Showing posts with label Gothic Horror. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gothic Horror. Show all posts

Monday, October 13, 2014

The Unholy Review

The Unholy by Paul DeBlassie III
Published August 1, 2013 by Sunstone Press
4 Ritualistic Stars

"A tale so gripping it will have any Zealot daring enough to read questioning their very beliefs."

Synopsis -

A young curandera, a medicine woman, intent on uncovering the secrets of her past is forced into a life-and-death battle against an evil Archbishop. Set in the mystic land of Aztlan, "The Unholy" is a novel of destiny as healer and slayer. Native lore of dreams and visions, shape changing, and natural magic work to spin a neo-gothic web in which sadness and mystery lure the unsuspecting into a twilight realm of discovery and decision. 

PAUL DeBLASSIE III, PhD, is a psychologist and writer living in his native New Mexico. A member of the Depth Psychology Alliance, the Transpersonal Psychology Association, and the International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, he has for over thirty years treated survivors of the dark side of religion. (Goodreads)

Review -

While this book is not exactly for everyone, more of a love or hate it, I loved it. Fans of neo-Gothic tales, as well as fans of real history mixed in with fantasy, are sure to enjoy this read. The Unholy is a novel that describes in gruesome detail just how people are willing to go in the name of religion. Where people are more cultists than merely church-goers, believing with their entirety that as long as they are acting in the name of God, what they are doing is right, including murder.

Claire Sanchez is the last of her line of medicine women. Having witnessed her mother's brutal murder at the tender age of five, she is less than willing to pick up the staff and take her place. As always with fate, she will eventually learn that she has no choice. Though it will take a trail of bodies to convince of this. Turns out the past isn't something that can always be buried.

The town know as Ecclesia Dei would give even the Manson Family a run for their money. Convinced beyond a shadow of doubt the pathway to Heaven lies upon the backside of Archbishop Anarch. The wealthy have learned to give him his tithe no matter what exorbitant amount it may be. For to not do so would lead their souls to eternal damnation, after an untimely death. The less fortunate give whatever asked of them, and do as they are told, or they may also suffer the same fate. With followers worshiping him, and the hand of who he believes is God upon his shoulder, Anarch thinks he is above reproach, even a sin is not a sin if he is the one committing it. But there is one person who stands in his way and plans on crushing her like an ant.

Ritualistic killings, cultists to the extreme, zealots at their worst and only a handful of people willing to stand up to them. Though I wish there had been more Paranormal at work; more powers shown and explored by the Medicine women, The Unholy was truly a great read. Showing how the most self-righteous are usually the biggest sinners of all. 

Monday, October 6, 2014

Guest Post: The Secrets About the Horror Genre

The Secrets about the Horror Genre 


About The Unholy 

"A young curandera, a medicine woman, intent on uncovering the secrets of her past is forced into a life-and-death battle against an evil Archbishop. Set in the mystic land of Aztlan, the Unholy is a novel of destiny as healer and slayer. native lore of dreams and visions, shape changing, and natural magic work to spin a neo-gothic web in which sadness and mystery lure the unsuspecting into a twilight realm of discovery and decision." 


Guest Post 

The greatest secret about the horror genre is that it is so multifarious and multiparadigmatic that it defies description. You get S. King with increasingly rich stories as he is ageing, a man who not only has lived and knows horror, but knows longing and love as is evident in his more mature stories written over the past few years especially Lisey’s Story. Then at the other end of the spectrum you get the rough and wild bad boy of horror, Edward Lee. The guy has some seriously demented characters that never ever can be redeemed. I mean what kind of character is the main character in Portrait of a Psychopath as a Young Woman

Horror is such a varied genre. In The Unholy you get more of a classic good guy and bad guy scenario but played out on a supernatural venue featuring the mythopoeic realm of Aztlan. This is a cultural realm with deep spiritual meaning for the mestizos of New Mexico. This is a story of church politics, culture, misogyny, and the struggle to find a sense of self within this multifarious and tormented drama. I don’t think anything short of a horror story (I won’t clean it up at this point by calling it a psychological thriller) could convey the terror of conflicting energies of culture, church, abandonment and the desperate need for courage in a world that seems like it has gone to hell in a church pew! 

I love horror and I love horror because it is so multifaceted, rich, and into extremes that pop out the realities behind the scenes of everyday life. That’s the secret of horror…it’s into extremes so as to express truth…if you got something to say, an old professor of mine used to quip, why not exaggerate to get the point across. Horror does that. The Unholy does horror and goes to extremes to pop out the reality behind what is observable.


About The Author:

Paul DeBlassie III, Ph.D., is a psychologist and writer living in Albuquerque, New Mexico who has treated survivors of the dark side of religion for more than 30 years. He is a member of the Depth Psychology Alliance, the Transpersonal Psychology Association and the International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. Dr. DeBlassie writes psychological thrillers with an emphasis on the dark side of the human psyche.

Book Information
Name: Paul DeBlassie III
Book Title: The Unholy
Genre: Paranormal Thriller
Publisher: Sunstone Press



Thursday, July 10, 2014

Echoes in the Darkness Review

Echoes in the Darkness by Jane Godmn (ARC Review)
Published July 7, 2014 by Harlequin E
5 CREEPY CHILLS!

"Some Legacies are so dark that not the strongest of loves can revert them."

Synopsis -

Not betrothed, but beguiled.

In artistic circles she is the Divine Dita, Paris’ most sought-after nude model. But now she’s not so much posing as playing a role: fiancĂ©e to the next Earl of Athal. The charade is a favor to Dita’s friend, Eddie Jago, a dissolute painter…and the aforementioned heir. As deceptions go, it is innocent compared with what will come.

On the grim Cornish coast, from the ashes of a ruined castle rises the Jagos’ sumptuous new manor house. The fresh-hewn stone, however, cannot absorb the blood of centuries or quiet the echoes of past crimes. Dita struggles to decipher the family: the infirm Earl and his inscrutable wife; resentful Eddie; sheltered sister Eleanor. And Cad: the handsome second son whose reputation is spotless in business—scandalous everywhere else.

Drawn by friendship, ensnared by lust, Dita uncovers a sordid tangle of murder, desire and madness. It will lay her bare as no portraitist has done before.  (Goodreads)

Review -

Godman has truly mastered the art of Gothic Romance.  Every aspect needed to create the scene for a truly epic dark romance is within these pages; dark and deadly atmosphere, chills running up and down your spine, forbidden and dangerous love, question in the back of the readers mind if the lover is truly the killer and will he/she murder the one they love.

Many readers may have questioned the how wise of a choice it was for Lucy and Tynan to have children knowing the ghastly legacy they were passing on.  Especially when they ended up having three children, two sons and a daughter, in essence recreating the doomed trio of Uther, Demelza and Tynan's father.  If anyone were to know just how real the Jago Legacy was, it would be them.  Maybe the two fated lovers believed their love was so great that with the right upbringing of their children, they could overcome the curse of the name Jago.  Sadly, they couldn't have been more wrong.  Especially when they bring the family back to the Athal estate, rebuilding and renaming the castle to Tenebris, as though that would cleanse the old blood within its very soil.  Lucy and Tynan's mistake will cause countless others their lives.

Arwen Jago has been born again to the Jago line, the question readers will be questioning is to which brother?  The quiet Eddie, reluctant heir who despises the Jago name and the very walls Tenebris feel as though they are closing in on him, and ripping away his sanity.  Or is it Cad, the wild, scandalous Jago, who is the spitting image of Arwen and Uther, from the hair to the eyes, to the sinister smile.  And has Demelza been born again in the youngest Jago, Elizabeth?  And is Elizabeth even the youngest Jago?

Dita Vargo is the new lead in this dark tale, one with a sordid past of her own.  On the run from a man who has sworn to get her back at any cost, she is forced to remove her clothes for money, as a nude model.  Her only rule, no artists is to ever paint her face, for fear that her not so secret admirer will learn of her whereabouts.  So when she is warned by a friend that he is close, and Eddie her dear friend, asks her to accompany him to Cornwall, it seems the perfect escape.  Little does she know that she will be stepping into more danger, not less.

Echoes in the Darkness is a beautiful and epic Gothic Romance, keeping readers guessing until the very end, and leave goosebumps on every inch of the skin.  This incarnation of Arwen Jago will give Jack the Ripper a run for his money and have Norman Bates looking like a saint.


Monday, May 12, 2014

The Night of Elisa Giveaway and Spotlight

The Night of Elisa by Isis Sousa

Published May 30, 2014 by Tragic Books


Synopsis - 

Sometimes, life and love can follow the most obscure paths, just as they did for Elisa.

Her life becomes a dark, cold, lonely cage the day the Devil takes her as his wife. He robs her of almost everything she holds dear: her health, her wealth and what is left of her family.

Trapped between the nuances of life and beyond-life, Elisa finds herself struggling for a better tomorrow. With her health deteriorating, how will she summon the courage and strength to stand her ground? And how far will she go in the pursuit of a dream?

Embark with Elisa on this puzzling Gothic adventure set in the late Victorian era, between the world of the Living and the picturesque, melancholic Duskland.

* * * 

"It is strange... How can I 'go home' when I have no memories of that place at all?"
- Elisa

"Stop it, Elisa. You're bleeding, my darling!"
- Leonhard

"Ah, love, the biggest poison and most dangerous drug there is."
- Dr. Charles

Amazon     Smashwords    Lulu     Goodreads     Website


Excerpt

‘Elisa’ calmed and the struggle was over. How dare she speak of me like I’m already dead? I know these faces… Father Johannes was throwing holy water over her bed and chanting in Latin.

“E-l-i-s-a i-s b-a-c-k!” a loud voice echoed in the room for all to hear. Quentin was very surprised. “She is back! Father Johannes, how is it possible?”

Father Johannes’ voice was frail. He was a short, gibbous man with an aquiline nose and big, deep eyes. “God the almighty never betrays us, my son!” He raised the wooden cross with his right hand.  “Whatever evil was holding her from life – from death – is here no more!” He came closer to Quentin, reaching for his ear. “She is strong, my son! Keep pretending until the last moment. We don’t want it to happen, but if she survives we don’t want her to tell anyone about what we did.”

“If she survives it will be for a very short time. I will take care of her once and for all, Father!” Quentin pretended he was seeing a miracle from the seven heavens. His young wife back from the dead! How was it possible? We did everything we could, but you persisted… “Elisa, my dearest, you’re alive! You live! You have come back to us!” Quentin continued, admiring that she had endured so much.


Who is this Author:

“I am not a writer, neither is writing one of my passions, on the contrary; I see it as a necessary evil! I like to say I am an illustrator and storyteller. 

I was born and raised in Brazil and since 2009, been living in Norway with my best-half. I work as illustrator and graphic designer from my home-office, in slippers and comfy clothes. (Would really prefer PJs, but here and there someone knocks on the door!)

Love Heavy Metal, Fantasy and Dark Fantasy and most forms of visual arts.”




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Tuesday, April 22, 2014

For The Sake Of Revenge Review

For The Sake of Revenge by D L Altha (ARC Review)
An Alaskan Vampire Novel
Published June 30, 2013 by Foxboro Press
5 BLOODY FANGS!!!

"They say everything eventually comes full circle, so indeed does Revenge."

Summary -

How far was Tamara willing to go for the sake of revenge? And who would pay the price? She didn’t know as she tipped the bottle of vampire blood up to her lips but she was about to find out.

Stepping off the ferry in Sitka, Alaska was bittersweet for Tamara Semenov. A decade earlier she had abandoned her mother and high school sweetheart, Peter, to marry a man she hardly knew only to find herself in an abusive relationship. Now ten years later, she had escaped with her life but at what cost. Her mother was dead.

Although the police had ruled her mother’s death an accident, Tamara was convinced her estranged husband was to blame and to make matters worse, she knows she is his next target. 

While putting her mother’s affairs in order, Tamara finds the blood of a vampire named Adrik, who as a human was falsely accused of raping a wealthy Russian heiress and excommunicated from the Church. For the sake of revenge, he willing condemned himself to vampirism.

Learning that the blood could tie the living to the undead, Tamara seeks out a connection with the long buried vampire in hopes of striking a deal, his freedom for her revenge. Will he be the edge she needs to out maneuver her estranged husband or will she become entangled in a two century old web of revenge?  (Goodreads)


Review - 

For The Sake Of Revenge was the first print (yes, a good old fashioned paper back, they still make them) ARC sent to me for review, from the Author herself, since beginning this blog.  The only disappointment is that it took me so long to get a chance to start it.  This novel was Gothic Horror at its finest, a tragic tale with no happy ending.  I loved it!  Altha has proved to be right in league with both Bram Stoker and Anne Rice, using the Russian legend of Vampirism.  A tale of revenge two hundred years in the making proving that once revenge begins, it never truly ends.  So if you plan on plotting vengeance against someone at all costs, going so far as selling your very soul, keep in mind that may not only come back to bite you, but those that you hold dear.

Tamara is just like any other girl living in a small town, so desperate to make an escape she could see how good she truly had it.  That escape comes in the form a tall, dark and handsome stranger, an abusive one.  It may have taken Tamara ten years, but once she truly saw a reflection of what had become of her she took made plans to get away, and she did.  But as with most cases, her husband, Joel, was not going to let her go easily.  And he is willing to kill anyone standing in his way.  When that someone ends up being Tam's Mother she will stop at nothing to have her vengeance meted out, even if that means unleashing the Devil himself.  So, when she comes across some old family secrets and a trunk that holds her key to revenge.  

Adrik's tale was one that was doomed from the very beginning.  Born into a life a serfdom, he never truly had any free will, but he did have his pride and his religion.  When both were stripped from him after being falsely accused of rape, a rage so fierce begins to consume him until he can think of nothing more than obtaining revenge, even if that means digging his own grave and lying in it.  What he doesn't know is that his fate was sealed when someone else set to have revenge against him.  And though he swears on everything that he will never hurt the only man he was ever able to call friend, in the very end he does just that.

While this may not be an action packed book, there is plenty of blood and gore, and a very Dark tale filled with plenty of chills to snake down readers' spines.   Oh, and the ending is one that is truly satisfying as it is unpredictable.  So readers who are fans of true vampires; tragic, bloody and deadly, this is a definite must-read.
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