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Giveaway: The Darkening Dream by Andy Gavin


The Darkening Dream, a dark fantasy  by Andy Gavin, which we recently reviewed here, is currently available for 99 cents as a Kindle ebook from June 25-29. Get your 99 cent copy of The Darkening Dream today on Amazon here, or read the first two sample chapters here first, if you’re feeling shy.

In addition to writing an excellent novel, Andy Gavin is the creator of Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Daxter. Look for a guest post from him in the near future!

Andy is doing a big giveaway, including a $100 gift certificate to Amazon, signed copies of his books, video games, posters, and more!

Tweet, like, follow, share, blog and grab a copy of his book to enter.

The Darkening Dream Rafflecopter Giveaway

 

Our review of The Darkening Dream:

In his sinister fantasy novel, Andy Gavin introduces a new horror to grip the town of Salem, Massachusetts during the early 1900’s; vampires. Gavin envelops the reader with his spell-binding imagery fashioning a narrative that will send chills to your very soul.

Sarah Engelmann is pious, devout, and spiritual. She leads a life of sincerity, and this dedication leaves no room for imaginary creatures.  Her life is turned upside down when she finds a young man who has been grotesquely murdered. Sarah receives visions of bloody trees and hears the haunting voice of a long dead woman as secrets from the past begin to arise. Sarah, along with her best friends, and her growing romantic interest, soon become wrapped in a 900 -year old fight in which her very life and soul are dependent.

A blood sacrifice and a battle with the Almighty’s Angel to uncover a most precious treasure lead  the four friends, a sadistic vampire, an immortal sorcerer, and a Puritan warlock on a race.  “Nothing’s ever free…” rings in Sarah’s ears as steadily as the Angel’s holy trumpet sounds, signifying millennium old secrets and visions of a wolf, a beetle, a ram and a vampire that haunt her mind day and night. Her father’s wisdom and teachings, passed down to her, enhance her knowledge of what she is to protect. By combining her faith and intelligence, Sarah attempts to conquer what others had only dreamed of doing.

Secrets are abundant and obstacles appear in as one of Sarah’s friends becomes possessed by witchcraft. It takes all of Sarah’s willpower and faith to break the curse that binds her friend to a demon determined to use her soul for his own bidding. As more deaths occur, and protective forces around Sarah fail, blood starts to flow, opening the entrance to God’s realm. From the ashes, a new Sarah emerges.

Gavin’s horrific novel blends the Puritan faith, magic, horror and a bit of romance together, producing an ominous tale in which one girl’s actions could mean life or death for so many she loves.

Review by Dave Simms

 

 

 

Monster Kid Request: Move Over, Judy Moody!

If you are a children’s librarian, or a school librarian, or anyone who works with upper elementary aged kids, you are probably familiar with Judy Moody. Judy Moody is one of the less annoying protagonists that appear in series books targeted to girls. She isn’t concerned with looks or popularity, she wants to be a doctor, and her concerns go beyond the superficial. I find her annoying anyway. She rolls her eyes and says “boring” a lot, and she’s not very nice to her younger brother, who she’s nicknamed Stink.

But Stink is now coming into his own. He has his own series of books, with witty cartoons (supposedly drawn by him) and fun stories that even manage to sneak in a little learning. These books are aimed at kids who are a little younger, and my kids, who are 4 and 6,  will sit and listen to me read a Stink book for over an hour. I can’t say I like everything about the books, but they are enjoyable and funny without having nearly as much name calling or gross humor as some other books aimed at kids this age.

What’s really interesting to me, though, is that the Stink Moody website has zoomed in on one particular book (that I haven’t read) and created a whole event kit around the theme. The book is Stink and the Midnight Zombie Walk and the event is… wait for it… Reading Is Undead. The kit even ties in last summer’s movie, Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer, which, in addition to Stink’s extensive hunt for the elusive Bigfoot (which resulted in some pretty fun movie tie-in books that we do own, due to the Monster Kid’s obsession with Bigfoot and other cryptids) also has a fairly memorable zombie scene. Now, the Monster Kid is not allowed to watch zombie movies, and we try to tone the whole zombie thing down here, but there it is- another kid his age who gets into monsters, at probably the most age appropriate and non-gory way possible (yes, you may laugh at me now).

I think Stink and his friends could appeal to both girls and boys, especially because of the Judy Moody connection (the series is very popular) but, given how many books are already in the series and how many themes they address, I think it’s crazy fun that Candlewick Press is promoting reading, and the Stink Moody books, with cryptids and zombies. There are so many ways to get kids to read using this promotion, I encourage you to check it out, as well as the other Stink Moody books and resources, available here.

The German Wins Lambda Award

Awards must be in the air for quality horror fiction. Winners of the Lambda Literary Awards were announced in early June. The German, by Lee Thomas, another Stoker nominee this year (in the category for superior acheivement in a novel) won the award for LGBT SF/F/Horror (wow, that’s a lot of acronyms!).The Lambda Literary Awards are given by the Lambda Literary Foundation for literary merit and relevance to LGBT lives, to paraphrase the submission guidelines.

I think that’s very cool. We don’t see much LGBT fiction come our way. It is wonderful to see the horror genre spotlighted here!

Congratulations, Lee!