All posts by janadenardo

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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

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Rainbow Snippets

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2024 is off to such a horrible start. This week my cousin (dad’s age) died, my uncle has a brain tumor (operation tomorrow) and my friend’s niece is diagnosed with leukemia. So, forgive the bare min. done here this weekend. More of Aneirin and Kaleo’s story.

Aneirin opened the door to his nephew’s former room. It was basic with a sizable bed opposite a set of drawers. A tiny porthole hung over the drawers. Aneirin hoped Kaleo wouldn’t feel claustrophobic in the room. “It’s a bit small.”  

“Are you kidding? It’s the best room I’ve ever been allowed to sleep in.”


Aneirin smiled. He should have realized that space had been cramped wherever Kaleo had come from. “Come, the closest is there and the set of drawers, which doesn’t help much yet. This is your space. No one will bother you here,” he said and Kaleo nodded. “No one should bother you at all. I trust my staff, but if you are uncomfortable about anything, tell me.”

Kaleo shot him a dubious look. “I can’t imagine they’d touch me and risk losing their position if they piss you off, for pissing around with your things.”

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 Snippet

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I’m trying to do better with keeping up with this in 2024 than I did the last couple of years. Once I get the cover finalized and the release date for These Haunted Hills, I’ll snippet from that again.

Until then I’m going back to the SF wip with Kaleo and Aneirin. The latter of whom is introducing Kaleo to his household staff.

“Who’d he put out? That’s not okay, is it?” Kaleo fretted without much vigor. His shoulders had begun to sag, and Aneirin knew he had to be exhausted.


“Tegid is my nephew and he only stays here occasionally. He’s getting older and is at the stage where he wants to be a star pilot so he’s been after me for a bedroom with a bigger port hole. It’s fine. Grimoald, I think the tour of the home can wait. I would like to find Kaleo some clothing that didn’t come from silly harem romance holo. Kaleo could probably do with a shower and a little rest as well. Tell Setak I’d like to see her and could you find a robe for Kaleo?”

“Of course. I’ll leave it on the bed if he’s in the shower.” Grimoald shot Kaleo a look suggesting he resented the intrusion, but Aneirin’s majordomo had never liked change.

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