Monthly Archives: February 2024

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Rainbow Snippets

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Trying to launch a book while chaos is swirling around you has been an interesting experience. I am so glad that I have these local connections to my story. I hope these photos and insights are interesting to others.

This was the Athens Lunatic Asylum and it is a Kirkbride building. Kirkbride’s heart and intentions were good. He wanted to have a beautiful space for the mentally ill to help them heal (compared to standards of care in the 1800s) He truly succeeded here. More about that in a minute.

This building is now an art center for Ohio University and yes it’s supposedly haunted (something some locals want to downplay) so Josh takes Brendan here.

When it started, this place did good work (it later got overcrowded and was a hot bed of the icepick lobotomy craze so yeah, didn’t stay good) One detail that does make the book are the windows. If you look close at the next picture you can see the scrollwork to make it look nice but they are security bars. Kirkbride didn’t want it to look like a prison.

Another part that made the novel and one that I’ll put here as today’s snippet is the graveyard of unmarked and mostly forgotten graves. So many families never came back for them.

Snippet –

Brendan stared at his feet, toes near a cracked, small, boxy headstone bearing only a number. “They didn’t even give them names, not even in death,” he murmured. Josh swallowed hard. He hadn’t planned to bring Brendan to the Ridges Cemetery when he drove up to the old asylum. Josh didn’t want to stir up shit memories. Drinks at the coffee house had gone well. Brendan didn’t fuss at all as Josh helped him put the sites he most wanted to see in a logical order for them to visit.

And finally a glimpse of the gorgeous cover it has!

Blurb:

Young wildlife conservation professor, Joshua Zimmerman, adores foxes, steampunk, and paranormal investigation. As a geek of the first order, Josh is a collector of nerdy memorabilia and tattoos, and he’s an avid steampunk cosplayer. When his favorite author hires him for some ghost hunting for his new project, Josh can hardly believe his luck.

As an author of the wildly successful urban fantasy series, The Green Tablet, Brendan Halloran should have it all. And he did until his young son, Connor, died of cancer. Heartbroken and drowning in grief, Brendan stops writing, stops living his life. His marriage has disintegrated, leaving Brendan trapped in the moment Connor died.

When Brendan rents a cabin in Ohio’s Hocking Hills, it’s ostensibly to research his next book, an adult paranormal tale. Brendan hires a local professor who is an expert on the paranormal, thinking if he does pull out of his tail spin and makes good on his plan to write a new book, he might as well do it right. And the perfect place to investigate could be the remains of an old hotel constructed to suit the serial killer who built it.

Brendan finds himself swept away, completely unprepared for the joy and enthusiasm Josh brings to everything he does. Step by step, Brendan reenters life. His head might not be convinced he’s ready to love again, but his heart disagrees. Unfortunately for him, the ghost is every bit as vicious as the killer was in life, and he and Joshua have a target on their backs.

order Link: https://ninestarpress.com/product/these-haunted-hills/

The Rainbow Snippet group can be found on Facebook. It’s a fun low-pressure snippet sharing group for LGBTQ+ fiction. Come join us. https://www.facebook.com/groups/RainbowSnippets

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The Point Pleasant Connection

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What does Mothman have to do with my new novel These Haunted Hills? Can you set a paranormal romance in this area and not at least mention Mothy?!? The above picture is from this past week’s Winter Festival in Gallipolis OH, which is right across the river from Point Pleasant. It was a balmy 27F out the day I took this picture which I absolutely love.

Josh couldn’t resist taking Brendan for a visit to the igloos at the TNT factory (where the Mothman was first spotted). It might not be ghost related but you can’t let a good cryptid pass you by.

Snippet:

Brendan didn’t know what to expect but it hadn’t been a relatively boring igloo of graffiti-covered concrete.

“What are we supposed to do here exactly?”

“Take a couple pictures, get out before someone creepy shows up, and say, ‘Hey, I braved the Mothman.’” Josh smirked.

“I see. And I couldn’t have made the claim with the statue selfie from the town square?”

Josh shook his head. “That’s for tourists. This is the real thing.”

Point Pleasant does have its ghosts too and they are hinted at it in the story. It was just a fun excursion for the characters.

Here’s the famous statue from the square. The Lowe hotel is behind me. To the left is now the Mothman Museum and to the right is Coffee Grinders coffee shop.

Blurb:

Young wildlife conservation professor, Joshua Zimmerman, adores foxes, steampunk, and paranormal investigation. As a geek of the first order, Josh is a collector of nerdy memorabilia and tattoos, and he’s an avid steampunk cosplayer. When his favorite author hires him for some ghost hunting for his new project, Josh can hardly believe his luck.

As an author of the wildly successful urban fantasy series, The Green Tablet, Brendan Halloran should have it all. And he did until his young son, Connor, died of cancer. Heartbroken and drowning in grief, Brendan stops writing, stops living his life. His marriage has disintegrated, leaving Brendan trapped in the moment Connor died.

When Brendan rents a cabin in Ohio’s Hocking Hills, it’s ostensibly to research his next book, an adult paranormal tale. Brendan hires a local professor who is an expert on the paranormal, thinking if he does pull out of his tail spin and makes good on his plan to write a new book, he might as well do it right. And the perfect place to investigate could be the remains of an old hotel constructed to suit the serial killer who built it.

Brendan finds himself swept away, completely unprepared for the joy and enthusiasm Josh brings to everything he does. Step by step, Brendan reenters life. His head might not be convinced he’s ready to love again, but his heart disagrees. Unfortunately for him, the ghost is every bit as vicious as the killer was in life, and he and Joshua have a target on their backs.

Preorder Link: https://ninestarpress.com/product/these-haunted-hills/

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Rainbow Snippets

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I am still so very pressed for time (and having weeks of mental health struggles) so I haven’t gotten these promotional blurbs and pics up as I’d like but for Rainbow Snippets today I have some of my favorite pictures that go with These Haunted Hills.

Today is a snippet at Lake Alma in Wellston OH. At the turn of the last century it was a playground for the wealthier set in Columbus to come down to play. There was a casino (19th century definition, not today’s) a merry go round and more but it’s all gone now, all but the ghosts. This is on the island in the lake. I love walking here.

Today’s snippet: To Brendan’s surprise, Josh parked near a lake with a small beach. A few other cars were in the lot. He could see why. This would be a nice place to come relax in the summer.

“This is different.”

“I was always fond of Lake Alma. Truth be told, this is where I had my first kiss in high school. Well, not here.” Josh pointed to the beach. “Back along the trail.”

Below is one of my favorite pictures from Lake Alma (taken in winter, my favorite time to hike in many ways) I loved the play of light and shadow in this one. This picture was taken 2020 but sadly it fell into the lake last year.

Blurb:

Young wildlife conservation professor, Joshua Zimmerman, adores foxes, steampunk, and paranormal investigation. As a geek of the first order, Josh is a collector of nerdy memorabilia and tattoos, and he’s an avid steampunk cosplayer. When his favorite author hires him for some ghost hunting for his new project, Josh can hardly believe his luck.

As an author of the wildly successful urban fantasy series, The Green Tablet, Brendan Halloran should have it all. And he did until his young son, Connor, died of cancer. Heartbroken and drowning in grief, Brendan stops writing, stops living his life. His marriage has disintegrated, leaving Brendan trapped in the moment Connor died.

When Brendan rents a cabin in Ohio’s Hocking Hills, it’s ostensibly to research his next book, an adult paranormal tale. Brendan hires a local professor who is an expert on the paranormal, thinking if he does pull out of his tail spin and makes good on his plan to write a new book, he might as well do it right. And the perfect place to investigate could be the remains of an old hotel constructed to suit the serial killer who built it.

Brendan finds himself swept away, completely unprepared for the joy and enthusiasm Josh brings to everything he does. Step by step, Brendan reenters life. His head might not be convinced he’s ready to love again, but his heart disagrees. Unfortunately for him, the ghost is every bit as vicious as the killer was in life, and he and Joshua have a target on their backs.

Preorder Link: https://ninestarpress.com/product/these-haunted-hills/

The Rainbow Snippet group can be found on Facebook. It’s a fun low-pressure snippet sharing group for LGBTQ+ fiction. Come join us. https://www.facebook.com/groups/RainbowSnippets

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Rainbow Snippets

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There are things swirling around in my life making marketing this book harder than should be but I hope over the next several days put up some pictures of places that are in These Haunted Hills and are the best part of life around me right now along with some snippets

Josh spotted a few other hikers inspecting Ash Cave. One man watched the water splashing down over the lip of the shelter cave. A Star Trek ball cap in science blue shielded much of his face. Sunglasses and a well-kept deep walnut-hued beard completed the obfuscation of his features. Josh knew who he was but only because he’d expected Brendan Halloran. He’d asked the author to meet him here because if Halloran planned to write a book set in the area, he should see some of its most beautiful parts.

Picture of Ash Cave taken by Jana Denardo. Alt text: water falling over a stony lip to a shallow creek and sandy bottom.

Blurb:

Young wildlife conservation professor, Joshua Zimmerman, adores foxes, steampunk, and paranormal investigation. As a geek of the first order, Josh is a collector of nerdy memorabilia and tattoos, and he’s an avid steampunk cosplayer. When his favorite author hires him for some ghost hunting for his new project, Josh can hardly believe his luck.

As an author of the wildly successful urban fantasy series, The Green Tablet, Brendan Halloran should have it all. And he did until his young son, Connor, died of cancer. Heartbroken and drowning in grief, Brendan stops writing, stops living his life. His marriage has disintegrated, leaving Brendan trapped in the moment Connor died.

When Brendan rents a cabin in Ohio’s Hocking Hills, it’s ostensibly to research his next book, an adult paranormal tale. Brendan hires a local professor who is an expert on the paranormal, thinking if he does pull out of his tail spin and makes good on his plan to write a new book, he might as well do it right. And the perfect place to investigate could be the remains of an old hotel constructed to suit the serial killer who built it.

Brendan finds himself swept away, completely unprepared for the joy and enthusiasm Josh brings to everything he does. Step by step, Brendan reenters life. His head might not be convinced he’s ready to love again, but his heart disagrees. Unfortunately for him, the ghost is every bit as vicious as the killer was in life, and he and Joshua have a target on their backs.

Preorder Link: https://ninestarpress.com/product/these-haunted-hills/

The Rainbow Snippet group can be found on Facebook. It’s a fun low-pressure snippet sharing group for LGBTQ+ fiction. Come join us. https://www.facebook.com/groups/RainbowSnippets

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Introducing my newest novel

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I thought I’d take this week’s rainbow snippets to talk a little bit about my upcoming release and share a snippet or two here over the next few coming weeks.

These Haunted Hills has been shared here before but now the book is almost here and I am excited. So why haven’t I been screaming about this from the hilltops? Life is rough at the moment is the answer.

But this is a book born out of my rough times. Shockingly I started it for nanowrimo in 2017 and then life intervened. In camp nano during the pandemic I wrote more and then while hospitalized after destroying my knee in 2021 I took it back to camp to finish it off. 2022 was cleaning this up since it had taken five years to complete (some of which was written under heavy pain killers after they pieced my leg together and taught me to walk again. So here I am at the end of 2023 and beginning of 2024 dealing with my cancer diagnosis and now my uncle’s.

That’s where the book came from, out of a lot of pain but here is what it is about, the joy of the things around me. I live just across the river from the Mothman and within 40 miles of the Hocking Hills and their ghosts and cryptids and ditto Athens and their haunts. I’m about 70 miles from Haunted Marietta. I’m about 2 hours south east of the Loveland Frog monster (though he’s not in this).

Josh represents that joy. He’s a wildlife professor at an unnamed university (but given he lives close to Athens OH and Ohio U is right there… feel free to draw conclusions). His steampunk airship is basically the one I belong to out of Athens (they’re excited about it) His website is based on one by people I know, like me paranormal investigators. So He represents, also like me, the intersection of science and the paranormal.

Brendan is the dream in one way, the author hitting it big, the Stephen King, the one that Hollywood imagines every time we see an author on the screen with the million dollar house. His life, however, collapsed with the death of his son from cancer (ironic as I never thought I’d be dealing with cancer as this book comes out) His is the emotional journey. He was one of the hardest characters to write in no small part because I wanted to get the emotions right.

I’ll start the snippet at the beginning, let you get to know Brendan a bit.

He peered out one rain-streaked window. The only thing in view were trees, mostly pines mixed with something covered in blooms, dogwood maybe. Zimmermann had chosen Brendan the perfect cabin. The green isolation he’d chased after surrounded him. The forest suffocated him, the sheer aloneness of it. Those second thoughts skyrocketed. Heather hadn’t wanted him to come. She didn’t trust him alone. Brendan knew his ex had reason to worry. Both of them were mired in grief, and three years hadn’t moved them past it.

Blurb:

Young wildlife conservation professor, Joshua Zimmerman, adores foxes, steampunk, and paranormal investigation. As a geek of the first order, Josh is a collector of nerdy memorabilia and tattoos, and he’s an avid steampunk cosplayer. When his favorite author hires him for some ghost hunting for his new project, Josh can hardly believe his luck.

As an author of the wildly successful urban fantasy series, The Green Tablet, Brendan Halloran should have it all. And he did until his young son, Connor, died of cancer. Heartbroken and drowning in grief, Brendan stops writing, stops living his life. His marriage has disintegrated, leaving Brendan trapped in the moment Connor died.

When Brendan rents a cabin in Ohio’s Hocking Hills, it’s ostensibly to research his next book, an adult paranormal tale. Brendan hires a local professor who is an expert on the paranormal, thinking if he does pull out of his tail spin and makes good on his plan to write a new book, he might as well do it right. And the perfect place to investigate could be the remains of an old hotel constructed to suit the serial killer who built it.

Brendan finds himself swept away, completely unprepared for the joy and enthusiasm Josh brings to everything he does. Step by step, Brendan reenters life. His head might not be convinced he’s ready to love again, but his heart disagrees. Unfortunately for him, the ghost is every bit as vicious as the killer was in life, and he and Joshua have a target on their backs.

Preorder Link: https://ninestarpress.com/product/these-haunted-hills/

If you’re wondering why I don’t have up the lovely cover art, there are a few last minute changes that are all on me and my own scattered thoughts in these last few months. Ninestar is being wonderful about the little changes.

The Rainbow Snippet group can be found on Facebook. It’s a fun low-pressure snippet sharing group for LGBTQ+ fiction. Come join us. https://www.facebook.com/groups/RainbowSnippets