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    Guest Post: K. Patrick Malone, Author of INSIDE A HAUNTED MIND and THE DIGGER'S REST

    Greetings all. K. Patrick Malone here, author of INSIDE A HAUNTED MIND and THE DIGGERS REST. Tis the time for all of us who like our ghosties and goulies and things that go bump in the night to celebrate our love of the things that scare us. Whatever it may be, books or films of all scares derived. Light the Jack-O-Lantern. Turn out the lights ( order a Pizza) and enjoy. . . Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist, The Haunting of Hill House, Jason, Freddie, John Carpenter’s Halloween, the old Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff films, Dracula, Frankenstein, Lon Chaney Jr. Wolfman films, the Hammer films, American International, William Castle films, Val Lewton (Cat People) from the 40’s, such a wealth of horror to be discovered by those brave enough to seek it out. Whatever it is that scares you, DO IT! DO IT! JUST DO IT! but whatever you do. . . .don’t go in the basement. Mwhhhaahahahaahhhahaha Very Scarily Yours, K. Patrick Malone BOO!

    Click here to purchase
    Inside A Haunted Mind

    Click here to purchase
    The Digger’s Rest

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    10 2008

    Horror Book Marathon, Book Two: Deadly Night, by Heather Graham

    My next pick for my horror marathon is Deadly Night, by Heather Graham.

    From Publisher’s Weekly:

    Bestseller Graham (Kiss of Darkness) spices up a spooky post-Katrina mystery in this solid trilogy opener. PI brothers Aidan, Jeremy and Zachary Flynn have inherited a plantation near New Orleans from Amelia Flynn, a relative they never knew. They consider selling the rundown house, but instead agree to restore it and move in. When Aidan finds human bones on the plantation’s grounds, further sleuthing reveals some local missing persons cold cases that might be connected to the house, already haunted by two Flynn cousins who fought on opposite sides of the Civil War. Meanwhile, romance slowly ignites between cynical widower Aidan and Kendall Montgomery, psychic and Amelia’s friend and former caregiver. Dream messages and premonitions, ghostly sightings, capable detective work and fascinating characters blend to make a satisfying chiller.

    This is the first book in the Flynn brothers series. The next book in the trilogy, Deadly Harvest, will be released in November, followed by the final book in December.

    I haven’t been fortunate enough (despite a lot of begging!)to receive review copies of these books, so I suppose I’ll have to wait patiently for their release!

    Stay tuned for my review of Deadly Night.

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    29

    10 2008

    Review: The Academy, by Bentley Little

    Strange things are going on at Tyler High School. Recently converted to a charter school, Tyler High is undergoing a lot of changes. The principal, normally a very laid back and kind woman, has turned into a strict dictator-like leader. She has created a group of “Tyler Scouts” that parade around the school, empowering them to enforce rules and regulations with students AND teachers. Students and teachers that opposed the contract have gone missing. Ghostly images of children are seen playing on the school grounds, and student and staff alone are afraid to enter the school grounds at night alone. A handful of students and teachers still brave enough to stand up against the school join up and discover a way to destroy the evil at Tyler High. Bentley Little’s THE ACADEMY is full of horrific tales of the atrocities that take place at Tyler High. The ending seemed to be a little too “neat”, but that certainly didn’t take anything away from this great work piece of horror fiction. This was my first taste of Little’s writing; I can’t wait to read more from him!

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    29

    10 2008

    Day One of My Halloween Horror Marathon!


    Those that know me well know that I LOVE horror books and movies. I attempted to read and review only horror books for the month of October. Well, it’s the end of October and you can clearly see that hasn’t happened. Instead, I’m doing a mini-marathon of horror for Halloween week (thanks for the idea, Becky!)

    My first horror book for the week is Bentley Little’s The Academy. No particular reason for starting off horror week with this book, it just happened to be the first book I grabbed off of my overwhelming and overflowing horror bookshelf.

    From Publisher’s Weekly :
    School principal Jody Hawkes, known for being easygoing, decides to turn John Tyler High into a charter school without notifying any of her staff. At first, as Jody promises additional freedom and autonomy, most faculty embrace the changes-but it soon becomes clear that a evil bait and switch is underway. Students and faculty who embrace the charter get steadily darker and more sadistic; teachers and students who oppose the charter find strange things happening and people disappearing; and the school seems to have taken on a life of its own. The resolution is painfully simple, but overall Little crafts a tightly allegorical piece of horror.

    Stay tuned for my review! Also be on the lookout for my reviews of Heather Graham’s DEADLY HARVEST, and a special Halloween guest post by the author of INSIDE A HAUNTED MIND and THE DIGGER’S REST, K.Patrick Malone!

    And, to enter to win a ghoulish grab bag of Halloween goodies, please comment below about your favorite horror novel or movie!

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    27

    10 2008

    Review: Against Medical Advice: One Family's Struggle With An Agonizing Medical Mystery, by James Patterson & Hal Friedman


    Cory Friedman was a typical five year old boy. That is, until he wakes up one morning with an urgent need to shake his head. This need is just the beginning of years of uncontrollable ticks, verbal utterances, and other unmanageable behavior. Cory is ultimately diagnosed with Tourette’s Syndrome and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. AGAINST MEDICAL ADVICE is a story told by Cory Friedman and his father, Hal. The reader gets an inside look at the living hell that this family went through in the thirteen years it took to “control” this illness. Cory was put on so many types of medications, they were soon unable to determine if the tics and other problems he was having was a result of the Tourette’s or of the medicine he was on. Nothing appeared to help; Cory’s symptoms just got worse. AGAINST MEDICAL ADVICE is an honest, heart wrenching tale of Cory’s torment. Cory was willing to share this misery with others, in the hopes that someone with the same condition might gain something from this. I can’t say enough about how amazing this book is. I believe that this tale of perseverance, dedication, and love, would be beneficial to any family undergoing any sort of medical or behavioral problem.

    Buy Against Medical Advice: One Family’s Struggle with an Agonizing Medical Mystery Now!

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    23

    10 2008

    Review: Red Sea by E.A. Benedek

    Four airplanes from various locations in the world are blown out of the sky. The world is thrown into a panic. Marie Peterssen, an American reporter, begins to investigate the attacks. Peterssen meets Julian Granot, an Israeli operative and FBI agent Morgan Easely in her hunt for answers. They soon uncover another terrorist plot, this time set to occur in New York city. The team must risk everything, including their lives, to find out the truth. RED SEA is a action-packed, heart-pounding read from page one. The possibility of such an act on the citizens of the world make the story even more realistic.

    About E.A. Benedek
    E.A. Benedek is a journalist and author whose articles and essays have appeared in Newsweek, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone, Glamour, and on NPR, among others. Benedek spent a year following an FBI special agent working counterterrorism and wrote about an F-15C fighter pilot who flew in Operation Shock and Awe. Red Sea is E.A. Benedek’s first novel.

    Click to purchase Red Sea: A Novel

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    21

    10 2008

    Tom Piazza Discusses City of Refuge

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7B8fRLL5E40&hl=en&fs=1]

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    20

    10 2008

    Winner of Black Out by Lisa Unger is…


    Mamakane! I’ll be sending you an email shortly to get your address. Thanks to all that entered. Check in later this week for my next contest!

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    20

    10 2008

    Review: THE FORBIDDEN DAUGHTER, by Shobhan Bantwal

    Isha Tilak and her husband, Nikhil, have just discovered that the child they are expecting is a girl. What would be wonderful news to just about any couple is a curse to the young couple. Young Isha and Nikhil live in India, in a society where male heirs are sought out above all else; female children are viewed as burdens. When their doctor, Dr. Larnick, along with Nikhil’s parents, suggests they have an illegal abortion, Isha and Nikhil are furious and adamantly refuse. Soon after, Nikhil is found brutally murdered. Isha decides that living with her oppressive in-laws is detrimental to the life and safety of her young daughter, Priya, and her unborn daughter. She leaves with a small amount of money and just a few belongings. Born into a privileged class, Isha hasn’t ever had to fend for herself. She soon learns. Isha and Priya seek refuge at a local convent. Isha gives birth to young Diya, and meets Harish Salvi, a doctor that treats the children at the convent. Isha ultimately receives the life insurance money that she and Nikhil kept hidden from his parents and is then able to purchase a more appropriate residence for her and her young girls. She discovers that her husband has left her with evidence of the selective abortion trade, and suddenly her life, and the life of her children, is in danger. THE FORBIDDEN DAUGHTER tells a difficult story of the treatment and value of women in India. The characters were very compelling, as was the storyline. It has it all: love, bribery, murder, blackmail, kidnapping. Isha is an amazingly strong woman who will stop at nothing to protect the lives of her daughters.

    *Note: My apologies to the author. This was scheduled to post in September and for some reason it did not.

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    10 2008

    Review & Giveaway-Black Out, by Lisa Unger

    On the outside, Annie Power’s life looks perfect. Her amazing husband, Gray, and their precious daughter, Victory, make her life complete. That is, until flashbacks of her once forgotten past come into focus. You see, ten years ago Annie was Ophelia March, a young, naïve teen caught in the web of an infamous serial killer, Marlowe Geary. Gray rescues Ophelia, and in the process, murders Geary. Ophelia “died” and Annie was born. The emotional and physical trauma caused Annie to forget most of what occurred. But one thing she knows for certain-they never found the body of her boyfriend, the serial killer. Annie thought she was rid of this horrid past, but slowly people around her begin to die. She hears her former name being called from the shadows. People she trusted turn out to be her enemies. A local police detective begins to dig into her past and comes close to finding out the truth. Annie soon discovers that Geary is not dead, and she is willing to give up her life to find the answers to what happened that night a decade ago. Unger does an amazing job of revealing the character’s history to the reader. It is unraveled slowly and methodically. I was engrossed in the storyline from page one, this was a book I couldn’t put down. Black Out was definitely an intense tale that chilled me to the bone!
    To enter to win a copy of Black Out, comment on this post. To be entered twice, blog about it and include a link to your blog in your comment. Contest will run through Saturday, October 18. I will post the name of the winner on Sunday the 19th.
    Have you already read Black Out and want to talk about it? Join our discussion, through the month of October, in Shelfari’s Suspense and Thriller Group!
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    10 2008