The cover for the Winter 2016 issue of Flash Bang Mysteries, which goes live in January, is here! Please check it out and let us know what you think. As you will notice, Kaye George’s story, THIS ISN’T THE WAY, is featured on the cover. We’d like to congratulate Kaye for earning that distinction, and we’d like to thank all of the authors who submitted their work.
Now that Rhiannon has her official witch license making her legal she is almost ready to demon hunt. She knows that her red dress is stunning even if the mirror rudely refuses to confirm the fact. As soon as Howard Henry Spears, her boyfriend, shows up she can tell him all about it her new license and more.
But, Howard has a little news of his own. That is when he isn’t being a bit of a jerk. Things are about to get heated and not in a good way in The Eve of True Forms: A Witch Gone Wrong Kindle Short.
This short story by Shalanna Collins, who also writes as Denise Weeks, is an entertaining fast read. A tad spooky and a couple of surprises result in a solidly good tale.
The Eve of True Forms: A Witch Gone Wrong Kindle Short
Shalanna Collins
http://shalanna.livejournal.com/
Pandora Press
October 2015
ASIN: B016LTZ6IY
E-Book
19 Pages
$0.99
Picked this up to read and review a couple of days ago when the author mentioned on Facebook that it was currently free on Amazon.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2015
https://www.amazon.com/author/kevintipple
Reviews and More http://kevintipplescorner.blogspot.com/
https://www.pinterest.com/kevintipple/
Lone McGantry has done a lot of things over the years and some of the jobs were difficult and nasty. The latest job has the potential to be seriously annoying. He really does not want to be a taking a bunch of wealthy English folks on an excursion from North Platte, Nebraska out to the Sandhills. But, he got roped into this mess by Buffalo Bill Cody himself. Telling Buffalo Bill no is a near impossibility and as a result McGantry said yes when contacted by the foreign nobility. Even if he is increasingly of the mind that this is a super bad idea, McGantry isn’t one to go back on his word. There also a nice payday in store once all is said and done. As Buffalo Bill pointed out in his telegram, the English folks have money and are willing to spend it so at least some of it should come his way.
For Lone McGantry there are not a lot of ways to make money in the Nebraska panhandle of the 1880s. An English Lord by the name of Reginald Haddenforth, his wife, Lady Claire, and several others in the party intend to sightsee and hunt Buffalo. Lord Haddenforth and his wife have hunted boar in Germany’s Black Forest as well as gone on safari to Africa three times. Lord Haddenforth writes books about his adventures and intends to do the same regarding the Sandhill extension. All that is well and good, but Lone McGantry is of the opinion that women should stay in town where they belong and those going out on the expedition need to understand that the old west is dangerous and needs to be taken seriously.
For Lone McGantry and his men, life in the old west is not some grand adventure to be had before returning to a plush chair to sip cognac by a roaring fire. For men of McGantry’s ilk, the old west is their way of life and absolute reason for being. It is in their soul. It comes with, at times, a brutal cost. It isn’t to be trivialized in some book. A hard and painful lesson Lord Haddenforth and his party have repeated opportunities to learn over the next few days.
Originally published several years ago by Oak Tree Press, an e-book version was recently published by Bil-Em-Ri-Media. First of a series, Dismal River is another example of why author Wayne D. Dundee is nominated for many awards and wins quite a few. Complicated characters, plenty of action, and plenty of mystery in a western setting makes Dismal River a mighty good read.
Dismal River (Lone McGantry Book 1)
Wayne D. Dundee
http://www.fromdundeesdesk.blogspot.com
Bil-Em-Ri-Media
October 2015
ASIN: B0164ADFM4
E-Book
281 Pages
$1.49
Material was recently picked up to read and review by way of funds in my Amazon Associate account.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2015
https://www.amazon.com/author/kevintipple
Reviews and More http://kevintipplescorner.blogspot.com/
https://www.pinterest.com/kevintipple/
Christine was twelve years old when her mom, Eve Moran, shot her current boyfriend, Jerry Santini, dead in their apartment. It wasn’t long afterwards before Christine once again took care of her mom by claiming to have killed Jerry Santini. After all, cleaning up after her mom was a job Christine had really gotten really good at by then thanks to the fact she had lots of practice over the years.
Told in flashbacks of various lengths through the book, Concrete Angel by Patti Abbott details eighteen years of Christine’s life. From 1964 to approximately1982 in various locations in the Philadelphia area Christine dealt with a life of quiet family chaos. While the book opens with the shooting that in some ways did change things in other ways it was a minor blip on a long and wide ranging continuum of the family dysfunction.
Such issues are frequent topics of the author’s shorter fiction. While multiple crimes are present in the book, the psychological relationships are the heart of Concrete Angel. Hence the labeling of the book as “domestic suspense” in this age of making everything fit a nice neat designation. Makes sense if you also believe that Faulkner is domestic suspense as there is definitely a tone of Faulkner throughout the read. Granted the book is set in the Northeast but the characters could have easily come out of the Deep South. Right down to the neat freak bigoted Grandmother who is all about appearances over everything and anyone else.
The relationship between Christine and her mother takes precedence for a variety of reasons, but there are other familial relationships at work here that don’t always have Christine’s best interests at heart. The aforementioned Grandmother an obvious case in point, but there are others just as guilty. This is not one of those families you wish to be born into if your goal is a safe and nurturing environment. A mighty good book that defies easy labeling, Concrete Angel is a complex read that pulls you in deep and will haunt you long after the read is finished.
Concrete Angel
Patti Abbott
http://pattinase.blogspot.com/
Polis Books
http://www.polisbooks.com/
June 2015
ISBN-13: 978-1940610382
Paperback (also available in audio and e-book formats)
320 Pages
$14.95
Kevin R. Tipple ©2015
https://www.amazon.com/author/kevintipple
Reviews and More http://kevintipplescorner.blogspot.com/
https://www.pinterest.com/kevintipple/