Whistling Book Press | December 19, 2014 | Dark Paranormal Thriller
Season 1, Episodes 1-4
★★★★1/2
SOURCE: BOOK ABOUT PROMOTIONS
Detective Paige Whiskey comes from a long line of witches. They may not all be the most powerful, but they are outspoken and supportive of their community. She alone has no gifts. She can’t summon fire, can’t read minds. She knows the arcane. She’s studied it. That, along with her connection to the Whiskey Witches, lands her some pretty strange cases.
Like the sacrificial murders of St. Francisville, Louisiana. There’s a killer on the loose, choosing people in a vain attempt to raise a demon. Not just any demon, though. A man born long ago, made a demon in order to protect the Gate to Hell.
Together with demon hunter, Dexx Colt, her kitchen-witch grandmother, and her paranormal investigator brother-in-law, they unravel a conspiracy far bigger than a few simple murders, and re-discover Paige’s gift. She’s a demon summoner and she’s key to the killer’s plan.
{ about s.m. blooding } .
S.M. Blooding lives in Colorado with her pet rock, Rockie, and her two birds, Jack and Moose. She’s currently up to her to ears in yarn and crochet projects as she’s just discovered one in seventy-five stitches that she didn’t know. Oh, the horror.
Her real name is Stephanie Marie (aka SM), but only family and coworkers call her that, usually when they’re screaming at her. Friends call her Frankie.
Frankie challenges the world around her. She served in the military as one of the first female tactical air traffic controllers, worked at a coal mine, and shot herself through school to become a CAD (computer aided drafter) operator. She’s worked as a stenographer, a lab technician for a scientist attached with NOAA, and traveled with the Renaissance Festival. She’s survived hurricanes in a tent, and ditches in winter. She’s sometimes crass, often crude, and almost always blunt.
She’s dated vampires, werewolves, sorcerers, weapons smugglers and US Government assassins. Yes. She has stories.
She loves to take the real world, find a singular line of truth, and wrap a complex fiction of reality around it. She’s incredibly excited to share her world with you, and there’s a wide selection to choose from.
She’s also an investigator with a local paranormal investigation group, Colorado Paranormal Rescue!
{ day in the life : typical writing day } .
Well, most of my day is spent not writing.If it’s a writing day, I get up at 4:30am, make a cup of coffee, slog out a really crappy half chapter or edit about a chapter of someone’s book, fly into my clothes, grab my pre-made breakfast and lunch while brewing another cup of coffee, and then I’m driving for an hour or more to work.
Then I WORK for nine to eleven hours. And it’s hard work! Multiple battles every day, but every day, I’m making progress, so I can’t quit. I can’t. I’m a project manager at the new VA Hospital here in Denver, Colorado. I’m sure you’ve heard about it on the news. We’re a billion dollars over budget, the design is still incomplete, and we’re dreadfully behind schedule. Those headlines are all true. I came on in May to help clean up the low voltage installation in two of the buildings, and things are going well, but every day is a battle.
It takes one and a half hours to get home. So…much…traffic! Then, if it’s my week to make dinner, I make it. If not, I starve until Mr. Dork comes home and feeds me. While I’m cooking, I’m writing, though I only get a few good paragraphs in. If Mr. Dork is cooking, I get a few good pages in. Unless I’m editing someone’s book, then this is the time when most of the editing is done in the day.
Unless the day has been an absolute battle, then the wine bottle is open and a book is in my hand or the TV is on. I don’t care. It’s happening. The end.
After dinner, Mr. Dork and I spend some quality time with me kicking his butt at Skip-Bo or Fill-R Bust. If Thing 1 and Thing 2 are home, we do homework, meaning we all do homework, where I get to write maybe three sentences or edit a paragraph.
Then, its kids bedtime and wine time for me. If I don’t wind down, I don’t get to sleep. If I don’t get to sleep, I don’t get up at 4:30am. If I don’t get up at 4:30am, I’m missing that one crappy half chapter or the edited chapter of someone else’s book.
You’d think weekends would open up, but no. If the Things are here, we’re busy having fun. There’s chores—and we’ve had a lot of those lately as we change my house around to become a home with places for them and Mr. Dork—and they’re learning music. Thing 2 is learning her alphabet. Thing 1 just wants to be left alone to read, thank you very much. I love it.
And I write/edit as I get breaks in the day. The first few hours of the day, which are not my best times, are blocked off for me. They cook breakfast (all three of them cramped in my kitchen like sardines) and I work, then after breakfast, they leave me alone and I work. Then, it’s play time.
When it’s just Mr. Dork and I, he usually gives me as much of the day to write/edit as he can, but we have things we have to do together. So, I don’t always get as much time as I’d like. The weekends are also where I get to see my kids, Miss Think (who’s 18 now, good grief!) and Miss Sunshine.
I outline and storyboard. It’s the only way I can write just snippets here and there. I know how many words I’m going to have in a chapter. If the chapter starts to get long, I trim the fat right there, bring it back on target and complete it. If it’s too short, I go back and add the character emotional transitions I missed, or other details I skimmed over. I know how many chapters I’m going to have. I know the major elements that are going to hit at each moment.
But I don’t know all the details until I’m writing. Like, when I was writing Menagerie (which is done. I just have to complete the edits. I swear!), I knew there was going to be a battle and I knew roughly where it was going to happen.
But then a hurricane swooped in while we were fighting, and we all had to go to ground. Yeah. I didn’t plan for that. It just showed up as I was writing. Where? I don’t know. It sure wasn’t on my storyboard.
That’s the life of this writer. One day, I’m going to have time to write and waste it all. Just waste it. I’ll be like, “Hey, what’s up with all this time? What do I do with it?!” and then I’ll crochet a blanket because I’m cold.
Oh, wait! I did that! Dang it! Yeah, no. Write. Edit. Work as you can, but make sure you take time for family. They’re important.
{ review } .
This was fun.
Think SUPERNATURAL fun. Right away, you're brought into a case where Paige -- who thinks she's the only Whiskey to not have a paranormal talent -- ends up passing out and family friend (who you can tell right away feels a little something more than just friendly) Dexx hollers at her family for not telling her that, yep, you really do have a power, it's just super powerful and you did some dangerous things as a child and guess what? You just released it.
I loved the paranormal aspect of this 'season' of books. Like I said, regardless of it being called a 'season' and each chunk of book being referred to as an 'episode', I was totally in a SUPERNATURAL mindset. Being a huge A HAUNTING fan on TV back in the day, and devouring anything paranormal, this was a great read.
S.M. Blooding does a great job in her detail -- from her demonic voices, the odd activity, all the way to the underlying romance and feelings between Dexx and Paige (...my favorite part, of course). Her ability to write thoughts and dialogue well was definitely a plus for me -- the more realistic the two (especially in this type of genre), the more I connect to the story, and connecting is what drives a story home for me.
I enjoyed the growth of Paige as she went from a woman who felt she was the loner of her family, to a woman who held the key to, well, everything... And then Dexx... This demon hunter has a fiercly protective streak of Paige and it was one of the more enjoyable alpha qualities of his. Definitely a favorite.
Think SUPERNATURAL fun. Right away, you're brought into a case where Paige -- who thinks she's the only Whiskey to not have a paranormal talent -- ends up passing out and family friend (who you can tell right away feels a little something more than just friendly) Dexx hollers at her family for not telling her that, yep, you really do have a power, it's just super powerful and you did some dangerous things as a child and guess what? You just released it.
I loved the paranormal aspect of this 'season' of books. Like I said, regardless of it being called a 'season' and each chunk of book being referred to as an 'episode', I was totally in a SUPERNATURAL mindset. Being a huge A HAUNTING fan on TV back in the day, and devouring anything paranormal, this was a great read.
S.M. Blooding does a great job in her detail -- from her demonic voices, the odd activity, all the way to the underlying romance and feelings between Dexx and Paige (...my favorite part, of course). Her ability to write thoughts and dialogue well was definitely a plus for me -- the more realistic the two (especially in this type of genre), the more I connect to the story, and connecting is what drives a story home for me.
I enjoyed the growth of Paige as she went from a woman who felt she was the loner of her family, to a woman who held the key to, well, everything... And then Dexx... This demon hunter has a fiercly protective streak of Paige and it was one of the more enjoyable alpha qualities of his. Definitely a favorite.
{ giveaway } .
{ the episodes } .
Demon Show by S.M. Blooding
Episode 1
Genre: Dark Paranormal Thriller
Publisher: Whistling Book Press
Date of Publication: October 31, 2014
Cover Artist: Frankie’s Mind Design
Available From: Amazon
Summary
Detective Paige Whiskey comes from a long line of witches. They may not all be the most powerful, but they are outspoken and supportive of their community. She alone has no gifts. She can’t summon fire, can’t read minds. She knows the arcane. She’s studied it. That, along with her connection to the Whiskey Witches, lands her some pretty strange cases.
Like the sacrificial murders of St. Francisville, Louisiana. There’s a killer on the loose, choosing people in a vain attempt to raise a demon. Once she gets there, she realizes the murders were nothing more than an elaborate invitation, tempting her into the claws of the killer.
She does have a gift, a very powerful and terrifying one.
The killer is after her.
…………………………………………….
Possession by S.M. Blooding
Episode 2
Genre: Dark Paranormal Thriller
Publisher: Whistling Book Press
Date of Publication: November 14, 2014
Cover Artist: Frankie’s Mind Design
Available From: Amazon
Summary
There’s only so much you can do when there are no new clues. Wait. That’s never been Detective Paige Whiskey’s strong-suit, though. With her memories and her gifts back, she’s faced with a whole new ball game. She now has a better understanding of who the killer might be and what he wants.
But when she’s attacked by a ghost—of all the dumb things—on a paranormal investigation of the Metley plantation, she realizes the situation’s worse than she thought. If that’s possible at all.
The gate has already been opened.
So why in the seven blazing pits of Hell does the killer still need her?
…………………………………………….
Love Bodies by S.M. Blooding
Episode 3
Genre: Dark Paranormal Thriller
Publisher: Whistling Book Press
Date of Publication: November 28, 2014
Cover Artist: Frankie’s Mind Design
Available From: Amazon
Summary
Possession’s a messy business on a good day. When demon hunter Dexx Colt realizes sees Paige possessed and the mark the killer engraved on her skin to do it, he knows they’re screwed. No protection sigil in his arsenal can protect her from being possessed. Not now.
A demon summoner who can’t summon or send demons back.
The killer still has a plan for her, though, and what that could be is anyone’s guess. Dead bodies continue to pile up at an alarming rate, and the race is on to discover how to keep the gates closed.
…………………………………………….
Gates of Hell
Episode 4
Genre: Dark Paranormal Thriller
Publisher: Whistling Book Press
Date of Publication: December 12, 2014
Cover Artist: Frankie’s Mind Design
Available From: Amazon
Summary
The mission is simple. Grab the key. Close the gate. Get the hell out of St. Francisville, Louisiana.
What could be so frelling hard about that?
Everything.
The clock is tick-tick-ticking and the team of demon fighters are running out of time. First, they have to find the key, then get through the demon army protecting it, and then fight the one who master-minded it all.
No problem. Easy as pie.
Right.
…………………………………………….
Blood Moon Magick by S.M. Blooding
Episode 5
Genre: Dark Paranormal Thriller
Publisher: Whistling Book Press
Date of Publication: October, 2015
Cover Artist: Frankie’s Mind Design
Pre-Order: Amazon
Summary
Going back to Denver should have been easy. Old life. Old routine. Ten kinds of “all good.”
However, with her gifts open, the paranormal world isn’t going to let her have that easy life. It turns out her partner of the last five years is a vampire and has been for several decades. He’s also the regional paranormal protector.
So when a few shapeshifters go missing, he gets the case.
But there’s also a demon killing those shapeshifters, a demon she can’t hunt because she’s still an open target for possession.
Not to complicate matters, Dexx isn’t about to let Paige out of his sights. Bringing a demon hunter to a shapeshifter party only makes things that much more interesting. But when he gets bitten, the entire game changes.
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