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The latest Gorias La Gaul adventure from Steven Shrewsbury is available for free on Kindle today and tomorrow!



Deliverance will come... A great flood once wiped clean the earth, destroying everything upon it. Before the deluge, in a time now forgotten, the world was a place of warriors and witches, conflicts between kingdoms, and, until their extermination, dragons. In this world, men may live centuries, fallen angels have begotten terrifying spawn, and sometimes, the best hope can be found in a brothel. 



In the land of Transalpina, a new religion spreads, and important men are dying mysteriously, slain by what can only be the fire of dragon breath. Summoned by the Queen Garnet, the legendary warrior Gorias La Gaul returns to the place where he once saved the queen's young granddaughter from treachery and enslavement. The Princess Nykia is gone, and soon others may try to claim the throne. The queen has little choice but to turn to the only man who ever told her no. 



With the aid of one of the queen's elite guard, the battle maiden Alena, and the young palace servant Orsen, the old mercenary will face pirates and traitors, monsters and foul magic in the quest to find the missing heir and learn the truth behind the disconcerting murders. Deliverance will come for Gorias La Gaul, but for now there are women to love, secrets to discover, and killing that needs doing.



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eBook ARC Review: The Janus Affair by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris

As the second Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Novel, The Janus Affair more than delivers on the promise of last year's Phoenix Rising, even if the story at the heart of it isn't quite as strong. With the preliminaries out of the way, Ballantine & Morris are able to spend more time exploring their steampunk society, developing the relationship between Books and Braun, and building upon some of the plot threads teased but left dangling in the first instalment.



Let's start with the steampunk elements. While present in the first book, they were either a part of the background or they stood out awkwardly. Here, not only are they far more prevalent, but they blend very well into the overall story. They're still cool and exciting (particularly the train at the beginning of the book and the motorcycle near the end), but they just seem to fit better. You just get the sense that Ballantine & Morris felt a bit more relaxed here, making it a bit easier to draw the reader into the fun.We also get to see more of the other agents from the Ministry, which is a trend I hope continues in subsequent books.



As for the characters, they are truly why this second volume shines. First of all, we find out just what was up with Bruce Campbell in the first book, and even if his story isn't perfectly resolved, it's handled very well. As for Books and Braun, we get to explore more of their respective backstories, particularly with Books - by the time you're done this book, the haunting voice of his father will make much more sense, and the origin of his James Bond style skills and experience will be satisfactorily exposed. The two flirt with the idea of romance much more than in the first book but, in the tradition of the best stories of the genre, it remains just that - flirting and fun. There's still a healthy dose of antagonism and distrust between them, but it's balanced with genuine friendship and admiration.



It's just a shame the story behind it all - the reason for our two heroes to get out of the Archives - isn't as exciting or as compelling as that of Phoenix Rising. It all starts out promising enough, with the very public disappearance of several women, all in a very 'flashy' manner (to say the least). The problem is the mystery of the disappearances is dragged out for too long, one woman disappearing after another, with little in the way of investigative progress or narrative exposure of the dastardly villains and their motives. The politics of it all are interesting, if a bit heavy-handed at times, but they tend to get in the way of moving the story forward. It must be said, however, that while the climactic set-piece isn't quite as exciting as the first book, Books does get a far better opportunity to shine.



All-in-all a fun, exciting read that bodes well for future instalments in the series. Well worth a read.

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TGIF - Feature & Follow Friday

Feature & Follow Friday is a blog hop that is designed to provide some much-appreciated exposure to the bloggers participating, and to expand their following. Hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read, each of whom feature a chosen blog for the week, it's an interesting way to get to know one another.

Question of the Week: What is one thing you wish you could tell your favorite author?



I would tell Clive Barker that he taught me books can be both magical and macabre, both fantastic and fearsome, and that there are no taboos that cannot be crossed, if crossed well and with passion.



Parajunkee also hosts a Social Hop for Facebook and Twitter, which I've taken part in the past two weeks. So, if you're one of those people who aren't on Blogger, or who just don't like Google Friend Connect, it's a great way to keep in touch and follow one another.

αωαωαωαωαωαωαω

TGIF is another blog hop designed to provide much-appreciated exposure to the bloggers participating, and to expand their following. Hosted by GReads, it's an interesting way to recap the week, pose a question, and find some exposure with a different audience.




Question of the Week: Literary Vacations - If you could take a trip this summer to any place within a fictional book, where would you go? Tell us about your summer dream vacation!




I'd go somewhere impossible, somewhere that can only exist within the imagination of the author and the reader . . . somewhere heavily forested, with dragons and unicorns, where magic works, and where there are adventures to be found. I'm thinking of Krynn (from the Dragonlance Chronicles), Armethalieh (the Obsidian Trilogy), or Midkemia (the Riftwar Saga). 

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May Monster Madness - The Ghosts of Haunted Ontario

Quite a few years ago, I ran a little website called Haunted Ontario. It wasn't something I ever planned on doing . . . it just sort of happened. I was researching 'real' haunted locations around the province to use as background material for a horror novel I was writing, and I ended up amassing this incredible amount of research material. After I'd sent the manuscript on its way (and awaited the inevitable rejection letters to come), I decided to do something with all the stories I had collected.



And with that what-the-hell attitude and initiative, Haunted Ontario was born.

This was before the ghost-hunting craze began taking off, so the site was kind of unique at the time. For me, the fascination lay in the stories themselves, the history behind them, and in the imagery of their locations. At least once a month I would drag my loving wife (who has always managed to summon some genuine enthusiasm for my strange quirks, fetishes, and obsessions) all over the province on road trips to find these out-of-the-way, hard-to-find, creepy locations. It wasn't about actually seeing or feeling a ghost, and I never once sought to capture something spectral on film (no matter how excited some people got about 'orbs' and 'shadows'  and 'spectral mists' later). Instead, it was just about being there, experiencing the history, and trying to capture the architecture of the location in a good photo.

Once the ghost-hunting craze began to invade the mainstream, I became something of a Halloween celebrity. For a few years I was in all the local newspapers, spoke at a number of events, took part in some haunted tours, did a few radio shows, got a photo credit in the second Haunted Canada book by Pat Hancock, and even got my 15 minutes of TV fame one morning in Breakfast Television. It was a lot of fun for a while, but when it became increasingly clear people were more interested in their ghost-hunting gadgets and psychic impressions than in the stories themselves, I just lost interest.



Anyways, since we're talking May Monster Madness, and since a good ghost story is my favourite kind of monster tale, I thought I'd resurrect some of the old Haunted Ontario material and share with you a few of my favourite ghost stories:



Dundurn Castle (Hamilton, Ontario)

An honest-to-gosh Canadian castle, Dundurn Castle is a sprawling estate that dates back to the early 1830s, built upon the ruins of an earlier home, and situated on a plot of land said to be consistently occupied for thousands of years. It's a location that's steeped in history, including multiple hangings across the street and nearby 'plague sheds' where cholera victims were confined to die. It's best ghost story is a simple one, though, involving the original owner's second wife slowly wasting away from consumption in an upstairs bedroom. It's said that there are cold breezes in her room that blow out candles, that objects upon her dresser move about on their own, and that the soft sound of singing can be heard from her bed.

Gibraltar Point Lighthouse (Toronto Island)

The Gibraltar Point Lighthouse is a piece of Toronto history, nestled away within a secluded forest clearing on Toronto Island, just a few minutes walk from the Centre Island amusement park. Originally built in the early 1800s, it featured a wooden lamp structure that wasn't replaced with steel until 1878, and which didn't see its first spark of electricity until 1916. The legend here surrounds it's first keeper, a man by the name of J.P. Radan Muller who is said to have been murdered by drunken soldiers from nearby Fort York, looking for bootlegged booze. They chopped up his body and buried it on the beach - where a wooden coffin containing only a jawbone was found nearly 100 years later. It's said the sound of moaning can be heard from about the lighthouse, that a spectral figure can be seen walking the grounds at night, and that his lantern can be seen swinging about on misty nights.

The Hermitage (Ancaster, Ontario)

The ruins of what remain on the site today were originally constructed in the mid 1800s, consisting of a large stone house, a farmhouse, a ban, and several other buildings. While there have been ridiculous rumours of satanic rituals and orgies about the ruins, it's best ghost story involves a tragic romance between a young female tutor and the black slave who loved her - who later hanged himself from a nearby willow tree when she did not return his affections. It's been said that ghostly footsteps haunt the ruins, that people feel watched, and that the slave himself can be seen wandering from the crossroads where he was buried to the edge of the ruins.

Hopkins Tomb (Wainfleet, Ontario)

This is one of my favourite locations, and one of the area's greatest ghost stories. Samuel Hopkins was a local businessman whose died before the mausoleum he'd ordered constructed could be finished. Temporarily buried nearby, his remains were later unearthed and relocated to the tomb - along with, the legend says, his very-much-alive dog. Hopkins himself is said to haunt the ruins on the Spring Equinox, and his dog is often said to be seen guarding the entrance. The best part of the story, though, is that he is said to have laid a curse upon the tomb, and that anybody who steps within its foundations will suffer an accident. Over the years, visitors who have chosen to test the curse have suffered mysterious (and gruesome) accidents, including one who lost an arm and another who lost a leg. The only way to break the curse, it's said, is to circle the tomb seven times, knocking upon the door with each pass.

Drummond Hill Cemetery (Niagara Falls, Ontario)

Finally, we come to Drummond Hill Cemetery, just a short walk from where I grew up. The site of one of the bloodiest battlefields of the War of 1812, with over 1,700 American and British soldiers left dead after a long day and night of battle that saw the American forces retreat to Fort Erie. Already a cemetery at the time, with its oldest tombstone dating as far back as 1797, it's population soon swelled with the graves of soldiers from both sides. It's said that a procession of 5 soldiers can be seen marching down the hill and into battle . . . and that a similar group, reduced to 3 and clearly dishevelled, can be seen marching back from the old tavern across the street.

These are just a few of the stories that captured my imagination, and a few of the locations that first introduced me to the beauty in ruins. Have a favourite ghost story of your own? Please leave a comment below!

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The Insecure Writer's Support Group - May Edition

The Insecure Writer's Support Group in a once-monthly blog hop hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh. The idea is to provide authors with an avenue to share their doubts and concerns, and to offer one another encouragement and guidance. Every first Wednesday of the month we gather to connect with one another and share our insecurities.



Since this is my first time joining taking part, I thought I'd start with my single biggest problem/issue/concern . . . being a perfectionist. I wish I could just sit down and write, just start banging away at the keyboard and letting the words flow. Really, I envy people who can just let their mind ramble away and trust in themselves to polish things later. I just can't do it.



That first line? It has to be the single greatest first line in history. That first paragraph?  It has to be absolutely perfect. That first chapter? It has to be so polished that it metaphorically gleams. After all, there's no point in continuing with the rest of the story if the opening isn't perfect, right?



Bullshit. If I keep telling myself that, some day I may just believe it.



I know I'll end up rewriting that chapter in the first major revision, possibly even scrapping it in the second, and maybe restoring a version of it in the third. You never know exactly how the book should begin until you know exactly how it will end - and when a book is going really well, sometimes that's a total surprise. There's no point in obsessing over the opening details, especially if that means you never get to the end. Yeah, there's probably a bit of procrastination involved there as well, and maybe some confidence issues as well, but it all comes down to just letting the words flow, to establishing foundation, and then trusting in yourself to manage all the cosmetic details later.



How about you? How do you get beyond that first line, first paragraph, first page, or first chapter?

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Waiting On Wednesday: Besieged (The Outcast Chronicles) by Rowena Cory Daniells

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.



This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:



Besieged: The Outcast Chronicles by Rowena Cory Daniells



For nearly 300 years the mystics have lived alongside the true-men, who barely tolerate them, until...



King Charald is cursed with a half-blood mystic son. Sorne is raised to be a weapon against the mystics. Desperate to win his father’s respect, Sorne steals power to trigger visions. Unaware King Charald plans their downfall, the mystics are consumed by rivalry. Although physically stronger, the males’ gifts are weaker than the females. Imoshen, the only female mystic to be raised by males, wants to end the feud. But the males resent her power and, even within her own sisterhood Imoshen’s enemies believe she is addicted to the male gifts.



Sorne tries, but cannot win the respect of True-men. When he has a vision of half-bloods in danger he has to ask himself where his loyalty lies.



Convinced he can destroy the mystics, King Charald plans to lay siege to their island city. Will Imoshen win the trust of the mystic leaders and, if she does, will she believe the visions of a half-blood? (June 26, 2012)



While I haven't had a chance to dive into Daniells' first two series (King Rolen's Kin & Last T'En Trilogy), I'm anxious to give this one a read.

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May Monster Madness - Bloody Good Vampire Books

Vampires. They've been around for centuries, having first crept out of the crypt and into folklore and mythology as far back as the early 18th century. In those days, they were considered to be unclean remnants of those who had sinned in life or who had been possessed by evil spirits. They were often seen as bloated and bloody, easily identifiable as something to be feared and reviled. In some areas of Europe, the hysteria surrounding vampires was nearly as bad as that surrounding witches.



The spread of Christianity across Europe had a lot to do with cleaning up the mythology of the vampire, promoting the idea of a more human, sophisticated monster, while the rise of Gothic literature in the 19th century began exploring the vampire's more sympathetic and seductive qualities in works such as The Spectral Horseman, The Vampyre and Carmilla. The penny dreadfuls (cheaply sold pamplets or chapbooks) of the mid 19th century marked something of a return to the gory, gruesome nature of the vampire with characters like Varney the Vampire, but it was Bram Stoker's Dracula that so successfully pulled together the most sensational elements, offering us the first vampire to be both evil and seductive, the embodiment of supernatural sin, and a metaphor for the parasitic diseases of the time.



It wasn't until the latter half of the 20th century that the vampire began to change again, with the likes of Dark Shadows, Anne Rice, and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro putting a more human, romantic spin on the mythology. In many ways, they were just rolling back the clock to the pre-Stoker Gothic romances, but their interpretations wer the first to begin stripping away the evil from the vampire. It is largely due to the success of Barnabas Collins, Lestat, and Saint-Germain that vampires today are so humanized and romanticized as sympathetic (and often heroic) staples of urban fantasy, YA fiction, and romance.



Fortunately, there are still plenty of authors out there who remember what vampires used to be . . . who are more than willing to play with the darkest, most sinister aspects of the myth . . . and who aren't afraid to be creepy, spooky, gruesome, and disgusting. While this is no means an exhaustive list, these are the books that have earned a place of honour on my "supernatural, scary-as-shit" vampire shelf.



►I Am Legend by Richard Matheson: Do yourself a favour and forget the mutant/zombie themed movies. Go back the the source, read the original story, and discover for yourself just how terrifying it is to be the last man alive in a world filled with vampires.



►Salem's Lot by Stephen King: One of King's shortest and most effective novels, this is a complete throwback to the days of Dracula. King gives us vampires that are evil, ugly, supernatural, and altogether worthy of both our fear and our revulsion.



►Necroscope by Brian Lumley: Quite possibly the only series to ever make me pause, put down the book, and walk away to collect my senses, these books are absolutely glorious in their gruesome depravities. Lumley's vampires (Wamphyri) are monsters in every sense of the word - immortal, superhuman, telepathic, parastic monsters. Ignore the Lost Years books, but be sure to check out the Vampire World trilogy for an epic fantasy take on the origins of the Wamphyri.



►Draculas by Crouch, Kilborn, Strand, and Wilson: A wild, bat-shit crazy, over-the-top romp through what deliberately feels like a B-grade 80s gore-fest. The authors set out to reverse decades of "sparkly, bare-chested, sexually ambiguous, romantic nonsense" and make vampires scary again. They succeeded.

►Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons: An intriguing take on the evils of human history, putting forth the idea  of psychic vampires as the puppet masters behind our darkest villains. Lacks something in terms of the supernatural, but definitely succeeds in building a new vampire archetype.  

►They Thirst by Robert R. McCammon: If Swan Song was his answer to King's The Stand, then this is his answer to 
Salem's Lot. Another old-school "good versus evil" tale with an army of vampires beginning their quest for world domination in Los Angeles. Bloody, gory, and action-packed, this was a fun read with a range of heroes to face off against the vampire master.



►The Keep by F. Paul Wilson: This was one of the strangest, darkest, most exciting vampire novels I've ever read. When the protagonists are a group of Nazis trapped in the Transylvanian Alps, sent to investigate a haunted keep that's steeped in murder, you know the vampire element is going to be something special and unique.  

►The Stake by Richard Laymon: This is Laymon at his cruel, black-humored best, with a story about a mummified corpse and a writer's plans to remove the stake through its heart as the ultimate PR stunt for his upcoming book. This one is more about the belief in vampires than vampires themselves, especially when the deranged serial killer escapes his asylum and begins hunting down the those he believes to be vampires, but then there's the final twist . . .

►The Passage by Justin Cronin: A book that could almost be a prequel to I Am Legend, Cronin messes around with the mythology of the vampire, twisting it with that of the zombie, and setting is all in an plague-infested apocalyptic wasteland. The story wears thin after a while, and the ending is a bit more hopeful than I had expected, but still a scary read.

►The Strain by Guillermo del Toro & Chuck Hogan: While I haven't read this one yet, the series sounds like a perfect counterpart to The Passage, with a more contemporary look at the vampire that's as much political thriller as it is old-school horror.




►13 Bullets by David Wellington: This is another one that I've yet to read, but have heard very good things about. Gory and action-packed, it follows up the career of the FBI agent who stopped the last vampire rampage 20 years ago, with the mistress of vampires spreading her taint from the sanitarium where she lies imprisoned. The first in a series, the rest of the books are subtitled historical, vengeful, and gruesome.

That's just a start . . . I'm curious to hear what your favourite  "supernatural, scary-as-shit" vampire picks would be. Please leave a comment below!

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