THURSDAY DELIGHT: BOOK REVIEW FOR - MEET ME IN MAINE - BY SUSANNE LEIST

 

https://www.amazon.com/Meet-Me-Maine-Book-Harbor-ebook/dp/B0972C155B/ref=sr_1_1?crid=TWB6FLYR3Q5&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.JlXMSdoLxxPC1YxIN6E52EVOwVlsLez_WjeoJeTOre1G-aLz7OrUfgt9kl0zPDe5g1kPZASsKqsZb7gWbrEMHToHRpDa1L-OALfMXVI9MafNn_sqmnkeEUCzezHUWNVfya4sISpbNfs1D0_NiZd0sF3GOqCQmGtrbqb6kkQdpMLdxFw6tr7DQ_p8rC6Zu5InZGdaSEtGfsX740G1P6E5BA.NcCQfsNPue4yrmgApHaYSrqgAppnuZmBG1Ik8FIEYgg&dib_tag=se&keywords=meet+me+in+maine&qid=1721329492&s=books&sprefix=meet+me+in+maine%2Cstripbooks%2C94&sr=1-1

This is my book review for Meet Me In Maine: Book One of The Blue Harbor Series, by Susanne Leist.

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Book description:

Elizabeth Reading and Scarlett Harding travel to Blue Harbor, Maine, hoping to find a bed-and-breakfast to buy and a peaceful town. What they discover instead is much more sinister…

When they visit the local ice cream parlor, a man rushes through the doorway, clutching his throat and dying in a pool of blood. Chief Lively and two men, David Hunt and Logan Rayne, interrogate Elizabeth and Scarlett. Elizabeth stares at the dashing, blue-eyed David, stunned she agreed to a date with him just hours ago.

Elizabeth wants to pack her bags and visit other harbor towns, but Scarlett insists on keeping their appointment. They fall in love with the quaint bed-and-breakfast and sign the papers a few days later.

Once they settle into the inn, strange incidents plague Blue Harbor. At Scarlett’s date with Jonathan Hale, the charming ice cream parlor owner, a woman’s head explodes at the next table. A suspicious explosion rocks the harbor, destroying boats and part of the dock. Their fears mount as an intruder breaks into the inn.

The curse placed by the Penobscot Indians on the original settlers and descendants of Blue Harbor has returned with a violent twist.

Have Elizabeth and Scarlett put their lives in danger by dating two of Blue Harbor’s descendants? Should they sell the inn or stay and fight the curse alongside David, Logan, and Jonathan?

*****

Five stars from Blaze McRob!

I love the state of Maine, and I'm fascinated with Penobscot Indian lore, so it was quite a natural thing for me to purchase Meet Me In Maine. The more I read, the more I was pulled into the story. Blue Harbor, the locale where the story unfurls, is a charming little town, but is also a cursed town filled with many mysteries. I very much enjoyed the fast-paced action that Susanne Leist brought into this novel. From start to finish, chaos reigned. My kind of story!

Elizabeth and Scarlett have to battle back against murders, explosions, a wonky police chief who constantly gets in the way of solving crimes, and much more. I don't want to get too explicit with my descriptions because they will take away from your reading enjoyment. There are many what the hell moments in this novel. Just when you think you have everything figured out, you find out you're wrong again. 

Anything can and does happen in this tome, so don't start reading with the idea you'll chip away at any clues that might line your reading pathway. I certainly never expected to read most of what was spread out before me.

If you like fast-paced, suspense, horror, mystery, and paranormal tales, with romance thrown in for good measure, you'll be sure to enjoy Meet Me In Maine. 

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From Susanne Leist:

A career in writing has been an enormous leap for me. Accustomed to the number-crunching field of budgeting and the hectic commodity markets, I left my first career and M.B.A. in Finance behind to pursue my dream. However, I do not regret my foray into literature for one moment. I write every day and have even tried my hand at poetry. So don’t let anyone tell you it’s too late in life to try something different. It is never too late to follow your heart.

THE DEAD GAME SERIES brings fantasy and surrealism to the classic murder mystery with dead bodies, suspects, and clues. In addition, it offers vampires and a touch of romance to spice the motley mix.

MEET ME IN MAINE, the first book in THE BLUE HARBOR SERIES, provides the backdrop for murder, mystery, and romance in a seaside town. Love falters and flourishes as the residents fight the persistent evil plaguing their small-town lives.

Sit back, put up your feet, and let me bring mystery and romance to your lives.

PARLIAMENT - BY TERRI DELCAMPO

 

https://www.amazon.com/Parliament-Terri-DelCampo-ebook/dp/B00OF86A7A/ref=sr_1_6?crid=2GBRW03JE15GA&keywords=terri+delcampo&qid=1641565785&s=books&sprefix=terri+delcampo%2Cstripbooks%2C83&sr=1-6

Terri DelCampo has brought many tales written by her to Blazing Owl Press. I'm sure readers have noticed we have many books here. Most of these are Terri's. I might catch up in time, but, for now, she is the champ. Parliament is one of those books, a frightening novel blending non-fiction with fiction. Sometimes that happens. This story is one of those. There is legend; there is lore; there is horror.

This is one of Terri's best works.

Enjoy.

Blaze McRob

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Book description:

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The battle for good and evil begins,

With Hildeberta and Peter, God knows who wins.

In the Abbey House the legacy starts.

Hexenprozesse broke millions of hearts.

Owl's Nest was waiting the witches knew,

Deep in their souls so away they flew.

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Terri has a generous free sample on Amazon you can read that will, most certainly, entice you to read the entire novel. I have included a portion of it below.

Happy reading!

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Samantha Liesel Bauer's in flight to do list only contained two items: Catch up on journal entries and sleep. 

She rarely allowed her journal entries to lapse, but the last couple of days had been so hectic with her birthday, graduation, and passing-the-bar celebrations, she'd had precious little time for sleep, let alone writing.  So she considered the eight hour flight to Germany a gift from the Sandman. 

Before using it to write a word, Sam stared at the pen, half of a solid gold pen and pencil set she'd received from her parents to commemorate her graduation in May from Harvard Law, top of her class, Suma Cum Laude, with job offers out the wazoo including one full partnership, all of which she readily declined in favor of her own agenda. 

That agenda had begun with immediately sitting for the Delaware Bar exam in July and passing it with flying colors, which is why her grad party had been held in late August along with her birthday celebration last week-end. 

"Samantha Liesel Bauer Esquire, PhD" winked up at her from the barrel of the pen, and brought a smile to her lips as she congratulated herself for double-majoring and going for the PhD in comparative religion, which would come in handy considering the brand of law she planned on pursuing.  Civil Rights Law, especially pertaining to the rights of women and children had been close to her heart since her birth eighteen years ago. 

The smile also reflected her joyous memory of the blowout grad/18th birthday party that had lasted the entire three-day holiday week-end at her parents' modest home on Screech Owl Circle in Owl's Nest, Delaware.

She imagined pretty soon she would be able to buy them a mansion, once she finished her business in Germany.  She also imagined that they would not accept.  They loved their little house in Owl's Nest, their hometown, hell, the hometown of all of her ancestors since they'd immigrated to the New World from Germany in the late 1600's. 

They might like a condo on Owl's Lookout, overlooking the Delaware, though, she wrote into her journal, then wrote her reconsideration: probably wouldn't be able to blast them out of the house in which they'd raised her.  The only thing they loved almost as much as Sam was Owl's Nest and all the memories attached to the home they'd made for her. 

Of course her childhood, in the traditional sense had been brief and unique.  When she'd been bored out of her mind already in kindergarten, already reading and fully comprehending at a fourth grade level, her parents decided to home school her with excellent tutors, who were not intimidated by gifted pupils who were smarter than they. 

Unlike her kindergarten teacher who flat out didn't know what to do with Sam's 'disruptive behavior.'  Her parents had collected her and her things from the classroom after a conference in the principal's office one afternoon, only a month into the kindergarten year. 

"Samantha is bright to say the least, extremely precocious.  So bright that she heckles the teacher throughout the day, correcting her grammar, challenging the plots and morals of the stories she reads to the class, creating better endings for them, completing assignments within moments to sit bored waiting for the rest of her classmates to catch up.  We could bump her up a grade, but the first grade curriculum isn't much more advanced than kindergarten's."

So the principal handed Sam and Claudia a piece of paper with a list of tutors and programs that might fit Samantha's needs a lot better than a kindergarten class that she was almost smart enough to teach herself. 

At age ten Samantha had taken a walk through Owl's Nest to the elementary school, found Ms. Willow, the kindergarten teacher, and apologized for having been so rude.  Ms. Willow smiled and laughed.  "That's very nice of you, Samantha, and I guess in all fairness I should apologize right back to you for boring you to pieces."

"Maybe the writers of some of those lame, condescending stories you read should be the ones to apologize," Sam suggested, smiling and Ms. Willow laughed heartily and nodded in agreement. 

"You have a good point; some of them are positively mind-numbing, aren't they?  So any suggestions?  War and Peace? Gatsby? The Shining?" 

Sam's turn to laugh as she'd forged a friendship right then and there with Ms. Willow, who'd attended her graduation party last week-end, a mere eight years after that conversation in the kindergarten room of Owl's Nest Elementary School. 

Sam smiled, scribbling furiously in her journal about that wild-ass party. All of Owl's Nest had been there in one form or another, the whole front and back yards of her parents' house had been full of people (not to mention Owls in the trees that dotted the yard, including those of her ancestral line all the way back to her great, great, great-grandparents Samuel and Liesel, after whom she'd been named.

She pulled Samuel's gold watch out of her pocket, that had been her birthday present from Sam and Liesel (who had presented it to her outside, beneath the elm tree where they perched in Owl form) the night before her party. 

******

Terri DelCampo is the founding editor and writer of Owl's Eye View Magazine, founding partner/writer/editor at Blazing Owl Press, author of 35+ novels, short story collections, children's collections, poetry collections, and multiple individual short stories available right here on Amazon. She pens Broken Old Broad Blogs, is a contributing writer for multiple horror anthologies, freelances poetry as well as non-fiction articles and essays. Terri is an ongoing competitor and winner of NaNoWriMo and Critters/Preditors & Editors Awards.

Terri is married to horror writer Blaze McRob and in 2015 they founded Blazing Owl Press where she is a very hands-on partner. Her duties at BOP include editing, producing book covers, and of course writing.

If you look up write-a-holic in the dictionary, Terri's picture is there.

MEMORIAL DAY IS A DAY OF REMEMBRANCE

 

Memorial Day is here, along with everything that it entails. No, I’m not talking about the picnics, trips to the mountains to do some fishing or whatever. I’m talking about the reasons the importance of this day was established.

     Okay, I should straighten this out now: I don’t believe Memorial Day is a holiday. It’s a day of remembrance for those who suffered during war; for those who didn’t return. How the hell do you make a holiday out of death? You don’t.

     Every year I go to the cemetery and see tears flowing, vets who can hardly walk, and some with missing limbs. Others have no apparent physical ailments, but one look at their faces tells you a story of inner personal strife: demons trapped inside with no release in sight. They’re remembering; they’re not celebrating.

     So what do we do? Do we allow the festering inside to cause us to rot away? I’m a vet. I served in Vietnam in 1966 and 1967. There was much I saw, much I experienced, much that is beyond comprehension. It was fucking war! You know what? Wars aren’t nice. Wars suck!  As if that wasn’t bad enough, I came back to the states to a country gone mad: long- haired hippies with their signs saying we were baby killers and other shit. Peace signs were everywhere, but these so-called flower children saw fit to attack us with their signs. Some of those who were attacked hobbled along on crutches with only one leg. Others were in wheelchairs. Nice people, these hippies. Okay, I wasn’t in great shape myself, but I was damned if I was going to put up with that shit. I put a number of them down with their own signs before the MP's and cops stopped it all.

     Present day, the country has changed their opinions about the war over there. Maybe it wasn’t so bad after all; maybe we should have been shown some respect. Yeah, make it easier for us to get treated for things at the VA. PTSD is bandied about like these snot-nosed kid doctors in mental health hold all the answers. Put us all on drugs to mellow us out, help us forget about the war. Shut us up.

     Number one: it’s too late for people my age who didn’t serve to say they are sorry for what happened. Fifty years ago was the right time. Not now. It’s like they’re offering us a gift that we should thank them profusely for. What?! They need the medication I threw away. While we endured what we did, they went to college and prepared themselves for a life of wealth and greed. Now the small peace offering arrives to assuage their guilt. Let them be guilty. I want nothing to do with cowards or false “friends.”

     Number two: I don’t want to forget. I want to remember every moment of it. Why do I want to remember the pain and horror? It’s a part of who I am and why I am. We learn from the past. Everything, bad and good, parades before us, warning us that moments are so easy to be recaptured in the worst of ways. A lot of the new crop of politicos on the scene have no knowledge of war. They never experienced any of the traumas associated with it, nor were they given a chance to rise up from the worst of the worst and become a real man or a real woman. In fact, so many schools nowadays are downplaying the teaching of history in schools so that our children will not learn the truth except from those who were there.

     I now bring horror into the horror. Blaze writes horror tales. Guess what? My horror is not all fiction. My soul screams for me to tell the world of true terrors lurking in the real world. And so I do. However, I don’t want to write a story about what happened to Blaze when he served. 

     Yes, there will be some juicy little tidbits scattered around: rats running over bodies half submerged in rice-paddies; bamboo shoots stuck up body orifices never designed for such attacks; dirt floors of single dwelling shacks in prison camps, covered with crawling vermin attracted to the hole in the corner which passes for hygienic toilet facilities. I think you get the picture. These goodies are to be shared with one’s readers in such a way that maybe they think these things actually happened or maybe they didn’t. Personal perception. An author friend of mine, Carole Gill, says the worst horror is non-fiction, and she is so right.

     By instilling these truths into the façade of horror, we say what is without actually saying it is. A paradox of words, dealing with the mind in such a way as to instill truths and fears within the guise of storytelling. We awaken minds, making them receptive to our message. In my way of thinking, we are presenting an honest subliminal message to our dear readers.

     We allow the reader to wonder what if? Yes, maybe it’s horror, but that doesn’t mean it’s all about gore and violence. The novel “1984” is a great example of this. I know I always pondered the possibilities.     

     The novel I just finished and am editing contains scenes of war, as well as other real-life health issues and betrayal I experienced in the past. Is this cheating, digging up moments from my life? I don’t really care. These are my moments; they belong to me; if they are altered to fit the story, so what! I’m writing fiction. Life is grand.   

   We all fight our battles in different ways. I cleanse my soul with the release of my inner demons within the tales I write. Why should I write about fun-filled ditties? Isn’t it better to get rid of the bad and keep the good within?

    Memorial Day. Don’t pity us vets. Respect us for what we did. If you can’t do that then leave us alone: we don’t need you; we don’t want you.                       

   On Memorial Day take some time out and give our Warriors, past, present and future a moment of silence.

Blaze McRob

IT'S KICK-ASS TIME: BY BLAZE MCROB

 https://www.patreon.com/posts/its-kick-ass-one-103433823

https://www.patreon.com/Blaze_McRob

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This May, I started off another novel in my PARANORMAL POSSE series. IT'S KICK-ASS TIME will be the third novel in the series, and as the name implies, it will be kick-ass all the way. As is my norm, it will be serial-style: one chapter at a time.

Terri DelCampo supplied the cover art for the novel. This is only natural, as she is the number one badass in this tale. She was shocked when she saw how the sudden changes popped up at the end of the last novel. She was even more surprised when I told her I wanted her picture to adorn the cover. As far as I'm concerned, it is the right choice. I love Terri's eyes in this baby!

May is known for Mother's Day. Now, it will also be known for PARANORMAL POSSE and Terri DelCampo starring in IT'S KICK-ASS TIME.

I hope to see you here. This novel is exclusive to my Patreon page. You'll find a welcome home there

Blaze 

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Below, I have included a teaser to give you a taste of what is on the way for your reading pleasure:

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"Wow!" I say to Terri. "It's quite an honor that the President wants you to be his Vice President. What did you tell him?"

"I told him yes," she says. "What else could I say?"

I go to her and give her a big hug. "Nothing else. I'm proud of you. You'll do a great job."

Everyone else congratulates her, and we wait for her to tell us what the President had to say, and, more importantly, how she plans to handle the job.

"The President told me he needs someone strong to handle the job. Pretty much, that was his message. I have carte blanche on how I do it. I told him I have a strong team behind me, and we'll waste no time in kicking ass."

"I'll bet that made him happy," I say.

"As happy as he's going to get with the situation the way it is. That means we can't afford to waste any time. Aikens is either going to make another move real soon, or he's going to go into hiding. My guess is that he can't afford to go into any extended period of hiding."

"Why's that?"

"He might be a big hot-shit number-one alpha type guy right now, but that means if he falls down on the job, there will be a lot of people below him that want to scramble into his place. This move in the Senate building literally put a huge bullseye on his back. He has to finish the job, or he's dead, fucking meat."

"Makes sense," George says. "So, what's your plan, Terri?"

"It's multi-pronged. We need to hold the Senate police accountable for their actions; we kick them out and get in people we trust. It will be necessary to hold the bastards in the slammer for a while and question them thoroughly. While we're interrogating them, Rocky and gang can scour the internet and dig up what we can on them Then, we have to get the pussy-fucktards who refuse to return to the Senate to return. This is no time for cowards. As for Aikens, we close in on him. No more Dodge City tactics from him."

"Who do we use to replace the Senate police?"

"John should be able to come up with a bunch of people."ou can get him to do that?"

"I have carte blanche. The President wants results, and we'll get them for him. Don't forget that all of us have bullseyes on our backs, too. If John is short of men to add to our security, maybe Gary can spring some people loose."

"Consider it done, Terri," Gary says. "Between John and me, we'll supply the people to get the job done."

"My army is at your disposal, as well," Rocky says. "The grand fuckening will hit these bad boys hard if they step across any red line the Posse lays down before them."

"Okay, then," Terri says. "It's asses and elbows time. Let's get cracking."

******

Terri and John waste no time in snatching up the Senate police and escorting them to some rather uncomfortable cells. They try to get out of it by screaming that they've been denied their rights, but it's all to no avail. By law, we're allowed to hold them for a certain amount of time, and we aim to do it. Rocky's D.C. computer crew, and that of Gus and Lester back in Georgia, manage to do a deep dive into everyone's history and find technicalities of all kinds that will ensure they'll be behind bars for a while. It appears none of them are pure. They're all tainted in one way or another. The D.C. police try to intervene in the procedure, but Terri tells them to fucking buzz off. This is a federal operation and she's in charge of it.

George and I enlist the help of Al Petrone and his biker buddies in Alabama to help with the cleanup and reconstruction of the Senate Chamber. Once again, we know these guys for who they are. We trust them. From where we stand, trust is huge with us. 

Joe Henderson, at the Washington Gazette, springs into action, writing byline after byline to let the citizens know what we're doing and why we're doing it. He hits a snag when it comes to encouraging political people, as well as anyone else wanting to toss their hat into the ring, that there is a need to replace the Senators killed in D.C., as well as those who quit. As I thought, these jobs don't hold the appeal that they once did. People are afraid to run now.

Terri's at a quandary as to what to do as far as her residence should be in D.C. She's perfectly content staying where we've been living all along, but the official residence for the Vice President is Number One Observatory Circle, also known as the Naval Observatory.

"I think I'd much rather live in the apartment we live in now," she says. "The way things are going now, it would be much easier to maintain stronger security if we remained where we are."

"It would be better," I say. "The Naval Observatory is an unknown factor that hits me wrong. I'm not sure why."

"Let's take a walk over there and scope things out," Rocky says. "We'll bring the gang along and do a quick once-over. The place is empty at the moment. When the Vice President was killed, her family moved out. Can't say as I blame them."

We're within sight of the building when a huge explosion rocks the entire area. Debris flies high into the air and lands close by. Within seconds, the entire building is on fire.

"I guess this makes up my mind for me," Terri says.

******

This novel picks up where PARANORMAL POSSE GOES TO DC left off.

ROMANTIC SHADOWS

 

https://books2read.com/u/31rapl

Romantic Shadows, by Terri DelCampo and Blaze McRob, is a collection published by Blazing Owl Press on our wedding anniversary back in 2016. We eased up a bit on our usual horror fare and wrote some romance-themed short stories and poems. Yes, there are certainly elements of horror contained within, but that is not all we present in this tome. Lovers are reunited in magical ways, the Dance Of Love soothes yearning hearts, and much more.

We hope you enjoy the softer side of horror we share with you here.

Blaze McRob

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True love drowned by stormy seas?

Nun and lover brought to knees.

Wig transforms a broken girl.

Lady killed by shrapnel hurled.

Lambada's passion warms the soul.

Tears in heaven are wrath's toll.

Like seeks like when soulmates meet.

Poe's adoring shadow greets.

Will child be mother's resurrection?

Powwow lovers pose for perfection.

Artists' souls joined with paint eternal.

Chilesa's life raft is infernal.

Moon beams and lovers dream – forever

All in this tome – a dark romance endeavor.

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Cover art and poem above done by Terri DelCampo.

GILAS SUPREME - BY BLAZE MCROB

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084XVVLGQ/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i35

https://www.patreon.com/posts/gilas-supreme-42800148

Gilas Supreme, by Blaze McRob, is a tale of Mother Nature unleashing monsters on New Mexico and Texas. How far does she go with her revenge? Read the teaser I have below. and hopefully it will draw you into wondering what lies inside my twisted mind. After all, something like this couldn't really happen. Or could it?

Gilas Supreme is one of my more popular short stories and can be read on Amazon or on my Patreon page. I hope you enjoy it.

*****

The hot desert air barely moves, magnifying the intensity of what mother nature has decided will be the hottest summer on record. How many days of 110-degree heat in a row now? Thirty-four and counting. There has been no rain for many months, and this extreme temperature is set to cause fires over many thousands of acres if even only a single spark is ignited.

Shit! The brush has the consistency of tumble weeds, ones which haven’t seen a drop of water in a year. Flames would spread so fast here a person wouldn’t be able to drive away fast enough to escape them.

I shake my head. What the fuck am I doing here? My life is on the line, and for what? A job? My damned job might be history by the end of the year anyway. Budget cuts are playing nasty with people in my profession. Biologists are finding it difficult to gain any kind of job security anymore. Congress figures we’re an automatic budget cut item. They don’t give a damn what happens to the endangered species out here. Oil is what drives them. “Drill, baby, drill” is what is on the minds of these fat-cat politicians.

No sense in worrying about that now. I still have a job, and I’m getting paid to do it, so I will. Many native species have vanished from this area almost overnight. Owls, rabbits, deer, and more are almost gone. Even the damned snakes have dwindled in numbers. And the evening skies are so quiet one would think there is nothing out here at all other than an aging biologist trying to piece together the parts of the huge puzzle.

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The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

Copyright 2021 by Blaze McRob. All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the author constitutes unlawful piracy and theft of the author's intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the author directly. Thank you for your support of the author's rights.

******

Blaze McRob

NIGHT OPS - BY TERRI DELCAMPO

 

 https://www.amazon.com/NIGHT-OPS-Terri-DelCampo-ebook/dp/B07WKG2K51?ref_=ast_author_dp

NIGHT OPS, by Terri DelCampo is a total mind-fuck of a story. It is pure psychological horror the whole way. This is definitely one of my favorite stories that she has written. She holds nothing back. Just remember: some people are not to be trifled with. There will be consequences.

Read it and find out where Terri's mind roams when the blameless are blamed. There is a generous free sample on Amazon to put you in a frame of mind to read the entire book.

Blaze McRob

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Terri DelCampo is the founding editor and writer of Owl's Eye View Magazine, founding partner/writer/editor at Blazing Owl Press, author of 35+ novels, short story collections, children's collections, poetry collections, and multiple individual short stories available right here on Amazon. She pens Broken Old Broad Blogs, is a contributing writer for multiple horror anthologies, freelances poetry as well as non-fiction articles and essays. Terri is an ongoing competitor and winner of NaNoWriMo and Critters/Preditors & Editors Awards.

Terri is married to horror writer Blaze McRob and in 2015 they founded Blazing Owl Press where she is a very hands-on partner. Her duties at BOP include editing, producing book covers, and of course writing.

If you look up write-a-holic in the dictionary, Terri's picture is there.

WISDOM OF A CHILD - BY BLAZE MCROB

 

https://www.patreon.com/posts/wisdom-of-child-42263202

https://www.patreon.com/Blaze_McRob

Wisdom Of A Child is one of my more reflective stories. Some of the best discussions we have are with those we least expect to be talking with. Read my teaser below and you'll see what I'm talking about.

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Three A.M. I sit outside on my lawn, cup of coffee in hand, looking across the road, watching the deer feeding on the expansive grassy area in front of the Township school. The bright moon allows me to see their every move. They are such docile creatures, seemingly content, but still ever vigilant. After all, this is the world of mankind, a world not always compatible with the other inhabitants residing on the planet.

It’s calm outside: no traffic to speak of, and, seemingly, everyone else around is asleep. This is my time to be alone with my thoughts, no one near to intrude into my private early morning domain, a place where everything is calm, relaxed, and stress is merely a word of what was and will be, having nothing to do with the present. Mists rise up from the lush greenery, a hint of the humidity to come. It is pleasant out here for the moment, but the oppressive heat will be here soon enough. Time to enjoy what I have now.

“I love watching the fog roll in like that, don’t you?”

I glance in the direction of the voice and see a young child, probably around five or six years old, looking at me. He’s sitting in a miniature lawn chair, no more than two feet from me. I should be frightened, or at least startled by his sudden appearance, but there’s a kind of calmness around him that puts me at ease. My only wonderment resides in the fact I never heard him come over to me.

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The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

Copyright 2020 by Blaze McRob. All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the author constitutes unlawful piracy and theft of the author's intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the author directly. Thank you for your support of the author's rights.

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Wisdom Of A Child, and much more, can be found on my Patreon page. You'll find a welcome home there.

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Happy reading!

Blaze McRob

JAMES REBORN - BY TERRI DELCAMPO

 

https://www.amazon.com/James-Reborn-Terri-DelCampo-ebook/dp/B01IW69888/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1527041455&sr=1-5&keywords=terri+delcampo

James Reborn is one of Terri DelCampo's fantastic novels and is ready to be uploaded onto your favorite eBook reader. I believe this is Terri's best work yet. This is over-the-top horror. Terri holds nothing back. If you're looking for a great tale of psychological horror, give this novel a try. Terri has given you a generous free sample of the story at  https://www.amazon.com/James-Reborn-Terri-DelCampo-ebook/dp/B01IW69888/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1527041455&sr=1-5&keywords=terri+delcampo so you can get a feel for her book.

Happy reading!

Blaze McRob

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Here are a couple of great reviews for James Reborn.

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Dona Fox

5.0 out of 5 stars Truly Frightening! Will shake you to your core.

Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2018

Verified Purchase

Terri DelCampo is a fabulous writer with a diabolical mind. In James Reborn each new revelation, each unveiling of another, darker level to which the human species is capable of sinking, brought a fresh shock of wonder at the genius behind the relentless evil unfolding on the page. So painful, so physically emotive; I had to set the book aside to breathe. Visceral and truly frightening, though I had to pause for sanity’s sake, I could not stop until the end. If you want a well-written book that will shake you to your core, this is it.

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Jelly queen

5.0 out of 5 stars Riveting!

Reviewed in the United States on August 14, 2016

I liked all the twists and turns. Especially after she came back. What she chose to do to survive was astonishing.

Thanks Miss Terri!

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Thank you Dona Fox and Jelly queen!

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Terri DelCampo is the founding editor and writer of Owl's Eye View Magazine, founding partner/writer/editor at Blazing Owl Press, author of 35+ novels, short story collections, children's collections, poetry collections, and multiple individual short stories available right here on Amazon. She pens Broken Old Broad Blogs, is a contributing writer for multiple horror anthologies, freelances poetry as well as non-fiction articles and essays. Terri is an ongoing competitor and winner of NaNoWriMo and Critters/Preditors & Editors Awards.

Terri is married to horror writer Blaze McRob and in 2015 they founded Blazing Owl Press where she is a very hands-on partner. Her duties at BOP include editing, producing book covers, and of course writing.

If you look up write-a-holic in the dictionary, Terri's picture is there.

WICHITA MASSACRE - BY BLAZE MCROB

https://www.amazon.com/Blazing-Owl-Short-Horror-Massacre-ebook/dp/B099Z3MP79/ref=zg_bsnr_7588837011_68?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=PYD2Q7RPB4M7EFRAXSPT

Blazing Owl Short Horror: Wichita Massacre is another one of my short horror stories. Be warned that you don't want to piss off a Gnome. They might be short in stature, but they can get rather nasty when provoked. Olaf is one such Gnome. He has a rather intense hatred of Charles and his ilk. I offer a short teaser below. You'll have to read the entire short tale to see what kind of evil shenanigans Olaf gets into.

Happy reading!

Blaze McRob

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A typical night for this part of Kansas. It's hot and muggy without a breath of air. Olaf stands in front of his little house in the trunk of a tree, grinning like a cat with a mouse under its paw. The heat doesn't bother him. Truth be told, he finds it much to his liking. Little people like him can tolerate what the human miscreants can't.

"Ah," he says to himself, "what a fine evening to stroll about, smoke my pipe, and perhaps wander over to the big pond these people have built and do some fishing. Yes, some Largemouth Bass would be mighty tasty."

He goes back inside his dwelling and grabs his fishing rod and tackle box. Laughing to himself, thinking about the poor confused child he stole these items from a few years back, he heads towards the pond.

"A bigger pole would not fit my hands," he says. "This is just right."

Visions of a tummy filled with pan-fried Bass put a decided bounce in his step, and he arrives at the pond in no time at all. On dark nights such as this, a surface plug teased across the surface always resulted in a few careless fish winding up in his possession. Tonight is no exception. He only keeps what he himself can eat, knowing he has no way to keep any more from spoiling in the Kansas heat.

Once, there were others like him here, but they left, preferring the weather farther to the north. Aye, and a lot less of these humans. It seemed as if they destroyed things no matter where they went. The air, land, and the very water they drank, was tainted because of them. And the worst of the lot? He lives in the huge mansion set way back in from the road.

Charles is rich, but his money comes at the expense of others. More, more, more. It is always more. Why? He has enough of everything for many lifetimes.

Olaf never understood it. Deep down inside, the festering had been growing for many years, but what could he, one single Gnome, do against him, and the rest of the evil ones waiting to take his place? He dreamed often of charging into the big house and sending Charles off to the Promised Land, or wherever folks of his ilk went to, but dreams were all they were. No more would they come true than would the actuality of Charles deciding the pipeline he wanted to build was an evil thing.

The one thing he has on his side is that people do not believe that Gnomes exist, other than the plaster ones they keep on their lawns. If they knew, they would surely shit a brick. Olaf laughs at that, thinking of all the language changes he has been subjected to hearing over the years. What stupid people!

And, if they knew that Olaf and his kind were indeed among the living, they would have less concern for them than the wolves they try to annihilate.

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The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

Copyright 2020 by Blaze McRob. All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the author constitutes unlawful piracy and theft of the author's intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the author directly. Thank you for your support of the author's rights.

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BLAZING OWL SHORT HORROR BY BLAZE MCROB offers lots of chills packed in a few pages that will sweep you into his bizarre and macabre world whenever you have a few minutes to read. Blaze is always working on stories that will chill you to the core. Be on the lookout for them! 

IDES OF MARCH - BY TERRI DELCAMPO

 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PLPWZR3/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i117

The Ides of March is known worldwide for disasters occurring on it – the murder of Julius Caesar, a raid on South England in 1360, a cyclone in Samoa in 1889, Czar Nicholas abdicating his throne in 1917, German occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1939, Great Plains blizzard in 1941, cancellation of the Ed Sullivan Show in 1971, reporting of the disappearing ozone layer in 1988, world health alert about the disease SARS in 2003.

Of course, Owl's Nest being Owl's Nest, it has its own take on Ides of March.

Read Ides Of March, by Terri DelCampo, for a truly different addition to Ides of March happenings. You'll be glad you did.

Blaze McRob

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Terri DelCampo is the founding editor and writer of Owl's Eye View Magazine, founding partner/writer/editor at Blazing Owl Press, author of 35+ novels, short story collections, children's collections, poetry collections, and multiple individual short stories available right here on Amazon. She pens Broken Old Broad Blogs, is a contributing writer for multiple horror anthologies, freelances poetry as well as non-fiction articles and essays. Terri is an ongoing competitor and winner of NaNoWriMo and Critters/Preditors & Editors Awards.

Terri is married to horror writer Blaze McRob and in 2015 they founded Blazing Owl Press where she is a very hands-on partner. Her duties at BOP include editing, producing book covers, and of course writing.

RED SURF - BY BLAZE MCROB

 https://www.patreon.com/posts/red-surf-42267817

https://www.patreon.com/Blaze_McRob

Red Surf, a short story by Blaze McRob, is a tale of revenge, triggered by incidents that could have, in real life, led to tragic results for many people. The book description sets it up nicely.

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Once known for romance,

This place turns into a bloody dance;

In the tempo of disease

On an island no one leaves.

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To add even more of a reason to check out my tale, I have included a short teaser below.

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There is just a sliver of a moon tonight, barely enough to show the surf for what it is. Others like me stare out into the gently rippling waters, the hunger in our bellies driving us mad from the ravenous urge to seek out more prey. But one cannot eat what is not there.

Maybe . . .  just maybe if I wade out into the red surf one more time there will be a morsel overlooked from before.

Others beat me to it, but it is all for naught. The blood-stained waters are barren. We saw to that earlier. Santa Catalina. The old song beats a wild staccato in my head. No, this is no longer an island of romance. Leave me alone, damn it! 

But it doesn't leave me alone. Over and over again the words assault me. How can there be romance without people? There can't. This is insanity. Everything is insanity now. 4,000 residents of this island are either now dead or like me. Maybe I'd be better off dead.

The old clay and metal pipes which wore away long ago allowed human sewage to flow into the city's groundwater and eventually into Avalon Bay. Over the years the bacteria deposits grew and gained entry into the bodies of those tending the beaches. Day after day we were assaulted without even knowing it.

The fecal bacteria inside my body tear at me, changing me more and more from what once was a human to whatever it is I am now. Chunks of flesh have fallen away from me, leaving boils and pockets of pus. My hair is rapidly becoming a thing of the past, joining with my departed flesh as it becomes litter on the beach, further desecrating it.

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Red Surf, and much more, can be found on my Patreon page. You'll find a welcome home there.

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Happy reading!

Blaze McRob

 

TASMANIAN DEVILS ENDANGERED - BY TERRI DELCAMPO - ON FINE ART AMERICA

 

https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/terri-delcampo?tab=about

https://fineartamerica.com/featured/tasmanian-devils-endangered-terri-delcampo.html

Tasmanian Devils Endangered is a drawing by Terri DelCampo which was uploaded on July 2nd, 2023 on Fine Art America. 

From Terri DelCampo:

There is so much magnificent beauty in nature, from vast land- and seascapes to tiny one-celled amoebas, not to mention millions of animal species, that I hardly know where to begin drawing. I've started with personal favorites, but I'm also working on wildlife that is on the endangered species list, in an effort to draw attention to the work we need to do to help our planet restore itself.

While creating book covers and illustrations for writing projects, I began branching out into abstract art drawings and paintings. With environmental causes close to my heart, I create the abstract drawings on recycled cardboard (i.e., cereal, pasta, cracker boxes and packaging), and call it my 'Trash to Art' collection. I'm offering art inspired by my novels, poetry, articles, and Owl's Eye View dark fiction magazine, including character sketches, illustrations, and book cover art. I've done artwork for Blaze McRob's 'Paranormal Posse' stories on Patreon, and hope to include some of those here as well. There's also an illustrated memoir project looming in my near future, and the art will no doubt migrate to this venue. I got comfortable with colored pencil but am beginning to dabble in watercolor and acrylic. I love the wildlife in my yard and it's flowing into my art. I will upload work here at least weekly, so please follow me and check for new releases here on fineartamerica.com often.

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Terri DelCampo has hundreds of pieces of art on Fine Art America. Check out her work!

Blaze McRob

HO-PO - BY TERRI DELCAMPO

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08Y7WT6HS/ref=sr_1_1? dchild=1&keywords=terri+delcampo&qid=1615176443&s=books&sr=1-1

Terri DelCampo has compiled quite a collection of horror poetry to sate your poetic horror appetites. Broken Old Broad Busts A Beat: HO - PO (Horror Poems), produces in spades. Even the cover art tells a story. I like to think of it as a reflective skeleton. Is that possible? Why not? Terri's poems sure make one think. Rather than go on and on about each and every poem and steal from the ambiance that Terri has created, I will merely state that my favorite poem in this collection is Songs From The Hanging Tree. Read it and you'll see why.

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Book description:

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A handful of cobwebby rhymes and verse

Your yearning for ookiness these will nurse.

Not to be read by light of day

But in a dark nook, tucked away

Read each one and when you're through

Terri has novels and stories for you.

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Terri DelCampo is the founding editor and writer of Owl's Eye View Magazine, founding partner/writer/editor at Blazing Owl Press, author of 35+ novels, short story collections, children's collections, poetry collections, and multiple individual short stories available right here on Amazon. She pens Broken Old Broad Blogs, is a contributing writer for multiple horror anthologies, freelances poetry as well as non-fiction articles and essays. Terri is an ongoing competitor and winner of NaNoWriMo and Critters/Preditors & Editors Awards.

Terri is married to horror writer Blaze McRob and in 2015 they founded Blazing Owl Press where she is a very hands-on partner. Her duties at BOP include editing, producing book covers, and of course writing.

If you look up write-a-holic in the dictionary, Terri's picture is there.

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HO - PO. Buy. Read. Enjoy. It's that simple.

Blaze McRob

GUMSHOE CONFUSION: CHAPTER ONE

 

https://www.patreon.com/Blaze_McRob

GUMSHOE CONFUSION: CHAPTER ONE | Patreon

For those of you who enjoy noir detective novels, I have included chapter one of GUMSHOE CONFUSION for your reading pleasure. This is a completed novel that is only available on my Patreon page. 

To read the novel in its entirety, go to https://www.patreon.com/posts/total-chapter-81340961

Thank you, and happy reading.

Blaze McRob

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The lights from the street below send their patterns of fluorescent confusion into my office. How's a gumshoe supposed to sleep in the midst of this? Yeah, right: as if I have a choice.

My former flat belongs to some highfalutin dame now. All my belongings were confiscated and sold for non-payment of that little necessity needing to be paid, but one I wasn't able to chalk up the scratch for: rent.

Okay! Times were tough. The number of wives wanting their cheating husbands tailed had dwindled to nothing. What, like the scorned bimbos didn't need what I could offer? Pictures, times, dates: everything there for the black-robed ones to drool over as they decided how much the poor faithful ball and chains would get.

So I drowned a few sorrows with hooch I couldn't afford and dames I should have stayed away from. You know the ones. They cozy up to you in a dive they shouldn't be in, sitting on a stool next to your sorrowful butt, waiting for you to light their smokes, buy their drinks, and everything else that makes you think that maybe you still have something left to offer. Next thing you know, you're in their apartment, sharing a lot more than booze and smokes.

Sure, it feels good. It always feels good, but in the morning when you get up to leave and look at the pictures in their gilded frames, you realize you're no better than the cheating studs who think they can tap whatever they want and still keep wifey happy. Turns out: you're the one keeping her happy, playing the slap and tickle game, being used like the dog you are.

The smoke from my Chesterfield rises towards the ceiling, catching the glow of the streets below and dancing about in the changing air currents caused by the drafty windows. The office lights are off, but it doesn't matter, does it? Light from below and the ever-changing pulsing staccato from the sign on the roof a block away that can't decide if it wants to light up the sky or shoot its presence down into hell are what keep the darkness out.

I reach into my top right desk drawer and grab a bottle of Scotch. Okay, it's not the good stuff, but it's not bad straight up. Hmm. Maybe that's what kind of dog I am: a Scottish Hellhound, straight from off the moors, chasing innocent broads around. Yeah, right! There are no innocent broads. They want the same things guys want; they just don't admit it.

Tipping my fedora back and putting my feet up on my desk, I try to find a position that maybe I can get comfortable in. Fall asleep perhaps. I put out my finished smoke in the ashtray and figure maybe one more to relax me before I doze off. Halfway through and there's a knocking on my door.

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Cover art by Pexels.

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The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

Copyright 2022 by Blaze McRob. All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the author constitutes unlawful piracy and theft of the author's intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the author directly. Thank you for your support of the author's rights.