With a predominance of 5 star reviews on Amazon, and a growing number of readers praising THE SCARLETT CURSE, the time is right to now announce that Book II in THE SACRED BLADE OF PROFANITY series will soon be unleashed. JOSHUA'S FOLLY, the prequel to THE SCARLETT CURSE, is about to go into its first round of edits with J ELLINGTON ASHTON PRESS! 2015 has been an exciting year for me indeed! The number of anthologies in which my short stories, flash fiction and poetry appears has grown exponentially, and continues to grow. My family at JEA made me Ambassador to the press earlier this year, welcoming me onboard as a member of staff. More recently, eye was put in charge of my very own anthology with JEA, as editor. Covering the theme of my all time favourite Horror monster, the Werewolf, FULL MOON SLAUGHTER is accepting submissions throughout 2016, until August 1. It is due for release around Halloween '16. In the past week or so, my duties with J Ellington Ashton Press have broadened to include editing as well. 2 books so far have been added to my editing resume, with a third about to be started on. Keep those razors sharp, and slice off your eyelids, because eye will be a busy wolf from here on in Hahaha! If you have read THE SCARLETT CURSE, no doubt, you will want to find out what Scarlett, Dera, Joshua, and a host of new characters have in store for them in JOSHUA'S FOLLY. Soon, my friends. Very soon, so stay tuned, and stay bloody! AAARRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
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5 Stars! What a hellish journey! Eye have just finished reading this incredible story by TS Dann, about a realm that could not be described any other way. Nightmarescape is the story of Curse, who awakens in this grey, dead and decaying realm, with no recollection of who he is, or how he has come to be here. Some say it is Hell, while others perceive it as some kind of Purgatory. Its denizens are grotesque and corpse-like in appearance and the realm itself is in a perpetual cycle of war and destruction. Whatever this place is, it has claimed our unlikely hero, who is immediately befriended by an insane character, known as Larry Spectre. He takes Curse under his wing, so to speak, and helps him adjust to his new surroundings, as bit by bit, in bouts of failing consciousness, memories of his former life are gradually revealed to him. To give away any more here would do the story a grave injustice, as this is a MUST READ for anyone who has a liking, and indeed the stomach for Extreme Gore and supernatural Horror. This story is told flawlessly by TS, with descriptions and characters so intricately detailed and scenes of frantic, desperate battle carnage that are second to none. Eye found myself, in the final 60 pages or so, constantly looking at the remaining page numbers disappearing with inward groans of "Noooo!" as eye knew the story had to soon come to an end. Eye found some consolation in the knowledge that this is only the first in a series of Nightmarescape adventures to come. Do yourselves a massive favour, and wrap your minds around this nightmare realm that TS Dann has created. Available at the links below, in Kindle and paperback formats.
Kindle Edition: http://www.amazon.com/Nightmarescape-T-S-Dann-ebook/dp/B00PCFXAQO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1439224664&sr=8-1&keywords=nightmarescape+by+T+S+Dann Paperback Edition: http://www.amazon.com/Nightmarescape-T-S-Dann/dp/0985437006/ref=sr_1_1_twi_2_pap?ie=UTF8&qid=1439224664&sr=8-1&keywords=nightmarescape+by+T+S+Dann Roma Gray is a storyteller of the highest order. When eye read The Hunted Tribe, it was as if Roma was there in the room, narrating it to me. The tale of a boy who is awkwardly becoming a man, discovering more about himself and his heritage than he could ever hope to imagine. Finding out that the dreams which plague him, are not mere dreams, and the monster of his dreams is indeed very real and very deadly. The ancient Grishla, which has followed his lineage through the generations, with the intent to kill every last one of them. Young Sean is sent to stay with his grandmother, who carries secrets so terrible, she has to impart this knowledge to her grandson with ultimate care, so as not to crush his already fragile self-confidence, which would spell doom for both Sean and for the entire family line. Instead, she must help the boy become the kind of man (in this case, a 'super witch') who can defeat the Grishla once and for all and bring peace to the Dwanake tribe. Roma has a unique style, which makes the unbelievable completely believable. The mundane lives of the characters in the story are infused with a boy/girl next door realism. Even the magic which lives inside Sean and his grandmother, and the way it is incorporated into the mundane, has a seamless magic of its own. The Grishla itself is a creature which has no place in this world of ours, yet in The Hunted Tribe, the danger it presents to the characters is palpable. Whenever it is close, whenever it strikes and claims another victim, you are truly on the edge of your seat. A lot of books have characters in them that you would gladly see die, which in itself is the mark of a good writer, to make believably hateable personalities, but the characters in this book - some are not very likeable at all, yet you still cheer for them when they slip through the clutches of the Grishla. Roma has developed the characters beyond that one-dimensional 'love "em or hate 'em" role, and given them both strengths and vulnerabilities, for the reader to empathise even with the more unlikable ones and root for them in times of peril. The ending of this story leaves it wide open for the tale to continue, and continue it surely will! Eye am itching for the inevitable sequel to come. This is a brilliant novel by a refreshingly brilliant author. It is highly recommended that you find this out for yourself..
My Review of ‘A TIME OF GRACE’ by Catt Dahman
Catt Dahman has written many stories over the years. A Time of Grace is the first book by Catt that eye have read, and it certainly will not be the last! A Time of Grace is a bleak and chilling story that has the eerie feel of an urban legend surrounding it, although the portrayal of the characters throughout the book is skilfully crafted to give a strong sense of realism. Great, strong characters, and flawless storytelling drew me from page to page, both eager and reluctant to see what came next. A one sentence chapter in the middle of the book was what hit the realism home for me. Eye was stunned by the impact of it, and read on to the end with a completely different viewpoint. The book reads like the vivid recalling of a memory proper. A terrible memory that would best be left, tucked deep in the untouchable darkness of one’s subconscious mind. A creepy, disturbing Horror, intelligently written by Catt Dahman - an author whose work you will want to explore further. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007MRP9NC?keywords=A%20Time%20Of%20Grace%20-%20Catt%20Dahman&qid=1444218574&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1 There are so many layers and levels of fear, both founded and unfounded; of the known and of the unknown. Eye want to try an experiment with you. If you will allow yourself to step out of your everyday world and enter into my mind, eye want you to place yourself as completely as you can into the role of the victim in this scenario. This is a test for both you and eye. Eye want to see if you can successfully immerse yourself in the role and feel the terror eye am trying to portray. The emotional and physical pain that you would undergo. Eye also want to see if, by my words, eye can take you there. Shall we begin?
Put yourself in the picture. No, come on now, humour me and put yourself fully in the scenario. Your arm is being broken. Snapped at the elbow by powerful hands that extinguish any hope of being released. I’m not talking about the sudden, violent kind of break either. The man (or monster, if you will) who has you at their terrifying absence of mercy, sits on your back as you lay prostrate in the dirt, your right arm stretched out, straight and taut in his vice grip. At its fullest extension, and with his nightmare voice drifting around your ears, informing you of the slow and agonising process of your impending death, the burn of muscles stretched to beyond their capacity is merely the introduction to a universe of pain. This man intends to break you, limb by limb and oh, so slowly. Build a back catalogue now in your mind. A recounting of every fright and fear you have experienced throughout your life; from the most trivial, to what you had previously considered soul destroying and life ruining, then roll them all into one big ball of fear. All of those fears you have endured and subsequently carried with you throughout your life, even those that had at the time, seemed so real and devastating, were all unfounded. Fear of the unknown and nothing more. You are still here, right? Then what were you afraid of? This? Well, ok, that’s fair enough, but your lifetime’s worth of fear you have just recalled and neatly bundled is still only empty husk next to what you are experiencing now. This is fear. True, real and entirely validated fear. Now, you are face down, in a quiet, deserted place that swallows your screams into a vacuous, uncaring oblivion… and you are alone with him. His sadistic narrative places your fears in the undeniable realm of the ‘known’. You are going to die, but it will not be as simple as just having your candle snuffed out. This is going to take some time, and the worst pain imaginable…beginning Now. Adrenaline is making your heart ache, with the frantic pounding that accompanies your predicament. You tell yourself many things, all of which you know won’t come to pass. Somebody will come to your rescue. Yeah, right. Nobody comes here. One of the reasons why it has been your favourite place to come to for such a long time. You can’t die; not like this! Sure, you can. What makes you any different from any other victim of torture and brutal murder? It happens every day, somewhere in the world. Right now, somebody somewhere is being tortured mercilessly, with no regard to the sanctity of life. There are some evil people in this world of ours…and there is no shortage of victims, among whose ranks you have now joined. Stress is increased on your elbow slowly, as your ligaments begin to tear. The bloodcurdling screams of cinema’s greatest scream queens sound like soothing morning birdsong, in comparison to the horrible sound that escapes your lungs. Yes, this is what a real scream of agony sounds like. The sound, not unlike plastic bubble packaging being mashed under water, of your tendons and ligaments stretched beyond their limits to ripping, makes you vomit in pain. The white noise in your skull, dulls the din of your screaming to the background, and you feel you are about to pass out. You can’t struggle, or wrench yourself free, no matter your hunger for survival. All the fight has been crushed out of you. Your assailant is far too strong and too heavy to resist. SNAP! Your elbow joint is loose but still attached. The extreme pressure applied to your outstretched arm was such that your ulna has splintered and become deformed, but your radius has snapped in two and now tears through the flesh of your forearm as a jagged, meaty white protuberance. By instinct, to escape this unnatural agony, you fall unconscious for what seems to you, only mere milliseconds. FLOPPY SHOES APOCALYPSE
An anthology of Clown Horror Edited by Alex S. Johnson and John Ledger J. Ellington Ashton Press Frightened of clowns? You should be. When you read this dark collection of tales, you may just be. Eye will never look at clowns in any other way after reading this! To get the carnival underway, the book already scored a 5 star rating with me just by reading the introduction by Magan “Lovey” Rodriguez, herself, a professional clown. Giving a brief but detailed history of the clown and its origins, she succeeds in instilling the coulrophobia that lurks somewhere within most of us… Then it begins. One of only two poetry inclusions starts the festivities. Every Nine and Twenty by Mary Genevieve Fortier brings the carnival to town with morbid style. A rolling, rhyming danse macabre, that flows along wildly like a possessed carousel. As the fleeting, dizzying ride comes to a halt, you step off into the nightmare world of Jonas and his alter ego, Jonolo. Written by Thomas M. Malafarina, you enter the psychotic mind of a killer clown as he goes about his business. The battle for dominance between the two personalities is played out in this story, as the more rational of the two… the clown, keeps loose cannon Jonas in line, but in who’s mind is that line drawn? The insanity is only just rolling out and the nightmare continues. Nightmare Clowns by Jeff O’Brien tells the story of a man driven to the extreme when he is being followed and tormented by clowns everywhere he goes. With a surprising and disturbing twist at the end, we are now taking a plunge into darker shadows. The Church of the Divine Greasepaint by Michael Fisher is a tent you don’t want to stumble into. Things have just gotten bizarre, and by this point, the carnival of darkness is beginning to take hold. A man is approached by a fellow in the street who wants to talk to him about ‘Jebus’. The man humours him but hurries off after taking a pamphlet. After an incident in his home, he awakens inside the horrific Church of the Divine Greasepaint, to find they plan to make him one of them. The description of his transformation is nothing short of divine(ly) demented. The tales of coulrophobic mayhem continue to get crazier and more unhinged as the anthology continues. Eye could write a novel about how much eye loved this ride, and it’s beginning to look that way. At this point eye couldn’t get the warbled tunes of the calliope out of my head. This really had pulled me in! Not to take away from any of the other author contributors to this demented anthology, let’s just say, every story and poem in this book leaves a bitter cotton candy taste in your mouth, and will make you think twice next time the circus comes to town. As space permits, eye must skip to the end to the final two tents in this dark carnival. Jim Goforth delivers an imaginative and as always, colourfully descriptive, clown take on a werewolf style myth. Under A Clown Moon tells the story of the town of Laraman and its residents transforming into hideous psychotic clowns under the mysterious and rare Clown Moon. Given with his usual brutal punch, Jim takes you on a whirlwind carny ride, with plenty of sex, violence and gore. This brings us to the end. The Apocalypse. The Clownpocalypse. A post clownpocalyptic vision by Roger Cowin. Steeped in occult over and undertones, the adventures of Solomon and Ari is as fun as it is terrifying. Eye really hope Roger writes some kind of a follow up. Masterfully written, it is the perfect ending to the wicked carnival tour. So there you have it. My sincere apologies to the authors whose stories aren’t in this review. Rest assured, anyone who reads Floppy Shoes Apocalypse will agree with me. Every story and both poems, are killer! Review by Toneye Eyenot http://www.amazon.com/Floppy-Shoes-Apocalypse-Horror-Anthology/dp/1503070395 STUCK ON YOU by JASPER BARK
http://www.amazon.com/Stuck-On-You-Jasper-Bark-ebook/dp/B00J9T1IZE Jasper Bark has written a tale, so horrible… so… wrong in every sense of the word, in his short novella, STUCK ON YOU. From the opening paragraph, it’s no holds barred, and you know you’re about to embark on an insane journey with the inseparable Ricardo and Consuela. A quick, but intense read, Bark expertly manages to get you lost in the plight of the two leading characters. With short, brutally descriptive chapters, Jasper takes the reader on an unnerving adventure of forbidden sex, horrible death, and a desperate struggle for survival against all hope. The cruel twist at story’s end left me wanting more. Not so much, of this story - ‘Stuck On You’ starts, continues and ends perfectly in its short narrative – It left me wanting more of what Jasper Bark has to offer in his no doubt, deranged repertoire. Sick, twisted and bloody brilliant, ‘Stuck On You’ is highly recommended for those of you who like your Horror extreme and depraved. Not for the squeamish, that’s for sure! ~ Toneye Eyenot |
AuthorEye love Horror. Werewolves in particular are my favourite creatures of the night-time world. Eye also love Metal...All types but mostly the darker, more extreme end of the spectrum. My involvement in the Black and Death Metal scene in Australia over the years is what first got me writing, in the form of lyrics for bands eye have been a part of. Now, long overdue, my writing has expanded to include short stories to chill your bones as well as my current baby, The Sacred Blade Of Profanity series, which begins with my debut novella, The Scarlett Curse. http://www.amazon.com/Scarlett-Curse-Sacred-Blade-Profanity/dp/1512323160/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1436116918&sr=8-2&keywords=The+Scarlett+Curse Archives
February 2019
Categories |
The Scarlett Curse -
by Toneye Eyenot
The Scarlett Curse is book I in The Sacred Blade Of Profanity series, and my first foray into the published world of writing. An introductory novella of Dark Fantasy and Horror, it has been released through J. Ellington Ashton Press, and is available on Kindle and paperback on Amazon, and in paperback only, through Barnes & Noble, and Book Depository.
Overview...
Another time…Place…Indeed, another reality akin to our own. The fates of many have fallen and will yet fall under the ethereal eye and insatiable bloodlust of The Sacred Blade Of Profanity. Scarlett’s centuries long struggle with The Blade Of Power begins to take its toll. Thousands have perished at the hands of Scarlett and The Sacred Blade, as will many thousands more in the centuries to follow…Or perhaps not?… An innocent child who unwittingly holds the secret to The Blades’ demise, just may change everything… But who will suffer most?