Author of paranormal and romantic suspense. Follow her on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alicia-Dean/131939826889437) or twiiter (https://twitter.com/Alicia_Dean_)
The sixth of thirteen creepy tales of murder and mayhem on Friday the 13th…
Fatal Attachment by Mary Coley
Fun Fact:
I was hacked years ago and the creeps got all my vital information. For over twenty years, I’ve dealt with this, as they sell my information over and over again. I’ve been enrolled in Italian cooking classes, received books in the mail, and had attempts to file for my tax money. This story came from my revenge thoughts!
Find Mary’s Friday the 13th story here…
Blurb:
Oliver Calvert has been scammed more than once in recent weeks. The police can’t help. Oliver remembers how his wife, Rhanita used to handle those who wronged her. If he curses the unidentified culprits, will their lives be wrecked as his has been? On one Friday the 13th, he finds out.
Excerpt:
Oliver Calvert sat on the front porch glider. The muscles in his legs shook. He’d hardly slept last night, but when he did, the dreams he had were vivid nightmares. The plagues were visiting his dreams. Now he needed to find out how to visit them upon his scammers. How could that happen when he didn’t even know their names?
He shut his eyes, closing out the house across the street, the man walking his shepherd down the sidewalk, the blue jay squawking at him from that old elm in his front yard. Rhanita would know. He should have been able to go to her, to tell her that he loved her and needed her help as never before. Would she listen, would she help? Not that an answer mattered. She’d removed herself from him. They’d had so many years ahead of them. Now he was alone.
He clasped his hands together and recited again what his wife had always murmured, the curses she had uttered when someone had shunned her or made a sly comment that cut her to the quick. Rhanita was crafty that way. She always had a comeback, usually a curse. She’d mutter it and mutter it again. Then she’d go into the house and light black candles, throw her black shawl over her head, and kneel among the flickering flames, repeating the curse incessantly.
A few days of that and suddenly the cursed neighbor or acquaintance would be at the door with a casserole or home-baked bread, and a story to defend the offense. He thought the stories were simply excuses, but Rhanita took the offered gift with a frown and closed the door.
The offender might stay on the porch for hours, begging to be admitted, forgiven, or merely listened to. When Rhanita judged it had been long enough, and the regret was sincere, she would open the door, and nod. The offender would walk away, and Rhanita would replace the black candles with white ones, light them, and kneel once again, repeating a rush of words as she swayed wearing a white shawl.
Could it be that simple? A shawl, some candles and some murmured words? But what words? And how could it work if the offending party had no name?
A motorcycle zoomed down the street.
Oliver recalled what he had done last night. With only the light of the waning moon peeking into the dark bedroom, he found his wife’s shawl and the box of black candles, barely stubs. In the living room, he placed the lit candles in a circle on the wood floor, threw the shawl over his head and lifted his eyes toward heaven. “I am like Job, a simple man. This disaster was not deserved. The perpetrators are not worthy of success. I curse them. May the fruit of their work bring pain and misery. Send down the plagues of Egypt. The universe knows who did this.”
Words tumbled out. As he spoke, he heard Rhanita cursing the scammer until the moon and stars disappeared behind a thick cloud.
About the Author:
Mary Coley loves a good scare. She writes award-winning mysteries, usually set in her home state of Oklahoma. With the heart of an adventurer, she loves to travel and learn interesting new things. Sometimes they end up in her fiction.
The fifth of thirteen creepy tales of murder and mayhem on Friday the 13th…
Spoiled Milk by Robert Herold
Fun Facts:
Horror and science fiction often reflect society’s fears. Many works explore the notion of science and technology run amok. From Frankenstein to the Terminator franchise and beyond, we see a deadly side to science and technology.
Cloning is one such concern. You don’t hear much about it lately, but it’s real. Cloning holds great promise for medicine, agriculture, and many other aspects of society. For example, an Argentinian polo team all ride clones of a champion horse. But there’s a dark specter surrounding the notion of cloning humans. Might they simply be raised for parts? Is that ethical?
I have imagined the cloning of my main character’s infant son, a descendant of a long line of men raised to be sacrificed by a coven of witches. Now, with the clones, they could have an endless supply of these victims. “Spoiled Milk” follows the main character and his friends as they attempt to rescue the clones before the slaughter begins. The occult and science fiction merge in this fast-paced supernatural thriller!
Find Robert’s Friday the 13th story here…
Blurb:
A father races against time to prevent witches from slaughtering clones of his son.
Excerpt:
My infant son, Lazarus, was in foster care, arranged in secret by the Church after Seattle witches tried to kill him. Our bloodline contained something that could be utilized by witches. Because of this, my son and I, and now my son’s clones, were at great risk. I learned the embryonic clones were being kept on ice by a witch who had also been a University of Washington professor of biomedicine. The professor was now dead, along with the other Seattle witches, but that didn’t stop the threat. Witches were everywhere…
About the Author:
Seattleite Robert Herold is the author of the award-winning Eidola Project novels and the Seattle Coven Tales. In addition, Mr. Herold’s work has appeared in anthologies, on the Saturday Evening Post’s website, and will soon appear in Feral, a European horror comic magazine. Find out more at: https://robertheroldauthor.com
The fourth of thirteen creepy tales of murder and mayhem on Friday the 13th…
Broken by Laura Strickland
Fun Fact:
I’m a great believer in Karma, Fate, Cosmic Justice or whatever you’d like to call it. What goes around comes around, and stories of retribution satisfy me deeply. This tale takes that concept through several centuries and gives it a twist of horror. I’ve seen these karmic consequences come true in real life. But that’s another tale…
Find Laura’s Friday the 13th story here…
Blurb:
When Burton Renfrow awakens from his thirteenth nightmare in a row early on the morning of Friday the thirteenth, he doesn’t expect to be drawn into a tale of betrayal and retribution. But there’s a dead woman in his studio, a shard of broken mirror embedded in her breast. And when Burton falls into the mirror, he faces his own past, one so terrible it changes who he thinks he is, and who he’s always been.
How long might it take for a man’s misdeeds to catch up with him? Is there any escape, once vengeance tracks him down? What is the just punishment for rampant greed and selfishness? The answer just may leave him broken.
Excerpt:
As he moves into the studio, he senses something. Something amiss. Despite the darkness and the clutter, he knows this space. After spending untold hours here indulging his passion, its details are imprinted on his brain.
Even when he steps out of the light spilling from the bedroom, he can see enough. Ambient radiance shed by the street lights bleeds through the tall windows.
Bleeds.
He can smell blood.
A shiver travels down his spine, one that reaches right in and twists his bowels. No, surely not. He’s carried that from the dream.
On soundless feet, he pads forward. Weaves his way between the pieces of furniture that now seem marooned without purpose. The canvasses. The draped forms. Toward the tall mirror which should, as it always does, wink at him through its oval eye.
Mr. Bolton wants his daughter painted as if framed by that mirror, so Burton has left it out in the center of the room.
It does not wink at him now.
The smell of blood grows stronger as he crosses the floor toward the wooden chair, which sits in the center of an open space where he surely did not leave it.
Something is in the chair.
Something that should not be there.
His breath catches and then rattles in his throat. He doesn’t want to see.
He must see.
The overhead lights, as he knows, will illuminate the place to an almost unbearable degree. He does not want that.
There’s a lamp he uses for shadowing on the table to his left. He steps over and switches it on.
The light, soft as it is, makes him blink. At first he doesn’t comprehend what he is seeing. Because it shouldn’t be there. It can’t possibly be there. All in black. And red. A glitter of light where there should be none. An impossible juxtaposition of visuals.
He jerks his gaze up and encounters the cheval mirror. The frame of the mirror, he corrects himself, for the glass has been shattered and lies about the base in shards.
All but the largest of them, which is embedded in the breast of the woman in the chair.
About the Author:
Laura Strickland delights in time traveling to the past and searching out settings for her books, be they Historical Romance, Steampunk or something in between. Her lifelong interest in Celtic history, magic and music are all reflected in her writing.
The third of thirteen creepy tales of murder and mayhem on Friday the 13th… (and one of my favorites. I recommend you check out the other Beaver stories, Stripesand Blanks. He’s a psychopathic hoot :D)
Claws by Christopher Farris
Fun Fact:
Claws is a reimagining of a short story I wrote years ago. It was called Wild Things and focused on Elizabeth (the femme fatale from Claws,) her strained marriage, and the bear she built a creepy connection with. You can find it at Coffin Bell, here: https://coffinbell.com/wild-things/. It is free to read.
Find Christopher’s Friday the 13th story here…
Blurb:
Beaver went to the mountains to live in the peace. Unfortunately, he didn’t bring any with him. Now a mad creature is on the loose, the bodies are stacking up and the woman of his dreams is set to take the blame. Life never seems to get easier for Beaver but then, Beaver has never been easy on life. One way or another, he’ll claw his way to what he wants. He always does.
Excerpt:
She checked there weren’t nobody listening, you know with the kids in the house and all, then she leaned in and whispered, “Did you ever kill a man, Josiah?”
I got to say, I wasn’t expecting that. I don’t know what I expected, but not that. I considered lying but she had those eyes and they was practically undressing me. I throwed caution to the wind. I couldn’t help myself. I nodded, once, nervous.
She caught her breath, give a long sigh and leaned in closer. I could smell her faint perfume and feel the heat coming off her. “Who? More than one?” she asked and put her hand on my knee again. “Tell me.”
About the Author:
Christopher Farris lives in a very old, very small house in a very old, very small town nestled deep in a valley of the Boston Mountains of Northwest Arkansas. He is not a hillbilly, but he is trying. He has four well-adjusted children and the two best granddaughters available.
His horror novel, The Fountain, was published by The Wild Rose Press in January of 2021. His Christmas novel, Intersection: A Trucker’s Christmas Carol, was published in November of 2021. Both are available at Amazon.com as are his other Friday the 13th stories.
I am wickedly delighted to share the second of thirteen creepy tales of murder and mayhem on Friday the 13th…
The Curse of the Manitou by Stephen B. King
Recently, I visited the US, and during my travels, I visited the Native American Indian Museum in Washington. To say this was a sobering and informative experience is one of the great understatements. Being Australian, pretty much the only things I knew about native Indians I’d learned from Hollywood movies, and let’s be honest, they have mostly been unkind.
I have always been interested in the spiritual world, witches, warlocks, black magic ceremonies, and the like. I’ve also read every book my more famous namesake has published and love a good horror tale. So, I wanted to link the two topics: a respectful tale mentioning the plight of the Indian Nation in past times and a horror story for the Friday the 13th series I love so much.
Many years ago, I watched a movie called The Manitou. A tale based on a fantastic book by Graham Masterton about a Native Indian demonic spirit reincarnated every few years to wreak havoc on the Western World one assumes for the sins against his people. He is reborn through a lump on a woman’s shoulder, which contains his fetus. It really was an interesting, thought-provoking, and scary movie starring a great cast, including Tony Curtis. So, while mulling over my US trip, trying to come up with an idea for my contribution to the fabulous Friday the 13th series, I remembered that film. I googled Manitou to get the real story and am so glad I did.
My story features a Great Manitou of a Lake, which, in recent times, has become Lake Manitou. It turns out there are several in America called so, but none as scary as my fictitious one, set in NY State, in the Great Lakes area. The Manitou of the Lake was called on by a seer of a Native American Indian village located on its banks when the cavalry massacred the women and children in an attempt to force them to move West and give up their lands. The Colonel and all his future children are cursed to die by The Manitou’s hand in water.
When Robert Hartford, a direct descendant of Colonel Ramsey Hartford, inherits a house perched over the lake, he believes it is his lucky day. But he has no idea what horror will be unleashed on him and his family when he visits The House on Lake Manitou.
Happy Unlucky Friday the 13th! I am wickedly delighted to share the first of thirteen creepy tales of murder and mayhem on Friday the 13th…
Dormer by Mark Edward Jones
True Fact:
After a death in our neighborhood, the poor woman was not found for many days until neighbors noticed the mailbox had overflowed. Likewise, Dormer’s main nosy protagonist confronts the mailman about her neighbor’s stuffed mailbox and packages left on the porch, leading the neighbors on a search of the dead woman’s house.
Find the story here…
Blurb
Olivia Kraevitz, the ever-nosy neighbor, becomes alarmed when her eccentric neighbor, Vivian Johnson, and Vivian’s son suddenly vanish. Determined to uncover the truth, Olivia and her friends explore Vivian’s house, only to find themselves facing Brandy Looking, the enigmatic caregiver with a sinister edge. Olivia soon realizes that Brandy has dark plans for anyone who enters the attic with the dormer window—a place where you can see and be seen. Remember: you never know who’s watching.
Excerpt:
“Who’s this Brandy Looking person?” Glenda asked. “Is that a name?”
“Yeah. That’s Vivian’s caregiver.” Olivia pulled out wine glasses and set them next to the plates. “She gives me the creeps. I’ve only seen her a few times, always around dusk or after. I made sure to be outside one evening and met her coming down the sidewalk. She’s a tiny thing and strange to look at. White pancake makeup, blondish hair with dark roots, and deep red lipstick. She’d made herself up with dark-shaded eyes. Looked like a raccoon.”
Clara laughed.
Olivia didn’t smile. “And the oddest part—tattoos.”
“What’s the matter, dear? You look a little ghostly yourself.”
“Those tattoos. Six dark dots on each side of her forehead above her eyebrows. They grew larger as they got closer to her nose. And then in the middle ….” Her voice cracked.
“What?”
“An arc over the bridge of her nose.”
Clara drew close. “Why are you so upset?”
“When she got close to me that evening, she just stared—a weird smell, too…like a burned match. I said hello, trying not to be rude, but I just wanted to run away. Then she spoke—sounded like a little girl in a woman’s body. She said something about how rejuvenated she felt after her daily renewal.”
“Renewal?”
Olivia shrugged. “A nap, I guess. Anyway, while we talked, the arc above her nose got lighter. I noticed a glow.”
Clara opened the refrigerator and refreshed her glass from the white zin box. “Glowed?”
“It turned kind of purple.”
Glenda sighed. “Surely the light played a trick.”
She nodded. “Maybe. Brandy moved on, and I came home and locked my doors. I tried to ask Vivian about it the next day, but she seemed confused. I let it go.” The oven timer began dinging. She touched the timer. It stopped as the doorbell rang. “Can one of you get that?”
“I’ll do it,” Clara said. She took her wine glass with her and pulled on the door. The glass slipped from her hand and shattered on the tile. She stared outside.
“You okay?” Glenda asked while grabbing paper towels.
“You have a visitor.” Clara pushed open the glass storm door and looked down at a tiny woman. “Can we help you?”
A giggle and a squeaky voice said, “I need my mail.”
About the Author:
Mark retired from higher education finance in 2017. He is working on his third detective mystery, has written three paranormal short stories, and has completed the first chapter of a proposed sci-fi mystery.
Please help me welcome today’s guest, Susan Coryell…
Please tell us a little about yourself, where are you from? Where do you live now? Family? Pets?
I am a native of Virginia where I grew up in Herndon, a little dairy-farming town at the time. Many Northern Virginia communities were more urban than where I lived—so much so that when other schools played against us in a home game, they would “moo” rather than “boo” a referee’s call they disagreed with. When I left for college, the town census was at 2,000 population. When I returned 4 years later, with the building of Dulles Airport, the population had begun a steady climb until today it is more than 24,000. After teaching for 30 years (two in Hawaii and 28 in Fairfax County Public Schools, Virginia), I retired, along with my husband, to Smith Mt. Lake in south central Virginia. Now we live in Clemson, South Carolina, near our daughter, her husband and out two teenaged granddaughters. We have a black cat named Walter who walked onto our patio and decided to live with us.
Where did you get the idea for Eaglebait? Why did you choose this genre. Was there anything unusual, any anecdote about this book, the characters, title, process, etc. you’d like to share? What is the most difficult thing about writing a book? What was the most difficult thing about this one in particular?
Wardy Spinks, the 14-year-old protagonist, attends Evanstown High, home of the Eagles. Any foe or opponent is considered “Eaglebait,” a taunt for the opposing school, loudly proclaimed by their cheerleaders during pep rallies. Wardy Spinks becomes the joke of the school, thus he is “Eaglebait.” I wrote EAGLEBAIT while I was teaching middle school where bullying flourished. I wondered how some of the victims never appeared to recover while others managed to move on with their lives – thus the theme of building self-esteem emerged for the novel. Placed in “gifted-talented” classes because of his superior intelligence, Wardy is bullied relentlessly at Evanstown High because of his non-athletic, pudgy, bespectacled appearance and lack of social skills. Though he’s failing most of his classes, he’s secretly building a laser in his basement. Calling himself a professor of nuclear physics, he writes to research labs asking for assistance with a fuel formula for the laser. I consulted the smartest guy I knew at the time as to ingredients for such a fuel. When I asked him if this would actually work, he hesitated, then said, “Probably not…maybe…let’s change a few of the measurements just in case. We don’t want kids to replicate it and blow up their kitchens!” For The Wild Rose Press’s new YA line, I revised and updated Eaglebait with cyberbullying and technology. For me, the writing, revision and even the editing of my books is challenging but creative fun. The hard part is marketing and promoting the work once it’s published. Eaglebait is no exception.
What do you want readers to come away with after they read Eaglebait?
I would hope my young adult readers would find ways for nullifying school bullies in their own lives or among their schoolmates and that they would work to build their own self-esteem as Wardy does in the novel. For adult readers – parents, teachers, counselors and all who work with youth, I would want them to note the steps built into the plot for dealing with bullying and to apply that knowledge to situations they encounter with teens and ‘tweens.
What is your favorite quote?
From Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar: “The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.”
Have you written any other books that are not published?
I have seven published books, but I’ve written a dozen books in all. My very first book, DOUBLEHEADER, is about twin teenaged baseball players, a pitcher and a catcher, who telepathize their signals during games so that the opponents can’t anticipate the type of incoming pitch. There’s also a mystery involved. I proved to myself that I could write a full-length novel, but it was not quite ready for prime time. Currently, I am writing a children’s picture book and looking for an agent or publisher.
What is the toughest criticism given to you as an author? What has been the best compliment?
A national review venue made the comment, on one of my children’s picture books, that it seemed unfinished. The reviewer wanted “more,” but my other reviewers and I consider the book satisfactorily completed. The best compliment came from my sister when she finished reading Eaglebait. “As I read,” she said, “I completely forgot that my sister had written the book.”
Are your characters based off real people or did they all come entirely from your imagination?
In Eaglebait, as with five other books I’ve published, all the characters are fictional. Of course, I pick up characteristics from actual people and build on them at times. I modeled the teacher/mentor in Eaglebait after a college professor – the most dynamic instructor I ever encountered in all my educational experience. One book, A Murder ofPrinciple, is based on a stinker of a principal I endured for a few years while teaching high school, although that character is highly fictionalized.
What do your friends and family think of your writing?
I come from a tribe of writers in my family, so, they understand the ups and downs of the process. My friends are uber-supportive, attending my launches, buying my books and spreading news about each publication. I am very fortunate to have such a helpful community.
How much of the book is realistic?
Eaglebait is realistic in every way. Some of the overt bullying events actually occurred in different school settings. The cyberbullying via Facebook, texts, instant messaging, etc. is a reality, both malicious and anonymous, that many students face today. An editor questioned me when I wrote the first edition, saying, “We just can’t believe such bullying goes on in schools.” In the Washington Post I found a current article, complete with a photo of a big kid with wild hair and tattoos on his arms, who was quoted: “I hit ‘em because it makes me feel good.” I sent the whole page to my editor and I never heard any more about their questioning the reality of school bullies.
How did your interest in writing originate?
Because I grew up in a family of writers, I assumed everyone was a writer, too. I was forever penning poems and stories about everything from honeybees to teenage angst I detected in older siblings. In third grade, I decided to write letters to my girlfriends in class. My mother helped me address and stamp the envelopes. One by one, my friends called me: “Susan! I got your letter! What fun!” After the fifth call, I said to my mother, “What is wrong with these people? I wrote to them – they’re supposed to write back to me!” My mother smiled. “They’re not all writers, like you, Susan.” What a shock! Somehow, I knew from the start that I was a writer and that writers have to write. Not until I was an adult with three children, however, did I set my mind to composing a full-length novel. DOUBLEHEADER was the result of that effort. Eaglebait followed.
Thank you for being here today, Susan. Even though I’ve known you for years, I feel I know you a little better now. 🙂 Please tell us about your book…
Blurb:
Wardy Spinks has been a loser for as long as he can remember. Freshman year in high school, Wardy becomes the victim of malicious bullying. Eventually his life begins to change. A charismatic science teacher becomes his mentor. Then, quiet Meg seems friendly. And Big Vi takes on a life of her own. Wardy discovers his attitude makes a difference in how he’s treated. If Wardy doesn’t feel like a loser, maybe he won’t be one.
Excerpt:
Home. Wardy Spinks was home, but it was nothing to be proud of. Dishonorable discharge. Sacked. Another failure. Martin-Barrett Academy was what his mother referred to as “the last resort.” Some resort. Uniforms, demerits, drills, formation, light out. What happens next when you’re only fourteen years old and you’ve just been expelled from the last resort? Wardy shut his eyes and tried to block out the scene forming in his mind. He’d been over it so many times. It was too recent—too painful and real. Besides, it was permanently programmed into his brain, the beginning of the end of his career as a cadet. Involuntarily, his thoughts slid back to that night less than a week ago.
Susan has been writing and publishing since EAGLEBAIT was first published in 1990 by Harcourt. The YA novel won the International Reading Association’s “YA Choice” and the New York Public Library’s “Books for the Teen Age.” Now updated, EAGLEBAIT was republished by The Wild Rose Press, June, 2024. Susan has written a cozy mystery/Southern Gothic trilogy, including: A RED, RED ROSE (Amazon Encore); BENEATH THE STONES; and NOBODY KNOWS, published by The Wild Rose Press. A MURDER OF PRINCIPLE, a cozy mystery, was published by The Wild Rose Press in 2018. SPOOKY YOGA, a children’s picture book, KDP, 2022, and KIKI’S DREAM, published by Golden Bridges Press round out her current repertoire.
A 30-year English teacher of grades 7 – 12, Susan loves to present book talks and writing workshops at schools, libraries and community functions for writers and readers of all ages. She has conducted panel discussions, writers’ conferences and anti-bully youth groups. Her professional associations include SCBWI, South Carolina Writers Association, Authors Guild, and OLLI Writers at Clemson University. She has a Ba degree from Carson Newman University and a graduate degree, MAIS, from George Mason University.
Susan is married to her high school sweetheart. They live in Clemson, South Carolina. She enjoys traveling to Hawaii, walking, water aerobics, yoga and anything to do with grandchildren.
Susan is available for Zooms and interviews as well as in-person book talks and other programs locally.
Please tell us a little about yourself, where are you from? Where do you live now? Family? Pets?
My hometown is Decatur, IL and except for 4 years in the Air Force I’ve lived here all my life. I’m a widower. Lost my soulmate three years ago. She was my first editor and first reader for my first four books. She kept me on track and centered. I lost my writing companion, Ginger an eight-pound toy poodle, five years ago. She was fifteen and a half when she passed on. I was positive I couldn’t find a better dog, so I didn’t search.
Where did you get the idea for Bayou Chase?
Every November the NaNoWriMo website hosts authors. On the first of November, the task is to come up with a new idea and write a 50,000-word novel by the end of the month. It’s been the impetus for three of my novels. This one someone had mentioned visiting Louisiana and going on a chase to get to New Orleans in a specific time. I let my twisted brain play with that and the book resulted. I didn’t make the word goal but did finish the book.
Why did you choose this genre (is it something you’ve written in before)?
I’ve always written mysteries, suspense, action novels because that’s what I love to read. In my blood, I guess.
What was the most difficult thing about this one in particular?
Finishing the book. In every novel there are points where you’re stuck. Not writer’s block. I don’t believe there is such a thing. It’s a place where I’ve put my protagonist in a seemingly inescapable situation, and I have to figure out a plausible escape plan. It may be in the middle of the book or maybe multiple situations throughout the book.
Do you have another occupation, other than writer? If so, what is it and do you like it?
Nope, no other occupation. I’m eighty-three years old and been a full-time author since 2002. I previously worked in retail, Security Service in the Air Force as a Chinese linguist and analyst, a manager in a Fortune 500 company for twenty-five years and owned a shoe repair and sales company for eleven years prior to authoring.
Do you collect anything?
Books. I read around one hundred books each year. All the well-known mystery and suspense authors grace my bookcases and fill my Kindle library. I use them also for help in making me a better author. I try to analyze how they do it and learn their techniques.
What genre have you never written that you’d like to write?
I’ve dabbled in paranormal, westerns but not extensively. I really have no desire to switch genres. I’m really happy where I am.
How did you come up with the title?
Titles are hard, but this one kind of named itself. It takes place in a Bayou in Louisiana; the main character’s name is Chase Anderson and he’s being chased. More like hunted. Pretty easy really.
Thank you for being my guest today. I am so very sorry for your losses. Please tell us about your book…
Bayou Chase Excerpt:
Chase leaned back. “Course I know the name. The bastard killed my wife.”
“Mr. Washburn died two days ago.”
“Good. Can’t say as I’m sorry for the piece of crap. Good riddance. What’s that got to do with me?”
“Well, his death is somewhat suspicious.”
“You accusing me of doing it?”
She shook her head. “No, just conducting an investigation. We got your service records. Very impressive. Delta Force, two tours in Iraq, sniper school, wounded and discharged.”
“Honorable discharge.”
“Yes, honorable. You also excelled in house-to-house penetration.”
“Look, Detective, I didn’t shoot him. I would love to have had the chance to put him in my sights, but I didn’t.”
“He wasn’t shot.”
“How’d he die?” He opened his hands palms up.
“He drowned in his bathtub.”
“All due respect, Detective Menendes, I think we’re done here, unless you think I swam up the drainpipe and took him out.”
“You understand our concern? You have the skills to pull this off.”
“That doesn’t equate to guilt, does it?” Chase stood up. “Am I free to go?”
Menendes stood as well. “Yes, as I said we are investigating all possibilities.”
“As far as I’m concerned you should have done a better job of investigating my wife’s murder. Then we wouldn’t be here, would we?”
“Mr. Anderson, I was not involved in that case, and I assure you, if I was, you’re right, we would not be here now. Have a good day. An officer will be outside to take you back home.”
J. D. Webb, served in the Air Force in Viet Nam and the Philippines as a Chinese linguist, as a corporate transportation manager, then shoe repair and sales shop owner, before becoming an author.
An award-wining author of five novels, an anthology and two short stories. Incredible Witness the anthology was a finalist in the 2023 Silver Falchion Awards. His latest novel is Bayou Chase, a thriller, published September 2023 from Wild Rose Press. It is a finalist in the 2024 Silver Falchion Awards
In 2023 Webb was honored to be elected to the Midwest Writer’s Workshop Board of Directors.
Please tell us a little about yourself, where are you from? Where do you live now? Family? Pets?
My wife and I live in a place one person claimed got hotter after sunset than in the middle of the sunny afternoon—Metro Atlanta, Georgia. Georgian since birth. Family scattered in Georgia, Florida and Minnesota. I enjoy the outdoors and beg for winter, which seems to avoid us most years.
Where did you get the idea for Lethal Impulse?
The idea came from my background of growing up in a minister’s home and tenure investigating homicides and employment in a medical examiner’s office, which led to a forensic consulting job with national travel and investigations and plethora of ideas for novels, including Lethal Impulse.
Why did you choose this genre (is it something you’ve written in before)?
I love crime fiction and suspense/thriller novels and movies. I enjoy writing in this genre for the challenge it offers in adding suspense, red herrings, and unexpected twists.
Was there anything unusual, any anecdote about this book, the characters, title, process, etc., you’d like to share?
The main character, Neil Caldera, comes from a diverse family, completed forensics and theology majors in college and sought a career at NYPD. Lethal Impulse opens with his officer-involved shooting in which a bullet from Neil’s pistol kills a New York crime boss’s daughter. Fallout led to his move to a small town once named, “The Best Place to Live in Georgia,” and an encounter with a vengeful killer.
What is the most difficult thing about writing a book? What was the most difficult thing about this one in particular?
I am a pantser. I outlined my first novel and changed much of what I had written in the process. I felt it best to let creativity take over. When I reach a sticking point, I ask, What if? I had written about 2,000 words of Lethal Impulse when our consulting business shut down. I wrote 10,000 words a month for seven months. For the effort, I had a finished novel, and carpal tunnel syndrome.
What do you want readers to come away with after they read Lethal Impulse?
I want them to experience the characters’ highs and lows the way I did while writing their story and hope they approve of the way I fulfilled my promises to them. My objective is to transform readers into fans. I’ll do my best to live up to their expectations.
What book have you read that you wish you had written?
The Husband, Dean Koontz.
What is your favorite quote?
“I have a perfect cure for a sore throat: cut it.” ― Alfred Hitchcock
Have you written any other books that are not published?
I have three manuscripts ready for submission. One is the first book one of a planned three-book series. My thriller, After Her Deceit, the sequel in a two-book series is scheduled for release on October 1st. The same publisher has another two-book crime-thriller series planned for release in 2025.
What is the toughest criticism given to you as an author? What has been the best compliment?
Toughest:did not resonate with the characters.Best: great dialogue.
Are your characters based off real people or did they all come entirely from your imagination?
I give life to characters and place them in true-to-life situations and watch their reactions and responses. A few I will create based on a person’s unique name. I always ask permission and portray those characters as good people.
How much of the book is realistic?
I’m all-in when it comes to offering readers an impression of reality and adhere to self-imposed standards of authenticity, believability and credibility based on my experience as a forensic investigator. I research settings for accuracy in real towns or ones based on real places.
Who is your favorite author and what is it that really strikes you about their work?
Dean Koontz, a master wordsmith.
Thank you for the interesting interview. Crime Thriller is my favorite genre, and I also love Dean Koontz. And I love that quote from Hitchcock. 😀 Now, please tell us about your book…
Blurb:
He’s riddled with guilt. She’s annoyed with the status quo.
The death of a crime boss’s daughter forces Detective Neil Caldera to leave NYC. He seeks refuge in the tranquil embrace of a small town, where he finds himself entangled in the labyrinth of a teenage girl’s murder.
Tess Fleishman’s pale skin and extreme weight loss portrays a disease she wants others to see. While inside, a compulsion for Neil fuels her passion to have him, or destroy him.
Excerpt:
Neil had observed enough crime scenes to identify the familiar sight and smell of blood. Light revealed blood on three of the four walls and on a few boards overhead.
He strode to the rear space amidst various farm implements. The flashlight beam revealed nothing unanticipated to the right. The light revealed more to him than he foresaw. Happenstance played no role in the display now before him. The artist’s rendition displayed evidence of a warped mind. Malevolence flaunted in the form of a portrait painted with blood.
Neil widened the beam of light with a left twist of the flashlight’s head. Shock jolted him. The likeness on the barn wall stared back at him with remarkable resemblance.
“Holy mother of Moses. I understand why you didn’t want to come back.”
Neil looked at the front and rear doors. Light from an approaching vehicle rose on the front of the barn. Gaps around the door allowed enough streaks of light through to make shadows look as if the light infused them with life. The vehicle continued onward. Every shadow around Neil returned to stationary ominous forms. He half-turned toward the front and listened. The whine of tires on pavement diminished. Silence again filled the barn.
The hinges squawked against Neil’s shove on the right-side door. Chad turned his head in Neil’s direction. He was sitting on the ground with his back to the weathered wood. Knees drawn up, arms wrapped around them and his right hand clamped on his left wrist.
“It’s you.” Chad shuddered, tilted his head toward the barn. “In there. The picture on the wall looks like you.”
Neil glanced inside. The image renewed in his mind. “Is that the reason you called me? To have me look at someone’s depravity smeared on a barn wall?”
Steve Rush is an award-winning author whose experience includes tenure as homicide detective and chief forensic investigator for a national consulting firm. He worked with the late Joseph L. Burton, M.D, under whom he mastered his skills, and investigated many deaths alongside Dr. Jan Garavaglia of Dr. G: Medical Examiner fame.
Steve’s book Kill Your Characters; Crime Scene Tips for Writers was named finalist in the 2023 Silver Falchion Award for Best Nonfiction and Honorable Mention in the 2023 Readers’ Favorite Awards. Lethal Impulse won the 2022 Public Safety Writing Association’s Writing Competition for an unpublished novel, longlisted in the 2022 Page Turner Awards and joint first prize in the 2020 Chillzee KiMo T-E-N Contest.
He lives in Metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia, with his wife Sharon.
Please help me welcome today’s guest, Tammy D Walker sharing her new release, Down to Earth (The Daw County Sisters Mysteries)
Blurb: Stacey Hengesbach has enough to worry about with a pecan harvest, festival preparations, and a daughter who’s eager to leave their tiny hometown all needing her attention. So when a radio antenna tower falls, seriously injuring its owner, she’s willing to believe it’s an accident like everyone else in the county does, including the sheriff. But then another antenna tower falls, this time on her best friend’s cafe while they’re inside. With the help of her family, friends old and new, and the local ham radio club, Stacey races to solve the mystery of the falling antennas before another one comes crashing down.
Bad Weather and Good Community: Storms, Radio, and Cozy Mysteries
Lightning flashes. Thunder shakes the house. In a cascade of noise, emergency alert texts clash with the wind howling just outside and the warning sirens wailing a block away. My family and I gather in a safe place in our house, an interior room with no windows.
Once inside the room, I grab one of the radios I’ve stashed there earlier, knowing we might have severe weather. Beside the hand-crank weather band radio with its USB charger and light is my other go-to in an emergency: my hand held radio with the local amateur repeater frequencies programmed in it.
While my husband looks up weather radar on his laptop and one of the kids tunes into our local NOAA all hazards radio stations, I’ll listen to the frequencies area weather spotters might use to report local hail, high winds, and tornadoes. Living in an area where we can–and do–get severe weather that develops quickly, I’m grateful that we have good coverage from our news outlets about storms so that we can stay safe. And hearing the reports from trained storm spotters nearby gives us an even clearer picture of what we could prepare ourselves for when clouds and rain have us in the dark, sometimes literally, should the power go out.
We often think of radio as just a technology, or as a one-way medium, as in the stations that broadcast news on the AM bands and music on FM. But for me, radio is far more than that. Radio is about community. While much of that community is focused on entertainment–music and sports, for instance–there’s a significant number of radio enthusiasts whose interests lie in how we can use the technology to help people stay safe in different kinds of crises.
So when I started writing Down to Earth, the second novel in my cozy crime series, The Daw County Sisters Mysteries, I wanted to bring radio in as a way to explore community. Because, after all, community is at the heart of cozy mysteries, in the way people come together, are driven apart, and return to each other again.
For Stacey, the main character, radio is tied to serving the people around her through the activities of the amateur radio club she’s in. It’s also integral to her sense of home, through nostalgia for a now-closed music station she loved in high school as well as her curiosity about a new enigma showing up on the FM band. And, since this is a mystery, a fallen radio antenna tower kicks off the central question of the book: who sees communication as a threat and why?
Back home in Dallas, when the storms clear, I’ll put away our emergency weather radio for later. My hand held radio goes back in its charger on my writing desk. And, like Stacey, I know that when I need it, radio will be there, providing weather reports, entertainment, and a medium through which I can connect with others who want to serve our community.
Bio: Tammy D. Walker writes cozy crime novels, and her latest from The Wild Rose Press is Down to Earth, the second in her Daw County Sisters Mysteries series. When she’s not crafting mysteries or poems, she’s probably reading, teaching, trying to find far-away stations on her shortwave radios, dreaming about travel, writing letters, or spending time with her family. Find out more at her website: https://www.tammydwalker.com/
Author Alicia Dean 