Solar Eclipse = Free Kindle Books

To celebrate the solar eclipse, I’m giving away three Kindle downloads on Amazon starting August 21-22. One of them is my latest novella, The Blood Berries. Don’t miss the event!

***

THE BLOOD BERRIES, a novella by Erin Cole

The year is 2105, global deglaciation. The Alaskan region is a cluster of dark mountain peaks scattered across glacial melt. Dr. Samantha Marks and her research team embark on an expedition to study species adaptation in response to climate change, and the possible dispersal of a new parasitic species having migrated continents. After a catastrophic storm sinks the team’s research vessel, they find themselves stranded among one of Alaska’s coldest and darkest islands. While the island at first seems uninhabited, the team soon discovers they are not alone. One by one, members of the team disappear and never return. Dr. Samantha Marks realizes her expedition in species adaptation isn’t compromised–it’s just begun, and she’ll become a first-hand witness to it. Species adapt. And adapt. And adapt.

***

GRAVE ECHOES, a novel by Erin Cole

The nightmare is real…
Kate Waters suffers from narcoleptic hallucinations, which recently involve her unreachable sister, Jev, and a mysterious key. When Kate receives the terrible news concerning Jev’s fatal car accident and acquires the mysterious key from her visions, she unlocks her sister’s world of perilous secrets involving witchcraft, poltergeist, and a heartless killer determined to get back what is his.

The danger lies in whom to trust…
Terrifying paranormal encounters, a trailing wolf, and an attempted murder of one of Jev’s friends, forces Kate to turn to the one she fears most, the priestess of Jev’s coven, Thea. She challenges Kate’s beliefs and provides her vital clues about her sister’s murder, but will Kate overcome her fears before anyone else dies? To do so, she will have to trust in a world where the possibilities are unbelievable and the consequences are deadly.

***

BETWEEN FEATHERS & FINS, a short story collection, by Erin Cole

~ A witch casts a spell to lure a heart, but the one who appears hopes to steal her soul.
~ A mother works against time to save her child for when the Others invade.
~ A villager finds herself lost in a forest, only to surrender to the true path of wisdom.
~ A young girl learns that the sliver in her palm is no sliver, but something buried beneath her skin.
~ A ghost in the sea struggles to find her way home in the endless, deep blue.
At 10K, this collection of flash fiction and short stories by Erin Cole will lead you into the savage hauntings and restless fears that plague the females in them. From ghosts to mermaids, witches to beasts, ‘Between Feathers and Fins’ is an imaginative collection of dark and strange stories you won’t soon forget.

***

HAPPY SOLAR ECLIPSE! Play it safe, wear your shades.

August 19, 2017 2

Bonnie and Clyde: Resurrection Road

I’ll admit – if I could cross lives with Bonnie and Clyde, I just might. Given the right night, who’s watching the kids, and the proper planetary alignment, who wouldn’t want to go out guns-a-blazen with a life partner in crime?

But wait…maybe that’s not how it happened at all.

Writer friends Kathleen McFall and Clark Hays have rewritten the Bonnie and Clyde legend with their own adventure of mayhem, murder, and yes, mobsters. It’s the 1930’s, Roosevelt is President, and strangely, times aren’t so different…

BONNIE and CLYDE: RESURRECTION ROAD, a review by Erin Cole

Get ready for a thrilling and adventurous ride with Bonnie and Clyde: Resurrection Road. Kathleen McFall and Clark Hays have done it again, smashing genre boundaries like it’s nobody’s business with their latest book that blends speculative historical with mystery, political, noir.

The story begins with a fantastic twist: what if Bonnie and Clyde never died in the notorious, bullet-riddled car?

Fast-forwarding into Bonnie’s AARP years, Mrs. Parker retells her story of romance and havoc with none other than Clyde Barrow to a reporter, Royce, in the hopes of discovering who they were really working for over the last few decades—a secret organization in need of talent and skills to save President Roosevelt from an imminent assassination. Boss lady, Sal, sees the right mix of potential in Bonnie and Clyde, steals them away from the ambush in Louisiana, and the adventure burns rubber from there.

Forced to do the job Sal demands, or be killed, Bonnie and Clyde go undercover and take on the assassination plot. But who are they really working for? And are the assassinators, a group of Wall Street thugs referred to as the ‘barons’ really the bad guys? Teams get crossed, jobs get jumbled, and Bonnie and Clyde no longer know if they themselves are good or bad.

Throw into the mix a political movement that parallels today’s issues, and Resurrection Road becomes one fantastical and entertaining read. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The writing is exceptional, witty, steamy at times, comical, and a fast-paced blend of great fiction. Join in the smack-talking, gun slinging, bank-robbing journey and pick up Resurrection Road today! It’s truly another gem in the McFalls – Hays dyad.

Purchase Bonnie and Clyde: Resurrection Road at Amazon
Visit Kathleen and Clark’s website, Pumpjack Press, for more great books by the two authors, notably the Vampire Cowboy Series.

August 9, 2017

Back from the Writing Dead

It’s been a year since I’ve engaged on social media, and in only the last six months, have I really started writing almost every day again. A tragedy hit my family in July of 2015 that is still on going, but I’ve learned ways to work around new schedules and demands. Read about that horror HERE if you’d like. Since my leave, I have managed to complete a few things:

~ My novelette, The Blood Berries, was published in December 2016. It is a 58-page sci-fi horror that takes place in the cold mountains of Alaska in the year 2105 after complete deglaciation of the earth.

~ The first draft to the 3rd Kate Waters book, working title Dark Hearts, is finished at 65,304 (I expect it to be 90-100K once complete). It is another paranormal adventure with Kate, Thea, and Detective Wells with the usual mix of geology, murder, and the supernatural. I hope to have it out next summer.

~ I’m still editing The Dead in Two Creeks Forest, 72K so far. It went through a major hall of POVs, with too many. I’ve narrowed it down to six characters, each having their own POV chapters, but I think it will work. It’s a small town horror story, not too complicated of a plot, and the characters are classic archetypes. I hope to have it published at the beginning of next year.

~ I’ve maintained a food blog, which I’ve decided to make public even though not all my recipes are posted. It’s called, So Easy, a Zombie Can Cook It. What did you expect coming from a dark fiction writer? Go easy on the critique – it started out as a website to store my recipes, but I enjoyed it so much, family and friends now want to see it.

~ I’ve also started another blog on PANS/PANDAS. It is the rare brain infection that my son developed. I’m hoping to reach out to other families and caretakers of P/P, as the disease is so rare, very few doctors will treat it and insurances won’t cover any of the costs, which can climb into the tens of thousands of dollars. Families are left to deal with the intense and heartbreaking symptoms and daily challenges of the disease alone. I will be making that public soon.

~ Last, but not least, I’m still writing short stories from time to time, just finished one called “The Bone Vine,” and am hoping to publish a few soon, but the market out there is viciously tough. We’ll see. I can’t waste too much time pimping my shorts.

That is all for now. I will be hosting some giveaways, reviews, and other writing news when time permits. I hope everyone has been well and prosperous.

Erin

July 29, 2017

Writing Updates

This summer didn’t offer much writing time, not as much as we writers crave/demand/sell-the-soul-for, but in those wee hours of the morning (Why sleep when you can write?), I was able to complete some long overdue projects. One of those is my long fiction, The Blood Berries, formerly known as Terror Island. This sci-fi horror topped out at 16,352 words. Here’s a short blurb:

Species adaptation is Dr. Samantha Marks’s expertise, though she never imagined she’d witness it occurring in the Animalia kingdom on the islands of the Alaskan Territory. But after the big glacial melt of 2105, much on Earth has changed, and her crew members are disappearing one at a time. In an expedition turned rescue mission, Dr. Marks knows the end result: species either adapt or die.

Still unsure of where this story’s home is, I’ve already designed a cover that’s too perfect. More on that later, though. My other completed project takes place in the distant past in an Aztec village, Under a Glowing Moon Night. I love this fantasy story, all the conflict, soul, longing, love, hate, risk, destiny, and adventure. The plot and character arc are my best yet, so I’ve decided to enter it into the Writers of the Future Contest. After that, I’ll probably hit up some of my favorite markets, though I’m going to shoot higher with this one. Why wait until I think I’m good enough? How does one know that anyway if they don’t try and either fail or succeed?

In the meantime, I do have a horror novel to finish editing, The Dead in Two Creeks Forest, the third Kate Waters Mystery to start drafting, and lots more short stories to write. Now, if I can just find the time…

August 26, 2016

Summer Freebies

Summer isn’t complete without a long list of books to read. Why not save some cash and download some freebies! I have three free books available to download at Smashwords for the entire month of June. Enjoy!

This collection of flash fiction and short stories by Erin Cole will lead you into the savage hauntings and restless fears that plague the females in them. From ghosts to mermaids, witches to beasts, ‘Between Feathers and Fins’ is an imaginative collection of dark and strange stories you won’t soon forget.

(10 stories at 14K words)

Everyone has a shadow, but most of them don’t come to life.

It will take more than guts for Kori to get her shadow back, specifically an enemy, a geek, one police officer, two red necks with tractors, and a couple sticks of dynamite.

(6.6K words)

In these six short stories, there is a unifying theme that darkness is a more than just a brooding atmosphere filled with the unknown. It threatens to become apart of the character and a presence in the reader

(6 short stories at 24K words)