

Thirst is about a female vampire told in first person. How she was sold by her mother to a vampire nobleman, who fed off her and eventually he turned her when she became a young woman, her and other women who she began thinking of as her sisters. When the Master vamp is killed many years later, she and her sisters escape, living wild in the forests, feeding off humans. As the years progress and they learn to cloth themselves and seduce victims for their food, her sisters are destroyed and eventually the vampire gets aboard a ship that heads to the new world, arriving in Buenos Aires.

The novel has touches reminding me of classic horror like Dracula and Frankenstein, with whispers of writing not unlike Shirley Jackson, Daphne du Maurier, and other gothic writers.

A blood-soaked novel of unending blood thirst, death, immortality, and desire that pulls you in with its haunting prose, bringing vampires that are not like those in Twilight, but back to the dark, scary ones.

I gave Thirst 4 sheep.




Reviewed by Pamela K. Kinney

About the Author:
Instagram
Marina Yuszczuk was born in Argentina in 1978. She is a writer and founding editor of Rosa Iceberg, a press focused on publishing writing by women. She is the author of multiple books of poetry, short-story collections, and novels. She has a PhD in literature from Universidad Nacional de la Plata and is a film critic for one of Argentina’s top newspapers. Thirst is her first book to be published in the United States.

Excerpt: Clearlake by Stanislava Buevich

Clearlake
by Stanislava Buevich
December 1, 2023
Genre: Upper Middle Grade/Teen Mystery Horror
ISBN: B0CMQHGC24
ASIN: B0CMP432S1
Number of pages: 245
Word Count: 73K
Cover Artist: Sabina Kencana
Don’t go into Room 214

"Hi, I'm Moon and this is my story. It all started with a terrible cold. When the lady in purple promised my mother that Clearlake Institute would be able to cure me without the use of modern medicine, my mom was hooked.

There was nothing I could do, or say, that could’ve changed her mind. She was determined from the moment we set foot on a remote island far, far away from everyone else, until the moment we were separated, and I was trapped in a creepy, gothic hospital."

Clearlake Institute was hiding something!

Deep beneath the shadows, something sinister was brewing - darkened halls, strange doctors, ghastly nurses that watch your every move, and children who are sent into Room 217 never to return.

Aided by the other children she meets at the institute, Moon Rains embarks on a perilous, suspenseful adventure to uncover the secrets of the Clearlake Institute.

Now, the race against time begins. Will Moon and her friends make it out before it’s too late? Or will Clearlake claim them as its next set of victims?

Amazon-AmazonUK

Excerpt
There will come a time when you wonder, how did a girl like me end up in a place like Clearlake and mortal danger? Well, it all started with a terrible cold. At first, it was just a blocked nose. Then a sore throat, nothing major. About a week later, I got a temperature. And the blocked nose got worse. Much worse. I lost all sense of smell and the ability to breathe. Snot kept trickling down from my nostril to my top lip, and I had to persistently wipe it off with my sleeve or taste the said snot. I had a headache. A constant, nagging, relentless headache as if a woodpecker was incessantly pecking above the bridge of my nose.

I was thirteen at the time and missed so many days of school that my mother got fined by the government. Now, I know what you’re thinking - any responsible parent would have taken their offspring to a GP if the wretched illness hadn’t gone away within a week. Well, not my mother.

My mother didn’t trust Western Medicine, you see, particularly vaccines and antibiotics. As far as she was concerned, those two were the source of all evil. I count myself incredibly lucky that, so far, I have managed to avoid catching something particularly nasty like Rubella, Mumps, or Measles. I’ve never had anything more severe than a cold, in fact. And while most colds went away without intervention, other than a honey, lemon and gin concoction (which was surprisingly effective, never mind that I was far too young to take it), this cold proved to be something else entirely.

About a week in, my mother marched into my room early in the morning. Loud, insistent stomps woke me up from a hazy, feverish dream. She touched my forehead with the tips of her fingers and raised her eyebrow, nodding as if everything was going according to plan.

“Well, I think I know what will finally do the trick,” she said.

I rolled my eyes. Well, not actually. Not on the outside. The outside she could see. I rolled my eyes on the inside, imagining them going so far inside their sockets that all that was left were the white bits.

“Beetroot!” she exclaimed, her voice chiming like a Christmas bell.

“Beetroot?” I yawned, and a few tears seeped out of the corners of my eyes. I wasn’t sure if the yawn caused it or the ever-escalating feeling of utter desperation.

“A few drops of beetroot juice inside your nose three times a day, and you will be good as new. I promise.”

She made similar promises a lot.

“If you stick a clove of garlic in each nostril overnight, in the morning… Poof. Cured. Gone. I promise.”

“Breathing over a pot with hot potatoes and a duvet over your head will open up the sinuses and unleash the phlegm. All of the gunk will stream out. You’ll see. I promise.”

“If you do a wee in a little pot and then take some of that wee with a little pipette that I’ve got here for you and…”

“NO!”

I drew the line at urotherapy, as it was apparently called, and it did take quite a bit of courage to stand up to my mother. She fussed and fretted but couldn’t get me to administer urine into my nose.

About the Author:
Website-Amazon 

Goodreads
Stacy Buevich is a British writer and a film director with many award winning short films. She started writing novels during lockdown (wait did that really happen?), beginning with a magical mystery Maya Fairy, that she wrote for her daughter. Since then she has written several more and not planning to stop

Excerpt: The Allie Nighthawk Mystery Series by H.R. Boldwood + giveaway

Tell us about yourself: when did you start writing?
I write literary fiction under my given name and horror and urban fantasy under the byline H.R. Boldwood.

I live in Mason, Ohio, with my husband and a black lab named Poe. We have two sons and three gorgeous granddaughters who keep us hopping.

I began writing in the seventh grade when my English teacher asked our class to write a short story on any topic. Of course, I wrote a horror story! It was titled “The Reincarnation of Sir Thomas More.” My teacher gave me an A and was so taken with the story that he sent it to a college professor at Northwestern University. Two years later, I won an on-the-spot poetry-writing contest.

As an adult, I attended Thomas More College, where I won the 2009 Bilbo Award for creative writing. A friend from Thomas More suggested I join an international online writing group focused on producing flash fiction stories. That was the best writing education I ever had! Flash fiction writing teaches word economy and focuses on word choice and strong verbs. Pacing is everything.

Since then, I have attended and delivered many writing seminars and published numerous short stories in addition to the Corpse Whisperer urban fantasy series.

Welcome to the world of Allie Nighthawk, corpse whisperer and bad ass zombie hunter.

The Corpse Whisperer (An Allie Nighthawk Mystery Book 1)
by H.R. Boldwood
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Mystery
Zombie hunting just got wicked fun!

Welcome to the world of Allie Nighthawk, corpse whisperer and bad ass zombie hunter.

“If you raise deadheads, you’d better be able to put ‘em down. Nobody said it was pretty. But in this day, when vampires aren’t just for breakfast anymore, and the dead are disposable pawns for necromancers, someone has to ante up. Looks like I won the lotto. Imagine my delight. You should thank me, really, because the world is batshit crazy.”

When the zombie population spikes and no one knows why, it’s up to Allie to solve the mystery. But there’s a hitch. She’s stuck babysitting Leo Abruzzi, a zombie-bitten gangster who’s turning state’s evidence. But the mob and a powerful necromancer will stop at nothing to take Leo and Allie down.

Allie Nighthawk is Anita Blake on steroids, with a fondness for leather and Jack on the rocks. She has a healthy dose of Stephanie Plum and Rachel Morgan in her, too, though she’d never admit it. The battle between good and evil just got wicked fun.

Amazon-Apple-B&N-Google-Kobo-Bookbub-Goodreads

Excerpt from The Corpse Whisperer:
The cemetery would be a freaking obstacle course, but Rico insisted we wait until sundown to raise our rotter. As we climbed over the retaining wall, he explained that mommies don’t want their children watching me chase decomped deadheads down Central Parkway with a flamethrower.

I get that. I got no problem being discreet. It’s not like I want to do this work in the daylight anyway. You spike one zombie’s head, the ACLU and the paparazzi are all over you like stink on a flesh-eater. Besides, biters tend to hole up during the day, since they can’t see in sunlight. Wrangling them is easier in the dark, when they’re on the prowl.

Fallen tombstones, mole holes, and titanium flower vases all vying to take out my knees are the problem. That’s why the art of negotiation comes in handy.

“Hire me,” I said as we sprinted though the headstones. “I’m tired of this independent contractor shit. I want double-time for field work, full medical coverage, and disability benefits. Call it hazardous duty pay.”

Rico stopped and swung his flashlight in my direction. “Captain Dorsey said you’ve already discussed that with him. You’re not in the budget.”

“Really, De Palma? It’s not smart to screw with the one person who can keep your ass from getting corpsified.”

“That’s Cap’s call, not mine,” Rico said, taking off with long, powerful strides toward the gravesite.

The backhoe had done the hard work. I stared at McCoy’s low-rent casket shining in the moonlight and gave Rico one last chance to bail.

“You know, this isn’t as easy as I make it look. Raising a rotter is a lot like doing a rain dance. You might get a drizzle or you might need a freaking ark. McCoy’s a freshy. He hasn’t even been dead a week. Raising him will screw with the cognitive function of his brain—the part that processes information. He won’t be capable of lying, that requires deliberation and intent. But whatever else happens is anybody’s guess. You sure you want to do this?”

“She’s six years old, Nighthawk. We don’t have a choice.”

“Open the lid.” I closed my eyes and let the power surge through me like God’s own hand.

Make no mistake, the ability to raise the dead is a God-given gift that comes with a moral obligation to protect the living and the dead. The gift itself isn’t evil, but misuse of that gift is as ugly as it gets.

The mortician had done an impressive job, given the circumstances. McCoy looked like he was napping, like his eyes could open at any moment, and he’d be confused by his surroundings. Sometimes appearances aren’t deceiving.

“Cephas Allen McCoy, in the name of God, I command you to rise!”

Cephas moaned low and steady.

I spread my hands over him and whispered a single word. “Awaken.”

Tiny rivers of light streamed from my hands into his body, causing him to pitch and thrash. Teeth clenched, limbs flailing, he sprang upright and opened his eyes—crazed, animal-like eyes that showed fear but nothing else.

He grabbed the edge of the casket and leapt to the ground above. Shit. That’s what I’d been afraid of. His muscles still had memory. The .32 he took to the heart didn’t cause peripheral tissue damage. Climbing out of that grave, for him, was no more difficult than climbing out of bed to take a leak.

We stood, face to face—almost. He looked about six-two, giving him a good eight inches on me.

“Cephas, stop!”

He froze and stared at me, like he was trying to figure out who I was, trying to use the cognitive part of his brain that no longer worked. Then he twitched.

God. I hate when they twitch.

“Cephas, where’s Twila Harris?”

He growled and drooled on my feet.

“Answer me, damn it!” I pulled the bag of barbecue chips out of my pocket, opened it, and waved it under his nose. “Tell me where she is and they’re yours.”

Rico’s eyes went wide. “Potato chips? You’ve got to be—”

“Hey. You mind? I’m working here.”

Cephas grabbed at the chips and slurred, “Duck blind on Lake Chetak. Shush…it’s a secret.”

Now for the tough question. “Is Twila still alive?”

“Yes. Yes. Pretty. Go play with her. Need to play. Need her.” His mouth quivered, and a long string of saliva that dangled from his lip bounced like a bungee cord. Then he snarled, snatched the chips out of my hand, and bolted across the cemetery.

“Ah, shit!” I took off after him, the freaking twitcher.

Corpse Whisperer Sworn (An Allie Nighthawk Mystery Book 2)
Zombies, Voodoo, and Hoodoo-what would you do?
Amazon-Apple-B&N-Google-Kobo-Bookbub-Goodreads

Life Among the Tombstones (An Allie Nighthawk Mystery Prequel)
Freelance zombie hunter seeking full-time employment-benefits required.
**Get it FREE!**
Amazon-Apple-B&N-Google-Kobo-Bookbub-Goodreads

Corpse Whisperer Torn (An Allie Nighthawk Mystery Book 3)
Zombie hunting 101: Never tell your neighbors what you do for a living.
Amazon-Apple-B&N-Google-Kobo-Bookbub-Goodreads

About the Author:
Website-Facebook-X 

Instagram-Bookbub

Amazon-Goodreads
H.R. Boldwood, author of the Corpse Whisperer series, countless short stories, and Imadjinn Award finalist, is a writer of horror and speculative fiction. In another incarnation, Boldwood is a Pushcart Prize nominee and winner of the 2009 Bilbo Award for creative writing by Thomas More College. Boldwood’s characters are often disreputable and not to be trusted. They are kicked to the curb at every conceivable opportunity when some poor unsuspecting publisher welcomes them with open arms. No responsibility is taken by this author for the dastardly and sometimes criminal acts committed by this ragtag group of miscreants.

Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
$10 Amazon
a Rafflecopter giveaway