Jeanette Cheezum

I first “met” Jeanette Cheezum a few years ago at a website for writers. I was instantly taken by her writing style – both prose and poetry – and knew that she was someone to keep an eye on.

Now, she has released several e-books and I couldn’t be happier for her. Her success is well and truly deserved. A mystery novel, short stories and children’s books are part of her growing catalogue.

Stories of love, courage and the human spirit are Jeanette’s trademark and those who get hold of her books will not be disappointed. While the stories may be read quickly, then will never be forgotten.

Twisted Branches by Jeanette Cheezum

The second book in the Seeds of Adversity series continues with Eva’s story.

“In this romantic murder mystery, Eva Westcott, a woman of means and respected by her community, strives to find the truth about her husband’s death. Sam Westcott, founder of Westcott Pulp, was not the type of man to commit suicide. Jenning Westcott, their son, returns from Ireland to attend his father’s funeral. He hires a local detective to help solve the mystery.”

Twisted Branches is available at Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

Also by Jeanette Cheezum

The first book in the Seeds of Adversity series gives us a taste of Fran’s life in the beginning.

“Fran’s story was set in Virginia Beach, VA, during the late fifties and the early sixties. Fran had no idea what was in store for her when she left her not so comfy home, to marry her childhood sweetheart and become a fish wife.

Her high-spirited strength moves her forward as she attempts to conquer each obstacle that life throws in her path until the fight of her life, when she loses almost everything in the horrific Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962.”

Fish Wife is available from Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

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Jeanette’s work has been published on several online writing sites and in print. She’s published in eleven Anthology books and four Vox Poetica books. Three of these books have made the New Yor k Times Best Sellers list. The Helium Network awarded her their Premium Writer’s and Marketplace Badges.

Recently she’s published ebooks for Barnes and Noble Nook and Amazon Kindle: “A Bark, A Shell and a Squiggly Tail”, “Sticky Feet and Two Big Teeth” for children, “Big Stories Told Short”, “Fish Wife” and “Twisted Branches” for young adult to general audiences. Soon, “Westcott McTavish,” third in the Seeds of Adversity series, will be released by the end of October 2011.

You may see where some of her work is published on the About Me page at Cavalcade of Stars or on the members page at Hampton Roads Writers.

Geraldine Evans

Crimes novels, historical and romance novels – not exactly a combination that you will get from a lot of authors but Geraldine Evans has done so over her career. Added to that, she offers writing advice on her blog and written several articles on different New Age subjects and history. Quite a talent indeed.

Her crime novels, on which we will focus (we do like crime novels here) are in two different series – the Rafferty and Llewellyn mystery series and the Casey and Catt series. Both series are highly recommended for those who love a great mystery, excellent dialogue and some splashes of humour thrown in.

 

Deadly Reunion by Geraldine Evans:

“Loves, labours, losses and not to mention a spattering of the occult are all part of an education at the prestigious Griffin School, but when a reunion culminates in the death of a high profile former student, DI Joseph Rafferty and his ever erudite partner, Sergeant Dafyd Llewellyn, are called in to unearth the truth behind the school’s picturesque facade . . .”

Deadly Reunion is available from Amazon and Severn House Publishers.

 

Also available from Geraldine Evans:

The first in the Casey & Catt series.

“When Chandra Bansi and her baby are burnt to death, the police are anxious to
get their race relations right. DCI Casey and his less than politically correct
sergeant rapidly come under pressure from their superintendent to put a couple
of skinhead thugs behind bars. But there are other, stranger possibilities–and
Casey has some less than conventional ways of examining them…” (From Amazon)

 

 

The first in the Rafferty & Llewellyn series.

“This British author’s mystery debut introduces Detective Joseph Rafferty, newly promoted, and his sidekick, the lugubrious and sententious Sergeant Llewellyn. Their first big case together, the mutilation murder of a young woman in an expensive mental hospital, tests both their ability and their compatibility: they risk unpleasant retribution from the clinic’s ambitious, womanizing owner as well as scrutiny by press and superiors.” (From Library Review)

 

 

Up in Flames and Dead Before Morning are available from Amazon.

 

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Geraldine Evans has been writing since her twenties, but never finished anything. It was only hitting the milestone age of thirty that concentrated her mind. She then wrote a book a year for six years, only the last of which (Land of Dreams), was published. As well as her popular Rafferty & Llewellyn crime series, she has a second crime series, Casey & Catt and has also had published an historical novel, a romance and articles on a variety of subjects, including, Historical Biography, Writing, Astrology, Palmistry and other New Age subjects. She has also written a dramatization of Dead Before Morning, the first book in her Rafferty series.

She is a Londoner, but now lives in Norfolk England where she moved, with her husband George, in 2000.

You can find Geraldine’s books on her Amazon Author page, or her former publishers Severn House Publishing. Her website and blog are also worthwhile checking out and keeping up to date with what Geraldine is up to.

William Pauley III

Bizarro Fiction – what does it mean? According to Wikipedia (the source of all knowledge, all hail Wiki!) it is “…a contemporary literary genre, which often utilizes elements of absurdism, satire, and the grotesque, along with pop-surrealism and genre fiction staples, in order to create subversive works that are as weird and entertaining as possible.”

William Pauley III fits that description pretty well – he is the owner/editor of weird/bizarro magazine The New Flesh and editor of Bizarro Central - and his story “The Brothers Crunk” (pictured above) is a tale that involves robots, burritos, talking meat and game controller weapons – one reviewer called it a “post-apocolyptic Of Mice and Men.” Get the idea?

 

The Brothers Crunk by William Pauley III

“Brothers Divey and Reynold Crunk are two traveling breakfast burrito salesman just trying to make a living in the post-apocalyptic world of Planet Japan. After discovering a mutilated robot corpse in the middle of the desert, Divey mysteriously transforms into something abominable, setting a bizarre series of events into motion. Reynold follows his brother into the dark underworld of Tokyo, where there are no rules and old video game accessories are used as real weapons. THE BROTHERS CRUNK is an 8-bit fack-it-all adventure in 2D. Please consult a doctor if you experience any of the following symptoms while reading: convulsions, eye or muscle twitching, altered vision, involuntary movements, disorientation, or loss of awareness.(From Amazon)

The Brothers Crunk is available through William’s blog, Break Said Silence, and Amazon.

 

Also by William Pauley III

Chorizo, Nevada is full of dusty streets, gritty men and filthy women – the perfect place for a man chock-full of secrets to hide. But one fateful day, his past catches up to him…

A Japanese assassin with a cue-ball eye, who goes by the name of Qoser, invades the town with an army of two-foot eyeless minions who have a taste for human blood. He has two things on his mind – Where is his purple television? And who is the dead man that stole it from him?

DOOM MAGNETIC! is a fast-paced sci-fi/western space opera packed full of sex, violence, cosmic voids, vortexes, Coliseum-style combat, genetically-engineered mutant giants, breathy brain whispers, and cigar smoke torture chambers.

Doom Magnetic is available through William’s blog, Break Said Silence.

 

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William Pauley III is weird. He is the author of the Doom Magnetic! trilogy, Demolition Ya-Ya, and The Brothers Crunk – which FANGORIA magazine called “A perfect example of bizarro fiction… every line is littered with wild and imaginative ideas.”

He is the owner/editor of the weird/bizarro fiction magazine THE NEW FLESH and an editor of BizarroCentral.com. He also has a GoodReads Author page. He spends most of his life looking for his car keys.

 

 

Nerine Dorman

Earlier this month we introduced you to Carrie Clevenger and the story, Just My Blood Type, that she penned with co-author Nerine Dorman. Today, Nerine gets a post of her own – and there is so much to tell you.

I have to admit that I only first became aware of Nerine after the release of Just My Blood Type – and then, when I was looking for authors to add to my list, Carrie suggested I get in contact with Nerine. And what a great idea that was.

An author, editor, musician, magician…the list is endless. But she appears here for her writing and so I shall get to that presently.

 

Khepera Rising by Nerine Dorman:

“The wickedest man in Africa has problems, and they can’t all be solved by magic.
Occult bookshop owner and black arts magician James Edward Guillaume reckons he has it all, and enjoys living up his reputation as South Africa’s “wickedest man”, a nice house, a business that’s breaking even and the pick of all the pretty Goth girls and boys in Cape Town. Little does he know, a group of violent Christo-militants are panting at his heels, ready to destroy his carefully constructed fantasy world. To add mischief to his misery, he’s unwittingly unleashed a terrifying demonic entity, and he alone holds the key to The Burning One’s secret. To bring order out of the chaos, all James has to do is conquer his personal demons, teach a rather nasty, self-righteous sod a lesson in humility and find out whether he can win back the trust of an old flame. Only, as James discovers, getting back on top is hell on earth. Content Warnings: M/M/F sexual content, occult, violence, gore. (From Amazon.)

Khepera Rising is available at Amazon and Lyrical Press.

 

Also by Nerine Dorman:

Just when the wickedest man in Africa thought the nightmare was over…

 Still recovering from the trauma of his encounter with the Christo-militants who tried to kill him, Jamie only wants to get his life back on track. This is easier said than done when he’s essentially blackmailed into helping solve a case involving alleged cult activity.

 To complicate matters further, the media gets involved and Jamie has to tread carefully. However, soon the hunter becomes the hunted and Jamie faces some difficult choices. Will his uneasy symbiosis with The Burning One save him or will he be tempted to grasp for more power than he can possible hold?

 

How far will you travel to lay your dead to rest? Struggling to come to terms with her boyfriend Aidan’s death, Chloë is ill prepared to deal with the violent murder of his best friend. When tantalizing evidence suggests there is more to Aidan’s apparent death than meets the eye, Chloë will not let her lack of material resources keep her from uncovering the truth, even if the truth proves far more dangerous and with a far more sinister nature than she bargained for.

Both these titles, Khepera Redeemed and The Namaqualand Book of the Dead, are available through Lyrical Press.

 

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Nerine Dorman reads, edits, blogs and writes compulsively. Her other pursuits include gardening, magic, dreams, traveling, music, classic cars, ancient Egypt and hanging around on indie film sets. She champions the cause of the western leopard toad, rhino conservation and advocates the planting of more trees.

Some of her favourite authors include Neil Gaiman, Jacqueline Carey, Storm Constantine, William Burroughs, Don Webb and Poppy Z. Brite, all of whom have inspired her to scribe evocative and darkly creative prose. Although not limited to genre, most of her works follow a dark or urban fantasy thread, with a hint of splatterpunk and eroticism–when the mood fits, of course.

She lives in Cape Town, South Africa, in a treehaus next to a national park. By day, she works as a sub-editor and writer at a newspaper publisher. For the rest of the time, she’s a fiction editor, author, magician, a sometimes-musician and domestic goddess. She likes red wine, good food and thunderstorms during summer, and doesn’t bite…much.

Visit her at her blog This is My World, follow her on Twitter at @nerinedorman.

Find her books at Lyrical Press, or keep up-to-date with her Facebook page.

 

Erin Cole

So far this month we have featured some excellent writers in different genres – horror, paranormal, British crime – and there is a lot to be said for those who master their genre. There is something satisfying about picking up a book by a favourite author and knowing what you are going to get – that’s why they are your favourite writers.

And so it is with Erin Cole – I have been a huge fan of Erin’s since I first started reading her blog, Listen to the Voices (which she has recently changed to Erin Cole.) Her ability to write absolutely anything when called to made her stand out to me – as a reader. Roland of Gilead (Stephen King fans will understand the reference) uses the term “wordslinger” – and I think that suits Erin very well. Poetic, dramatic, lyrical, fanciful and, quite simply, fantastic. She has had stories published in many books and eZines and it was an absolute treat to find she had finally had her debut novel, Grave Echoes, published and soon to have a collection of short fiction available as well.

 

Grave Echoes by Erin Cole:

“The nightmare is real…

Kate Waters suffers from narcoleptic hallucinations, which recently involve her unreachable sister, Jev, and a mysterious key. When Kate receives the terrible news concerning Jev’s fatal car accident and acquires the mysterious key from her visions, she unlocks her sister’s world of
perilous secrets involving witchcraft, poltergeist, and a heartless killer determined to get back what is his.

The danger lies in whom to trust.

Terrifying paranormal encounters, a trailing wolf, and an attempted murder of one of Jev’s friends, forces Kate to turn to the one she fears most, the priestess of Jev’s coven, Thea. She challenges Kate’s beliefs and provides her vital clues about her sister’s murder, but will Kate overcome her fears before anyone else dies? To do so, she will have to trust in a world where the possibilities are unbelievable and the consequences are deadly.”

Grave Echoes is available at Amazon and Fishpond (in Australia).

 

Coming soon from Erin Cole:

This collection contains some of the stories you’ve all loved (“Still Alive,” “Legend of La Chusa,” “Don’t Look Back,” etc.) and a few new ones too (“Letti’s Monsters,” “The House of Dolls,” “The Shadow People”). (From Erin’s blog.)

 

 

 

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Erin begins her day with a cup of no nonsense. It wears off by noon, and by nightfall, she is delirious with feral imagination. Though she is yet without an agent, she is sure that her elaborate web of dark fiction will eventually snare the interest of those picnicking in greener pastures.
Until then, she will continue stalking them from behind nomadic bushes.

Visit her website for more on this amazing writer. Or her Amazon Author page. Or her Goodreads Author page. Or even her bibliography of online stories.

 

Nigel Bird

Sharp, twisted, wicked and packing a punch – the way short crime fiction should be. Readers like to feel the oiliness of a gun, the smell of the dirty back streets and the taste of grit on their tongue. Twists and turns keep us on the edge of our seats and a finish that makes us wonder if we will ever breath again.

Nigel Bird’s stories do all of those things – not only that, but these stories also have heart, stories that you won’t forget for a long time.

“DIRTY OLD TOWN (and Other Stories) is the debut collection from the prize-winning writer Nigel Bird.
His brilliantly observed slices of life allow us to visit places we may not normally choose to enter and to walk a few miles in the shoes of others. Though his tales have darkness at their core, they are also full of a heart and spirit that one rarely finds in the world or ‘noir’ or
‘crime-writing’.
There are 9 stories here: Drinking Wine (Spo-Dee-Oh-Dee); Dirty Old Town; Sea Minor; Sisterhood; One Hundred And Ten Per Cent; Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight Tonight); Three Little Birds; and Silver Street.”

 

Also available from Nigel Bird:

Beat On The Brat (And Other Stories) is the second collection to be released by
prize winning author Nigel Bird, following the success of his debut, the
critically acclaimed Dirty Old Town (And Other Stories).
Here are 9 more pieces from the shadows. The lead story, Beat On The Brat, was the winner of the prestigious Watery Grave Invitational competition of 2010. It went on to be published in the highly-regarded Needle Magazine and was nominated for Spinetingler’s ‘Best Story Online’ earlier this year.

 

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Nigel Bird is the author of 2 critically acclaimed collections of fiction entitled ‘Dirty Old Town’ and ‘Beat On The Brat’. Widely published by the best in the business, he won the Watery Grave Invitational in 2010 and was nominated for Spinetingler’s Best Story Online category this time around. A teacher and fatherof 3, he is the co-editor of the anthology ‘Pulp Ink’.

His blog is Sea Minor and has links to his books and other writings.

 

R.C. Bridgestock

Police procedural novels are everywhere at the moment – they rank in the Top Three genres in most bookshops and ours is no exception. However, the problem is that most authors are now settled in following the same worn path of most detective novels – murders abound until the police find that elusive clue to finally track down the killer…all very familiar but no real substance. The reader feels disconnected from the characters as they feel like they have “read this before”.

Not so with “Deadly Focus” – true, it is a police procedural but the biggest difference is substance. R.C. Bridgestock have created characters you want to jeer, and characters you want to cheer (and sometimes shed a tear.) The writing is tight, clever and gripping – all the elements that seem to be missing from a lot of crime books.

“Deadly Focus is a fast moving, gripping thriller in which the reader travels
with DI Jack Dylan throughout his enquiries, living and breathing the pursuit of the sadistic murderer, through his eyes.
A schoolgirl vanishes; everyone becomes a suspect. Murder is chilling and full of mystery; nobody’s child is safe. It is the ultimate and relentless test for the man in charge of the enquiry and his team but the killer is one step ahead and another body is found.
Will it prove too much as both Dylan’s health and private life begins to suffer?
DI Dylan is under the microscope and struggles to find a balance
between his passion for his job and his love for his partner Jen.
Will he be able to maintain the impetus to bring the perpetrator to justice and secure justice for the victims’ families?”

Deadly Focus is available in paperback or Kindle editions.

 

Coming soon from R.C. Bridgestock:

 

 

The second DI Jack Dylan novel, Consequences.

 

 

 

 

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Between them Bob and Carol Bridgestock have nearly half a century of
experience within the West Yorkshire Police Service. Bob Bridgestock was a
career detective for thirty years and held every rank within the CID retiring at
the rank of Detective Superintendent. He dealt with 26 murders and 23 major
incidents including shootings and attempted murders. He received twenty
commendations from High Court judges, Crown Courts and Chief Constables.

His wife and co-author Carol has seventeen years experience as a support
worker for the same Force which provides the inspiration for their
narrative.

Visit their website or their page at publishers Caffeine Nights.

Lori Titus

Web magazines, or eZines if you prefer, are a dime a dozen these days. Excellent horror eZines are quite a bit harder to discover.

Flashes in the Dark is an extremely popular and respected eZine in the horror field and its managing editor, Lori Titus, is equally regarded as both an editor and as a writer. Her serial work, Marradith Ryder, is widely followed and it was only natural that her work should end up in published format.

Her novella, Lazarus, is a fascinating blend of the Wild West and Zombies:

It’s 1869.  In the town of Lazarus, California, the dead don’t stay that
way. Luella Pembry comes to town with a secret, and a device. She offers
the Sheriff and the Mayor of the town a proposition – give me my own land to
build on, and I will destroy the zombies that plague your town.
Sheriff Drake is skeptical at first, but willing to try anything to save his hometown.
Together, Luella and Drake set out to solve the mystery behind the Risings
that are occurring  in Lazarus. (From Amazon)

 

Also from Lori Titus:

Hailey’s Shadow

Hailey Patterson has a history of arson, murder, and revenge. Are the “shadows” that she sees a ploy invented to keep her out of jail? Or is she being controlled by a malevolent “other”?

Green Water Lullaby

Short story collection about the paranormal goings on in the town of Chrysalis, South Carolina.
All of Lori’s books are available from either her Amazon author page or her Barnes & Noble author page.

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Lori Titus is an author from Southern California who enjoys exploring the darker side of imagination.

Her work includes two novellas: Lazarus, Hailey’s Shadow, and a collection of short stories, Green Water Lullaby. She is also the managing editor for a short fiction website called Flashes in the Dark. Lori is currently working on a novel version of her popular web serial, The Marradith Ryder Series, as well as several other writing and editing projects.  To keep up with her latest work, follow her on Twitter as Loribeth215 or visit her blog, The Darkest of Lore.

Paul D. Brazill

When I first started visiting writing sites, there was always one name that seemed to be there – Mr. Paul D. Brazill. And it seemed that every second time I saw his name it was usually attached to a phrase along the lines of “I have a new story published at…” If nothing else, he is certainly prolific.

But he isn’t just prolific – he is also a prodigious talent. His noir works are dark, brooding, gritty and “Drunk on the Moon” is no exception – throw in a werewolf P.I., humour and horror and you are in for a treat.

“When a full moon fills the night sky, P I Roman Dalton becomes a werewolf and prowls the dark streets of the city battling creatures of evil. Paul D Brazill’s Drunk On The Moon is an intense and hard-boiled noir / horror series, brought to you by some of the finest dark fiction writers around.” (From Amazon)

 

Also by Paul D. Brazill:

Brit Grit, Paul D Brazill’s first short sharp story collection, casts a bleary eye over Britain’s’ grubby underbelly in nine hard hitting crime stories. The collection includes Guns Of Brixton, which was chosen for The Mammoth Book Of Best British Crime 2011. (From Amazon)

 

 

 

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Spinetingler Award nominee Paul D. Brazill was born in England and lives in
Poland. His stuff has appeared in loads of classy print and electronic magazines and anthologies, including the 2011 Mammoth Book Of Best British Crime. His noir/horror stort story series, Drunk On The Moon, and short story
collection Brit Grit are out now and 13 Shots Of Noir is out soon. He writes a column for Pulp Metal Magazine and contributes to Mean Streets Magazine. He is a member of The Hardboiled Collective.

His blog You Would Say That, Wouldn’t You? is definitely worth a visit.

Icy Sedgwick

 

Action, thriller, paranormal, fantasy, steampunk…all readers love a bit of variety, don’t we? Otherwise we feel like we are reading the same thing over and over and over again. Well, you won’t get that feeling with Icy Sedgwick. She is nothing if not diverse in her talents. Cavalier ghosts, parrots and pirates, and Vertigo City make up just a slice of what Icy brings to the table.

The first piece of writing of Icy’s I read was one of her Tales from Vertigo City – which contained pretty much all of the elements mentioned above in one story. Needless to say, I was hooked.

“The First Tale” (pictured above) is also a story from Vertigo City and certainly one novella worth checking out.

A vaguely steampunk adventure, set in the fictional city of Vertigo. The Resistance is pitted against the shadowy Weimar Corporation that runs the City. Their stalemate is broken by the death of a suspected infiltrator, setting
Resistance Commander Liss Hunt and her bewildered companion Philip Wiseman on a journey into the depths of both organisations to discover the truth behind who – or what – is really running the City. Featuring automatons, mad scientists, chases, a gun-toting heroine and even the Living Dead, The First Tale is a short novella that proves people are not always what they seem. (From Amazon.com)

It can be bought either at Smashwords or Amazon.

 

Also available by Icy Sedgwick:

Fifteen previously published stories, collected together for the first time, spanning fantasy, horror, sci fi and speculative fiction. Among other things, Bleed Them Dry puts a new spin on vampires, talking corpses tell their side in The Dead Do Listen, a little girl is fascinated with an antique that hides a dark side in The Mirror Phase, and a devilish game of chess goes wrong in Checkmate. (From Amazon.com.

“Checkmate & Other Stories” can be found at either Smashwords or Amazon.

 

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Icy Sedgwick is part writer and part trainee supervillain, and dreams of Dickensian London. Her current works include a ghost story about a Cavalier and a tale of retribution in the Old West. She posts weekly free fiction and other shenanigans on her blog, Icy’s Blunt Pencil.