Dan Alatorre will release his anthology Dark Visions on October 15. My first attempt of writing a horror short story was selected to be included. Thanks, Dan.
Click below to read a review of the Dark Visions
Feature Image: Urmo Parks, Urmo Parks Photography
Each week Hugh Roberts takes a date from his diary in 1988. After sharing the entry, he features a fellow author and blogger. Today (Sept. 25) he graciously featured me. Thanks, Hugh.
Take a minute to read the post and leave a comment.
https://hughsviewsandnews.com/2018/09/25/49-days-in-1988-week-37-searching/
He also asked us to pick some music from that year that had a special significance. Below is my pick.
Release Date: January 15, 2019
Genre: Mystery/Suspense/Supernatural Thriller
Publisher: Kensington Publishing • Lyrical Underground Imprint
BLURB:
The past is never truly buried…
Generations of Jillian Cley’s family have been tasked with a strange duty—tending the burial plot of Gabriel Vane, whose body was the first to be interred in the Hode’s Hill cemetery. Jillian faithfully continues the long-standing tradition—until one October night, Vane’s body is stolen from its resting place. Is it a Halloween prank? Or something more sinister?
As the descendants of those buried in the church yard begin to experience bizarre “accidents,” Jillian tries to uncover the cause. Deeply empathic, she does not make friends easily, or lightly. But to fend off the terror taking over her town, she must join forces with artist Dante DeLuca, whose sensitivity to the spirit world has been both a blessing and a curse. The two soon realize Jillian’s murky family history is entwined in a tragic legacy tracing back to the founding of Hode’s Hill. In order to set matters right, an ancient wrong must be avenged…or Jillian, Dante, and everyone in town will forever be at the mercy of a vengeful spirit.
End of Day can be read as a stand alone novel or as a follow-up to book one of the Hode’s Hill series, Cusp of Night.
End of Day is available for pre-order through this link
and available to add to your Goodreads to-be-read list here.
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By Bernadette Inclan
It was an unusually cold day for October as Naomi drove her new Acura across Interstate Highway 35. She and her best friend, Clarissa, had taken a week off and decided to go into Mexico to visit Naomi’s family. They both had jobs in San Antonio, and the drive would only take three hours to the border town of Laredo. The young women traveled together on numerous occasions so even though this was Clarissa’s first adventure into Mexico, it was no big deal.
“Does Tia Fernanda know we’re coming?” Clarissa asked.
Clarissa had met Tia Fernanda on a few occasions and referred to her as “Tia” as a sign of respect.
“I called and let her know our approximate time of arrival,” Naomi answered.
Naomi eased into the International Border crossing. Their documents were in their purses. Since they were going more than 26-miles past the border, they had to get a tourist permit. Naomi had to register her vehicle, which had to be searched, so this was not going to be a quick getaway.
Naomi sighed deeply as she parked and walked into the building. She noticed that although there were a half-dozen windows, a long line of people waited patiently at the only one that was opened. She tip-toed to see over the line of people to what was the problem. Then she noticed the sign on the window; “Computadora abajo, perdon los inconvenientes.” The computers were down, and they were sorry for the inconvenience. The solitary man at the window was pecking at a manual typewriter. Naomi and Clarissa looked at each other, and both gave a deep sigh. They stood patiently as the line periodically moved.
“Siguente!, “Next!” shouted the agent. Both women walked confidently to the window.
“Where are you going?” asked the agent in Spanish without looking at either woman.
“Sabinas Hidalgo, Nuevo Leon,” answered Naomi.
The agent’s eyes moved up. He looked at Naomi, then at Clarissa. He shifted his position, and his manner became brusque.
“What are two women traveling alone doing in Mexico?” he asked in a gruff tone.
“Visiting family,” responded Naomi.
“You have no business traveling alone,” responded the agent.
“We’re traveling together,” Naomi indicated to Clarissa, “and I travel to Mexico at least once a month,” she snapped. Then, on second thought, decided to give the agent an ingratiating smile.
“Papers!” ordered the agent and began to type the forms they needed to present at the two upcoming check stations.
I wrote my first short story and submitted it to Dan Alatorre’s Word Weaver Contest. He had challenged me several months ago and I took him up on his challenge. Although I didn’t win (didn’t anticipate winning) I got an excellent critique of my writing and story. Dan is a well known and gifted writer and editor of fiction and it is an honor to win or even have your writing mentions on his blogs. I urge you to follow the link below to view the announcement of the winners. Future post by Dan will contain their stories or links to their stories. I anticipate posting my story here — watch for it.
On Saturday evening May 12, I was the guest speaker of the local chapter of Integrity USA. Integrity USA is a nonprofit organization working in the Episcopal Church for the full inclusion of LGBT community and their allies. I was asked to speak on my writing, my books and then do a book signing afterward.
I told the group, that I didn’t feel as if I was an author, yet over the last two years, I have three books selling on Amazon. In some circles, this defines you as an author. For me, I define myself as a novice writer who has taken the risk to self-publish three books. That doesn’t make me an author, but my goal is to have one or more of my books get recognized as quality writing. When this happens, then I will consider myself an author.
I shared how it all unfolded with the group. In fact, I gave them a summary of what I include here. I took the advice of another author to not bore your audience on how or why you wrote the book. He said they don’t care, they come because they want to hear about the book and perhaps obtain a signed copy. I did as he advised and read short excerpts from all three books. It worked, I kept the attention of the audience, I had a vibrant Q & A afterward and sold out of two of the three books I had brought.
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