Dark Short Fiction
Dark Romantic Fiction
Horror short & flash fiction stories
Ghosts
The Supernatural
And the occasional bottle of wine...
 The bayou not only whispers, but insists, that Jeannine LaRue, a tough as nails NYC lawyer, who had been through hell and back during Katrina, return to New Orleans. Curtis Jones, a one-time cop and rescuer of Jeannine, who now leans to the wrong side of the law, needs her help. Together they discover that hell isn’t done with Jeannie just yet and she’s up for the fight. I don’t give spoilers and I don’t rehash the blurb in my reviews. A good book needs good characters. Jeannine and Curtis are top-notch, but Mr. Wood has put together an interesting cast of secondary but important characters. Zombies! Not the virus causing type, but real, good, old-fashioned, voodoo raised from the dead variety, which are my favorite and who, sadly, I don’t read about all that often anymore. A Gollum (usually associated with Jewish mythology) who popped up in the bayou was a fun and great addition that kept with the raising of the dead theme. There are historical references with a literary twist, which is always a plus. A ghost ship, The Sultana (a real steamboat that exploded in 1865 on the Mississippi River), captained by Papa Nightmare and his zombies including a Sax player named Easy Street, as well as an ominous intention that caused a storm off the Gulf to become the human tragedy and catastrophe that was Katrina. It’s a complex tale and you may have guessed, there is a lot going on, but it flowed well. The author did rely on past memories quite a bit and there were a few instances where dialogue may have made the story smoother, but that’s just my personal opinion and it took nothing away from the story. A horror thriller with long kept secrets, dark family legacies, and New Orleans’s mysterious magic, Bayou Whispers is a fast-paced read, a page turner for sure, that kept me intrigued. A few surprises rounded out the end nicely. A great read. 4 1/2 stars. I received a complimentary ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Bayou Whispers is available here: Crystal Lake Publishing Amazon 
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 THE WIND IN MY HEART BY DOUGLAS WYNNE PUBLISHER: CRYSTAL LAKE PUBLISHING I've always found reincarnation fascinating and Buddhist philosophy interesting, so when Crystal Lake Publishing offered a free ARC in exchange for an honest review of The Wind In My Heart, I jumped at the chance to read it. I'm so glad I did.
Simply put, this was a really good book. Miles Landry is a typical 'gumshoe' in this crime noir (with dark and macabre elements) story set in the 1991. A loner, a drinker, carrying baggage from his past and living day to day with the cash in his pocket. But he's smart and quick-witted with an open mind, which are good qualities to have when Buddhist Monks hire you to investigate the Chinatown Monster. The Monster is killing Chinese gang/mob members and the monks believe he is the reincarnation of an angry monk that "gave up his robes and became a solider," and died in 1961. Miles follows the clues around his stomping grounds of NYC's Chinatown, many times getting close, just to have the Monster slip away, until the surprising conclusion, which comes fast, but works so well for the story. Mr. Wynne enlightens us about Buddhist practices, tantras and why monasteries have a patron protector deity, which are demons tamed by a master Guru, with the right balance, that keeps the story interesting and moving toward. The Wind In My Heart is a refreshingly unique story and one not pass up. 5 stars. **I received a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.  The winner of the October Frights Blog Hop $10 Amazon Gift Card is Lyssa Medana! Congratulations!   OCTOBER 2020 THE FULL HARVEST MOON & THE FULL BLUE MOON  The sun greets us every morning, many times with a beautiful sunrise, but unlike the moon, it's always a circular orb that glows with warmth. The moon greets us each night (even the new moon hidden in the shadows), showing us a different shape and phase, as it moves through its magical, monthly journey. The full moon, however, gets most of our attention. A full moon calls the werewolf to transform, for witches to gather around their cauldrons, and some say, causes human to behave a bit 'looney." The moon (Luna, in Italian and Spanish, with Latin origins) gave us the word lunatic and many illegal 'sprits' were brewed beneath the moonshine as not to get caught.  In Tarot, the Moon Card is a Major Arcana and traditionally depicts the full moon lighting a path with two towers (good and evil) in the distance, helping navigate through the two forces one must face on life's journey. 2020 has been a tough year, but for those of us who love Autumn, Halloween, and all things that go bump in the night, this month 2020 has no tricks up her sleeve, but an astronomical treat - 2 full moons. The Harvest Moon is the full moon closest to the Autumn Equinox. Sometimes it's in September, sometimes, October. This year's Harvest moon was on October 1st and it was a beauty! Scientifically - the moon usually rises about 50 minutes later than the night before, but the Harvest moon due to its alignment with the equinox, rises only 30 mins later each night. This can sometimes give the appearance of the a huge moon hanging in the sky, but it's an illusion - a very cool one, but nevertheless, an optical illusion. Historically - many crops are ready to be picked in Sept/October. For centuries and probably millennia, farmers noticed the difference in the moon at this time of the year and without our modern technology, worked late into the night, with the moon light guiding them, to a successful harvest. A Blue Moon happens approximately every 2.5 years, when instead of 12 full moons a year, we have 13. (or 4 full moons during one season, not 3). This year we have a Blue Moon on October 31st! Yay!! No one can pinpoint when or why it's been called a Blue Moon. There's a reference to the phrase in the 16th century by Cardinal Wolsey mocking the intelligence of his enemies by saying "they would believe the moon is blue." By the 1700's it become a term for an 'absurdity or impossibility." But in the early 1900's, the Farmer's Almanac in Maine, coined the term "Blue Moon' one year that had an extra full moon in a season, and it stuck. Halloween will arrive this year is all it's creepy glory, and while we may have to celebrate differently than we're used to, at the very least we can all sit back and gaze up at the wonder of the 2020 Blue Moon, cocktail in hand...  ~ I hope everyone had a good time at this year's October Frights Blog Hop. Thanks again to everyone who stopped by this week and to Anita Stewart for organizing and doing all the hard work. Please leave a comment to be entered in a drawing for a $10 Amazon Gift Card. HAPPY, HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE! STAY SAFE AND HEALTHY, BE RESPECTFUL OF OTHERS, AND HAVE A SPOOKY GOOD TIME!  PLEASE VISIT THE OTHER AWESOME HORROR AND PARANORMAL AUTHORS PARTICIPATING |
Debbie Christiana
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