All Treat, No Tricks

Short & Sweet.

I’m going to keep this missive short and sweet, because it’s Halloween and I have horror movies to watch! My friends Lotti and John are having their usual all-day Halloween party, but online this year, and they have a lot of flicks in the lineup—starting with The House That Would Not Die (1970) starring Barbara Stanwyck. I’ve never seen that one!

Rock & Roll Shivers.

I’ve been busy working on Book 4 of my Immortal Confessions vampire mystery series. It’s a fun one (aren’t they all? 😉) because it takes place in the DJ booth of a rock radio station in New Mexico in 1978. Coming up with the playlist has been a blast—Boris the Spider by The Who, Witchy Woman by The Eagles, Godzilla by Blue Oyster Cult, Vampire Blues by Neil Young—and so has creating a villain formidable enough to go up against my vampires, Ashara and Liam. One of the most challenging things about this new book—I’m calling it Rhapsody in Red, though the publisher may change it—is that it takes place over the course of just a few hours in one night. I have never done something like that in novel format. So… wish me luck! If you’re interested in reading the first two books in the Immortal Confessions series, here’s a link on Amazon. Get both books for 7.98 Book 3: Melody Mansion, and audio versions of all, are coming soon!

Writers Gotta Read.

I’ve been simultaneously reading two haunted house tales. One is Gothic and takes place in the 50s, the other is more traditional and modern. I am loving them both! Mexican Gothic, by Silvia Moreno Garcia. This one is a bona fide bestseller, and rightfully so. “It’s Lovecraft meets the Brontës in Latin America, and after a slow-burn start Mexican Gothic gets seriously weird.”—The Guardian Haunted: Perron Manor, by Lee Mountford. It’s about a pair of sisters who inherit a magnificent manor from an unknown relative. Shortly after they move in, they start to notice strange things and discover inexplicably locked doors. Then they find a study upstairs, filled with occult items and a strange book written in Latin… I encourage you to check out Haunted: Perron Manor, not only because it’s good and creepy, but the author is indie like me—support your small business owners! (Yes, writing and publishing is a sole proprietorship.) More here

And the Winner is…

Sharon Cheatam! I’ve decided to try something new: a random drawing for prizes for one lucky subscriber with every newsletter I send out. All you need to do is fill out the simple subscribe-form. When it comes to the drawings, U.S. winners will get goodies in the mail; those outside the U.S., will get digital downloads. This time, I’m mailing out two of my paperbacks (City of Devils, Dark Duet), one horror book by another author, Shevenge (the anthology I produced) on DVD, and a classic horror flick. I hope you enjoy these, Sharon!