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Novel Magic: Ghost Stories and Free Books!

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Before you head out to terrorize the mortals on Halloween (or is that just me?) check out this post about a fantastic anthology of ghost stories--many of them based on true stories. Read on for more. And enter to win a copy of Santa Cruz Ghost Stories, an anthology put together by my guest, Nancy Lynn Jarvis. Hands Up if You’ve Had a Ghostly Encounter. by Nancy Lynn Jarvis I write cozy mysteries mostly, but I’ve herded cats on occasion. Not real cats, but authors for “Cozy Food: 128 Cozy Mystery Writers Share Their Favorite Recipes” and a short story anthology titled “Santa Cruz Weird.” After that last work, I vowed I would never do another anthology. That changed when I sold a ghost story, my first short story sale, and started wondering if authors might be interested in writing short stories featuring a ghost. You know, short stories. Fiction.  I put the word out among local writers, Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and anywhere else I could think of a
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A Witch of a Deal

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Book Hooks is a weekly meme hosted by Marketing for Romance Writers as part of the MFRW Authors Blog. Check the link at the bottom. where you will find all the stops on the hop. It’s that witchy time of the year and I have a magically delicious deal for you. Last year, I did a face lift for my witchy Zoraida Grey trilogy—new covers and new eBooks. I’ll soon be trotting out new print books with new covers and some bells and whistles as well as the original story. BUT I have several print copies of all three books with the old covers. Because I am easily confused, I need to move these copies to their forever homes, or I will be endlessly sorting books into separate piles at signing events. SO all of these print books with old covers are on sale for $4 each plus postage. As long as supplies last. Pro Tip: If you sign up for my newsletter , the deal is even sweeter, but that is exclusively for newsletter signer uppers. And, of course, the new ebooks are for
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A Witch of a Deal

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It’s that witchy time of the year and I have a magically delicious deal for you. Last year, I did a face lift for my witchy Zoraida Grey trilogy—new covers and new eBooks. I’ll soon be trotting out new print books with new covers and some bells and whistles as well as the original story. BUT I have several print copies of all three books with the old covers. Because I am easily confused, I need to move these copies to their forever homes, or I will be endlessly sorting books into separate piles at signing events. SO all of these print books with old covers are on sale for $4 each plus postage. As long as supplies last. Pro Tip: If you sign up for my newsletter , the deal is even sweeter, but that is exclusively for newsletter signer uppers. And, of course, the new ebooks are for sale Here . If you want to wait for the brand new print versions, that will happen sometime before Christmas—this Christmas, I hope. Watch this space for the news about that. If you w
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Novel Magic: Why We Love Mysteries

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Mysteries and thrillers, according to Tonerbuzz.com, accounted for nearly $730 million dollars’ worth of sales in 2022--second only to the mammoth $1.44 billion (that's billion with a b) that Romance brought down. So there's gold in them thar murders. In this week's Novel Magic, Author Skye Alexander explores the reasons we love (and spend our money) on tales of Mystery. Why We Love Mysteries by Skye Alexander It’s generally believed that the world of modern mystery fiction began with Edgar Allen Poe’s detective story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” published in Graham’s Magazine in April 1841––and we readers have been been hooked ever since. Year after year, mysteries finish at the top of the bestsellers in the fiction field, second only to romance novels. The Appeal of Mysteries Why do we love mysteries? One reason is mysteries are puzzles, elaborate games writers play with their readers. Mysteries invite us to escape from our everyday routines and
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Novel Magic Promos are Back

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Mondays are once again Novel Magic Mondays in Sorchia’s Universe. Keep any eye out for paranormal romance, magically delicious mysteries, chilling thrillers, and other books about things that go bump in the night. I may grab a spot occasionally, but most of the books you’ll read about on Novel Magic Mondays are written by talented authors from all over the world.   You can look at past Novel Magic posts by selecting Novel Magic in the Find More Great Posts category widget on the right side of this page. Want to Become a Novel Magic Author? If you happen to be a writer in one of those genres listed above—or something close to it—we’d love to meet you. Go Here to learn more about how to sign up for a FREE Novel Magic promo post. Let's Get This Party Started To get Novel Magic rolling, let me share a few titles and authors I’ve read lately and can heartily recommend. I read A Lot: new books by authors I’ve never heard of before, old favorites, cere
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Novel Magic: The CurseBreaker

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Irish roots and Korean folklore blend together in a debut novel by April Kelley Jones. Read more about her process and grab a copy. Oh–and don’t miss all the freebies, sales, and giveaways going on in October. Links galore below. Writing The Cursebreaker by April Kelley Jones As an undergraduate student, I stumbled across a collection of Irish folktales. They made it home with me but soon landed on my bookshelf to be neglected for several years. Fourteen generations have passed since my Irish ancestors immigrated to America, and while that number feels almost uncountable to me, I’ve always held a spot for Ireland in my heart. A couple of years ago for a NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), I decided to pull those folktales off the shelf. I perused several stories before I came upon the one that would serve as a base for The Curse Breaker .  For me, a big part of the fun in writing comes from the challenge of trying to put together a story of seemingly unconnected parts. So, when
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Novel Magic: Ghostly Encounters

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We always welcome ghosts to Sorchia’s Universe! Randy Overbeck’s latest release, Scarlet at Crystal River , combines hauntings with romance and a murder. Who can resist that? A New Ghost Story by Randy Overbeck Crafting a new ghost story is no simple feat for me.             When I envisioned the Haunted Shores Mysteries, I set out to create something different. I wasn’t interested in imitating the terrifying, blood-curdling ghost tales of authors like Stephen King and Dean Koontz. At the same time, I didn’t want to go the route of the whimsical, all-too- helpful ghost, the kind popular with a number of cozy mysteries. Instead, I wanted to create ghost stories more closely rooted to reality. Thanks to the work of scores of ghost hunting groups across the country, we now have considerable evidence of ghostly encounters—digital photos, audio and video recordings, recordings of thermal imaging and temperature fluctuations, EMF recordings as well as a few authentic artifacts—and these are
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