Book Review: ALONE by Marissa Farrar

Serenity Hathaway has no reason to celebrate life, coasting between cruel indifference at the office and violence at home. The opening pages of Alone plunge us straight into the hell of this young woman's existence, revealing her self-doubt and plummeting despair.

Despite the very real personal demons that have brought her to this lonely time and place Serenity still controls her own will. And when Sebastian Bandores happens upon the young woman on her knees in a dark alleyway, the encounter leaves her with an inner strength she never thought possible.

Serenity can't stop thinking about the beautiful stranger that pulled her out of an emotional gutter, rescuing her from her lowest ebb. Life suddenly has promise; but life can get worse - far worse - and so can death.

Marissa Farrar carries us through this haunting vampire tale as a feather on the wind, dipping and fluctuating between passion and horror. She masters Serenity's strengths and weaknesses, her resilience and distrust as the reluctant heroine struggles to comprehend the otherworldly extremes of vampiric hunger.

The author's principal characters are passionate, loyal and loving - perfect bait for the vicious antagonists of this chilling horror novel where no-one and nowhere is safe.

Well-written with an addictive pace, I loved this book. I can't wait to read the follow-up Buried (Alone). The author has cleverly gifted us with the prologue of the second book as a wicked tease at the end of book one - and it promises darkness. A generous bonus.

4* out of 5, and highly recommended.

Download Alone from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Read more of Marissa Farrar's fiction at:
http://marissa-farrar.blogspot.com/

Lily's Friday Prediction

With Scotland battered by howling hurricane winds and icy shards piercing the island skies the Lords of Winter have truly made their presence known. Hail and welcome, but we beg kindness.

Winner of Last Week's Prediction Challenge

Tough. Tough. Tough. Outstanding penning all round. Who would you choose?

But that's unfair.

My winner from last week is William Davoll with the skin-tingling The Morning After The Peace Before; it made me shiver, stayed in my mind all night and still filled me with a lost sense of despair when I re-read it alongside all the other entries this morning. Congratulations William!

Runners-up, for there are two -  are new Predictioneer Dion Winton-Polak with the heart-stopping chiller Ache, and Erin Cole with her bizarro, giggle cute-fest The Ad. Well done both!

Words for 09 December 2011

The old book's getting frail. Where are my archivist gloves? Let's peel open those pages and pick:

• Painting
• Institution
• Forget

I have something instantly forming with those - better get the Moleskine out and scribble.

Rules

The rules are: 100 words max flash fiction or poetry using all of the words above. Please add your entries in the Comments box below. You have the whole week until 9pm UK time on Thursday 15th December to enter.

Winner will be announced next Friday 16th December. If you can, please tweet about your entry, using the #fridayflash hashtag, and blog if you feel like it.

Forget Christmas shopping. Hide away and create your own storm, but bring me thunder...

_________________________________________

Lily Childs on Facebook

As many of you know I am a complete numpty when it comes to Facebook. My well-behaved alter-ego Michele has an FB account she rarely uses but set up a Lily Childs Author Page last year. Could I get my head round it? Could I f*ck.

So finally I have a brand new account, just for little ol' me (or at least, today's persona). I may well have got this wrong - please tell me (you wouldn't believe I work in web design as a day job) but here's the link:

Lily Childs on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/lilychildsfeardom

I've invited a whole pile of peeps to be friends but please do seek me out if I've neglected you, or you are new to my strange world. And if you don't mind this inept little fool asking, wish me luck!

Lily's Friday Prediction

An important note for our lovely lady Predictioneers.  I have sent out the first round of invitations to next year's February Femmes Fatales showcase. If you haven't received your invitation and would like the opportunity to submit, please complete my online contact form and I will email you details and submission guidelines.

To get an idea of what I'm looking for - last year's stories and poems are all listed and linked on the February Femmes Fatales page.

Winner of Last Week's Prediction Challenge

A quiet week; every person I know is frantically running around screaming for the gift of extra time to live their lives so I'm not surprised if Predictioneers were too busy to enter. No problem - there's always this week, next week and...

I'll jump straight in as my clock also seems to be whirring on at a rate of knots. I'm only picking a winner and not a runner-up.

And that winner is... Nick Mott with Neon Flecks of Blood. This is a sordid tale of lust and reciprocal death that I simply lapped up! Gorgeous, congratulations Nick!

Words for 02 December 2012

Flicking, clicking fingers... Here we go:

• Affection(ate)
• Scrape
• Mustard

Hope these make you lick your lips.

Rules

The rules are: 100 words max flash fiction or poetry using all of the words above. Please add your entries in the Comments box below. You have the whole week until 9pm UK time on Thursday 8th December to enter.

Winner will be announced next Friday 9th December. If you can, please tweet about your entry, using the #fridayflash hashtag, and blog if you feel like it.

Make me something tasty with your clever fingers.. I'm hungry..

_________________________________________

Houska Castle - on TV (UK) December 2nd at 11am

Houska Castle (c) http://www.hradhouska.cz 

For readers in the UK that have bought or plan to buy Magenta Shaman Stones The Crow, you may be interested to watch or Sky+ the episode of Ghost Hunters International that features Houska Castle - the setting for Magenta's terrifying journey.

Tthe episode is being repeated at 11am tomorrow, Friday 2nd December on Sky Livingit (channel 122) then again at 12 noon on Sky Livingit+1 (channel 123).

Regardless of what one thinks of these type of programmes (believe me, I'm a cynic) I did find Houska Castle in Blatce near Prague incredibly eerie. I've done a lot of research around it and it has a very strange and disturbing history stretching back to the Bronze Age.

The question is - was the present 13th century Bohemian building constructed to protect the people from the demonic creatures that allegedly dwell beneath its floors, in the legendary bottomless pit known as The Gates of Hell?

__________________________________

For more photos and history of Houska Castle visit the owner's website at http://www.hradhouska.cz. Google Chrome will translate from Czech to English. for you.

Erin Cole's Holiday Book Blog Catalog 2011

Our Predictioneering friend and author of blissfully dark fiction, Erin Cole has opened her annual Holiday Book Blog Catolog for business!

This brilliant initiative showcases books from a variety of familiar and new authors including:

• Laura Eno
• James Garcia Jr
• Marissa Farrar
• Eric Beetner
• Lori Titus
• Chris Allinotte 
• Paul D. Brazill
• Jessica A. Weiss
• Michael Solender
• Erin Cole
• Lily Childs and more...

The aim is simple - take a stroll through the titles, buy at least one book and write a review. Well, I've read several on there already, have others on my wish list and can see even more that are new to me - where to start?

Do support these authors and take a visit to the catalog. Huge thanks to Erin for organising such a generous showcase.

Happy reading!

Lily's Friday Prediction

I hope our American friends had a wonderful Thanksgiving! 

As I understand it today is Black Friday when everyone goes mad at the shops buying Christmas presents. Of course Amazon has been promoting Black Friday for a few years now, reducing the price of books and products. We don't call today anything special in the UK but it is the start of the festive frenzy, according to this morning's news. Well, as I hate shopping in public with a passion (nothing brings out the worst of behaviour in the human race as shopping) then Amazon gets my custom this year.

If you're looking for holiday reads, or books to buy for your loved ones make a note to visit Erin Cole's Book Blog Catalog from 2nd December. Find out details here. Thank you Erin for running this great feature again. 

Winners of Last Week's Prediction Challenge

I found the winning entry so different, with a feisty, intriguing character and a strong plot that could fill a whole book. Grogan picks up the (invisible) winner's cup this week, with Grace. Congratulations Grogan!

Runner-up, with a chilling, monkey's paw of a tale is Antonia with Wishes Granted. Well done Antonia! (And all the best for your new website!)

Words for 25 November 2011

Flip. It's open. Plunge and finger the pages. Here they come...

• Toad
• Charisma
• Generate

Have fun!

Rules

The rules are: 100 words max flash fiction or poetry using all of the words above. Please add your entries in the Comments box below. You have the whole week until 9pm UK time on Thursday 1st December to enter.

Winner will be announced next Friday 2nd December. If you can, please tweet about your entry, using the #fridayflash hashtag, and blog if you feel like it.

Open your arms to let the snow sprinkle flakes of sparkling words into your soul. Can't wait...

_________________________________________