Three years back, I posted about my mother's dementia. She was no longer able to live on her own, and we moved her to a facility that has taken decent care of her. The staff know us on sight, and she has had other people to talk to.
Unfortunately, her status has declined to the point where she needs more care than they can give her. I'm not going to go into all the details here, but they are connected to the dementia and other health problems.
She's being transferred to a skilled nursing facility not far from where we live. Adjusting will be hard for her; moving was challenging enough the first time.
It is also a reminder of how short our time with her is becoming. At least she still knows who I am.
Welcome to the blog tour for Days of Darkness, the new Hellscapes novel from award-winning author Stephen Zimmer! The Days of Darkness Blog Tour will run from June 17th to June 24th, featuring guest posts, interview, podcast appearances, and reviews!
Days of Darkness is a stand-alone novel, and marks the first full-length novel in the franchise following three volumes of Hellscapes short stories! Visceral and macabre, the Hellscapes worlds have strong appeal to readers who enjoy authors such as Clive Barker, Wayne Barlowe, H.P. Lovecraft, and others!
Get ready for a thrill ride into the Hellscapes realms!
How did you create Ambrose? Was he inspired by someone?
Popped into your head as is? His day job was interesting.
Ambrose was not inspired by one person, but he represents a
type of person that I find to be increasingly prevalent in today’s world. He holds a position that has a profound
impact on the lives of a great multitude of people, and the work that he does,
and the system that he is a part of, results in greater hardship, suffering,
and struggle for that multitude of people.
Yet he never stops to question any of this, and, in fact, revels in the
comforts and material success that this position brings him. There is an underlying narcissism to him, and
perhaps some sociopathic elements, to where he never thinks of the morality or
consequences of what he does, or questions the nature of the system he
serves. It is a form of evil, and I hope
the reader comes to understand that as the story unfolds and things unravel for
Ambrose.
What about The Prophet?
The Prophet, like the Stranger, is one of my enigmatic
characters that appear in Hellscapes stories.
Ultimately, the characters like these two act as a sort of beacon of
conscience in the story, as they tend to be guides to the characters in the
story toward the revelation of where they truly are and why they are
there. In some sense, they play a role
like the Greek Chorus in an ancient theater performance. The Prophet, in this story, underscores the
doom that is unveiling upon Ambrose and all of the souls that are in this
particular Hellscape. In a sense, he is
there to proclaim damnation on them, even if they do not quite understand what
he is talking about just yet.
What was the most challenging part to write in this book?
The most challenging part to writing this book was the
initial setting, where I wanted to have everything appear to be set in a
“normal world” while slowly showing that there is something “off-kilter” about
it, without giving away fully that this apparently modern city going about its
daily existence is, in fact, a Hellscape.
The transition into that full revelation could not come too quickly, and
I worked to make sure that was managed carefully in the early stages of the
tale.
What draws you to writing dark, dystopian material?
The Dark and the dystopian reflect the reality of the world
that we live in. Exploration of the
Dark, through storytelling, is valuable in understanding, confronting, and
giving vent to the Dark that is present, and pervasive, in a flawed world. Dark, dystopian material allows for creative
expression that depicts and reflects an array of evils that people face and
struggle against in life. Art provokes
thought and emotion, and often challenges its audience in some manner, and
storytelling in a dark, dystopian setting is no exception. If anything, it is very fertile ground for
creating art rooted in reality.
Plotter or pantser?
I am about midway on the spectrum of Plotter vs.
Pantser. I always have a core structure
when writing a story, where I know the general course that it will go and its
destination. This has helped me to avoid
“writing myself into a corner.” At the
same time, I like to give myself room to add new elements, whether they involve
the plot or new characters. So I don’t
outline to the point that I am too confined to be able to add new ideas that
inevitably arise along the way. With my
writing, I have developed a balance between the two poles of Plotter and
Pantser, and so far it has worked very well for me.
How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?
I have about three novels worth of material that I wrote
during my formative years that I am not sure will ever see the light of
day. The ideas in them I still find to
be good, but the writing would need a complete overhaul! Currently I have several new, completed
manuscripts that are in the editing pipeline, heading toward publishing. I have a new Rayden Valkyrie duology called
The Crossing, with the novels Beyond the Gates and The Light Within. I have a new Ragnar Stormbringer stand-alone
novel titled Where Mountains Rise, and a new Hongvi Shadow Walker stand-alone
novel titled As Above, So Below. There
is also a new Rising Dawn Saga novel titled The Crimson Reign, the fifth book
in that series, and a new Fires in Eden novel, the fourth in that series,
titled Path of Valor. Finally, there is
Rise of the Voyagers, the next in my Faraway Saga. So, in all, there are seven finished novels currently
in that editing pipeline heading toward my readers!
If you could tell your younger writing self anything,
what would it be?
To run, run fast from pursuing a career in writing!
LOL! I jest a little, but I would make
sure my younger self understood the struggle, frustrations, and pitfalls that
pursuing the writing path entails. Not
to discourage my younger self, but rather to give a sober and clear
understanding of expectations and the marathon nature of the writing path. Storytelling and writing are intrinsic to me,
so I know I would still write just as much as I do, but I would be better
prepared for the difficulties and trials that are part of the writing road.
Who is your greatest cheerleader?
My parents were always my greatest cheerleaders, and in my
heart, I know that they still are, from wherever they may be in the worlds
beyond this one. But I am blessed and
fortunate enough to have another such cheerleader that entered my world about
eight and a half years ago, Holly Marie Phillippe, my best friend and better
half. I should say here that my
definition of a true cheerleader is not just someone that seeks to encourage
and uplift you, but is also someone who is honest with you, with a motivation
to help you become the best version of yourself. That entails constructive criticism and hard
truths at times, but those are necessary things that help you grow, rise, and
become a better version of yourself, and I am grateful to still have one such
cheerleader in my world!
Thank you for the opportunity to be interviewed, and I hope
that everyone who gives Days of Darkness a try finds it to be the wild thrill
ride that I did while writing it.
Synopsis of Days of Darkness:
Ambrose awakens to find dense, rolling layers of ash-gray clouds spanning to the far horizon, shrouding the city beneath in a drab pall. He begins his day, thinking it no different from any other.
Though it is in the height of summer, an icy, anomalous chill sifts into the air later that day, until it becomes colder than the depths of winter.
Then, the sun sets, and darkness falls.
The night does not end, as there is no sunrise to follow.
Bizarre and frightening apparitions begin appearing across a city and world shrouded in an inexplicable darkness. It is only the beginning of an unfurling, deepening nightmare, one that will take Ambrose on a terrifying journey of self-discovery and revelation.
For Ambrose, and everyone in the world around him, the Days of Darkness have only just begun.
About the Author:
Stephen Zimmer is an award-winning author, filmmaker, and broadcaster based out of Lexington, Kentucky. His titles as an author include the Rayden Valkyrie Tales (Sword and Sorcery), the Ragnar Stormbringer Tales (Sword and Sorcery), the Hongvi Shadow Walker Tales (Sword and Sorcery) the Faraway Saga (YA Dystopian), the Rising Dawn Saga (Cross Genre), the Fires in Eden Series (Epic Fantasy), the Hellscapes short story collections (Horror), the Chronicles of Ave short story collections (Fantasy), and the Harvey and Solomon Tales (Steampunk).
Stephen’s visual work includes the feature film Shadows Light, shorts films such as The Sirens and Swordbearer, and the Rayden Valkyrie: Saga of a Lionheart TV Pilot. Stephen also co-hosts the Star Chamber Show, a weekly live audio podcast featuring creative talents from around the world.
Stephen is a proud Kentucky Colonel who also enjoys the realms of music, martial arts, good bourbons, and spending time with family.
Gwen Mayo and I are thrilled to announce our partnership with Scott Ellis Reads to produce our first audiobook. We're starting with Murder on the Mullet Express, the first book in our Three Snowbirds series. The projected release date is January 2025, nearly a hundred years after the story's setting. This milestone fulfills a dream we've had since founding Mystery and Horror, LLC.
Most of what Gwen Mayo and I have done in the past couple of years has been invisible. I have been working full-time from home, Gwen has been ferrying my mother to and from the doctor. We had a death in the family, and it's been a depressing time.
We published three anthologies and two novels written by a friend. I attended Sisters in Crime meetings by Zoom. Neither of us were able to write for a while, and when I started again, it was with my first love, fanfiction. I slipped into the slightly more social community of https://shutupwrite.com/.
This year, we're out of the house. Gwen is the 2024 president of our chapter of Sisters in Crime, and we've been attending meetings in person. We've also participated in panel discussions and venues where we could sell our books. I had to relearn how to use Square.
We also finished something important: Ybor City Blues, the third book in the Three Snowbirds series. Our favorite Army nurse, Cornelia Pettijohn, is on her way back to Fort Fitzsimons when gangsters board the train and haul her away. It seems that a friend of Charlie Wall is in trouble and Cornelia's just the person to help. Her very close companion, Teddy Lawless, and Uncle Percival Pettijohn offer their assistance.
Soon, the three snowbirds are up to their ears in hot water. Witnesses are being killed, sidekicks are being attacked. Just when Cornelia thinks it can't get any worse, the trio get a surprise visit from Teddy's estranged mother. She's heard about Teddy's (sham) engagement and is here to see her finally wed. Cornelia would rather deal with the gangsters.
Anyway, we have something new to show you. Take a look at it and give us a review! The book is free on Kindle Unlimited.
Charli Owens’ murder house renovation is supposed to save her from financial ruin if it doesn’t kill her first. More than corpses pile up, forcing Charli and neighboring contractor Eli Lange together as they unravel a history of death, corruption, and deceit.
by Multi-Award-Winning Author Lynda Rees, The Murder Guru
Book Trailer Link:https://youtu.be/meBS99r-fF8
With a fresh MBA and fabulous job, Bree leaves her cheating husband and backwoods home for the big city. Snarky Police Chief Rex takes his tragic morning out on her when Bree blocks traffic in her first-ever rush hour traffic jam. A theft brings the two together. Their budding romance is interrupted when Bree is suspected in a brutal slaying. The killer wants something only Bree can give.
These are a few simple, inexpensive things I learned during
my more than thirty-six years as a Realtor about improving the appearance of
your home. I hope you find them helpful.
10 THINGS TO IMPROVE YOUR HOME’S APPEARANCE
(okay, twelve things)
It’s surprising how a few simple, inexpensive steps can improve the appearance of your home. In most cases, the house you live in is your greatest asset. Whether you want it to look better for yourself, or your intention is to make it more appealing to potential buyers, try these twelve easy ways to make the best first impression possible.
1. Prune hedges and shrubs in the front yard, especially those close to the house. Be sure no vegetation blocks windows. This makes the house appear immediately more modern, welcoming, and neater. It helps increase airflow when you open windows to bring in fresh air and makes it less appealing to intruders.
2. Keep the lawn cut and trimmed. Rake weeds, dried leaves, and remove any fallen branches.
3. Apply a thick coating of fresh mulch around hedges, bushes, trees, and plants. Not only does this help shrubbery hold needed moisture. It makes it easier to mow around them and assures passersby or potential buyers the home is well cared for.
4. Wash the windows. This instantly gives the home a fresh, clean appearance. It helps enhance the inside atmosphere of the house.
5. Clean the garage doors and shutters. If any paint is peeling or discolored, apply a fresh coat.
6. Wash the front door and if needed, apply a new coat of paint in an inviting, modern color that accentuates the style of the house.
7. Add a splash of color. If you’re up to it, plant a flowerbed of fresh blossoms. If not, colorful pot with brilliant blooms will do to give the house an inviting appearance.
8. New, modern light fixtures for the front of the house (door, garage entrance) give the property an up-to-date impression.
9. If you don’t upgrade lighting, at least wash the fixtures so they are clean and bug-free inside and out.
10. Swap out old light bulbs for new, brighter ones.
11. Remove clutter, toys, or tools from the front. Store them away in a basement, shed, or garage; or put them neatly inside a storage container in the back yard.
12. Purchase a new, shoe-scrubbing welcome mat.
Multi-genre author, Lynda Rees, the Murder Guru, brings you the best in mystery, suspense, romance, non-fiction, and more. This free-spirited adventurer and world traveler has a diverse background that brings rare perspective to her writing. Appalachian-born, daughter of a coal miner, Lynda is part Cherokee Indian. Her thriving, goal-oriented work ethic results in workaholic tendencies. A love affair with books, mystery, and American history stems from being immersed in the Mob’s reign in Northern Kentucky when the area prospered as a mecca for gambling and sin.
Be sure to get your copies of Lynda Rees’s latest mystery novels, Flip or Flop, Murder House and Fresh Starts, Dirty Money, available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, KOBO/WALMART, or wherever you buy books. If they’re not in stock at your local library or bookseller, ask. They’ll most likely stock them. Ask for them today!
If you want a signed copy, reach out to the author at lyndareesauthor@gmail.com, SUBJECT: SIGNED COPY.
Lynda would love to hear from you and share the latest, greatest news with you. Contact Lynda at her website, by email or other links below, and become a VIP to get 2 FREE eBooks.
What is it like to have a series redone, re-published, and rebooted? This was a whole new experience for mystery writer Erica Miner, and the journey was an unexpected one.
I have often thought that having a book released is akin to giving birth. As writers, we first conceive of the idea. Then comes the gestation period, where the concept grows, changes, becomes an ever-better version of itself. Rewrites follow rewrites, edits upon edits. After a very long, difficult labor, your baby novel is born. Whew, what a process!
For those of us who were unfortunate enough to go through that experience in the middle of the pandemic, the journey became even more challenging. For me, it took an unexpected turn.
My original concept was to write a murder mystery that took place at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where I had been a violinist for 21 years. I found a traditional publisher and drew upon my experiences at the Met, adding large doses of my wicked imagination, and Murder in the Pit was born. Readers requested a sequel, and I delivered one that took place at Santa Fe Opera. My “Opera Mystery” series was created. San Francisco Opera asked me to write another that took place at that venerable institution, and another sequel was published.
Then, the pandemic happened.
The San Francisco novel languished in e-book only, with no print version. I was at a loss. My Puget Sound Sisters in Crime colleagues sent me to the wonderful local organization, Washington Lawyers for the Arts, who advised me to get back my rights and find another publisher.
I lucked out. Level Best Books offered me a contract to re-publish all three books, with different titles and covers. I then went to work adding changes: new plot points, updates and more. Et voilà: the first book in the series is now about to be reborn as Aria for Murder, releasing Oct. 28. New sequels will be published in 2023 and 2024. That’s what I call great family planning!
Violinist turned author
ERICA MINER now has a multi-faceted career as an award-winning author,
screenwriter, journalist and lecturer.
Erica’s lectures,
seminars and workshops have received kudos throughout California and the
Pacific Northwest, and she has won top ratings as a special lecturer for Royal
Caribbean Cruise Lines. An active contributor to OperaPulse.com and LAOpus.com,
she also contributed a monthly Power of Journaling article series for the
National Association of Baby Boomer Women newsletter. Other writings have
appeared in Vision Magazine, WORD San Diego, Istanbul Our City, and numerous
E-zines. Erica’s lecture topics include “The Art of Self- Re-invention,”
“Journaling: The Write Way to Write Fiction,” “Solving the Mystery of Mystery
Writing,” and “Opera Meets Hollywood.” Details about Erica’s novels,
screenplays and lectures can be found on her website.
Collateral damage. Sometimes it just can’t be avoided.
That was what his partner had told him. When you’re trying to kill someone, other people can get in the way. It’s not planned. It just happens. Though the Metropolitan Opera’s orchestra pit was the largest in the world, when the orchestration of an opera was vast, as in Wagner or Strauss, things could get quite crowded for the one hundred or so musicians squeezed together there. Tonight’s Verdi was no exception. Grand opera at its loftiest, with plenty of brass, extra strings, and the like. He would do his best to hit his target precisely. But it wasn’t an exact science. And if, under pressure, he was slightly off, well...
Tanto peggio, as they say in French.
He chortled to himself. Everyone in the Met knew “tanto peggio” was Italian, not French.
He salivated with anticipation as he lovingly cleaned his VAL Russian sniper rifle with its special bronze-bristled brush, and oiled and lubricated the ammunition chamber with the fine-spray One Shot gun cleaner and a cotton swab. He picked up the last tiny fragments of powder residue with an alcohol patch threaded through a needle attached to the brush. Then he polished the entire instrument with one of his special-order McAlister microfiber gun cleaning cloths.
If you look after your firearm, when the time comes, it will look after you.
And what better time for an assassination than opening night at the Met?
