The Best Halloween/Spooky Songs and What to Read while Listening! ~ Heart of Egypt by @meganslayer #halloween #mummyromance #mm #LGBTQ

 What are my top ten Halloween Go-To songs? I'm glad you asked. I've been thinking about this for a while and I've finally whittled the list down to ten. There are always new ones to be added, but here are the current top ten!

10. Monster Mash - Bobby Boris Picket

9. The Phantom of the Opera Overture - Andrew Lloyd Webber

8. Hells Bells - AC/DC

7. People Are Strange - The Doors

6. Thriller - Michael Jackson

5. I Put a Spell on You - Screaming Jay Hawkins

4. This is Halloween  - Citizens of Halloween Town - The Nightmare before Christmas

3. Somebody's Watching Me - Rockwell

2. Don't Fear the Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult

1. Psycho Killer - Talking Heads 

While this isn't the complete list and it's not in any particular order, maybe you'll find a few on here you like, too. Or you've got some you'd like to add. I'm open to suggestions.

While you're here, check out my spooky, sexy romance Heart of Egypt. It's a mummy romance. Who can turn those down?

Heart of Egypt by Megan Slayer

Contemporary, Historical, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Paranormal, LGBTQ Romance

Novella

From Pride Publishing

 

His heart has always belonged to the man he loves—a modern-day actor?

Thutmose knew from the moment he purchased the six-carat ruby that he had something special. So much so, he refused to turn the gem over to the Pharaoh. His punishment for his disobedience? Death and a curse. He shall wear the Heart of Egypt for eternity.

Second chances aren’t permitted—until Aiden touches his coffin.

Aiden Cory, star of the show Hunters, has no idea he’s stumbled on a mummy or the chance at finding true love. When he meets Thut, he’s head-over-heels. He doesn’t know about the Heart of Egypt, but he knows he’s attracted to Thut. There’s the minor problem of Thut being a mummy.

Can modern love save Thut from an ancient curse?

https://books2read.com/u/38PRgL

https://www.firstforromance.com/book/heart-of-egypt

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B7P1FHWB/

https://books.apple.com/us/book/heart-of-egypt/id6443051173

 

Excerpt:

©Megan Slayer, 2022, All Rights Reserved

 

“Do you not love your Pharaoh? Are you not devoted to me?”

“I am.” But the Pharaoh wasn’t his dearest love. Apparently neither was Azizi.

“You would accept the love of your lowly born lover over me? And you wouldn’t offer the gem in order to save your lover?” The Pharaoh raked his fingernails down Thutmose’s bare chest. “You’ve displeased me. Your heart, body and riches should belong to me. To the kingdom. You vowed to belong to me once. Why not again?”

He said nothing. His allegiances belonged to the Pharaoh, but his heart belonged to Azizi.

“Very well.” The Pharaoh let go and stepped away from Thutmose. “I’ve given you plenty of time to obey. For your actions, I curse you to death, but not any death. You have been found guilty of declining to acquiesce to the Pharaoh’s wishes and your punishment is mummification. You will be parted from that ruby, the rest of your riches as well as your life. Your mummy will rot and you will be ignored by the ages. True love can’t save you. Nothing can.” He snapped his fingers.

A servant brought in Azizi, who then sat beside the Pharaoh. Azizi rested his head on the Pharaoh’s lap.

“You should’ve given him the gem.” Azizi stroked the Pharaoh’s thigh. “Now you’ll pay with your life.”

Another servant grasped Thutmose’s arm. Pain surged through Thutmose. When he looked down at his chest, the tip of a blade poked through his skin and the hilt jammed into his back. His entire body ached and red blood spread down his torso. He’d never known pain this deep or such a full betrayal.

“If I cannot have the gem, then no one can.” The Pharaoh stood over Thutmose as he collapsed on the floor. “Mummify him. Now. I want him to suffer.”

Thutmose couldn’t believe what was happening. He swore he heard someone—maybe the Pharaoh—demand the servants search him for the gem. Let them. He was dying. He didn’t need a ruby now. He’d rather have his life.

 

 

Halloween Candy: The Good, The Bad, and the Just Plain Awful

Halloween is around the corner. For many, that brings to mind ghosties and ghoulies and things that go bump in the night. For me, Halloween has always meant snack nirvana. Halloween is the only American holiday that isn’t associated with a nutritious meal. Who needs that when you have candy? When I was kid, my siblings and I would sit around after trick-or-treating salivating over delightful piles of Almond Joys, Snickers, Butterfingers, and Hershey Bars. Woe betide any house that doled out one small Tootsie Roll. They were obviously cheap child-hating SOBs who should have their house TPed. (I plead Not Guilty.)

Some Halloween treats have been around for a while.  

Candy Corn

Candy Corn was supposedly invented by George Renninger in the late 1800s. It was designed to look like chicken feed since half of Americans worked on farms. By 1900, it was mass produced by the The Wunderle Candy Company of Philadelphia. There are no niblets in candy corn, but there is corn in the form of corn syrup. Nowadays, different colored candy corn can be found at Christmas, Easter, and Fourth of July. I consider them a sacrilege. There are also a plethora of candy corn flavored ales on the market. If you drink enough you can forget the entire candy corn debacle. 

Apples

Although not technically a treat (let’s face it, they’re too healthy), they’re also associated with Halloween. Celtic folk used them for divination, so did early Americans bobbing for apples. Whoever snagged an apple from a big bucket filled with water, hands tied behind the back, would wed soonest. Whoever didn’t, drowned, and got his candy stolen. If you didn’t die from apple bobbing, there were Snap Apple Night parties. An apple was jammed into one end of a suspended stick with a lit candle at the other end. Participants tried to take a bite of the apple while the stick was spun around. Winners got a bite of apple, losers set their hair on fire. A forgotten hero of Halloween is Kraft Foods employee Dan Walker or as I refer to him, Saint Dan. In the 1950s he elevated the mundane apple to candy nirvana. While experimenting with excess caramels from Halloween sales, he melted them down and added apples. Ta-da. Vito Raimondi of Chicago, Illinois also deserves an honorable mention. He patented the first automated caramel apple machine in 1960.

 

The worst Halloween candies.

(Doling out these is tantamount to child abuse.)

 

Twizzlers: Technically, they aren’t a candy, but solidified wallpaper paste.

Hot Tamales: Wallpaper paste flavored with cinnamon.

Necco Wafers: Wallpaper paste scraped from the shoes of employees at the wallpaper factory and pressed into disks to punish children.

Life Savers: The worlds most boring candy, also dangerous to your mental health because they prompted the Aussies to make a flavor called musk, not to be confused with musk sticks which, apparently they also savor. Both are equally disturbing.

Dots: The only thing they’re good for is to freeze them and use them as ammo in blow pipes.

Circus Peanuts: Seriously, who eats these? I once owned a dog that ate everything including cat poop from the litter box and he buried Circus Peanuts in the backyard.

Tootsie Rolls: Only if you want to be known as the cheapskate of the neighborhood and have your house TPed. (I plead Not Guilty again.)

Serious about trick-or-treating and want to make tracks to the state that doles out the best candy? Check out this  interactive map from CandyStore.com

L. A. Kelley writes sci-fy and fantasy adventures with humor, romance, and a touch of sass. She's stocking up on toilet paper.

  

Making a Deal with a Devil by Nancy Gideon

Authors who write paranormals have the best possible job. We deal with making the impossible possible. We tame demons and dragons. We walk on the dark side of every imaginable situation to find that HEA. They are my favorite books to read and write because even your worst nightmare sometimes deserves redemption.

My first trip to the “Other” side was back in the 1990’s when my editor at Zebra (Love you, John S!!) met with me at a conference and asked if I would be willing to write a vampire romance. Maggie Shayne’s unique series had just hit big, and the genre was wide open for the first time ever. Would I? Would I ever! I had a three-book proposal waiting on his desk Monday when he got back from the conference and my “Touched by Midnight” series was born.

MIDNIGHT KISS, MIDNIGHT TEMPTATION and MIDNIGHT SURRENDER were something a little bit different. They were historicals that followed the same eternal frenemies from the 1500s to the present, two best friends who happened to catch the attention of a very bad, bad girl. One becomes her slave and the other, her obsession. That trio of unique books grew to nine total in the care of BelleBooks (originally ImaJinn, the first publishing house devoted to the paranormal formed by bestie Linda Kichline after we’d had lunch and discussed the need for an outlet for the books we both loved to read and write). They’ve been reissued in print and e-format so new readers can still sink their teeth in and enjoy!

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo Books | iBooks

Published: May 3, 2011

Length: 230 Pages

Add to Goodreads TBR→

At the moment, in honor of the WooWoo season, I’m reading through the series again, and loving every page – especially those devoted to Gerardo Pasquale, my favorite bad boy. Currently, I’m devouring MIDNIGHT REDEEMER, the first book of the series set in present day, and find myself wondering, Hmmmmm, there must be more to this story I have yet to tell . . .

And for those who love this spooky season as much as I do, here’s a list of scares HBO Max is offering to those brave enough to watch. I’ve seen 20 of them (Comes from having a horror-fanatic son). How ‘bout you?

Have a Happy Howloween, and don’t dip too deeply into that candy bowl!

♚♚♚♚♚

Nancy Gideon on the Web

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Most Haunted Cities in America by Tena Stetler

It's my favorite time of year, Halloween. So lets take a look at some of the Most Haunted Cities in America, plus A Vampire’s Unlikely Alliance, set in the wilds of Colorado. A Spooktacular Halloween read!

 

Pull up a chair, grab a drink of your choice from the cauldron. Take your choice of a bat wing Chocolate Chip or Pumpkin, or Peanut Butter cookie from the plate, and let's find out a little about my book A Vampire’s Umlikely Alliance. But first take a peek at the Most Haunted Cities in America!  

Most Haunted Cities in America

It's autumn the cool fall days are perfect for a walk on America's dark side. With the approach of Halloween, it's natural for our thoughts to conjure up ghosts, goblins, and all things that go bump in the night.  Bloody battles, shady shanghaiing practices, cities built over burial grounds, and natural disasters have left behind an unsettled past in towns throughout our country.  What better place to start than....

Salem, MA

Salem is best known for the witch trials of 1692 where mass hysteria led to more than 200 people being accused of practicing witchcraft, and ultimately 20 innocent people were executed. The tragedy has led to Salem becoming synonymous with witches and the city has embraced their history by preserving artifacts in museums and offering tours to educate visitors. The Witch House, The Salem Witch Museum, The Bewitched Statue and  Witch Trials Memorial to name a few. Yep, it's on my bucket list to spend Halloween in Salem MA. How about you?

Galveston, Texas

When the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 struck, some 8,000 lives were lost—about 6,200 more fatalities than in New Orleans' devastating Hurricane Katrina. Galveston's was the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history, and ghost hunters say most of the town's spirits linger in its storied harbor and Victorian mansions. If that doesn’t give you goosebump, I don’t know what will, unless of course it’s Marie Laveau, the voodoo queen. Which brings us to...

New Orleans

Not much, it seems, separates the living from the dead in New Orleans. Because the town is below sea level, tombs sit above ground in the 42 cemeteries within city limits. Ghosts from the War of 1812 still hang around the French Quarter. And visitors to the grave of a prominent 1800s voodoo queen continue to leave offerings and ask for help.

Savannah, Ga.

Savannah may look like a sweet Southern belle, but she keeps a dark secret. The city was built, literally, on its dead. Homes and buildings sit atop Native American burial grounds; roads cover forgotten cemeteries of slaves and colonialists. Over the years, bloody battles, massive fires, yellow-fever epidemics, and hurricanes have taken hundreds of lives, leaving behind unsettled spirits.

Chicago

It was here, on Valentine's Day, 1929, that seven men were lined up against the wall of a garage at 2122 North Clark Street and gunned down by Al Capone and his Prohibition-era gangsters. Strange mists, screams, and machine gun sounds have all been experienced at the site; other local gangster hideaways and crime scenes are also said to be haunted.

Portland, Ore.

Beneath the cobblestoned streets of Portland's Old Town lies the legend of the Shanghai Tunnels, passageways that swirl with dark tales and hauntings. As the story goes, men who came to Portland to work—sailors, loggers, cowboys, and others—were "shanghaied," or kidnapped through trapdoors in saloons, smuggled through the tunnels to the waterfront, and sold to sea captains.

Athens, Ohio

This Ohio University town is home to the Athens Lunatic Asylum, a mental institution open from 1874 until 1993 and known for its lobotomy practices. Now a university-owned property called The Ridges, the building has its share of haunted stories, say many amateur researchers: disembodied screams, apparitions that walk the halls, and a ghostly bloodstain on the floor. Throughout campus there are several haunted dorms, sororities, and fraternities.

Last but not least on my most haunted cities list I'd be amiss if I didn’t mention Cripple Creek, Colorado. Mining District of Colorado is extremely rich in history and it is also touted to be one of the Most Haunted Places in the United States.  On Highway 67, at the base of Pike’s Peak, southwest of Colorado Springs, Cripple Creek sits at an elevation of 9,500 feet. There are mine shafts, head frames, miner’s cabins long abandoned tumbling down. A lonely stone fireplace may be all that’s left of a miners home. Standing among the rubble might cause the hair on the back of your neck to stand on end. A brief visit to one of the abandoned cabins still standing, gives you a window into what it was like back in the late 1800’s or early 1900’s.  Can you imagine a more inviting place for ghost to spend Halloween?

Speaking of Halloween, what says halloween better than a Vampire? #99cents Sale! A VAMPIRE’S UNLIKELY ALLIANCE–Not what you’ve come to expect from a Vampire Tale! Join Stefan and Brandy on an exciting Romantic Fantasy that begins in Glacier National Park, winds through Australia. 

Stefan is a Native American vampire, former assassin for the Vampire Council. In a twist of fate, he now DJ’s the midnight shift for a small radio station in Whitefish, Montana, on the edge of Glacier National Park where his secret is safe until...

 Born in Ireland, Brandy now works as a park ranger and trail guide in the park. During a full moon, Stefan and Brandy’s paths cross in a near physical collision on a trail. Their attraction is immediate and undeniable, almost as if fate demanded it.

 Their union was foretold long ago in Irish folk tales where vampires and gryphons, warlocks and demons, witches and faeries must work together for the good of man and magic kind. Is a trip to Ireland the key to unraveling secrets and returning the magic?

 

Tips for Halloween Fun by Elizabeth Alsobrooks

 

How to Preserve Pumpkins

If you decorate with paint rather than cut faces in your pumpkins or even if you buy pumpkins to stack without adornment, you should first preserve them, especially if you want to use them through Thanksgiving or until you put out your Christmas decorations.

The first step is to clean them, either with a damp rag or soapy water if they’re very dirty. Next you need to disinfect them with either diluted bleach or full-strength vinegar. You need to cut extra length off the stem or any moldy spots, so they don’t spread and get soft. Once the pumpkin is completely dry, spray it with clear paint, such as rust oleum. If you want them very shiny, use gloss, for just a slight sheen use satin, and for a natural look, use matte finish clear paint. If there are any small blemishes, be sure to give them another coat to seal out moisture and include the stem and blossom on the bottom.  Once sealed you can use acrylic paints to decorate with designs or scary faces, but whatever paint you use it's best if it's weatherproof or non-washable paint, so they don’t run when they get wet. You can protect designs from damage with another coat of clear paint or craft sealer. 

 

Easy Nontoxic Makeup Ideas for Halloween

Makeup is often a better way than masks to ensure kids have clear vision. You still need to be sure to get nontoxic face makeup or makeup paint palettes. For kids with especially sensitive skin, less is definitely more, so you probably don’t want to use an all-over base. Some of the easier and most popular designs are vampires, blood dripping from lips, sunken cheeks, often dark circles under the eyes or exaggerated eye makeup all rounded off with fake fangs; tigers, cats or kittens complete with whiskers; witches with green skin and warts; skeletons or zombies with dark eyes sockets, blacked out areas under the cheekbones; scarecrows with stitches around makeup patches made to look like fabric; and for kids or adults another fun favorite is Day of the Dead face paint. They can lean toward gruesome or beautiful, but creativity finds a fun playground with this theme. A simple google search will provide hundreds of makeup ideas from simple to complex. Remember, if you don’t overdo it, face makeup is often more comfortable than masks. Just be sure to do a test sample on the wrist to check for allergic reaction or skin irritation.

 

Halloween Party Themes

There are always a lot of Halloween parties. Nowadays they range from kids' parties to adult fun spooktacular. Some interesting themes for parties are Witches Night Out, Hocus Pocus, Nightmare Before Christmas, Halloween Masquerade, The Walking Dead, Nightmare on [insert yours here] Street, Pirates, Monster Mash, Haunted Hooligans, Boo Bash, All Hallows Eve, Night of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Harry Potter, Superheroes, Horror Movies, Fangtasia, Killer Clowns, and Historical or Era Themes.

 

Fun Halloween Party Activities

These vary according to age groups, but some are fun for any age. You can try Pin the Fang on the Vampire, Murder Mystery, a Scavenger Hunt for Pirate Treasure, Halloween Bingo, Talent Show, Dance offs, Charades, Pumpkin Decorating Contests, Horror Movie Pictionary, or Halloween Story Game.

Have fun this Halloween season, even if all you do is hand out candy to the kiddies!

Are M.F.A.s Worth It?

 

As I neared the end of my undergraduate career, I had a choice to make. Would I pursue my love of reading and writing or would I venture off into the professional world? 

After a gap year, in which I worked as a secretary at a law firm, I decided to follow my interests and enroll in a creative writing program. 

What was the total cost?

I opted for a low-residency program. What this means is that I was on campus for two weeks every six months. When I was on campus, I went to lectures and workshops hosted by my peers and our professors. Then, at home we would work through online workshop groups to complete our reading lists and receive monthly feedback from our mentors. Each semester costed $8,000 dollars, for a total of $32,000.

What did the overall curriculum look like?

This particular program was set up so that the students and their mentors worked together to have a semester syllabus in place before our on campus time was over. For some of my mentors, they had a bigger say in what I was reading or working on, but most of the time it was a pretty equal say.

I'm an overachiever at heart, so I read my way through between twelve and fifteen books a semester. These ranged from classics to modern pieces with a hefty sprinkling of craft books and articles.

As for the writing, I spent the majority of my time writing poetry with a semester entirely focused on fiction (Though these days, I primarily write fiction rather than poetry). 

Did you have to write a thesis?

Yes. But given that this was a creative writing master's program, it was half my actual thesis and half the work that I had created during my time as a student writer. 

Do you have to get an M.F.A to be a good writer?

Nope. But you do have to learn about craft. I chose to do that via a degree, but you could just as easily read your way through craft books using your local library, and get your workshop knowledge for participating in a local writer's group. 

Would you do it again?

Yes. I learned a lot about myself as a writer and also the craft. I had to get comfortable letting people misunderstand my writing, which sounds bad but it isn't always. Sometimes that think it is much cooler than it really is. I also what place I wanted to have in the literary world. Even though I wrote literary fiction in graduate school, I learned that I love genre fiction much more for both reading and writing.

What other questions do you have about M.F.A.s? Comment below!

How Aristocratic of You! and The Cowboy Duke

What has the British aristocracy to do with a romance novel written by an American author? What is a Cowboy Duke for Pete’s sake?  Ladies and Gentlemen, saints and sinners, allow me to answer these compelling questions in my own humble words.

First, let’s talk about the class structure of class structure among the British.  The British peerage has evolved over the centuries into the five ranks that exist today. In descending order, these are duke, marquess, earl (count), viscount, and baron. Until 1999, peers were entitled to sit in the House of Lords and were exempt from jury duty. Titles may be hereditary or granted for life. In 1998 Tony Blair’s Labor government introduced legislation depriving 750 hereditary peers of their 700-year-old right to sit and vote in the upper chamber, the House of Lords. Future votes and compromises were necessary before restructuring of the House of Lords could occur, but at this writing, the number of members in the House of Lords is 755.  I’m no quite sure what Mr. Blair’s legislation achieved if there are now 5 more members than when it was introduced. The House of Lords is the only upper house of any bicameral parliament in the world to be larger than its lower house.

Currently, there are 24 dukes, not including Royal dukes, in the UK. Besides the dukedoms of Cornwall and Lancaster, the oldest extant title is that of Duke of Norfolk. This dukedom dates from 1483 (the title was first created in 1397). The Duke of Norfolk is considered the premier duke of England. The premier duke of Scotland is the Duke of Hamilton and Brandon. The premier duke of Ireland is the Duke of Leicester.

There are 34 Marquesses; 191 Earls; 111 Viscounts; and 426 hereditary Barons.

The heroine in The Cowboy Duke is the Duchess of Langdon. So, you can see that if she existed, she’d be high in the pecking order. She would most likely sit in the House of Lords and probably rub shoulders with royalty. At one point in the book, she realizes that Charlie (the hero) is more of a prince than most of the aristocracy she knows. It’s then she understands she’s falling for the cowboy—contrary to her father’s wishes. On his death bed, she promised her dad that she’d marry only aristocracy or royalty. A far cry from Charlie.

Charlie is simply a hardworking, red-blooded Texas cowboy. His roots grow deep in the soil of The Lone Star State. There are so many obstacles in the path of these unlikely lovers that romance is indeed a rougher ride than the broncs Charlie rode in the rodeo.

Dorothy has to overcome her highhanded ways. Her Duchessness and Charlie his commonness (though he is an uncommon man).

If they were to marry, would Charlie automatically become a Duke?  No. The only way he would become a Duke is if the King conferred the title on him.  There is a mistake in the book that could not have been avoided. Dorothy says that she’d petition the Queen for the title for Charlie. The book was released shortly before Queen Elizabeth died. Of course, now King Charles would be petitioned.

Having probably given more answer than there was interest, I’ll leave you now with Happy Trails until we meet again on November 14^th. Happy Halloween, Everyone! ~ Linda

Buy Link for The Cowboy Duke

Monsters of the 1718 Caribbean Sea

 I love writing paranormal romance. There is something about showing a reader the redeeming qualities of a monster and demonstrating how everyone deserves to be loved. I’m also a homeschool mom with my own little classroom of monsters (some days). In teaching them about the 1700s and the origins of democracy, I found a new love: the pirate code. I wanted to share the connections between the pirate code and democracy in the world today. In a book series, I thought I could expand on the real attitudes of pirates and shine a light on the stereotypes which are more fiction than fact. But what about my commitment to paranormal romance and those whose fangs cover their heart of gold?

I needed a monster who lived in the Caribbean Sea in the 1700s. Here are my top five favorites:

1.      Mermaids – While today’s popular culture depicts mermaids as beautiful people with scaley tails instead of legs, the lore from the pirate accounts couldn’t be further from this image. The stories originating from the Caribbean tell of men jumping ship to join the manatees in the Florida keys because they heard the siren’s call. The round bodies, chubby cheeks speckled with whiskers, and rounded flippers of manatees are anything but sexy. Imagine risking your life for a sea cow. Of course, they were at sea years at a time. When Nassau and Port Royale were pirate havens, the crew would go ashore for fun and frolic with the wenches every few months. When those islands were conquered by England and turned into naval bases, those manatees started to look more attractive.

 

Photo by Gerald Harness of Manatee at the Cincinnati OH zoo

2.       Kraken – While the real giant squids are found in the northern Atlantic and all over the Pacific, they are found in the legends of the Caribbean. Could the stories originate from Norway and their legends written in the 1100s? Or perhaps from their miniature cousins who line in the Caribbean reefs? I found many stories in the original documents of British naval officers where sailors assumed they were under attack by a Kraken to find they had prop-fouled themselves with a tow line. Ropes from the rigging or extra line while dragging fishing gear would coil around the prop (fin under the boat for steering) called, “prop fouling.” Superstitious pirates would blame a Kraken before their inattentive hearties. Some brave soul would have to dive below the boat (without a scuba suit or oxygen tank) to cut the boat free. Historians agree the origin of the myths comes from the contents of sharks who hunt the giant squids in the north and then migrate to the Caribbean with the monsters digesting in their stomachs.

                                      Caribbean Cuttlefish at the Newport Aquarium photo by me

3.       Black Sam’s Ghost Ship and the Witch of Eastham (Mary Hallet) – Mary Hallet was the inspiration behind ‘Black’ Sam Bellamy’s going into the sweet trade. Too poor to marry her, he left the merchant fisheries of Cape Cod to sail in Hornigold’s pirate fleet. He rose to captain his own vessel and used the superstitious nature of slave traders to capture The Whydah. He and his crew (most of who were liberated slaves) traded clothes for chalk to become a ghost ship. They took over the largest slave ship in the Caribbean at the time with psychological warfare and not their cannons. Meanwhile, in Cape Cod, Mary Hallet gave birth to their child out of wedlock. When her child died, she was sentenced to whipping by the local clergy. Legend has it, she turned to witchcraft and haunted Eastham. Sam died at sea and the two were never reunited.

                                                    My doubloon from the Whydah Museum - photo by me

4.       The Devil Pirate ‘Blackbeard’ – My favorite fact behind the legend of Blackbeard is that his rise to fame, from joining Hornigold’s fleet to his disappearance, is just over eighteen months long. Imagine creating a monstrous persona so scary, in a year-and-a-half, you inspire the imaginations of creators over two hundred years later. His handwriting is the most monstrous of his attributes so historians can’t agree if he was born Edward Teach, Edward Thatch, or Edward Thetch. I found references to all three names in my research as the person behind the Blackbeard legends. Because of his fearsome reputation, his crew captured more plunder by raising their flag than by firing their cannons. Merchant vessels would surrender to the legend in the hopes of never meeting the man. Those stubborn enough to face the ‘Devil Pirate’ were terrified of the pistols he wore across his chest and the firecrackers he wove into his beard. Even though he impersonated the devil, he treated his crew with twice the fairness of Captain Bligh. Blackbeard’s crew had members who were women, escaped slaves, navy deserters, former merchant sailors, and unskilled adventure seekers—and everyone (except the doxies) had a voice. His boat was democratic, and his position was an elected one. He was a fair leader who played a monster when most legitimate Captains of the period were the opposite until a mysterious disease (suspected to be syphilis) had him trading crew members for mercury treatments. I fell under his spell in my research and decided to start my pirate book series on his boat, The Queen Anne’s Revenge.

5.       The Vampire of Charles Town Harbor – Okay, you got me. I made this one up. In my research on Blackbeard, I found in 1718 he blocked Charles Town Harbor (now Charleston) when a deal on shore went bad. As he was leaving, all the churches in the town burst into flames. In history, superstitious colonists blamed the devil who was leaving the dock. However, in my book, Walk the Plank, I offer a second explanation. Magda is brought to Charles Town Harbor as a scientific experiment from eastern Europe in chains. Thanks to a rogue pirate, she escapes and is on the run through Carolina. After spending her life under her abusive, vampire husband’s thumb, she is finally free—if only people quit following her with torches and pitchforks. By mixing historical events with ones from my imagination, I’m calling this series a ‘paranormal, historical faction romance’.

Get the eBook for 99c or Free on KU

Are you ready to Walk the Walk with me hearties? The first book in the trilogy is 99 cents or Free with your Kindle Unlimited subscription until Halloween. Here’s more about Walk the Walk Book 1: Walk the Plank:

Branko learns he will be sold into slavery when they dock in Charles Town, so he doesn’t hesitate to jump ship onto a neighboring sloop in the harbor. This boat will weigh anchor with him at the helm–once he decides what to do with the lady chained in the cargo hold who claims she’s a vampire.

Magda Dashkovari’s body has been given to science while she’s still living in it. Her prayers are answered when a pirate boards her boat, but she should have asked for her rescuer to be less bloodthirsty than she is…

Scientists hunt her in town, plantation owners hunt him from the north and south, Blackbeard blocks Charles Town Harbor to the east, and a war rages between settlers and natives to the west. These unlikely allies will have to link together to escape a life in chains…but will their trust in each other endure their journey to freedom?

                                                Get the eBook for 99c or Free on KU

Alien Creation - Part 2 by Keri Kruspe

 

Last month I started the litany of the alien lovers in my books. To celebrate the anniversary of the release of my first series, An Alien Exchange, I wanted to share the “sidekicks” that added flavor to those adventures.

Be warned. I’m not a graphic artist, so the pictures I share here aren’t true to description. They’re just the inspirations I used for groundwork.

Bad Guys

Chancellor U'unk

For fun, let’s start with the bad guys.

Here’s the head honcho: Chancellor Shon T’terlok U’unk, better known as “U’unk”.

I don’t know if any of you saw a terrible movie back in the early 80’s called Flash Gordon, but the best part was Max Von Sydow playing the Emperor Ming.

As a member of the Zerin species, my villain is supposed to have the same sexy attributes they do. Unfortunately, he doesn’t. He’s tall, around seven and a half feet, bald, with a “Fu Manchu” pencil-thin mustache joining a beard reaching to his waist. His eyes have no color (Zerin’s have dual color irises), both pupils and irises are black and flat. His ears end at a slight point.

As the series progress, you find out U’unk has a twin brother, Lok, who looks like a “normal” Zerin, complete with black hair and dual-colored irises of emerald green with an outer ring of light apple green.

Insanely jealous of Lok, U’unk secretly kidnapped him, and held him prisoner for decades. He kept Lok around to brag about his plans on taking over the galaxy as Emperor. 

Update alert:

When I finished the series, I kinda left Lok hanging. To make up for it, Lok’s Love is going to be a part of my upcoming book of three short stories called An Alien Heritage to be released after the first of the year. 

Dread Pirate Maynwaring

Yeah, you know where I got the idea for that name. From The Princess Bride. I just loved the idea of a creature not only refusing to let his “reputation” die, but himself as well! At one time, this guy was a sentient being who cheated death by having his conscientiousness transferred to a clear, crystal globe.

To the galaxy he appears like this:

But he used to look something like this:

He’s a gangster that heads up the largest territory in the underworld with his base on the planet FiPan. In the series, his description goes like this:

“His skin is smooth, covered with tiny dark gold hairs with four clawed arms and legs. A short, powerful tail with one long horn on the head and at all four elbows. He has three rows of six burnt orange eyes, sunken at the sockets. His mouth envelopes the face from side to side, with an enormous wide nose with rounded nostrils. Tall, pointed ears on each side of his head are straight like a bat.”

Erkek

 

These guys are one of the Chancellors staunches allies in his quest to become emperor.

They are humanoids with khaki colored skin and pincer-like hands with two elbows (that way their pincers can go forward or backward). They have black eyes with orange, diamond-shaped pupils with no nose, only flaps to inhale while exhaling out of their mouths. They don’t have body hair, nor do the males have nipples on their rigid chests. 

Friebbigh

What’s an alien love story without the Greys? These guys are wanted criminals throughout the Federation Consortium. They’re wanted for arms dealing, kidnapping, slavery, and war crimes. These guys are so bad, it’s against Consortium law to even interact with them. Of course, it’s legal to kill or place one under arrest. Otherwise, dealing with them is considered treason.

Sidekicks

Cheithe and Grirryrth

Grirryrth was once a living Solaherra, a sentient dragon who shared their homeworld, Aonia, with another species called the Crart. Ki is the last Crart descendant. 

During a devasting war, an unexpected betrayal tore the Crart and Solaherra species apart and left Aonia uninhabitable. As a last hope, a battle formsuit was created that retains the essence of Grirryrth that molds to the firstborn of the E’eur line, which Ki is the last of. When Ki was just a child, he inherited Grirryrth after the slaughter of his entire family. Ki and Grirryrth share a symbiotic relationship.

Cheithe is Grirryrth’s mate, who can only come into existence after Ki finds his Truebond.

JR10/JR11

The Merkaba female, Hayami, created JR10 to go undercover with D’zia. This robot/android is in the shape of a spider that can adapt and infiltrate any known computer system. JR10 creates JR11 as a companion. She is a smaller feminine version of him.

I named them after one of my favorite authors, JR Ward. And JR10 is one of the biggest smartasses you’ll ever meet!

 Hayami

I just love Hayami. She looks so innocent with her petite frame with pale pink skin, large, light pink eyes surrounded by dark pink lashes that match her spikey pink and black hair. I wanted her to be an anime-like character with four arms. She prefers to wear short, pleated skirts with a light blouse tucked into her tiny waist.

 Innocent she’s not. This Merkaba female is an original founder of the mercenary group called the AoA, known as the “Alliance of Assassins”. She also owns and runs a pub on the planet Hiigar called Galaxy’s End with Flygir.

Flygir

I got the inspiration for Flygir from an old Disney cartoon character.

This Orisha male is a large humanoid who has a pyramid shaped head, small in proportion his body with a drooping chin skin over a thick neck. Bright tuffs of yellow feathers sprout out of the tip of his pointed head. He has one yellow feathered brow over his single, overly large round eye. The eye has a bright yellow iris and round orange pupil.

He wears a kilt-like skirt that reaches to his knees, with some of the material draping over his right shoulder. Each hand has two thick fingers. Flygir hates shoes, so he walks around exposing his split-toed feet.

 Before we go...

Because October is the month that An Alien Exchange was released, I had the cover redone! I think it’s a better example of what the Zerins look like:

What do ya think?? If you haven’t had a chance to grab him… er, the book… it’ll be FREE for three days only – October 12th thru the 14th.

Are we done?

Gosh no! Next time I’ll share with you the sexy aliens in my latest series, Ancient Alien Descendants. See ya then.

Racing to the finish line! An excerpt from Jessica E. Subject's new release, RET

 

RACING TO THE FINISH LINE!

The third, and final, book in my Kaddim Brothers series released last month. RET is a fitting end to the series and the team. But, it's definitely not the end of the space racers. The next set of stories I'm planning to write are all spinoffs from the series, focusing on many other aspects of racing, and the racing life. I have stories planned about members from other teams, from USRA (Universal Space Racing Association) administration members, and more!

Today, though, I wanted to share an excerpt from RET that takes place during the race. It was an exciting scene to write, and I hope you like it...

From Chapter 13 of RET by Jessica E. Subject - Ret's point of view

Checking the radar, I saw all of my team members close by, but the racers from the other teams were as well. Yet, we were still in the beginning laps of the race. What happened early on didn’t matter as much when it came to the finals. We simply needed to ensure we were still doing well after pit stops for hydrogen and before we headed into the last ten laps. That’s when the excitement began.

Flying among the best teams in the circuit, I knew there wouldn’t be any issues like on Gaunb. We were all here to win yet also had a code of ethics that many new teams seemed to ignore. As the number of remaining laps lessened, I could feel the energy of everyone pushing their jets that much harder.

Fourteen.

Thirteen.

Twelve.

Eleven.

The racers all shifted their positions. Guards for each team moved closer to their main racer. And the blockers wedged their jets among the other teams.

Ten.

It was time to begin the maneuvers. Each team had one. Some were simple. Others, more complex. We had to perform our own while trying to keep our lead.

Nine.

All at once, three members of Team Light blasted ahead of the pack. I chuckled to myself. They’d used their boosters too early and would likely finish at the end. If I was going to use that trick as a distraction, I would have only sacrificed one of my teammates instead of three. And no one was fooled. By the end of that lap, they were behind us all.

Eight.

I flew within the top five, Ilam tucked in behind me. Exactly where he was supposed to be.

Seven.

Someone from Team Ffice spiraled among the other jets. Not a brilliant move. Not only could they cause an accident, but it used extra energy and would make them slow for the rest of the race.

Six.

Xac and Qé moved closer to the main group of racers; one above and the other below. And everyone still pushed ahead.

Five.

Team Tadi moved away from the main group, surrounding us instead. Stars, what were they up to? I had to figure it out.

Four.

“G,” I called my brother over our private channel with a good guess as to the other team’s plan. “I want you up in that circle with Tadi. The twins are already there. Don’t let them squeeze us out.”

“Got it. Moving there now.”

And he did without losing his position.

Three.

Not much changed during this lap. We kept pushing forward, all of us waiting for another team to reveal their plan.

Two.

Team Tadi squeezed inward, as I’d predicted, hoping to push the other teams behind them in order to take the lead. But when you squeeze things, you need to make sure the other end is blocked. I rushed ahead with Ilam riding my tail.

One.

“G, I need you here to guard Little Lam.” It was time to carry out our maneuver.

What happened in the last lap? You'll have to read RET to find out!

RET (Kaddim Brothers book three)

by Jessica E. Subject

Ret Kaddim has the perfect life. He’s a space racer, the leader of the most popular team across the universe. Always planning, practicing, and racing, he has no time for a relationship, but finds plenty of willing partners who agree to his one-night-only rule. Because there is no way he wants to end up in a relationship and stuck with a family like his younger brothers. He’s having too much fun for that.

Ilam Nairan always dreamed of becoming a space racer. And thanks to a chance encounter with a retired racer, he is now living that dream. Far away from the mated and pregnant omega life his parents wanted him to have, he loves everything about his life. It’s perfect.

But one night can change everything. Especially when too much alcohol is involved. Can these two teammates survive the resulting media storm? What will it mean for their careers? The future of the team? And for them?

Ret is a sweet with knotty heat mm non-shifter mpreg sci-fi romance featuring an alpha space racer and an omega space racer who both believe they’ll always be single, snarky but loveable teammates, lots of space racing, endearing family members, an adorable baby, and a guaranteed happily ever after. If you enjoy teammates realizing they have feelings for each other, and all the obstacles those bring, be sure to download Ret today!

AMAZON US | UNIVERSAL BUY LINK

Five Reasons it Might Be Purfect to be a Cat

 By Maureen Bonatch

My second book in the Witch Shifter Series, A Creepy CATalyst released last week.

In this paranormal cozy series, the main character discovers that she’s not just a witch.

She’s a witch that can shift—and usually she shifts into a cat. 

For Abigail, being able to shift comes in handy when she’s solving mysteries

with her cat familiar, Olaf. But when I thought about it, there are other good

reasons to be a cat. 

Here are a few of my favorites:

• Intimidate everyone else with one look
• Sleeping, eating and playing make up your entire day.

• The world is your playground and your favorite toy is a box. 
• When you get tired of someone—just bite them.
• Stellar night vision—THIS!

P.S. This story also has a ghost in it.

Just in time for the spooky season! Here’s a little more about A Creepy CATalyst.

Since Abigail has either fingers or paws, she must work with the witches, and the familiars, on this ghostly murder mystery.

Being a witch who can shift has its perks—seeing ghosts isn’t one of them.

 

Hell-o, it would've been nice if someone had warned me that my ability

to shift into a cat enabled me to see ghosts. I spent a good ten minutes

explaining my new pet sitting business to a spirit. I thought something

was off about her, but I wasn’t expecting that!If only I could understand

what she was trying to tell me, because it turns out she was murdered.

She’s followed me home until I can figure it out. And now I must care for

her familiar until the inconsolable cat is assigned a new witch. Moving the

ghost and her keening cat out of my house can’t happen soon enough.

 

When old grudges are revealed, the list of suspects grows. And it

includes a young witch at the Home for Wayward Witches, who’s flaunting

too much attitude and power. It can’t be her, can it?

 

With a killer on the loose, everyone’s got a finger or paw to point.

Since I have both, I’m caught in the middle of this murder mystery.

Let’s hope I can solve it before an innocent witch gets accused,

or worse, someone else dies.

Check out the Witch Shifter series right here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B6FPCDWT

It's Spooky Season!

You can't have too much magic and paranormal reads this time of year. So I have some freebies for you as well as some books to add to your TBR.

 

Free Cozy Mystery Books

 

Click here to fill up  your TBR with some Free Cozy Mystery Books: https://books.bookfunnel.com/cozy_mystery_obsessed/9uag5sctff

 

 

 

Paranormal Women's Fiction & Cozy Mysteries

 

Want more magic and mystery? Then check out these Paranormal Women's Fiction & Cozy Mystery books right here: https://books.bookfunnel.com/pwfparacozyreads-oct/a7glgx11je

 

What’s Your Favorite Thing About Being a Cat?

 

Maureen Bonatch lives in a magical world as a novelist, and as a nurse leader in reality.

Maureen’s first novella was a paranormal romance published

when blogs were a new-fangled thing.

She’s since changed her focus to writing paranormal cozy mysteries

as M.L. Bonatch and urban fantasy as Maureen Bonatch. 

While she’s not busy writing or doing nurse-things, she’s a mom to her twin daughters, bicycling in the beautiful woods of PA with her hubby, doing the bidding of a feisty Shih Tzu, and dancing as much as possible. She believes music can be paired with every mood, laughter is contagious, and that caffeine and wine are essential for survival.

https://www.maureenbonatch.com/free-book/

Keep the conversation going by joining my Facebook Group right HERE! https://www.facebook.com/groups/630494098126926