Scary October – Day 11

I’d like to introduce the work of  young woman, Megan Cashman. She contacted me late last week and asked if I would post a part of her vampire story. Of course I said, ‘YES’! So here it is:

Blurb:
If your boyfriend suddenly reveals he’s a vampire, and also wants to make you one or else…what would you do? That is the dilemma college graduate Claire McCormick faces. Her life is turned upside down when her boyfriend Daniel Bertrand reveals he is a murderous vampire who wants her to be his companion forever. But when Claire hesitates at his proposal, her life spirals down into a nightmare. She has to choose between becoming an evil being herself or have her and her loved ones suffer. The Dark Proposal explores Claire’s fears while she makes her decision. Along the way, she learns the true, sinister reason why Daniel wants her to be vampire.

Warning: Contains some graphic scenes and some strong language

Excerpt: 

There was a pregnant pause with both waiting for the other to speak or make the first move. For a second, she wondered if this was going to be the moment he would make her like him or kill her instead.

“No, Claire,” he spoke suddenly. She jumped, startled. “It’s up to you to say yes. And remember I did tell you I can read your thoughts.”

“Then please stop, because you’re freaking me out,” she said.

He arched one eyebrow, and for a moment, she feared he would attack her. But instead, he crossed one arm across his chest and put the opposite hand under his chin, as though contemplating something.

“I see you’ve accepted somewhat of what I revealed to you,” he finally said.

“A little.” She felt like she preparing for war.

“What?” He sounded curious. “Is there something else you can’t comprehend?”

“Yeah,” she said in a shaky voice. Her eyes were downcast, and when she was ready, she lifted them to look right at him. “I did some research while in New Jersey. There’s a lot of websites about real vampires.”

“Yes?” Daniel raised his eyebrows. 

Taking a deep breath, she said, “I think you killed Colin Willis.” 

His face expressionless, he lowered his arms and closed his eyes, shaking his head. He ran one hand over his face as Claire continued.

“I read a blog about his murder. There are rumors going around that he had two holes on the side of his neck. There was no blood in his body.” She swallowed and asked, almost pleading, “Did you really do it? Honestly, Dan?”

Removing his hand, he looked right at her and said, “I think you know the answer to that question.”

If you want to learn more about Megan’s writing, follow these links:

Blog: megancashmanbooks.wordpress.com

Twitter: @MeganCashman

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/Megan_Cashman

Book can be found on Kindle here

 Thanks for the excerpt, Megan, and good luck with The Dark Proposal. 🙂

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Scary October – Day 8

Hi, Folks! Welcome to another Day of Scary October!

For the first order of business, I’d like to pass on a link to Tim Kane Books. On Friday he gave reviews of some zombie movies I think you might like. He called his post Five Funny Undead Movies. He also twittered about a man’s experience in NYC’s Black Haunted House, which sounded really freaky. The article can be found here. 🙂

Next is a blurb, an intro and an excerpt from a vampire novel by Matthew D. Ryan who runs the blog A Toast To Dragons (see link below):

Blurb for the dark fantasy novel “Drasmyr”

We vampires do not make easy prey. Our weaknesses are few, our strengths many. Fear is something we do not know, and death but a distant memory. So tread softly, pray to your god, and gird yourself with silver when the moons arise and night’s dark prince awakens. We fear not the wizard, nor the warrior, neither rogue, nor priest; our strength is timeless, drawn from darkness and we know no master save the hot lust of our unending hunger. We long for blood, your blood and no blade, nor spell, nor clever artifice, can keep us long from our prize. Feel our teeth at your throat, your life ebb from you, and know as darkness comes to claim you that the price of your folly is your everlasting soul.

***

In Drisdak, the city on the Sea of Sorrows, the citizens have much to dread. Unease and foreboding has always been associated with the local wizards guild; peasants have an innate distrust of magic and those who use it. But now, something else is on the rise. A mysterious fire at the guild has left two men dead and a third missing. A small matter, you say? Well, one of those men was the guild master, and his successor wants to know what happened to him. Enter Coragan of Esperia, the renowned bounty hunter. If anyone can unravel this mess he can. But is even he prepared to challenge the horrible evil that lurks at the heart of the mystery? An ancient vampire by the name of Lucian val Drasmyr.

Excerpt:

There’s a woman in chain mail standing across the room from me; her sword is leveled at my chest. I can smell the enchantment on the blade, it’s a strong one; maybe even strong enough to cause me harm. Still, I’m not too concerned; it’s at least a ten foot lunge and I know I move faster than she does. Indeed, she’s the one who is looking worried. My display of strength and the death of her comrade have shaken her resolve.

She’s got a pretty face, flushed with excitement but strong and in control. It is her neck that really draws me, though, so soft and inviting, filled with the warm blood I desire. The curve of her flesh glistens, waiting for a well-placed gentle kiss.

She’s breathing rapidly now, her breath coming in shallow gasps. Her trek up through the castle has sapped much of her strength. And the fear she feels is naked in her eyes. Now, she’s getting ready to pounce, just a little too much tension in her stance, her eyes just a little too focused. She couldn’t give me more warning if she were to ask my permission first.

She moves in with remarkable speed, her blade striking out like a serpent’s tongue. Even winded, she still manages to cut my cape, then prances away with her back toward the wall, ready for anything. Anything, except me.

 

Drasmyr by Matthew D. Ryan is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, and other on-line retailers.

Follow Matthew D. Ryan’s blog at http://www.atoasttodragons.com.

Or follow him on Twitter at: @MatthewDRyan1

Hope you enjoyed this little tidbit and will pop around to see what other stuff he writes about, like reviews of scary movies and stuff about dragons – and who doesn’t like dragons? 🙂

Scary October – Day 6

Welcome to another Day of Scary October. Today’s story submission from Literary Tiger is an excerpt from a short story she’s working on. Here’s her blurb: “A young associate in a law firm is given a new client.  The new client says he has a breach of contract issue and needs an attorney.  Oh, and he also thinks he’s a vampire.”

Enjoy!

from Wikimedia Commons

 

Ana left Marcus Miller sitting in her office. She stalked down the hall to Richard’s spacious corner office in the Chase Bank Building. Good, Richard was still here. It was close to 8 o’clock. She interrupted him as he was putting files in his briefcase.

“Do you have a minute?” Ana asked.

“Make it fast, I’m leaving.”

“The new client you gave me says he’s a vampire.”

“He thinks he’s a vampire, Ana,” said Richard, putting the stress on the word think.  “Big difference. Real ones are few and far between.” Ana detected the sarcasm, and she looked at him sharply.  Maybe because the hour was late and Ana’s eyes burned with weariness, but she thought his smile seemed particularly chilling in its smugness. Of course, it was also possible that Richard was once again enthralled by the fact that he was going to make yet another associate hate life.  As if the billable hours weren’t bad enough.  Richard took fiendish delight in the sink or swim method.  Law professors loved the Socratic method and used it to put the fear of God into hundreds of law students.  The firm’s partners felt the same way.  Anna thought there were less painful ways of learning.

“Whatever, Richard. I’m not dealing with him. It’s all very creepy.”

“You need the billable hours, Ana. And this guy paid us a $15,000 retainer.”  

“What?”

“That’s right. He’s willing to pay you 250 dollars an hour to fix his problem.” Richard reached for his Hugo Boss suit jacket. 

 “There is no way to legally FIX his problem.  He says that he paid some girl $5,000 to drink her blood.  She supposedly took the money and ran.  How exactly am I supposed to fix this?  This is a society where vampirism is looked down upon, remember?”

 “Did you listen to his whole story, Ana? He’s willing to settle for drinking her blood out of plastic bag.”

 “We’re a top-notch firm. Why are we taking on this loony?”

“I don’t care if he’s a leprechaun who’s hired you to find his Lucky Charms. Don’t you remember your professional ethics? Everyone is entitled to a lawyer, and this truism becomes particularly relevant when that person is able to pay our fees. In case you haven’t noticed, the economy sucks. We need to get more business.” Richard looked up. “Better get back to your client, counselor. This is what you’re paid to do.”

 “I hate my job.” Ana muttered as she stalked back to her office.

Marcus Miller aka Vampire-Client was still sitting there patiently. His eyes roved over her office, taking in framed pictures, plants, books and diplomas on the wall.

“Nice Doberman” Marcus complimented as Ana walked back into the room.

“Yeah, he’s very protective.” Ana said, a little creeped out. Did he plan on visiting her?

Marcus smiled “Please don’t worry. I never harm my attorneys.”

“Oh? Does your kind retain them often, then?”

 “Count Dracula retained Jonathan Harker to purchase properties for him in London.”

 “Yeah and look where that got him. Imprisoned in the count’s castle, his fiancé seduced by the count and he almost dies himself.”

Hahaha! Not exactly scary in the usual sense, but the fact that the poor lawyer has to deal with a vampire in the first place is a little chilling, although if you think about it, a blood-sucking lawyer with a REAL blood-sucker for a client is rather poetic justice, don’t you think? lol

Thanks, Literary Tiger, for sharing this with us. If you like book reviews and great literary quotes, check out her site (above).

I know this is about the American Thanksgiving. Just thought I’d plug Mike’s book! 🙂

In other ‘scary’ news, I’ve been debating whether to continue posting excerpts from my Little Green Men? story. After going back over the manuscript (which has been sitting on my computer for years without an edit), I realize it’s not as scary as I remember. I’ll leave it up to Comments whether I will post any more excerpts of this particular story or not. I do have some more ghost stories I could share, if you’d prefer.

To all my Canadian family, friends and followers (I love alliteration!), I hope you have a fabulous Thanksgiving weekend! 🙂

Wanted: Scary Stories

Calling all writers who like to write scary stories, whether for the YA or Adult markets, whether self-published or published traditionally or even if you are still waiting for the right publishing opportunity. I have a new and exciting proposition for all of you. For the month of October I’d like to feature you on my blog. If you have a freaky story to tell, or a ghost-riddled poem or the excerpt of a horror novel that you would like to share with the world, you can send me a link to your blog, or if you don’t have a blog and still want to participate, I will post it on my blog for you.

If you’ve read a scary story and want to write a review about it, you can share it here, too, either by linking it or posting it here.

Oh, and if anyone has any scary artwork you’d like to put out into the world, I’d love to help you share that, too. 🙂

If you write about ghosts, zombies, vampires, werewolves, or anything else that will scare the pants off a reader and want to be interviewed, let me know in the Comments section. I will get in touch with you and send you some questions to answer.

In addition, I will also post some info about my writer’s group. We’ve all written scary stories at one time or another, some scarier than others, so it is with great pleasure that I introduce this fantastic bunch of authors to you.

I’ll start by saying that we are, literarily speaking, Off The Wall. We have self-published two chapbooks (anthologies) that were sold at our local McNally Robinson Booksellers under that label. One was called ‘Sex, Death and Grain Elevators‘ because we were told than any story told about the prairies had to have these three elements in it. The other was called ‘Where In The World Is Carman, Manitoba?‘ because it came out about the same time as the kid show, ‘Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiago?‘ There have also been UFO sightings near Carman, Manitoba, so we thought it appropriate, since my story was about UFOs and aliens that we used that title.

So, dig into your archives, put on your thinking caps, drop me a line or two and let’s make THIS October the scariest yet! 🙂