Author Archive
Welcome to the March 2022 issue of my newsletter, “News from the Crypt,” and please visit Carter’s Crypt, devoted to my horror, fantasy, and paranormal romance work, especially focusing on vampires and shapeshifting beasties. If you have a particular fondness for vampires, check out the chronology of my series in the link labeled “Vanishing Breed Vampire Universe.” For my recommendations of “must read” classic and modern vampire fiction, explore the Realm of the Vampires:
Realm of the Vampires
Also, check out the multi-author Alien Romances Blog
The long-time distributor of THE VAMPIRE’S CRYPT has closed its website. If you would like to read any issue of this fanzine, which contains fiction, interviews, and a detailed book review column, e-mail me to request the desired issue, and I’ll send you a free PDF of it. My e-mail address is at the end of this newsletter. Find information about the contents of each issue on this page of my website:
A complete list of my available works, arranged roughly by genre, with purchase links (gradually being updated as the Amber Quill and Ellora’s Cave works are being republished):
For anyone who would like to read previous issues of this newsletter, they’re posted on my website here (starting from January 2018):
This is my Facebook author page. Please visit!
Facebook
Here’s my page in Barnes and Noble’s Nook store:
Barnes and Noble
Here’s the list of my Kindle books on Amazon. (The final page, however, includes some Ellora’s Cave anthologies in which I don’t have stories):
Carter Kindle Books
Here’s a shortcut URL to my author page on Amazon:
Amazon
The Fiction Database displays a comprehensive list of my books (although with a handful of fairy tales by a different Margaret Carter near the end):
My Goodreads page:
Goodreads
Please “Like” my author Facebook page (cited above) to see reminders when each monthly newsletter is uploaded. I’ve also noticed that I’m more likely to be shown posts from liked or friended sources in my Facebook feed when I’ve “Liked” some of their individual posts, so you might want to do that, too. Thanks!
I’m thrilled to announce that the Wild Rose Press will be re-releasing some of my former Ellora’s Cave erotic paranormal romance novellas, beginning with “Calling Back Love.” War has stolen Kirsten’s fiance Shawn from her. After he’s reported missing and presumed dead in Afghanistan, she turns to witchcraft to bring him back. Though she can’t recall him from the dead, magic can grant them one last weekend together for a proper farewell. There is no way to make his return permanent—or is there?
You’ll find part of the opening scene below.
This month, I’m interviewing mystery author Susie Black.
*****
Interview with Susie Black:
AUTHOR SUSIE BLACK
What inspired you to begin writing?
SUSIE: As a career ladies’ apparel sales exec, I am naturally a people person who is curious about what makes people tick. I think everyday people are the most interesting subjects because everyone has a life story, and one likely that others can either relate to or be sympathetic to. I can sit in the food court at the mall at lunch time and observe the people around me and have a dozen plots that could easily become manuscripts. So, it is definitely my people watching that inspired me to write.
What genre do you work in?
SUSIE: I write in the cozy mystery genre.
Do you outline, “wing it,” or something in between?
SUSIE: Something in between. I plan the beginning and the end, but I let the characters take the story from the middle to the end I have planned. The characters have a fair amount of free rein, but they know they must do a good job to get from the middle of the plot to my ending and not change the ending without my permission, or risk my taking over, writing them out of the story, or if they really annoy me, kill them off. Nothing as lasting as a relationship based on fear. LOL.
What have been the major influences on your writing (favorite authors, life experiences, or whatever)?
SUSIE: Favorite Childhood authors: Carolyn Keene, author of the Nancy Drew series; Franklin W. Dixon, author of the Hardy Boys series: These authors got me interested in solving puzzles and in reading mysteries.
Favorite Adult authors: Joan Hess, Carolyn Haines, Anne George, Donald E. Westlake, Carl Hiaasen:
These authors tremendously influenced and helped form my irreverent, wise-cracking writing style and gave me the understanding that it is not only OK, but popular to poke fun at society, one’s industry, and colleagues by creating crazy characters and situations. These authors taught me the importance of having my voice come through in my stories.
Life experiences: My experience as a traveling sales rep in the deep southern states was a tremendous influence on my writing. It taught me to be observant, daring, to take risks, go out of my comfort zone, not be afraid to fail, always trust my gut, and be true to myself.
How have you used your experiences in the garment industry in your writing?
SUSIE: From the beginning of my career, I have kept a daily journal chronicling the interesting, quirky, and sometimes quite challenging people I have encountered as well as the crazy situations I’ve gotten myself into and out of. My daily journal entries are the foundation of everything I write. The plots and premises of my stories all take place in the fast-paced, take no prisoners ladies’ apparel industry. All of my characters are based on real people, and the central characters are all strong, successful women who have beaten the odds and broken the glass ceiling. Holly Schlivnik, the main character, is based on me with some poetic license taken, of course.
Did you need to do any additional research for your mystery?
SUSIE: Since my characters and plots are based on the industry I am in, I didn’t need much additional research. But any additional research needed within the garment business was readily available to me at the California Apparel Mart or interviewing customers, colleagues or competitors. The lion’s share of my additional research was within the law enforcement and medical aspects of the plots. What Google researches didn’t cover, I am fortunate to have many lawyers and doctors in the family and friends who I interviewed to make sure I had used accurate verbiage and information and used it correctly.
What is your latest book?
SUSIE: DEATH BY SAMPLE SIZE: As a female who has succeeded in a historically male-dominated industry, it was important to me to write about the apparel business from a woman’s point of view. Like other books before it such as I Can Get it for You Wholesale and Save the Tiger, Death By Sample Size shakes out the dirty laundry of the cutthroat fashion business. But this time it’s a woman peeling back the underbelly of the apparel industry and revealing how the latest trends really get from the designer’s imagination to the store rack.
BLURB: Everyone wanted her dead…but who actually killed her?
The last thing swimwear sales exec Holly Schlivnik expected was to discover ruthless buying office big wig Bunny Frank’s corpse trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey with a bikini stuffed down her throat. When Holly’s colleague is arrested for Bunny’s murder, the wise-cracking, irreverent amateur sleuth jumps into action to find the real killer. Nothing turns out the way Holly thinks it will as she matches wits with a wily killer hellbent on revenge. Get ready to laugh out loud as Susie Black’s Death by Sample Size takes you on a rollicking adventure ride through the Los Angeles apparel industry.
DEATH BY SAMPLE SIZE EXCERPT:
“When the elevator doors opened, I had to stop myself short not to step on her. There was Bunny Frank-the buying office big shot-lying diagonally across the car. Her legs were splayed out and her back was propped against the corner. Her sightless eyes were wide open and her arms reached out in a come-to-me baby pose. She was trussed up with shipping tape like a dressed Thanksgiving turkey ready for the oven with a bikini stuffed in her mouth. A Gotham Swimwear hangtag drooped off her lower lip like a toe tag gone lost. Naturally, I burst out laughing.
Before you label me incredibly weird or stone-cold, let me say genetics aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. If you’re lucky you inherit your Aunt Bertha’s sexy long legs or your father’s ability to add a bazillion dollar order in his head and get the total correct to the last penny. Without even breaking into a sweat, it’s easy to spout at least a million fabulous traits inheritable by the luck of the draw. Did I get those sexy long legs or the ability to add more than two plus two without a calculator? Noooooooooo. Lucky me. I inherited my Nana’s fear of death we overcompensated for with the nervous habit of laughing. A hysterical reaction? Think Bozo the clown eulogizing your favorite aunt.
I craned my neck like a tortoise and checked around. Then I clamped a fist over my mouth. Cripes, how could I possibly explain my guffaws with Bunny lying there? The disappointment was simultaneously mixed with relief when there was no one else in the parking lot. Where was security when you needed them?
I toed the elevator door open and bent over Bunny. I’d seen enough CSI episodes to know not to touch her. She was stiff as a board and I attributed the bluish tinge of her skin to the bikini crammed down her throat. I was no doctor, but I didn’t need an MD after my name to make this diagnosis. Bunny Frank was dead as the proverbial doorknob. It was no surprise Bunny Frank had finally pushed someone beyond their limits. The only surprise was it had taken so long. The question wasn’t who wanted Bunny Frank dead. The question was who didn’t?”
What are you working on now?
SUSIE: The second book in the Fashion & Foul Play series, Closet Full of…Murder will be published this spring. The story is set in the Los Angeles wholesale ladies’ swimwear industry and tells the rise and fall of Lissa Charney, the lazy but ruthless Royal Swimwear showroom manager.
What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
SUSIE: The one thing that is drilled into an author’s head is to only write what you know. If you don’t know it, either do the research and learn it or don’t you dare write it. If you don’t have the creds for what you write, you are toast, because readers can spot a phony by the second paragraph and never finish reading your book. This concept is one I never lose sight of and is the reason I write about the subjects I do. I would also advise that you keep writing, no matter what. Never stop believing in yourself or let anyone else crush your dreams, and never stop asking what if.
Where can we find you on the internet?
SUSIE:
Social Media Links:
Website: Susie Black
Book Bub: Book Bub
Facebook: Facebook
Goodreads: Death by Sample Size
Instagram: Susie Black (@hollyswimsuit) • Instagram photos and videos
LinkedIn: LinkedIn
Pinterest: Pinterest
Twitter: Twitter
*****
Some Books I’ve Read Lately:
GOTHEL AND THE MAIDEN PRINCE, by W. R. Gingell. One volume in a multi-author series called “Villain’s Ever After,” this fantasy novel retells the Rapunzel tale with a fresh perspective on Gothel and her alleged captive. The sorceress Gothel encourages the local villagers to think she’s evil so they will leave her alone. The magic of the forest surrounding her tower misdirects would-be intruders into aimless wandering. The reader learns of her truly ethical nature and the close bond between her and her foster daughter long before the prince of the title does. When Prince Lucien, a younger son who chose the unconventional vocation of mage instead of military prowess, hears about the princess imprisoned in the forest, he doesn’t charge in to rescue her by force like all the other knights in the past. Instead, he takes the time to talk with the princess—who’s afraid of men as well as the outside world—and open negotiations with the sorceress instead of trying to kill her on sight. Unwillingly intrigued as well as annoyed, when Gothel can’t get rid of Lucien, she forms a magical True Bargain with him. Every day, each must truthfully answer three questions from the other. If Lucien tries to break the Bargain before Gothel is satisfied with his answers, he will lose both his magic and his life. The pact ends when she’s satisfied. At that point, she’ll release the princess (playing along with his belief that Rapunzel is a prisoner) and forfeit her magic to him. If she decides satisfaction is impossible, she can terminate the Bargain, whereupon she will absorb Lucien’s magic. Naturally, the more they get to know about each other, the more reluctant she is to inflict that penalty upon him. Yet she can’t afford to lose her own power. The reader gets acquainted with the two protagonists in the process of their learning about each other. Lucien’s intelligence, kindness, and self-deprecating humor entertainingly collide with Gothel’s conflict between her carefully hidden softer side and her determination to maintain the “evil enchantress” image. Meanwhile, Lucien and the reader discover the truth of Rapunzel’s traumatic past. When Lucien’s father leads a troop of knights and mages to besiege Gothel’s tower, she and Lucien must work together to repel the attack. And how can the two of them resolve the seemingly irreconcilable condition that one must end up stripped of his or her magic? These two strong characters enthralled me with the sparks that fly as their relationship deepens.
QUICKSILVER, by Dean Koontz. I like this novel, a thriller that tends more toward fantasy than Koontz’s usual science-fictional suspense tales, better than many of his other recent books. It’s not dominated by his tediously typical villain, a sociopathic, self-deluded would-be superman; one such person does appear, but as a secondary character who doesn’t take up too much space. And I must admit his extravagant lair displays a grotesquely fascinating blend of luxury and horror. The narrator, Quinn Quicksilver, a bright, well-read nineteen-year-old with an engaging voice, works as a feature writer for a regional magazine in Arizona. Found as a newborn baby in a bassinette in the middle of a desert highway, he grew up in a combination orphanage and school run by strict but kindly nuns. Although not THE Chosen One, he turns out to be one of many destined champions scattered across the world, a role telegraphed by the names of the three men who rescued him in infancy from that highway—Hakeem Kaspar, Bailie Belshazzer, and Caesar Melchizadek. Quinn awakens to something radically different about himself when two men from a shadowy federal agency try to arrest him in his neighborhood diner. Their references to his “unique” nature make no sense to him. Fleeing and acquiring a substitute vehicle from a sympathetic acquaintance, Quinn finds himself drawn by what he later learns to call “psychic magnetism” to an abandoned barn where he rescues a young woman named Bridget and her grandfather, Sparky. Retired from an undisclosed career that involved weapons and combat training, Sparky now writes romance novels under a pen name. Bridget, who has the same kind of psychic powers Quinn now begins to develop, has been waiting two years for him to show up so they can get married after settling the current crisis. He wants to view their mission as a quest with a finite goal, while she insists they have a lifetime commitment as guardians of the natural law. Throughout the book, between fights for survival against enemies both human and inhuman, the two of them exchange delightful screwball-comedy style dialogue. Their desperate flight begins when Quinn and Bridget spot a pair of men who hide alien horrors beneath human guise. (Sparky, like most people, can’t see their true form.) Along the way, naturally, this being a Koontz novel, Quinn and his companions pick up a dog, in this case a German shepherd instead of the usual golden retriever. A seer named Panthea later joins them. The monsters, Bridget explains, have invaded our world from another universe they’ve reduced to rubble, in search of new realms to destroy. Called Nihilim, they oppose their uncorrupted kin, who have planted people such as Quinn and Bridget on Earth to defend humanity. The Nihilim are almost Lovecraftian in their sheerly repulsive alienness but also echo myths of fallen angels. The climax of the story draws together the seemingly unrelated elements of the Nihilim, the billionaire sociopath cult leader, and the orphanage of Quinn’s childhood into a plausible unity. The team’s mission culminates in a satisfying conclusion, though not without grievous loss, yet leaves room for sequels. I like the fact that Quinn has no desire to become the Chosen One and that his unfolding psychic gifts don’t corrupt him.
GOOD NEIGHBORS, by Stephanie Burgis. Another fantasy novel set in an alternate England or Europe, this one apparently unrelated to either Burgis’s Harwood Spellbook Regency Britain, her Kat Incorrigible series, her new Regency Dragons series that began with SCALES AND SENSIBILITY, or the Middle-European dragon tales for younger readers. Although part of GOOD NEIGHBORS has been previously published, the story as a whole is new, apparently expanded from the first section. It takes place in a society where magic exists openly but is viewed with suspicion. After Mia Brandt and her father are driven out of their previous home by magic-haters whose arsonist attack on their house has left her father’s legs permanently damaged, the residents of their new village warn them against taking a house near the mansion of the local necromancer. Since being left alone is what Mia wants most, she ignores that advice. As a metal mage, she allows the neighbors to know about her metal craft but not her magic. Her father, an expert metalworker, has lapsed into depression. In the book’s opening novella, the necromancer, Leander Fabian, repeatedly dispatches his undead minions to shamble toward Mia’s home. She eventually realizes that he isn’t sending them to attack her. Instead, he’s tricking her into repairing the sloppily constructed undead he inherited from his predecessor. As Mia and Leander become friendly acquaintances and allies, she begins to feel a reluctant attraction toward him. This first section has a sparkling sense of fun, with any darkness kept in the background. The remaining three parts mingle more suspense and danger with the humor, romance, and society shenanigans, ultimately becoming rather dark as Leander, Mia, and her father confront a repressive anti-magic “Purity” movement that threatens their lives and those of newfound allies and friends. Mia resists her feelings for Leander, unsure whether he reciprocates, but of course the romantic tension is ultimately resolved along with their defeat of the dire threats they face together. Even Mia’s father finds love, from a most unexpected source. A delightful story with plenty of entertaining twists.
THE LOST GIRLS, by Sonia Hartl. One of the most unusual vampire novels I’ve read in quite a while. First-person narrator Holly’s story emphasizes, not the horrors perpetrated by vampires, but the horror of being one. Perpetually sixteen, she was turned in 1987. Without access to a handy fortune or the patronage of an ancient undead lord, she has to work at the minimum-wage jobs open to an apparent teenager with no documentation. For a “home,” she’s stuck with a cheap motel room. Hartl’s vampires remain frozen in the condition in which they died. Holly can’t even alter her unwisely chosen hairstyle. Damage to the body heals instantly, but wounds, scars, and blemishes that exist at the final moment of mortal life never change. Detached limbs, evisceration, even severed heads repair themselves within a minute or two. (I can’t imagine how growing a new head could work, though. How do intelligence and memory make the transition? Well, it’s magic, I guess.) Fire isn’t mentioned. Wouldn’t incineration to ashes dispose of them? Or maybe they’re flame-proof. Sunlight and typical repellents such as garlic and religious objects have no effect. The narrative foregrounds hyper-acute vampire senses with frequent analyses of how people smell and taste. On the other hand, these vampires don’t seem to have mind-control mesmeric powers. They also suffer the disadvantage of being psychically tethered to their makers. Holly has to follow Ethan, who transformed her, wherever he chooses to travel, although she hasn’t seen him face-to-face in many years. When the other two apparently teenage girls he turned and abandoned before her, Ida (in 1921) and Rose (in 1954), contact her, Holly’s equilibrium, such as it is, crumbles. Ethan had claimed Holly was the first person who had restored his capacity for love and made undead immortality bearable. Learning he used similar lines on her two predecessors obliterates whatever attraction to him she still felt despite his controlling, emotionally abusive treatment of her. Now he plans to seduce and transform a new victim, a student at Holly’s old high school. Ida and Rose, who want to destroy him before he can consummate that plan, need Holly’s help. Killing an otherwise indestructible creature involves a ritual that requires all his vampire offspring. When Holly ventures into her old school to become acquainted with the prospective next victim and try to persuade her to break up with Ethan, Holly’s past presses upon her, as if time were a sentient entity hostile to unnatural beings such as the undead. She and the new girl quickly form an attachment, although vampire conventional wisdom maintains that involvement with the living never works well. Meanwhile, preparation for the attack on Ethan encounters obstacles and dangers, since he has vampire allies on his side, too. The lifestyles of Ida and Rose make the grim fly-in-amber nature of vampire immortality even clearer than Holly’s dreary existence does, yet all three of them cherish the hope for freedom promised by the prospect of liberation from their maker’s shadow. If they succeed, they’ll face heart-wrenching loss as well as a chance at a genuine fresh start. I highly recommend this book, but it’s not perfect. For one thing, why do they always have to kill their prey? Because they don’t have the power to make victims forget, I guess, but this feature still bugs me. Why don’t they get caught? Surely not every death can be counted on to pass as a wild animal attack? More important is a flaw I can’t specify without a major spoiler. Suffice it to say that here’s a case where present-tense narrative would make sense. Or maybe the author should have chosen a third-person narrative voice. If the consequences of the destruction ritual unfold as described, Holly couldn’t be telling certain vital parts of this story.
*****
Excerpt from “Calling Back Love”:
The leather-bound notebook lay open on the redwood kitchen table, its scrawls of black ink a mockery of Kirsten’s faint hopes. “I’ve scoured every page of Grandmamma’s Book of Shadows. I can’t find one word about what I need.” She slammed the book shut. “Not a thing about restoring life to a person killed before his time.”
“And you won’t.” Estelle shook her head, the spring of her salt-and-pepper curls punctuating the decree. “No magic can call back the dead. And even if it could, you know that never ends well. You’ve read ‘The Monkey’s Paw’ and that book about the cursed pet cemetery.”
“But I can’t leave it like this. When we talked on Skype the night before his last patrol, we had another fight about his career. I came this close to making him choose between the Army and me. We didn’t have a real goodbye. If there’s any way magic can give me one more chance, I’ll take it.” In the two months since the report of Shawn’s presumed death in Afghanistan, the memory of that argument had been eating her alive.
“When I promised your grandmother I’d mentor you in the Craft, I accepted certain responsibilities, one of which is to stop you from making reckless choices.”
Kirsten rubbed her eyes, sore from yet another crying fit just before she’d come here, and stared at her mentor with wild hope. “You wouldn’t talk about stopping me if it weren’t possible in the first place. Okay, witchcraft can’t bring the dead back to life. How about calling up his spirit so we can have one last conversation?”
“Have you ever seen me conduct a séance? Me or any other responsible witch? It’s against nature to disturb the peace of the dead.” Estelle strolled to the counter to pour two mugs of coffee. The window over the sink framed her silhouette against a serene background of sun-dappled trees, in ironic contrast to the turmoil that racked Kirsten. Her teacher’s spacious kitchen with its granite floor, exposed oak beams and aromas of drying herbs usually welcomed her with its warmth. Today it felt as bleak as the rest of the world.
“I don’t believe he’s at peace. He was blown to bits on a mountainside with nothing left to bring home.” Survivors of the platoon had reported two explosions, the second of which had obliterated Shawn. No remains had been found, not even a minute fragment, hence the “missing and presumed dead” conclusion that left him in official limbo. “We were supposed to get married after he finished this tour. The IED stole that from us. I’m not at peace with that so how can he be, wherever he is?” She shoved aside the mug Estelle set in front of her.
The older woman clasped her hand across the table. “When the gift for magic skipped your mother, your grandmother entrusted your training to me. She’d find a way to rise up and haunt me if I let you risk yourself with any such dark working.”
“There you go again, hinting at something you’re hiding from me. Well, maybe I don’t need your help. There’s got to be somebody on the left-hand path who’ll teach me what I need to know.”
Estelle’s thin face hardened, as stern as an avenging angel’s, her blue eyes turning icy. “Don’t even think that. Do you imagine for one minute the Goddess would shelter you from the consequences?”
-end of excerpt-
*****
My Publishers:
Writers Exchange E-Publishing: Writers Exchange
Harlequin: Harlequin
Wild Rose Press: Wild Rose Press
You can contact me at: MLCVamp@aol.com
“Beast” wishes until next time—
Margaret L. Carter
Welcome to the February 2022 issue of my newsletter, “News from the Crypt,” and please visit Carter’s Crypt, devoted to my horror, fantasy, and paranormal romance work, especially focusing on vampires and shapeshifting beasties. If you have a particular fondness for vampires, check out the chronology of my series in the link labeled “Vanishing Breed Vampire Universe.” For my recommendations of “must read” classic and modern vampire fiction, explore the Realm of the Vampires:
Realm of the Vampires
Also, check out the multi-author Alien Romances Blog
The long-time distributor of THE VAMPIRE’S CRYPT has closed its website. If you would like to read any issue of this fanzine, which contains fiction, interviews, and a detailed book review column, e-mail me to request the desired issue, and I’ll send you a free PDF of it. My e-mail address is at the end of this newsletter. Find information about the contents of each issue on this page of my website:
A complete list of my available works, arranged roughly by genre, with purchase links (gradually being updated as the Amber Quill and Ellora’s Cave works are being republished):
For anyone who would like to read previous issues of this newsletter, they’re posted on my website here (starting from January 2018):
This is my Facebook author page. Please visit!
Facebook
Here’s my page in Barnes and Noble’s Nook store:
Barnes and Noble
Here’s the list of my Kindle books on Amazon. (The final page, however, includes some Ellora’s Cave anthologies in which I don’t have stories):
Carter Kindle Books
Here’s a shortcut URL to my author page on Amazon:
Amazon
The Fiction Database displays a comprehensive list of my books (although with a handful of fairy tales by a different Margaret Carter near the end):
My Goodreads page:
Goodreads
Please “Like” my author Facebook page (cited above) to see reminders when each monthly newsletter is uploaded. I’ve also noticed that I’m more likely to be shown posts from liked or friended sources in my Facebook feed when I’ve “Liked” some of their individual posts, so you might want to do that, too. Thanks!
Below is an excerpt from “Werewolf Watch,” one of the three stories featuring half-vampire psychiatrist Roger Darvell and his human partner, Dr. Britt Loren, in my recently published collection DOCTOR VAMPIRE:
My annual vampire fiction bibliography update is ready for distribution. If you’d like to receive a copy, please contact me through the e-mail address shown at the end of this newsletter.
This month, I’m interviewing mystery author Steven J. Kolbe.
*****
Interview with Steven J. Kolbe:
What inspired you to begin writing?
Ever since I was little, I’ve loved writing down stories. At first I wrote about things that happened in my day, with a healthy amount of exaggeration. Then I turned to retelling stories I’d read and seen. Finally, I started writing my own stories.
What genres do you work in?
As far as fiction goes, I write both in the literary and the mystery genres, although I’ve found more success in the mystery genre. I’ve also written a number of personal essays and articles on education.
Do you outline, “wing it,” or something in between?
I definitely outline, and I recommend my students do so as well. I’ll even write out a short chapter summary and count this almost as a draft of the novel. These are my first ideas. Then I actually draft it out sentence by sentence. Inevitably something happens, maybe it is intuition, maybe it is magic, and the characters begin to steer the ship. The first full draft is never exactly the same as the chapter summary I outlined, and thankfully so. It is always better.
What have been the major influences on your writing (favorite authors, life experiences, or whatever)?
I write a fair amount about mental health, and my own experiences with it have been a huge influence. Writers who have shaped me are many and various. Salinger is always there in the back of my head, shaping my characters and my voice. Right now I’m reading Tolstoy’s War and Peace, because even though it’s long, you can’t go wrong with the Russians.
Has your teaching career affected your fiction writing, and if so, how?
Teaching has definitely drawn me closer to the fiction I love. It really is true that you don’t know something until you know it well enough to teach it. Reading A Tale of Two Cities is one thing, but going through it chapter by chapter, character by character, with a group of teenagers who don’t quite understand what is happening or why Dickens chose to include it, that right there is a completely different experience, and I’ve been blessed to have it with a multitude of poems, short stories, plays, and novels. I’d recommend anyone who is interested in becoming a writer, first consider becoming a teacher.
What kind of research did you do for HOW EVERYTHING TURNS AWAY?
I did a fair amount of research about the FBI, criminal profiling, and electricity, all of which play a part in the novel. The teaching aspects, I was able to pull mostly from lived experience, although I’ve never witnessed a major crime while teaching…at least not yet.
Please tell us about your mystery-writing course.
The mystery course I’m offering to local libraries: We go through the major aspects of a mystery novel, from suspects and alibis to characterization and red-herrings. At various points, I stop and read a portion of my debut mystery. I provide all participants with two different novel outlines to help get them started on their own projects, and usually end with a discussion of some good mystery novels and a Q&A. This summer we are planning a Kansas Library Tour, so if you’re in Kansas, please reach out and I’ll contact your local library.
What is your next-forthcoming book?
I’m currently on draft three of a sequel. It’s the same characters but a different crime. A Finnish heiress goes missing during a masquerade on Lake Michigan. Meanwhile, her father’s business partner is found stabbed to death in his apartment.
What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Great writers are great readers. The more you read, the more examples you can see of how to do it. Also, the world needs teachers. If you can do it, you’ll find so many rewards.
What is the URL of your website? What about other internet presence?
*****
Some Books I’ve Read Lately:
WHERE THE DROWNED GIRLS GO, by Seanan McGuire. Seventh volume in the Wayward Children series. The settings of previous books have alternated between Miss Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children, a sanctuary for children and teens who have traveled through portals to other worlds and come back to the “real” world, and some of those other worlds. Most of the students yearn to rediscover their doors and return to the magical realms they consider their true homes, though few of them achieve that goal. WHERE THE DROWNED GIRLS GO introduces an alternative school, the Whitethorn Institute, which aims to help, or force, its students to forget their other worlds and learn to fit into this one. Cora, who became a mermaid in the oceanic realm to which she’d been transported, hasn’t been the same since she visited the Gothic horror dimension of the Moors. The sea of that world called to her, and Cora barely escaped from the dominion of its eldritch Drowned Gods. Now water, which she loves, also terrifies her. Although the walls between dimensions are supposed to be impervious, in water she constantly hears the whispers of the Drowned Gods. In desperation, she begs to be transferred to the Whitethorn Institute. She disregards Miss Eleanor’s warnings that, while it’s easy enough to get into the Institute, it’s much harder to leave. The Institute operates under a nearly prison-like regimen, which comes across as a grimly twisted mirror image of Miss Eleanor’s approach to wayward children. At the Whitethorn Institute, obedience and an outward display of right thinking are sternly imposed, enforced by demerits. Students who’ve spent time in Logic worlds have to adjust to a chaotic lack of predictability, while returnees from Nonsense worlds are caged by rigid rules. Also, there’s something peculiar about the headmaster. When Cora quickly regrets her choice, she learns Miss Eleanor was right. Nobody can withdraw just for the asking. Many of the students, those who aren’t afraid to speak up, seem to have similar regrets, and the prospective graduate held up as a shining example of success publicly recants her “adjustment.” Cora meets only one classmate who wholeheartedly wants to forget about her other world. It’s no big spoiler to reveal that Cora and a few of her new friends try to break free. In the process, they learn the headmaster’s secret and a bit about the school’s background. I was delighted that Regan, heroine of the previous book, ACROSS THE GREEN GRASS FIELDS, plays a vital role in this story. Portal fantasy is my favorite type of speculative fiction, so I love this series. I have only two complaints about the books—they’re released only once a year, and they’re too short. Happily, at least one more is scheduled.
THE SILVER BULLETS OF ANNIE OAKLEY, by Mercedes Lackey. This installment of Lackey’s Elemental Masters series reimagines Annie Oakley as an Air Master, although the famed sharpshooter has no idea of her power or even the existence of magic and the supernatural realm until Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show tours Europe. According to Wikipedia, this tour occurred around 1890, but the story includes occasional glimpses of motorized vehicles, which I suppose could have existed, although rare, in large European cities at that time. In an ominous bit of foreshadowing, Annie speculates on whether the world would be better off if she’d “missed” when shooting a cigarette out of the Kaiser’s hand. The novel begins with one of Lackey’s recurring tropes, an abused child. Bound as a servant to a cruel couple whom preteen Annie thinks of as the She-Wolf and the He-Wolf, she’s beaten, starved, and cheated of the money her employers were supposed to send to her family. She assumes her visions of fairy-like creatures, not to mention the “Wolves” transforming into bestial shapes, are hallucinations. Immediately after she manages to flee from them, the story leaps forward several decades, as she wakes in the midst of the show’s Continental tour beside her husband, Frank Butler, to whom she talks out the horror of those memories. In Germany (recently unified under the rule of Kaiser Wilhelm) Annie and Frank meet Frida, a German “shootist” who temporarily joins the show, and her American husband, Jack. (The dust jacket blurb, by the way, includes the erroneous statement that Annie encounters Giselle, the heroine of FROM A HIGH TOWER—DAW’s second inaccurate Lackey cover synopsis within the past couple of years. Odd.) Under the guidance of Elemental Masters Frida and Jack, Annie and Frank, who turns out to be a Water Master, learn about their powers. Annie encounters not only sylphs but more powerful and formidable air elementals. As the Wild West Show travels across Europe, she gets acquainted with an aristocratic Hunt Master and his cohort of hunters. In between training sessions, Annie helps to defeat several scary creatures, including a Krampus during the Christmas season. Unlike most of Lackey’s Elemental Masters and magicians, Annie isn’t unambiguously thrilled to learn about her occult abilities. She’s apprehensive of being expected to become a hunter, a vocation that would mean an end to her present career. Her uncertainty about her future and how to handle her gifts is one thread running through the book. Another comprises subtle hints that the He-Wolf may not be relegated to her distant past after all. Until the climactic resolution of those two interwoven themes, the story consists mainly of relationship-building, lessons in magic, German local color, and details about the Wild West Show. In other words, some readers might complain that nothing much happens. I always enjoy how Lackey deals with such material, though, so the relative lack of “action” doesn’t bother me. As far as I can tell from skimming online information about Annie Oakley, the non-magical aspects of the novel are historically accurate. I also enjoyed the portrayal of her strong marriage to Frank, who offers her solid emotional support in every way and cheerfully plays “second fiddle” to his wife as the star attraction, far more accurate than his attitude as dramatized in the musical ANNIE GET YOUR GUN.
REBOOTS: UNDEAD CAN DANCE, by Mercedes Lackey and Cody Martin. While I faithfully buy all of Mercedes Lackey’s solo novels, whether I pick up a collaboration usually depends on the co-author. I ordered this book because I enjoyed Lackey and Martin’s two “Serrated Edge” (Lackey’s urban fantasy elf series) novels about the town of Silence. REBOOTS: UNDEAD CAN DANCE is a fun read, too, but it’s an entirely different kind of fiction—darkly humorous interstellar adventure crossed with hardboiled detective mysteries, whose cast of characters mainly comprises zombies, werewolves, vampires, and other supernatural beings. These are movie monsters, not surprisingly, rather than the authentic folklore variety. Zombies (nicknamed “reboots”) eat brains, although they don’t need that nourishment to survive; vampires are arrogant aristocrats who can’t stand sunlight; werewolves transform only, and involuntarily, by moonlight. Parts of the book have been previously published, and in its present form it consists of four connected novellas that could each stand alone. The first section, “Bad Moon Rising,” takes place on a spaceship. As soon as the existence of supernatural creatures went public, it became obvious that those who are virtually immortal would make ideal starship crews. Vampires command, of course. Zombies perform menial tasks, essentially acting as organic robots. Werewolves, with their preternaturally fast healing, not only work as engineers and technicians on board these ships but serve as renewable sources of blood for the vampires. In “Bad Moon Rising,” two zombies who have unaccountably retained awareness, intelligence, and memories of their human lives team up with the ship’s werewolf to revolt against the vampire command staff. I was slightly dissatisfied with this section because the hostility among the crew members reduces the appeal of even the three good guys. All actions not driven by resentment or outright hatred seem marked by, at best, indifference to others except as alliances prove useful. The interpersonal atmosphere improves, however, in the other three parts of the book, which constitute the hardboiled mystery element. There we meet other species of not-quite-human creatures, including the protagonist of the remaining three parts, a boggart named Humphrey. (Yes, Humphrey Boggart.) With the sapient zombie Skinny Jim and Fred the werewolf from the first part, Humph operates a private detective agency. They investigate cases on space stations and other extraterrestrial locales. Unlike the character-driven fiction typical of most of Lackey’s solo works, REBOOTS focuses more on plot twists and action. We do get to know Humphrey pretty well, though, and I found him the most likable of the characters. In general, I’d rate this novel as an entertaining story based on an engagingly unusual premise. Its episodic format and open-ended conclusion leave plenty of room for sequels if desired.
*****
Excerpt from “Werewolf Watch”:
Two days later, they met to “tag-team the werewolf,” as Britt put it. The patient, Carlos Reye, offered his hand as Roger strode into his partner’s office. The young man, apparently in his early twenties, had olive skin, curly, black hair, and the characteristic lycanthropic trait of bushy eyebrows that met over the nose. Unlike Roger, who as a vampire had the same feature, Carlos didn’t minimize that anomaly by shaving between his brows. Darker crimson streaks in the rose-pink of his aura hinted at his nonhuman heritage, as did a wild tinge in his scent. His nostrils flared, as if he’d noticed the metallic aroma that signaled Roger’s hybrid nature. Since he had no idea vampires existed, of course, that oddity would puzzle him. When they shook hands, Roger noticed the other inescapable sign of lycanthropy, index and middle fingers of the same length.
“Thanks in advance for your help,” Carlos said as Britt waved him to a seat on the couch. His pulse, audible to Roger’s superhuman hearing, raced with tension. “You don’t have any trouble believing I’m a werewolf?”
“I trust Dr. Loren’s judgment.” He rolled the desk chair over to sit facing the patient, while Britt positioned herself on the other end of the couch. “She’s given me a summary of your problem, but please tell me about it in your own words.”
The young man knotted his fingers together. “I’m afraid I might be changing at night without knowing it and hurting people.”
With a light touch on Carlos’ wrist, Roger applied a subtle psychic nudge to calm him. “What makes you think that?”
“Reports of animal attacks the day after I’ve had nightmares about turning into a wolf against my will. I haven’t seen any evidence that I’ve left the house, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything, does it?”
“Up until now, have you had control over your transformations?” Contrary to popular culture clichés, werewolf shifting had no connection to the phases of the moon. If a subject believed that superstition, though, the belief might have psychosomatic consequences.
Carlos shrugged. “As far as I know. When I’m awake, I can still turn from human to wolf and back at will. I go hunting in the woods—just animals like rabbits, deer, raccoons—two or three nights a week to get the urge out of my system.”
“Alone?” Britt asked.
“Yeah, except when I first started and Mom was training me. She doesn’t belong to a pack, so I’ve never wanted to get into that scene.” From what little Roger and Britt knew about werewolf packs, they might object to associating with human-werewolf hybrids.
“How can I be sure I’m not transforming in sleep?” A dimming of Carlos’ aura mirrored the strain in his voice.
“How many times has this happened?” Roger asked.
“Four over the past few weeks.”
-end of excerpt-
*****
My Publishers:
Writers Exchange E-Publishing: Writers Exchange
Harlequin: Harlequin
Wild Rose Press: Wild Rose Press
You can contact me at: MLCVamp@aol.com
“Beast” wishes until next time—
Margaret L. Carter
Welcome to the January 2022 issue of my newsletter, “News from the Crypt,” and please visit Carter’s Crypt, devoted to my horror, fantasy, and paranormal romance work, especially focusing on vampires and shapeshifting beasties. If you have a particular fondness for vampires, check out the chronology of my series in the link labeled “Vanishing Breed Vampire Universe.” For my recommendations of “must read” classic and modern vampire fiction, explore the Realm of the Vampires:
Realm of the Vampires
Also, check out the multi-author Alien Romances Blog
The long-time distributor of THE VAMPIRE’S CRYPT has closed its website. If you would like to read any issue of this fanzine, which contains fiction, interviews, and a detailed book review column, e-mail me to request the desired issue, and I’ll send you a free PDF of it. My e-mail address is at the end of this newsletter. Find information about the contents of each issue on this page of my website:
A complete list of my available works, arranged roughly by genre, with purchase links (gradually being updated as the Amber Quill and Ellora’s Cave works are being republished):
For anyone who would like to read previous issues of this newsletter, they’re posted on my website here (starting from January 2018):
This is my Facebook author page. Please visit!
Facebook
Here’s my page in Barnes and Noble’s Nook store:
Barnes and Noble
Here’s the list of my Kindle books on Amazon. (The final page, however, includes some Ellora’s Cave anthologies in which I don’t have stories):
Carter Kindle Books
Here’s a shortcut URL to my author page on Amazon:
Amazon
The Fiction Database displays a comprehensive list of my books (although with a handful of fairy tales by a different Margaret Carter near the end):
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Goodreads
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Happy New Year!
My contemporary elf romance, PRINCE OF THE HOLLOW HILLS, was republished by Writers Exchange E-Publishing in October. Two elven princes seek Fern’s baby nephew, one to kill him and one to protect him. Here’s the publisher’s page, where you can read the blurb and the first two scenes of the novel:
There’s another excerpt below. Ivy is heroine Fern’s sister, and Baird is Ivy’s baby son. Kieran, whom Fern has met only once before, is a cousin of Baird’s vanished father.
This month, I’m interviewing contemporary romance author Margot Johnson, who has a recent release in the Wild Rose Press “Christmas Cookies” series:
*****
Interview with Margot Johnson:
What inspired you to begin writing?
I grew up in a family of writers. My dad was a journalist who always encouraged my sisters and me to read and write. My sister Donna Gartshore writes for Harlequin Love Inspired. (My other sister became a nurse like our mom.) From an early age, I dreamed of seeing my name on the cover of a book.
What genres do you work in?
My books are sweet, contemporary romance although I see myself evolving into broader women’s fiction/chick lit. I have a couple of children’s picture books that have been close to being published, and I continue to dabble in ideas for kids.
Do you outline, “wing it,” or something in between?
I outline enough to write a synopsis, but I really like to see where characters take me. I’m often surprised when things happen that I never expected. In my latest book, Let it Melt (being released in February), the heroine turned out to be the sister of a character from Let it Snowball. I had no idea!
What have been the major influences on your writing (favorite authors, life experiences, or whatever)?
Growing up in a family of writers on my dad’s side, I was naturally drawn to writing. I remember my dad clicking away on a manual typewriter at the dining room table. When I started university, I was interested in law, but I enjoyed my English classes so much, I decided to focus on English and see where it led me. Whenever I read a really good book—no matter what the genre–I feel inspired to write.
What inspired your “Christmas Cookies” story LET IT SNOWBALL?
The Wild Rose Press introduced a series where the title needed to include a type of Christmas cookie which I thought was fun. I had been toying with the idea of a story about a tour guide meeting her match while leading a tour, and everything came together in Let it Snowball. A snowy, cold, prairie winter was the perfect setting for a Christmas story with snow in the title.
What is your latest or next-forthcoming book?
Let it Melt is a follow-up to Let it Snowball. This time, Merilee hosts a Sweetheart Tour which leads to fun adventures and unexpected romance.
What are you working on now?
I’ll soon be starting a third novella with another tour by Merilee. I like the idea of characters being forced together on a bus tour as they discover new destinations and surprising relationships. It will be fun to show how life has changed for some of the characters in the first two books in the series.
What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Just write! Don’t wait for the perfect time or the perfect idea. So many people tell me they have an idea for a book but they haven’t found time to write it yet. When I was working full-time, I set my alarm early and wrote for at least an hour before I went to the office. The process of writing sparks creativity, so forcing yourself to sit at the keyboard and write helps the story develop and flow.
What is the URL of your website? What about other internet presence?
Twitter@AuthorMargot
Margot Johnson ~ Author
Let It Snowball
Love Leads the Way
Love Takes Flight
*****
Some Books I’ve Read Lately:
GHOST STORIES OF AN ANTIQUARY, by M. R. James. This edition of a classic collection of horror stories is the latest installment in a series of public domain works edited and re-published by the Horror Writers Association under the umbrella title “The Haunted Library of Horror Classics.” You can find this particular book on Amazon here:
Ghost Stories of an Antiquary
It features an informative, thoughtful introduction by David Morrell, author of FIRST BLOOD (the novel that created the character Rambo). GHOST STORIES OF AN ANTIQUARY contains some of M. R. James’s best-known fiction, including “The Mezzotint,” “Count Magnus,” and “Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad,” among others. A less often reprinted piece, “Lost Hearts,” was one of the first things by him I read (in my early teens), a creepy yet poignant tale of child ghosts. James wrote atmospheric stories of supernatural horror but little overt violence, often with inquisitive scholars as protagonists. The editors have added several explanatory footnotes to each story, defining words not commonly used in the present day and identifying real-world people and locations. Like all the volumes in this series, the book includes a bibliography of suggested further reading and a list of proposed discussion questions for classroom study. You can read about the Haunted Library project and view the covers of all the books published so far here:
Haunted Library of Horror Classics
REVELATOR, by Daryl Gregory. A folk-horror novel set in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee in the 1930s and 40s. In 1933, nine-year-old Stella’s father dumps her at the mountain home of her maternal grandmother, Motty. In 1948, Stella reluctantly returns for her grandmother’s funeral. The narrative jumps back and forth between these two time periods, gradually revealing Stella’s past and the secrets of the cult her grandmother belonged to. Having a rocky relationship with Motty, Stella became friendly with a bootlegger who took her under his wing, and as an adult she has become partner in and heir to his business. She has no desire to live in the place where, as a child, she was introduced to a creature known as the god under the mountain, familiarly called “Ghostdaddy.” She wants no more part of the role imposed on her as the “Revelator” who acts as a sort of oracle of the god’s will in an ecstatic state. When she returns for the funeral, she has to deal with Sunny, a girl of mysterious origins adopted by Motty. Trying to spare Sunny the fate she herself barely escaped, Stella attempts to defeat the cult masquerading as a conventional church and close off the portal to the god’s underground lair. At first Ghostdaddy seems like a paranormal eldritch entity, but as his or its nature is further explored, I get the impression that the “god” is an alien but natural being. The culture of mid-twentieth-century Appalachia is fascinatingly portrayed. The full truth about Stella’s past and her connection with Sunny comes as an astounding revelation that, in retrospect, makes perfect sense.
GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE, by Diana Gabaldon. The ninth Outlander novel, finally released following a seven-year wait, takes place in 1779 soon but not immediately after the conclusion of WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART’S BLOOD (2014). That book ended at what could have been a natural stopping point for the main series, with the family reunited and no cliffhangers or major loose ends impending. It has been clear all along, however, that Gabaldon intends to carry the saga through the American Revolution. It’s been predicted that the next volume (the tenth) may be the last. With two years still to go until the battle of Yorktown, the unofficial end to the war, I’m wondering how she’ll pull it off. The title refers to the Appalachian tradition of informing the occupants of a household’s beehives when a family member departs or dies, in the belief that otherwise the bees will desert the hives. Throughout the book, this motif recurs as Claire talks to the bees whenever any important change happens. While life at Fraser’s Ridge goes on, threats posed by the Revolution loom in the background. Jamie and Claire, of course, support the colonists, but they hope the war will bypass their home and Jamie won’t be forced to fight. Some of his neighbors, even a few residents of the Ridge itself, stay loyal to Great Britain. A tense détente remains in effect, but open conflict could erupt at any time. A history book Brianna and Roger have brought back from the twentieth century, written by Claire’s first husband, Frank, records that a James Fraser will die at the battle of King’s Mountain. That’s a common Scottish name, though, which could belong to any of dozens of men in eighteenth-century Carolina. Even if “our” Jamie is referred to, the possibility may exist of changing fate in small ways, even if not deflecting pivotal events in the historical timeline. Meanwhile, Brianna and Roger fear that a potential enemy from their own time may have pursued them through the stones (i.e., the temporal portal). Most of the story, however, focuses on day-to-day life with its small and large problems, joys, and sorrows. Since the evolution of Appalachia from its Celtic colonial roots into the mountain culture familiar to us is the element of recent volumes in the series that interests me most, I enjoyed BEES for this feature. We witness Claire developing into the archetypal “Granny” healer of the mountains, aided by the 1977 Merck Manual Brianna has brought her as a gift from the future. Jamie perfects his home-distilled whisky while evading taxes. We find out what’s going on with most of their friends and relatives. Some incidents make it clear how hazardous settling a wilderness can be; bears, for instance, aren’t the food-stealing nuisances of modern parks but an active danger. The time-travel thread isn’t neglected. I love fish-out-of-water details such as Claire and Brianna introducing Jamie to Dr. Seuss. (Brianna has brought along her daughter’s favorite storybook, GREEN EGGS AND HAM.) The novel ends with, if not quite a cliffhanger, a fresh, unresolved crisis. The book includes a sprawling, complicated family tree, along with eight pages of helpful Author’s Notes in various categories such as figures of speech, historical people and places mentioned in the text, culture and language, etc. Like previous volumes, this novel is narrated partly in first person by Claire and partly in third person from other viewpoints.
*****
Excerpt from PRINCE OF THE HOLLOW HILLS:
Fern let out her breath in a long sigh and stooped to retrieve her purse from under the counter. The heavy necklace thumped against her chest, bothering her, so she took it off and stuffed it into her bag. The humid heat of the afternoon settled onto her skin the minute she stepped out the door. In her car, she switched on the cranky air conditioner and waited for it to do its feeble best to relieve her discomfort. Her thoughts churned with anxiety. Little as she wanted to grant any validity to Ivy’s foreshadowings of disaster, she had to admit that if two other people claimed Baird was in danger, the warnings might have some basis in truth. Which one of the two should she be watching out for? The alleged detective who hadn’t offered his name? Or the cousin of Baird’s father, a man who’d deserted his pregnant girlfriend?
Shoving these speculations to the back of her mind, Fern pulled her compact car away from the curb, made a U-turn at the corner, and headed for the historic district. She followed the narrow road between the high, gray walls of the Naval Academy campus on one side and the red brick buildings of St. John’s College on the other, then inched around the traffic circle next to the city dock, with its upscale shops and million-dollar boats. Ivy lived only five minutes away in Eastport, across Spa Creek from downtown Annapolis. Fortunately, when Fern approached the creek, clogged with sailboats as usual in summer, the low drawbridge didn’t open. That delay would have thrown her into screaming hysterics.
She drove a few blocks in the light midday traffic, through shady streets lined with respectable but faded-looking houses built between the World Wars, to the almost-new townhouse complex where Ivy rented a two-bedroom apartment. The car’s erratic cooling system had barely begun to fight by that time. A sheen of sweat coated Fern’s arms and forehead when she parked in front of her sister’s unit. Ivy’s shabby, blue sedan with the baby seat in the back sat in its usual spot. Fern strode up to the door and rang the bell. No sound came from inside.
A movement in the corner of her eye made her jump. Wheeling around, she found Kieran at her elbow. “Don’t sneak up on me that way. What are you doing here?”
“Looking for Ivy, as I told you.” He wore tight-fitting gloves of thin, supple leather or kidskin, a strange accessory on a summer afternoon.
“You just got here? You haven’t seen her yet?”
He shook his head.
When he didn’t volunteer any further information, she turned away from him, opened the screen door, and knocked on the wooden panel. Still nothing. She tried the knob. Although expecting to need her key, she found the door unlocked. The air conditioning, set low enough to generate exorbitant electric bills, made a shiver course over her bare arms when she stepped inside. “Ivy? You home?”
Kieran followed her into the apartment. She pretended to ignore him.
She hurried through the deserted living room to the kitchen. Nobody there. The silence pressed on her like a hundred-pound weight. She checked the downstairs half-bath, then rushed through the living room up the stairs, with Kieran right behind her. Bathroom, empty. Baby’s room the same, of course. Her heart raced with mounting anxiety. *Something’s wrong, terribly wrong. Ivy’s prediction is coming true.* Fern squashed that thought like a spider. These feelings of impending catastrophe weren’t real. She couldn’t let them control her actions.
When she reached the open door of Ivy’s bedroom, she discovered her sister sprawled on her back, with arms and legs flung at awkward angles, eyes shut, and her long hair fanned out behind her head. Oddly, a wrench lay beside her right hand, as if she’d dropped it when she had fallen.
-end of excerpt-
My Publishers:
Writers Exchange E-Publishing: Writers Exchange
Harlequin: Harlequin
Wild Rose Press: Wild Rose Press
You can contact me at: MLCVamp@aol.com
“Beast” wishes until next time—
Margaret L. Carter