A little bit more about my new release, Keeper of the Grove (then titled: Passion’s Sacred Dance). Wonder where I got the idea?
via Celtic Myths and Legends – Guest Author Juli D. Revezzo.
Thanks, S.G. Rogers for hosting me! (I love this picture, don’t you? illustration of Lugh’s magic spear by H.R. Millar.
Did you know today is Bastille day? *nods* So for this Sneak Peek Sunday we have a spooky entry from House of Cards (Reign of Tarot, book 1) that just so happens to take place around this time of year. The main character, you see, is on the run because his family is about to be arrested during the opening strains of the Reign of Terror which affected France in the years following this event. So, here he is, just a moment after one of his horses threw a shoe. And he sees a woman hanging from a tree.
Surely, he was seeing things: the poor soul hadn’t been there a moment ago. Ignoring the driver’s warning, he turned back to demand he lend a hand as Sinjon intended to cut her down. The more he looked, the less he was sure she was human. There was something odd about her: the nails weren’t right seeming almost like razors, her skin more like wrinkled leather, her throat a little too long. Her eyes were altogether strange, gouged, yet whole; staring and lifeless, yet somehow they seemed to watch him. What had happened to the right side of her torso, he couldn’t tell, but it was torn to shreds, strips of bloodied flesh hanging, ribs showing through the injury. Yet, when he tilted his head for a different view, the skin and sinew seemed almost woven together. Something protruded from her back, but whether two humps, knives, or—it couldn’t be—stubby wings, he couldn’t decide. Or didn’t want to know the nature of what he saw.
As he turned back to his driver, a wall of ethereal flame erupted between them. Sinjon fell back, staring in astonishment. The ice-blue flames crackled and spat, the wind gusting from the blaze was cold as a winter’s breeze. Beyond, noises of battle erupted.
Sinjon reached for his pistol. A screaming woman flew from the conflagration and locked her hands around his throat. Shock paralyzed him as she dragged him to the flames.
The fire engulfed them utterly. The hag hissed, baring wicked fangs. Twisting her grip, her nails cut his flesh like blades. He shivered in the chill of the unreal blaze, struggling for freedom. She laughed and tossed him about until nausea threatened to overtake him.
Sudden darkness blinded him. Chains snaked around his chest, his limbs. He slammed against a stone wall alive with spiders; the monsters sunk their teeth deep into his flesh, shocking him with unmatched pain.
“Where are you?” he screamed. “Come and face me, damn you! I’m not afraid of you!”
Does he have reason to fear her? What does she want? If you’d like to see what happens next, House of Cards (Reign of Tarot, #1) is available at Amazon and Smashwords. Book two is in the works to be released (tentatively) next year!
For more Sneak Peek Sunday writers see the main site at: http://sneak-peek-sunday.blogspot.com/
For today’s freaky Friday installment….
This could be filed under lots of things I suppose. What’s odd about is the evolution of how our species looked at their neighbors. That at one time we considered old age a mark of witchcraft just feels that way now. At least to my modern eyes. The other thing that’s odd is how we at one time in history buried our dead to appease our own fears. Take this poor woman, for instance: A plague victim in 16th century Europe. Was she a witch or a vampire? Imaginations can go wild. For a writer, even more so. 😉
If you’d like to read the article, it’s here: via National Geographic.
Thankfully, we live in a more modern age….right?
This article I ran across, a little old now, talks about a local theater….
http://brandon.patch.com/articles/ghosts-at-james-mccabe-a-test-for-paranormal-enthusiasts
What do you think? If you heard a local theater was haunted, would you want to join the hunt? Or find a new place to take your date on a Saturday night? 😉
The fact of the matter is, yeah, I probably would. My husband used to work at a theater in our hometown (not the one mentioned in the article, but a different theatre) that he and some of his co-workers swore was haunted. They’d hear footsteps when they were cleaning a theatre, and find no one else around. There was even one time they found some old lady had died in the bathrooms, poor thing. That really ramped up the stories about ghosts.
Is it really haunted? *shrugs* I don’t know, but I tell ya, despite not letting it ruin a date night, I never wanted to hang around by myself after the lights went out! *lol*
In lieu of Freaky Friday…Strange Saturday.
Actually, I suppose you could say this wasn’t all that strange. On the other hand, it is… something I would’ve never thought NASA would do. I hope you find this article interesting.
Scientists study ancient Greek pottery to improve spacecraft tiles | Mail Online.
Juli D. Revezzo, author of the Antique Magic series and more 