The Black Parade

By Kyoko M.

Genre: Urban fantasy/Paranormal/Supernatural

ISBN: 1490911502

ASIN: B00E3HLHIK

Number of pages: 346

Word Count: 103,169

Cover Artist: Gunjan Kumar

 

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Description:

 

One bullet is all it took to transform eighteen-year-old New Yorker Jordan Amador into the last hope for souls of the dead. However, it also transformed her into a cantankerous asocial waitress with a drinking problem.

Jordan accidentally shot and killed a Seer: a person who can communicate with ghosts, angels, and demons. Worse still, she did so on the eve of her own awakening, making her the last Seer on Earth with no one to guide her. As penance, God gives her two years to help one hundred souls with unfinished business cross over from Earth to the afterlife or she will go to Hell. Just as she approaches the deadline, Jordan finds her hundredth soul: a smart-mouthed poltergeist named Michael whose ability to physically touch things makes him distinct from her usual encounters with the dead. However, the deeper she delves solving his sudden death, the more she realizes something sinister is on the horizon.　

With time running short, Jordan stumbles across a plot that may unravel the fragile balance among Heaven, Hell, and Earth. Her life is plunged into chaos as she is hunted by demons that want to use her valuable Seer blood to bring about the end of the world and discovers that these creatures have a frightening connection to her family bloodline. Plus, the budding romance between Jordan and Michael makes it harder for them to let go of each other so he can become part of the eternal black parade.

 

The Black Parade 1000 Word excerpt

My head throbbed. It felt like my brain was trying to hammer its way through my skull and into the outside world. A pained groan crawled out of my throat and escaped my dry lips. As I regained consciousness, I realized I was lying on a bed of some kind. The mattress had way too many springs in it so they poked my spine like needles. My eyelids fluttered for a second and a wave of nausea hit. I pressed my palm to my forehead as if it would help. That was when I realized the necklace around my wrist was gone.

“Sleep well?”

I heard a purring baritone voice from the corner of the white room. My eyes shot open. Ignoring the nausea and dizziness, I frantically pushed myself up to a sitting position. There stood the longhaired man who came to unlock Jacob’s files. He leaned his lanky frame against the far wall, smoking a cigarette. The black suit stood out stark against the pristine paint behind him.

I swallowed hard and tried to get a bearing on where I was. No windows. The door didn’t have a knob, either. From what I could tell, this was either an operating room or somewhere they put the patients who were a threat to themselves or the hospital staff. It was also rather small—no more than an eight by eight foot room, not much bigger than the bathroom in my apartment.

The man continued to watch me with a cool expression. The eerie patience on his face made me realize I hadn’t replied to his comment. As if I really knew what to say to the man who had just kidnapped me. I went for the casual approach.

“You’re not allowed to smoke in hospitals.”

He chuckled deeply enough to shake his broad shoulders. I took a moment to analyze his weight and strength. Could I take him? Most likely, no. Would I try it anyway? Hell yeah.

“You’re right, I suppose. Still, I can’t help loving these things.” He flicked the cancer stick to the linoleum floor and stomped it out.

“Humans come up with the most wonderful things to destroy themselves with.”

A red flag popped up in my mind. Please God, no. “Pardon?”

The man walked towards me and fear wormed its way up my stomach, settling in my chest. He had a heavy presence about him that confirmed my suspicion.

“I’m hurt, Jordan. You don’t recognize me?”

My whole body tensed. He leaned over the bed until our faces were level, placing his arms on either side of me. I had to ball my hands into fists to keep them from trembling. I looked into his eyes. They were a chillingly blue hue with reptilian pupils. I’d seen them before.

“Belial.”

He tilted his head to the side, and a sheet of that fine black hair slid across the side of his face. It brushed my cheek and made me flinch. “Did you miss me?”

“Not particularly.” I hated how afraid my voice sounded.

The demon smiled in a way I imagine a snake would at a mouse. “I suppose not. There’s no need for you to be scared of me this time. If I was going to kill you, I’d have done it while you slept.”

I licked my lips, mind racing to think rationally. “Like I believe that. Killing me while I was unconscious wouldn’t be any fun. You’d want to do it while I was awake and screaming, right?”

His sadistic smile widened. “My, my. We are getting to know each other, aren’t we?”

“If you’re not going to kill me, then would you mind getting the hell out of my personal space?”

“Why? Am I making you uncomfortable?” He tilted his head so that our lips were almost touching.

I took a deep breath, preparing to deck him if he dared kiss me. “No, I just hate that cologne you’re wearing. My ex-boyfriend used to wear it.”

Belial’s eyes widened like I’d surprised him. He stood to his full height, letting out another one of those creepy chuckles. “You really are an interesting girl.”

Now that I had my personal space back, the tension slid out of my rigid spine. I rested my feet on the floor. Whatever happened, I needed to be off this bed. It was clear that the demon had designs on my soul, but my body was a whole different issue. Better to play it safe. Or as safe as I could with a creature from Hell that wanted me to be his pet for all eternity.

“I aim to please,” I said. “Now get to the point. If you’re not going to kill me, what do you want?”

The smile remained intact, unnerving the hell out of me. He could give the Joker a run for his money with that thing. “The same thing I wanted before, my dear. Your soul.”

I glanced around the bare room. “I don’t see another spear lying around. How are you going to pull that off?”

“Persuasion.” To my surprise, he began unbuttoning his suit jacket, revealing a cobalt blue dress shirt beneath it.

I lifted an eyebrow. “No offense, but nudity is not going to win me over.”

Belial let out an amused snort after he tossed the jacket aside, rolling up the sleeves to the shirt. “As appealing as that sounds, that’s not what I’m going to do. I thought I’d give you a fair chance to fight for your soul. If you win, I’ll let you go. If I win, you agree to go through a ceremony that will bind us together for all eternity.”

There it was. He had a trap, a plan, and I’d played right into it by coming to this hospital.

I stood and crossed my arms underneath my chest. “Do you honestly expect me to believe a demon would keep his word? What makes you think I’d agree to something like this?”

“Because, dear Jordan, you are running out of time.”

My Opinion: This is an excellent read. The story is very intriguing. The characters are well developed. It is very well written. I look forward to more from Kyoko M.

About the author:

One bullet is all it took to transform eighteen-year-old New Yorker Jordan Amador into the last hope for souls of the dead. However, it also transformed her into a cantankerous asocial waitress with a drinking problem.

Jordan accidentally shot and killed a Seer: a person who can communicate with ghosts, angels, and demons. Worse still, she did so on the eve of her own awakening, making her the last Seer on Earth with no one to guide her. As penance, God gives her two years to help one hundred souls with unfinished business cross over from Earth to the afterlife or she will go to Hell. Just as she approaches the deadline, Jordan finds her hundredth soul: a smart-mouthed poltergeist named Michael whose ability to physically touch things makes him distinct from her usual encounters with the dead. However, the deeper she delves solving his sudden death, the more she realizes something sinister is on the horizon.　

With time running short, Jordan stumbles across a plot that may unravel the fragile balance among Heaven, Hell, and Earth. Her life is plunged into chaos as she is hunted by demons that want to use her valuable Seer blood to bring about the end of the world and discovers that these creatures have a frightening connection to her family bloodline. Plus, the budding romance between Jordan and Michael makes it harder for them to let go of each other so he can become part of the eternal black parade.


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Controlling the Dead Release Day Blitz!!

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Controlling the Dead (The Famished Trilogy #2) by Annie Walls

 

With the help of her new companions, the path Kansas follows leads to more knowledge of the ever adapting famished.

The team finds help in unlikely places, meeting more survivors, and discovers the possibility of a new beginning.

When the team experiences a devastating loss, Kansas struggles to keep her humanity from fading and distorting like that of the surviving society around her. It begins with knowing who to trust and who to leave behind. First, she must trust herself – she won't make the same mistakes twice.

As the answers to her questions are revealed, Kansas begins to understand the knowledge comes with a heavy price and great responsibility of controlling the dead.

In a trilogy plot thick with twists and turns, this adult dark fantasy is as emotional as it is horrifyingly gripping.

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My review will be up November. I am very excited about this book. 

 

Deamhan

Deamhan Chronicles

By Isalyam Morrison

There are things out there that most people have only heard stories about. These monsters are the stuff that nightmares are made of and they are real. The live and feed off the humans around them, but stay hidden from the public. Besides the things we have heard about like demons and vampires there are deamhan. These creatures are much like vampires in that they cannot live in sunlight, they fed off humans, have super strength and speed and are almost immortal. Deahan come in different species that feed in different ways. Some from blood, others on you psychic auras and the ones that can even feed from the resin that people leave behind by toughing objects, but they all feed without pity or remorse for the humans they consume.

There is an organization called The Brotherhood that has observed and recorded information about deamhan for centuries. Their job is to watch and record, but to never interfere. Mostly the deamhan don’t mind because The Brotherhood is as secretive as they are. Neither group wants this information to be public.

Veronica has been raised by The Brotherhood. Both of her parents work for them and her father is a division leader. Her mother was a researcher but she disappeared while follow a powerful deamhan, when Veronica was five. Veronica has grown up knowing that the things that go bump in the night are real.

Now that Veronica is grown she has cut her ties to The Brotherhood except for a childhood friend that has been like a brother to her. Sean and her have remained close and he has used his job as a researcher for The Brotherhood to help her learn as much as she can about the deamhan.

 Going back to her childhood home of Minneapolis, she is determined to find out what happened to her mother. Veronica dives into the supernatural underworld of dangerous, deprived beings not only finding conflicting clues about her mother but drawing attention to her own vulnerability. These creatures have a wide range of things planned of Veronica, with include everything from killing her, protecting her, turning her into one of them or making her a snack. She also meets new friends that include, humans, deamhan and vampires that are willing to help her in her quest.

This book was very well laid out and wonderfully written. The story kept me intrigued from the first chapter. I highly recommend this book. I loved every bit of it. I hope Isalyam Morrison gives us more of the world. I really am looking forward to reading more by this author. Excellent read.

  

Link to buy: http://www.amazon.com/Deamhan-ebook/dp/B00EGS0CXC/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1382726848&sr=1-1&keywords=deamhan

 

 

             Taking on the Dead

              by Annie Walls

If you love zombie books and I do, then you don't want to miss this one. This is the zombie apocalypse at it's best. The story begins four years after to zombie outbreak, so all the weak and inept people are gone, either being eaten by zombies or dead from their inability to adapt. So what we have left are the hardcore survivors and not all of them are pleasant. One most learn new skills and improve on your mastered talents to make it in this new reality.
 

Kan is my hero. It is her nick name, short for Kansas City Sunshine Moore. She is one badass, zombie killing chick. Her weapon of choice is a crossbow pistol, but she easily adapts to any arsenal supply that is available. She has spent the first 4 years of the zombie infected world as a recluse. She leaves her home, because the crazy survivors take advantage of her hostility and try to take what is hers. 

 

Kan has been preparing for this world for most of her life, but gets in a jam shortly after she starts her journey. That is when, Rudy, the dream guy of the apocalypse comes to the rescue.  There is intense chemistry between Rudy and Kan. The problem is Rudy has an unresolved issue with an abandoned childhood girlfriend/lover, which he feels the need to save. She is at a survival camp that use zombie for protection and force people to conform to fit into the slots they peg them for. Rudy doesn't know it she is still alive or even wants to be rescue, but he has to try. 

Then to complicate matters even more, there is Mac. He is Rudy's best friend and there is definitely heat between Mac and Kan.  They have so much in common and he is available, but Kan still has feelings for Rudy (maybe more than friendship feelings). What is a girl to do?

 

Kan agrees to help Rudy in his quest. Together Kan, Rudy and Mac plan their mission along with the help of some friends and hired guns. I guess I don't have to tell you about the best layer plans of mice and men.  There is so much more to this story, but I don’t want to spoil it for you.

This is book one of Annie Walls' The Famished series. Annie is an excellent writer and can really weave a tale. I can almost hear the groans and smell the rot of her zombies. This book kept me hungry for more, no pun intended. I really am having a difficult time with the wait for the next book, Controlling The Dead. I love Kan and her world. This is a terrific book!!!!

 

Buy the Book with link below

http://www.amazon.com/Taking-Dead-Famished-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B009EB4YDU/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1382636367&sr=1-1&keywords=annie+walls+taking+on+the+dead

Doctor Sleep

 

 

 

by Stephen King

 

Did you ever wonder what happened to the little boy from The Shining, Danny Torrance? Well I did and it looks like Stephen King did too. Because he is back and all grown up with the weight of all he has been through on his shoulders. 

King has done it again. This book scared the Hell out of me. It is a fitting sequel to The Shining. Doctor Sleep had me looking over my shoulder for the monsters, afraid to go outside after dark and leery of strangers. It made me afraid of every noise I heard at night when I was awake late reading it. Scared to read, but so anxious to know what was going to happen next, that I couldn't put it down. I loved it. This novel has me wondering if there is not more to the most horrendous crimes we hear about than meets the eye. Maybe the non-human monsters are responsible for many or most of them. 

 If you have something that makes you stand out, like the shining, doesn't make sense that there could be monsters that can see it? If these monsters can feed from the shining, would it matter to them what they have to do to get it? After all, they are monsters.

Facts of Doctor Sleep: These monsters truly are EVIL and they are very old.  The monsters run in a pack they call the True Knot, but they look like everybody else. The shining is the strongest in children. A young teenage girl, Abra have the shine, strong enough that it is like a lighthouse beacon and she knows about the True Knot. Abra has seen in her visions what these creatures are capable of. The monsters can only get "the steam" they fed on from these children that have the shining by torture and death. The True Knot knows that Abra sees them and they can’t allow this.  Danny Torrance, Abra and their friends are destined to try and stop the evil creatures and guess where the showdown has to be. That’s right, the home of Danny’s nightmares. The Overlook Hotel maybe gone, but not its poison.

This book corrupted my reading ability for over a week. I didn't want to start another book, because I kept thinking about this one.

The only regrets I have about this book is that it had to end and I only have two thumbs to give it thumbs up with. It takes a lot for a book, story or movie to scare me. Well played Stephen, very well played. Now do it again soon. Evil laugh (Ma haw ha ha ha).

 



Cover Reveal

 

World Of Ash

by Shauna Granger

 

 

Release Date: 12/2013

 

Book Summary:

There are two inherent truths in the world: life as we know it is over, and monsters are real.

The Pestas came in the night, spreading their pox, a deadly plague that decimated the population. Kat, one of the unlucky few who survived, is determined to get to her last living relative and find shelter from the pox that continues to devastate the world. When it mutates and becomes airborne, Kat is desperate to avoid people because staying alone might be her only chance to stay alive.

That is, until she meets Dylan. Dylan, with his easy smile and dark, curly hair, has nowhere to go and no one to live for. He convinces Kat there can be safety in numbers, that they can watch out for each other. So the unlikely couple set off together through the barren wasteland to find a new life – if they can survive the roaming Pestas, bands of wild, gun-toting children, and piles of burning, pox-ridden bodies.

About the Author

Like so many other writers, Shauna grew up as an avid reader, but it was in high school that she realized she wanted to be a writer. Five years ago, Shauna started work on her Elemental Series. She released the first installment, Earth, on May 1, 2011 and has since released four sequels, with the series coming to an end with Spirit. She is currently hard at work on a new Urban Fantasy series, staring a spunky witch with a smush-faced cat named Artemis.

http://shaunasspot.blogspot.com/

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4828875.Shauna_Granger

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This book is for every author who's thinking about indie publishing, or has already taken the leap, and wonders why no one told them about the sharks, the life-sucking social media quicksand, or the best way to avoid sales-checking, yellow-spotted fever. This is a guide for the heart as much as the head. And because I promised myself that I wouldn't write a book about how I made a gazillion dollars publishing ebooks, I would write about the fear: owning it, overcoming it, facing it. From a person who didn't pursue a creative life for a long time, and then discovered creativity can set you free.

Note: gazillion is a technical term, which in this case means something less than a million and more than the average income in my state.

 

Susan Kaye Quinn is the author of the bestselling Mindajck Trilogy and Debt Collector serial and has been indie publishing since 2011. She’s not an indie rockstar or a breakout success: she’s one of thousands of solidly midlist indie authors making a living with their works. This book is a compilation of her four years of blogging through changes in the publishing industry—updated, revised, and supplemented to be relevant in 2013. It’s a guide to help her writer-friends take their own leaps into the wild (and wonderful) world of indie publishing... and not only survive, but thrive. You can friend her on Facebook or follow her on twitter or check out her blog where she'll be doing who knows what next.

 

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Q: What prompted you to write the Guide?

I resisted a long time in putting this together. I had this silly idea I was a fiction writer (which is also true), in spite of spending the last four years blogging consistently about the industry, and especially the changes wrought by indie publishing. It took the goading of several friends, over a period of time, before I realized that the blog was actually non-fiction writing (I can be excessively slow for Ph.D. engineer sometimes). The trigger for blogging the book - revising and updating old posts as well as organizing the content - was seeing writer friend after writer friend take the leap, often after reading something I had posted. And I realized there wasn't a book out there that addressed the fears as well as the nuts-and-bolts about going indie. I could have just left the Guide on my rinky-dink blog, but I knew the power of Amazon (and other retailers) to connect people to books, and I figured it would help more people this way.

 

Q: Why should I read a book about indie publishing by Susan Kaye Quinn? I'm pretty sure she's not a NY Times Bestseller.

I'm not an indie rockstar. I haven't made the news as one of those "exceptional" breakout indie authors. I'm a solidly midlist indie author, which means I make a living off my works. I'm one of thousands of invisible indie midlist authors who, I believe, are the core of indie publishing, and why it's changing the industry. The rockstars of indie publishing can inspire and lead, they can use their leverage to break barriers, but they can't transform the industry on their own. The true change has to come, as it always has, from the grass-roots. I'm part of that grass-roots movement.

Q: Will this Guide help me get rich quick from ebooks?

No.

Q: Will this Guide help me decide if indie publishing is right for me?

Yes.

Q: What if I'm afraid?

We're all afraid. Fear is an integral part of being vulnerable in the world by daring to do brave things. Fear stops many people from becoming the full expression of who they are. I won't tell you not to be afraid in this book - I'll help you see the fear for what it is, manage it, and not let it stop you from reaching for the amazing things you have ahead of you.

Q: What if I don't have the first clue how to start with self-publishing?

The Guide is designed to take a first-time-publishing author from the decision to go indie through to writing that second book (and starting the whole process over again). It's also designed to help indie authors who have already published, but are struggling: either with keeping perspective for the long-term, trying to scale up their businesses from the first book, or just trying not to drown in social media quicksand. My hope is that all my indie author friends will find something worthwhile in it, or pass it on to someone who will. The culture in indie publishing of sharing information is part of what inspired this book in the first place.