Greylock Wins 5 Stars from Readers’ Favorite

READERS’ FAVORITE BOOK REVIEW of GREYLOCK.

 

 

 

Who is Readers’ Favorite?

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… as well as countless independent authors and small publishers.

Lit Amri for Readers’ Favorite Book Reviews   November 27, 2015

“Pianist and composer Alexei Georg is on a devoted quest to compose his next symphony of the beluga whales of White Sea in Russia. Struggling for emancipation in his career after much bad press, the murders in Boston don’t bother Alexei as much as the menacing appearance of a creature in the audience, in the aisle, and on the stage when a certain old Russian sonata is played. The dark entity clings tightly to Alexei’s soul. Can Alexei escape this dark force or forever becomes its prisoner?

There are some stories that you just can’t help but let them remain for some time in your mind. Paula Cappa’s Greylock is one of those stories, where music becomes its driving force. Occasionally there are scenes that are psychologically spine chilling to read. Cappa somehow reminds us that bad things happen to good people, bad people, and everyone in between. Her elaborate and skillful plotting is one of the strengths of the book. Whenever you think you know what is going on, something else appears to derail your expectations, and that holds good right up to and including the end.

In credit to Cappa’s beautiful prose, the story contains enough raw emotion to draw readers in. The characters are alive and vivid descriptions of the scenes make this haunting story easily imagined. In a story combining the elements of mystery, horror and the supernatural, no doubt fans of these genres can clearly enjoy this particular hallmark of Cappa’s work. Greylock will certainly not disappoint.”

 

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Greylock is now featured on The Big Thrill.

Gone Haunting

The Inexperienced Ghost  by H.G. Wells (1903)

Tuesday’s Tale of Terror    November 24, 2015

 

 

This is a macabre story with a high intensity suspense. Clayton is telling his friends a story, as they sit fireside and drink whiskies at the Mermaid Club. The story is when Clayton caught a ghost in a passage in an old shadowy house.

“Caught a ghost, did you?” said Sanderson. “Where is it?”

Clayton describes the ghost as scrubby with bad ears; and then he invites the ghost into his bedroom. A lively and amazing conversation takes place between Clayton and this ghost. Clayton takes pity on the sorry thing and tries to assist the ghost in returning to the ‘world of shades.’

 

Incantations, passes, gestures and the power of the world beyond make this a well-plotted and entertaining story. What begins as an amusing ghost tale becomes classic HG Wells adventure–clever, colorful, and chilling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Did you know that H.G Wells’ first published book was a biology textbook in 1893? He thought of lasers in The War of the Worlds years before Einstein’s quantum theory would even make lasers feasible. Wells came up with automated doors in his 1899 novel When the Sleeper Wakes.

Read The Inexperienced Ghost at OnlineLiterataure.com

Listen to the audio on YouTube.com.

 

Other Reading Web Sites to Visit

Books & Such

Bibliophilica       Lovecraft Ezine     HorrorAddicts.net  

Horror Novel Reviews    HorrorPalace

HorrorSociety.com         Monster Librarian

For Authors/Writers:  The Writer Unboxed

Don’t forget to view the INDEX above of more free Tales of Terror classic authors.

Literary Review, Bad Sex Writing in Fiction Award

Interested in who won the BAD SEX WRITING AWARDS? “Eight purple passages are up for the prize every author dreads, the annual ‘Literary Review Bad Sex in Fiction Award.’ Can Erica Jong beat Morrissey to the sweetspot?”

Read it here from The Guardian:

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/nov/18/bad-sex-award-2015-the-contenders-in-quotes?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Bookmarks+base&utm_term=138356&subid=11490966&CMP=EMCBKSEML3964

“The Bad Sex In Fiction Award was launched in 1993 to “draw attention to the crude, tasteless, often perfunctory use of redundant passages of sexual description in the modern novel, and to discourage it”.
http://www.nme.com/news/morrissey/88566

 

Oh please, do leave a comment!

Tomb-Tree on Mt. Maenalus

The Tree  by H.P. Lovecraft (1921)

Tuesday’s Tale of Terror  November 17, 2015

The Fates Will Find a Way.  So opens Lovecraft’s very short story that is certain to grab you and even puzzle you. Artistic ambition, subtle revenge, friendship and grief are the themes.  Mt. Maenalus is the setting. For me, supernatural stories on a mountain are an immediate attraction. Love the spiritual power of mountains. Coupled with the power of fate and desire, this makes for an intriguing mystery.

[Pan, Mikhail Vrubel 1900]

A beekeeper is telling our story, a rather stinging tale. “On a verdant slope of Mount Maenalus, in Arcadia … a chosen haunt of dreaded Pan [God of Nature and Mountain Wilds], whose queer companions are many …”  Two sculptors Musides and Kalos live and work together harmoniously. They are both gifted sculptors. Kalos likes the olive tree groves and converses with the nature spirits there, a meditative and inspired soul. Musides prefers urban gaieties and is more worldly. When Kalos becomes ill and dies, Musides is filled with grief and fulfills his friend’s last request to bury him with olive tree twigs at his head. But more is happening here than just grief. What grows from Kalos’ tomb reveals more than just a gigantic death-distorted tree with crooked boughs. Listen to what the boughs whisper.  The Fates Will Find a Way.

Interpretations vary about this story. It’s a slow thoughtful read. Do leave a comment!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Read the short story at HPLovcraft.com.

 

Listen to the Librivox audio recording on YouTube.com

 

HP Literary Podcast discusses The Tree here.

 

Lovecraft fans will be interested in hearing the latest news from David Hartwell:  This is the last year the World Fantasy Award will be the H.P.Lovecraft statue. Joyce Carole Oates has a post on her blog this week. You can read it at Celestial Timepiece.

 

╰☆╮News ╰☆╮

Today is my 200th post on Reading Fiction, Tales of Terror Blog. By now I have created a compendium of  FREE classic short stories with over 100 master writers (browse the Index above).

To celebrate this milestone, I am offering my short stories FREE for the next week.  Just click the book cover on the right and you can access Amazon and download my published short fiction in ebook format. (Also available free on iTunes and B&N)

Short stories are a vital part of the fiction genre so please continue to enjoy a blast of fast fiction at your lunchtime reads or coffee breaks. And if you have a moment to give, leave a quick comment here or write a short review on Amazon. I would be most grateful. Thank you to all who have supported me here, purchased my novels, and remained loyal members of my readership. 

Hildie at the Ghost Shore “Richly atmospheric and hauntingly imaginative. A polished gem of a story.”  Anna Elliott, author of The Witch Queen’s Secret.

Between the Darkness and the Dawn “Nuanced and atmospheric as the stories of Hawthorne himself.  Mesmerizing.”  Erika Robuck, best-selling author of House of Hawthorne: A Novel.  

Magic of the Loons “A lyrical gem of a story—love triangle, lush prose, evocative setting, seductive.”  Award-winning author Lucy Taylor of Fatal Journeys.

 The Haunting of Jezebeth  “Good dark fiction. Paula Cappa has written a story to chill the soul. ” Pamela K. Kinney, author of Paranormal Petersburg.

Other Reading Web Sites to Visit

Books & Such

Bibliophilica       Lovecraft Ezine

 For Authors/Writers:  The Writer Unboxed

Deathless and Patient

The House of the Past   by Algernon Blackwood (1904)

Tuesday’s Tale of Terror  November 10, 2015

 

If your dreams could speak to you, what would they say? Let’s open that rusty door to dream time. Here is the key. Go deep. Turn and hear the click. Or is it a whumpp? Throw the door open, if you dare, into the bleak images moving about. Let your dream speak. What would she say? She might say … “This is the House of the Past. Come with me and we will go through some of its rooms and passages; but quickly, for I have not the key for long, and the night is very nearly over. Yet, perchance, you shall remember!”

Remember? Do you remember the ghosts of your past? Will you hear them whispering or weeping? Might you see shadows wearing old dust like shrouds?

 

In Blackwood’s House of the Past, the themes are streaming with imagry. Listen to the language and let yourself flow with the pace. This story can truly transport you to another world of the supernatural. Algernon is one of my favorite authors because I love how eloquently he builds a story into a fantasy and blends the mystical with the occult. He’s my number one go-to author when I want a really mesmerizing ghost story. Lovecraft named him a “modern master.”

 

Read the short story here at LoverOfDarkness.net

Listen to the audio story (this is a treat, don’t miss it) by Librivox on YouTube.com.

[All images are public domain from WikiCommons.]

 

Other Reading Web Sites to Visit

Books & Such

Bibliophilica       Lovecraft Ezine     HorrorAddicts.net  

Horror Novel Reviews      HorrorPalace

HorrorSociety.com        Sirens Call Publications

 Monster Librarian

HorrorNews.net     HorrorTalk.com

 Rob Around Books      The Story Reading Ape Blog

For Authors/Writers:  The Writer Unboxed

Don’t forget to view the INDEX above of more free Tales of Terror classic authors.

Night Sea Journey, 99 cents, November

Last weekend (November 6, 7, 8, 2015) for this sale at 99 cents for Night Sea Journey. This supernatural mystery recently hit the Amazon best seller list for 4 days in occult and supernatural genres.  After winning an Eric Hoffer Book Award this year, Night Sea Journey has connected to readers who love to explore fiction about the mysteries of the subconscious mind, art, and spirituality … and a firehawk.

U.S. Review of Books “Stunning and absorbing plot on par with—if not better than—a Dan Brown novel. Truly an outstanding read, Night Sea Journey is one book that is hard to put down!”

ERIC HOFFER BOOK AWARD, 2015. “This romantic fantasy is propelled by gorgeous language and imagery…angels and demons…The grime of inner city Chicago, the tranquility of the Rhode Island coastline, and the depths of a phantasmagoric ocean are the stages for this conflict.”

SAN FRANCISCO BOOK REVIEW ★★★★★ posts “NIGHT SEA JOURNEY is like reading a Dan Brown book with a wicked twist: it has real demons. Readers will be taken on a continual thrill ride, impossible to put down, a fast-paced thriller.”

READERS’ FAVORITE REVIEWS ★★★★★ “Marvelous, atmospheric and, oh, so very, very good. Profound, vibrant, and intensely moving. Highly recommended. Brava!”

★★★★★ Grady Harp, Amazon Hall of Fame Reviewer Gives 5 STARS. “A talent that will draw even those who are not keen on supernatural stories into her fold.”

 

Come meet Kip Livingston’s firehawk  …

 

Trade Paperback Published by Crispin Books

Buy the eb00k     $2.99

Buy the trade paperback  $16.95

Amazon.com

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Soul Blood

The Dream of Red Hands   by Bram Stoker  (1894)

Tuesday’s Tale of Terror  November 3, 2016

 

This story opens in the grey of dawn. Jacob Settle lives alone on the far edge of the isolated moorland in a small cottage. Our narrator is Jacob’s friend. While we all think of dreaming as normal events in our night life, Jacob is tormented by nightmares and there’s nothing normal about them. Some of us know that when you sleep alone, nightmares don’t just vanish upon waking. Without the comfort of a spouse or family member to anchor reality and soothe the moment, one can go a little mad.

Stoker’s story seems to beg the question, what do nightmares do to the soul? If anyone is in need of fiction about the soul and nightmares, this is the story that will haunt you. Is there such a thing as an evil dream?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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You can read The Dream of Red Hands at WikiSource.org.

I am especially fascinated by nightmares as most of you know from my supernatural mystery Night Sea Journey. If you are also fascinated with the pathology of nightmares, you might be interested in reading Ernest Jones’ On the Nightmare (1931) published by Leonard and Virginia Woolf. It includes chapters on vampires, werewolves, witches, and the devil. Are nightmares truly caused by spikes in blood pressure or gastric disturbances? Or is there a soul element to it? Is there a spiritual element to it? You can read the book, free online, ON THE NIGHTMARE here.

 

Group photo 1909 in front of Clark University.

Front row: Sigmund Freud,G. Stanley Hall, Carl Jung;

Back row: Abraham A. Brill, Ernest Jones, Sándor Ferenczi.

 

Irish-born Bram Stoker published his first story The Snake’s Pass in 1890. In 1897, readers were shocked and disgusted by Dracula. Stoker’s first horror story was The Crystal Cup in 1872.

 

 

Other Reading Web Sites to Visit

Books & Such

Bibliophilica       Lovecraft Ezine     HorrorAddicts.net  

For Authors/Writers:  The Writer Unboxed

Don’t forget to view the INDEX above of more free Tales of Terror classic authors.