Interview with Fiona Mcvie

I'm visiting with Fiona Mcvie today and answering her questions about my background, writing, and life in general. Please stop by and comment
https://lnkd.in/dAr5B-C

Aberrancy and #LASR_Anniv

 

Follow this link: http://www.longandshortreviews.com/guest-blogs/lasr_anniv-aberrancy-by-su-halfwerk/

and enter the rafflecopter at the end of the post for a chance to win a $100 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC + other prizes!

Aberrancy by Su Halfwerk [Book Trailer]

My latest release, Aberrancy...where evil lives.

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/540281

Book Review: Voyeurs of Death by Shaun Jeffrey

Voyeurs of Death by Shaun Jeffrey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Voyeurs of Death is made of 20 short stories, each is a stand-alone tale that won’t take long to finish.
Though not all stories are horror, they all carry a line of darkness that places them in the macabre section.
Be prepared when you’re about to read the book for a shift in perception, similar to the 3D effect in movies. It’s as though the author is straddling a line that allows him to see our world and a darker, grimmer variation of it on the other side. Examples: ‘Bugs’ and ‘Park Life.’
And even though I liked some more than others (it can’t be avoided in a collection), this book is definitely a keeper on my bookshelf.


View all my reviews

Book review: Zombie Books by Bart Gnarly

ZOMBIE BOOKS by Bart Gnarly
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Kyle Moore lost a lot to zombies, and these aren’t your average zombies. Some of them look normal enough until they get up close and personal…close enough to have a piece of you in their mouths.

I enjoyed reading Zombie Books because it offered a fresh look at the apocalypse. The terror was caused by zombies, true, but they weren’t the only danger out there.

The book would have benefited from better editing, especially toward the end. Its organization was strange to follow initially but the moment the story snared me, I stopped paying attention to anything except its development.

If you like to read about zombies and how a survivor can exist in their world and kick their collectively rotting rears, then pick up this book. You won’t regret it.

View all my reviews

Book Review: Witches by Kathryn Meyer Griffith

Witches by Kathryn Meyer Griffith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Amanda is a powerful white witch and a good-hearted woman who has lost the love of her life. She struggles with her grief even as a black witch, Satan’s favorite, plots against her. The black witch has her eyes on Amanda and her evil plan can change history and doom everyone. The first part of the book is Amanda’s back story, who she was and how she came to be where she was.

I loved the vividly drawn scenes be it at Amanda’s place, Jessie’s, or Rachel’s. I chose these three places because they are either separated by distance or time (you’ll know what I mean when you read it).
I wish there was more of Amadeus and Tibby, even a scene with both in it. That would've been hilarious.
Witches doesn’t have the trap most books fall into, the repeated self-doubting questions. On the contrary, it possesses a good balance that serves to remind us of Amanda’s loss or reason for happiness without rubbing it in.
The nifty ending was the perfect wrap-up.
This book is worth the time and money to read, I strongly recommend it.

View all my reviews

Book Review: The Shift

The Shift by Fiona Dodwell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A horrible incident costs Michael White his job, the shame that comes with it leaves him in a desperately depressing mood. His past (negative) work experience doesn't help him while looking for another job...that is until he comes to Hill Wood House, a posh private facility where the rich deposit their 'differently abled' loved ones.
And that's where the real downward spiral of Michael's life begins.

The art of painting eerily dark atmosphere in a book is one of Ms. Dodwell's fortes. I was submerged in Michael's head, his endless questions as his life unraveled before his eyes. As a reader, I felt compelled to know what/who was behind all the stalking and waited patiently for an explanation of the paranormal happenings. Both answers were delivered, and what a discovery that was.
I loved the book's haunted ambiance and the discovery of intriguing secrets. For the story's mysterious events and Michael's fear, confusion, and elaborate second-guesses, I think this length was perfect.
Another winner from Ms. Dodwell.


View all my reviews

Book review: Human No Longer by Kathryn Meyer Griffith

Book Summary:
Jenny and Jeff Sanders become victims of a bizarre crime; leaving Jeff dead and Jenny in a temporary coma. She returns to her children. With Jeff’s death she must move back to her childhood home, a haunted farmhouse, in Summer Haven, Florida, where once they destroyed a family of vampires.
Jenny has no appetite. She’s edgy. Her eyes hurt. She thinks it could be trauma or grief. Until one night she can’t resist the night woods or the overpowering urge to drink warm animals’ blood–and accepts the truth. Her attackers were vampires.
Now she’s becoming what she once reviled. She can’t abandon her children but must find a way to live in the human world. At night she hunts, in the day hides what she’s becoming and attempts to fit in.
Then townspeople begin dying. Like years before. With her blackouts, she fears she may be the killer, or is it her vampire attackers? For they've found her and demand she joins them–or her family will die. She resists until they kidnap her children. Then she has to find a way to outwit and ultimately destroy them.

My review:
It has been a while since I read classic horror, and Human No Longer is a classic in its setup, narrative, and progress. There was an ease in the way the story was told; a convincing ease and not a convenient one.

Even as change claimed Jenny, her love for her family superseded all hunger and doubt, it anchored her. As the abyss beckoned Jenny, she fought back with all her might to remain human.

She might be Human No Longer, but she remained humane.

A riveting tale that shouldn't be missed.

5 stars For an excellent read

Buy link:
http://www.amazon.com/Human-No-Longer-ebook/dp/B00AU50VD6

A great review of Hellbound

Hellbound received another 5 stars. Here's an excerpt from that fantastic review:

"...Hellbound is a collection of three stories.  They are definitely creepy, gory, and all things wonderful that go bump in the night.  Or in the dead of day, you can take your pick.  Either way, I flew through this book.  Some of it was very grotesque and scary.  Su really has a way with words that makes you want to be in a certain place, and not want to be there at all, all at the same time! ..."

You can read the rest of the review here: www.fictionalcandy.com/2012/07/review-hellbound-by-su-halfwerk.html

And if you leave a comment, you'll make this wonderful day even more wondrous!

Thank you, Liz! You already know how I feel about your reviews ;-)

Guest blog: Why I Wrote Evil Stalks the Night by Kathryn Meyer Griffith

Evil Stalks the Night-Revised Author’s Edition (available also from Amazon.com in print) is special to me for many reasons. It was my first published novel in 1984 and as it comes out again on June 1, 2012, rereleased from Damnation Books for the first time in nearly thirty years, it’ll bring my over forty year writing career full circle. With its publication all fourteen, and one novella, of my old books will be out again for the first time in decades. Sure, it’s been a grueling, tedious two-and- a-half year job rewriting and editing these new versions but I’m thrilled it’s over. I have my babies reborn and out in the world again…and all in e books for the first time ever. Now, perfectionist that I am, I can finally move forward and write new stories.

I’ll start at the very beginning because, though Evil Stalks the Night was my first published novel, it wasn’t my first written one.

That first book was The Heart of the Rose. I began writing it after my only child, James, was born in late 1971. I was staying home with him, no longer going to college, not yet working full time, and was bored out of my skin. I read an historical romance one day I believed was horrible and thought I can do better than that!

So I got out my borrowed typewriter with the keys that stuck, my bottles of White-Out, carbon paper for copies, and started clicking away. I’d tentatively called that first book King’s Witch because it was about a 15^th century healer who was falsely believed to be a witch but who was loved by Edward the Fourth. At the library, no computers or Internet back then, I did tedious research into that time in English history: the War of the Roses, the poverty, the civil and political strife between the Red (Lancasters) and White Rose (Yorks); the infamous Earl of Warwick and Edward the Fourth.  Edward’s brother Richard the Third.  A real saga. Well, all that was big back then. I was way out of my league, though. Didn’t know what the heck I was doing. I just wrote page after page, emotions high believing I could create a whole book. So naïve of me. Reading that old version now (a 1985 Leisure Books paperback) I have to laugh. Ironically, like that historical novel I’d thought in 1971 was so bad, it was pretty awful. That archaic language I’d used–all the rage back in the 80’s–sounds so stilted now. Yikes! Yet people, mainly women, had loved it.

And so my writing career began. Over 40 years ago now. Oh my goodness, where has the time gone? Flown away like some wild bird. It took me 12 years to get that first book published as I got sidetracked with a divorce, raising a son, getting a real job and finding the true love of my life and marrying him. Life, as it always seemed to do and still does, got in the way. The manuscript was tossed into a drawer and forgotten for a time.

Then years later I rediscovered it and decided to rewrite it; try again. I bundled up the revised pile of printed copy pages, tucked it into an empty copy paper box and took it to the Post Office. Plastered it with stamps. I sent it everywhere The Writer’s Market of that year said I could. And waited. Months and months and months. In those days it could take up to a year or more to sell a novel, shipping it here and there to publishers, in between revising and rewriting to please any editor that’d make suggestions or comments on how it could be better. Snail mail took forever, too, and was expensive. But eventually, as you shall see, it sold.

Now to Evil Stalks the Night.

In the meantime, as I waited for the mail, I’d written another book. Kind of a fictionalized look back at my childhood in a large (6 brothers and sisters) poor but loving family in the 1950’s and 60’s. I started sending that one out as well. Then one day an editor suggested that since my writing had such a spooky ambiance to it anyway, why didn’t I just turn the story into a horror novel…like Stephen King was doing? Ordinary people under supernatural circumstances. A book like that would sell easily, she said.  

Hmmm. Well, it was worth a try, so I added something scary in the woods in the main character’s childhood past that she had to return to and face in her adult life, using some of my childhood and my young adult life–my heartbreaking divorce, raising my young son alone, my new love–as hers. It was more of a romantic horror when I’d finished, than a horror novel. I retitled it Evil Stalks the Night and began sending it out. That editor was right, it sold quickly to a mass market paperback publisher called Towers Publishing.

But right in the middle of editing Towers went bankrupt and was bought out by another publisher! What terrible luck, I remember brooding. The book was lost somewhere in the stacks of unedited slush in a company undergoing massive changes as the new publisher took over. I had a contract, didn’t know what to do and didn’t know how to break it. Heaven knows, I couldn’t afford a lawyer. My life with a new husband, my son and my minimum-wage assistant billing job was one step above poverty at times. In those days, too, I was so clueless how to deal with the publishing industry.

That was 1983, but luckily that take-over publisher was Leisure Books, now also known as Dorchester Publishing. A publisher that quickly became huge. Talk about karma.

As often as has happened to me over my writing career, though, fate stepped in and the Tower’s editor, before she left, who’d bought my book told one of Leisure’s editors about it and asked her to give it a read. She believed in it that much.

Out of the blue, in 1984, when I’d completely given up on Evil Stalks the Night, Leisure Books sent me a letter offering to buy it! Then, miracle of miracles, my new editor asked if I had any other ideas or books she could look at. I sent her The Heart of the Rose and, liking it, too, she also bought it in 1985; asking me to sex it up some, so they could release it as an historical bodice-ripper (remember those…the sexy knockoffs of Rosemary Rogers and Kathleen Woodiwiss’s provocative novels?).  It wasn’t a lot of money. A thousand dollar advance each and only 4% royalties on the paperbacks. But in those days the publishers had a huge distribution and thousands and thousands of the paperbacks were printed, sent to bookstores and warehoused. So 4% of all those books over the next couple of years did add up.

Thus my career began. I slowly, and like-pulling-teeth, sold ten more novels and various short stories over the next 25 years–as I was working full time, raising a family and living my hard-scramble life. Some did well, my Leisure and Zebra paperbacks, and some didn’t. Most of them, over the years, eventually went out of print.

And twenty-seven years later, when publisher Kim Richards Gilchrist at Damnation Books contracted my 13^th and 14^th novels, BEFORE THE END: A Time of Demons, an apocalyptic end-of-days-novel, and The Woman in Crimson, a vampire book, she asked if I’d like to rerelease (with new covers and rewritten, of course–and all in ebooks for the first time ever) my 7 out-of-print paperbacks, including Evil Stalks the Night–I gave her a resounding yes!

Of course, I had to totally rewrite Evil Stalks the Night for the resurrected edition, as well as my other early novels, because I discovered my writing when I was twenty-something had been immature and unpolished; and not having a computer and the Internet had made the original writing so much harder. Also in those days, editors told an author what to change and the writer only saw the manuscript once to final proof it.  There were so many mistakes in those early books. Typos. Grammar. Lost plot and detail threads. In the rewrite I also decided to keep the time frame (1960-1984) the same.  The book’s essence would have lost too much if I’d updated it.

As I finished the final editing I couldn’t help but reminisce about all the life changes I’ve had since I’d first began writing it so many years ago. Though it was actually published in 1984, I’d started writing it many years before; closer to 1978 or 1979. I’m as old as my Grandmother Fehrt, my mother’s mother and who the grandmother in the story was loosely based on, was back then. While I was first writing it so long ago, I was a young married woman with a small child holding down my first real job and trying to do it all. Now…my Grandmother, mother and father have all passed to the other side. Many other family and friends I’ve left behind, too. I miss them all, especially my mom and dad. It’s strange how revising my old books reminded me of certain times of my life. Some of the memories I hid from and some of them made me laugh or cry. This book, though, is the most autobiographical of all my novels as it contains details of my childhood, my devastating divorce, and what my life was like when I first met my second husband, Russell, who’s turned out to be my true love. We’ve been happily married for thirty-four years and counting. Ah, but how quickly the years have clicked by. Too quickly. I want to reach out, at times, and stop time. I want more. I have so much more life to live and many more stories to write.

So Evil Stalks the Night-Revised Author’s Edition republished by Damnation Books/Eternal Press will be out again for the first time in nearly thirty years on June 1, 2012, and I hope it’s a better book than it was in 1984. It should be…I’ve had over thirty more years of life and experiences to help make it so. 

***

About Kathryn Meyer Griffith:

 A writer for over 40 years I’ve had 14 novels, 1 novella and 7 short stories published with Zebra Books, Leisure Books, Avalon Books, the Wild Rose Press, Damnation Books and Eternal Press since 1984. And my romantic end-of-the-world horror novel THE LAST VAMPIRE-Revised Author's Edition was a 2012 EPIC EBOOK AWARDS FINALIST NOMINEE.

My books (all out again from Damnation Books  and Eternal Press ): Evil Stalks the Night, The Heart of the Rose, Blood Forge, Vampire Blood, The Last Vampire, Witches, The Nameless One short story, The Calling, Scraps of Paper, All Things Slip Away, Egyptian Heart, Winter's Journey, The Ice Bridge, Don't Look Back, Agnes novella, In This House short story, BEFORE THE END: A Time of Demons, The Woman in Crimson, The Guide to Writing Paranormal Fiction: Volume 1 (I did the Introduction) ***

You can keep up with me on my Facebook page, my Author’s Den, or my My Space 

Tony-Paul's review of Hellbound

Tony-Paul has graciously reviewed Hellbound...
Here's a tidbit:
"Well-written, easily chilling, thoroughly enjoyable with a great cover besides.  If there’s any complaint, it’s that..."

If you want to know what's the complaint, read the whole review here: 
http://www.tonivsweeney.com/tonypaul/Livre_Revue_Book_Review_/Entries/2012/6/8_Hellbound_by_Su_Halfwerk.html

Thanks, Tony-Paul!

A great review of Hellbound

Jenny Twist did it again!
She'd written a wonderful 5 star review of Hellbound that--I'm sure--chilled some of the heat in Hell :-)

Here's the review on Goodreads:

"A delightful anthology of really creepy stories.
THE DEADENING tells the tale of a morgue attendant with a penchant for robbing the dead. When he helps himself to a note in the pocket of his latest customer he gets more than he bargained for - a LOT more.
THE SUBSTITUTE: Stan Malcovich was making a good living as a medium before he met Joanna. But when Joanna doesn't get what she wants he finds the dead really begin to speak through him and they don't say the things his clients want to hear. What does Joanna really want? And why does she have such tremendous power over him?
SCORNED: When Troy sees a trio of roughnecks follow an attractive redhead out the bar, he does the chivalrous thing and follows them. Sure enough, he finds them threatening the girl and wades in to defend her honour. Of course, Troy has an ulterior motive but then, so does Jenna............
If you enjoy horror you will love this book. Ms Halfwerk is an accomplished writer who takes you to places you never wanted to go. Each of these stories tells of one person's journey to Hell. Trust me. You really don't want to go there!"

Thank you, Jenny. I can tell you have a great taste in books LOL
Hellbound is available here:

 Amazon   |    Barnes & Noble   |   Double Dragon   |    Lulu (for print book)

Hellbound's Signature Cake

It pays off to have a foodie for a sister.
Muna (owner of MunatyCooking) read Hellbound and couldn't help transforming her feelings to a cake. We've named it Choco Diavolo and you can read my guest post about it, see it, and get its recipe here:
http://munatycooking.blogspot.com/2012/05/choco-diavolo.html
You can also see the devil's reaction to the cake :-)

Please stop by and leave a comment...we'd love to hear from you.

Spellbound 2011 by Multiple Authors

Spellbound 2011 by Jenny Twist
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It is rare to find a book that is aptly titled to befit the stories within it. It is also surprising to like every story in an anthology. Spellbound 2011 scores on both accounts.

Without giving the stories away, Spellbound 2011 has werewolves, a possible vampire, a haunted house…among other elements of the darker fiction. Each author succeeded in building a tense tale that drew me in until the last word in each. The book is like a quilt, each section created by a different person, yet all the pieces fit together to make it one complete masterpiece.

I'm already familiar with Jenny Twist's masterful writing, now I have 8 new authors (for me) to check out.

View all my reviews

Hellbound Tour & Giveaway: It isn't over yet 8-}

I'm aware that the Rafflecopter was closed (technical issues,) but it's open again and that's only for today. Why, you might ask!
Well, it's for my last stop which comes with an awesome review of Hellbound. You know how some books grab you? this review grabbed me.
Read it here and enter the draw:

http://iheartreading.net/2012/04/book-review-hellbound-and-giveaway/

You might win:

PDF copy of Hellbound

Or

Amazon gift certificate worth $25/-

Hellbound Tour & Giveaway: "Manda-Rae's" stop

Today's stop is at Manda Rae's blog:
http://manda-rae-reads.blogspot.com/2012/03/blog-tour-and-giveaway-hellbound-by-su.html


Manda has reviewed the book, and even though she's given it 3 stars, I think she made great comparison to a series of movies...
Join us, you might win

PDF copy of Hellbound

Or

Amazon gift certificate worth $25/-

Hellbound Tour & Giveaway:Nick's Book Blog

Today I'm at Nick's Book Blog:

http://nicksbookblog93.blogspot.com/2012/03/blog-tour-stop-su-halfwerk.html

Join us, see my answers to Nick's questions, like what inspired me to write Hellbound.

 You might win

PDF copy of Hellbound

Or

Amazon gift certificate worth $25/-

Hellbound Tour & Giveaway - Today's stop

Today's stop is at Sweet Southern Home, and Carrie has done a great job with the post's formatting. Thanks, Carrie.
Here's the link:

http://sweetsouthernhome.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/book-tour-promo-giveaway-hellbound-by-su-halfwerk/

When there, remember to scroll down to Enter Here to go to the rafflecopter.
A quick reminder that by entering you might win:

PDF copy of Hellbound

Or

Amazon gift certificate worth $25/-

 Good luck everyone.

Hellbound Tour & Giveaway

I'm going on a Hellbound tour to promote the book (LOL, hell bound tour...get it!!!)
The tour will have combination of stops; reviews, guest posts, promo stops...etc. Follow the tour and enter the draw, you might win:

PDF copy of Hellbound

Or

Amazon gift certificate worth $25/-

The stops are listed here: http://enchantedbooktours.eternalised.net/2012/03/tour-schedule-for-hellbound
And I will announce each post's direct link here on Vivid Sentiments
So, without further ado, here's today's link to an awesome review:

http://ereadingonthecheap.com/hellhound-by-su-halfwerk-book-review-sweeps

See you there!

Hellbound is on Examiner.com

Hellbound, my latest release from Double Dragon is on examiner.com
Here's the link:
http://www.examiner.com/paranormal-literature-in-national/this-week-s-showcase-hellbound-by-su-halfwerk

Thanks, Bertena Varney.