I am pleased to announce the release of my latest short story:
#Darkfantasy #shortstory #nature
When humans come to fell the last forest, they are in for a surprise.
A short dark fantasy tale of the wrath of nature.
Approx 2500 words.
Available as an e-book in all the major e-book stores.
14 Sunday Apr 2019
Name: Madam Lise Giry
Which book/world do you live in? Tears and Crimson Velvet.
Tell us about yourself: I am a wardrobe mistress at the Opera House in Paris. I have been here many years – M. Giry died not many years after our marriage and the children from his first marriage ensured I was left with very little. I have a daughter – Meg – the only one of our children to survive and thus at first my life was hard.
How do you see your world? A friend, I suppose that is the correct term, arranged for my employment here. I have been seamstress, box-keeper, ballet mistress, and almost every role open to a woman in this grand establishment. I am eternally grateful to Erik, through his kindness my daughter has been educated, danced and we have had, if not a life of luxury then at least more comfortable than otherwise. Once I was an innocent girl with dreams. Now I am an old woman with arthritis, a heart that loved unwisely and memories of an angel in cage.
I have a kind benefactor – perhaps the greatest, but most unhappy and tragic of men. I could have a life so much worse.
What part do you play in this tale? This is my story, our story. The tragedy of the Phantom of the Opera is well known; the deaths, the disappearances, the music, the Opera Ghost. I knew the man behind them when we were both barely out of childhood. I suppose you might say I saved his life, and he changed mine.
Do you consider yourself a good person? I have tried to live a good life, a life to please God, and in that, I may have failed.
He could have left me to starve, or eke out my living in the slums, but he did not. He remembered me, and he repaid the debt he thought he had – and more. Women of my status and situation have very little on offer without a husband or money and I have seen many sell everything, including themselves. I could have, should have been one of those unfortunate women.
There was something about that young man, a caged songbird filled with despair, hatred and the most exquisite song, and marvellous tricks, even then. There is not another such as Erik, no do I believe there ever will. But that haunted, twisted face still appears in my dreams. An angel damned to wear the face of a monster and be shunned by man and god alike. I am not surprised he lived apart from men, and the tragedy of his misguided love happened. My heart broke that day. Now my friend is gone and the world is thus emptier.
Should I have told what I knew? Should I have turned in the man I suspected to be a murderer? Probably. Do I regret that I did not? No. Not for one single day. I should have told the authorities where he was, who he was and yet I perpetuated his legends and his secrets. Yet I have heard him sing, and seen the tragedy and the curse in his eyes. And I have been part of that curse.
Do you follow any religion? I was raised a Catholic. Do I still believe? I pray, but mostly it is out of habit. The prayers are hollow. I have seen, and been complicit in too much to believe I will be forgiven. Once I may have thought that, but many years have passed.
What is your favourite music? I love Opera – the glory of the human voice and the excitement. One cannot work here without that love.
Eclectica A Short Story Bundle
From fantasy to space adventure, pirates, mystery, horror, historical fiction, romance and coming of age you’ll find short, snappy reads herein. There is something for everyone in this lucky dip.
19 short stories and collections from multiple authors.
https://books2read.com/EclecticaBundle
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NWQ4YTP/?tag=kydala-20
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07NWQ4YTP/?tag=kydala-20
https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/eclectica-1
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1458246383
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1131078746?ean=2940161178102
https://bundlerabbit.com/b/eclectica
Blown – Diana Deverell
Socks and Pins and Aliens – Thea Hutcheson
Tales of Blood and Ink – Kate MacLeod
Tales of Tomorrow – Debbie Mumford
Shaken, Not Stirred: A Dawna Shepherd Short Story – Diana Deverell
City Shadows – Chuck Heintzelman
Outside the Walls – A.L. Butcher and Diana L. Wicker
Tales of an Altered Past Powered by Romance, Horror, and Steam – Donald J. Bingle
Dear Brother – Felicia Fredlund
The Cache and Other Stories – Sherry D Ramsey
Sword Oath – Jackie Keswick
The Hooded Man – Barbara G. Tarn
S F & H – Harvey Stanbrough
Resonant Bronze – J.M. Ney-Grimm
Hitomi’s Path – M.L. Buchman
Children – Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Jhyoti Planetside – Marcelle Dube
Petra and the Blue Goo – Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Tears and Crimson Velvet – A. L. Butcher
06 Wednesday Mar 2019
As part of the author/character features for 2019 I am starting 3 Questions With….
We get to meet, in brief characters or authors who answer only 3 questions, but have to bare their soul…
Three questions with…
Name: Comte Raoul De Chagny
Tell us a little about your life and story:
My life is one of riches and luxury, I should have everything I money can buy. Yet I do not. I have an aching loneliness, sadness and my family is touched by a curse. I have three children – a son and heir, and two daughters – but I cannot love them, not truly as a father should. My wife Christine lies in the marble tomb yonder and my heart with her, but my soul belongs to a devil in a mask, who sang like an angel and entrapped us all. And I am ashamed of it. I could not save her, he was beyond saving and I surely cannot save myself.
I was a young man, wealthy and privileged, I married beneath my station and that choice brought death to my family, and left us semi-exiles. I loved Christine and was foolish enough to believe she loved me. But love is strange – there is the love of the heart, and then there is the love of the soul. Love keeps us alive as it slowly kills us. I would have died for her, and almost did, and her loss tears me apart. But I know now I am not worthy of her love, and certainly not his pity or love. And so love and hate dance hand in hand and I can tell not one from the other these days.
They boy – Charles looks through me, he is far more intelligent than either myself or his mother. I see nothing of myself in him, and he misbehaves. The girls grow more like their poor mother each day – and it breaks my heart. What lives will they have when I am gone? Who will take care of them? We are the last of the De Chagny’s in a world where the old nobility is long fallen. Once we had a name, now we have a curse.
Who is this nemesis?
Erik. I do not know his family name if he even had one. I can’t tell you from where he came, or how. He is a ghost, a monster and an angel. I once believed he was just an unfortunate man – disfigured by God for his sins, but I am not sure. There was that music – I still hear it in my dreams, oh God that music.
Erik is dead. He died over a decade ago, yet I cannot escape him. I will never escape him whilst one of us lives. That terrible night he let us go – I thought myself the victor. I thought the loss of her would kill him, and surely it did – but this ghost of a man haunts me still and I get no satisfaction in my gains and his loss. The world is poorer for his loss. Some nights I wonder if he ever existed, or if I do. It all seems so far away, and so bizarre – it must be a dream or the plot of one of the Operas we used to attend.
How do you see your future?
My mind plays tricks and my sleep is plagued by awful dreams. Laudanum is my solace and my vice. I hope to see my children grown but ever winter becomes harder to bear, ever summer a little colder. I see the darkness and the mask which haunts me. I hear the music calling… the music always calls.
*****
Raoul was originally created by Gaston Leroux, he has been adapted in many forms and by many writers. My own tragic adaptation is here in Echoes of a Song.
05 Tuesday Mar 2019
I am delighted to announce the forthcoming release of the latest in the Here Be series.
From fable to legend, these wondrous beasts enchant us. Healers or harmers, no one truly knows the heart and horn of the unicorn—dare you seek the answers?
A collection of tales featuring unicorns and magical horses. A collection of tales featuring unicorns and magical horses.
On Preorder Now – out 16th March 2019
Part of the Here Be Myth Monsters and Mayhem series
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07P7BJ2JN/?tag=kydala-20
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1454984222
https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/here-be-unicorns
https://bundlerabbit.com/b/here-be-unicorns
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1130765937
Featuring:
Hidden Eyes – Meyari McFarland
The Dreamweaver’s Journey – Diana L. Wicker
A Game of Horns – Lisa Mangum
The Hunt of the Unicorn – J.M. Ney-Grimm
Rider – Diane J Cornwell
Unicorn Magic – Roz Marshall
One Horn to Rule Them All – Lisa Mangum
Fossil History – Meyari McFarland
And The Unicorn You Rode In On – Robert Jeschonek
Escape (The Peena Colada Song) – Mark Leslie
21 Monday Jan 2019
The first bundle of 2019!
OUT 26th Jan 2019!
I’m pleased to announce the forthcoming release of Here Be Merfolk Bundle – the latest in the Myth, Monsters and Mayhem series. This should be on sale from 26th Jan.
The call of the deep rings ever in our ears, from myth and legend to crime and mystery. Sea-people, mer and monsters, immortals and reluctant heroes feature in this sea-worthy bundle.
Featuring
The Women of Whale Rock – Kristine Kathryn Rusch
We, the Ocean – Alexandra Brandt
Oshenerth – Alan Dean Foster
Deep Dreaming – Debbie Mumford
Dolphin Knight – Robert Jeschonek
On Desperate Seas – Kate MacLeod
Fate’s Door – J.M. Ney-Grimm
The Murky Depths – Linda Jordan
Dark, From the Sea – Linda Maye Adams
Ondine – Brenda Carre
Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MYBCJG7/?tag=kydala-20
Kobo https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/here-be-merfolk
Barnes and Noble http://bit.ly/2U6IVoF
I books https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1450090032
Bundle Rabbit https://bundlerabbit.com/b/here-be-merfolk
31 Monday Dec 2018
Posted in Articles, links and advice, audio, Audio Books, audiobooks, Awards, book bundles, Dragons, fairies, Fantasy, Fantasy Creatures, female writers, Fiction, Here Be Dragons Bundle, Here Be Monsters Bundle, Historical, Historical Fiction, history, Meet an author, My books, Reviews 2018, Spec Fic, Summer Shimmer, Support an Indie, The Light Beyond the Storm Chronicles
Tags
2018 seems to have flown by. Isn’t it odd how individual days appear to last an age, but the year as a whole just zooms past?
Politics has lost what little mind it had – the US government – probably the less said about that the better as I’ll only start an argument. The UK government has been dominated by Brexit, leadership problems and everyone is thoroughly sick of it all. I will say this year there has been a revolving door both at the Whitehouse and the Houses of Parliament. Jeez – grow a spine, some balls or get rid of the person who is the problem and do it quickly….
Reading-wise – I’ve read over 60 books from true crime to historical to mystery, fantasy, and science fiction. I am planning to read a bit more fiction next year, and pick up some new authors.
Writing-wise – not as productive as I hoped and I’m not going to bore you with excuses. Let’s focus on what I have done.
Lovers in Hell What a fun universe to write for! Anything can happen – but it usually backfires in ironic, dastardly and hellish ways. (See interviews for Hell Week).
The Secret of Blossom Rise This was my first ghost story – written for the Here Be Ghosts bundle, and Boo V.
The Kitchen Imps won the NN Light Fantasy book of the year.
Bundles:
Here Be Monsters (no longer available)
Remembering Warriors (no longer available in 2019)
Spring Surprise (no longer available)
Summer Shimmer (no longer available)
Frisky February (no longer available)
There were also audio editions for The Watcher (a Jack the Ripper Tale)
And audio and print editions for the two current Legacy of the Mask Tales:
What will 2019 bring? That is a good question…
Hopefully more Kitchen Imps, working on book IV of the Light Beyond the Storm, Heroika 2, another Heroes in Hell (assuming I can get the damn story finished), and possibly the completion of at least one novella.
I’m also learning Photoshop (steep learning curve), and have completed a course on Copyright, GDPR, Ancient Egypt, and DSE.
I’ll be a better blogger too….
18 Tuesday Dec 2018
I am very pleased to announce the Kitchen Imps and Other Dark Tales has been voted Best Fantasy read for 2018 on the following popular blogging/website.
I am happy-dancing all around the house!
https://www.nnlightsbookheaven.com/
If you’d like to know the winning books in the other categories then check out the list below for some awesome reads.
Contemporary Romance
Betting on Cinderella by Petie McCarty
Paranormal
The Cauldron Stirred (Guardians of Erin, #1) by Judith Sterling
Fantasy
Kitchen Imps by A. L. Butcher
Historical Romance
When the Marquess Returns by Alanna Lucas
Historical Fiction
The Du Lac Prophecy by Mary Anne Yarde
Thriller
Game Six by Judy Bruce
Suspense
Malthus Revisited (Lindsey McCall #4) by Lin Wilder
Romantic Suspense (tie)
Gray’s Promise by Anni Fife
The Haunting of Hillwood Farm by Kathryn Knight
Nonfiction
Everyday Enchantments by Maria F. DeBlassie
Young Adult
The Broken Branches by Becky Villareal
Erotic Romance
In Deep by Stacy Gold
Paranormal Romance
Haunted Hearts by Kimberly Dean
Science Fiction/Science Fiction Romance
The IX: Prelude to Sorrow by Andrew P. Weston
Women’s Fiction
Once Broken by D.M. Hamblin
Children’s Fiction
Hockey Wars by Ben Jackson and Sam Lawrence
Holiday Romance
Dante’s Gift (A Chicago Christmas #1) by Aubrey Wynne
09 Sunday Dec 2018
I am delighted to announce The Kitchen Imps and Other Dark Tales is a Fantasy Finalist in the NN Light book of the year.
Here are the categories and the finalists:
Contemporary Romance
Betting on Cinderella by Petie McCarty
When the Right One Comes Along by Livia Quinn
Escape From Behruz by Judy Meadows
Paranormal
The Ghost Chronicles 2 by Marlo Berliner
The Cauldron Stirred (Guardians of Erin, #1) by Judith Sterling
Spirit Talk by Colleen Hein
Fantasy
Path of the Traitors (LOW) by Charles E. Yallowitz
Kitchen Imps by A. L. Butcher
Escape From Samsara: A Dark Comedy Fantasy Adventure (Prophecy Allocation Book 1)
by Nicky Blue
Historical Romance
Earl of Sunderland (Wicked Earls’ Club #4) by Aubrey Wynne
Shadow of the Swan by Judith Sterling
When the Marquess Returns by Alanna Lucas
Rhapsody and Rebellion (Enduring Legacy #7) by Aubrey Wynne
Historical Fiction
Stone Circle by Kate Murdoch
Searching for Gertrude by D.E. Haggerty
The Du Lac Prophecy by Mary Anne Yarde
Thriller
The Road to Armageddon by Clabe Polk
Gallows Field by Brendan Gerad O’Brien
Game Six by Judy Bruce
Suspense
Malthus Revisited (Lindsey McCall #4) by Lin Wilder
Fire on the Mountain: A Detective Mike Eiser Novel by Clabe Polk
Centrifugal Force by Lisa J. Lickel
Romantic Suspense
Gray’s Promise by Anni Fife
Smoke and Mirrors (Outbreak Task Force Book 2) by Julie Rowe
The Haunting of Hillwood Farm by Kathryn Knight
Nonfiction
California Cures!: How the California Stem Cell Program Is Fighting Your Incurable Disease!
by Don C Reed
The Inspiring Tale of Sir Edmund Hillary (Inspiring Tales) by Tory Locker
Everyday Enchantments by Maria F. DeBlassie
Young Adult
The Stronghold by Sebastian Bendix
Tainted Luck by Cynthia Austin
The Broken Branches by Becky Villareal
Erotic Romance
In Deep by Stacy Gold
Playing With Power by Vanessa Liebe
Paranormal Romance
Debriefing the Dead by Kerry Blaisdell
Haunted Hearts by Kimberly Dean
Oath of a Warrior by Mary Morgan
Rogue Dragon Rising, part one (Outside the Veil #1) by T.J. Shaw
Science Fiction/Science Fiction Romance
The IX: Prelude to Sorrow by Andrew P. Weston
Undercurrents in Time (Detours in Time #2) by Pamela Schloesser Canepa
Operation Ark (Pets in Space #3) by Pauline Baird Jones
Women’s Fiction
Once Broken by D.M. Hamblin
Children’s Fiction
The Checkered War: An Infested Story in Three Parts by Aunt Haggis
Mrs. Murray’s Ghost (Piccadilly Street #1) by Emily-Jane Hills Orford
Hockey Wars by Ben and Sam
Holiday Romance
Dante’s Gift (A Chicago Christmas #1) by Aubrey Wynne
A Highland Moon Enchantment by Mary Morgan
22 Monday Oct 2018
When murder and mystery begin at the Opera House, one woman knows who is behind it and what really lies beneath the mask. Secrets, lies, and tragedy sing a powerful song in this “might have been” tale.
A short, tragic tale based on characters from The Phantom of the Opera.
Audio Edition narrated by Matt Jenkins
Available on Amazon, I tunes and Audible.
Links:
06 Saturday Oct 2018
Posted in Adult fantasy, Anthologies, anthology, Book Spotlight, ghosts, halloween, Horror, Indie Promotion, My books, Paranormal, Support an Indie!
A Fifth of Boo!
Volume 5 of the Boo! series
Authors raising money for good causes.
A spooktacular collection of horror, fantasy, and Halloween-themed short fiction.
Amazon UK https://amzn.to/2Nsdrp2
Amazon.com https://amzn.to/2BZmsnu
All proceeds for the sale of this book will be donated to Cancer Research UK
Featuring:
Dinner and a Show – Derek Moreland
Such an Adventure – Ann Cathey
The Voice – JD Mader
The Jaws of Ammon-Thet – John Petelle
Waiting – Oz Wainerdi
Untitled – Kristina Jackson
The Atherton Vampire – Lynne Cantwell
Happy Samhain – LB Clark
Punch Drunk – Laurie Boris
Betrayal – Erin McGowan
The Secret of Blossom Rise – A.L. Butcher
The Day of the Dead – Laurie Boris
Life Lessons – Ann Cathey
Flowers for Hannah – LB Clark
You Wish – Laurie Boris
Dinner – Jen Daniele
The Curse of the Single Bed – Mark Morris
Rose’s Screams – Erin McGowan
Dedicated to all those touched by cancer.
LOOKING INTO THE PAST ....
No one ever reads the same book. We all react to the written word differently. The following are my opinions regarding the books I have read.
Prime my subconscious, one hint at a time
Decadent twisted tales of music, magick, mayhem & murder
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