Dark Short Fiction
Dark Romantic Fiction
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And the occasional bottle of wine...
 On Wine Wednesdays my husband and I review a bottle of wine based solely on the label. For us, the creepier or weirder the label is, the better. If the title/label catches our eye and it's under $15 we buy it, drink it and review it. Fat Bastard is a wine from France. We've seen it on wine shelves before but the label wasn't anything extraordinary, so I never bothered with it. BUT...they have released a limited edition for Halloween. The display was fun...  And the vineyard seemed to have a sense of humor about creating this blend and that's always a plus for us. Taken from their website (without their permission - but it's free advertising, right?) Wine Production: Blend of Syrah, Grenache & Merlot grapes. Our winemakers work very closely with the local witches to determine the start of each harvest. The grapes are passed through the crusher-destemmer (which is used the rest of the year to punish naughty children). Gently pressed and then fermented in the wizards cauldrons, the sweet blood-red wine is drawn off into the dungeon vats, where it slowly develops, watched over by the ghosts of prisoners past, into a fat, luscious brew. Tasting Notes: Juicy and spicy with touches of Transylvanian wolf hair and cucurbits earthyness, this ripe blood-red nectar stays long and rich in the mouth, much appreciated by Count Dracula for its resemblance to his favorite beverage. … Food Pairing: Blood sausage, beef heart, bat stew and confit of calf brains are some of the wonderful classic combinations but as these exquisite specialities can be difficult to source today, perfectly delicious with grilled burgers, fried chicken and pumpkin pie… The local store was all out of blood sausage and bat stew, but we did pair it with sweet and sour chicken with mushroom risotto. The wine itself was really good. More dry than sweet, it had a deep, rich taste that went well with our dinner. It went down smooth and we enjoyed it so much I'm sure we'll buy more Fat Bastard in the future. If only their other wine labels were so much fun. If you're looking for a good red table wine, this one might be for you.   I hope you'll visit again next month on the Wednesday before the full moon, for a howling good bottle of wine... Until then, Happy, Happy Halloween.
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 Today is the final day of the October Frights Blog Hop As always, it was a fun time for all.. I'd like to thank Anita Stewart for all her hard work each year. She organizes the hop, creates the graphics and the links, promotes, sets up the group giveaway, and still has time to write some great dark poetry and short fiction. A big shout out to my fellow horror/paranormal authors and friends in this hop. The are a great group of talented dark story tellers and I love to see what their imaginations come up with each year, as well as learning about their favorite horror movies, monsters, etc. I'd also like thank everyone who popped over to CURIOSITIES this week and commented on my posts. I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did writing them. Now for the winners....  For fun, cake number 1 was the winner of the Creepy Cake Contest. I didn't vote, but I would have chosen this one if I did. I love it!  Congratulations to Nicole Burns The winer of the $10 Amazon Gift Card. I put names of commenters into Randy (random.org) and he scrambled the names around and Nicole came out on top. Please continue to hop around and support the other horror and paranormal authors on this last day of the hop. Click here.  Today is your last chance to get in on the October Frights Giveaway. Click here for free horror books, stories and previews. Thank you everyone. Until next year... Have a hauntingly happy Halloween.  THE SARATOGA WITCH  This summer we moved from New England to upstate NY near Saratoga Springs. The first thing I did when we arrived (after unpacking) was learn the haunted history of the area. I hit the jackpot. Reportedly, there are 467 haunted venues in Albany/Saratoga area. The many battles of the Revolutionary War fought here, including The Battle of Saratoga are responsible for many of the sightings. But hidden deep in the history of the war, I discovered, Angeline Tubbs, The Witch of Saratoga. The woman was real. Here's her picture from the Saratoga Public Library. Her story? Well, you decide for yourself. But if true, she's one cool witch... Angeline was born in 1761 in Britain. At 17 she followed her fiancée to the colonies to fight in the war. After the British were defeated at the Battle of Saratoga, he dumped her. Alone and abandoned, she settled in a hut at the base of Mt. Vista, a small mountain about one mile north of Saratoga, a brood of cats her only companions. She soon earned a reputation as a witch and made a living telling fortunes, the majority of which came true. At one point, and the information is murky, she was sentenced to hang. There is no evidence she was charged with witchcraft, and some say she was falsely charged with stealing to disguise the real reason, which was she scared the townspeople and they wanted her gone. The hanging failed. She walked away, a mark on her neck forever. They didn’t try again. Some townsfolk claimed they would see Angeline on Mt. Vista, on the edge of the cliff, standing with her arms outstretched in the middle of a terrible storms, talking to spirits. Mr. William Stone wrote about it in his dairy in 1826. It's–not clear who Mr. Stone was, but I got the impression he was somewhat important figure in the community. … “Had she been mistress of the whirlwind, she could not have been more delighted with storms. She had been seen, her form erect and with extended arms, standing upon the verge of fearful precipices, in the midst of the most awful tempests, conversing, as it were, with unseen spirits, her long, matted hair streaming in the wind, while the thunder was riving the rocks beneath her feet, and the red lightning encircling her as with a winding-sheet of flame.” Angeline boasted she would die when the last of her 21 cats died. She grew older and older, outliving those who shunned and ostracized her and when her last cat died, so did she, in 1865 at the age 104. There are those who swear she still inhabits Angeline’s Hill on Mt. Vista. A young writer, Ben Carradine on a writer’s retreat in 1932 saw her apparition briefly, for the first time. Driving back from Ohio in 1955, he pulled over to look at the sunset, when a thunderstorm rolled in. Taking cover near Mt. Vista, he found shelter under an overhanging rock and saw her a second time. Here’s his account: “A lone figure was standing on the stone ledge at the top, silhouetted against the sky. She stood erect, arms stretched out to the raging sky. Her long hair and wet cloak streamed out behind her. And he heard her piercing scream above him. Another lightning bolt illuminated the woman. She screamed again and again as the lightning flashed, the thunder cracked, the rain fell, and the wind howled. Finally the clouds moved away, the screaming stopped, and the woman vanished." So my quest this fall is to find Mt. Vista and climb up and see if Angeline makes an appearance. I'll keep you posted... Leave a comment and be entered to win a $10 Amazon gift card!  Please click here to hop around and visit all the other awesome horror and paranormal authors   Hi everyone and welcome to Day 4 of the Hop. I won't be around much today, it's my birthday and as Morticia Addams says, "What a dark and dreadful morning, I love it." A perfect day to go for a stroll through some old, haunted cemeteries here in Saratoga, NY and then dinner. But...leave a comment and tell me which birthday cake I should celebrate with and be entered in a drawing for a $10 Amazon Gift Card at the end of the hop. Tomorrow's post: The Saratoga Witch  CREEPY CAKE NUMBER 1  CREEPY CAKE NUMBER 2  CREEPY CAKE NUMBER 3 Please remember to visit the other horror and paranormal authors for free reads and giveaways. Click here. 
And check out the OCTOBER FRIGHTS GIVEAWAY to win free horror books, stories & previews. Click here. |
Debbie Christiana
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