Category: Fiction

Sunday Reviews

Sunday Reviews

It begins as a lark — a harmless diversion initiated by Washington, D.C., hostess Ruth Bennett as a means of entertaining her visiting niece, Sara. But the seance conducted in Ruth’s elegant Georgetown home calls something back; something unwelcome … and palpably evil. Suddenly Sara is speaking in a voice not her own, transformed into a miserable, whimpering creature so unlike her normal, sensible self. No tricks or talismans will dispel the malevolence that now plagues the inhabitants of this haunted place — until a dark history of treachery, lust, and violence is exposed. But the cost might well be the sanity and the lives of the living.

Barbara Michaels is an excellent writer but this is the first one I read by her. My grandma recommended it to me and I have read it several times since. it is an amazing ghost story.

I will probably go back to Steven King next week but I had this planned a few weeks ago.

Sunday Reviews

Sunday Reviews


Following the events of Return of the Jedi: Star Wars: Episode VI, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia find themselves once again at the center of rebellion.
 
Five years after the Death Star was destroyed and Darth Vader and the Emperor were defeated, the galaxy is struggling to heal the wounds of war, Leia and Han are married and expecting twins, and Luke has become the first in a long-awaited line of new Jedi Knights.
 
But thousands of light-years away, the last of the Emperor’s warlords—the brilliant and deadly Grand Admiral Thrawn—has taken command of the shattered Imperial fleet, readied it for war, and pointed it at the fragile heart of the New Republic.
 
Meanwhile, Han and Lando Calrissian race against time to find proof of treason inside the highest Republic Council—only to discover instead a ghostly fleet of warships that could bring doom to their friends and victory to their enemies.
 
Yet most dangerous of all is a new Dark Jedi, risen from the ashes of a shrouded past, consumed by bitterness, and scheming to corrupt Luke to the dark side.

I read this series for the first time in middle/high school. This felt like a natural continuation of the story. Admittedly I dislike the third trilogy of movies because it strayed too far from what I felt was the original story. I have reread this trilogy multiple times over the years and enjoy it every time. I usually grab the original covers but for the review it was easier to grab the set version. I am not always into Sci-Fi books but these felt like visiting family. For me the Sci-fi must make sense. These books do.

I have a eclectic taste in books as well as music. The reviews are likely to be for everything from Spicy romance to scary Horror. Young adult and so much more. So, the warning is here – I will be reviewing books that you might want to use caution in reading, and those appropriate for all. Use discretion when reading what I do. 😉

Sunday Reviews

Sunday Reviews

The land of Terre d’Ange is a place of unsurpassing beauty and grace. It is said that angels found the land and saw it was good…and the ensuing race that rose from the seed of angels and men live by one simple rule: Love as thou wilt.

Phèdre nó Delaunay is a young woman who was born with a scarlet mote in her left eye. Sold into indentured servitude as a child, her bond is purchased by Anafiel Delaunay, a nobleman with very a special mission…and the first one to recognize who and what she is: one pricked by Kushiel’s Dart, chosen to forever experience pain and pleasure as one. Phèdre is trained equally in the courtly arts and the talents of the bedchamber but, above all, the ability to observe, remember, and analyze. Almost as talented a spy as she is courtesan, Phèdre stumbles upon a plot that threatens the very foundations of her homeland. Treachery sets her on her path; love and honor goad her further. And in the doing, it will take her to the edge of despair…and beyond.

Hateful friend, loving enemy, beloved assassin; they can all wear the same glittering mask in this world, and Phèdre will get but one chance to save all that she holds dear. Set in a world of cunning poets, deadly courtiers, heroic traitors, and a truly Machiavellian villainess, this is a novel of grandeur, luxuriance, sacrifice, betrayal, and deeply laid conspiracies. Not since Dune has there been an epic on the scale of Kushiel’s Dart – a massive tale about the violent death of an old age and the birth of a new.

Yeah I just copied the blurb. I probably am going to continue to do that as it is easier for me to just give my thoughts on a book and not have to explain what the book is about.

This is the first of a nine book set. ALL are worth the read. There is a wee bit of spice in them, but it is well done. This series is in my often reread group. A friend introduced me to it and I have read it more than a dozen times since. It has themes of BDSM, Religion, and survival. The series has strong characters and good world building. The first three books are focused on Phedre and her adventures. The next three are focused on her adopted son. The last three are focused on Moirin…a half deity from the land of Alba. Though you probably could read each trilogy separate and be fine…I wouldn’t. They are richly connected and bring a world together worthy of diving into.

I have a eclectic taste in books as well as music. The reviews are likely to be for everything from Spicy romance to scary Horror. Young adult and so much more. So, the warning is here – I will be reviewing books that you might want to use caution in reading, and those appropriate for all. Use discretion when reading what I do. 😉

Sunday Reviews

Sunday Reviews

Only Alexander knows why the barn is haunted—-and by what
 
When Alexander notices an eerie light coming out of the barn,. He thinks his friend Blossom Culp is trying to spook him. But strange things really are happening there. Slimy footprints appear out of nowhere, and whimpering sounds float down from the hayloft. And when he ventures into the barn in the dark of night, his breath catches in his throat. Suddenly Blossom’s words come back to him: “You can make contact with the Unseen….” Now there’s a girl ghost standing right in front of him, telling him of great danger ahead. But is there time for Alexander to act on her warning? 

Yeah I just copied the blurb. I looked through my blog at the reviews I have done…and realized last week was a duplicate. I need to do a standard to make this easier. There is too many books I can put here. So I guess I should start with books that I end up reading over and over again for the comfort. This is one of those. I have to have this as an e-book because I have worn out several copies of the paperback. The writing is good, but that is not what draws me in. I honestly saw myself in Blossom. The bumbling, not quite socially proper young girl who seems to make the story worth reading. There is more to her story. You can find other volumes if you look.

I have a eclectic taste in books as well as music. The reviews are likely to be for everything from Spicy romance to scary Horror. Young adult and so much more. So, the warning is here – I will be reviewing books that you might want to use caution in reading, and those appropriate for all. Use discretion when reading what I do. 😉

Sunday Reviews

Sunday Reviews

This one was recommended to me, and I am so happy to have listened. It’s a fantastic read. The world has progressed to see powers develop… But just like now the powerful don’t always have the right world views. And for a dude going into high school this is a fairly difficult amount of pressure. I love the complex characters and the way the story unfolds.

The lead male character is able to control undead. He developed a dangerous ability and is now scared of what the government will do with him. His family and friends circle around him as he learns to control his abilities.

This is the first of eight, I am at around five in the series. The books have a lot of good characters and a lot of work in the world building. it is not hard to see the world we are currently living in going this direction.

I recommend you pick up the first book and see if you get as pulled in as I did .

Book Review

BOOK LINKS
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DRY1N9MV
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/223127560-secret-guard
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/secret-guard-rise-of-the-loti-book-1-by-cait-marie

CAIT’S LINKS
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/c8_marie/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cait.marie.h
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cait.marie.h

BLURB
Eighteen years ago, the Great War ended and magic was outlawed to create a more peaceful world.
But it’s still in ruins, and the people need a new hero.
Per the rules set forth at the reformation of their country, Princess Emmalyn must choose a betrothed by her eighteenth birthday in order to claim her place as heir. The problem is, her heart belongs to her best friend, Cayden, and he’s not on the list of approved suitors.
But that turns out to be the least of her troubles.
Before she can make her announcement, a violent rebel faction invades. Barely managing to escape with Cayden’s help, the princess is forced to leave her family in the hands of their biggest enemy—Charles Lamden, former friend of her parents and war hero-named traitor.
Emma will do whatever it takes to save her family, even if that means working with the very people she’s been taught to fear. Those with magic who’ve gone into hiding because of the laws
her parents helped put in place.
However, in doing so, she starts to see that the world isn’t what she once thought. And as she learns one painful truth after another, she struggles to know what to do or believe.
Because there’s a reason Lamden took the royals hostage beyond his need for revenge, and Emma’s at the very center of it.
After all, that’s why a group of secret guards has sworn to protect her above all others.

My Review:

This one is a delightful read. I honestly couldn’t put it down until it was done. the characters are richly written and the world building is top shelf. The plot twists will keep you engaged. I plan to reread this one often.

A Whisper…

The Reaper’s Child

By Serena Mossgraves

The world seems to be a place where myths are taken for granted. Everyone knows the Myth of the pilot of the River Styx. The Ferryman who ferries souls over to the afterlife for a cost. They all have it wrong though. The Reaper doesn’t want coin. They are an immortal being. Such creatures have no need for money. The ferry driver instead takes the best story each soul has to tell. Sometimes just the telling of the story is too much for a soul to bear. Words carry weight. They are the most painful things in existence. They can also be the most gratifying things that life has to offer.
The ferryman has so many names, and most of them are just the myths coming to signify the way the mortal beings see them. For me, they are my creator. I guess you could call me the reaper’s child. It is not exactly correct, but it is the closest term for what I am. I am a story that became too much for even an immortal mind to bear. So, I grew sentience. Now I search the world for the others like myself, dark stories and memories that weigh heavy on mortality. Stories of killers, and crime, heartache, and such twisted thoughts that they are relegated to impossible fiction. That is the sort of thing that I collect. Like the ferryman I take these weights from the ones who cannot bear them any longer. I think of it as saving those souls who would break under such terrible weights.
I save each story in a notebook, lovingly hand written. My creator kept the stories told to them in perfect memory…I am not quite that blessed. Instead I will keep my notebooks…Stacked full of nightmares. The only story I have been able to remember without writing it down is the one that caused my creation. Perhaps someday I will meet the snowman…I would love to collect all of Frosty’s stories. I can only imagine what notebooks I could fill with that.
I have collected the tale of a vampire that would use it’s victims for the creation of art.
And the tale of the ghost who used to be a mercenary in a rainforest expedition that went badly. He was a wealth of stories. He gave me my own nightmares for weeks after taking his stories.
I collected the story of the nun who was cursed with immortality. It drove her mad. She spoke of becoming a killer, and how it was a kindness to save the women from the hands of the priests.
Each tale has it’s own power to describe a different aspect of life, a different aspect of death.
The story of the woman who went back after she died to steal away the child that her husband loved more than he loved her…She sang it sweet lullabies as she took it to the edge of the River Styx.
I could easily entertain so many with my tales. Which story should I share? Perhaps about the creature named Harvey? The flesh-eater that enjoyed driving it’s meals mad first?
I have considered passing myself off as a horror writer. Telling my tales as if they were fiction to see if anyone would recognize. It is not as if I do not have thousands of dark and dismal tales.
There is the one about the three ghosts who tried to get a rich man to change his ways before it was too late.
or the one about the Witch who gave five teens their wish…but at what cost?
My notebooks are a treasure. I do not write the story whilst the teller yet lives. I make sure to leave them a tale to pay the ferry with. I can at least be that kind. Though I have considered what would happen in this world if there where not enough stories left to pay the ferry. Would all of the storytellers end up stuck here? And if they did would that just create more interesting tales?
I don’t dare allow myself to consider it too closely. I might just decide that I want all of the stories.

Okay….1. That is the first flash Fiction in Stacked Nightmares. 2. How many of Serena’s Stories can you see a nod to in that? I will say that one of the stories she refers to is not Serena’s to tell. It belongs to Malachi Nocturm. However, He is very uncertain about how good his writing is…so I don’t know if I can talk him into finishing it and then allowing me to publish it. So I used a small nod because I love the idea. This is the first thing I have been able to write (Other than Poetry) in 2 weeks. It has a word count of 680. So I had to share it.

Also Serena’s Story Heat & Ice was Accepted by Fractured Mind Publishing for their A Monster I Love Anthology. I will post more as I have details.

A hallow’s Eve Treat

A hallow’s Eve Treat
Cover Image

The Forest: A Flash Fiction

By

Serena Mossgraves

    They will tell you that you are safe in the world, and you are sometimes. The cities have only people to worry about. Though they can be frightening…it’s the least frightening thing that I know of in this world. The truth is the things that watch you from the forest, that you can never see are more frightening than anything that exists in humanity. Some of them used to be human. They have fallen from who they were to become something else. 

    The swamps and rain forests have their own life, their own creatures…and those are tales for another time and place. I want to talk to you about the forest, and the things that should not be. The things that watch you…that you never see. In trying to find peace, so many venture out into the forgotten places. This leads to so many deaths.

    People have no idea what awaits them in the trees. It is better that way. Those of us that await amongst the foliage enjoy the ignorance…I once was human. Now I feed upon the stupid. I eat those who come out thinking the woods to be a safe place. The foolish ones. There are those who know about me. So much so that they have made even speaking of me taboo.

   I am what they fear that they will become. They feel the possibility as they come closer to where I make my home. The smart ones retreat back to their cities. They understand that the evil man does to each other is nothing compared to what the forest can bring them.

  Then there is the ones who have the touch of fae to them. They fear nothing in the wood, for they understand not  to challenge what they cannot see. There is rules after all. We can only feed on the ones that come looking. Those we can take freely. The divine will not protect the stupid.

    Sometimes, being eaten is a kindness…I went looking to see what was looking at me in the woods outside my cabin nearly two hundred years ago now. Transformation was educational. Now I teach those who come seeking…

Wednesday whisper

The Great Amazing Maxioff

By

Serena Mossgraves

They don’t make handcuffs like they used to. Magic was once a true skill, but anymore even a child could break free of the flimsy craftsmanship. Dale sat there mourning the days of vaudeville as he held the broken cuffs. He had planned this show for months, and replacing the cuffs would be the proverbial straw that broke the show. So many things had gone badly, he was beginning to doubt that he would even make opening night.
Stage magic was a dying art. He knew getting the audience would be difficult. Still he wanted desperately to try. With malfunctioning props though, he felt the doubts creeping in. ‘Just one show,’ he found himself silently wishing. ‘If only I can do just one perfect show! It would mean everything!’
From the darkness of the theatre, that he believed was empty, came the wheezy voice. At first he startled, afraid that he was imagining it. “And what do you offer, for the one perfect show?” Searching the seats, Dale was surprised to see a small wizened man sitting in the first row.
“Who are you, come closer! I thought myself alone. If I spoke, it was only for me. ” He clarified the point as if the thought was scandalous somehow. His mind decided that he had spoken the thought. It was after all the only way it could have been heard.
Laughter rang across the theatre as the man stepped up to the stage. “What’s a name matter, I asked a question. What would you give for your perfect show? Pretend that you imagined me, and then answer! You never know, perhaps the universe will hear you.” His crackling laugh roughened his voice, making it hard to understand.
Dale considered the question. He ran it over and over trying to figure out if he should answer or not. Finally, seeing no reason why he should not answer, blurted. “Anything. I would literally give anything.” The little man smiled.
“Granted!” The man vanished. Dale awoke with a start. The theatre was empty! Sitting next to him was the antique handcuffs he had been so lucky to find. He shook his head at the weirdness of dreams, and continued to rehearse. Opening night was but a day away.

Two days later….

The audience was excited. Word was the show the night before was perfect. All of the tricks had been masterful! The Great Amazing Maxioff (aka Dale) was a superb showman. The lights in the theatre lowered and the curtains were drawn… To display the corpse of the magician who had apparently passed on.

Wild Wednesday

So…Harley Quinn.

Yeah she’s my favorite Batman villain. But is she really a villain? or more of an anti-hero?

It really depends much on point of view. The problem is always POV.

For Harley. She is the Main character.

For Bruce Wayne, He is.

And realistically the same is true in any story. If you pick up a book and look at it from another character’s view…that character is not going to see themselves as a secondary character. Would you? If say you were in the DC Universe and hanging around the Daily Planet…would you see yourself as a extra in the story? No! So, from your POV you are the main character.

Harley would not see herself as a villain…

She is crazy, but not entirely without a idea of right and wrong. I believe she would see herself more as an antihero or as someone with a really nasty case of bad luck.

Which opens up so many options for the character in storylines.

I think sometimes just understanding the POV helps us to understand and perhaps flesh out the characters we write better. I think it also helps us empathize better with fictional characters on a different level as well.