Revival (Vol 1) Jane the Hippie Vampire

I always enjoy LL’s prefaces, she opens up so much about ideas, how a character came to be, the thought process and this is no exception. 

Love Beads (Book 1):

Jane is the strangest vampire I have come across in a long while, and I love her!!

One sunny afternoon she meets Randy and his weird dogs, strange job and horrific food sense.

LML treated me to a brilliant piece of mystery thriller writing with a super natural element, with just enough grossness to add a horror element.

She hints this will be a series and I do hope so.

Some fabulous in depth and textured descriptions allow you to become immersed in the story I was totally engrossed in this novella and was sad when it ended.

Jane is an intriguing character and I so wasn’t to know more about how she became what she is and what her forward plan is.

Flashbacks (Book 2):

Nice to be back with the gentle hippie vampire that is Jane.  Tongue in cheek reminder that taking drugs is bad when she “eats” a meth laden bully attempting to frighten and probably kill an old Vietnam veteran by the name of Old Man Kevin. 

During this moment of hunger and moral outrage she saves Kevin, incurring the wrath of his gang which catches up with her much later in the story.

I felt this story was much darker than the first with the horrific flashbacks to the war as told by Kevin, such a sad story. However, this allows Jane to also share sad and horrifying stories.

Whilst the ending was sad I really feel like I understand Jane a little better, and even if a vampire she is a better human than me being so kind to those she encounters after her horrible life. 

Not as much humour in this story, but still enjoy the writing.

Hair (Book 3):

Jane is ironically a vegan vampire with a knack for getting into trouble.

Needing to head to warmer climes she heads South into Bible Belt country, the weather maybe warmer but the hospitality is not; at least for an outwardly appearing teenage vagrant.

When a purple dog runs past her during a routine police stop you are already drawn back into Jane’s strange world and you can feel the magic carpet ride coming.

Whilst she knows that she must feed and she often disgusts herself with the berserker like frenzy when this occurs she knows it was not her that started to rip the Officers to pieces in the woods, even though she does not turn down an easy meal.

LML has a wonderful skill of explaining the pain that Jane feels during these feeds giving you a sense of the gnawing hunger vs the need to preserve all life.

As she hides in the forest she is found by the local Ranger, Bobby, and he kindly takes her home for dinner, although he does have his own agenda and what is actually on the menu?

His family are a strange mix of rednecks and homely parents, then LML introduces  the local fruitloop who professes to be seeing lake monsters, werewolves and vampires and you know things are about to go squiffy for poor Jane!

When said fruitloop decides to rid the world of a “stinking leech” he sets in motion a terrible chain of events, killing sprees, hidden bodies and family secret revelations. 

Whilst all this is going on LL manages to throw in some horrific flashbacks of Jane’s previous life and her “change”.

Overall another wonderful installment in the undead life of Jane. I am more intrigued by this vampire now; LL is expertly giving little hints of the true horror in Jane’s life whilst telling these little chapters in her life.  

Bonus Content: Flower Power:

Taking a rare moment to enjoy a coffee and piece of cake Jane is interrupted by a strange ghostly figure with an even stranger offer.

Via haunting memories, we are told of a horrific encounter Jane had with an astral plane travelling witch. Through varying levels of physical and mental torture including a trip to meet her long dead mother, Jane endures her recollection of meeting Holly and her stubborn sister Caitlin. 

The offer to help rid this world of this terror is too much for Jane, who herself continues to seek redemption to Heaven through good deeds.  She agrees to plunge herself back into this world to trap Holly.

This time around she faces worse mind games and even a fish tank filled with biting and hungry fish!  All is never what it seems with witches though and the ending is brutal.

Revival

Bob meets Sam by Jaime Johnesse

Starts off with a blast as Bob goes into full on dance, and body part flinging mode within the first few lines. We are also reintroduced to Griff, the empath.

The tongue in cheek humour is forefront with Bob and even if a little stinky/slimy he is such a likeable guy.

What is not to like about JJ’s writing, especially her dialogue pieces as they give her characters such life with getting stuck down in the he said/she said back and forth.

When Bob catches up with Sam, the shape-shifter, at Griff’s bar JJ explains  how they both became part of the supernatural world and how they met, a really great story in and of itself. However, when Bob learns that the necromancer he helped to capture has escaped he has to help to recapture him.

Bring on New Orleans, Voodoo hoodoo, witches, zombies and mayhem galore!

JJ moves her stories along quickly, but still holds tension, and this was no exception, fast paced but with full on mental imagery to pull you into the story.

I am looking forward to the much promised updated Sam the Shifter book.

Bob meets Sam 

Holiday Wrappings anthology - Wrapped In.... series

UNTO THE EARTH by Patrick. C. Greene:

This little stunner of a story was in Wrapped in Black – so if you love Witches and the Occult this will be the book for you!

Landon and his beautiful wife, Agnes, who makes a wonderful Voodoo dinner, if only the dog would shut up, the cable wasn’t off and Aggy would stop ordering all the magazines in French!

DADDY’S GLASSES by Allison M. Dickson:

Wrapped in White is full of Ghostly goings on and this is the first to set you off with the shudders.

Loved the southern twang to the story. An early baby death sets the tone for this nightmare riddled story.

So much death in one family but AMD also manages to show what happens in “real” life as families stretch, change and lose contact.

However, when a blast from the past arrives in a little wooden box the narrator of this story gets a full front seat to the true horror of human nature.

MY BOSS IS A VAMPIRE by Michael David Matula:

From the Wrapped in Red (Vampires!) book this tale is my favourite combo – horror and humour.

From the first few lines I was treated to smirk worthy narrative; turkey Voodoo curses abound. Oh what a treat to end on, this left me with such a smile! Fantastic story with a real kick in the fangs!

HÄXENHAUS by Nick Kimbro:

Another scary short from the Wrapped in Black set, this is full on Witches so hold on to your britches (sorry I couldn’t help it!)

eeeek at the torturous instruments described and explained.

Our narrator, Kramer, is close to a house that is prison to witches, a place that has turned confession, torture and suffering into an art.

The witch that killed his child is now dead but what parting gift did she leave him. To say I really enjoyed this story would make me sound perverted, but then I love horror! And this has multiple elements to it.

To wish suffering on others, is that human nature? Whatever, it was brilliantly written and certainly deserves its place in this black anthology.

INSEPARABLE by Solomon Archer, Ph.D.:

The second treat from the Ghostly based book Wrapped in White.

The first paragraph left me feeling nauseated, such was the portrayal of devastation and lost come to physical being.

As you continue to be dragged down the rabbit hole of depression that has a dream like edge to it, I was wondering where the spooky would be in this well penned tale.

I need not have worried as the very last line sent such shivers down my spine I needed to stop reading for a while. Brilliant.

DADDY USED TO DRINK TOO MUCH by Michael G. Williams:

Wrapped in Red brings you another fabulous story but this is a tale so full of woe I was left a little bereft and the end.

Lots of blood and some fangs, but also tons of emotion. Such a sad way to start the book. The way MGW described the whole setting was also very corporeal.

BEAUTIFUL, BROKEN THINGS by Rose Blackthorn:

Back to the Witches with this little treat.

Trey with his mantra of clean now. Trey has done something that requires penance. He has lost much too, and he appears to be paying. The world he lives in miserable; dull, grey and dirty.

Ciara gives the illusion of colour, and such gorgeous descriptions of colour given by the author, I was mesmerized.

This is a sad tale, with the lesson of being careful what you wish for.  Wonderful.

THE CURSE OF KIRBY by Patrick C. Greene:

Ghosties strike again in this brilliant addition to the Wrapped in White set.

Poor Dawson he can’t seem to get any peace with Butthole the cat pooping everywhere or scratching him to hell, not to mention his wonderful party hard neighbours.

Mendelbaum, his only other sane neighbour, is also having a hard time sleeping. Then they meet Abigail and Kirby; a mischievous ghost! and a plan is hatched.

However, as is always with hauntings there are dark currents and secrets, and with PCG you can always expect some even darker comments, not forgetting the gore, always lots of gore! But funny gore!

A fantastic climactic and grin worthy ending.

VERMILION by Bryan W. Alaspa:

Vampires come back for another bite (Wrapped in Red) I know, sorry!

The back story is inspired in its telling, BWA does not think us readers are fools, instead he continues to be eloquent in his revealing of the story.

As the climax comes nothing is given away until the last moment, then it is final. Awesome story and fantastic writing style.

SHE MAKES MY SKIN CRAWL by Shenoa Carroll-Bradd:

Time for those Witches to freak you out again!

To take a common saying and place a story around it, awesome!!

“Her” small but powerful punishments result in bloody bags of stuff, stuff from Jaime, skin from Jaime, skin that goes crawling on its own!! Even Jaime’s own bath tub was gagging at the revolting descriptions and imagery.

AIN’T THEY BRIGHT by Cecilia Dockins:

The final Spectral entry in this bonus introduction for the Wrapped in series.

In the world of Nursing and Medicine I found myself nodding and understanding all the pressures that CD was portraying.

Even with a busy shift it seems Hell has followed our narrator into work.

I was left a little perplexed by this story, maybe it was too close to home.

NIGHTBOUND by Patrick C. Greene:

Sad to see the last in the Vampire themed set but PCG starts the story so well you can't help but want harm to come to these "bad" men, he continues to heap nastiness upon them but gives a sense of spook once in the house, you can feel the blood suckers coming. The first kill is amazing, it was so visual.

The criminals really get what they deserved, some smirking great humour.

HAIR SHIRT DRAG by Gordon White:

A brilliant finale to not only the Wrapped in Black but this Holiday Wrappings.

Jesse, or Sissy to his non-friends, is a backwoods, Southern, effeminate, cross-dressing Witch and is even a little strange even for each of those sub groups. He comes from a long line of Overhold women who have the “gift”, each use and supply it in various odd ways but the outcomes are all the same.

The town has come to Jesse’s Momma house to help her with some “medicine”, the initiation of her son, who should have been a girl.

However Jesse is splendid in his hand me down Hair Shirt and as the townsfolk turn upon him, his beauty explodes around them. Fantastic build-up, great finale and brilliant start to this anthology.

I could feel the atmosphere such is the writing skill of GW, he managed to spin, wind and wallow me in a tale so beautiful I almost did not notice the dark undertone.

Holiday Wrappings

Samhain by Lori R. Lopez

First off I have to mention the amazing cover art - as LRL does all her own work I am always intrigued at how wonderfully fascinating they are, the more you look the more detail you see, not to mention how she manages to really grasp the essence of her stories in the covers.

It is All Hallows Eve and self confessed wuss and multi phobic Daren Karl is on his way to his sisters house to a Halloween party. Rather than brave all those people he is coerced by his parents into taking his nephew Dare out trick or treating, they leave him with a strange comment about facing his demons!

Dare maybe named after his Uncle but he makes his name a challenge, not a burden and delights in teasing his Uncle on the route around the neighbourhood.

As they prowl the streets Darrens phobias about this night are surfacing and causing some interesting discussion with his nephew. Amid all the candy collection, pirates, werewolves and cowboys he spots THE witch and as memories come flooding back LRL drags you into a hellish house of horrors.

I really enjoyed the goosebumps I was given and the thrilling explanation of Halloween, Samhain and various other historical spookies. 

LRL manages in her small novellas to inject such emotion, tension and sense of history to all her characters, I miss them when i finish the story. 

I am glad I stayed in this Halloween - but it is as I have always suspected that children really ARE tasty little morsels best served broiled!

Samhain

Wrapped in Black anthology

This edition of Wrapped In… has exceeded itself with the caliber of author included, the stories and the editing lay out.

I am not sure how Sekhmet is going to follow on from this but I sure hope they do, I will be first in line to buy it.

Hair Shirt Drag by Gordon White: Jesse, or Sissy to his non-friends, is a backwoods, Southern, effeminate, cross-dressing Witch and is even a little strange even for each of those sub groups.  He comes from a long line of Overhold women who have the “gift”, each use and supply it in various odd ways but the outcomes are all the same.

The town has come to Jesse’s Momma house to help her with some “medicine”, the initiation of her son, who should have been a girl.

However Jesse is splendid in his hand me down Hair Shirt and as the townsfolk turn upon him, his beauty explodes around them.  Fantastic build-up, great finale and brilliant start to this anthology.

I could feel the atmosphere such is the writing skill of GW, he managed to spin, wind and wallow me in a tale so beautiful I almost did not notice the dark undertone.

Comes the Rain by Gregory L. Norris: Granny Rae is dying, but not in peace. Three of the most awful creatures are after her powers. Jamison must protect her.

The pace of this story is enchanting, the rhythm that the author beats out with his words entraps you into this little snippet of world. His descriptions are vivid and colourful. The ending is so bittersweet.

Number One Angel by Allison M. Dickson: Louise is trying to kill her Mama and Phelan, her lover, has told her how to do it. Gulp, gulp, gulp; the sound of the cake going down her fat neck.

But Phelan is not all he seems and only wishes to collect what was his from Mama’s box.

Short but punchy, this made me smile, I love the way AMD writes, all her work is exquisite.

Unto the Earth by Patrick C Greene: Landon and his beautiful wife, Agnes, who makes a wonderful Voodoo dinner, if only the dog would shut up, the cable wasn’t off and Aggy would stop ordering all the magazines in French!

The tension between these two and the unspoken things that are in their pasts and what is occurring now was intriguing.

I think this is one of my favourite lines to describe love and need - they clutched each other like otter pup littermates.

There was some serious imagery in this story along with the spooks. The reasoning in the end is fantastic and I loved the finale!   Brilliant writing and torment from PCG!! He is a master of short stories.

HÄXENHAUS  by Nick Kimbro: eeeeek at the torturous instruments described and explained.

Our narrator, Kramer, is close to a house that is prison to witches, a place that has turned confession, torture and suffering into an art.

The witch that killed his child is now dead but what parting gift did she leave him.  To say I really enjoyed this story would make me sound perverted, but then I love horror! And this has multiple elements to it.

To wish suffering on others, is that human nature? Whatever, it was brilliantly written and certainly deserves its place in this black anthology.

Stories I tell to the Girls by Michael G. Williams:  The Book People are a coven working magic through the written word but magic often requires a sacrifice.

Loved all the book quotes! But with all their chanting they conjure up Percy the vampire and then, as the story states, there “…..is some seriously weird reverse-Bella shit.” Because, actually, he only wants to go to Heaven!

A beautiful tale of love, forgiveness and something wished for. Gripped from the start I thought this story had a unique edge using its humour.

The Rising Son by James Glass:  Calahan has had a taste of Cherry, but apparently who hasn’t! Apparently his brother who is in love with the great Crowley. So they decide to summon a demon, well why not?

So his local coven decide to help, as world domination is not enough fun. However, what pops up is not quite what they were expecting.

I have read JG before and always enjoyed the story and writing, no different here, just wish there were more!

Beautiful, Broken Things by Rose Blackthorn: Trey with his mantra of clean now. Trey has done something that requires penance. He has lost much too, and he appears to be paying. The world he lives in miserable; dull, grey and dirty.

Ciara gives the illusion of colour, and such gorgeous descriptions of colour given by the author, I was mesmerized.

This is a sad tale, with the lesson of being careful what you wish for.  Wonderful.

Not this Time by Mike Lester: Jack has buried Melanie. I loved the skill of the author in telling the story through snippets of conversation, memories and flashbacks.

This was a brief story but I really felt like a I knew the main characters. Amazing writing.

Into the Light by Solomon Archer: Elliot got more than scrapped skin when he fell handlebars over butt off his bike last April.

The grooming of Elliot into the coven was almost friendly but watching from the outside it’s easy to see the danger, the author did a brilliant job in conveying this.

The Sight and the Dreams made uncomfortable reading. BUT I think this line is my favourite from the whole book (horror and humour are a powerful mix): he imagined a family of raccoons sitting around a tree stump playing Yahtzee, their little paws clumsily tossing acorns onto a pile as they placed their bets.

The climatic ending was expected in such a powerful story and was suitably explosive, perfect.

She makes my skin crawl by Shenoa Carroll-Bradd: Jaime and Elana, she who was bitten by the Devil, on her ass no less!

Her small but powerful punishments result in bloody bags of stuff, stuff from Jaime, skin from Jaime, skin that goes crawling on its own!! Even Jaime’s own bath tub was gagging at the revolting descriptions and imagery.

To take a common saying and place a story around it, awesome!!

Pigeon by Eric Nash: Maddie has removed her amulet and now Jack, ex-lover/married another woman/living the wonderful life Jack, is literally in melt down.

I really enjoyed the fast pace set by the author, there was no let up, pushing, pushing, pushing….until, Bang.  Glad this was fairly short as am sure I was holding breathe for the entire read.

Pig Roast by Aaron Gudmunson: Chet loves food, but mostly with mustard. Then he meets Sarah.

Whilst I felt where the story is heading the humour kept me reading! I thought the ending was great and really wrapped up this anthology well!!

The Bio’s at the end were mostly witty and very informative! I enjoy finding out about authors, it makes them so much easier to locate and stalk them!

Wrapped in Black

Lucky's Girl by William Holloway

Lucky thinks himself a Prophet, he has an irresistible talent for drawing people in, an ability to beguile with his public speaking, and his general allure allows him to be a leader of men but he has a twisted sense of self and a deep need for revenge, so when The Big Tree at Elton lakes calls him back he follows. 

We are then introduced to Kenny as he reunites with his estranged children, Jake & Jenny, both are clearly harbouring resentment and something terrible has happened to Jenny recently.  Having lost everything in the big city he too is making his way back to his childhood home, the cabin/shack his Vietnam Vet Uncle raised him in.

Sherif of Elton Township, Jerry Kaminsky, is a recovering alcoholic but general good guy trying to hold his dying, failing town together.

All three men, it soon becomes clear, have history together; all are interwoven with the Big Tree.

As funding after funding leaves the town and its people they become disheartened, desperate and ripe for salvation. The most recent an archeological dig, discovery of a possible Indian burial ground out by the lake.  So the stage is set for Lucky to breeze back into his home town and start his tribe, bring them to glory.

There are other major characters in the book such as the lovely Rev James, his wife, the Mayor Errol and the Wolves.  The characters are all deep, with fascinating back stories, none are pure good or evil, baring the odd one but even then you are given elements of doubt.

The author has certainly out done himself on the scare factor for this book, some really spooky stuff in there, does make you wonder what he gets up to on the weekends!

Between Wendigo’s, American Indian Folklore, Cults, demands for revenge, Gods of Chaos and Werewolves you will be riveted up until the final page. 

I do hope there is more to come from not only this author but also this story.

Luckys Girl

Tales from the Lake vol.1 - antholgy edited by Joe Mynhardt

Lover, Come Back to Me by Tim Waggoner: Alan is not enjoying his day out on the lake with his wife, but then being stuck in a canoe on the lake you nearly drowned in as a child would probably not make me have a fun day out either.

TW does well to convey the fear and physical terror of drowning. However, this is a horror story and something else is going on.

A strange and well written love/monster story with a fantastic ending.  

Don‟t Look at Me by Elizabeth Massie: Things that are created in the shape of humans or near-humans have minds and we can think. Ohmyfreakinggosh!!

When Pointy is rescued by poor Connie he does some rescuing of his right back. I really loved this little story, it had horror, humour, heartbreak and was based on that underlying fear I have of dolls! MY favourite.

Dead Pull by Taylor Grant:  Brennan works the pet store and inflicts pain and suffering – that was the end of my reading, originally!  I was then contacted by the author who suggest I carry on as there was NO torture and he was right, only cleverly done "implied" torture, so I guess the writing was impressive. A nasty little tale but I thoroughly enjoyed the ending. Thank you TG for convincing me to carry on!

Alternative Muses by J. Daniel Stone: an unrelenting style of writing that left me needing to take a walk around the block to clear my head.

The subject chosen did not help, self-torture and suspension all wrapped up with a pregnancy.

There were some really corny lines in this too which was ridiculous considering the shock horror topic.

I found it an odd addition to this anthology. Shock horror for the sake of it is really not my thing, but if you like gross out you will love this story.

The Reunion by Joan De La Haye : poor Frank gets a ghostly visit my his Grandfather and some of his friends at his new hotel.

It’s not a happy family reunion though. A very short tale of ….. well I’m not sure really but it was an easy read which held me engrossed to the final chop.

Devil‟s Night by Tim Curran: Hell has opened up and Mick and Bones are trying to survive. They start to sacrifice people to the Fire Eater but its slowly unravelling them in different ways.

TC does a brilliant job in explaining the horror of consumption by the Fire Eater and also the emotional trauma these two are experiencing.  A great story with a fitting ending.

The Fine Art of Wrecking by Jenn Loring: not sure about this one, calling the sea a living entity in Her own right with capitalising everything got on my nerves after a bit.

Felt a long winded way to get to the finale and then stop.

O‟Halloran‟s by John Paul Allen: Tom just wants a drink to sort his mind out but he seems trapped in a time warped hell. He and Helen had their lives mapped out and a baby now was not part of it, given time to reflect will he change his mind?

Fast paced and whilst gross, confusing and a little morally off compass this was a good story.

Las Maquinas by William Ritchey: the time line was a little out on this story and it had a very preaching religious tone to it at the begining, it also had some laughable B-movie style lines but I don’t think it was supposed to be funny.

All these comments are a shame really as the basic storyline and characters were good.

Perrollo‟s Ladder by John Palisano: I wanted more about the first paragraph!

This was a fantastic story until it just stopped….. was this part of a story? Or just intentionally left on a cliff hanger?

Game On by Charles Day: could be a good story – I don’t know stopped about the frogs and firecrackers. 

Lady of Lost Lake by Bev Vincent: four guys go on a weekend camping break by the lake. Essentially a lady in the lake story with real no essence but strangely I was riveted to this story and its telling.

Junksick by G.N. Braun: odd little things were off in this story such as sweat that drips from your temples yet pools in your armpits – strange anatomy!

A great story though with some fabulous descriptions. I thought the ending was a real kicker and really enjoyed that no hint was given.

Witch-Compass by Graham Masterton: Paul leaves Africa with a Witch-Compass but little else. As his life turns to dust around him the Witch-Compass points to what he could have if he wanted too, but can he make the right choices?

Well written with some really uncomfortable scenes I was engrossed until the end. Not sure how I wanted it to end but this choice was a good one.

Saint Patty's Night at The Crown & Devil Dolls –a poems by Blaze McRob:  cute, snarky and spooky, if you like poems, I’m not to keen but these are short enough to enjoy without getting bored, plus they were entertaining, it’s just not a medium I enjoy for horror.

As always I like the little author bios’ at the end – I personally would prefer them pre or post each story. It would have also been helpful if they had been in the order of the stories written.

I will be careful about reading anymore from this grouping. I don’t want an un-themed anthologies anymore, I need to be able to screen what I read  so I can limit my exposure to animal torture as it was severally exceeded. I don’t have many strong beliefs, in fact this is probably the only thing I feel strongly about – zero tolerance on animal torture.

Tales from the Lake

Dust to Dust: witch you were here & some silly questions by Eden Crowne

Eden Crowne is from San Francisco, California and in her other life she is an international journalist writing on technology, pop culture, emerging trends, and travel in Asia. She has learned a lot about survival. About coping in strange places. Being the outsider and never having that cloak of anonymity to throw on and hide behind. Those feelings of being on the outside looking in is something she brilliantly recreates in her characters. Wanting to belong and wanting to be left alone all jumbled together in a mix that never seems to make sense. Mythology and the supernatural fuel her interest in the fiction in what she writes and what likes to  read. She tries to define her books in a mythological sense, each of them is a classic “Heroes Journey” for the main character. 

Find Eden Crowne at eden@edencrowne.com  or www.EdenCrowne.com

Now some silly questions;

What is your favourite sandwich? Drink?

I love chicken salad sanwiches!! Or roast beef au jus. My favorite drink is double espresso over ice, many of my characters drink that. Have to have my double espresso AT the coffee place in the morning. I always go out for it, even if it's to get it to go!

Do you have a favourite place to write?

Coffee shops. All over the world. That's where I go every morning. Write for several hours till noon. Not every coffee shop. Certain coffee places have good energy. The Starbuck's in Jiyugaoka, Tokyo. The Excelsior cafe there as well. The St. Marc cafe in Meguro, Tokyo. The Starbuck's in Canyon Del Rey, CA and the Coffe Bean and Tea Leaf in Los Feliz, CA. Oh, the Sega Fredo in Roppongi Hills.

Who or What is your personal favourite character/novel?

In my novels??? I would have said Julian Lake in Fear Club. But now it's Quil St. James in my upcoming YA dystopian novel, Plagued. He seems so, so real. And dangerous. And complex. My favorite novel of my own is Deathgods, not released yet. Good things coming.

My favorite childhood book was Weirdstone of Brisingame by Alan Garner and the sequel, Moon of Gomrath. I think he ifluenced me to bring myth and magic into our modern world.

My favorite character is not literary at all, it's Dr. Who. I grew up with Tom Baker as my doctor. The Time Lords were the basis of so many stories in my head as I fell asleep. I love the reinvention as well and all the new doctors, especially the tenth doctor, David Tennent. What a magnificient creation.

If you had a theme track, what would it be?

Britney Spears', “Work B$$ch”

If you were to write your “memoirs” who would play you and key members of your life in the televised series?

OMG, so difficult. I am so wacky. Miley Cyrus in her Hannah Montana character and before she went, well, you know... Or maybe Kat Dennings from Two Broke Girls. I have a mouth on me.

And back to silly, if you could have any supernatural power what would it be?

Healing power. Most definitely!

And so on to the review of Dust to Dust; witch you were here!

Ok, lets start with the bad bits…. This book ended; I was devastated.

This book pretty much as all the components of a fantastic series, add to that the exceptional imagination and writing skills of Eden Crowne and you have that fantastic story.

From witches, spider witches (oh yes, these are super scary!), demons, vampires, faeries, zombies, demigoddesses shaped like leopards, sprites, sirens, demon hounds, magic, elementals, dragons (babies!), necormancers and Soul Eaters. Not forgetting the exceptionally hot sex, desire and fulfillment scenes certainly had me blushing at times! You have perfection.

With one paragraph I was bounced back into the story and the supernatural world of Tamsin, who is still trying to find the remaining pieces of her soul and the runes needed to bring it together, each body she inhabits means she gains more magic, spells and talents, which EC puts to great use with her amazing imagination. 

In this incarnation she is a Charmer, her ability allows her to literally smell of candy floss, cookies and butterscotch and charm the pants off anyone. Also she has horns, a sad fashion sense and gets followed by a lot of love struck dogs!

Drake makes a welcome return as the sexy vampire/Prime, his position of outcast from the Fae realm gives a whole new twist and story line to this book.

I was glad to see that the super-sized demon hound that is Desmond, Dez to his friends, had also returned. It was really great to have Dez playing a bigger, if somewhat mute role. As Theo, the Sprite, and his Kitty return for the game the humour element that makes these books so much fun was in place. This humour factor is well needed in the terror and horror of the game that is occurring.

In the first few chapters there is an awesome fight scene, there is so much magic  being flung around I practically felt my own hair sizzle, throw in the amazingly hot sexy bits and I was almost on fire.

As the scary plot twists start showing up I was routed and clicking (yes I have ebooks, shoot me) page turns faster than I wanted; from previous experience with this author I knew I should make this book last, but it’s so well written that I just wanted to gobble it up like a huge bar of Galaxy chocolate.

This pretty much continues throughout the book, each new twist adding to the fun and mayhem, but it never grows stale or samey as EC has such an expanse of themes, magical elements, dimensions, characters and creatures to draw on.

Such in depth, perfect explanations for all the magical elements and critters that come forth. With so many characters, game players and fantasy elements going on it would be easy to get lost in this world, but EC expertly guides you through keeping you focused on the important bits.

What a spectacular finale, of magic realms bursting through to human awareness and The Game draws to a conclusion, which of course leaves the playing field wide open for many more books.

Wonderful explanation of Primes and The Game at the end, but was wondering if this should be at the beginning for those idiots among us that pick up book 2 and wonder what’s going on!

I am always excited when this author announces a new book, which she does and teases with at the end of this one. Hurry up and write faster!

Dust To Dust