A Haunting From The Great Beyond

 

Welcome to the From The Great Beyond bloghop, where deceased writers can gather around the séance table and chat a bit across the great divide. Come on in, pull up a seat, and take the hands of the people on each side of you. Now close your eyes while I try to summon my favorite deceased author, Charles Dickens.

 

But before we start, I'll tell you a bit about him. He wrote tons of stories about ghosts and such, the most famous being A Christmas Carol. Remember Jacob Marley, who was dead as a doornail and had to go around rattling chains for his sins? He wore the chains he forged in life. If you'll remember, Marley's chains were cash boxes, ledgers and deeds. Money was his business, when it should have been Mankind.

 

Did you know that Dickens was one of the first social activists? His father went to debtor's prison when he was a child, and little Charles was forced to work long hours at a factory. He never forgot that, and his stories are full of social commentary, disguised within the pages of his eccentric, yet amazing stories and characters.

 

Now if you're ready, let's join hands and....

 

*The table rattles*

 

What was that? Who did that?

 

*The table begins to rise*

 

*Empty chairs lie on the floor and Gwen is left standing alone*

 

Um, while I go to see what happened to my guests, perhaps you would like to leave a comment?

 

*Gwen hightails it out of there*

 









Which writer would you choose to contact?


Sorry everyone, but my linky won't work on my blog, but if you'll go to Tara, Angela or Roland, you should be able to see a list of participants to visit. Did I mention there are prizes?! Lots of prizes for both the participants and the commenters.

We'll announce the winners on Halloween (tomorrow)!

End of Days Book Review

First, let me say that Roland Yeomans is one of the kindest bloggers in the blogoverse. I commented how much I adored one of his characters, Alice Wentworth, and he gifted me the book, End of Days, featuring her as the protagonist! Thank you Roland!

Also, this is my first book review. Ever. And I'm kind of nervous. If I mess this up, it's my fault, not Roland's.

So here we go!

Blurb:

St. Marrok's. The most eerie high school in which you will ever die. Some call it the high school for the damned. The damned merely laugh.



Located in the lovely, Katrina devastated French Quarter, it stands as it has always stood since the sky chariot of the Queen of the Tuatha de Danann was shot down over Roswell, New Mexico in June 1947.


St. Marrok's is a school run by the Sidhe for all the preternatural children of America. A few mortal teenagers are invited for the amusement and education in the frailties of humans for the Sidhe.


Now, the celestial configurations are almost in allignment. The Nameless Ones are nearly through the frayed barrior between their dimensions and ours. The plan set into motion in 1947 by the Tuatha de Danann are finished.


Plots and counter-plots by Sidhe, revenants, and Olympian/Asgardian factions are all coming to a head. The End of Days is at hand.

And only Alice Wentworth, a Victorian ghoul, with a rag-tag group of misfit students and human teachers stand a chance at stopping it. All it will take is their lives and all they hold dear.

My Review:

Protagonist Alice Wentworth is a 175-year-old Victorian teenage ghoul. She is the sweetest ghoul ever, never mind that she must eat human flesh to survive. It gives "fast food" a whole new meaning, but it's only the scum of the earth that she consumes, so no big loss. I mean, what's a ghoul to do?

The cast of characters is eclectic to say the least. A ghoul, a revenant priest still in love with his ex-wife, wolfling, hellhounds and other creatures, not to mention the real-life historical characters who weave in and out of the story. The characters are mostly larger than life, with egos to match, but even larger hearts.

Alice and her rag-tag group of friends, in particular sisters Trish and Becca, infiltrate St. Marrok's, a school for the preternatural with a few humans thrown in (proving they're not biased - everyone has the same right to die), where the master plotters reside. The plan is to thwart The Nameless Ones from taking over the world, fight the other wannabe's along the way, and in danger all the while of President Bush pushing The Nuke Button.

But first and foremost, they must stay alive.

No need for too much worry, though, because Alice "The Wentworth" is one kick-butt ghoulfriend. Her sense of right, wrong and justice for all is highly tuned. With her super powers and the dead love of her life, Victor Standish, advising from inside her head, the ghoul can't lose.

End of Days is a dark urban action-packed fantasy. A plot expertly weaved with a mix of Indian and Celtic lore, preternatural and human beings, fictional and real-life historical characters, all occupying the devasted streets of the French Quarter in the aftermath of Katrina in a post apocalyptic setting.

But at the End of the Day, End of Days was about love and friendship. And that's why, in my book, End of Days gets five stars!

You can buy Roland Yeoman's books at Amazon.com.