The Plaid Raccoon Press Launches New Book Line—Supernatural Thrillers


PressMediaWire.com (Press Release Distribution) - Mar 01,2013 -

The Ottawa-area publisher of the crime fiction novels of Michael J. McCann, author of the popular Donaghue and Stainer Crime Novel series set in Maryland, USA, has announced the launch of a new book line of supernatural thrillers set in eastern Ontario. The first novel is The Ghost Man, which was originally published by McCann in 2008, and has been reissued in a revised and updated edition. “I like the horror genre because it allows me to appeal to a new reading audience,” McCann said, “and I'm setting these novels in eastern Ontario, which is rich in tales of hauntings.” He plans to have another supernatural thriller ready for a Halloween 2013 release.

Readers of McCann's crime novels will immediately recognize his polished story-telling ability in The Ghost Man. The protagonist, former chef de cuisine and restaurant owner Simon Guthrie, is trying to rebuild his life after a car accident kills his wife and leaves him with a serious head injury. Recuperating in hospital, he tries to make sense of a near-death experience involving a malevolent entity he cannot identify. After his release, he sets out to rebuild his life but instead discovers he has become a beacon for ghosts trapped in this world who are trying to get to the other side. His new house is under nightly assault by the ghost of a young girl seeking to escape from a recurrent violent death at the hands of someone known as The Angry Man. His friends and neighbors also come under attack as murder and fire cause mayhem in the small Ontario community where he had hoped to rebuild his life. Include a demon who cannot be named, a séance, an exorcism rite, and thirteen ghostly white wolves, and you have a page-turner to the end!

The Ghost Man is available in eBook format from Amazon as a Kindle Select exclusive publication at www.amazon.com/The-Ghost-Man-ebook/dp/B00BFKOHIK/. Readers can enjoy it on any device on which the Kindle reader app is installed. The Ghost Man will also be available in trade paperback version.

Wicked Whisper, A Fatal Stain and If Mashed Potatoes Could Dance reviewed

Wicked Whisper
Nina Bangs
Berkley, $15.0
ISBN: 9780425253137

At the Castle of Dark Dreams on Galveston Island, guest Murmer the demon informs his friend Bain that he needs to find an isolated place to release his music power before he harms someone when he loses control due to his ability if turning into an internal torture. On a beach with no one in sight, he begins his tune.

Newly hired personal assistant to Sparkle Stardust whom she has not yet met, Ivy Lowe is on the beach when she hears the music. She cannot stop herself from dancing until Murmer joins her before freeing her. Ivy dreams of Murmer in spite of her efforts to focus on the job only. Holgarth the Wizard warns her to stay away from the dangerous Murmer whose music leaves others dead. Neither the dark Underworld soulless one nor the innocent human can avoid their attraction. However, Bain needs Murmer’s talent and has plans for Ivy involving the rescue of his love trapped with the Slaugh Sidhe Unseelie horde.

The latest erotic Castle of Dark Dreams romantic urban fantasy (see Wicked Fantasy and My Wicked Vampire) is an enjoyable wicked entry tale starring an intriguing demon whose power leaves fear in just about everyone; yet this nonentity holds her own with him. Though the lead couple’s relationship seems similar to that between the virginal angel and the sinful demon, fans will enjoy this fast-paced star-crossed lovers’ thriller. Harriet Klausner

A Fatal Stain
Elise Hyatt
Berkley Prime Crime, $7.99
ISBN: 9780425255230

Daring Finds furniture refinishing storeowner Candyce "Dyce" Dare is running out of diversions as her mom and her BFF Ben Colm demand she join them to plan her wedding to Goldport Serious Crimes Unit Chief Investigator Cas Wolfe. Dyce struggles with their concept of Pythagoras dressed in a tuxedo as the Best Cat and fears whatever else the dynamic duo has in mind.

While sanding a table she bought at the semi-permanent garage sale, Dyce uncovers a stain that looks like blood. Though she knows it is probably her imagination running wild due to growing up in her parent’s mystery bookstore, Dyce visits the garage sale location accompanied by E. She learns the last owner vanished; so she wonders if the disappearance ties back to the stain.

The latest A Daring Finds investigation (see French Polished Murder) is an amusing amateur sleuth starring a likable but immature heroine. The mystery is fun to follow though Dyce has no real reason to make inquiries. Still fans will enjoy this cozy and appreciate tips on restoring furniture. Harriet Klausner

If Mashed Potatoes Could Dance
Paige Shelton
Berkley, $7.99
ISBN: 9780425251614

In Broken Rope, Missouri, Miz Winston owns Gram’s Country Cooking School; her granddaughter Isabelle “Betts” Winston works closely with her. Betts’ best friend, Broken Rope’s Historical Society historian and fake sheriff Jake asks them if they can host a busload of foodies whose reservation was messed up and provide cooking lessons. The two relatives wonder where anyone will stay except the floor as their establishment is not a hotel; Betts arranges accommodations for the foodie crowd.

Soon afterward, Miz and Betts encounter the ax-wielding ghost of patricide murderer Sally Swarthmore. She pleads with the pair to find her diary that will prove she is not the notorious cold-blooded killer of legend. They also find one of their guests dead with a noose around his neck; two other foodies are missing.Betts turns to her boyfriend Cliff of the local police department while also doing an inquiry.

The latest Country Cooking School Mystery (see If Fried Chicken Could Fly) is an entertaining amateur sleuth starring a heroine struggling to adapt to communicating with ghosts though she has a mentor helping her adjust. The pair of whodunits engages the audience though the solutions of each seem obvious early on. Still fans will enjoy Betts working paranormal and human murder cases. Harriet Klausner

Darkship Renegades, A Memory of Light and Sunset of the Gods Reviewed

Darkship Renegades
Sarah A. Hoyt
Baen, Dec 4 2012, $14.00
ISBN: 9781451638523

Kit the Jarl mule clone and the daughter of wealth Athena know they are fortunate to escape Earth and her past. They leave with a price on Thena’s head are going to Eden to live together in love and peace. Instead they face treasonous charges as a powerful individual uses the duo as fodder to manipulate his way into becoming Eden’s first dictator.

The couple accompanied by his sister mule Zen and another mule Doc Bartholomew team up with their mission to learn how to grow powertrees so that Eden no longer depends on harvesting earth tree powerpods, which as a byproduct will free the solar system. However, the quest starts badly when Kit is injured before they depart. Bartholomew tries a dangerous medical procedure to save his life. The method seemingly works, but as Kit recuperates, he increasingly does not behave like her beloved husband. Instead he has the memories of his “sire” Jarl reengineered to rule Earth. With their mission on the brink of failure, Thena knows she must prevent the transformation of her husband and will do whatever it takes including killing him; while she also understands her only out if they do not succeed on their original mission is her death.

The second Darkship space opera (see Darkship Thieves) is an entertaining science fiction thriller that continues the adventures of Thena. There are too many reflective treatises by Thena that slow down the pace of the overall exciting storyline. However, these interludes also provide insight into the historical, political, economic, science and technology. Fans will enjoy traveling on a Darkship piloted by Athena and her mates exploring the believable Hoyt galaxy.
Harriet Klausner

A Memory Of Light
Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
Tor, Jan 8 2013, $34.99
ISBN: 9780765325952

The forces of the Light and the Darkness prepare for the final battle, which appears will occur north of the Mountains of Dhoom in Shayol Ghul. Meanwhile hostilities flare up elsewhere as Talmanes leads a depleted Band of the Red Hand in a fight against the Trollocs in Caemlyn; Elayne had taken much of their force especially the cavalry to the Field of Merrilor where the rulers will decide whether to support Rand al’Thor’s dangerous plan to free the Dark One or kill him before his insanity demoralizes the humans. Regardless of who stands victorious in the Last Battle, The Wheel of Time is moving to end this age.

This is an exciting finish to the two decade old Wheel of Time saga as Brandon Sanderson provides an action-packed final battle (and several precursor combats) in his third effort (see The Gathering Storm and Towers of Midnight). The battle scenes are top rate while making up the brunt of the 900 plus page tome, but also have a déjà vu sense after several war scenes occur. Not surprisingly, some of the numerous long-running subplots receive short shrift as do key characters and races. Still, this is a well-done climax as several fronts explode while the adversarial forces prepare and meet for the final battle that will determine the fate of humanity as the Wheel of Time turns. Harriet Klausner

Sunset of the Gods
Steve White
Baen, Jan 1 2013, $14.00
ISBN: 9781451638462

Temporal Regulatory Authority leader Kyle Rutherford asks his most experienced Ancient Greece time traveler Hesperian Colonial Rangers Commander Jason Thanou to lead an expedition to study the Battle of Marathon. The mission is to answer historical questions and to determine whether any alien Teloi survivors that escaped the Minoan entrapment were involved in the pivotal battle. Jason met the Teloi masquerading as gods like Zeus when he, geologist Dr. Deirdre Sadaka-Ramirez (who stayed behind with Perseus) and historian Dr. Sidney Nagel (who died heroically) traveled to three millennia ago (see Blood of the Heroes). Reluctantly, Jason agrees to lead the expedition consisting of historian Dr. Bryan Landry, soldier Alexandre Mondrago and xenologist Dr. Chantal Frey to 490 BC.

The quartet arrives in 490 BC weeks before the battle. They claim to be exiles from Macedon whose King Alexander I swore allegiance to the Persians. On the road top Athens, Jason and Alexandre see the mythological Pan. As they are given sanctuary by Themistocles, the budding Athenian democracy debates how to defend itself against the Persian military. They soon encounter Zeus and a stunning anomaly in which conspirators are using Pan and the Teloi to achieve their long term objective.

The clever second Thanou time travel science fiction is an exciting thriller that provides a deep look at the Battle of Marathon. The storyline uses too many passive explanations re the rules of time travel and 490 BC Athens though these explicatory soliloquies add a sense of scientific and historical genuineness to the plot. Still fans will enjoy learning the secret of Pan as Jason and his team must thwart a diabolical plot to influence the outcome of the key Battle of Marathon. Harriet Klausner

Congregations of the Dead by James A Moore and Charles R Rutledge

CONGREGATIONS OF THE DEAD, James A Moore and Charles R Rutledge, Miskatonic Books, forthcoming, reviewed by Barry Hunter.

Having read the majority of James A Moore’s output over the years, he has become one of those authors that when something with his name on it comes my way, I drop, stop and start reading. He seems to found a kindred soul in Charles R Rutledge. They have got the southern, small town feel nailed in this follow-up to BLIND SHADOWS.

It’s the miserably hot summer that comes along in the South that makes you need to change your shirt five times a day. Sheriff Carl Price is facing a lawsuit from members of the Blackbourne family after the events that almost wiped them out as depicted in BLIND SHADOWS. He is also looking for a child abducted from her home and was almost run over by the fleeing truck.

Wade Griffin has been asked to accept a missing person’s case and find a teenage girl who has left behind her Goth ways and possibly found religion. He is trying to get away from his mercenary ways and settle down with Charon, who runs the local Occult shop.

Reverend Lazarus Cotton, who is a tent revivalist minister, has moved his church to Georgia after his last church was burned in Florida and figures prominently in the search for Wade’s missing person and much of the action that takes place in the book.

In addition to the missing persons, there are drugs, pornography and supernatural forces that cause Carter DeCamp to be called in to render assistance.

Plenty of action sequences and surprises fill this volume that will get you so involved that you won’t let it go until you have finished it and start looking for the next volume in this blood soaked series that begs for another volume.

Be sure to keep your eye out for this one. It’s jam packed and exciting.

Nerve, Darkwater, and Deadtime Stories reviewed

Nerve
Jeanne Ryan
Dial, $17.99
ISBN: 9780803738324

High school junior “Little” Vee is the one who hides behind the curtain designing costumes and applying makeup to others. Matthew challenges her to audition at a prelim Dare for a spot on the popular Nerve reality show that fans pay a fee to watch. Deciding to enter, she pours cold water on her T-shirt; her friend Tommy sends her Dare to the show.

Now she, Ian and several other chosen ones team up and back stab as they begin taking on challenges with coveted customized prizes as their rewards. The stunts increasingly turn dangerous as each participant debases themselves in the not so friendly competition.

Nerve is an unnerving thriller as Jeanne Ryan asks readers how far someone will go for fame and fortune. The storyline is frantically-paced as Vee and the other contestants seemingly answer that question with anything though psychologically what motivates each of them is not very clear. With a nod to Chuck Barris’s Gong Show and Andy Warhol’s wry comment “In the future everyone will have their fifteen minutes of fame”, fans will relish this insightful look at the contestants inside the coliseum. Harriet Klausner

Darkwater
Catherine Fisher
Dial, $16.99
ISBN: 9780803738188

Trevelyan gambled away Darkwater Hall and lost all his money. He and his sixteen year old Sarah reside with their former servant Martha in her dilapidated cottage. Her dad remains domicile depressed even as the villagers scorn and humiliate Sarah; while her employer schoolmistress Mrs. Hubbard is even crueler. When Mrs. Hubbard canes Emmeline Rowney, Sarah intercedes; only losing her position. Observing her and seemingly impressed by her courage, Darkwater Hall owner Lord Azrael offers her a chance to regain her family home and atone for the hideous misdeeds of her ancestors. She accepts his demand of her soul, which he will collect in a century.

One-hundred years later, fifteen years old Tom and his mom live in Martha’s Cottage. His mother works as a cleaner at Darkwater Hall School. Tom wants to attend the school where his great-grandmother was once a student, but knows he has no chance. Professor Azrael offers him a deal that has Sarah trying to prevent from happening as she does not want the teen to make the same mistake she made when she sold her soul to Azrael.

This is a superb young adult Faustian thriller told in two parts: Victorian England and the late twentieth century. The storyline is fast-paced yet the key cast members are fully developed. With several stunning twist especially a great climatic spin, fans will root for brave Sarah to keep Tom safe and find a loophole in her damning contract with mysterious Azrael. Harriet Klausner

Invasion of the Appleheads: Deadtime Stories
Annette and Gina Cascone
Starscape/Tor, $14.99
ISBN: 9780765330680

The Lawrence family is divided by generation as to their feelings towards their new hometown Appleton. The parents love the time warp cozy village while the two children (Katie and Andy) are bored.

On Halloween minus one night, the adults take the kids on a haunted hayride at an apple orchard; once allegedly owned by a witch who created a potion to change the apples so that kids taking a bite would become zombies. Katie and Andy notice their peers acting weird as if they are zombies and also observe adults including their parents changing into applehead dolls. Frightened, the pair concludes witches have spiked the cider with an evil potion. They must save their parents and the townsfolk from the wicked witches of Appleton as time ticks away.

This Twisted Sisters’ Deadtime Stories provides a fast-paced scary tale that middle school readers will relish; especially the premise that adults are blind to the threat while kids must save the night. The siblings make a terrific team as they hold the storyline focused while preparing to combat evil. Horrifically vivid (to the delight of fans) the Cascone siblings entertain their audience with a taut horror thriller. Harriet Klausner

Press Release

A massive Comic-Con-like fan event for London at last?

-- NineWorlds GeekFest raises 232% of its target fundraising on KickStarter and announces first guests, including genre author and super-geek, Stephen Hunt.

LONDON/NEW YORK- For years, British fans have been flying to huge US cons like Dragon*Con , Comic-con and GenCon, and wondering why nothing like them exists in the UK. San Diego Comic-Con gets 130,000 fans. France can drum up over 20,000 fans for Utopiales, even Finland can find 15,000 fans for FinnCon. But when it comes to large fan-driven residential multi-genre cons in the UK, pickings were pretty slim.

But now a bunch of fans have got together to assemble an event that aims to out-geek all the large US and European events, GeekFest - running 9-11th August 2013 in London. NineWorlds was one of the first outfits to use KickStarter once the online fund-raising portal opened its doors to UK-based projects… the results are now in, and GeekFest was quickly successfully oversubscribed by 232% of its target amount.

NineWorlds organiser Erich Schultz said, 'The Nine Worlds team is overwhelmed by the level of support from the geek community for Geekfest, with our crowd-funding efforts pulling in 232% of our target. We're now redoubling our efforts to delivery an out-of-this-world event in August.'

GeekFest has announced some of its early guests of honour for the event, and these include British Über-geek and genre author, Stephen Hunt.

Stephen Hunt noted, 'I'm delighted to be a guest of honour at the inaugural GeekFest. Over the last few years geek culture has been sweeping across the UK, with Doctor Who consistently producing the highest viewing figures on TV, and books in the Twilight, Hunger Games, Game of Thrones and Harry Potter series accounting for up to 70% of total fiction sales in some months. Whether it's Batman on the big screen or Halo on the gaming screen, all your base are belong to us. It's well about time we threw an event to rival the shindigs put on by our friends in the States.'

Other early guests announced include leading writers such as Cory Doctorow and Charlie Stross, and a host of names from the world of comics, games, books and broadcast media will be announced in the months before the event.

ABOUT NINEWORLDS GEEKFEST

Nine Worlds is a residential con celebrating all aspects of geek culture: gaming; film; cosplay; anime; literature; and partying. It's rented two big conference hotels in London, and recruited some of the UK's top fans and fandom organisations. With their help, NineWorlds is creating talks, games, discussions, workshops and parties spanning a swathe of geek obsessions. Whether you're into board gaming, film and film-making, Doctor Who / Torchwood, science, feminism, Tolkien, SF&F academia, video games, partying like a dance floor demon, role play gaming, Discworld, My Little Pony, social gaming, SF&F literature, knitting, Harry Potter, creative writing, Star Wars, queer fandom, buying cool stuff, steampunk, the occult, open culture, Star Trek, Whedon, scepticism, costuming, comics, anime and J-culture, or fanfic, chances are you'll find something that rocks your world.

At Nine Worlds you'll be able to wander from session to session, make new friends and discover new worlds. Rock out on Rock Band, see a film, play a hotel-wide game of Assassins. Ask a famous author that question about fighting 21 duck-sized horses or one horse-sized duck again. Or just buy a drink at the bar and catch up on knitting while watching the costume parade, before hitting the dance floor and rounding the night off in the gaming rooms.

To get tickets for the event and discover more, visit the GeekFest at www.nineworlds.co.uk

ABOUT STEPHEN HUNT

Stephen Hunt is a best-selling writer of adventure, thriller, science fiction and fantasy novels. His 'Jackelian' series of fantasy novels are published by HarperCollins in the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, and by Macmillan Tor in the USA. They have appeared in translation in China, Japan, Portugal, Spain, France, Germany and Russia.

The first novel in his six-book 'Jackelian' series was 'The Court of the Air', a fantasy novel set in a Victorian-level far-future where steam power, rather than oil, drives the economy of a resource-starved Earth riven by ice ages and natural disasters. It is a world where humans, various evolved sub-species of mankind, sentient robots, aliens and genetically engineered creatures mix among the ruined glories of past, collapsed civilisations. It was voted best novel to be made into a film at the Berlinale (the world's largest film festival) by the event's organisers and producers… who pitched it as "Bladerunner meets Charles Dickens."

The subject of an auction and bidding war among the major British publishing houses, The Court of the Air's subsequent mass-market sales helped jump-start the steampunk genre, turning the field from a sleepy backwater in 2007 into a thriving global literary and social scene today. Subsequent novels set in the same world include 'The Kingdom Beyond the Waves', 'Rise of the Iron Moon', 'Secrets of the Fire Sea', 'Jack Cloudie', and 'From the Deep of the Dark'.

An online trailblazer before becoming an author, Hunt was a digital publisher and editor for the Financial Times and launched some of the world's first online magazines such as Nature.com. His own web site can be found at www.StephenHunt.net

CONTACTS

Erich Schultz
NineWorlds Geekfest
erich@nineworlds.co.uk

Stephen Hunt
shunt@sfcrowsnest.org

More from Harriet

Merge /Disciple: Two Short Novels from Crosstown to Oblivion
Walter Mosley
Tor, $24.99
ISBN: 9780765330093

“Merge.” Lottery winner Raleigh Redman finds an alien in his home. He calls the ET Wood since the creature arrived on earth as a dead tree branch who, like others from their homeworld, needs to merge on earth to survive.

“Disciple.” Data entry minion Trent Tryman hates his tedious job. His life changes when he finds himself saving civilization.

The second double Crosstown to Oblivion novellas (see The Gift of Fire/On the Head of a Pin) contains two engaging science fiction tales though both themes have been used before. Harriet Klausner

Phantom Shadows
Dianne Duvall
Zebra, $6.99
ISBN: 9781420118636

Though he agreed to join the Immortal Guardians, Bastien Newcombe trusts no one especially his new teammates. For centuries, Bastien has always been a lone wolf and prefers living that way. His new warrior cronies treat him with wary disdain so the feelings are mutual.

Human Dr. Melanie Lipton seeks a cure to prevent the lethal insanity brought on by the vampire virus. Unlike everyone else who would like him gone preferably in a body bag, the medical researcher treats Bastien with respect as if he belongs here. Hell she even listens to his intelligent but differing ideas. As their admiration turns to attraction and love, a new threat, deadlier than the deposed Vampire King has surfaced.

The third Immortal Guardians romantic urban fantasy (see Darkness Dawns and Night Reigns) is a terrific action-packed thriller. Bastien brings the freshness to the mix as a lone ranger who has never felt a need to belong with anyone (the antithesis of the third step of Maslow’s Hierarchy) until Melanie. Readers will enjoy this enjoyable entry as love and a new danger keep Melanie, Bastien and fans hopping. Harriet Klausner

Little Magic Shop of Horrors: Deadtime Stories
Gina Cascone and Annette Cascone
Starscape/Tor, $14.99
ISBN: 9780765330758

The school hosts a talent contest with the prize being a twenty-one-speed mountain bike that student Peter Newman covets. Making matters worse is Mary Margaret looks like a sure shot winner. While the girl did her act during the preliminaries, Peter’s BFF Bo Olson sling shots an M&M causing a fiery debacle that Janitor Bob puts out. Janitor Bob tells the two boys that this is strike three.

Peter, accompanied by Bo, visits the Little Magic Shop of Horrors where he buys a $9.95 magic kit to include a special amulet. He changes from Peter Newman to "Peter the Great", who can perform magic that no master magician has ever done before. However, his tricks are real and as far as Peter knows from the fine print permanent. Still he enters and wins the contest with his incredible final curtain call, removing Bo's head.

The latest Twisted Sisters’ Deadtime Stories once again targets the middle school children with a fast-paced scary tale based on sometimes you get what you wished for. Peter is terrific as he holds the storyline focused while critiquing other acts, using magic, and finally wondering how to undo what he wrought. On the other Bo is obnoxious with his not so harmless pranks, which Peter condones by omission. Fans will answer the Lovin’ Spoonful question “Do You Believe In Magic?” with a yes when reading the Cascone siblings’ latest horror thriller. Harriet Klausner