Tag Archives: Dark Fantasy

January 3, 2023 · 10:35 am

#HobbyCareerPassion: Author Dan Rice – #Photography in my New Release: The Blood of Faeries ~ #WRPbks #Blog

Welcome to my weekly feature where authors share about the hobbies, careers, or passions of their characters.

I’m pleased to introduce today’s guest, Dan Rice…

Author Dan Rice – Photography in my New Release: The Blood of Faeries

sports image

Since college, I’ve been passionate about photography—specifically, anything nature-related. The photo bug bit me while visiting Arches National Park near Moab, Utah. I recall being impressed by the refined beauty of Delicate Arch, which is often seen on postcards and advertisements promoting the area. But what blew my mind was a book I picked up at the visitor center, Our National Parks by Ansel Adams. I was addicted.

This was in the early 2000s, so digital photography was relatively new. I spent several years shooting slide film and scanning slides with a film scanner. Not the ideal workflow, let me tell you. The scanners weren’t the best back then, and dust was a great annoyance. Switching to digital was a godsend, although it didn’t eliminate the dust problem. Every time you change a lens on the camera, there is an opportunity for dust to invade. However, the overall workflow is vastly improved with digital photography, and the cost of film is eliminated.

I’ve had great fun hiking and traveling with my camera. In the summer of 2021, my older son and I visited Yellowstone and the Tetons. Both are superb locations for landscape and wildlife photography. It was a memorable trip for both of us. At the time, he was trying out photography for himself and was obsessed with snagging photos of a bear and a wolf. He got his wish, capturing both in Yellowstone.

In my novels, Dragons Walk Among Us and The Blood of Faeries, the protagonist, Allison Lee, is a high schooler with dreams of becoming a photojournalist. She shoots photos for her school’s online news source and rarely leaves the house without her camera. In Dragons Walk Among Us, her photography plays an essential role in the plot as she attempts to capture photographs of antagonistic characters who might not be from this world. In the sequel, her photography doesn’t play a prominent role in the plot, but it is still central to her characterization.

I decided to make Allison a photo bug because I believe in writing what you know. Photography is an activity I know quite a bit about, so it’s easy to impart that characteristic to Allison. She spends most of her time behind the camera photographing high school basketball, her squad, and a street protest. I’ve never photographed a basketball game, but I have taken thousands of snaps of my sons playing soccer. The protest Allison photographs is far and away wilder than anything I’ve experienced. However, a few months before the pandemic resulted in a lockdown in my neck of the woods, I participated in and photographed a woman’s march. It’s not my typical photographic event, but it was invigorating to document it.

Writing about photography in my fiction is a fantastic way to share my passion with more people. Also, it adds a sense of verisimilitude to Allison that would otherwise be difficult to achieve without time-consuming research. For the busy author, time is a priceless currency. 

Sometimes there’s no going back.

Blurb

Allison Lee wilts under the bright light of celebrity after being exposed as a shape-shifting monster. She’d rather be behind the camera than in front of it. Being under the tooth and claw of her monstrous mother is even less enjoyable. All she desires is for everything to go back to the way things were before she discovered her true nature.

But, after she accidentally kills a mysterious man sent to kidnap her, she realizes piecing her old life back together is one gnarly jigsaw puzzle. When Allison’s sometimes boyfriend Haji goes missing, Allison and her squad suspect his unhealthy interest in magic led to his disappearance. Their quest to find Haji brings them face-to-face with beings thought long ago extinct whose agenda remains an enigma.

Excerpt:

“This is the Seattle PD,” booms an announcement from a loudspeaker. “Do not attempt to breach the police line.”

Like everyone else, I turn toward City Hall. I stand on my tiptoes but can’t see much. The vanguard of protesters is within feet of the police line. When I turn back to where I expect to find Drake, he’s gone. The march has slowed almost to a stop. People gather in small groups chanting and dancing. Sunlight glinting off her copper scales, Mauve towers above the crowd off to the left at least twenty feet behind me.

“We the people demand the mayor take measures to make Seattle carbon neutral now!” someone shouts into a bullhorn. “Come on, everyone. Let’s make sure Mayor Andretti hears us! Carbon neutral now! Carbon neutral now!”

The chant reverberates through the crowd, growing into a roar. I join the chanting and shoot pictures of young people screaming and waving signs. I dart between people, desperate to take photos of the action up front.

“In fact,” roars the voice from the bullhorn, “we want Seattle to be carbon negative! We want Seattle to be the capital of carbon capture technology! Invest in carbon capture technology now, Mayor Andretti! Before it’s too late!”

The mob repeats: “Carbon capture! Carbon capture!”

I weave between clusters of protesters, occasionally brushing against people. The screaming and sign waving are riotous near the frontline. I stop and snap more photos, zooming all the way out to 20 mm and getting up in peoples’ screaming faces. A couple people give me offended glares, but most are too caught up in the moment to notice me. As I continue onward, I review the photos on the camera’s LCD. A few are wicked. I can see teeth and spittle and tongues and wild eyes while still having a view of the seething mass all around. I smile when I break through the crowd to the frontline.

A handful of brave souls are yelling in the faces of stoic riot police lined up on the lower steps leading to City Hall. A tall man with a bushy beard, reflective aviator sunglasses, and a red bandanna wrapped around his head shouts into a megaphone, leading the crowd in climate protest mantras. Off to the left are the drummers, frenetically thumping on their instruments. I start shooting and keep shooting until my SD cards are full.            

Buy link(s):

dcrheadsot_master

Bio:

DAN RICE pens the young adult urban fantasy series The Allison Lee Chronicles in the wee hours of the morning. The series kicks off with his award-winning debut, Dragons Walk Among Us, which Kirkus Reviews calls, “An inspirational and socially relevant fantasy.” 

To discover more about Dan’s writing and keep tabs on his upcoming releases, join his newsletter: https://www.danscifi.com/newsletter. 

 

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April 23, 2021 · 7:48 am

Gemini Rising by Bianca Swan ~ #AHAgrp #Blog

Please help me welcome today’s guest, Bianca Swan…

 

St. Michael’s Mount is a tidal island in Mount’s Bay in Cornwall, U.K. I was lucky enough to visit the Karrak Loos yn Koos,  Cornish for “hoar rock in woodland”, on my honeymoon back before recorded time. Seriously, it was last century. I immediately fell in love with this small island accessible only by a manmade causeway, passable only between mid-tide and low tide. This causeway is made of granite setts. Two types of granite are indigenous on the Mount.  These are a tourmaline muscovile and a biotite muscovite. I’m not a geologist. Wiki, my friends. The island is a civil parish and linked by the causeway to the town of Marazion.

While the National Trust now guarantees the preservation and conservation of the Mount, the St Aubyn family continue to live on and manage the island, as they have done since the middle of the 17th century.

St Aubyn Estates has been part of the West Cornwall landscape. Today, it is a modern, family-owned enterprise spanning 5,000 acres with a diverse portfolio of businesses, including land and property management, tourism and hospitality, building and farming. James and Mary St Levan live on St Michael’s Mount.

In WWII, the Mount was fortified  during the invasion crisis of 1940–41. Three pillboxes can be seen to this day.

I  hope you have enjoyed this quick tour of the island.  If I’d had more space, I’d have gone into the history but I wanted to tie in my book, you see.  The Keep in Gemini Rising, where the twins are raised, and Alain later becomes Lord of the island, was inspired by that long-ago trip to St. Michael’’s Mount. You never know what will stick in your subconscious and surface years later.  I never forgot the Mount.

~*~

Gemini Rising by Bianca Swan was published by Black Lotus Books:

This book is not for the faint of heart. It pushes all the taboos, and because it does Amazon has so far refused to carry it.  It can only be purchased through the publisher’s website. One reviewer said: “Yes, it does push boundaries, but it also holds surprises that make it more than it appears to be and definitely an interesting and entertaining read.”

Science said male/female identical twins were impossible until the Alastair twins were born. Were Alina and Alain genetically encoded or did growing up in an isolated island castle determine they walk the forbidden trails?

Blurb:

The Alastair twins are a scientific impossibility. To parents who’ve tried every way to have a child, their male and female identical twins are a miracle.

Isolated in their island castle, the Alastair twins Alain and Alina turn to each other for friendship and love. But when their love shifts from fraternal to frighteningly deep, they’ll each dance with their lust in their own way.

A dark fantasy of forbidden longings and midnight pledges, spoken only to be broken or kept. How can these phenomenal twins possibly unleash their innermost desires? The answer will shock you.

Excerpt:

Rory rushed him, grabbing his shirtfront, his fist drawn back to strike. Alain raised a defense. The horses snorted, hooves scrambling on cobbles. Aiden Alastair strode into the barn hall, assessing the situation at a glance.

“By all that’s holy!” Father’s hands fisted. “Have you both taken leave of your senses?”

Rory freed Alain with a shove. “I’m rearranging your son’s pretty face. You’ve said yourself that Alain’s too pretty for his own good.” The old, familiar humiliation and pain twisted in Alain, but he squared his shoulders, and with blood on his mouth, faced his father. His brother-in-law’s lips curled in a mocking smile. “I was just trying to help you out, Lord Alastair.” He put hateful emphasis on the title.

Alastair crossed his arms, glaring at his son-in-law. “You’re my daughter’s husband and as such this is your home, but I won’t tolerate fighting beneath my roof.”

Rory hung his head, staring at the cobbles, said nothing. His stiff posture sagged.

Father’s eyes found Alain. His expression altered from angry to hurt. “I would have expected more of you. Did you start this?”

Of course, he’d jumped to the conclusion Alain was to blame. He was always ready to believe the worst of his only son. He could tune them out, suppress his feelings and stoically endure. But not this time. Damage, like love and hate, came in degrees. All his life Alain had suffered at this man’s clumsy hand. He arched an eyebrow.

Rory’s gaze lifted to Alain’s face. He gasped, “Don’t.”

~*~

About Bianca:

Bianca lives in the Lone Star State with her baby grand piano and is very fond of her snazzy convertible whose name is Zippy Z. She enjoys reading, horses, symphony, theater, and writing. She still believes in the power of love—and the power of lust—and enjoys delving into the soul of both the L-Words, bringing to life hot, passionate men and the lucky, passionate women who love them.

You can find Bianca at:

Facebook:   https://www.facebook.com/bianca.swan.589

Web Site:  https://www.biancaswan.com/

Blog:            https://biancaswanblog.wordpress.com/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4573416.Bianca_Swan

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February 25, 2020 · 10:46 am

#HobbyCareerPassion: A Passion For Paranormal by Robert Herold

Welcome to my weekly feature where authors share about the hobbies, careers, or passions of their characters.

I’m pleased to introduce today’s guest, Robert Herold…

A Passion For Paranormal

We all feel a little unnerved when the power goes out, when we are plunged into darkness, when we are booked into a room on the 13th floor, or when 13 is missing from the elevator options, and most especially when people we know pass away. People have huddled around fires since ancient times to keep away their fears, both real and imagined. Today, when the power goes out, we cluster around that scented candle on the coffee table, or that flashlight app on one’s cell phone—until the battery wears out. Are we really so different from those in the past?

Imagine it is 1885, the beginning of the modern era. Science is making new strides in hitherto unexplored areas: chemistry, physics, psychology, even applying the scientific method to the hereafter – exposing frauds and maybe, just maybe, proving the existence of life after death. This was a passionate sideline for William James, a real figure from history. He was a famed Harvard professor, father of American psychology, and brother to the famous writer Henry James (author of The Turn of the Screw, among many others).

Professor William James helped found the American branch of the Society for Psychical Research, who applied the scientific method to investigations of the supernatural. Eventually the group in America became headed by a dogmatic skeptic and James had a falling out. Using this as a springboard, I imagined he then started his own investigative group, The Eidola Project (eidola being a Greek word for ghost). Some real investigations, including those that are downright spooky, are woven into the story, especially while he is building his team of paranormal researchers.

In addition to William James (age 42), the Eidola Project consists of Annabelle Douglas (age 28), one of the first graduates of The Harvard Annex (later known as Radcliff), Sarah Bradbury (age 18), an authentic medium, Edgar Gilpin (age 26), a brilliant African American physicist and graduate of Howard and Yale Universities, and Nigel Pickford (age 39), one of the youngest Confederate officers, who in the years following the Civil War is plagued by paranormal visions & has become a drunken derelict. Each contributes to the group, but each has his or her own peculiar baggage and set of weaknesses.

Professor James directs The Eidola Project from Harvard, sending them off on various missions, and occasionally joining them (akin to “Rupert Giles,” a character in the TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer). The Eidola Project are intrepid explorers of the supernatural, but in doing so, they enter the darkness and become ensnared in a dangerous investigation of a haunted house, where they encounter all sorts of things that go bump—or worse!

 

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-eidola-project-robert-herold/1133990920

Blurb:

It’s 1885 and a drunk and rage-filled Nigel Pickford breaks up a phony medium’s séance. A strange twist of fate soon finds him part of a team investigating the afterlife.

The Eidola Project is an intrepid group of explorers dedicated to bringing the light of science to that which has been feared, misunderstood, and often manipulated by charlatans. They are a psychology professor, his assistant, an African-American physicist, a sideshow medium, and now a derelict, each possessing unique strengths and weaknesses.

Called to the brooding Hutchinson Estate to investigate rumored hauntings, they encounter deadly supernatural forces and a young woman driven to the brink of madness.

Will any of them survive?                                                                

Excerpt:

Sarah retrieved the lamp and twisted the peg. The outhouse door swung open on its own, and she gasped.

“Momma?” Sarah asked as she held out her lantern. No. A ruined version of Molly stood in the doorway.

Before her disappearance, people often commented on the sixteen-year-old’s beauty, but in the last twenty-eight days birds pecked out her pretty blue eyes, and maggots now swam in the sockets. Molly’s head hung to the left at an odd angle. Her skin looked mottled with patches of gray, blue, and black. A beetle crawled out of Molly’s half-opened mouth and darted back in.

Sarah’s heart leaped to her throat, and she jumped back. She lost her footing, fell onto the outhouse seat, and dropped the lantern to the floor. She bent to retrieve it; thankful the glass globe did not break. Sarah looked up and saw an empty doorway.

Impossible, she told herself. Must’ve dozed off, had a nightmare, and woke up when I dropped the lamp. Her heart still pounded in her chest, and Sarah took a deep breath to calm herself.

Holding the lamp before her once more, she crept out… 

Available at:

https://www.amazon.com/Eidola-Project-Novel-ebook/dp/B07YRB4F99/ref=sr_1_1

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-eidola-project-robert-herold/1133990920

Animated Book Trailer (17 seconds!): https://youtu.be/SZovJ-MZQ5Y         

About the Author:

The supernatural always had the allure of forbidden fruit, ever since Robert Herold’s mother refused to allow him, as a boy, to watch creature features on late night TV. She caved in. (Well, not literally.)

As a child, fresh snow provided him the opportunity to walk out onto neighbors’ lawns halfway and then make paw prints with his fingers as far as he could stretch. He would retrace the paw and boot prints, then fetch the neighbor kids and point out that someone turned into a werewolf on their front lawn. (They were skeptical.)

He has pursued many interests over the years (among them being a history teacher and a musician), but the supernatural always called to him. You could say he was haunted. Finally, following the siren’s call, he wrote The Eidola Project, based on a germ of an idea he had as a teenager.

Ultimately, he hopes the book gives you the creeps, and he means that in the best way possible.

https://robertheroldauthor.com/

https://www.facebook.com/RobertHeroldauthor/

https://twitter.com/RobertHerold666

 

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February 20, 2016 · 7:01 am

Interview: Karilyn Bentley, Author of Paranormal Romance, DEMON KISSED

Please help me welcome today’s guest and her intriguing novel… Isn’t this a fantastic cover?

 

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BLURB:

Gin Crawford, the world’s latest demon huntress, has no time to mourn her dead lover as she’s called in to determine why a demon attack occurred at the local medical school. And not just any demon, but the one demon that gives her demon-killing bracelet the shivers. A dead professor, a lab full of missing anthrax, and a demon who turns good people into minions complicate her life. Can Gin and her mentor Aidan Smythe solve the mystery of the missing anthrax and the identity of the demon before someone else dies?

EXCERPT:

The scent of sulfur hangs in the air like a demonic stink bomb. I want to slap a hand over my nose, but no one else seems affected by the stench. Must be a demon huntress thing.

“Justitian,” Smythe mutters. “Not demon huntress.”

“If you don’t like my new title, then stay out of my mind.”

He glares. I swallow. Cross my arms. Refuse to take a step back. I’m learning not to be intimidated by his anger. Go me.

My justitia vibrates, throwing me out of my internal battle, pulling me back to the land of death and minions. The blob of colors pulsates, a glowing reminder of a moment of terror. The moment the demon appeared to the grad student.

Granted, I’m still taking Demons 101, but I thought demons formed minions in private.  Usually after the human committed a crime, not before. A tryout, so to speak. And maybe that happened, but it sure seems to me like the black blob of demon force appeared to the grad student smack in the middle of the hallway.

Or maybe that always happens, and I just now noticed it.

The justitia’s vibration grows stronger, trembling my arm, my veins. Not its normal excited tremor upon seeing a minion or demon. A rush of images spikes through my mind, scenes of terror coupled with blood and death, memories of the justitia’s former wearers captured in time by the entity in the bracelet.

I’m not the only one freaked out by the colored blob. How bad was this demon to scare a justitia?

 

Wow, chilling excerpt! Now, let’s get to know Karilyn…

Are there any tricks or habits you use when creating a story?

I have to drink hot tea when writing. I can’t seem to write without it.

What book have you read that you wish you would have written?

The Outlander series and the first few books of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series by JR Ward.

Do you have another occupation, other than writer? If so, what is it and do you like it?

I do! I’m a clinical research coordinator at a busy oncology clinic. This means I help run clinical trials. Sounds fancy. What it really involves is a bunch of paperwork. You can think of me as a glorified paper pusher. And yes, I do enjoy it. It makes me feel like I’m helping people. And isn’t that what we should all strive to do?

Yes, I agree. It’s great you have a job where you can help others. What’s the main thing that you could get rid of in your life that would give you more writing time?

The aforementioned job. As much as I like it if I could stay home and write (and make money writing), I’d gladly give it up.

What do you want readers to come away with after they read Demon Kissed?

Wanting to read the next in the series (or the first in the series if they haven’t already).

What is your favorite quote?

Anyone who thinks he’s too small to make a difference has never been bit by a mosquito – Lily Casey Smith in Half-Broke Horses

Love that quote!

What is your favorite…

Movie – Star Wars

Music – Mumford & Sons

Place you’ve visited – Sweden

Place you’d like to visit – Scotland

TV show from childhood – Laverne & Shirley

TV show from adulthood – Game of Thrones

Food – apples

Which do you prefer: Board games/card games or television? Board games/card games

Excellent! I enjoyed your answers, although, I bet you are the only person in the world whose favorite food is apples. 🙂 

Karilyn has a question for readers… What is your favorite genre to read?

(Mine is suspense…but paranormal is probably second.)

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BIO:

Karilyn Bentley’s love of reading stories and preference of sitting in front of a computer at home instead of in a cube, drove her to pen her own works, blending fantasy and romance mixed with a touch of funny.

Her paranormal romance novella, Werewolves in London, placed in the Got Wolf contest and started her writing career as an author of sexy heroes and lush fantasy worlds.

Karilyn lives in North Texas with her own hunky hero, a crazy dog nicknamed The Kraken, and a handful of colorful saltwater fish.

 

CONTACT LINKS:

Website:    http://www.karilynbentley.com

Facebook:             https://www.facebook.com/KarilynBentleyAuthor

Twitter:      http://www.twitter.com/karilynbentley1

Blog:                      http://plottingprincesses.blogspot.com

Goodreads:           http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4051943.Karilyn_Bentley

Pinterest:   http://www.pinterest.com/karilynbentley

Newsletter:            http://eepurl.com/ba_0Rf

 

BUY LINKS

Amazon: http://amzn.com/B01AB5116U

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/demon-kissed-karilyn-bentley/1123272613?ean=2940157964696

TWRP: http://www.wildrosepublishing.com/maincatalog_v151/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=195&products_id=6639

iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/demon-kissed/id1076170387?mt=11

 

 

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