Looking for a unique gift this holiday season?

Heading out very early to get to New Milford tomorrow for the Nutmeg Book Festival. I'll be signing copies of Chasing the Trickster and The Fairy Cake Bake Shoppe. Hope to make a few friends and see some of my old friends as well.

If you’re in the market for that special holiday gift, then stop by the NUTMEG BOOK FESTIVAL, where a group of local authors have joined together for some one-stop-shopping. An autographed copy of a book might just be the perfect holiday gift for that hard-to-buy for family member or friend.  This festival offers titles in a  variety of genres, and authors will be more than happy to talk about their work while you enjoy a holiday snack in the rustic New Milford Train Station.

GENRES INCLUDE: 

CHILDREN’S FICTION                           CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

YOUNG ADULT FANTASY                     WOMEN’S FICTION

YOUNG ADULT ROMANCE                  PARANORMAL ROMANCE

URBAN FANTASY                                    EPIC FANTASY

MOTIVATIONAL                                      SHORT STORY FICTION

NEW ADULT ROMANCE                     NON-FICTION INSPIRATIONAL ANTHOLOGIES

SCIENCE FICTION

Books featured at this event can be viewed on the in the slideshow gallery on the right side of this page.  For more information on the authors who will be present, visit the author profile pages on this website.

WHERE: NEW MILFORD TRAIN STATION, 11 Railroad Ave., New Milford, CT

WHEN: SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2013

HOURS:  10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Branding My Covers

I was fortunate enough to take a class in cover making from Dean Wesley Smith this past month. It was awesome.

I really love the artwork done for my original covers but everything was all over the place. So here is a cover reveal for St. Nick's Favor.

I'd love to hear what you think.

Thank you Horror Writers Association!

At NY Comic Con

I had such a great time getting to know my fellow HWA members a bit better at the NY Comic Con HWA booth.

Here I am at NY Comic Con last weekend with Jonathan Maberry and Doug Wynne.

Thank you, thank you Greg and James for setting all of this up.

New York Comic Con is almost here!

The Horror Writers Association has a table at NY Comic Con and I'm volunteering. If you are in the city for the con, please do stop by.

I will be selling copies of Chasing the Trickster and The Fairy Cake Bake Shoppe.

Labor Day Thoughts

I had one of the best summers ever...

Fall Harvest-Berries from my Garden Plot

• Went to World Horror Con in New Orleans, which was also my 20th wedding anniversary.  
• Went on an art retreat. 
• Went to Fleischmann's River Run B&B. 
• Edited some fab novels for Damnation Books and finished a novel of my own--Perdita. 
• I did a chat over at Savvy Authors on "Writing Scary."

 Lot's of fun.

(Okay, I'm a trifle teary-eyed over the end of summer. Didn't get to the beach for one thing.)

Coming back to the chat at SA. I was wondering why I loved horror and dark fiction so much. And it came to me, this was the result of my grandmother and mother also being attracted to the dark side. My grandmom became ill when I was nine (and died when I was ten) but before then I'd go over to her place on the weekends. We'd go to the Saturday matinee in Port Chester to see totally inappropriate movies...horror movies. I remember seeing "Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte;" "Shock Treatment" "Fearless Vampire Killers" and "The Creature From the Black Lagoon." The latter movie might have been appropriate, but the others were very disturbing films. I was seriously scared.

My mom was worse. When I was four years old we moved into a 250-year-old house. She and her theatre friends were excited to hold séances there. My mom communed with "spirits" and owned a Oiuja Board. Supposedly a man, his wife and a little dog all in ghost form shared our house. I didn't see the fun in this, and spent years huddling in my bed listening to heavy steps come up the stairs (old radiator pipes) and jumping from my doorway onto my bed so the thing under my bed couldn't grab my ankles. I didn't find ghosts entertaining and was constantly spooked. I remember mom taking me to NYC to see the movie, "Phantom of the Opera." I didn't care for it so much, though years later I found it to be great.

So yeah, I was weaned on dark stuff and grew up in a haunted house.  No surprise that I write dark fiction. Well, summer's almost over and I can try to look forward to autumn, usually my favorite time of the year but hard to appreciate after such a great summer.

How was your summer? I love to hear from you.

Writing Scary at Savvy Authors this Sunday

Writing Scary with April Grey

August 25, 2013, 8:00pm EST in the Savvy Chatrooms

Years ago when Stephen King first hit the best seller lists, I said to myself, "I don't want to read his books. Isn't life already scary enough?" I soon changed my tune. Horror isn't about life. Although much of horror has to deal with the bad things that happen to people, there is a cathartic element to horror novels and stories which is both entertaining, and even useful. Horror fiction allows us, as readers, to purge some of the anxiety that builds up from the stresses of day-to-day living. The first part of this chat is an overview of horror and why we love to read it and write it. The second part of the chat will examine some of the tropes of horror and how we can better develop the horrific element in our writing. Even if you don't write horror fiction, you may pick up a few pointers to heighten tension in your work and keep your readers hooked throughout your story.

Buy Trickster at 50% off and get the sequel free!

Coffee Time Romance has Chasing The Trickster at 50% off.

Then go to Smashwords for your free copy of the sequel, St. Nick's Favor.

Two great summer reads for you for less than a Starbucks Frap.