Okay guys today is the day where you have to pull your finger out and use it to click the link… Totally Bound is doing a fabulous giveaway where you could win a Kindle Paperwhite and 10 ebooks from Totally Bound and all you have to do is follow the link and like Totally Bounds Facebook page! So what are you waiting for, I’ve already entered LOL ~Pixie~
Oh do we have a treat for you guys today, we have Riptide Publishing with S.E. Jakes along with S.E’s newest release Dirty Deeds. S.E. answers a couple of questions for us and we have a great Riptide giveaway of Amazon gift cards. So see what S.E. has to say, read my review and enter the Rafflecopter giveaway by clicking on the link, good luck everyone! 😉 ~Pixie~
Hey everyone!!! Thanks to MM Book Reviews for having me back here for my Dirty Deeds blog tour 🙂 Dirty Deeds is the first in this spin-off series of Hell or High Water. Dirty Deeds focuses on Cillian and Mal, two characters who’ve been in both Hell or High Water books 1 & 2 (Catch a Ghost and Long Time Gone.) Dirty Deeds # 1 captures a very specific moment in time for the Cillian (the spook) and Mal (the former SEAL in exile).
Here’s our questions for S.E. and her candid answers:
Madeline:01 – I absolutely love Mal already, will Cillian be deserving of all that Mal has to offer???
S.E: I know people have very mixed feelings about Cillian pre Dirty Deeds. I think you’ll get to see another side of him that’s surprising. For me, Mal and Cillian was a complete, unplanned surprise and it’s been a roller coaster from there.
Madeline:02 – Will Mal and Cillian end up exclusive??? They both seem to have a thing for Prophet.
S.E: Yes, they will end up exclusive—but they’ve got a bit of work to do before their HEA (which WILL happen). Mal and Prophet are very tight – the kind of friendship that’s literally been through life and death, so Mal’s thing for Proph is protective rather than sexual. I don’t see Mal sharing well. As for Cillian, his ‘thing’ for Prophet is complicated, but Mal ends up surprising the hell out of him. As for Prophet—absolutely no sharing. Although Proph shows his jealousy much differently than Tommy, could you imagine either of them handling that well?
Madeline:03 – Will Tommy and Proph be showing up in Dirty Deeds, and will that damn couch be used????
S.E:LOL! Mal does have something to say about the couch in Dirty Deeds! And yes, you’ll get a bit of Proph and Tommy.
Pixie:04 – Will we discover more about what Cillian is really doing hanging around Prophet or will it be a completely different storyline?
S.E: You find out much more about why Cillian’s hanging around Proph (and more on the John Morse storyline) in Dirty Deeds and Hell or High Water # 3 (their storylines run partly on the same timeline)…so by the time you get to Dirty Lies and Dirty Love, the Morse plot is done and Mal and Cillian have their own story to deal with.
Pixie: 05 – How did you come up with such fascinating characters and such a brilliant back story, and will we ever learn why Mal, Prophet and their friends can’t be together?
S.E: I’m VERY lucky – these guys found me / picked me. Prophet showed up one day and literally made his way into two books before I realized that he was never going to leave me alone until he’s got his own series. It’s the first time I’ve ever written the same couple throughout the entire series, and I’m enjoying the hell out of it. And yes, there’s a little of it in Long Time Gone (the CIA is responsible) but ALL of that will come out between Hell or High Water books 3 & 4.
Dirty Deeds: Dirty Deeds book 1
Two seasoned operatives finally meet their match: each other.
Cillian works for the mysterious Special Branch 20: an organization that runs black ops commissioned by the British government. His specialty is deep undercover assignments with virtually no support. He’s been alone for so long that he no longer knows anything else.
Mal’s also used to being alone. Wanted in several states and even more countries, he’s not allowed in the vicinity of any of his former Navy SEAL teammates. And his current assignment is to track Cillian in order to discover the spook’s endgame. Except he’s no longer sure which one of them is getting played.
Cillian isn’t about to let the mission that’s consumed him for the past several years crumble because an outsider is poking around where he doesn’t belong. But Mal forces his way through Cillian’s defenses—and into his heart—exposing a devastating betrayal that could destroy them both.
*
SE Jakes writes m/m romance. She believes in happy endings and fighting for what you want in both fiction and real life.
She lives in New York with her family, and most days, she can be found happily writing (in bed). No really…
1st prize: $50.00 Amazon Gift Card
2nd Prize: $25.00 Amazon Gift Card
3rd prize: $10.00 Amazon Gift Card
Title: Dirty Deeds
Series: Dirty Deeds 01
Author: S.E. Jakes
Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Action, D/s
Length: Novella (94pgs)
ISNB: 978-1-62649-093-2
Publisher: Riptide Publishing (13th January 2013)
Heat: Explicit
Heart: ♥♥♥♥ 4 Hearts
Reviewer: Pixie
Blurb:Two seasoned operatives finally meet their match: each other.
Cillian works for the mysterious Special Branch 20: an organization that runs black ops commissioned by the British government. His specialty is deep undercover assignments with virtually no support. He’s been alone for so long that he no longer knows anything else.
Mal’s also used to being alone. Wanted in several states and even more countries, he’s not allowed in the vicinity of any of his former Navy SEAL teammates. And his current assignment is to track Cillian in order to discover the spook’s endgame. Except he’s no longer sure which one of them is getting played.
Cillian isn’t about to let the mission that’s consumed him for the past several years crumble because an outsider is poking around where he doesn’t belong. But Mal forces his way through Cillian’s defenses—and into his heart—exposing a devastating betrayal that could destroy them both.
Review: Cillian is an operative for the mysterious Special Branch 20, a British black ops organization. Deep cover is his specialty and he has been working on a case alone for the past several years, chasing down a figure that is more like a spectre and is always one step ahead. Mal is used to being alone, working in the background but unable to meet up with any of his former Navy SEAL teammates. Mal is currently assigned to keeping an eye on Cillian; to discover the real motives for his involvement in Prophet’s life. Mal works his way into Cillian’s defences and sparks fly, but what will happen when they discover just who the other is?
This is a fabulous story that has you guessing as to what is happening; we move smoothly through the story being pulled into the mystery that is surrounding these men. Mal is the silent one, he suffered a devastating injury that he nearly died from and left him mute, he always has his teammate’s backs and he is determined to learn everything Cillian knows. Cillian keeps his cards close to his chest, hunting for a traitor and keeping Prophet out of the game are his main goals. These two men are playing a game of cat and mouse, hunting for answers and keeping their secrets but conducting a tryst that only one of them really knows about.
We see a brilliant story being developed as we look on, Mal is incredibly sneaky drawing Cillian in like he is a fish on the line and Cillian thinks he is playing with Mal having no clue as to what is really going on. Their meetings are clandestine with want and need swirling through the air, their couplings desperate and needy and filled with mystery by their actions. *sigh* A perfect match who have a very rocky road ahead of them.
Oh My God, oh my god I need book two… right this second! There are no words to describe how badly I want to track S.E. Jakes down and make her write the entire series out, the ending for this book has me on tender hooks and I am desperate to know what happens next! Holy cow Mal, what are you going to do? Cillian, I hope you start running. While I want to tell everyone what’s in this story and what is really going on, I can’t because the surprise is just too juicy, both Mal and Cillian have surprises for the other and not all of them are pleasant.
I have to recommend this to those who love brilliant stories coming together before your eyes, secrets revealed that has the hair on your neck standing on end, a fantastic explosive burgeoning relationship that might just go down in flames and a beautifully written story that has you begging for more.
Hi guys, today we are joining Storm Moon Press for their 4th Anniversary, they have sent Azalea Moone to do a guest post and they have also sent two fantastic Giveaways!! The first is Azalea’s with a chance is win Angel’s Redemption and the second is Storm Moon Press’s where the grand prize is receiving an ebook a Month for 12 months…. that’s 12 ebooks! What a fantastic prize!
So guy’s check out the post and click the Rafflecopter links to enter these brilliant Giveaways, I know I will be 😉 ~Pixie~
All month long, we’re celebrating diversity with Storm Moon Press for their 4th anniversary. But what exactly is diversity? Well Merriam-Webster dictionary describes diversity as: “the condition of having or being composed of differing elements.” That would mean there are several kinds of… well, everything in the world. Like chocolate! White chocolate, milk chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, etc. Excuse me while I devour all the chocolate!
Now that I have acquired a sugar high, we’ll continue. Okay, I won’t lie, I used to hate romance fiction when I was younger. Sure, I tried reading one of those popular romance stories, ya’ll know, from one of the biggest publishers of romance. Those sweet, and not so sweet, “I’m a perfect woman who’s going to fall in love with this big, bad Fabio looking dude over here” titles made me puke. So it surprised the hell out of me when I picked up, and loved, writing erotic romance two years ago.
But I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s noticed that romance has changed dramatically from those older titles back in the 70s and 80s. Apologies to those who grew up with and loved those stories.
One major change is there are so many different character personalities, now. A variety of endings, a variety of genres, a diverse crop to keep readers entertained and gushing over a book for hours. I’ve found myself in the same pool, screaming “OMG, this book is so hot! I need moar.”
As a new author of M/M fiction, I knew I had a lot to consider before taking the plunge. One decision was which genre to write in. Should stick to one or the other? Yes, there are a wide variety of genres, aren’t there? I started with paranormal since that was the most familiar for me, but the more I read, the more I found that I developed a love for contemporary romances and fantasies and wanted to try writing them, too. Why should I stick with just one? As a diverse author, I try to write in a variety of different genres to broaden my experience and see what I truly love out of all of them. And I’ve had a lot of fun, and have found that I enjoy a wide variety of fiction genres.
I also must weave different character personalities into my fiction, different scenarios, different lifestyles, and more. Since everyone in real life is unique, why can’t fictional characters represent that? No one in real life is a Mary Sue. Not everyone is totally accepting of themselves, not just in the manner of sexual preference, but other aspects of their lives. Not everyone has the ideal job, or the perfect relationship, or the greatest family. Plus, weaving realistic scenarios into my stories allows me to explore all the possible endings to find the one that is just right for my characters, whether it’s a HEA, HFN, or bittersweet.
Another thing I’ve found myself gushing over is the heat level of books today. Back when “Fabio” type romances were popular, a writer couldn’t dare use a sort of language that would defile the book’s pages. A more suitable description used purple prose, or a fade to black. Today, it’s a necessity, and books are getting steamier. I never thought I’d be writing full fledged sex scenes, but here I am, finding it absolutely imperative that my characters have at least one (if not more) muscle-tensing, sweat-building, heart-racing good time. I can’t close the doors because I want to see it, too! And I try to change each scene up, meaning some scenes might be vanilla, while others might require something more taboo.
That’s the one thing that turned me on to Storm Moon Press, and put their press at the top of my list: their variety of fiction tales, especially those of the taboo flavor. Many of these topics other presses won’t touch with a ten foot pole, but Storm Moon Press recognizes the need for quality fiction in these topics such as bro-cest and dub-con fiction. Just as everyone is different, so are their reading tastes. While some may want sweet romance, which SMP also serves, some readers may want something more extreme that isn’t too easily found at a publisher website.
I don’t know… have things changed? Is there a bigger, broader variety of books on the market now? What do you think?
***
This post is part of Storm Moon Press’ 4th Anniversary Blog Tour! Thank you for joining us, and please take a moment to enter Azalea Moone’s giveaway for Angel’s Redemption as well as our blog-tour-wide giveaway! The prize is receiving an ebook each month from SMP for 12 months! We hope to see you around the Internet and at RainbowCon in 2014! Happy New Year!
*glances around and tiptoes across cyberspace* Hey boys and girls, Portia’s been lax again and didn’t fasten the chains properly so here I am bringing you another Blog Tour 😉 Now I know you must have all wet your panties when you saw ‘Shock & Awe’ in the title and I have to tell you you have every right to get a bit damp with excitement, it’s Nick and Kelly with just a glimpse of Zane and Ty, but damn is there anything better. Now it’s very simple, just leave a comment and Riptide Publishing along with Abigail Roux will chose a winner from all the comments left throughout the Shock & Awe Blog Tour, so you will be in for a chance to win some super cool prizes (I am so trying for a t-shirt *winks*) So without further ado here’s my review and Abigail’s contest *blows kisses* Huggles Pixie
Title: Shock & Awe
Series: Sidewinder 01
Author: Abigail Roux
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Novella (83pgs)
Publisher: Riptide Publishing (11th November 2013)
Heat: Explicit
Heart: 4 Hearts
Reviewer: Pixie
Blurb: After barely surviving a shootout in New Orleans, Sidewinder medic Kelly Abbott has to suffer through a month of recovery before he can return home to Colorado. He’s not surprised when fellow Sidewinder Nick O’Flaherty stays with him in New Orleans. Nor is he surprised when Nick travels home with him to help him get back on his feet—after all, years on the same Marine Force Recon team bonded the men in ways that only bleeding for a brother can. He’s very surprised, though, when Nick humors his moment of curiosity and kisses him.
Nick knows all of Kelly’s quirks and caprices, so the kiss was a low-risk move on his part . . . or so he thought. But what should’ve been a simple moment unleashes a flood of confusing emotions and urges that neither man is prepared to address.
Now, Kelly and Nick must figure out what they mean to each other—friends and brothers in arms, or something even deeper?—before the past can come back to ruin their tenuous future.
Review: This story & series is a spin-off from the Cut & Run series and the timeline starts just after the events in Touch & Geaux. Ah oh yippee!! It’s time for Nick to find the beginning of his ever after and it comes from a very surprising direction! With Kelly still recovering from his injuries Nick accompanies him home to take care of him, but Nick gets a surprise when Kelly asks for a kiss. Kelly knows Nick better than he has ever known any of his ex’s and after Nick’s confession to the Sidewinder team Kelly finds himself examining what he feels for his teammate, hoping to satisfy his curiosity he asks for a kiss and gets much more than he bargained for. Just as they begin to figure things out the past comes knocking at their door.
So we get a brief look into the Sidewinder team from the perspective of Nick and Kelly and we see a change in their relationship that can only be for the better. We see both men examining what they really feel for the other man and accepting that their feelings might be more than just the feelings of a comrade in arms or even brothers, they embrace the change between them with loads of sweaty sex but they hold back slightly from fully admitting the full extent of their feelings.
This story is a great look into the men that Ty calls friends, we see the loyalty they have for each other and the easy friendship they have even before they take it further. The story also connects to the ending in Touch & Geaux with a visit from the marines with us seeing what happens with Kelly and Nick, we also get to catch up with Ty and Zane briefly at the airport where Nick has to fast talking to do. In the bonus story Bait & Switch we meet up with Zane, Nick and Kelly when Nick is in the States for a flying visit, it is some time after Shock & Awe and we learn some details into what is happening to everyone and we see Nick and Kelly come to an agreement about their relationship.
Now I have got all that out of the way just let me express myself…. *squeal, happy dance, joyful jig, whoop* oh god it was soooooo good to see Nick get his happy going with Kelly and damn but they were hot! I loved this story for giving us a look at the Sidewinder guys and for giving us a peek into what was going on with Ty and Zane without giving much away. I loved how easily Kelly and Nick fell together but still held back a little and then when they finally have their heart to heart and admit what they really want from each other *sigh* it was so sweet edged with a touch of angst.
I recommend this to those who love men going after what they want, friends becoming lovers, admiting what you really want and grabbing hold of love with both hands.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Abigail Roux was born and raised in North Carolina. A past volleyball star who specializes in sarcasm and painful historical accuracy, she currently spends her time coaching high school volleyball and investigating the mysteries of single motherhood. Any spare time is spent living and dying with every Atlanta Braves and Carolina Panthers game of the year. Abigail has a daughter, Little Roux, who is the light of her life, a boxer, four rescued cats who play an ongoing live-action variation of ‘Call of Duty’ throughout the house, a certifiable extended family down the road, and a cast of thousands in her head.
If you care to follow me more closely, you can find me on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr.
Contest:
In celebration of Nick and Kelly’s coming out, so to speak, I’ve got three of their Heart and Clover T-shirts for three lucky commenters. And I’ve got five sets of trading cards with original artwork and character work-ups, something I intend to add new cards to every year, which makes this first year’s cards pretty important if you’re an obsessive collector like I am.
Hey guys, Pixie here! Yes I know, I know, has Portia finally gone insane? But hey, I finally wrest control from Portia to announce a fantastic blog tour from Riptide publishing !!! Just read below for the details and you can be in for a chance to win a Riptide Publishing gift certificate (imagine the books *drool*) or a Brien Michaels ebook! (whoop!). I’ve also added Thommie’s review for Bump in the Night and let me tell you I had hours of fun teasing Thommie about tentacles!! LOL
So I leave you in the hands of Riptide Publishing and Brien Michaels and their awesome competition, have fun guys. Pixie 😉
Hello there, I’m Brien Michaels and welcome to the Bump in the Night blog tour. Bump in the Night is an erotic horror anthology edited by Rachel Haimowitz and featuring my story “Out From Under.”
Anybody who knows me knows how big a role music plays in my writing. Can’t write without it, can barely think without it sometimes. And if they really know me, they know that each of my books share titles with some of my favorite songs. It’s funny (to me, at least) that the original title for my offering to the Bump in the Night anthology was Monster, which is a song from Lady Gaga’s The Fame Monster EP. It seemed fitting, considering how horrific this story is (we’re talking demons, tentacles, being held against your will and some serious dubcon bordering on noncon) and that the main antagonist is a sperm-eating plant demon. But my editor told me that the title seemed a little flat and she thought it was a good idea to change it. So I went back to the drawing board.
I came up with a whole list of titles and spent nearly a week going through them, but none seemed to fit. Every time I looked at them I was just overcome with a sense of blah. Then I was doing a read-through before I sent back the first round of edits and I realized the answer was literally staring me right in the face.
I have a borderline unnatural obsession with Britney Spears (fun fact of the day), and there’s a song on her fifth album Blackout that’s always resonated with me. It’s basically about what to do when you can’t go any further in a relationship. When you’ve tried literally everything you could have tried and it’s just not working, but the other person still wants to keep trying. The song is called Out From Under, and it’s heartbreaking in its vulnerability. Anyway, near the end of the chorus, she sings, “I don’t want to feel the pain. What good would it do me now? I’ll get it figured out when I’m Out from under. From under… From under…” When I first heard the song and her chanting “From under” I thought to myself “Wow…that would make a really cool name for a demon.” This was four to five years ago, mind you. But I finally got to use it. My demon/plant monster in this story is called Fromunder and it fits so perfectly I jumped up and down when I figured it out
So the story itself is called Out From Under and I think that title ties in so well to the struggles not only my protagonist but also my antagonist are facing it’s scary. I won’t give anything away here, but just know…it’s pretty fucking terrifying. Want a blurb?
When Brant’s lover is killed, he’s left with no choice but to complete one last task for his demon master Fromunder. The prize? His lover alive again. The alternative? Eternal servitude. But the stakes of this mission are higher than Brant realizes, and now he might now survive the night.
And because I love you all…I’m going to be doing a drawing from all the comments on this post. The prize, an e-copy of my first erotic horror publication, Last Friday Night.
“Tyler Mack is straight almost to the point of being homophobic. He’s with a different woman night after night, secretly longing for the one who will make him feel something besides the soul-crushing emptiness following orgasm number X.
Jessie Nalick used to be married. His wife left him for a man with a bigger check, a bigger car and (from what she says) a bigger dick. He’s relocated to another state and is planning on starting his life over. The house he’s having built is almost finished and things seem to finally be looking up, until he receives a panicked call from Tyler, one of the construction men working on the house, claiming there’s trouble.
Someone has lured both of them from the safety of their normal lives and is about to force them into a situation where it’s not their lives at stake, but the lives of the people they love. There’s only one thing they have to do to ensure no one dies, but it’s the one thing Tyler would rather die than do.”
Thanks so much to everyone for coming out! Hope to see more of you in the future. And thanks to my wonderful host for having me over today. Happy reading!
You can read an excerpt of “Out From Under” and purchase Bump in the Nighthere.
Contest:
Every comment on this blog tour enters you in a drawing for a $25 Riptide Publishing gift certificate! Entries close at midnight, EST, on November 2nd, and one grand prize winner will be announced or contacted on November 3rd. Contest is valid worldwide.
Blurb:
Turn off the lights . . . and turn on your darkest fantasies.
Demon pacts. Ghostly possessions. Monsters lurking in the depths. The things that go bump in the night frighten us, but they also intrigue us. Fascinate us. Even turn us on.
Join us as fan favorites Ally Blue and Kari Gregg bring over-amorous aquatic beasts to life with their mythic twists on the Siren and the monster in the lake. Erotic horror pros Heidi Belleau, Sam Schooler, and Brien Michaels show us just how sexy scary can be with a pair of demon deals destined to curl your toes and set your heart thrashing. And literary masters Laylah Hunter and Peter Hansen weave haunting worlds where ghosts and dead lovers can touch our hearts (and other, naughtier places too . . .) and teach us lessons from beyond the grave.
By turns exciting, evocative, and exquisitely explicit, the stories in Bump in the Night are sure to scratch your sexy paranormal itch. Explore your wildest fantasies with us in this collection of dark erotic tales.
by Rachel Haimowitz (editor), Heidi Belleau, Ally Blue, Kari Gregg, Peter Hansen, Laylah Hunter, Brien Michaels, Sam Schooler
Genre: Paranormal / Dark Erotica / Horror
Length: 198 pages
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
HeatLevel: Explicit
HeartRating: 4 Hearts
Reviewer: Thommie
Blurb: Turn off the lights . . . and turn on your darkest fantasies.
Demon pacts. Ghostly possessions. Monsters lurking in the depths. The things that go bump in the night frighten us, but they also intrigue us. Fascinate us. Even turn us on.
Join us as fan favorites Ally Blue and Kari Gregg bring over-amorous aquatic beasts to life with their mythic twists on the Siren and the monster in the lake. Erotic horror pros Heidi Belleau, Sam Schooler, and Brien Michaels show us just how sexy scary can be with a pair of demon deals destined to curl your toes and set your heart thrashing. And literary masters Laylah Hunter and Peter Hansen weave haunting worlds where ghosts and dead lovers can touch our hearts (and other, naughtier places too . . .) and teach us lessons from beyond the grave.
By turns exciting, evocative, and exquisitely explicit, the stories in Bump in the Night are sure to scratch your sexy paranormal itch. Explore your wildest fantasies with us in this collection of dark erotic tales.
Review: So, I’ve been reading anthologies lately and almost all of them have this thing in common. No, not the theme (that is a given) rather the fact that after a while all the stories in the anthology seem the same, no unique ones to make a stand, a very few grab your attention. They are nice, but you forget them after a day or two.
But this one, oh my God, this anthology has made it straight to my favorites shelf, and I’ll be damned if I don’t take it down every so often to re-read it again and again and again. You might notice down below on each review how some of these stories have made quite an impact in me, one perhaps has scarred me for life. I swear I’m still going to re-read that incredibly horrifying story for as long as I live. Hell I’m going to have a great time telling them tales when with friends to scare the heck out of them too. Because that’s what this anthology is about. An incredible mix of dark fiction and explicit erotica meant to scare the living daylight out of you while simultaneously stoking that forbidden dark fire deep down in your shadiest part of your soul. Bump in the Night is definitely my favorite anthology among them all. Many thanks to the very talented authors who created these stories, they were simply wonderful.
Resurrection Man By Laylah Hunter
Oh my, what a marvelous story, how very creepy and brilliant.
What would you do if you were to lose the love of your life? What if you could bring him back from the cold darkness of Death? What price would you pay?
There is nothing Josef wouldn’t do for Adel. All his artistry, all their money, everything he can he’s ready to give. But when he pulls Adel’s spirit back into the living world he realizes the price he ultimately has to pay is much, much bigger than mere money or knowledge. The hunger for life is so much bigger when you’ve been dead after all…
A brilliant paranormal story and so very unique to what I’ve read so far. Honestly I don’t think I’ve read anything similar and the balance between the creepy and sexy and horny is just plain perfect. It’s like a mix of Frankenstein and Vampires with a slight dose of magic thrown in for good measure. I liked it, no I loved it. Everything about it was way cool, the writing, the idea and the way the story went, the play of emotions. Excellent indeed!
This is definitely a story I’d love to tell when around the fire on dark, stormy nights, or around Halloween. And if you love the style I think this is one of those you should not miss.
Mating Season By Kari Gregg
Horrifying, oh I have no words… This is terror, pure, unadulterated terror. Oh my God!!! Oh my guts are screaming in sympathy with the poor character of this story. Oh I have no words as my skin crawls and goosebumps travel my whole body. Oh my freaking God, this is definitely a story I’ll never, ever, EVER forget.
Ok, here it is. Danny has been humiliated. His girlfriend left him right before their marriage for his boss, and said boss fired him right after. Feeling useless and in a dead end in his life Danny hides in his apartment until his friend Keith drags him out for a game of basketball all the time trying to make him feel better and suggesting him to go hiking the lake and get his shit together.
Danny never goes to the lake once autumn rounds the corner. There are tales of a monster living there and Danny deep down believes them. But his friends insistence make him careless and he eventually makes his mind to go hiking. What follows is a crazy scientist, a slimy monster with enormous tentacles, and a poor guy forced into being a lab-rat, all dancing around a horrifying story that includes forced… things and death and addiction and… I have no words!
This is a horror story people! Horror with capital “H”. There is no other way around it. The things that happen to Danny from the very first night he sets foot on that lake are made from the worst of nightmares. I was literally screaming for half this read. My skin still hasn’t stopped crawling and I’m awed at this author’s creativity and slimy tale. OH MY GOD!!!
So I don’t know; did I like it? I don’t know. Was I fascinated by it? Hell yeah. Did it grip me and held me captive despite the gut wrenching horror I felt the entire time? It sure did. Is this what you want? Only if you don’t faint easily and have a strong, strong stomach. Oh God, I’ll never step foot on a lake, ever, ever again.
Flesh and Song By Ally Blue
La Terre de la Belle Mort, The Land of Beautiful Death. The island found in no map, whispered only in frightening tales, a sinful promise of all your heart’s desires that come with a severe price.
That is what Noah has been looking for, for nearly eight months. The tale wants the island unfound when you so much search for it. Only by sheer luck or mistake one can land there, only when lost one can be found, but then you might never leave it again…
Just as he’s about to give up the search though a mighty storm leads him to this gorgeous island. But Noah doesn’t know what he wants. Now that he’s here what exactly is he looking for? The gorgeous naked man on the beach calls to him, running through the jungle the call becomes near painful. He must go to him, he needs to before he dies. And there, on a beautiful pool under a waterfall his God awaits, his fathomless black eyes beaconing him forward, his wonderful musical voice urging him to this astonishing creature.
Days, weeks, months pass in the haze of dream that takes everything from him besides the longing for his God. No memories, no ambitions, no will for anything else beside the arms wrapped around him and the sex God giving him all he wants, nothing else exists. Finally Noah understands what he’s been searching for. But he forgot that once he got his heart’s desire, it would come with a price…
This is a gorgeous story, heartbreaking and a bit sad in the end, but gorgeous nonetheless. I believe when I think of a Siren, the emotions this story evoked are exactly right. The promises, the longing, the will to do anything, to give anything for the call of the Siren. Homer would have been ecstatic to have read this version of his Sirens’. What a wonderful story this one.
Out from Under By Brien Michaels
How did it come to this? To get trapped between two demons and their century long vendetta? Each more horrible than the other, every path leading to death… or worse.
Three years under the demon’s spell. Three years of nightmares and being a slave to the demon’s twisted wishes, luring men into their deaths. But when Fromunder killed his lover right in front of his eyes Brant felt his world shift and true Hell consume him. The demon had no hold on him now that his lover was dead, or had he? The promise to bring Jason back was too alluring to deny, the price for that burning his soul, yet nothing would deter him from doing whatever in his power to achieve it.
And that’s how it came to this… lying in the middle of a bed between two sworn enemies, waiting for one to die and the other to consume him… After all he suffered, he would never see his lover again. Right?
This was a very nice story, the evil and viciousness of the paranormal world was so strong, the read so raw not shying away from explicit violence, torture, or sexual abuse, but rather basking in it. A story made from the stuff nightmares come from, a story fit for the spirit of Halloween, a story strong enough to make you lose yourself in its dark depths.
Can you tell I loved this one too?
Sleeping With Ghosts By Peter Hansen
Oh, wow! This was quite a cold story. I don’t know what to make of it really.
In this story Yordan is a Bookman, a priest who is sent to turn the last page of men’s life in order to give a chance for a soulless newborn. A weird world with many Churches, Priests, Brotherhoods. Religion and politics that make an appearance and give you a notion of what this world is about without delving much into it. The story is mostly about Yordan taking a life that was uncalled for, simply by blindly following orders. The soul who lost his body now wanders without a new one to take residence. A haunted night, a cold encounter, rippling feeling of dread… Yes, cold is how this story leaves you, cold from inside out. It gave shivers and frankly it made me want more. I was not satisfied with this short, I wan’t more Bookmen, more Ironmen, more of this world.
However this story was quite worth it and so very in the ghostly atmosphere. Lovely indeed. I still want more though. *sigh*
Blasphemer, Sinner, Saint By Heidi Belleau and Sam Schooler
Oh this story was quite brilliant as well. See this is another “deal with a Devil” themed one, but it was so very well executed.
The man who makes the deal doesn’t make it for himself, rather for someone else. He makes a deal for a person he once loved as a boy in dark corners, but shunned in broad daylight. He made the deal for a man he held in contempt, humiliated, and crushed his hopes when he most needed him. Tobias makes a deal for David’s life.
What I loved more in this story was the fact that the Devil here is a creature that as horrific and repulsive as he was described to be, I ended up admiring and actually being my favorite character here. Tobias was this self-righteous Christian charitable man who lacked humbleness and was blind by his bigotry. He perverted and twisted his love for David by convincing himself that David “tempted” him and he still stayed strong and moral, while David “chose” to be the immoral person he became. The brilliancy of the writing here was how the Devil made Tobias become David in the end. How he made him feel and understand and comprehend that sometimes in life there is no choice, sometimes you simply have to do everything in your power for the person you love, own it and never once back out from it.
I loved this story, it was deep with meanings while in the same time was full of those dark sinful erotic scenes that come when you strike a deal with a devil…
