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Sunday, May 19, 2024

Pre-order Now at a 33% discount: 120 Murders: Dark Fiction Inspired by the Alternative Era

After Midnight is as dark as it gets.

Whether thanks to an overnight college radio shift or cable pumping flickering videos into TVs across America, the music of the alternative era was the soundtrack to our lives, and sometimes our deaths.
Pre-order
120 Murders: Dark Fiction Inspired by the Alternative Era and receive a PDF copy of the original Nick Mamatas story, Shriek of the Week!
 
Pre-order Now at a 33% discount!
Pre-order HERE


“Generation X is the cynical generation of dark romantics,” says Nick Mamatas. “We love dark fiction. Our idea was to create something unique while paying tribute to the songs, bands, and lyrics of this generation. 120 Murders is an anthology of power chord crimes and keyboard horrors—the best noir, dark fantasy, and transgressive fiction from writers inspired by grunge, goth, ska, synthpop, and every eclectic sound of the alternative era.”

Contracted contributors include Josh Malerman, a novelist, short story writer, film producer, and one of two singer/songwriters for the rock band The High Strung. He is best known for writing his post-apocalyptic novel Bird Box. Cara Hoffman, author of the feminist classic So Much Pretty, which sparked a national dialogue on violence and retribution, brings us a haunting story of loss entitled “How Soon is Now?” Underground sensation Jeff Chon, author of Hashtag Good Guy with a Gun, channels the vibe of classic black and white music videos and jangle pop with “Equations for a Falling Body.” Guardian First Book Award and IMPAC Dublin Literary Award nominee Elena Mauli Shapiro delivers us to Ground Zero in her hard-rock inflected “Never Forget.” Many more authors, from indie darlings to best-sellers, will be announced!

BONUS: Pre-order 120 Murders: Dark Fiction Inspired by the Alternative Era at a 33% discount and receive a PDF copy of an original Nick Mamatas story!
 
About the Editor:
120 Murders, developed by Mamatas, allows writers to focus on the music of their generations while constructing a mystery, crime, noir, gothic, or horror story inspired by the song of their choice. 120 Murders will run about 80,000 words.

“Generation X is the cynical generation of dark romantics,” says Nick Mamatas. “We love dark fiction. Our idea was to create something unique while paying tribute to the songs, bands, and lyrics of this generation. 120 Murders is an anthology of power chord crimes and keyboard horrors—the best noir, dark fantasy, and transgressive fiction from writers inspired by grunge, goth, ska, synthpop, and every eclectic sound of the alternative era.”

Contracted contributors include Josh Malerman, a novelist, short story writer, film producer, and one of two singer/songwriters for the rock band The High Strung. He is best known for writing his post-apocalyptic novel Bird Box. Cara Hoffman, author of the feminist classic So Much Pretty, which sparked a national dialogue on violence and retribution, brings us a haunting story of loss entitled “How Soon is Now?” Underground sensation Jeff Chon, author of Hashtag Good Guy with a Gun, channels the vibe of classic black and white music videos and jangle pop with “Equations for a Falling Body.” Guardian First Book Award and IMPAC Dublin Literary Award nominee Elena Mauli Shapiro delivers us to Ground Zero in her hard-rock inflected “Never Forget.”  Many more authors, from indie darlings to best-sellers, will be announced!
 
 HOUSE OF GAMUT is a 501(c))3 non-profit.
Co-founded in 2023 by R.B Wood and Richard Thomas to showcase and celebrate readers, writers, and artists who love dark speculative fiction. We have three guiding principles:

    Enrapture your senses and ensnare your minds via our magazine and our published works.
    Support writers through all stages of their careers. With courses crafted to inspire, educate, and elevate.
    Embrace our foundational principles of equity and diversity and uplift and amplify those readers, writers, and artists who’ve been marginalized in the past.

Friday, May 17, 2024

Interview: Paranormal Romance Author Beverly Ovalle + giveaway

Can you, for those who don't know you already, tell something about yourself and how you became an author?
I’ve been writing my whole life. I didn’t realize that, but my mom gave me some truly awful poetry I’d written when I was in grade school. LOL. I’d written and been in the Creative Writing Club in high school and never really stopped. Usually, I’d toss whatever I wrote out so there is no evidence. I thought! Then my BFF challenged me to enter a writing contest. I actually had a completed story, so I thought, why not? Neither of us won the contest, but the publisher, Boroughs Publishing Group, wanted our stories and we got contracts. I still have two books with them, Dragons’ Mate and Touched by the Sandman.

What is something unique/quirky about you?
I’m a serial hobbyist. I don’t ever drop them unless it’s a painful hobby (glass blowing) but I usually do one at a time.

What are some of your pet peeves?
My worst one, is having someone talk to me on the phone and chewing. Bubble gum or food. I have been known to hang up without warning as everyone in the family knows this.

Where were you born/grew up at?
I was born in Oak Park IL. I grew up moving around. We lived in Illinois, Indiana and Florida growing up. Once I was an adult. I lived in California and Wisconsin.

If you knew you'd die tomorrow, how would you spend your last day?
I would spend it with my family. Do a quick cruise to Illinois to see my parents, brother, SIL and niece and nephew. Dragging my husband of course. Then I’d finish the rest of the day with my children and granddaughter. I would want them to know I loved them (they do know!) and not to grieve. I’ve had a good life.

What kind of world ruler would you be?
I’d be the worst kind of despot. My way or off with your head! People annoy me.

What are you passionate about these days?
Prepping and preserving food. I love to can and dehydrate food.

What do you do to unwind and relax?
I love to cook, unfortunately that means I have to clean also and am not fond of that part. I love to travel in my RV. Sew, and play board games. My kids and I get together every few weeks and play games all evening.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I’ve always been a writer, but considered myself an author when my first book was published. Then I bragged, lol.

Do you have a favorite movie?
The Day After Tomorrow.

Which of your novels can you imagine made into a movie?
I’d love to see Stealing Hope made into a movie, but I always say it would probably end up in a sticky floored theater!

As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal?
A dragon, could be a book worm too!



The apocalypse has been and gone.
Generations have passed.
The old world wakes up to a future they never imagined.

Waking Tamara (A Dragon’s Fated Heart Book 4)

by Beverly Ovalle
May 4, 2024
Genre: Paranormal Romance
The apocalypse has been and gone.

Generations have passed.

The old world wakes up to a future they never imagined.
Indra answers a mating call and is plunged into his future. He’s drawn to a beauty frozen in the
past. He wants more than a kiss when he wakes her. But he has to have patience.

Gazing into Indra’s eyes, Mara is instantly smitten. One surprise after another has her believing
in fairy tales. But there are no princes in her story, only dragons.

Believing in dragons isn’t the hard part. Even becoming a dragon brings her more pleasure than
she’d ever dreamed. But being told she’s becoming a parent without her consent.

Nope.

Indra has some groveling to do.

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 Don’t miss the rest of the series!
Find them on Amazon


About the Author
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Beverly Ovalle dabbled with writing on and off for years when her best friend finally dared her to submit a story to a writing contest. Beverly decided she had nothing to lose and since she'd always wanted to be an author sent it in and agonized for months waiting to hear back. Contract in hand she has never looked back.

Beverly Ovalle has been obsessed with dragons and romance since she was a young girl, collecting dragon books and reading everything she could find on them even down to the care of real-life dragons. She's always been slightly panicked that the world as we know it will end, so has prepped for it, haunting survivalist pages and prepper projects she felt she needed in the event SHTF (shit hit the fan).

An avid fan of all romance, Beverly's goal is to share her love of the written word and write the spicy romances that she enjoys. She writes what she loves to read and it was only a matter of time before her obsessions crept into her writing for her to share. She hopes you enjoy her tales as much as she loves writing them.

A United States Navy Veteran, Beverly has traveled around the world and the United States enabling her to bring her settings to life. Reading romances since the fourth grade she's followed as the genre changed and spread into the vast cornucopia of romance offered today.

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

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Thursday, May 16, 2024

Paranormal Horror: Division X by August Hill

I’m not me when I kill people. At least, that’s what I tell myself. I wake up, and I know I’ve done something horrible. My hands are covered in blood, my clothes are gone, and my stomach feels full. I don’t remember what I did. All I remember is the pain. It’s impossible to forget...

Division X

by August Hill
October 2022 (First Edition)
Genre: Paranormal Horror
The monster killing business isn't all it's cracked up to be.

We all have a monster within... understatement of the year. For 24-year-old Randi Matheson, she quite literally does. On every full moon, it rears its hairy head. She wasn't always like this. Ever since her attack, the animal comes out to play. And on one full moon, the beast inside tries to eat her younger brother.

Division X, a paramilitary group hellbent on the eradication of monsters, intervenes and saves Randi's brother from being devoured. They take Randi far away and imprison her in a place no monster can escape. Held captive, Randi is given an ultimatum. Work for Division X as a new weapon in the fight against evil or be dissected. Without a real choice, she chooses the former and experiences the dark underbelly of reality as she faces off against vampires, demons, and redneck serial killers. Promised a cure to her condition along the way, Randi does her best to stay alive.

CW: Violence, gore, adult content



X: @RyanHillAuthor @RRBookTours1
IG: @r.augusthill @rrbooktours

Tags
#rrbooktours #rrbtdivisionx #divisionx #horrorbooks #paranormalbooks #shifters #vampirebooks #werewolves #scaryreads #horrorbookstagram 

Wednesday, May 15, 2024

New Release: Quantum Consequence ... Physics, Lust and Greed Series by Mike Murphey + giveaway

Quantum Consequence ... Physics, Lust and Greed Series
by Mike Murphey
05-16-2024
Sci-Fi
Publisher: Acorn Publishing

After foiling the political ambitions of a would-be American dictator, time-traveling lovers Marta Hamilton and Marshall Grissom return to their life in the Caribbean only to confront the murder of a friend and inherit responsibility for a gutsy 10-year old boy. Throughout their unlikely and tumultuous relationship, Marta has harbored suspicions that her time-traveling companion is not being honest with her. Is Marshall really the bumbling, good-hearted klutz she has come to love and trust? Or is he the cunning, cold-blooded assassin Gillis Kerg suspects him to be? In this fifth tale of physics, lust and greed, a bizarre parallel universe and a monstrous product of artificial intelligence will impose a costly consequence requiring both Marta and Marshall to face the truth of her most haunting question: “Who are you, Marshall Grissom?”


About the Author
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Mike Murphey is a native of eastern New Mexico and spent almost thirty years as an award-winning newspaper journalist in the Southwest and Pacific Northwest. His debut novel, Section Roads, has been recognized by Indie Reader Discovery Awards, Reader Views Reviewers Choice Awards, The IAN Book of the Year Awards, the Somerset Contemporary Fiction Awards, and the Independent Publishers Book Awards. His novel, The Conman has been recognized by the International Book Awards, the eLit Awards and the Manhattan Book Awards. His award-winning Physics, Lust and Greed Series includes Taking Time, Wasting Time, Killing Time and The Outlaw Gillis Kerg. “We Never Knew Just What It Was… The Story of the Chad Mitchell Trio” is his first non-fiction work. Mike loves fiction, cats, baseball and sailing. He splits his time between Spokane, Washington, and Phoenix, Arizona.

Giveaway
eBook Copy & Amazon Gift Card

Tuesday, May 14, 2024

Interview: PNR Romance Author Susanna Strom + excerpt

1) What inspired you to become an author?

I’m a natural storyteller. Stories, characters, and imaginary worlds have filled my head since I was a child. I’ve always wanted to put them on paper, to give them an existence outside of my imagination. Over time, I became more ambitious. I wanted not just to write the stories down, but to write well. I studied the craft of writing and worked to hone my skills.

2) Do you write in different genres?
I write paranormal and post-apocalyptic romance. I love both genres, but PNR is my happy place. When I set out to write my first novel, it was a story close to my heart about a pack of wolf shifters in my home state of Washington. A few chapters in, I realized that I didn’t possess the writing chops to do the story justice. I set it aside, took classes and workshops, and read dozens of craft book. When I felt ready to try writing a novel again, I wrote the first of what turned out to be a five book, post-apocalyptic romance series. The wolf shifter novel I abandoned always called to me. I returned to it, confident that I finally had the skills to tell the story. That book became Secrets of Shooting Star Lake, the first book in my Black Rock Guardians series.

3) Is there a genre that you’d like to write that you haven’t tackled yet?
I love romantic suspense and might try my hand at that someday. I’m playing around with ideas for a standalone, Gothic romance ghost story.

4) Is this book part of a series? What is the next book?
Marked Under the Midnight Sun is the third book in the Black Rock Guardians series. I’ve started work on the fourth book, Beneath a Shifter’s Sky. I love this series and would like nothing better than to keep playing in this world for years to come.

5) Is the book, characters, or any scenes based on true life experience, someone you know, or events in your own life?
I weave real-life experiences into every book I write. In the Black Rock Guardians series, the Hagen women own and operate a bakeshop named after their Norwegian-American grandmother. My Norwegian-American grandmother passed down her love of baking to many of her grandchildren. The dog in Marked Under the Midnight Sun was based on and named after a friend’s dog. Many of the pets in my books are based on real-life animals. The Black Rock Guardians series feature close relationships between cousins. I dedicated the series to my cousins, who were my best friends when I was growing up.

6) Who designed the cover of your latest book?
I swoon every time I look at the beautiful cover for Marked Under the Midnight Sun. I struck gold when I hired Lori Jackson to design the cover of my first book. Eight books later, she’s still the person I turn to whenever I need a new cover design. She’s one of the best in the business. She knows the market and makes sure that every cover reflects the genre and sets the right tone and mood. She’s easy to work with and is endlessly patient and kind. Of course, it helps that she’s working with amazing images from photographers Wander Aguiar and Golden Czermak.

7) Do you have advice for other writers?
Yes, I do. I’d tell beginning writers not to pay attention to anybody who says there’s only one correct way to do things. Some people need outlines and beat sheets in order to make progress. Other people find that their creative muse goes on strike if they try to outline a book. Some people will urge you to write a rough and dirty first draft and absolutely not to edit as you go. That may work for many people, but others need to edit as they go or they stall out. We’re all different. No advice works for everybody. It takes time and experimentation to figure out the writing system that works with and not against your inherent brain strengths. Be willing to challenge your assumptions about what might work for you. Because I’m well-organized and like check lists, I thought I needed to outline. Wrong. Outlining shuts me down. My best advice is to feel free to ignore advice that doesn’t work for you and how your brain is wired.

8) When you’re not writing, what do you do? Do you have any hobbies or guilty pleasures?
When I was younger, I felt guilty about things that gave me pleasure, especially romance novels. I thought I needed to read “worthy” books. Now, I’m older and wiser. I freely admit that I’d rather read about the Ice Planet Barbarians or the Dark Protectors than any prize-winning literature. When I’m not writing, I read and love genre fiction.

I also love to bake. I’m an old fashioned, from scratch, home cook. Cooking relaxes me. Pies, cakes, and breads are my specialty.

Marked Under the Midnight Sun (Black Rock Guardians Book Three)

by Susanna Strom
May 21, 2024
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Cougar Creek Publishing, LLC
ISBN: 9781960382092
ASIN: B0CKKXFYFC
Cover Artist: Lori Jackson
He was loaded for bear. And he still wasn’t ready for her…
Viggo

I do jobs no one else in my pack can do. Dirty jobs.

Like kidnapping Liv Hagen.

I didn’t want to do it. I was just following my alpha’s orders.

I never thought my bear would think she’s ours.

But there’s no way I can keep her. The consequences are too dire.

So, when the time comes, I’ll have no choice but to surrender her to fate.

Even if it kills me…

Liv

Kidnapped, held captive, and used as a bargaining chip against the Black Rock Guardians.

Yeah. Seems about right for my luck.

But if the big, bad bear shifter thinks I’m going to submit to his—or anyone’s—will, he’s got another thing coming.

Which is why I’ll just have to ignore my attraction to the sexy jerk. It’s probably Stockholm syndrome, anyway.

I mean, it’s not like he’s my fated mate or anything… right?

Marked Under the Midnight Sun, Book 3 in the Black Rock Guardians Series, is a lightly angsty, enemies to lovers paranormal romance with plenty of spice and tense moments, and just the right amount of suspense, action, and adventure. Download today and get ready for the supernatural romance you didn’t know you needed.


Excerpt:
Liv huddled next to the campfire, a flimsy Mylar sleeping bag wrapped around her shoulders. Soaking wet, her cheeks flushed scarlet from the frigid air, the human was in trouble. The sun had dipped below the horizon and the temperature was plummeting.

I glanced at my shivering captive. “Gimme your coat, dress, and boots.”

“What?” she sputtered. “Dude, I’m not stripping in front of you.”

My lip quirked. Nobody but this feisty, gotta-be-freezing-her-ass-off woman would dare call me dude. Most pack mates cringed in my presence, and referred to me as Mr. Creed, or sir.
Not Liv.

“You’ll never warm up if you spend the night in wet clothes.” I pointed at the sticks wedged into the ground next to the campfire. “I’ll put your things close to the flames to dry out.”

“Forget it.” She yanked the emergency sleeping bag up to her ears.

I bit the inside of my cheek. I never got a good look at her body underneath the sodden down parka, but her legs were shapely and I bet her figure matched.

What the hell am I doing?

Was there any thing more pointless, more self-destructive than being attracted to the woman I’m turning over to my heartless alpha?

Time to shut this shit down.

I stepped toward her and deliberately shaped my features into an intimidating scowl.

“You telling me you’d rather freeze to death than take off your wet clothes?”

She didn’t answer, probably realizing how foolish she’d sound if she said yes.

“My orders are to bring you safe and sound to Medved. I can’t let you get hypothermia.”

“And a flunky like you doesn’t dare disappoint his alpha, right?” Scorn dripped from her voice.

“That’s right.” No point in taking offense when she spoke the truth. I lowered my chin and put command into my voice. “So either you strip or I’ll do it for you.”

Color returned to her cheeks in an angry flush. “Try it, buddy, and you’ll lose a hand.”
I could easily overpower the mouthy woman and peel her clothes off. Grizzly shifter versus human? Hell, no contest. Liv wasn’t stupid. She had to realize how powerless and vulnerable she was. Still, she jutted out her chin, and her pretty brown eyes shot sparks.

Rubbing the back of my neck, I debated how to handle the insolent human. I’d ripped her away from everybody and everything she knew. Her next few days were bound to be rough, especially if she shot off her mouth in front of Medved. Why not cut her some slack? If she saw me as a reasonable man, she might be more willing to listen when I warned her to mind her manners in front of my alpha.

“How about I turn around and look the other way while you undress?” I proposed.

The fingers clutching the top of the sleeping bag had turned bone white, and she trembled from the cold. “Fine,” she said reluctantly. “Do it.”

I put my back to her. “Just don’t get any crazy ideas about picking up a branch and clobbering me.”

She snorted. “We’re in the middle of godforsaken nowhere.” I heard rustling as she dropped the sleeping bag and shed her wet clothes. My imagination filled in the details as I imagined her naked behind me. “Even if I managed to knock you out, where would I go?”

 
About the Author:
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Susanna loves to read―and write―stories full of complex characters who find love, hope, and connection while navigating through an exciting and dangerous world. Susanna lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with her husband and two very spoiled cats.

Marked Under the Midnight Sun, Book 3 in the Black Rock Guardians Series, is a lightly angsty, enemies to lovers paranormal romance with plenty of spice and tense moments, and just the right amount of suspense, action, and adventure.
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#FatedMates #PNR #ParanormalRomance #SpicyPNR #SpicyParanormalRomance #ShifterRomance #BlackRockGuardians