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Darkness Whispers …

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Darkness Whispers delivers deliciously chilling horror fiction by Richard Chizmar.Darkness Whispers will introduce you to the town of Windbrook, a sleepy little community nestled deep in the secluded Skullkin Valley of western Pennsylvania.

All is well in Windbrook, just like usual, just like always. Nothing changes here, nothing is different.

Except… except today something is different.

An old man with piercing gray eyes will arrive in town this morning. This man isn’t human. Not even close. And he isn’t coming alone. Death travels with him.

Richard Chizmar, award-winning author of A Long December, and Brian James Freeman, acclaimed author of The Painted Darkness, have combined forces to create an old-fashioned tale of horror, full of good and evil, with a breathtaking ending that will leave you wondering when this peculiar old man might be coming for you…

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Reviews and Praise:

“Anthology editors Chizmar (the Shivers series) and Freeman (the Dark Screams series) build tension and hook readers… with this svelte tale of modern small-town life gone wrong. The characters are instantly engaging, and the story moves at such a satisfying clip…” — Publishers Weekly

“Filled with enough plot, characterization and metaphorical heft to stuff a full-length novel, Darkness Whispers brilliantly depicts the supernatural exploitation of a small town’s moral failings. Subtly shifting from Bradbury-esque whimsy to badass horror worthy of the King himself, the novella is a major achievement by Richard Chizmar and Brian James Freeman.” — Bentley Little, author of The Consultant and The Influence

“Darkness Whispers begins as a visit to a golden-hued, idyllic town that soon gets dark. Very dark. I quickly gave up trying to second-guess the formidable authors and simply surrendered to their lead all the way to the shattering conclusion. Chizmar and Freeman know that horror doesn’t work without humanity, and with this story they succeed in chilling our blood and breaking our hearts.” — Ray Garton, author of Live Girls and Night Life

Darkness Whispers offers chilling horror fiction by Richard Chizmar.

 

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Revisiting “Where’s the Bread”

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These Italian gluten-free pizzelles taste like my mother's.

Gluten-free pizzelles

I spent my recent days holiday baking. Unlike previous years, my gluten-free pastries were reminiscent of my Mom’s recipes, and my Mylar Balloons whispered, “Shouldn’t you blog about your baking?” No, I’m sleepy, I thought and promptly dozed off on my computer chair.

Then yesterday, I photographed my gf anginetti (Italian lemon-flavored cookies) and pizzelles, and people began asking how I came by these recipes. “You see?” my balloons crooned, “Better Batter and King Arthur cup-for-cup flour worked for you, right? And you’ve been posting some of your recipes in Night to Dawn. How about sharing your experiences with your followers?”

The balloons had a point. Back in 2014, I posted a blog titled Where’s the Bread. There were no photographs of bread or other treats because whatever I attempted tasted awful. My cheese rolls hardened like baseballs. Though I contented myself with my homemade chicken rice soup and Udi’s bread; I continued to try different recipes.

I found a user-friendly method with Pamela’s Pizzelles, and these taste like my mom’s version. I use anise extract for flavoring. They’re hard to tell from the regular pizzelles, so I had to mark the containers carefully.  I also tried recipes provided by Nicole Hunn. She posts a blog and has written several books on gf cooking. Whatever food sensitivity is the issue, she can suggest ways to work around it. When I made cheesecakes, I substituted gf crust; there was Mike’s cheesecake, and he got a hearty slice with each visit. I haven’t been able to bake cheesecake since he died but found a lot of treats with Nicole’s recipes. I also tried her cheese bread recipe, but that didn’t turn out well. Italian cheese bread, called “pitz” (spelling?) is the Holy Grail in my family. I bake it every Easter but have yet to manage a gf facsimile that works.

These tasty gluten-free pastries were baked by Barbara Custer.

Gluten-free anginatti

I found tasty recipes on King Arthur Flour’s website, particularly their chocolate chip cookies. Last time I made them I substituted coconut for half the chips and they were awesome.  This past year, King Arthur came out with a Gluten-Free Measure for Measure Flour which you can substitute for regular flour to convert traditional recipes to gluten-free.  I used it to make butter cookies and anginetti, using concoctions similar to my mom’s. You might wonder how come I didn’t go with my mom’s recipes. Mom never measured flour, and neither did I. I’m not ready yet to try gf baking without measuring. The butter cookies taste like Mom’s; the anginetti came a little heavier than I liked but decent. For the anginetti and wedding cake cookies, I had to use more liquid than the recipe specified. So if the recipe called for one cup of orange juice, I used 1.5 cups. Better Batter Flour advertises as “cup for cup”, but they recommend that you add extra liquid.

Barbara Custer found a way to doctor a bread mix to get these delicious gluten-free rolls.

The bread’s over here!

Oh, by the way, I found my bread – Pamela’s bread mix has worked for me nicely as you can see in my photo to the left. And I will continue posting my recipes on Night to Dawn’s “Pickings and Tidbits” page. Even writers and connoisseurs of Mylar balloons and fiction have to eat sometimes! 🙂

Have you had to alter ingredients or find new recipes to accommodate a food sensitivity? I’d love to hear your experiences.

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Interview with John Nicholl, Author of Portraits of the Dead

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portraitsofthedeadbannerToday, I’m delighted a feature an interview with John Nicholl, author of Portraits of the Dead. His other books include When Evil Calls Your Name and White is the Coldest Colour. John is always happy to hear from readers, bloggers, or anyone interested in proposing a joint creative project. He can be contacted through his author website: www.johnnicholl.com.

Barbara: What is your favorite ice cream flavor?

John: Chocolate.

Barbara: Which mythological creature are you most like?

John: What the ….? My wife says I’m like a bear with a sore head. Does that count?

Barbara: First book you remember making an indelible impression on you.

John: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Barbara: How do you develop your plot and characters?

John: I start with the key characters in mind and let the story develop from chapter to chapter.

Barbara: Describe your writing space.

John: I write with family life going on all around me.

BLURB: Emma didn’t know how long he hid, silent and unmoving, in the large Victorian wardrobe to the side of her single bed. She didn’t know how long he peered out, salivating and drooling, between the two heavy dark oak doors, and watched, mesmerised, as she slowly drifted into fitful sleep. She didn’t know what time he pushed the doors open and crept towards her in the drab grey darkness of the night.

Detective Inspector Gravel finds himself floundering when a local nineteen-year-old university student is abducted and imprisoned by a sadistic serial killer, who has already tortured and killed five young women.

A gripping page-turner of a serial killer thriller packed with suspense. If you like Rachel Abbott, Robert Bryndza and Karin Slaughter, discover John Nicholl’s chilling new thriller today.

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portraitofthedeadmediakit_authorphoto

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

John Nicholl, an ex-police officer, child protection social worker, manager, and lecturer, has written three dark psychological suspense thrillers, all of which are Amazon international bestsellers, reaching # 1 in multiple categories in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Australia, Canada and the USA. John is always happy to hear from readers, bloggers or anyone interested in proposing a joint creative project. He can be contacted via his author website at:

 

http://www.johnnicholl.com

https://www.facebook.com/john.nicholl.988

https://twitter.com/nicholl06

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13795294.John_Nicholl

Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/Portraits-Dead-John-Nicholl/dp/1786972670/

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Excerpt:

Chapter One, 2:20 A.M. Saturday, 2 May 1998

Emma didn’t know how long he hid, silent and unmoving, in the large Victorian wardrobe to the side of her single bed. She didn’t know how long he peered, salivating and drooling, between the two heavy dark oak doors and watched, mesmerised, as she slowly drifted into fitful sleep. She didn’t know what time he pushed the doors open and crept towards her in the drab grey darkness of the night. But he did. She knew that he did.

Emma woke with a start, tense, alert, and opened her bleary eyes, telling herself insistently that the dark silhouette slowly approaching her was the nightmare construct of her subconscious mind. But initial anxiety became blind panic as the inky shadow took on an obvious human form that suddenly gained pace and loomed over her. And then a hand, a large hot clammy hand, pulled the bedclothes over her head, clamped her mouth tight shut and silenced her scream before it materialised.

A myriad unwelcome thoughts invaded her troubled mind as he pinned her head to the pillow and raised his free arm high above his head, before closing his fingers tightly, forming his hand into a formidable weapon and bringing it crashing down, again and again and again, with all the force he could muster, rendering her unconscious and bleeding.

She didn’t know how long she remained senseless, or what he did to her while she slept. She didn’t know what time he lifted her from her bed and carried her from her student bedroom, down the creaking wooden staircase and out into the Welsh city street. But he did. She knew that he did.

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Finding Time to Write

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Blogs dedicated to the horror genre in keeping with Halloween. Prizes available!

Blogs dedicated to the horror genre in keeping with Halloween. Prizes available!

You sit down before your computer, revved up to write a beaut of a chapter, and then the phone rings. Maybe your SO’s car broke down, leaving them stranded. Perhaps the doctor called with test results, or the loan company has a question about your account. In either case, life gets in the way, trashing any plans you had for your chapter. A week ago I began my vacation with the intention of adding two more chapters to my WIP, writing four blogs for this week’s October Frights Blog Hop, and serious editing of my Night to Dawn submissions for the magazine. I started off at a good clip. I made it through a chapter, three blogs, and three edited stories. Halfway through the week, I came down with a killer stomach virus and spent the next two days between my bed and the bathroom. Even my Mylar balloons wisely stayed out of the way.

Some folks might consider house construction—I’ve had a lot of that in the last year—as a life-in-the-way event. Thankfully, much of the work involved painting and spackling, and when the drills came out, I was able to tune out the sounds and continue with my projects. When you have a day job, time management becomes crucial. The daily to-do lists help, and I cross each job off as I finish it. A workshop leader suggested running a timer, but I found that counterproductive. I started worrying about the clock, and when I did work, I kept looking at the timer to see how far I’d gotten. Not good.

Some articles recommend Freedom or other software that will block your Internet or phone, thus removing distractions. I have two problems with this. First, these programs cost money that I can use toward marketing, publishing, and buying Mylar balloons. Second, NTD is a small press, and it’s great to be available if an author or illustrator has questions. I do try to budget “fudge” time for emails and phone calls related to NTD projects. Do I reward myself? Yes, by heading to the store for another Mylar balloons or just browsing the shops online.

Long ago, I invested in having someone come over to clean my house and cut the lawn. Given my track record with orthopedic surgery, the docs advised me to steer clear of the lawn mower. I can’t help but wonder how someone with a day job, kids, and house chores finds any time for writing or any other pursuit. Before I’d gotten sick, thankfully, I had jotted down notes on what I wanted for the last blog. Once I got better, I managed to finish the blog and look at other NTD stories. For the WIP, getting back in sync is tougher—it meant going through the last chapter and moving on from there.

Time management has been something I’ve struggled with at times, and I’d love to hear about your experiences with this and how you’ve handled the distractions.

Barbara Custer is sharing thoughts on time management for writing.

Balloons can help you focus more than any software!

I’m awarding prizes to random commenters. First prize is a $10 Starbucks gift card. Second prize is a comp copy of Night to Dawn Magazine.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Clarissa Johal

 

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Anatomy of a Book Sale

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This blog is dedicated to the marketing process for books.

Blogs dedicated to the horror genre in keeping with Halloween. Prizes available!

At different writing conferences, the speakers have said that multiple mentions of your book will make it more likely that people will buy. For example, an ad that runs several days instead of one. The marketing experts call this “effective frequency.” I used to consider it bunk because in most cases, I bought a book if I liked the blurb and that was that, but now I’m starting to reconsider.

So I put myself in the reader’s shoes, and the following scenario happened at a writer’s workshop. An author entered, placed his book on the table, and said he hoped everyone would buy his book when it went live. Like other readers, I have a budget. Expenses like food, balloons, doctor visits, house expenses, and more balloons take priority, and the home improvements I’m trying to make cost lots of dimes, too. So I wasn’t buying.

The book went around the room. I opened it and started reading, and continued reading until our speaker called the workshop to order. The author had written a compelling tale about two teenagers who happened upon an injured dog. I enjoy stories involving dogs, and one of the characters in my work, When Blood Reigns, are dogs, too. So the plot wooed me, and by the time our meeting started, I decided to buy the book.

After the meeting, I asked the author when I could find the book. He gave me a postcard and directed me to his website where I could order a pre-release paperback copy. So now you’re probably wondering if I rushed home and ordered a copy. Nope. You see, life got in the way. My balloons needed a refill; it was time to cook dinner. I had a pile of emails, and some of them included bills. Then I had to check my phone to see if my Scrabble partners had made any plays. By the time I’d gotten through all that, I plumb forgot about the book.

Next two days, I had my day job and my Night to Dawn chores at night. Come Wednesday, I had a leisurely day off, and I started thinking about ordering the book. Except that I couldn’t find the postcard. I couldn’t remember where I put it, but the title stayed with me … Taming Chaos. I looked up the title on Google, which was interesting because I didn’t recall the author’s name either.  I finally located the book on Amazon, which announced a Kindle version ready for release. So I ordered a Kindle copy, and I’m reading it now.

Now all of that could have gone more smoothly if I’d seen serial ads about the story.

The article that explains effective frequency is a couple of years old, but it describes how a typical shopper will react to seeing the same ad again and again.  Having walked in the reader’s balloon-shoes, I have to endorse it. So I will be looking at advertising with a new pair of eyes.

Your thoughts?

I’m awarding prizes to random commenters. First prize is a $10 Starbucks gift card. Second prize is a comp copy of Night to Dawn Magazine.

Clarissa Johal

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Grammarly: Taking the Plunge

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Blogs dedicated to the horror genre in keeping with Halloween. Prizes available!

Blogs dedicated to the horror genre in keeping with Halloween. Prizes available!

Rating: 4 Balloons

For some time I’d used the free version of Grammarly; it worked because I downloaded the software through Firefox. If you have Google Chrome or Firefox, you get a free version. On Internet Explorer, you pay from the get-go. Between editing of NTD tales and my work in progress, Grammarly was fixing my punctuation and misspelling if I uploaded the document. Well, lo and behold, I got a series of emails from Grammarly complimenting me on my dedication as a writer and publisher. They then offered me the premium version for a discount. The premium version will help you with word choice, line editing, and plagiarism. What’s more, they’re excellent at catching repetitive words and phrases, something I’m prone to doing; they’ll even suggest better word choices.

How much do all these goodies cost? Twenty-nine dollars a month, $59.95 if you pay quarterly, or $139.95 for an annual payment. I shied away from premium because I couldn’t ante up that much money, but Grammarly wooed me with a good discount for a year membership. I decided to run with it.

WhenBloodReigns_150dpi_eBook

Coming in December!

All up, I’m glad I did it. Grammarly has worked beautifully for my magazine stories. I’ve caught a lot of inconsistent spelling and preposition choices that my 61-year-eyes might have overlooked. For those of you who follow me, notice that many of my Facebook posts have gotten cleaner, except when I dictate posts from my iPhone. As for When Blood Reigns, Grammarly came in handy after I reviewed the changes made after a developmental edit by Gemini Wordsmiths, for it’s easy to introduce new typos when you’re cleaning up an edit. As promised, it has caught my repetitive words and offered suggestions that worked. What’s more, it’s great at finding those easily overlooked words like “the” and “a/an.”

So why am I only giving Grammarly four balloons instead of five? I found some limitations, too –ones I could live with but they are there. When I ran the plagiarism checker, I found that most items that came up were common expressions the story characters uses that were also written in another journal. For example, one character said, “the radio was left running.” Most people in my town might say that if someone forgot to turn off the radio. Also, if I’m editing a story where the characters use slang or words with British spelling, Grammarly will underline, and you either suggest “add to dictionary” or ignore. With fiction writing, there’s a time to bend the grammar rules, and Grammarly doesn’t get that because it focuses on formal writing.

That said, I’d recommend giving Grammarly a try, but go with the free version first. A test run will help you decide if this software is right for you.

Have you tried Grammarly? I’d like to hear about your experiences with it.

Clarissa Johal

Addendum:

Today I received the following email from Grammarly to clarify the use of Grammarly on Internet Explorer (to be fair I never tried using it myself on IE – I converted to Firefox before using Grammarly in earnest).

“I also wanted to point out some text in your article that sounds a little misleading. You wrote: “If you have Google Chrome or Firefox, you get a free version. On Internet Explorer, you pay from the get-go.” This isn’t accurate. Grammarly doesn’t have an IE browser app at this time, but we do offer a free online editor, downloadable desktop app, and Windows MS Office add-in, which people who prefer Internet Explorer can use instead. The Grammarly Premium upgrade is available for people to purchase regardless of what platform they use, but it’s never required.”

I’m also happy to include the link: https://www.grammarly.com

 

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