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We finally get to see the sixth instalment in Christine Rains’ The 13th Floor series, The Ghost. I can’t wait to get my hands on this story, and the cover has me very intrigued.

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Title: The Ghost (The 13th Floor series, #6)

Author: Christine Rains

Genre: paranormal romance

Release date: July 13th, 2013

Blurb:

Chiharo Black lives with six supernatural tenants in a haunted building’s mysterious thirteenth floor. Of course, no one knows she’s there except the cats. Being a ghost can be a bit frustrating and lonely, but it isn’t as bad as her mother made it out to be.

Until another ghost intrudes on her territory. Jeremy Emerson wants revenge on the vampire that killed him and won’t stop until he has it. To top it off, a nightmarish shade sneaks in and leeches the energy from the building’s residents before setting its sights on Chiharo and the thirteenth floor. She can’t decide which one is more frightening: the one wanting to eat her soul or the one who might win her heart.

Chiharo must convince Jeremy to stand with her against the hellish parasite. If they cannot work together, the greedy fiend will not only drain their energy but everything that supports the thirteenth floor’s existence.

  

Author Bio:

Christine Rains is a writer, blogger, and geek mom. She has four degrees which help nothing with motherhood, but make her a great Jeopardy player. When she’s not writing or reading, she having adventures with her son or watching cheesy movies on Syfy Channel. She’s a member of Untethered Realms and S.C.I.F.I. The 13th Floor series is her first self-published series. She has seven novellas and twenty-one short stories published.

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1305 & 1306 – The Oracle and the Vampire, the fifth story in The 13th Floor Series from Christine Rains is out. Being lucky enough to read Christine’s stories before they are launched, I highly recommend this instalment. In fact, I love the entire series… such a cool premise, and each character is unique, with their out set of problems.

Now, here’s Christine with what you’ll expect in this instalment:

BANSHEES & VAMPIRES

The fifth book of the 13th Floor series brings two classic legends to life. Vampires are seductive creatures that we see a lot in paranormal romances, but banshees are rare. Paired together, we have something never seen before.

There are countless legends of the vampire. I took the traditional path with my vampire Kiral. He can’t go out in daylight, he heals swiftly, and has preternatural strength and senses. But I gave him a flaw we see often in our modern world. He’s an addict with a craving for blood laced with drugs. He must drink human blood to survive, and having it spiked with something extra helps him forget he’s living a life he never asked for.

Myths of banshees declare them fairies or ghosts of mothers who have had their children taken from them. In my story, Harriet is a lovely young witch cursed by a jealous fairy. Harriet lives her normal life during the day, but becomes a hideous hag at night plagued by visions of death that compel her to scream in mourning.

This unlikely pair face monsters in a city in chaos. Yet more frightening are the demons lurk within themselves.

What are your favorite supernatural beings that have more to fear from themselves than anything else?

 

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Title: 1305 & 1306 – The Oracle and the Vampire (The 13th Floor series, #5)

Author: Christine Rains

Genre: paranormal romance

Release date: May 13th, 2013

Blurb:

Having fallen for her gorgeous neighbor might not be so bad if Harriet McKay wasn’t in her hideous banshee form every time Kiral saw her. Such is her curse. True, he’s a vampire struggling with a drug addiction, but he’s a good soul. Yet no one could love a cursed witch, especially one not even her cats respect.

After having a vision of Kiral’s death, Harriet makes it her mission to save him. Never before has she attempted to change fate, but so strong is her love. 

Kiral Ozdemir struggles to make it through every day. The craving for blood laced with drugs directs his every thought until he tastes Harriet’s potent blood. The magic immediately addicts him, but she disappears. He’s desperate to find her, racing blindly into a city in chaos.

How can Harriet convince Kiral to see past her vile appearance and return her love? If only she can force him to listen to reason coming from a raving crone, perhaps she can save him from the demons hunting him and from himself.

 

1305 & 1306 – The Oracle and the Vampire is available at:

Amazon

Smashwords

Kobo

B & N

 

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Author Bio:

Christine Rains is a writer, blogger, and geek mom. She has four degrees which help nothing with motherhood, but make her a great Jeopardy player. When she’s not writing or reading, she having adventures with her son or watching cheesy movies on Syfy Channel. She’s a member of Untethered Realms and S.C.I.F.I. The 13th Floor series is her first self-published series. She has seven novellas and twenty-one short stories published.

 

Author Bio:

Christine Rains is a writer, blogger, and geek mom. She has four degrees which help nothing with motherhood, but make her a great Jeopardy player. When she’s not writing or reading, she having adventures with her son or watching cheesy movies on Syfy Channel. She’s a member of S.C.I.F.I. The 13th Floor series is her first self-published series. She also has four novellas and eighteen short stories published.

Where you can stalk her:

Website

Blog

Facebook

Twitter

Goodreads

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GILLES DE RAIS, Born 1404; died 1440

Click image for source.

Click image for source.

-       During his time, France was at war with England over the rightful heir to the French throne.

-       Gilles de Rais was an intelligent child, speaking fluent Latin, and divided his time between French military discipline and intellectual development. His parents died in 1415, and him and his brother were taken under the care of their grandfather.

-       It was his grandfather who attempted to marry a 12 year old Gilles de Rais with a 4 year old girl—Jeanne Paynel. One of the richest heiresses in Normady. The plan failed, as did another, until the grandfather finally married him to a heiress of Brittany.

-       From 1427 Gilles de Rais served as a commander in the Royal Army.

-       He was a Breton knight, a leader in the French army, and a companion-in-arms of Joan of Arc. He fought alongside Joan of Arc.

-       It is believed Gilles de Rais was the inspiration for the fairy tale – Bluebeard, by Charles Perrault.

-       When he retired in 1434/35, he wasted all his money dabbling in the occult, and holding extravagant theatrical spectacles on his own composition.

-       His focus turned to finding people who knew alchemy and demon summoning. But after trying to summon a demon named Barron, and nothing manifested itself, he grew despondent.

-       He was dedicated to finding the secret of the Philosophers’’ Stone, which would give him eternal life – through blood. It is from this stage that his reputation turned bad.

-       He experimented on children, the numbers he tortured and killed were possibly in the hundreds. He used their blood in his experiments.

-       Only in 1440 was his serial killing spree stopped. After investigation, he confessed his atrocities. It is said one of the judges pulled a curtain over a nearby painting of Jesus as Gilles de Rais described his debauchery.

-       He was sentenced to death by hanging.

Source

Until next time…

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How does May Monster Madness work? Well, it’s a blog hop featuring posts about monsters from May 11-17. Anything you can think of as long as it has something to do with monsters… crafts, lists, movies, funnies (a personal favorite)… anything!

To participate, simply go here and join the linky list. Simple.

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Over the next week, I’ll be participating in the May Monster Madness Blog Hop hosted by Annie Walls, Emma from Little Gothic Horrors, and Ked from Something Wicked this Way Comes. It’s such a great idea, especially for all horror fans.

I’ve decided to take a closer look at some real life monsters that have inspired movies and books. Nothing too heavy, just things I found quite fascinating. First up, is:

ELIZABETH BATHORY, Born 1560-61; died 1614

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-       She comes from the noble Bathory family who held power in several areas in Europe – Hungary, Romania, Poland and Slovakia.

-       At the age of 11, she was engaged to Ferenc Nadasdy, a very wealthy Hungarian nobleman, in a supposed political arrangement.  At 14 and a half years old, she married Ferenc, who was only 16.

-       At the age of 13, Elizabeth fell pregnant to a servant at the Castle. The servant was cast to a pack of dogs after his privates were cut off, ouch, and once the baby was born, it was quickly ‘unassociated’ from the family.

-       Elizabeth’s wedding present from her new husband was a castle. She was an educated lady who read and spoke in four languages.

-       Because Ferenc traveled a lot, Elizabeth found herself alone a lot and grew bored. As an incredibly rich woman, it is said she started getting interested in seers, alchemists and witches, learning as much as of their craft as she could.

-       Her husband died sometime between 1602-1604, and this is when she apparently starting paying attention to her appearance – after all she needed a new suitor. Add to that she was next in line to become King of Poland. So maintaining her youth and vitality became a priority.

-       After getting blood on herself after hitting a servant and discovering her skin looked fresher, she called her alchemists. They informed her that there had been a case in history where the blood of a virgin had left somehow caused the skin of someone of nobility to look younger.

-       Reports state that she started to take local peasant girls, horribly tortured them, and that she may have bathed in their blood. In need of more girls, she killed daughters of lesser gentry, who were sent to her to learn about courtly etiquette. Abductions were very common too.

-       The exact number of people she killed is unknown, but some believe it to be as high as 650, though other reports state it could be as low as 36-37.

-       Finally, the Hungarian authorities started investigating the many claims they’d received about Elizabeth’s atrocities.

-       In 1610 she was under house arrest with four of her servants accused of being her accomplices

-       While her case did go to court, Elizabeth was never brought to trial, however her family had her imprisoned in her castle for life. She was kept in a room bricked up, with only small slits for ventilation and passing of meals. Four years later she died.

Source

Until next time…

MMM2013-2

How does May Monster Madness work? Well, it’s a blog hop featuring posts about monsters from May 11-17. Anything you can think of as long as it has something to do with monsters… crafts, lists, movies, funnies (a personal favorite)… anything!

To participate, simply go here and join the linky list. Simple.

Read Full Post »

After A Break…

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Source: Stockvault Free Photos

For the past few weeks, I’ve tried to pry myself free from the internet and spend more time writing, reading, relaxing, and doing other things ‘normal’ people do, though I’ll admit I failed miserably. Okay, maybe it wasn’t that bad since I did manage to ignore my blog. And even something as little as that gave me more free time.

Especially when BIG THINGS were happening in the background… I know I’m teasing, and I’ll reveal all as soon as I can. I promise:)

One thing I can share is my blog revamp, which is long overdue, and I’m so excited to have started. A new design, layout, and URL coming soon… Watch this space!

Plus, I’ve started writing the first draft of a new novel, which is a bit of a different genre for me, but it’s been swirling in my thoughts for so long, I just need to get it down on paper.  Don’t want to give away too much, but it does involve a jackaroo, camels, and a giant, mechanical snake.

Anyhoo, it’s great to be back, and from Monday, I’ll be participating in a very cool May Monster Madness blogfest. More details here if you’re interested.

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Blog Vacation

The last few weeks have been crazy busy for me with work, editing 2 new stories, plotting 2 new ones and finding a home for one of my novels. What better way to get ahead of myself than to take a bit of time off. I’ll be on blog vacation until mid May, after which I hope to come back with some good news, and even something about on a blog re-vamp…Yipeee:)

Source: Free digital photos by Meawpong3405

Source: Free digital photos by Meawpong3405

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Cover

This week Allyson Lindt is revealing the cover for her new story, Conflict of Interest, which is very exciting. The cover has me very intrigued. Help her celebrate her new upcoming release:)

Title: Conflict of Interest

Author: Allyson Lindt

Genre: Contemporary Romance (Heat level sexy/spicy. Explicit but not erotic)

Release date: April 29, 2013 (more…)

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Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be.

Anyone can play along! (more…)

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The cover of the fifth book in The 13th Floor series by Christine Rains, is unlike the others. It stars two mythical creatures – I bring to you the gorgeous cover of The Oracle and The Vampire.

TheOracleTheVampirecover

Title: 1305 & 1306 – The Oracle and the Vampire (The 13th Floor series, #5) (more…)

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TOPTENMOVIE

Alex J. Cavanaugh is holding a very cool blogfest, which I just couldn’t resist joining. It’s pretty simple and self explanatory, so here are my top ten favorite movies, in no particular order. (more…)

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1304 – The Harbinger, the fourth story in The 13th Floor Series from Christine Rains is out. This story is very different to the first three – and I loved every part of it. I was very luck to get to read it before it was launched. Read to the bottom of this post because Christine is having a HUGE giveaway to a few lucky readers. (more…)

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Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be.

Anyone can play along! (more…)

Read Full Post »

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be.

Anyone can play along! (more…)

Read Full Post »

A couple break up on a rainy night; a runaway longs to go home; a woman finds comfort from eating lunch as her best friend lies in hospital; a teenager feels
oppressed by her father. All of the characters in these stories are trying to
find their place in the world, attempting to find connections that matter with
the people around them.

This collection brings together prize-winning and published stories from the past
twenty years: the ‘greatest hits’.
That Sadie Thing and other stories will be available on
Kindle from Monday 25th February 2013.

Annalisa Crawford lives and writes in Cornwall with a good supply of beaches and moorland to keep her inspired. She finds endless possibilities in the relationships between people. As this collection testifies, she has been writing for twenty years – but doesn’t feel a day over twenty-one.

Find her on her blog, Twitter, Facebook and Goodreads.

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Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be.

Anyone can play along! (more…)

Read Full Post »

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