Orangeberry Book of the Day - Jack Templar Monster Hunter by Jeff Gunhus

Excerpt from Jack Templar Monster Hunter

 

My name is Jack Templar and I am an orphan.

Just before my fourteenth birthday, I discovered that I came from a long line of monster hunters. You know, vampires, werewolves, zombies, you name it.

Not only that, but if monsters around the world could choose one human to kill, it would be me. Why? I haven’t a clue. I’d like to find out some day, but for right now, I’m happy just to stay alive.

WARNING

Yeah, you read it right. I’m a monster hunter.  Back before I actually became one, I would have thought that sounded totally awesome. And don’t get me wrong, in a lot of ways it is.  But most of the time, I’m either running for my life or hiding in the shadows, praying the monster chasing me doesn’t pick up my scent. And I’m almost always scared to death. In a few pages, I think you’ll see why.

But there are a few things I need to warn you about before I tell you my story.

First, this isn’t a cartoon. These are bloodthirsty creatures who will stop at nothing to kill. They are scary. Very scary. Second, the only way to stop them is to kill them first…and that gets gross and messy. Third, this is all real.

You think I’m kidding, don’t you? I can almost see you smirking as you read this. But this isn’t a joke. Monsters are real and the story I’m about to tell you really happened. If you’d rather walk through life believing that monsters are only found in books or on the movie screen, then you should shut this book right now and go do something else.

I give you these warnings because the story I’m about to tell you isn’t for everyone. Not everyone can handle it. The blood. The gore. The monsters.

This life was thrust onto me. I had no choice but to take up a sword and fight. But you can still walk away and pretend this dark world doesn’t exist. Or you can walk through the door that I’m about to open and find out the truth about the world around you.

But I warn you (and this is a big warning), if you read this book, if you learn about the monsters that roam among us and the hunters who fight them, if you decide to learn the truth, then you will become fair game for the monsters to chase.

Make sure you understand what I’m saying.

If you read this book, you will be part of this world and the monsters will come after you too. You will start to see things that no other humans can see. The shadows will move when you walk near them. The creatures of the night will seek you out, testing the doors and windows of your house, looking for a way in.

And, at some point, they will find you, just like they found me, and you will be forced to defend yourself.

So, think carefully before you turn the page, because once you do, there’s no turning back.

Ever.

Once a monster hunter, always a monster hunter.

See you on the other side.

If you’re brave enough. 

WARNING #2

OK, so looks like you were brave enough (or stupid enough) to ignore my warning. I would say congratulations, but that might imply that I think you made the right choice. Just promise that you won’t say later that I didn’t warn you.

See, I don’t want you to be a big crybaby later on and complain to me that you can’t fall asleep because of all the creepy-crawlies in your room. Or that it’s my fault that a werewolf chewed off your left foot. Or that one of your eyes was plucked out by a harpy when you weren’t looking.  

I especially don’t want any grief from your parents or from your teachers if you’re too scared at night. I’m going to say it as simply as I can:

THIS BOOK IS TOTALLY INAPPROPRIATE.

I’M SERIOUS. IT IS.

If you think there’s someone in your life who’s not going to approve of you reading about monsters eating people in gruesome ways, or of monsters getting killed in even worse ways, then I suggest you do one of two things:

a) Don’t read the book

b) Hide the book and don’t tell them you’re reading it.

And whatever you do, don’t let them read it. That would be the worse thing. Imagine if you started to read this book, then you got it taken away from you before you got done. You’d have monsters looking for you and you’d have no idea how to fight them. You’d be a sitting duck.

So, are we clear? No parents. No teachers. No crybabies.

If you’re still in, turn the page and I’ll tell you a story you’re not going to believe.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Middle Grade / YA Fantasy

Rating – PG

More details about the author & the book

Connect with Jeff Gunhus on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://www.jacktemplar.com/

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Author Interview – Bradley Convissar

Will you write others in this same genre? I’d love to write an epic fantasy one day, or horror/fantasy mash-up like Barker’s Everville or Weaveworld. But right now, I’ll stick with horror and thrillers.  I’d like to write a series at some point, but I have several stand-alone novels I want to focus on.  It’s funny… I published a short story called Blink several years ago and it received plenty of negative reviews.  Not because people didn’t like the story, but because they felt they were being teased.  They said it felt more like a prologue than a whole story.  But you can say that about a lot of short stories.  Anyway, that is more sci-fi than horror, but I’d like to expand on that.

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp? Yeah, but I don’t want to ruin it for readers. Actually, there are several messages, but which ones the reader will identify with depends on which characters they identify with.

How much of the book is realistic? Very little. It is supernatural. But Molly Blackburn’s story, the history of violence and spousal abuse, is all too real.

Have you included a lot of your life experiences, even friends, in the plot? No. None of the characters or situations are built upon anything real.

How important do you think villains are in a story? Villains are important. They drive a story. Well, a good story. But there are dozens of different types of villains. You have the clear-cut evil men who are born evil with no moral compass, you have the villains who never wanted to be a villain, and then you have everything in between. And while I enjoy villains who are villains because they are simply evil inside and out, I like the villains that are villains by circumstance. That never wanted to be a villain but are driven to it by nurture rather than nature. There is more to empathize with these characters. More to care about. More to think about. That’s what I love about Molly. She is a complex character who is clearly the villain, but is she evil? Is she misunderstood? Is she broken? Could she have been more than what she was in the end? And even when you think you know her, you really don’t. I still don’t complete understand her, and I created her.

What are your goals as a writer? I’d like to be able to write two books a year, a stand-alone novel and a book in a series. People love their characters. They love coming back to familiar faces and places. That is why we like sequels and TV shows. But at the same time, I like to write stand-alone stories even more. Because each story is a new challenge because you are starting from scratch.

Do you have to travel much concerning your book(s)? No. I sit and do research from my computer. I’d like to travel for the sake of research, but not an option right now. My patients would up and revolt if I disappeared for weeks at a time.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Thriller / Horror

Rating – PG13 bordering on R

(Horror with some violence / Some sex, not overly graphic)

More details about the author & the book

Connect with Bradley Convissar on Facebook & Twitter

Blog http://bradleyconvissar.blogspot.com/

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Orangeberry Book Tours – Blood, Smoke and Ashes by Bradley Convissar

This is the second edition of the book, and the errors noted in several of the reviews have been corrected.In the Fall of 1955, the state of Nevada used the electric chair to execute a prisoner for the first time.

It was also the last time.

Molly Blackburn, nicknamed Jane the Ripper by the Las Vegas press after killing eleven men while posing as a prostitute, was strapped to the chair without incident. The switch was flipped.

Everything after that went horribly wrong.

Since that day, a copycat Jane the Ripper has appeared almost every decade in a different city, mimicking Molly’s choice in victims as well as her methods of murder. She kills eleven men then disappears, never to be found. The similarities between the bodies left behind each decade is uncanny. As if they are all the victims of the same murderer, not a copycat.

But that’s impossible, of course, because Molly Blackburn is dead, her execution witnessed by a dozen people.

FBI Agent Jack Shaw, the lead investigator in the Jane the Ripper cases since the seventies, finally catches a break in 2009 when the intended fifth victim manages to turn the tables on the newest copycat . Everyone believes that the horror has finally ended with her capture. Shaw is not so sure, though, wondering if someone else will take up the mantle and kill seven more men to complete the cycle. But when no more bodies with her distinctive markings show up over the next two years, Shaw allows himself to believe that maybe he has seen the end of the Jane the Ripper murders.

As it turns out, what he thought was the end was only the beginning.

His hunt will take him across the country, and even when he thinks he’s finally discovered the truth, he quickly learns that not everything is as it seems.

That not every monster is created equal.

That the nature of good and evil is not as black and white as he has always believed.

That not everything that is broken can be put back together.

That not every fractured soul can be saved.

When blood, smoke and ashes rise, no one comes out the same on the other side.

Blood, Smoke and Ashes is a 115,00 word supernatural thriller that also contains the first half of my crime/thriller novella “I Never”

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Thriller / Horror

Rating – PG13 bordering on R

(Horror with some violence / Some sex, not overly graphic)

More details about the author

Connect with Bradley Convissar on Facebook & Twitter

Blog http://bradleyconvissar.blogspot.com/

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Review: Seven Point Eight: The Second Chronicle by Marie Harbon

Seven Point Eight : The Second Chronicle by Marie Harbon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Did the book description relate to the story? Yes it did. And after reading the first book, I couldn't wait to discover the next part of Tahra's journey.

How did you feel about the opening / ending sequences of the book? I liked the opening sequence. Considering I enjoyed the first book immensely, the build up in the opening scene was just as I expected and kept getting better from that point on.

Who was your favourite character and why? I'm still all for Tahra. She is more emotionally involved in this book than in the first. She travels into other dimensions unlocking the reader's mind and posing some absolutely fascinating concept.

What were the main relationships explored in this book? I think this book, it was all about unlocking the past. Tahra isn't new to travelling outside this world but this time, she is faced with a more challenging the task and she needed to let go of her inhibitions.

Was this book worth reading? Yes, this book is definitely worth reading. It is best to read it in sequence but even if you can't, any science fiction fan will definitely drool over this book.

Disclosure - I received a complimentary copy from the author which did not affect my honest opinion.


View all my reviews

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Orangeberry Book Tours – The Angry Woman Suite by Lee Fullbright

2012 DISCOVERY AWARD WINNER, FIRST PLACE, LITERARY FICTION

More from Kirkus Reviews:

“Raised in a crumbling New England mansion by four women with personalities as split as a cracked mirror, young Francis Grayson has an obsessive need to fix them all. There’s his mother, distant and beautiful Magdalene; his disfigured, suffocating Aunt Stella; his odious grandmother; and the bane of his existence, his abusive and delusional Aunt Lothian. For years, Francis plays a tricky game of duck and cover with the women, turning to music to stay sane. He finds a friend and mentor in Aidan Madsen, schoolmaster, local Revolutionary War historian, musician and keeper of the Grayson women’s darkest secrets.

In a skillful move by Fullbright, those secrets are revealed through the viewpoints of three different people–Aidan, Francis and Francis’stepdaughter, Elyse–adding layers of eloquent complexity to a story as powerful as it is troubling. While Francis realizes his dream of forming his own big band in the 1940s, his success is tempered by the inner monster of his childhood, one that roars to life when he marries Elyse’s mother. Elyse becomes her stepfather’s favorite target, and her bitterness becomes entwined with a desire to know the real Francis Grayson. For Aidan’s part, his involvement with the Grayson family only deepens, and secrets carried for a lifetime begin to coalesce as he seeks to enlighten Francis–and subsequently Elyse–of why the events of so many years ago matter now.

The ugliness of deceit, betrayal and resentment permeates the narrative, yet there are shining moments of hope, especially in the relationship between Elyse and her grandfather. Ultimately, as more of the past filters into the present, the question becomes: What is the truth, and whose version of the truth is correct? Fullbright never untangles this conundrum, and it only adds to the richness of this exemplary novel.”  Kirkus Reviews

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Genre – Historical / Psychological Mystery

Rating – PG13

More details about the author

Connect with Lee Fullbright on Facebook

Website http://leefullbright.com/

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