Mary Rose by Geoffrey Girard @Geoffrey_Girard ‏@AdaptiveStudios

MARY ROSE BY GEOFFREY GIRARD

Mary Rose Moreland and Simon Blake are the perfect couple: successful young professionals in Philadelphia, attractive, madly in love, and ready to start a life together.  When they travel to England for Simon to ask her parents’ permission to marry Mary Rose, he learns an unsettling secret: Mary Rose disappeared when she was a little girl while the family was vacationing on a remote Scottish island.  She reappeared mysteriously thirty-three days later in the exact same spot without a scratch on her and no memory of what had happened.

After Simon hears about this disturbing episode in Mary Rose’s childhood, he becomes obsessed with finding out what happened.  He proceeds to launch his own investigation and arranges during their honeymoon for them to visit the island where she disappeared.  But as Mary Rose’s behavior gets stranger after the engagement, the need for Simon to unlock the truth about her past grows even more urgent.  What he uncovers is beyond his most terrifying fears.

Mary Rose is author Geoffrey Girard’s chilling and modern take on a classic ghost story originally written by J.M. Barrie.  And for years, master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock attempted to adapt Mary Rose into a film but was never successful.  With this novel, Girard taps in the nightmarish fears that inspired both Barrie and Hitchcock, while also bringing the story to the present day with his own unique voice.

Release Date:  October 17, Barnes & Noble exclusive

Buy link:

Barnes and Noble

Review:

5 Stars

If you love old style horror movies or novels you have to read this book.

When a six year old Mary Rose goes missing during an island jaunt with her father, all hell breaks loose. Was she abducted or was there something more sinister and otherworldly at work? The answers aren't any more clear when she reappears more than a month later seemingly in perfect health, remembering nothing of her ordeal.

Fast forward to the present. She and Simon, her betrothed, travel to England to meet the parents. But what they find only leads him deeper down the rabbit hole that comprises the past of the woman he wants to marry.

This book is a page turner. From the first spooky encounter on an island that seems to be a character all its own, to the race against time to solve the mystery of what happened to Mary Rose, Simon is a man on a mission to save his bride from the past and a future that looks increasingly fraught with danger.

I loved this book and can't wait to read more from this talented author. Fans of Rosemary's Baby, The Legend of Hell House, The Haunting of Hill House and other old style horror films and stories will fall in love with this tale, that was nearly made into a movie by none other than Hitchcock himself. Kudos to Mr. Girard for bringing this story to life.

***If you loved Barbara Michael's The Dancing Floor you must have this book in your collection.

Dead Harvest Release Day!

It’s always darkest before the harvest. Each year, as summer fades to memory, and the sky begins to grow dark, and the leaves change color and fall, the faint, fetid scent of death--of slowly rotting things--begins to drift in, hanging on the chill air like a ghostly pall. Making us wonder, what this year’s harvest will produce. Well... the harvest is here. And it is dead. With these 50 dark tales and nearly 700 pages of terror, you will experience fear, depravity, love, and loss. And a kind of chill, that won’t soon leave your bones. DEAD HARVEST is a crop like no other! Enter the field and get lost... Edited by Mark Parker Includes stories from Tim Lebbon, Richard Chizmar, Ronald Malfi, Benjamin Kane Ethridge, Jeff Strand, James A. Moore, Tim Waggoner, Greg F. Gifune and many more...

I am thrilled to be included in this anthology with so many great authors. Fifty tales of terror. Fifty facets of glimmering fright to keep you reading late into the early hours of the morning. I hope you will enjoy the book and if you want to catch a short read from my story, check out my episode on the Liz McMullen show.

Check it out in paperback on Amazon. Release date coming soon for e-book.

Lisa Morton Speaks

For nearly three centuries, as the Black Death rampaged through Europe and the Reformation tore the Church apart, tens of thousands were arrested as witches and subjected to trial, torture, and execution, including being burned alive. This graphic novel examines the background; the methods of the witch-hunters; who stood to profit; the brave few who protested; and how the trials finally faded as Enlightenment replaced fear and superstition with reason and science. The book examines famed witch-hunters Heinrich Kramer, architect of the infamous Malleus Maleficarum; Matthew Hopkins, England's notorious "Witch-finder General"; King James I, supposedly the target of assassination by a Scottish coven; the Salem Witch Trials; and the last witch trials and executions in Europe.

Witch Hunts has been nominated for a Bram Stoker Award in the Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel category. The Awards will be presented at the World Horror Convention in New Orleans on June 15, 2013

Amazon

Goodreads

www.witchhuntsbook.com

Join me as we welcome horror great Lisa Morton to On the Broomstick. Lisa has agreed to answer some questions about her work in the horror field. 

 1. How did you get started writing in the horror genre?

I've always loved the genre (even as a very young child), and it was
just an obvious choice for me. I started as a screenwriter, where I
was a "hired gun" and wrote everything from children's fantasies to
disaster movies, but when I turned to prose, horror was my obvious
first choice.


 2. Tell me about your work on Witch Hunts and how the graphic novel
 came to be.

Rocky Wood created the project and had already brought Greg Chapman in
as the artist when he asked me to co-write. I loved Rocky's take on
it, and I'd always wanted to work in the graphic novel field; plus, my
Halloween research had already given me a good introduction to the
history of the witch persecutions, so it was all a good fit.

 3. Burgers or sushi?

Sushi, no question! I'll start with scallop and smelt egg, and go from there.


 4. Name three things on your desk right now.

My endless to-do list, the "Icky-Sticky" toy I've had since I was
about six years old, and - one of my most recent acquisitions - a
"Hello Kitty" Dia de los Muertos figure.


 5. What is one thing that has helped you as a writer that you would
 pass on to aspiring horror novelists?

Persevere. Unless you're very lucky, it's unlikely that you'll be
successful instantly. The real success stories are the ones who hang
in there and build an audience and never give up.


6. What to you is the difference in pacing between a short story and a novel?

A novel can indulge more freely in description and observation. A
short story needs to focus more on telling a succinct story quickly,
so plot and character development take center field.


7. Is there anything in horror today that you think is overdone? Underdone?

Horror is in interesting state of flux right now. I do think we're
finally seeing more women and writers of color entering the genre, and
the old things I used to complain about - like an over-reliance on
rape and misogynistic content - are fading away. I'm excited about the
genre's future.


 8. Tell us about your newest project.

My newest novel is NETHERWORLD, just released by JournalStone. It's
the first book in a trilogy about a globe-trotting British noblewoman
fighting evil in the nineteenth century...and not all of those evils
are supernatural. It was tremendous fun to write, and I'm excited
about its release.


 9. Do you write to music? If so, what do you listen to?

I used to, but the older I get, the more I need quiet to focus. I will
occasionally put on one of Somafm.com's electronica stations, but I
absolutely can't have anything with lyrics playing.


10. Favorite ice cream flavor.

Baskin-Robbins's Pralines and Cream.

Find out more about Lisa on her site: http://lisamorton.com/zine/

Witch Hunts: A Visit with Greg Chapman

For nearly three centuries, as the Black Death rampaged through Europe and the Reformation tore the Church apart, tens of thousands were arrested as witches and subjected to trial, torture, and execution, including being burned alive. This graphic novel examines the background; the methods of the witch-hunters; who stood to profit; the brave few who protested; and how the trials finally faded as Enlightenment replaced fear and superstition with reason and science. The book examines famed witch-hunters Heinrich Kramer, architect of the infamous Malleus Maleficarum; Matthew Hopkins, England's notorious "Witch-finder General"; King James I, supposedly the target of assassination by a Scottish coven; the Salem Witch Trials; and the last witch trials and executions in Europe.

Witch Hunts has been nominated for a Bram Stoker Award in the Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel category. The Awards will be presented at the World Horror Convention in New Orleans on June 15, 2013

Amazon

Goodreads

www.witchhuntsbook.com

Please join me as we welcome Greg Chapman in our first of two interviews with the amazing authors of this comprehensive graphic novel that covers the history of persecution of witches. 

> 1. How did you get started writing in the horror genre?
After I joined the Australian Horror Writers Association in 2009, I was selected for its mentor program and from that I had my first two novellas published – Torment and The Noctuary (2011). I’ve had two more published since then – Vaudeville (2012) and The Last Night of October (2013) so I must be doing something right ;)

> 2. Tell me about your work on Witch Hunts and how the graphic novel came to be.
I think it was towards the end of 2010 that I was contacted by Rocky Wood who was looking for an artist to illustrate a graphic novel. Of course I was extremely interested and after tossing around a few ideas, we settled on doing something around the witchcraft persecutions as it hadn’t really been done. When Lisa Morton came on board it added a whole new level of crazy fun! 

> 3. Burgers or sushi?
Burgers!

> 4. Name three things on your desk right now.
Micron drawing pens, watercolour paints and a Crystal Head Vodka skull bottle full of drawing ink!

> 5. What is one thing that has helped you as a writer that you would  pass on to aspiring horror novelists?
Read horror, read outside of horror. When you’re not doing that sit down and write!

> 6. What to you is the difference in pacing between a short story and a novel?
Pacing. Novels are intended to be slow burns with explosions of action here and there. Short stories should build up to a blistering climax, like a detonation timer counting down.

> 7. Is there anything in horror today that you think is overdone? Underdone?
Overdone - Virus induced zombies.

Underdone – Vampires that are actually frightening blood-sucking monsters! 

> 8. Tell us about your newest project.
Currently, I’m editing the first draft of an intended YA dark fantasy series

> 9. Do you write to music? If so, what do you listen to?


Sometimes. I love to write to soundtracks, like Mark Snow’s music from The X-Files or Danny Elfman’s Nightbreed soundtrack.

> 10. Favorite ice cream flavor.




Cookies and cream!

Learn more about Greg at : http://darkscrybe.com/

Siren's Call E-Zine: Women In Horror Edition (Featuring Yours Truly)

http://www.sirenscallpublications.com/ezine.htm

Issue #07 - Women in Horror
Featuring 120 pages of Short Stories,
Flash Fiction, Poetry, Photography,
Ads, an interview with Dark Media founder Eva Layne,
an interview with Creatrix of Rae Beth Designs,
and an extended excerpt of
Julianne Snow's Days with the Undead: Book One.

This issue is dedicated to Women in Horror Recognition Month,
so you guessed it - it's an all female issue!

Greetings everyone! Check out my zombie short in this great e-zine! A free download, you are in for a treat if you enjoy a bit of horror...and this issue, it is all about the ladies...