Halloween Flash Fiction by Celia Breslin

Celia’s Bewitching Halloween Tale

I grew up listening to my Irish grandmother’s stories about the Fae, including her encounter with a Banshee in her family’s cellar when she was a teenager. Of her many stories, this is my favorite, and I love to share it every Halloween.  Enjoy!

Bumped by the Banshee

by Celia Breslin

… I lived in a large two-story house with my parents, younger sister, and grandmother. It was a cold, winter evening, nothing special or out of the ordinary. My family dined together, then my sister and I cleaned up while our parents and grandmother drank tea. We joined them at the dining table to do our homework, but my grandmother said she was tired and went upstairs to bed. My parents followed shortly after that, but my father paused on the landing.

“Maeve, it’s going to be a cold night. Fetch us some coal, please.”

I abandoned my homework, grabbed the empty coal bucket from the kitchen, and went down into the cellar. I filled my bucket and returned to the stairs. I had one foot on the first step when the temperature in the cellar, already cold, dropped dramatically. Chills ran down my back. Behind me, someone moaned.

But how could that be? I was alone...

Terror rooted me to the spot. The keening grew louder. I dropped my bucket and covered my ears. A cold wind bumped against my back. I stumbled forward as the shrieking wind rushed over me and up the stairs.

But how could that be? The cellar had no windows...

Above me, the cellar door slammed shut. The sound broke me from my stupor. I screamed and ran up the stairs and out of the cellar, through the kitchen and dining room, and up the stairs to my room. My parents and sister found me under my bed, shaking like a puppy lost in a snowstorm.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” They asked me, while pulling me from my hiding place.

“I heard the Banshee wail.”

We stared at each other in silence, all of us reaching the same conclusion moments later. We hurried to my grandmother’s room.

She was dead.

Copyright 2018, Celia Breslin. All rights reserved.

Haven
Tranquilli Bloodline Series
Book One
Celia Breslin

Genre: Urban Fantasy Romance

Publisher: Champagne Books

Date of Publication: July 2, 2013

ISBN:  9781927454473

Number of pages: 372

Word Count: 124K

Cover Artist: Amanda Kelsey

Book Description:

San Francisco nightclub owner Carina Tranquilli works hard, plays hard, and never allows the death of her parents and her twelve-year memory gap to get her down. But her life takes a left turn when a witch attacks her on her twenty-fifth birthday.

Three hauntingly familiar vampires emerge to reveal she possesses a latent power. To protect her from their enemies, they admit to wiping her memories clean and abandoning her as a child, but now they need her help. As she struggles to evade her new protectors and even newer enemies, she meets Alexander, an enigmatic, undead musician. Insta-lust flares, leaving her wanting more.

With evil’s minions hounding her every move, and everything she thought she knew turned on its head, Carina must harness her burgeoning power, unravel her vampire family’s web of deceit, and fight to have a love life...without getting killed in the process.

Amazon       Amazon UK       Kobo       BN  

Champagne Books      Google Play     iTunes     Goodreads

About the Author:

Celia lives in California with her husband, daughter, and two feisty cats. She writes urban fantasy and paranormal romance, and has a particular fondness for vampires, werewolves, and the Fae. When not writing, you’ll find Celia editing for others, exercising, reading a good book, hanging with her family, or indulging her addiction to Joss Whedon’s TV shows and movies.

Web site: http://www.celiabreslin.com/

Blog: http://www.celiabreslin.com/blog/

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

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/CeliaBreslin

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

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

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/celiabreslin/

Newsletter:  http://eepurl.com/bxqwRL

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review Plot Your Health, a Journey to Wellness Planner by C.J. Ellisson

REVIEW

Finally a planner for people who need to keep track of their health. 

This is a great way to keep track of your meds, treatments, symptoms, moods, appointments and more- all in one place. 

When you go to doctor visits you can take this with you so all your info is in one handy place.

It helped me keep track of my meds and symptoms which I had been having a hard time doing.

I highly recommend Plot Your Health for people with chronic illnesses.

Plot Your Health, a Journey to Wellness Planner

C.J. Ellisson

Genre: health/medical non-fiction

Publisher: Red Hot Publishing

Date of Publication: September 25, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-938601-583

ISBN: 978-1-938601-590

Number of pages: 220

Cover Artist: C.J. Ellisson

Book Description:

Are you struggling to stay on top of multiple medications and supplements throughout your day? Or maybe your doctor has asked for daily details on your symptoms? Do you miss treatment appointments, or have problems juggling all the details? If you need space to log your steps, moods, hours of sleep, blood sugar levels, or even foods — we've got you covered!

Introducing a one-year wellness planner for managing severe and chronic health concerns! Terrific for parents managing a child’s complex care, teenagers or adults who need to organize their health concerns, or for caregivers and adults managing the care of senior patients.

220 pages in length, with a repeat of multiple tracking pages for twelve months.

Notebook Contents:

-        Owner’s Info page with room for doctor info, personal data, emergency contacts, allergies and more!

-        Two pages for Condition Details, room to list six per page.

-        Four pages of Medicine and Supplement Records, six per page.

-        Four pages for tracking test results, scans, and blood work throughout the year.

Twelve monthly sections, each with the following:

• Undated monthly calendar pages, for jotting down doctor appointments, wellness visits, physical therapy, IV infusions, or whatever you need.
• Two Doctor/ Wellness visit pages, for questions to ask at each appointment, room for notes, and an area to jot down tests needed.
• Treatment Record pages, with room to track nine treatments per month, plus an extra lined page for notes or more appointments.
• A two-page Symptom trackers, each with room to track twenty symptoms for an entire month.
• Three-pages per month of Medicine and Supplement tracking grids. Each contains room to track four meds that need to be taken three times a day, and room to track twenty-one meds required twice a day. (This area can be customized for more meds if they are taken only once per day).
• Mood-tracking coloring image. Assign a color to a mood and color each section per day according to how you feel.
• Additional two-page grid for tracking sleep, food, blood pressure, habits, blood sugar, oxygen levels... pretty much anything you need! Eighteen spaces to track for each month.
• Two lined pages per month for additional needs.
• Future planning area on the last page for appointments and scheduling for the next year.

 Amazon      Etsy

About the Author:

C.J. Ellisson is a NYT and USA Today bestselling author who writes urban fantasy, mystery, romance, and has ventured into non-fiction with Plot Your Work, the Writer’s Project Planner and Plot Your Health, a Journey to Wellness Planner. She lives in northern Virginia with her husband, two teenagers, three dogs and two cats—reporting to love the energetic zoo that’s become their home.

C.J. turned to writing in 2009 when she could no longer work outside the home due to chronic illness, and claims the escape of writing fiction helped save her sanity. A self-proclaimed Lupus and Lyme Warrior, she is working toward getting stronger, putting her Lupus back into remission, and staying healthy.

Instead of dozens of pills, IVs, exhaustion, and pain, C.J.’s days are now filled with writing, walking dogs, exercising, eating healthy, and leading a novel-writing club in her daughter’s school. It all leads to a fun-filled, busy day, and she’s incredibly grateful to be so involved in life again.

Plot Your Health FB Page: 

Plot Your Health FB User Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PlotYourHealth/

Plot Your Health IG: https://www.instagram.com/plotyourhealth/

Plot Your Health on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/listing/616587079/

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Being Brave Enough To Know Who You Really Are…

My novel, The Love Detective, comes out on the 28th September and with its launch I’ve realised that I’m at my happiest when I’m writing.  Should this concern me? Does it mean that I am more connected to my imaginary characters than to real people? Yes and no. They are different relationships. I feel differently about them. And there is a cross-over. Aspects of the lives and personality traits of friends, family and acquaintances steal in to my stories where they then develop and morph in to creatures in their own right. And my fictional world can sometimes, by imagining how a scenario might play out in a novel, give me an insight in to situations where I might otherwise take a tunnel-vision approach.

It has taken a long time to know what really makes me happy. And I’ve wasted a lot of years. It should have been easy. For some lucky people it is… that recognition of what it is that really drives them and then having the focus and courage to pursue it. That was never me. 

I was always so much better at knowing what I didn’t want rather than I what I did. I don’t think I’m alone in this. Many of us, for a variety of reasons (including lack of self-worth, guilt about concentrating on ourselves/having to put someone else’s needs before our own) shy away from asking ourselves the questions: Who am I and what do I need to do in order to honour my core and be fully myself? 

They’re not comfortable questions. And for some, the answers will be unsettling and scary. 

What changes might I have to make? How will those changes affect the people around me? What if I screw everything up and fall flat on my face? Then what? 

Well… check out the very last sentence in The Love Detective and you will find out what I believe!

The Love Detective
A Clarry Pennhaligan Mystery
Angela Dyson

Genre: Chick-Lit, Thriller, Women’s,

Contemporary Fiction

Publisher: Matador Books

Publication Date: 28  September 2018

ISBN: 9781789010282

"Pacy, funny and exciting. Cynical yet romantic at heart, Clarry is a girl that you can't help but like - and root for...." – Independent Reviewer

“He’d thought himself the hunter, that I was easy prey but what he hadn’t bargained for, was contending with a woman who hadn’t eaten a square meal in twenty-four hours. I get mean when I’m hungry.”

Clarry Pennhaligan, low on ambition but high on energy, can’t seem to come up with a proper grown-up plan to kick-start her life. Planning really isn’t her thing. But then she happens upon her true vocation: Snooping.  Discovering other people’s secrets and getting paid for it. What could possibly go wrong? Well……as it turns out, just about everything and soon Clarry finds herself in real danger.

The Love Detective is the first in a series due for release in September 2018. The second book will follow in late spring 2019.

Pre-Order

Author Angela Dyson Reads from The Love Detective

https://youtu.be/snh212qZpb8

Read an Excerpt Here:

https://angeladyson.com/the-love-detective-extract/

Read a Steamy Excerpt Here:

https://angeladyson.com/love-detective-promiscuous-extract/

About the Author:

Angela Dyson ditched her London life and downsized her home to move to the sticks in Surrey, to follow her dream to become a professional author. She loves to write but to pay the bills (Angela soon discovered that utility companies, bank managers and landlords aren’t known for their generosity and understanding natures,) she had to squeeze the writing in with working for a living. Some of the jobs to which she only gave half her attention have included working for a recording studio and a record label, running a building maintenance company where pretty much the only upside was getting to boss a lot of men about all day, doing a bit of plus size modelling (strictly clothes on) and, for one memorable summer, making a living reading palms on a Greek Island.

Website: http://www.angeladyson.com/

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AngelaDysonAuth

Half-Blood Descendant by Natasha Brown

Half-Blood Descendant

Half-Bloods: A Paranormal Series

Book One

Natasha Brown

Genre: Paranormal/Supernatural Suspense

Publisher: Future Impressions

Date of Publication: Sept 23rd 2018

ISBN: 978-1722836917

ASIN: B07DZSZF68

Number of pages: estimated 250

Word Count: 76k

Cover Artist: Natasha Brown

Tagline: Shifters live in secret. They’re not the only ones.

Book Description:

USA TODAY bestselling author Natasha Brown blends urban fantasy, paranormal romance and supernatural suspense in the Half-Bloods, an adventure for lovers of shifters, vampires... and more.

Jax never stays anywhere long enough to put down roots. He’s a shapeshifter—the only one of his kind, or so he thinks. While prowling on his landlady’s property, he is stunned to find a man feeding on her neck. Although he frightens away the blood-sucker, Jax leaves behind a paralyzed woman and a trail of blood in his wake.

Aerilyn teaches high school and doubles as a guardian for the Genus Society, an ancient underground shifter organization. After learning of a cougar attack in her own mountain neighborhood, she suspects a rogue shifter is to blame.

When the Society accuses Jax of the “animal attack,” he is ordered to stick around until he can clear his name. Desperate to regain his freedom, he must put his trust in his beautiful guardian. Their forbidden attraction leads Aerilyn to wonder if the blue-eyed drifter is innocent. And if he is, the Society has an even bigger problem on its hands—one that feeds on blood.

Amazon 

Excerpt:

Aerilyn pulled off her jacket and set it on the ground. Next, she slipped off her shoes and unbuttoned her jeans. A cold breeze whistled through the valley, raising goosebumps on her arms as she pulled her V-neck off. She held the fabric to her chest and hunched away from the wind.

When it died down, she dropped her shirt onto her growing pile of clothes. She rested her hand against one of the aspens to brace herself while she took off her socks and happened to glance back at her companion. Jax was down to his underwear, standing in the moonlight. Dark lines adorned his back, forming what appeared to be an intricate tattoo, one she couldn’t see well enough from her vantage point. She could, however, see how muscular he was. As he tugged at the waistband of his boxers, she blushed and looked away, reminding herself he would be gone as soon as her father allowed him to leave town.

She didn’t waste any time removing the last of her clothing and stood among the pale aspen trunks, calling to the energy at her core. It surged through her pores, chasing away all visible marking of her humanity until none was left. Aerilyn took a deep breath and stepped out from behind the trees.

About the Author:

USA Today bestselling author Natasha Brown's imagination has always been a distraction. The books she read in the dark past bedtime fed her excitement for fantasy worlds. Once she started writing, there was no stopping her. By day, Natasha’s an assistant teacher at an elementary school, and by night she’s a book cover designer. Her weekends are spent writing and spending time with family.

https://twitter.com/writersd3sk

https://www.facebook.com/writersd3sk/

https://www.pinterest.com/writersd3sk/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5577825.Natasha_S_Brown

http://natashasbrown.com/

http://natashasbrown.com/contact/newsletter/

https://www.amazon.com/Natasha-Brown/e/B0071FR26M/

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Rebecca's Quest by Blair Drake

Rebecca's Quest

Finding Magic

Book Eight

Blair Drake

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Publisher: Magic Quest Books

ASIN: B07DYBNSHY

Number of pages: 193

Word Count: 67,550

Cover Artist: Jennifer Zemanek/Seedlings LLC

Tagline: What would you do to find your magic?

Book Description:

Rebecca is in a nightmare. Can magic save her and those she loves?

10 quests. If one fails, all fail. And one will never return. ... Now it's Rebecca's turn.

On the eve of Rebecca Martin's eighteenth birthday, fate throws her into a mysterious and thrilling adventure. Bounced around like a pinball in a machine, where time is fluid and death does not exist, Rebecca must survive to discover her magical destiny to save her entire family and the boy she loves.

Amazon

Excerpt:

Transforming himself into Simon the cat so that he could manipulate Rebecca often exhausted his patience. Through icy blue eyes, from his position on the cold stone floor, James Simon Russell watched his granddaughter hurry down the corridor toward Professor Kell’s classroom until she was safely inside and on time. She would have been late had he not intervened.

Keeping her on the right path these past four years had been more difficult than he’d expected. So many ways a young girl could go wrong when she was away from home, as he well knew. He’d had very little sleep last night, curled up in the corner by the door just outside her room, ensuring she did not escape for any reason.

For his granddaughter, and only for her, Gray Cliffs Academy resembled a nineteenth century boarding school more than a twenty-first century one.

Using his magic, he had cloaked this world. Her experience at Gray Cliffs was different from the other students from the very first day. Nothing incongruent that actually happened here caused Rebecca to question her own experiences. She believed her Gray Cliffs experience was the same as all the others.

He’d also totally isolated her with no connection to the outside world at all. She wasn’t here to mess around online with her friends or call to chat or watch hours of television or anything else. None of that nonsense. None at all.

The purpose of Gray Cliffs was similar to all boarding schools everywhere: to prepare the students for adult life. With one important difference. Not all of the students were aware that Mortal and Magic coexisted here, as they did everywhere in the world.

Mortals were, of course, were unaware of Magic at Gray Cliffs, but the opposite was not true. Magic always knew Mortal well, and Magic students were forbidden from exposing mere mortals to any Magic activities. Penalties for violating the Laws of Magic were severe, and the Counsel of Elders rarely needed to invoke them.

Magic students entered Gray Cliffs unaware of their Magic orientation. Most students learned their true natures during their four years at the school. A few were particularly stubborn though, and refused to see themselves as they were. Those students would not graduate from Gray Cliffs’ Magic stream. They were condemned to a Mortal life.

Russell was desperate to avoid that fate for his granddaughter. Magic was strong within her. He would not allow her to throw her destiny away.

He’d conjured a daunting environment only Rebecca experienced. He’d placed the school on an isolated mountain peak surrounded by deep ravines, instead of the lovely island where Gray Cliffs was actually located. Using such Magic, he’d kept his granddaughter a virtual prisoner, under his constant surveillance since she’d arrived at Gray Cliffs. It hadn’t been easy.

Early on, she seemed to be making friends and fitting in too well. He’d handled the problem swiftly and permanently. At this point, she was miserable and afraid of her own shadow, desperate to escape. Which was exactly what he wanted.

She needed no distractions. She hadn’t been brought there to make friends. She was there to learn what she needed to know and then to leave. Nothing more and nothing less. She went nowhere and did nothing unless he allowed it.

He had made mistakes with Rebecca’s mother and her aunt all those years ago. He knew that now. He’d relied on Headmaster Auster. Auster had failed. He wouldn’t be allowed another chance to screw up with another member of his family.

Russell could not lose this time. There was too much at stake. If Rebecca chose Magic, Russell’s family could be saved. If she chose Mortal, everyone he loved would be doomed for all eternity.

He was satisfied that Rebecca’s last days at Gray Cliffs were unfolding according to the rules the elders had established before she was born.

He shook his head. His lip curled. Rebecca should have discovered her Magic long before now, of course. She should have realized and embraced her Magic powers before the rooftop. She was born with Magic DNA, like all of his family. As her life had developed, no matter how many Magic opportunities and experiences she’d encountered, she’d never allowed herself to make the leap away from the mortal reality her parents had instilled in her. Russell blamed Olivia and Jake Martin for the entire catastrophe. The blame was well placed.

He glanced around to be sure none of the students were watching him before he transported to the roof for one last check on conditions before her final test began. Once there, he transformed to a normal man. He needed to stretch.

Russell ran through his plans for Rebecca’s test once more. She would face a series of bewildering challenges: Situations and events that defied logic or reason would be presented to her in fluid time without warning or explanation. Each challenge was based on her prior experiences remixed by the magic he used to change them.

Rebecca would feel like a ball in a pin-ball machine, bouncing from one strange experience to the next, until she recognized the origin of a particular memory.

She must understand the memory, recognize the Magic applied to it, adapt to the situation, and survive each challenge in succession. Or she could simply complete the test successfully at any time by applying her own vast Magic powers.

If she learned to control her Magic, she could use it to return to Gray Cliffs, safer and wiser. If she didn’t pass the test? Russell shook off that possibility. Failure was not an option. If she failed, she’d be as good as dead.

She simply had to graduate and turn eighteen, whether she knew it or not.

Then and only then, would Rebecca be allowed to make the choice upon which her family’s survival depended. Would she choose to live as Magic or Mortal? She could not be both.

One day, Rebecca could take the seat that had rightfully belonged to her mother on the Council of Elders. His daughter, Olivia had thrown their family’s future away. His granddaughter, Rebecca had the power to redeem them all.

Elders had decreed the terms of Rebecca’s quest, and Russell had given his word. The First Law of Magic still had to be honored: Rebecca must exercise her own free will to make her choice.

Satisfied that preparations were in order, Russell became Simon the cat once again. He transported back to wait patiently in the corridor near Professor Kell’s classroom. When the class ended, Rebecca would answer the headmaster’s summons.

When she entered Auster’s office, she’d begin the most important test of her life.

She was as prepared as she would ever be for the challenge.

All Russell could do now was trust the Laws of Magic.

About the Author:

Blair Drake believes in magic, especially the magic of stories with fantasy, adventures, romance, action, and surprises. She has loved writing and living in the stories of the Finding Magic series and is so excited to share the quests of the Gray Cliffs Academy students with her readers.

When she’s not writing about magic, she’s reading about it. Her influences are Cassandra Claire, Neil Gaiman, Rick Riordan, Garth Nix, and many more.

In the mortal plane, following the lure of magic has drawn Blair into strange and wonderful adventures from Australia to New York City, with many stops in between. She currently lives near Denver. Her very favorite spot is a red loveseat in her office, frequently shared with two cats, an outnumbered Dalmation, and occasionally her bewitched husband.

She might have gone to a school similar to Gray Cliffs Academy and would love to go through a magic portal. In the meantime, she’s creating her own in more books of magic.

Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dyl_vv

Website: http://blairdrake.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BlairDrakeBooks

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

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18107775.Blair_Drake

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/default/e/B07DFZH9P4/

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/blaire-drake

a Rafflecopter giveaway