Clarissa Johal: October 2015

Monday, October 26, 2015

Book Birthday Blog Bash - The Meadowsweet Chronicles Book One: Witchcraft by Katie M. John #Paranormal #UpperYA #Giveaway

Witchcraft by Katie M. John 
Book Birthday Blog Bash 

THE MEADOWSWEET CHRONICLES 
by KATIE M. JOHN

A modern tale of witchcraft.

October marks the first year anniversary of the release Katie M John’s ‘Witchcraft’, book one of The Meadowsweet Chronicles.

The Meadowsweet Chronicles is an upper YA / cross-over, seven book series; blending together traditional English Folklore and the American Gothic. An epic scale, dark adventure with paranormal romance elements, The Meadowsweet Chronicles takes the reader to the heart of a sleepy English village, to the Witch Markets of Mexico, to Salem in the U.S.A and to the island of Haaiti.

Heargton is an ancient English village, settled on the intersection of powerful and magical lay lines. For as long as anyone can remember, it has been steeped in the occult and pagan rituals, becoming a magnet for modern day paranormal investigators and tourists. However, behind the folklore is a dark and powerful truth. 

It is the year 2015 and a local college girl is found ritualistically murdered and displayed right at the very heart of the village. Her murder ignites deep rooted prejudices and village rivalries. The Meadowsweet sisters, long known to follow the ‘old ways’, come under increasing suspicion, but it isn’t until a young child is kidnapped that they really begin to understand the role they have to play and the powers they possess. 

It is during these fearful times that Jeremiah Chase arrives from New York. Heir to the Chase Family fortune, he is an exiled errant playboy sent to his Aunt, Lady Penelope Asquithe, Misstress of Cold Stone House. Only Jeremiah soon discovers the Chase family, despite coming from a line of infamous Witch Hunters, has been hiding its own evil and nefarious history.

“In this highly charged, action packed, classic style occult horror series, Katie M John builds a world and characters that are truly dark and magical.”  


#Witches #Ghosts #Paranormal #Demons #Asylums #College #Salem #Folklore #Gothic #Contemporary #UpperYA #CrossOver

Published by Little Bird Publishing, 

Author Bio:

Katie M John is the author of the U.K No.1 best-selling YA Paranormal Romance and Dark Fairy Tale series, The Knight Trilogy.

You can find out more about Katie
Throughout the months of October and November, Book One of the series is on Amazon Kindle promotion for just $0.99 / £0.99p



To celebrate the birthday of Book One, and the release of Book Two, Katie is giving away a signed paperback copy and mystery birthday party bag to one lucky Rafflecopter winner. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway



Guest Author - 13 Most Haunted in Massachusetts by Sam Baltrusis #paranormal #historical


13 Most Haunted in Massachusetts
Most Haunted Series
Sam Baltrusis

Genre: Paranormal/Historical
Date of Publication: Oct. 13, 2015
ISBN: ISBN-13: 978-1516968350
ASIN: ISBN-10: 1516968352
Number of pages: 130
Word Count: 30,000
Cover Artist: Frank C. Grace

Book Description:

Paranormal journalist and "Ghosts of Boston" author Sam Baltrusis has traveled all over Massachusetts in search of New England's 13 most haunted. From the oldest continuously operating hotel the Omni Parker House in Boston to the beautiful but extremely active Haunted Victorian in Gardner, Baltrusis breathes new life into the long departed.


Available at Amazon

The 13 Most Haunted in Massachusetts

1.   S.K. Pierce Mansion, Gardner
2.   Freetown State Forest, Bridgewater Triangle
3.   Hammond Castle, Gloucester
4.   Lizzie Borden's House, Fall River
5.   Houghton Mansion, North Adams
6.   Joshua Ward House, Salem
7.   Longfellow's Wayside Inn, Sudbury
8.   USS Salem, Quincy
9.   Spider Gates Cemetery, Leicester
10. Boston Light, Little Brewster Island
11. Witch House, Salem
12. Victoria House, Provincetown
13. Boston Common, Downtown Boston


Excerpt:

Chapter 1
S.K. PIERCE MANSION
Gardner
Most Haunted: #1

“I was told by intuitives that the spirits in the house have something very important to tell me. Does that sound crazy?”
—Rob Conti, S.K. Pierce Victorian Mansion’s new owner

A woman named Mattie Cornwell summoned me to this house. She’s been dead for more than a century.
  In the recurring dream, I see her silhouette from a gold-colored Victorian’s second floor. She’s upset. I can see an outline of what looks like a tightly wound bun in her hair. Her clothing is late 1800s school marm and she looks much older than her actual age. I would guess she’s in her 20s. The woman is a caretaker of sorts and is protecting the home from forces out of her control. She’s losing the battle and is calling me from the light for help.
  Think Mary Poppins but without the spoonful of sugar. In my dream, she’s serving up daggers.
  Something horrible happened in that house and she is begging the living to help her. I could hear her singing a folk song from the window. She was throwing books and papers at me from the home’s second floor. She’s saying what I remember as “sefnock” over and over at a shadowy man who is in the room with her. I’m terrified.
  My dream of Mattie was in 2011. I was writing what would become my first book, Ghosts of Boston: Haunts of the Hub. I initially thought she was the “stay behind” spirit, the seamstress I lovingly called “scissor sister,” who haunted my home in Somerville’s Davis Square.
  I was wrong.
  The dream was prophetic in a way. I didn’t make a connection to the haunted S.K. Pierce Victorian Mansion in Gardner until I saw a photo of the structure posted online in late 2014. My friends Rachel Hoffman and Tina Storer from Paranormal Xpeditions were investigating the location and I had a severe reaction when I saw a post from the Victorian structure because I’d seen it repeatedly in my dreams.
  I swore I would never go there. But here I am—going to the very spot where Mattie Cornwell once lived. What was I thinking?
  A friend who has intuitive abilities warned me about the shadow figure in my dreams. "That woman will suck the air out of you,” she said during an online chat. “No. I mean it. Like sitting on your chest. You won’t be able to inhale." She said the spirit's name is Maddie or Matilda.
  I found out recently from fellow author Joni Mayhan that the former nanny at the haunted S.K. Pierce Victorian was named Mattie Cornwell. Her spirit has been in the house since the late 1800s. “Petite, with long dark hair that she wore in a bun, she once cared for the Pierce children,” wrote Mayhan in Bones In The Basement. “Chores were scheduled at specific times, and the children were taught to behave. Even though she was long dead, she remained the protector of the house, keeping it safe from trespassers and ensuring the other resident ghosts behaved themselves.”
  Mayhan said Cornwell had crossed over and is no longer bound to the haunted Victorian. “She was the Pierce family's nanny. Mattie wasn't negative though. She was the gatekeeper and peacekeeper there, but she was inadvertently crossed over during a house cleansing in 2011,” Mayhan told me. “After she left, the really nasty ones came in. There are a few nasty female entities there, but Mattie isn't one of them.”
  According to Mayhan’s Bones In The Basement, Cornwell died young. “She was born in 1859 in Nova Scotia, Canada. She was 21 when she came to work for the Pierce family as a servant in the house. Her primary focus was caring for the Pierce children. She was firm but loving with the children, keeping them mindful of their manners and helping them grow into the influential men they would one day become,” wrote Mayhan. “Later research would show that Mattie died at the young age of twenty-five from an acute inflammation of the hip just two years after getting married. Her tragedy would be just one among many at the Victorian mansion. It was as if the house collected them, like some people collected old coins.”
  Rachel Hoffman, my friend from the all-female investigation team Paranormal Xpeditions, said I should be wary about the haunted house in Gardner. “You might not be able to walk in,” explained Hoffman. “I swear it's a pressure cooker. You will feel it as soon as you see it. Look into the top window and tell me what you see. Then I'll tell you.”
  Hoffman, who was featured in a taped investigation at the mansion with Tina Storer and her sister, Danielle Medina, said the experience still haunts her. She believes the location is a portal, a vortex of sorts to the spirit world that allows both good and bad spirits to cross over. “There’s more than one story there,” she said. “There’s a story for every step you take.”
  When PXP was investigating the mansion in late 2014, I had a strong psychic feeling that one of the investigators, Tina Storer, wasn’t safe. I sent a message to the PXP team warning them. Hoffman told me later that Storer had to be escorted out of the building because she couldn’t breath. It was like the spirits were taking the air out of her lungs.
  “Tina had issues where the man was burned,” Hoffman told me. “At one point, she did feel protected. But it was so intense. Our temp gage was 66.6.”
  Medina, Hoffman’s sister, was pregnant during the investigation and the group uncovered an electromagnetic voice phenomenon, or EVP, in the nursery. “We got my pregnant sister bending over to pick up a baby in the nursery and the ovilus said ‘mama,’” explained Hoffman. “My sister is a skeptic so this was profound.”
  Hoffman and the PXP team smudged the location with a cleansing ritual involving coffin nails and sweet grass. The usual ceremony with the old standby sage simply didn’t work. “When closing out a paranormal investigation, we sometimes use coffin nails,” Hoffman explained. “I found our container used in the haunted Victorian Mansion with the bottom half of the glass jar totally gone. I wouldn't be surprised to find the nails we pounded in the ground embedded in a tree. Renovations and hands switching is stirring up the activity majorly.”
  Yes, construction notoriously conjures up the long departed. Apparently, spirits don’t like change.
  Rob Conti, the ringleader behind the New Jersey-based Dark Carnival and a dentist during the day, said he always wanted to own a standalone haunted attraction. The S.K. Pierce mansion was literally ripped from his childhood fantasies. He says the fact that the 7,000-square-foot mansion located at 4 Broadway in Gardner is “certified haunted” is an added bonus.
  “Since I was 15, I always wanted a single-family haunted house,” he said. “I always had a picture in my mind of what that attraction would look like. As I got older, I tried to make this vision a reality but there were regulations in New Jersey that prohibited it.”
  Conti, who actually didn’t visit the Victorian until the day he closed the sale on the building, said a friend posted the real estate listing for the mansion on his Facebook page. “As soon as I saw it, I knew the image of the house was the image I had in my head for the past 25 years.”
  The new owner said he will hash out the details after the year-long renovations, but he plans to rent out the unit for 11 months of the year and will turn the space into a haunted attraction every October. Since purchasing what paranormal experts believe is the most haunted house in Massachusetts, Conti said he has been contacted by all sorts of people.
  “I’ve been told that the spirits in the house knew who I was before I even called,” he said, sort of creeped out by the idea. “Apparently, I’m liked by the spirits in the house, which is a good thing, I hope.”
  Conti also had a paranormal experience after walking into the structure’s dining room, the same spot investigators believe is a portal. “I started feeling dizzy and had to be escorted out of the building,” he explained. Also, the Dark Carnival owner said a contractor, who didn’t know the building’s haunted history, told him that somebody else was on the second floor when there was no one else in the house.
  “I was also told by intuitives that the spirits in the house have something very important to tell me,” Conti continued. “Does that sound crazy?”
  Actually, no.
  As I stand gazing at the house that haunted my dreams for years, I replay the dream of the woman I believe to be Mattie Cornwell looking out of the second-floor window. As I walk closer to my nightmare, I’m shivering in the beauty and the madness of the moment. I think about the word “sefnock” that she chanted over and over. I hit my head as I quickly jump into the car near the S.K. Pierce mansion’s driveway searching for a notepad. I write the mystery word out phonetically.
  Then I had an epiphany. I gasped for air. The woman’s cryptic, post-mortem plea is backwards. She’s demanding that the shadow figure … confess.
  Cars are driving by and passengers are yelling things at me like “there’s someone behind you” and “this place is really, really haunted.” My cellphone starts to flip out and, mysteriously, seems to have a mind of its own, calling random people from my contact list. I hear what sounds like a disembodied male voice whispering in my ear: “Get out of here.”
 I look again at the second-floor window, expecting to see Mattie Cornwell, the spirit who mistakenly crossed to the light years ago. Instead, I see a black bird, possibly a crow or a dark-colored pigeon, perched on the ledge. The white-lace curtains move as if someone is peering out of the window.
  I can’t breathe.


About the Author:

Sam Baltrusis, author of Ghosts of Boston: Haunts of the Hub and Ghosts of Salem: Haunts of the Witch City, is the former editor-in-chief of Spare Change News and teaches journalism classes at Malden Access TV (MATV). He has been featured as Boston's paranormal expert on the Biography Channel's Haunted Encounters and Paranormal State's Ryan Buell's Paranormal Insider Radio. As a side gig, Baltrusis moonlights as a guide and launched the successful ghost tours, Boston Haunts and Cambridge Haunts. In October 2014, he spearheaded a boat tour called Haunted Boston Harbor. Baltrusis is also a sought-after lecturer who speaks at dozens of paranormal-related events scattered throughout New England. In the past, he's worked for VH1, MTV.com, Newsweek, ABC Radio and as a regional stringer for The New York Times.

Twitter: @LoadedGun






Thursday, October 22, 2015

Limited Time! Read VOICES for #free in Exchange for a Review @Reading_Deals #paranormal #suspense

Read VOICES for #free in exchange for a review. Get started here at Reading Deals 
#paranormal #suspense


VOICES
by Clarissa Johal

Sometimes the ghosts from your past...are real.

Moira claims to hear voices and is sent a psychiatric hospital. Her doctor is hesitant to treat her as schizophrenic, as she doesn't show typical symptoms. As their sessions progress, she confesses there are two voicesand they aren't voices in her head, but the voices of ghosts.
And one is determined to drag her into the afterlife with him.

***

Available in ebook

Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon CA
Barnes and Noble
Barnes and Noble UK
Smashwords
KOBO
Google Play
Also available on iTunes and Scribd

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Tangled Tuesday - Shout-Out! #paranormal #horror #giveaway


Bram Stoker Award-winning author, John Everson will be hosting the blog, Not Now, Mommy's Reading until the end of the month. Exclusive flash fiction, guest posts, and interviews by horror/paranormal greats such as, Jonathan Maberry, Jonathan Janz, Edward Lee, Kealan Patrick Burke, Jeff Strand, Ryan C. Thomas, Maynard & Sims, Wrath James White, Rhiannon Frater, Su Halfwerk, and Brody Sommers, to name a few.

Did I mention the Giveaways?

There will be a giveaway EVERY DAY of the event! So, if you count yourself among those who take comfort in those bumps in the night, or you're looking for some "fresh meat" - visit Not Now, Mommy's Reading from now until October 31st for the deliciously dark & macabre!!!

Monday, October 12, 2015

Guest Author & Blog Tour - Special Levels of Earthly Hell by Merry Freer #truecrime #paranormal #horror


Humor in Horror
-Merry Freer

Hi there! My name is Merry Freer and I am the author of “Special Levels of Earthly Hell” (Subtitled: “An Atheist’s Experience with Demonic Possession”).

Horror is supposed to be scary, right? But does that mean it can’t be injected with a little humor here and there? Humor breaks the tension and it helps to build characters. A horror novel, or even a novel in the genres of paranormal and occult are a little more balanced and enjoyable when levity is utilized.

I don’t write about vampires, werewolves, witches or other paranormal creatures, though I imagine such a creature could be drawn by the writer as more likable by giving it a sense of humor. My creature is a demon, “The Beast,” and there is nothing funny about him. The humor in “Special Levels of Earthly Hell” is created by the earth-bound characters.

How does any author bring humor into a horror story? My characters are based on real people. Their personalities are varied and, as in real life, humor is one way to differentiate one character from another.

For example, Adriana (The target of The Beast) has a very dry sense of humor. When using the herbs and spices she believes she needs in order to ward off The Beast, she comments: “Who knew you could find so many demon repellents in the spice aisle and produce section of Albertsons?” It’s not roll on the floor humor, but it provides a moment of amusement when dealing with a somber subject.

When the protagonist, Drew, is having a conversation with Sweetie (his mother) about the color he and his wife have just painted the bedroom they are occupying in Sweetie’s home, Drew says: “It was pink! A man shouldn’t have to sleep in a pink bedroom!”

Sweetie counters with: “It was not pink. It was ‘Sunday Brunch,’ a lovely, neutral shade of beige.”

Again, the humor is subtle. It helps to define Sweetie’s character as one you can count on for a smile – in her phraseology, her reactions to events, and her naivety.

The takeaway here is that humor need not be avoided in a horror story. It’s a tension breaker and a character builder. Take advantage of its usefulness to your story.

***

Special Levels of Earthly Hell:
An Atheist's Experience with Demonic Possession
by Merry Freer                           

Genre: Paranormal, Occult,
Horror, True crime   
Date of Publication: July 3, 2015 
ASIN: B010YBFKH2
Number of pages: 244
Word Count: 82,000
Cover Artist: Kalen O’Donnell

Book Description:

Drew Collins is an atheist who experiences the world in black and white. As an educated man of science, he rejects belief in the paranormal and the existence of demons. Until an energy he calls "The Beast" takes possession of his wife.

What he witnesses at night in his own bedroom cannot be reconciled with science. And yet he sees it with his own eyes, feels its presence, ominous and evil, with his entire being.

Against every instinct, Drew reaches out for help. It is not just his marriage that’s at stake. The evil force has permeated his wife's family, tearing them apart and culminating in bloodshed and murder. Drew must face a stark choice: sacrifice his beliefs and fight an entity he doesn’t understand and is reluctant to label, or abandon his wife and her family.


Available at Amazon

Excerpt:

The most difficult battle is with an enemy you can’t identify.
“This is what I’ve learned about The Beast,” Laura said. “It doesn’t exist in our plane of existence. It has no physical form. Use that fact to your advantage. It gains power from negative energy. Remove your negative energy and replace it with positive energy. Be its opposite. It’s the only way to fight evil.”
Spending his lunch hours receiving an intense and personalized lesson on the finer points of demonic shielding, as well as an education on the various cultural ideologies of good and evil, was the last place Drew Collins expected to find himself in his five-year plan. His plan was loose and flexible, but he was certain it included love. He even had a vision about it before he left on his dream adventure, traveling through Mexico after he graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara with a degree in Bio-Psychology. He dreamed he was destined to go to Mexico to bring something back. What he returned with was better than his wildest dream and worse than his most horrific nightmare.
Yet here he was, spending his lunch breaks with his boss, Laura, on the grass at the Self-Realization Temple. Today he was learning to control his personal energy. Laura studied with two shaman from different indigenous tribes. One was the Hopi, a small tribe within the Navajo nation. The other was from the Yaqui Indians, who lived in the Sonoran Desert in Mexico, south of Arizona, the same tribe associated with the mentor of Carlos Castaneda, a trained shaman and American author who held a Ph.D. in Anthropology. Castaneda claimed to have learned his craft from a Yaqui named Don Juan Matus, whom he claimed was personally trained by a Diablero, or devil, though some say his mentor never existed. Under ordinary circumstances, Drew would have considered the teachings of shamans to be fascinating fodder for an excellent conversation. Today, he considered them to be a necessary component in the lessons he agreed to pursue – the lessons he hoped would help him save his wife. Drew was a self-proclaimed atheist, a man whose beliefs were based in science, a godless man, to put it bluntly, who was in the peculiar position of being married to a woman who appeared to be possessed by a demonic presence.
A reasonable person might ask themselves how this could be so. How could a godless man, an atheist, believe his wife was possessed? Aren’t demons, the kind that possess humans, take over their bodies and voices to spread a vile message, associated with religious belief? Certainly the Catholic religion makes this connection. His wife was Catholic and he’d seen The Exorcist. For Drew though, The Beast was secular. It existed as an evil energy, separate and independent from the confines of religion. It had to. He didn’t believe in God, so he couldn’t accept The Beast as His antithesis, as a religious man might do. Religious belief as an explanation for his experience was discarded. He believed in science. But The Beast was an entity unidentified by scientific study. The Beast. Science.
Drew recognized with an awareness that shook the foundation of his being that they could not be reconciled. In the science he had studied there was no place for demons. And yet he knew they existed. He had seen The Beast for himself. In his own home.

***


About the Author:

Merry Freer is an author of memoir and fact-based fiction. She is a native of San Diego, where she lives surrounded by a large, eclectic family and a treasured handful of truly close friends. While "Doctor, Doctor" is her debut novel, she has been a writer and editor for many years, including work with the San Diego Chargers and the San Diego Hall of Champions. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism from San Diego State University and has been a featured speaker for classes dealing with medical ethics.

Her controversial memoir, "Doctor, Doctor," topped the Best Seller List in True Crime/White Collar Crime for 10 months and received a "Best Books of 2014" award from "Suspense Magazine."

Twitter @MFreerWriter







2015 October Frights Prize Package Winner Announcements



My contest winners in the 2015 October Frights Blog Hop have been announced!

Naomi S  - Grand Prize package
Lori W - Between prize package
Jenn G - Struck prize package
Joey R - Voices prize package
Michelle W -  The Island prize package


Please check your emails 

Thank you for participating! Have a great Halloween!


Friday, October 9, 2015

2015 October Frights Blog Hop - Grand Prize Package #Giveaway #paranormal #horror #Octoberfrights


Welcome to the 2015 October Frights Blog Hop 
Join 40+ paranormal and horror authors for ten days of screaming good fun. Books and prizes to be won!
Hosted by me (Clarissa Johal)

Today is the last day of the hop!
I hope you enjoyed my free short stories, exclusive excerpts, and Rafflecopter contests offering signed paperbacks & ecopies of my books, AND some awesome prizes. 

The Grand Giveaway! 

Prize package includes: 

Your choice of ebooks - 
BETWEEN, STRUCK,  or VOICES 

Ouija shot glasses - set of four 

A cameo appearance in my upcoming novel POPPY 
*If you win, I'll send you a short questionnaire, and will immortalize you (as a ghost!) in my upcoming novel


Coming Soon

POPPY 
A red-headed, pink-loving mortician who speaks to the dead.
A socially awkward funeral director.
Poppy and Dante from STRUCK are back.

Something is lingering around Skyview Funeral Home--and it's stealing souls of the departed. With Dante in tow, Poppy is determined to put a stop to it. Will she be able to protect those who are trying to cross over? Or will her soul be next?



a Rafflecopter giveaway

You still have a chance to enter all my contests!


To Enter my Giveaway Package for BETWEEN 


To Enter my Giveaway Package for STRUCK


To Enter my Giveaway Package for VOICES


To Enter my Giveaway Package for THE ISLAND

Keep hopping!




2015 October Frights Blog Hop - "Tandem" #paranormal #flashfiction & Final Prize Packages #Giveaway #Octoberfrights


Welcome to the 2015 October Frights Blog Hop 
Join 40+ paranormal and horror authors for ten days of screaming good fun. Books and prizes to be won!
Hosted by me (Clarissa Johal)

In case you're late to the party, from October 1-10th, join me for free short stories, exclusive excerpts, and Rafflecopter contests. I'm offering signed paperbacks & ecopies of my books, AND some awesome prizes. On October 10th, there's a grand prize so be sure and stop by then.

Today is Rafflecopter recap and my final free short story. Enjoy!

Tandem
Photo courtesy of Steven Erdmanczyk Jr via Flickr
EditedTandem by Clarissa Johal

She'd been visiting the playground alone for the past week. It was quiet at night, which allowed her the space to think. When she first noticed the swing next to her move on its own, it intrigued, rather than frightened her. She watched it creak back and forth, and then slow when she'd reach out to make a connection. Try as she might, her fingers would always grasp at nothing.

Within eyesight of the playground was a cemetery. It was her belief that the person using the swing must be a benevolent spirit from that place. Someone inclined to linger in a playground after their death. Someone who now offered comfort in her loneliness. Maybe a child, or someone like her. Someone who wished things were simple and kind. It was her belief that the spirit who joined her each evening, thought swings were more fun than headstones or mausoleums. She was unsure.

It had been a morning where she wondered if the cemetery wasn't the better place. The troublesome thought lingered all day. When night fell, she hurried to the playground, hoping the spirit would be there. It was, and they swung in tandem. What had been a fast-dying ember of happiness, grew within her being, and caught like a flame. The graveyard disappeared from her vision below, replaced by the stars above. Higher and higher she swung, until her feet almost touched the sky. Her thoughts were pulled, one by one, until nothing but elation remained. When she finally realized what had happened, she slowed until the creaking from the swing stopped completely. 

Silence settled in the playground in the wake of her departure. The hulking and misshapen entity who had occupied the swing, peeled itself from it and followed her into the graveyard. 

************

If you haven't had the chance yet, my Giveaways are listed here:

To Enter my Giveaway Package for BETWEEN 




To Enter my Giveaway Package for STRUCK


To Enter my Giveaway Package for VOICES


To Enter my Giveaway Package for THE ISLAND

Keep hopping!




Thursday, October 8, 2015

2015 October Frights Blog Hop - THE ISLAND #paranormal #horror Exclusive Excerpt & Prize Package #Giveaway #Octoberfrights


Welcome to the 2015 October Frights Blog Hop 
Join 45+ paranormal and horror authors for ten days of screaming good fun. Books and prizes to be won!
Hosted by me (Clarissa Johal)

In case you're late to the party, from October 1-10th, join me for free short stories, exclusive excerpts, and Rafflecopter contests. I'm offering signed paperbacks & ecopies of my books, AND some awesome prizes. On October 10th, there's a grand prize so be sure and stop by then.

Today is exclusive excerpt day! Don't forget to enter the Rafflecopter contest!


Exploring a remote island can get you into trouble.
Especially when you stumble upon a cave and awaken two demons.


Rumors and superstition.
That’s what Emma thinks about local gossip concerning her grandmother’s “cursed” private island. Emma journeys to the island to ready it for sale. While out exploring, she unearths a hidden cave–a cave which holds answers to the island’s dark past.
There may be more to the rumors than she thought.

THE ISLAND is On Sale for 99 cents!
Available - ebook and print
Amazon US 
Amazon UK
Amazon CA
Barnes and Noble

THE ISLAND Excerpt:


The dark-haired man stood several steps from the front door. In daylight, she saw little more than she had the night before. His head was bowed. Long, dark hair hid his face. His broad torso was heavily muscled. His skin was like mahogany. He was easily a foot and a half taller than she was. The man he called Thim stood several paces behind him.
In spite of the cold seeping from the glass window, both were still dressed in loincloths. “Why are you dressed like that? It’s cold outside.”
“It is what we have,” the dark-haired man answered.
The albino brazenly met her gaze. Though he was several inches shorter than his counterpart, his demeanor was by far more intimidating. Something restless and calculating lurked behind his colorless eyes. His skin was flawless, his body angular, and his limbs, long and athletic. Muscles tense, he looked ready to spring at a moment’s notice. Emma’s gaze traveled down to the albino’s hip. One of the ties on his loin cloth was almost undone.
She quickly averted her eyes. “Where is my grandmother right now?”
“She is in the cave,” the dark-haired man replied. “You saw her.”
“And then I woke up here.”
“We brought you home. We are concerned for your well-being.”
“I have bruises,” she accused.
The dark-haired man turned his head slightly as if to consult with his counterpart. “Thim may have been heavy-handed with you,” he answered, his voice hardening. “He will apologize.”
The albino tilted his head and raised a pale eyebrow. His look was anything but an apology.
“Go away!” Emma said.
“We need to speak to you.” The dark-haired man asserted. “We wish you to come out.”
Emma laughed at the absurdity of his request. “I don’t think so.” Backing away from the window, she scanned the room. The hammer was missing, the knife she’d been carrying the night before was god knows where, and she had nothing in the cabin to fight with.
“Come out, Emma.”
She froze. “How do you know my name?”
Silence. Emma dove for the box she’d packed her grandmother’s silverware. She ripped off the tape and pulled out a fork. I have a fork. Great. I’ll fork them to death. The butter knives were at the bottom, wrapped in newspaper. Desperate, she dumped the box upside down.
“We have not come to harm you.” The man’s melodic, deep voice came from the other side of the door.
Her heart leapt at his proximity. Suddenly, the door seemed paper-thin. Emma shook one of the butter knives from the newspaper wrapping. Blunt-tipped, it was better than nothing. Keeping a distance from the front door, she maneuvered herself so she could see out the window. The dark-haired man still stood on the porch. The albino was gone.
“Where is your friend?”
 “Thim is not my friend.” His answer was sharp.
Emma tried to see behind the curtain of the man’s long hair. “Why won’t you look at me? What are you hiding?”
“Hiding.” He seemed to ponder her question. “I am hiding nothing.”
“Then look at me.” Get as much information as you can, her inner voice chattered. You’ll need it when you tell the police. “So, he’s not your friend. Thim is an odd name. What’s yours?”
He paused before answering. “Itu.”
Don’t ask him anything else. The thought took her off guard, but she felt compelled to pay heed to it. “You’d better go because my friends will be here soon,” she said, clutching the butter knife. “And they’re bringing the police.”
His low answering chuckle caused a chill to creep down her spine.
“I know you’re holding Fae hostage!” she accused. “Let her come to me and then we’ll talk.”
“I do not have control on whether she…comes to you or not.”
A small shuffle from behind made Emma turn with a start. The albino stood a fingers-breadth behind her, an amused smirk on his face. Snatching the butter knife from her hand, he threw it with force across the room. Before Emma could scream, there was a sharp pain in her head and everything went black.

 ***

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