Editor’s Note
This edition of the Newsletter is a spooky Halloween reads special, featuring new releases in supernatural and horror books. News round-up and review will return next week.
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New Releases
HorrorScope: A Zodiac Anthology Volume 3 edited by H Everend
Aries. Taurus. Gemini. Cancer. Leo. Virgo. Libra. Scorpio. Sagittarius. Capricorn. Aquarius. Pisces.
It’s said that the stars can determine fortune. They tell you how lucky you will be in love or money or simply life. This is not those stories.
In this anthology, all the stars are crossed, and horror reigns supreme. Cannibals will play with their food, killers will make macabre art of their victims, retail workers get bloody revenge on their supervisors, and a doll possesses the spirit of a woman’s sister…or does she?
After all, some folks are just born under a bad sign.
Bad Grains (The Order of the Strawberry Circle Book 1) by Susanne Schmidt
Eleven-year-old Jo loves Halloween and all things horror, but she doesn't believe anything bad could ever happen in Fels, her small German hometown. When Hektor, her annoying older brother, disappears on his way home from school, Jo assumes he is playing a prank on her. But then both her father and grandma forget Hektor's name, and his stuff mysteriously disappears from his room. With the adults of no help whatsoever, Jo starts an investigation of her own, uncovering an old legend that has haunted the children of Fels for centuries. A monster lives in the rye fields, and draws children into its world under the roots. With two days until the gate between their worlds closes, and only Hektor's obnoxious best friend to help her, Jo must figure out a way to rescue her brother, or lose him forever.
The Ghost Tree (The Ghost Legends Book 2) by Lee Allen
A dark and twisted fairy tale of myth, mystery and magic...
For many years, the Ghost Tree was said to reveal the secret of your future love. The legend has been lost to time, the mystical tree forgotten as the forest grew around it. But some legends are never truly lost, only waiting to be rediscovered…
Six years have passed since Chloe and Lewis went into the forest on Halloween night in search of the Ghost Train…
Now, having moved into their Great Grandpa’s old cottage, they will learn of the Ghost Tree and the secrets it hides within…
Danger awaits around every corner. Perhaps, sometimes, a horror you thought it safe to forget will come back to haunt you…
Midsummer Night’s Curse (Paranormal Misadventures Book 1) by Anca Antoci
Amidst the misty hills and ancient forests of Transylvania, Ella Martin thought she found a perfect place to escape from her old life. She’s a witch on the run from her coven and no one would think to seek her amid vampires at Count Dracula Inn. What could go wrong?
But locals don’t take kindly to outsiders, so when a teenage girl goes missing on the midsummer night at the inn, the villagers point their fingers at Ella. But then the handsome Inspector Felix Goia starts digging into her past, suspecting she must be hiding something. And the witch knows she must find the missing girl to get everyone off her back. If she fails, she has to flee before everyone finds out she's a witch and they turn on her.
Adding to the chaos, the recently appointed police captain, Radu Lupu, dove into the fray. Beneath his charming exterior lies a ruthless streak that few people have seen. They reluctantly work together to solve the case of the missing girl, and the jaw-dropping discovery they make leaves everyone speechless. Faced with magic, they resort to mischief to save the girl. But can they succeed in their paranormal misadventure?
Hunter's Witch by Geoffrey Mandragora
May first, Beltane. A youth pastor is found dead, killed in a ritual murder in a desecrated church.
The pastor bragged he was going to convert a witch. He dyed his hair black and and dressed "in the devil’s clothes, to do the lord's work."
The primary suspect, already assumed guilty by the court of public opinion, is young woman who lives for the gothic aesthetic. The police, goaded on by a self proclaimed "expert" in satanic crime, think it is a slam dunk case.
Hunter Devlyn, a retired police chief from a small town has come out of retirement to become the oldest rookie detective in the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department. He is the only one who sees that there is something completely wrong with the case. Dissatisfied with the police consultant he seeks out Diana Noir, a woman who has written three books on modern occultism. At first meeting he has a hard time believing she is not a witch. And she has a hard time believing she might just be one.
The Tickle Monster by David Washburn
There is comfort in the wholesomeness of family. Pure joy to be cherished in the innocence of a child.… But what happens when a looming sense of dread has a death-grip on a child’s mind?
Teddy is ‘only a boy’ but there is a rebellious fire in his belly that urges him to forge his own path as a man. With much to learn, his father does his best to teach him about being a man and respecting family traditions while appreciating the mundane.
After Teddy’s father tells him not to go into the woods, in what was meant to be a teachable moment, Teddy is soon faced with a choice that sees him in the very place where he shouldn’t be.
Teddy encounters something that he cannot make sense of that will haunt him in the coming days.
This tale of colonial era horror proves that a child’s imagination isn’t always a safe place.
Death Isn't Enough by Mariëtte Whitcomb
Noa Morgan worked hard to put the past and Emily behind her. Not that she remembers much about the forty days she spent in captivity.
When Noa realises she is being stalked, she knows it’s him. Despite everything she’s done, he’s found her. And now he’s killing innocent women, leaving an item at each crime scene still vivid in her memory.
With the body count rising, Noa can no longer hide the truth from her new friends. Not if she wants to keep them alive.
The worst part is… that Emily died for nothing.
The Ghostly Menagerie: A Magpie Universe Novel by Gary J Mack
At the turn of the twentieth century, supernatural beings were commonplace. Demons, witches, ghosts, and other weird creatures often lurked in the shadows.
In the years preceding the Supernatural Wars, Robert Waterfield became the Veil Lord, the Walker of Purgatory, and began to smite his enemies asunder.
In this, his first adventure, we meet Robert’s band of monster hunters, as they try to save the world from Apollyon, a personification of the Devil, and his demon horde. Apollyon’s son Sammel, a Nephilim, has been kidnapped and the King of Hell is clearly not happy.
In addition, if things weren’t bad enough, a new threat has emerged - the Lantern Heads. Who is controlling these weird glass-faced, mantle-voiced, creatures?
Treachery is afoot, and it might possibly be someone close to Robert. Why might this traitor be plotting so, and how are they deadlier than a fallen Angel?
The Ghostly Menagerie will make you laugh, cry, intrigued and shocked, it will also have you looking over your shoulder in terror for small demons who might show you their bottoms.
When Vampires Attack! by Matthew J Gleason
When Glenna Norcross's father turns into a vampire and slaughters a diner full of people her life takes a turn for the worse. Old trauma is stirred back up and new danger emerges. Will she ever be able to escape the shadow of death?
Clay Boy by Craig E Sawyer
Caleb Jenkins is a bullied middle schooler that everyone calls Clay Boy, due to the way he uses clay therapy to cope with the tragic murder of his mother at the hands of a serial killer. While at school, he discovers a playful video on how to create an imaginary best friend called a tulpa, but the more he interacts with his mental creation the more real and self-thinking it becomes, eventually convincing Caleb to sculpt a body for it to inhabit in order to unleash the hate that both share upon his bullies and the entire community of Wheeler's Cove, Tennessee.
The Indie Books & Authors Newsletter is compiled and edited by N S Ford, indie author and book blogger.