Romance & Death - A Halloween Challenge

It's Time!

This year there will be a Blue Moon on

 October 31, 2020, at 12:49 AM.

How cool is that?

Halloween night will be even more special because of it!

Are you ready for all the flash fiction challenges?

To help inspire you, 

I’ve written a short called Blood Moon.
This is the first installment titled
Romance & Death

Enjoy!

Photo by Altınay Dinç on Unsplash

Romance & Death

I loved a full moon, but it always felt as though I were in the wrong place to get the best picture. No matter what I tried, they all lacked the wow factor. So I traveled to the mountains—a place where there would be no inference from the city lights. Just an open sky, hopefully, filled with that lovely, mysterious moon.

        Do you see that picture? It’s mine. I took it that night. Too bad it’s the only thing that my family has to remember me by. An award-winning photograph found in the camera I left behind when he took my life.

        Heed my warning friends. Don’t trust a stranger. Especially one you’ve only dated a few times. A sweet talker who promises you the moon but only delivers death. He told me his cabin in the woods had the perfect view of the sky. What he forgot to inform me of was that it was also a place for torture and death.

          Romance and death, good bedfellows? Nothing of the kind. Date night in the mountains was where I met my end a walk on the side of evil.

        Believe me, the perfect picture isn’t worth your life.

To be continued…

Join me next Monday when

I’ll publish the second installment of 
Blood Moon!

Have I enticed you?

Is your writing muse tingling?

Then join the WEP in October for

the Halloween Challenge!

A Grave Mistake, you ask?

Well, what in the hell is that?

Well, dear friend

It’s the next WEP task.

And believe me

there’s many away

Where errors take sway

Where ghosts and ghoulies will play

and many unorthodox ideas

 rue the day.

So, get out your pens and pads.

We’ve given you

A dare for your best scare

Because Halloween is for all

And who knows?

You may take

first prize for your Grave Mistake!

Write...Edit...Publish

It's too early you say?
I don't agree, not today.
We all need a distraction.
And when it's time to take action.
for this special challenge.
You begin early.
Because if you lose out
you'll surely be surly.

WEP- Shadows

SHADOWS 

Was it love, my dear...

your words of criticism?

If so,

why do they still torment?

Like a faithful companion,

your declarations

envelope me.

Hateful and mean.

Destructive and debilitating.

Unshakable - everlasting.

No matter how I try

to shake their hold

they follow and pounce.

In sadness and gloom

I commiserate.

You’ve cast your words of love

in an ever-oppressing haze

where secretly I wallow.

For the world must never know

the true depth of your hate.

Or that you killed my essence

and left

just a shadow.

Yolanda Renée (C) 2020

Photo by Martino Pietropoli on Unsplash

Romance

Photo by freestocks on Unsplash

Today, I’ve invited one of my favorite authors, Jemi Fraser, to tell us about her first love and how it inspired her writing?

Jemi is about to release a series of romances called Bloo Moose Romances.

Reaching For Normal

Reaching For Risks

Reaching For Everything

As a Beta Reader, I had the pleasure of a first look and I was blown away by how her books captured my heart. I just had to know what her inspiration was. Here is Jemi's story!

Thanks for having me on your blog today, Renee!

My first love?

Way back when, my sister started playing tennis. Being the tag-along sister I was, I decided to play too. We jumped on our bikes and found different courts around the city.

Back in those days, there were always lots of people at the tennis courts. In our city we had a system. Everyone sat on the benches lining the courts and waited their turn. People played for about a half-hour then took their seats at the end of the line. We all played doubles so that more people got to play.

At one set of courts, we played a few times against a boy and a girl we didn’t know.

Sigh.

He was a cutie and he played really well. We were well-matched teams so we often arranged to play against each other. It was a really fun summer.

Me being me, I was way too shy to ask the cutie for his name. In fact, we rarely spoke except about the game.

But my twelve-year-old self was in love.

Fast forward to Reaching For Everything and you’ll find that Kami and Rayce spent a lot of time in their youth on the tennis courts of Bloo Moose. Those memories, that love of the game translated easily onto the page.

As did the memories of that first love. That first burst of emotion that you remember a long time afterward.

As for the cutie?

I married him.

***

Folks, if that doesn't make you swoon...nothing will!

Introducing

Jemi's

Bloo Moose Romances

Pre-order NOW at .99 cents!

Welcome to Bloo Moose, Vermont, where love is worth the risk! Small-town contemporary romance with an element of suspense. Each book is a stand-alone.

Release Date - July 21

Pre-order NOW for only .99 cents!

Reaching For Normal

She’s no damsel in distress. He’s no Prince Charming. But if they don’t team up it won’t be only wolves that’ll be dying.

Amazon.com.    Amazon.ca.    Apple.     Kobo.    Google Play.

Barnes and Noble.    Goodreads.    Bookbub

Read my Review HERE!

Reaching For Risks

One Reno List for the B&B. One Risk List for herself. One sexy retailer who should be the last one she wants.

Amazon.com.    Amazon.ca.    Apple.    Kobo.     Google Play

Barnes and Noble.     Goodreads.     Bookbub

Read my Review HERE!

Reaching For Everything

Love means nothing in tennis. Can he prove to her that love means everything in life?

Amazon.com.    Amazon.ca.     Apple.     Kobo.     Google Play

Barnes and Noble.    Goodreads.    Bookbub

***

Read my Review HERE!

***

Jemi Fraser writes both fiction and nonfiction. Her nonfiction work focuses on the ways that dementia has impacted her family. Her fiction work varies from contemporary romance to suspense and flash fiction. Years as a teacher have taught Jemi that life is short and that happy endings are a must.

Jemi lives in Northern Ontario, Canada where snow is always a topic of conversation and the autumn leaves make everything better.

Website             Facebook          Twitter    

Amazon            BookBub           Goodreads

Just Jemi blog   

Readers, please share, tell us about your first love!

Bad Fairy and Author Elaine Kaye

Photo by batel galor on Unsplash
Don't all Fairies live in secret gardens?

An Interview with Elaine Kaye, author of Bad Fairy.

1. What was your hardest scene to write?

The scene with the twisty (the tornado) was the hardest to write because I had to figure out where my fairy characters would go, who would help, and how they’d survive. Of course, the devastation afterward was also tough. Trying to describe all that for kids was a challenge.

2. What makes you run screaming?

One word. Snakes.

3. You’re about to be dropped in a remote spot for a three-week survival test. Where would you go? What three tools would you take?

I would go to a private island off the coast of Key West, because I’ve always wanted to go to Key West. And I would bring a complete portable gas grill/burner, a fishing pole, and a tent. That way I can catch fish to eat and sleep peacefully at night.

4. What behind-the-scenes tidbit in your life would probably surprise your readers the most?

I am a children’s author to date, but I started out writing pioneer/frontier novels. I am still working on these stories, one of which I began in 1982, and hope to one day publish them.

5. If you had the opportunity to live anywhere in the world for a year while writing a book that took place in that same setting, where would you choose?

Hawaii. I lived there when I was younger for several years, so I know

quite a bit about Hawaii already, but I’d love to go back. Writing a book set there wouldn’t be so bad, either.

6. If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?

Dreams do come true.

7. What does literary success look like to you?

That’s simple. Happiness. I’m retired. I’m not looking for big bucks or to be a best-seller. All I want to do is publish these books I’ve been dreaming of sharing for decades, see them in print, and know that someone out there is reading them.

8. Tell us about the book you’re working on now.

I am working on more books for the Bad Fairy Adventure series! And Gregory and Sammy (Gregory Green Adventure series) are always getting into trouble, too.

Title: Bad Fairy

Series: A Bad Fairy Adventure (Book One)

Author: Elaine Kaye

Publisher: The Wild Rose Press

Genre: Fantasy Middle Grade

Length: 66 pages

Age Range: 8-12

BLURB: Thistle Greenbud is not a bad fairy. She simply doesn't like rules, and it's just her luck that her homework is to create a new rule for the fairy handbook. But first, she has more important things to do. Like figure out how to get back at Dusty and Moss for playing tricks on her.

Before she can carry out her plan, though, disaster strikes and she finds herself working alongside the very fairies she wanted revenge on. Can they work together and trust each other, or will things go from bad to worse?

BUY LINKS:

Amazon / Barnes & Noble

EXCERPT:

As we watch the boys, the wind picks up, making the fern lay flat, exposing us. We gasp and make a dash for the closest tree. Behind it, we huddle together.

“Boogles! A branch just hit me,” Weedy says.

The sky turns black. Wind swirls dust and leaves, and spits pebbles at us. This is not good. We have to get going now or else our payback will get blown away.

“Let’s go!” I scream and lead the group from behind the tree, but the wind makes it hard for us to move forward.

Rose and Lilly grab hands as they run, screaming, toward the creek. Lacey stumbles over a fallen twig, landing flat and hitting her face hard on the ground. When she doesn’t move, I race to her as sand and pine needles prick my skin.

I help Lacey to her feet. Luckily, she only has a few cuts on her face. A tiny bit of blood streaks down her forehead. She looks at me. Fear is bright in her eyes. She needs help. We all need help. I peer toward the creek. The boys are still there, frantically trying to lift the bag full of stones.

Shouting a warning and waving my arms, I hurry to the creek, trying to get their attention. Finally, Dusty sees me. He looks as if he’s been caught with his hand in the pixie jar.

I point to the sky and wave them to come our way. Rain starts to fall. Dusty pulls Moss from the creek. Fat drops of water pelt my head and wings as I wait for the boys to reach me.

“It must be a twisty!” Dusty screams. “We better find shelter.”

GIVEAWAY:

3 Signed Paperback Picture Books –

Pea Soup Disaster, Doctor Mom, The Missing Alphabet

Eligibility: International

Number of Winners: One

Giveaway Ends: July 1, 2020 12:00am Eastern Standard Time

LINK: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/76132e0220/?

HTML:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Elaine Kaye is the author of A Gregory Green Adventure series. She first created Gregory Green after her son, who loved her homemade pea soup, thus inspiring the story Pea Soup Disaster. Bad Fairy is her middle grade debut and the first of A Bad Fairy Adventure series.

Kaye has worked as a library assistant and teacher’s assistant in elementary schools in the Sunshine State. She currently lives in Florida, but she has called Michigan; Honolulu, Hawaii; and Okinawa, Japan home. She is a grandmother of three boys.

Amazon / Goodreads / BookBub / Instagram / Facebook Twitter / LinkedIn / Blog

Thank you Elaine! 

Congratulations!

Readers, have you ever seen a fairy?