A Review of Sister Margaret By Rhonda Parrish

Love a short story with a good ending? Then this book is for you! SISTER MARGARET is an intriguing tale of vampires and deception with an unusual twist.

Title: Sister Margaret
Category: Paranormal
Reviewer: Michele R.
Reviewer Email: Deseng@crown.net
Author: Rhonda Parrish
Publisher: Eternal Press
Release Date: April 2009
ISBN Number: eBook ISBN: 978-1-926647-63-0
Print ISBN: 978-1-926647-71-5
Author Homepage: http://www.rhondaparrish.com/
Rating: 4 Fangs
Format: EBOOK


Michael, a person with hidden talents to slay creatures, has been contacted by a long-ago friend whose name was Charmaine. She needs him to accomplish a difficult task. They were close friends when they were young and both had rough childhoods. Charmaine’s life was so bad that she turned to a life of prostitution. Michael feels responsible that he didn’t do more to protect her from her ill-fated life. Now that she is asking for a favor, so to speak, he can right the wrongs he made in the past. What is she asking him to do?

After the difficulties in her youth and her life as a prostitute, Charmaine changes her name to Sister Margaret, to make a new start. She is now the priestess to Rakkir, whose is the God of secrets and lies. When a vampire hunts her “girls” and forces them to give him money or else, she decides, it is time to contact her old friend Michael. When she relates her predicament to him, he accepts the job as a vampire hunter. What unforeseen problems lay ahead for Michael?

SISTER MARGARET is an engaging tale of vampires and hidden secrets. When Michael is contacted by an old friend, once named Charmaine, he is asked to destroy a rogue vampire for her. A bloody battle, raging minions and hidden secrets lay in wait for him on his journey. Rhonda Parrish delivers a wonderfully written concise story that will grip you with anticipation. Her characters are strong along with a hidden depth to their personalities. I was surprised at how short the story was but Ms. Parrish wrote it in such a way that there is magic in every word. I am impressed at her ability to pull you in and deliver a satisfying ending. An entertaining story that is wickedly clever!

Guest Blogger Author Rhonda Parrish

Today we have guest blogger Rhonda Parrish, author of Sister Margaret a short story from Eternal Press and the editor of Nite Blade Magazine.

Welcome Rhonda. -

I love vampires. You must too or else you wouldn't be reading this blog, would you? And like me, you are probably very picky about what kind of vampires you like. Everyone has specific parts of the vampire mythology they love, or love to hate. Recently we've all see the outpouring of love for vampires that sparkle, and the equal amount of criticism for the very same thing. You can't please everyone in regard to anything, but perhaps especially when it comes to vampires.

I didn't even want to try.

I wanted to write a vampire story, but without dwelling too much on the vampires themselves. I wanted the vampire(s) to be just another character, no more or less important than any of the others. That was part of the inspiration for my new story, released today from Eternal Press – Sister Margaret.

Sister Margaret is about a vampire hunter and a half-incubus swordsman who are hired by a priestess to take care of a vampiric pimp. In this story, Xaphan, the vampire pimp, doesn't get a whole lot of page time, but I believe the dark presence of the vampire can be felt throughout the story just the same. Sometimes you don't need to see the vampire to know they are around. That's the case with Sister Margaret.

Allow me to share a short excerpt.

~*~

Not one to waste time with niceties, Bayne kicked down the door and went to work. I’d seen him wield his sword before, plenty of times; each one better than the last, but nothing had prepared me for this.

Xaphan had a lot of minions—a lot. They swarmed on Bayne like flies on shit, a living wave of fists and feet, all determined to bring him down. None of them reached him. His face, contorted by battle fury, looked every bit like a demon, all trace of humanity erased. He moved the sword as though it were an extension of himself, each movement calculated to destroy as many of his foes as possible. Within minutes, the roar of battle subsided to the whimpering of wounded, and Bayne’s once white hair was stained pink with blood. An occasional cut ripped through his shirt; one or two even managed to draw blood. But in less than ten minutes, he’d reduced the vampire’s army to a pile of mangled corpses and unidentified gore.

I entered as he replaced his sword in the scabbard strapped across his back, careful to watch my step lest I slip on the blood and goo and find myself covered in things I’d rather not contemplate. From a far corner, buried in shadows that mortal eyes couldn’t hope to penetrate, the distinct sound of feminine sobs could be heard. The leech had hostages after all. Good thing I’d decided against the fireball.

“You get the girls,” I said. “I’ll take care of the vampire and meet you back outside.”

Bayne nodded and delivered a sharp kick to the nose of one of his opponents who lay moaning in the sea of gore. The man’s face imploded, shattering beneath the force of Bayne’s boot, and then Bayne headed wordlessly toward the sound of the hostages.

I winced inwardly at the brutality of his action and then shrugged it off. In war, shit happens; he couldn’t be the best sword for hire in the land if he were squeamish about killing. Nor could he afford to turn his back on an enemy who still drew breath, injured or not.

I watched his back disappear into the darkness and thought about calling out to warn him to watch for traps, but then I thought better of it. Bayne was no fool; he knew what he was doing. I could trust him to get the girls out of the house safely. Now it was up to me to find the vampire and kill him.

~*~

I am giving away a copy of the ebook to a random commenter to this post – it could be you. If you're not sure what to say I'd love to hear what you think about my excerpt or you could tell me this – do you love or hate sparkly vampires?

Rhonda Parrish
Writer à http://www.rhondaparrish.com/
Editor à http://www.niteblade.com/

Thanks for joining us, Rhonda.

Any commentors who would like to win a copy of Sister Margaret please make sure you leave contact info.