Guest Post and Giveaway Over the River by October Weeks

Published: October, 2013

Description:

Joslyn Faust passed away in 1940, after losing all but one of her children to death. The Weatherby Mills history books paint her as a kind, generous woman, willing to lend a hand to any one of her neighbors. Weatherby Mills lore, however, blames her ghost for the deaths of at least four men.

That’s where Delilah Isles and Milly West come in.

Working for the New England Spirit Society, the women have seen many violent and cruel attacks by human spirits and non-human entities. After all, the most violent and disturbing cases come to them. They know the myths about Joslyn Faust, so when the case comes their way they are both anxious to start investigating and uncertain whether or not it’s a case for N.E.S.S. But the first time they set foot on the Faust property that uncertainty is vanquished, because Joslyn Faust turns out to be a whole lot darker than they anticipated.

GUEST POST 

The Consequences of Reading the Dark and Fantastical 

I should admit right off that when I was a kid I used to have horrible nightmares—night terrors, really. Scooby Doo would give me nightmares, that’s how bad it was. Sometime around the age of ten or eleven I started reading fantasy—The Elfstone of Shannara was the first, I believe, and I adored it. The Chronicles of Narnia soon followed. Then, sometime after the age of thirteen I started reading books with vampires, werewolves, and ghosts. In short order, I found books that held a combination of the two—dark/urban fantasy. 

Now, I started writing before I could actually write. Telling and sharing stories has always been a part of who I am. But it wasn’t until I was a teenager that I really started to write, and what I found myself writing was dark fantasy/horror—the two things I loved to read. I’ve been writing the dark and fantastical ever since, my love for it growing with every book I read or write. So I guess one could say that my writing dark fantasy is a direct consequence of reading voraciously of the dark and fantastical. 

Here’s a list of some of my favorite books/series: 

Lilith Saintcrow’s Jill Kismet series 

Vicki Pettersson’s Zodiac series 

Stacia Kane’s Downside series 

Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series 

Seanan McQuire’s October Daye series 

The Red Tree by Caitlin R. Kiernan

EXCERPT

Delilah Isles was certain of two things: pork roast in the slow cooker was the best in cold weather, and the woman in her kitchen was dead. 

The elderly woman, around seventy-five or eighty with a slim build, lifted the cover of the slow cooker, leaned slightly forward, and inhaled. Her gray hair was in a neat bun and she wore a long lemon-yellow sleeveless nightgown from the nineteen forties. The woman smiled as she inhaled again, closing her eyes. 

Delilah hated to interrupt, but it was eleven thirty, and she was tired. She could see, sense, and speak to the dead—amongst other abilities—but she never would have known this ghost was in her house if she had not been awake. The woman was quiet, calm. Benign. 

Delilah cleared her throat, hoping not to startle the woman. The gray-haired lady motioned with her free hand but took her time looking back at Delilah, taking a last inhale and putting the cover back on the slow cooker. When their gazes finally met, the lady’s light blue eyes struck Delilah—they were much like her own. 

“Hello there, dear,” the lady said. “Did I interrupt your sleep? I hope I haven’t…” 

Delilah smiled and walked closer to the woman. “No, I was just getting ready for bed. I’m going somewhere tomorrow.” 

“Oh, good! That I didn’t wake you, I mean. I was being very careful to be quiet.” She waved a hand at the slow cooker. “My husband used to cook all the food. He loved to cook, my Nathan.” 

Delilah laughed softly. “My name is Delilah Isles.”

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About the author:

I’m a dark fantasy/horror writer and a reader with too many books and not enough shelves! 

I live in Vermont. Autumn is my favorite season- October and November are my favorite months. 

Loves: reading, writing, movies (horror, sci-fi, and fantasy especially), taking walks, fishing, and family 

Obsessions: Lindt dark chocolate, the SyFy Channel (Haven and Warehouse 13!), The Discovery Channel, The History Channel, The Walking Dead!

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