#Paranormal Wednesday-My #Giveabook Picks

I was lucky enough to receive books for Christmas. Books make excellent gifts year-round. The next holiday is Valentine's Day and personally, I'd rather a book than chocolate, flowers or any of the other "standard" gifts. Here are a few books/authors on my shelf that I've enjoyed and would recommend. 

Horror-Mythology

Krampus: The Yule Lord

&

The Child Thief: A Novel

by BROM

Fantasy Horror

The Boy Who Drew Monsters: A Novel

&

The Stolen Child

by Keith Donohue

Gothic Horror-Romance

The Haunting of Maddy Clare

&
An Inquiry Into Love and Death

&

Silence for the Dead

by Simone St. James

Dark Fantasy 

The Tooth Fairy

by Graham Joyce

Thriller-Suspense

Before I Go to Sleep

by S.J Watson

Fantasy-Mythology

Mythago Wood

by Robert Holdstock

Paranormal-Suspense-Dark Fantasy

Graveminder

by Melissa Marr

Paranormal-Suspense-Romance 

The Restorer: Graveyard Queen Series

by Amanda Stevens

*Four books in this series

And don't forget mine!

Paranormal-Gothic Horror

Musa Publishing

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

*Indie Book of the Day 2014





Paranormal

Musa Publishing
Amazon
Barnes and Noble

*Second place in the Preditors & Editors Readers Poll 2012

Thoughtful Thursday-All Hallows Read and My Picks

Give Someone a Scary Book for Halloween. 

This is a brilliant idea--Neil Gaiman is awesome for headlining it. (Well, Neil is awesome just because he's Neil.) You probably couldn't get away with handing out books for Halloween instead of candy but...how about starting with friends and family? I think it's time for a new Halloween tradition around my house. 

My picks for gifting:

4-8 year old range: The Witch Next Door by Norman Bridwell
7-10 year old range: Mr. Katz is a Zombie by Margaret Lesh
11-15 year old range (and beyond): The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Adults (and since the shops insist on lumping Halloween and Christmas together): Krampus: The Yule Lord by Brom

I'll offer up my own as well
For adults: Between and Struck by Clarissa Johal

Tangled Tuesday-Five Fabulous Authors

When I'm writing, I can't read works of fiction by other writers. As odd as it probably sounds, I have to keep other styles and ideas out of my head in order to "hear" what my characters have to say. I can read mythology and non-fiction, but everything else has to go bye-bye until I come up for air. This makes for a very tall and teetering stack of books beside my bed!

I do have a list of authors whose new releases I'll buy, regardless if I'm in the throes of writing or not. Here are five authors that have recently moved from the teetering TBR stack to my bookshelf. I found them inspirational within my genre of horror and paranormal and wanted to share!

1) Simone St. James  Excellent example of gothic horror and mystery, with a hint of romance. I just finished Silence for the Dead, which I loved. I also enjoyed An Inquiry into Love and Death and The Haunting of Maddy Claire. 

2) Amanda Stevens A twisted blend of paranormal and mystery, The Graveyard Queen series is well-worth reading. Start with The Restorer, if you're interested.

3) BROM  In addition to being a talented artist, he's also a very talented story-teller. If you haven't read his books and you like horror tinged with mythology, pick up or download a copy of Krampus: The Yule Lord or The Child Thief: A Novel. BROM is excellent at creating sympathetic antagonist characters.

4) Melissa Marr I really enjoyed her paranormal novel, Graveminder and look forward to more adult novels from her. If you like faerie mythology, the young adult Wicked Lovely series is good too.

5) Neil Gaiman I would buy anything from Neil. Don't tell him that, but I would. The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel was fantastic.