Clarissa Johal: Guest Blogger Friday

Friday, August 3, 2012

Guest Blogger Friday


Please welcome this week's guest blogger, E.H. James, author of Laura and The Visitor's Room.


Title: Laura
Genre: Paranormal (Short Story)
Publisher: Musa Publishing
Release Date: January 13, 2012

Laura – Blurb:
George had seen some pretty strange things over his lifetime, traveling those roads. But if he had thought he’d seen it all, he was sadly mistaken. For if he thought finding Laura alone, along some deserted roadside, in the middle of the night, was strange, then he had no idea that what was to follow would challenge the very boundaries of everything he’d ever known.

Excerpt:

The road was long and black before him, stretching out into the night. He hated these rural roads with no street lights, no homes, nothing but blackness pressing in around him. He strained to see the lines in the road, swallowed as they were by a heavy black haze.

But the rain had stopped now, and the wipers screeched in complaint as rubber drew across the dry windshield. He turned them off. The remaining water formed rivulets that ran together, making their way slowly up the glass.

At times like these, he wished he had gotten the radio fixed. He reached for the dial as though it would work this time, but all he got was a faint popping sound and some static. He turned it off and leaned back into his seat. “Damn.”

His annoyance wasn’t so much at the dead radio as at himself. He should have started sooner. He'd had one—no, two—drinks for the road. Now, here he was with two more hours of driving ahead and already it was well past midnight. He couldn't refuse a free drink, though. After all, he was retiring next week, and this was the last time he’d have to make a trip like this—all the way out here, into the middle of nowhere, holding the hand of one more client.

He drew his hand across his face as if to pull the weariness from his mind. Straining against the darkness, he thought he saw something in the headlights, a movement perhaps, maybe a reflection. He slowed down, staring out into the blackness. It was then that he saw her, standing on the side of the road. She turned toward him, staring into the headlights.



Laura – Buy Links:


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Title: The Visitor’s Room
Genre: Paranormal (Short Story)
Publisher: Musa Publishing
Release Date: March 23, 2012

The Visitor’s Room - Blurb:

If Amy thought this day on the psych ward would be just like any other, she would be wrong.

For although everything seemed normal, well as normal as a place like that could be, there was something that was not quite right. That she couldn’t put her finger on it only made it all the more perplexing.

Don’t go asking questions you don’t want to know the answer to, especially when you're on a psych ward, and even you begin to question your sanity.

Excerpt:

“Today’s as good as any to get a shock treatment.”

Amy lifted her head from the pillow to see Larry standing at the foot of her bed.

She waited as he turned and shuffled out the door, then laid her head back down and closed her eyes. Sleep began to return.

And then he was back, the rhythmic swish of slippers on tile as he approached. “Today’s as good as any to get a shock treatment.”

She sighed and waited a moment. Silence. Melanie was sound asleep in the next bed, unaware of the intrusion.

“Today’s as good as any to get a shock treatment.”

“Larry!” she said, her eyes snapping open. “Shut up and get the hell out of here!”

Larry smiled half-heartedly, turned, and wandered again from the room. This time, his shadow disappeared out of the doorway completely.

That had done it. She was definitely awake now.

She looked at Melanie and frowned.

Dead to the world. Like I should be. That girl could sleep if a freight train came roaring through here. Then again, who knows what meds they have her on this week?

She climbed out of bed and pulled on her slippers — blue terry cloth, just like her bathrobe, so cheap, her toe poked through the seam.

She padded over to the window.

The sun was rising over the horizon, but the building directly across the street was still buried in darkness. She wasn’t normally awake this early — though someone did knock promptly at seven every morning to inform her breakfast was ready.

It was quiet though. Peaceful as a grave. She could get used to this.

And then she heard it: the sound of water dripping.

Stepping away from the window, she walked — as she had yesterday and the day before, and every day for the past three weeks — to the bathroom. The sound wasn’t louder there, but she couldn’t imagine where else it might be coming from. It wasn’t muffled, as it would have been inside the wall. No water came through the collapsible ceiling. It wasn’t raining. No drain pipes ran outside her window.

The sound was like Larry: it came and went and was irritating.

And now it was gone.



The Visitor’s Room – Buy Links: 

Amazon UK


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Author Bio:
E. H. James is an author writing novels, short stories, and poetry in the science fiction, horror, thriller and fantasy genres.

Contact Links for E. H. James


1 comment:

Margaret said...

I've read both of these short stories and recommend them. E.H. James has a way with words and writes with little twists and turns and a bit of the eerie that you want in a paranormal/horror story.