And we have a winner! Happy Halloween and congratulations to Peter Saenz! I will be in touch via e-mail. Thanks to all who participated, both here and on social media. If you didn't win, I hope you'll consider giving yourself a Halloween treat by clicking on one or more of the buy links below.
It's that time of year again. My favorite holiday, Halloween, is just around the corner.
For your consideration, I offer up five of my scariest novels and hope you'll check out one (or more!) as a Halloween treat! So, in no particular order, here goes:
Hunter Beaumont doesn’t understand his grandmother’s deathbed wish: “Destroy Beaumont House.” He’s never even heard of the place. But after his grandmother passes and his first love betrays him, the family house in the Wisconsin woods looks like a tempting refuge. Going against his grandmother’s wishes, Hunter flees to Beaumont House.
But will the house be the sanctuary he had hoped for? Soon after moving in, Hunter realizes he may not be alone. And with whom—or what—he shares the house may plunge him into a nightmare from which he may never escape. Sparks fly when he meets his handsome neighbor, Michael Burt, a caretaker for the estate next door. The man might be his salvation… or he could be the source of Hunter's terror.
BUY
From Dreamspinner Press
For Amazon Kindle
(Paperback version also available at the above stores)
Who knew that a summer thunderstorm and his lost little boy would conspire to change single dad Cayce D’Amico’s life in an instant? With Luke missing, Cayce ventures into the woods near their house to find his son, only to have lightning strike a tree near him, sending a branch down on his head. When he awakens the next day in the hospital, he discovers he has been blessed or cursed—he isn't sure which—with psychic ability. Along with unfathomable glimpses into the lives of those around him, he’s getting visions of a missing teenage girl.
When a second girl disappears soon after the first, Cayce realizes his visions are leading him to their grisly fates. Cayce wants to help, but no one believes him. The police are suspicious. The press wants to exploit him. And the girls' parents have mixed feelings about the young man with the "third eye."
Cayce turns to local reporter Dave Newton and, while searching for clues to the string of disappearances and possible murders, a spark ignites between the two. Little do they know that nearby, another couple—dark and murderous—are plotting more crimes and wondering how to silence the man who knows too much about them.
From Dreamspinner Press
For Amazon Kindle
(Paperback version also available at the above stores)
What would you give up for immortal life and love?
By day, Elise draws and paints, spilling out the horrific visions of her tortured mind. By night, she walks the streets, selling her body to the highest bidder.
And then they come into her life: a trio of impossibly beautiful vampires: Terence, Maria, and Edward. When they encounter Elise, they set an explosive triangle in motion.
Terence wants to drain her blood. Maria just wants Elise . . . as lover and partner through eternity. And Edward, the most recently-converted, wants to prevent her from making the same mistake he made as a young abstract expressionist artist in 1950s Greenwich Village: sacrificing his artistic vision for immortal life. He is the only one of them still human enough to realize what an unholy trade this is.
Blood Sacrifice is a novel that will grip you in a vise of suspense that won't let go until the very last moment...when a shocking turn of events changes everything and demonstrates--truly--what love and sacrifice are all about.
BUY
From Untreed Reads
For Amazon Kindle
Voices slam through the corridor of his wounded mind. The words of his dead sister cry out. His parents' taunts fill the silent room where he sits and waits--waits for the murderous rage, filling him with strength, driving him to kill, to touch the cold flesh, taste the warm blood--to feel alive again…
A witness has seen him, but his killing only turns her on and now she wants to protect him. His wife suspects him, but the private detective she hired cannot stop him. Joe MacAree fears nothing--except that he may no longer be human. The thirst that drives him is relentless, moving deeper and deeper into his own shattering, private realm, where each murder is a delicious new gift of life, where revulsion is beauty, and the obsession will never let him go.
"A harrowing ride through cutting-edge psychological horror, this one's got a vicious bite. Rick R. Reed's Obsessed is a twisted nightmare." - Douglas Clegg, bestselling author
BUY
From Untreed Reads
For Amazon Kindle
Someone--or something--is killing Seattle's gay men.
A creature moves through the darkest night, lit only by the full moon, taking them, one by one, from the rain city's gay gathering areas.
Someone--or something--is falling in love with Thad Matthews.
Against a backdrop of horror and fear, young Thad finds his first true love in the most unlikely of places: a new Italian restaurant called The Blue Moon Cafe. Sam is everything Thad has ever dreamed of in a man: compassionate, giving, handsome, and with brown eyes Thad feels he could sink into. And Sam can cook! But as the pair's love begins to grow, so do the questions and uncertainties, the main one being, why do Sam's unexplained disappearances always coincide with the full moon?
Prepare yourself for a unique blend of dark suspense and erotic romance with The Blue Moon Cafe, written by the author Unzipped magazine called, "the Stephen King of gay horror". You're guaranteed an unforgettable reading experience, one that skillfully blends the hottest romance with the most chilling terror...
BUY
From Amber Allure/Amber Quill Press
For Amazon Kindle
(Paperback version also available at the above stores)
CONTEST
Tell me your favorite horror book or movie in the comments below and you can win your choice of one of the books above in ebook format. I will draw a winner from all the entries on Halloween! Please leave contact info so I can reach you when you win!
My favourite horror book/film is one and the same The Shining. I first watched the film and found Jack Nicholson's performance really distressing. Some years later I happened to read the book, and was swept away by the unsettling atmosphere at Hotel Overlook.. Utterly terrifying!
ReplyDeletesusanaperez7140(at)gmail(dot)com
Thanks, Susan! I too am a big fan of THE SHINING. It's one of my favorite King books and I thought Kubrick did an amazing job with the film, although I heard King doesn't agree.
DeleteOne of my favorite King books is It.I first wached the film and later to read the book,now hate clows.luz_mtz_rmz@hotmail.com
DeleteIn honor of your book Blue Moon Cafe, I'd have to say my favorite werewolf movie is Silver Bullet, based on the Stephen King novella Cycle of the Werewolf. Besides being a scary werewolf movie, the story centered more on the relationship between the main character brother and sister. It gave a lot of heart to the story. Here's hoping I win a copy of A Demon Inside. - Peter Saenz peterjsaenz@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteYou're right about the heart--very true.
DeleteI would say Pet Cemetery was the scariest for me. But would love to read yours.
ReplyDeleteLoved that one too, but then, I've been a huge King fan since I was a boy.
DeleteI would say Pet Cemetery was the scariest for me. But would love to read yours.
ReplyDeleteGood luck, Bradley!
DeleteGoing with movie. Aliens..after watching it, I kept on looking at people's chest thinking this long black slimy thing with piranha teeth is gonna burst out! :D
DeleteThe Stand both the book and the TV mini-series. I really liked the characters in that book and the TV series had some great acting.
ReplyDeleteI think the series actually skewed much closer to the novel as King wrote it.
DeleteI was surprised at how much I loved WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS...just scary enough, completely hilarious, and who couldn't love Jemaine Clement as Vladislav the vampire?
ReplyDelete--Trix, vitajex(At)Aol(dot)com
I haven't seen that one. Adding it to the list....
DeleteBook - The Shining. I'm still looking for a movie that really scares me. But if I had to pick, probably Pet Cemetary. I've read Blue Moon Cafe. And I did enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteI gotta go with The Shining too. I was just 9 years old when the book came out and it scared the everloving shit out of me. REDRUM! REDRUM!
ReplyDeleteNightmare on Elm Street scared me the most
ReplyDeleteleetee2007(at)hotmail(dot)com
God, I remember seeing that for the first time...absolutely terrifying. It's a shame Freddie became such a caricature as the sequels mounted up.
DeleteMy daughter and I watched The Shining over Halloween last year. I'd been talking it up and she was curious, so queue weird parenting techniques. She really enjoyed it. We've got a list of movies to get through this year, including Misery.
ReplyDeleteI don't read a lot of scary books, but I remember being totally freaked out by F. Paul Wilson's The Keep. I haven't read the rest of the Adversary Cycle, but I did take the other branch and have had a literary love affair with Repairman Jack for years.
Love the cover for A Demon Inside! Going to have to check that one out. :)
Angela:
ReplyDeleteI love John Saul he is a horror author and i haven't read a book by him that i didn't like :) He captures my mind and whenever i read one of his books i'm on the edge of my seat and i can't stop reading, so i read his books in one setting. Some of my favorites books by him are: The Homing, Suffer the Children, The Presence, Shadows, Black Lightning and i could go on and on LOL
ahpg(at)ziggo(dot)nl
I don't read much horror novels because I scare easily. I think the one and only novel I really read as a teenager was Rats by Paul Zendal and I was scared out of my mind that a rat would get in the house and murder me. Movies that really scared me was Nightmare on Elm street. For weeks after I had nightmares. I also really liked Psycho for the twist at the end and Misery.
ReplyDeletehumhumbum AT yahoo Dot com
Blue Moon Café looks so good!!!
ReplyDeleteOh honey, it is!
DeleteEven knowing The Mothman Prophecies was mostly the product of an unstable, it scared me to death. When I finished it I threw the book under my bed. I should get it out and donate it but I am too afraid to look at the cover.
ReplyDelete