Stalkers by Various Authors
Release date: November 26th 2013
Publisher: Indie Style Press
Purchase: Amazon
Publisher: Indie Style Press
Purchase: Amazon
Synopsis via Goodreads:
Shadows follow you in the darkness of the night and the eerie sensation of being watched crawls up your spine. Your sanity pulls apart at the seams as the terrors stalk their victims, leaving you too frightened to turn off the light.
These twisted stories will leave you breathless, dreading the horrors lurking around the corner.
Seventeen authors. Seventeen tales of terror. Infinite nightmares.
Foreword
This started out as a contest but grew into an idea. This is the third
anthology that was created out of a contest on my Facebook page. The authors
and readers were given the opportunity to write a short story using the
guidelines provided. This go round I received over thirty entries. Only seventeen
were chosen, but every story deserves a moment of recognition. I want to thank
everybody for their time and their wonderful imaginations. The seventeen chosen
are what you will find in this anthology, a collection of short stories that
left me in awe at the talent of these amazing authors. These stories come from
already published authors as well as readers who aspired to write.
The guidelines used to write these short stories were ones that I
thought would appeal to the audience. This left a collection of shorts that will
take you all over the paranormal genre.
* This anthology will have a main theme
of Stalkers. That is about where my direction stops. It does not have to be
paranormal, though it can be. The story can be a psychological thriller,
horror, paranormal, suspense, action… whatever you want it to be. You can have
a demon stalking someone in their dreams or a serial killer stalking prey, just
to give you a couple examples. Whatever your twisted minds can come up with. I
want stories that have you looking in the backseat of your car before you get
in—stories that make the little hairs on the back of your neck stand up when
you think someone looked at you just a little too long. Let your imaginations
flow free and DELVE into the DARKER side of your mind… You know you want to.*
I believe that the authors of these short stories more than met
the guidelines; they exceeded even my expectations. I hope that you enjoy
reading these as much as I did. Please leave a review when you are finished on
Amazon or Goodreads and let us know what you think. Also, please take the
opportunity to connect with these amazing authors. Author links are included on
the individual title pages of the stories.
Enjoy your read!
Cynthia
Shepp
For this Blitz Im featuring author Elizabeth Collins book from Stalkers called Autumn. Read on for an excerpt and Guest post from the lovely author.
Blurb:
Autumn
knows exactly what she wants, and she'll do whatever it takes to get it. Melanie
knows Autumn wants her husband, but has no idea how far she'll go to get him.
Excerpt :
Glass from the busted security light lies
scattered among clumps of rotting leaves and trash where I sit and wait. I
pinch up a tiny shard and pick at the chipped, green paint on the dumpster in
front of me. Little sounds trickle down from two stories up, dampening my mood.
Picturing me up there instead of her helps, but not much.
My ass is freezing, and I’m bored as hell.
They can’t possibly go on much longer.
“Melanie,” he says, dragging out her name
in a deep rumble.
Ah. Just a few more minutes, and I’ll get what I came for.
The shard hits a groove and stops but my
hand keeps going, the smooth edge of the glass slicing the pad of my finger.
“Shit.”
I flick it away and rise from the ground,
examining my finger. Dark liquid oozes from the shallow cut creating a small
bubble of blood. I lift it to my mouth before the blood can spill, slide it
across my bottom lip, and then slip it into my mouth. Sucking lightly at the
wound, I glide it along my tongue and close my eyes as a low moan vibrates the
back of my throat. Yearning knots my stomach.
It’s time.
The fire escape zigzags its way up the side
of the building. I check the mouth of the alley one more time, but no one
should be able to see me even if they’re looking. I’m shrouded in complete
darkness without the moon’s beam acting as an unwelcome spotlight. I tug at my
black knit cap anyway—who knew platinum blonde practically glows in the
moonlight? It gave me away the first time I came here, so after that, donning
the hat became habit. At least the short locks are easy to conceal, a plus side
to the hack job I’d done in a mindless rage after the office party last month.
The streams of people filtering by always
have the same reaction—maybe they can sense me here. I can hear the shuffle in
their step as they clutch their bags tighter and throw a quick glance into the
darkness. A trickle of fear will wiggle down their spine before they’re safe
again, bounding off to their fancy apartments to hug their two-point-five kids
and make love to their husbands or wives.
But I’m not here for them.
I’m here for the tramp upstairs, the one
who thinks she’s so special having him inside her, calling her name. But
tonight is a new moon.
New
moon—a name full of bright promises like the ones
he made her, but it covers me like a midnight blanket as I start my climb.
There’s only one more set of steps to go as my hand starts trembling against the cold steel of
the railing. I pause to take a breath and close my eyes, but then I can feel
his breath heat my neck and greedy fingers caress my thigh. His sweat mingles
with mine, staining pristine white sheets. My name falls into the alley as the
orgasm I’ve caused pulses through him.
My chest swells with deep, slow breaths and
the chilled November air assaults my senses,jolting me back into reality. It
felt so real, and it’s so close.
Just focus, Autumn. There will be time for fantasies later. Not that I’ll need them.
Just focus, Autumn. There will be time for fantasies later. Not that I’ll need them.
After tonight, Chad McKenna will be mine.
Bio:
Elizabeth Collins resides in Michigan with
her husband and twin sons. She enjoys researching the random things that pop in
her head, rain, and going to home improvement stores just for the smell of it.
If she could, she would spend all her time reading or writing, preferably on a
beach or in the woods with no one else around. She's mesmerized by all forms of
art, loves office supplies, and hates housework so much that her dream is to
eventually earn enough money writing to be able to hire someone else to do it.
Links:
Website: http://www.elizabeth-collins.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BeingCollins
Guest Post!
My Five Favorite Books
I loved to read as a child, but at some point other
things phased it out. I still read through the years, but not much, and definitely
nothing worth noting. So, while I am trying to catch up, I'm very far behind
most of my writer friends, especially when it comes to the classics I feel should be on this list. They're on every
writers list, right? Well, not mine. Not because they aren't amazing books, I
probably just haven't read them yet. There is something else too: I change my
mind constantly. I don't have permanent favorites of anything.
So, instead of my five favorite books ever, I'm
going to list my five favorite books right now. And because I have a couple
favorite authors that could fill up this list with only their books I'm going
to limit myself to one book per author.
(Each * stand for how many book there
are in the series)
1. Twilight**** by Stephenie Meyer- I'm
going to admit it. Twilight got me reading again, but I was way late to the
party. I knew nothing about Twilight until 2009. The movie came out and I
vaguely remembered seeing a few things about the books over the years and
thinking ‘hey, I should read that sometime,’ and then forgetting about it. So,
the February after the movie came out, two days before my birthday, I was in
the grocery store and the paperback was sitting there on a rack on sale for
like $4 and I figured why not? That night I read the whole thing, and the next
day I went and got the next three and read one a day until I was done. Then
re-read them, and re-read them... I was hooked.
Since I've been writing--I started
writing seriously in January of 2013. (Wow... it feels like it's been so much
longer than a year)--I've studied the craft in depth and I can now see all the
technical faults in Twilight, but I don't care, I still love it.
2. Harry Potter******** by J.K. Rowling
- I was late to this party too. I'm late to pretty much all of them. Scratch
that, I'm not only late, but by the time I get there everyone has gone home
except for the guy who's passed out on the lawn.
Like most, I couldn't put these down. Do
I really need to explain why?
Here is where we get to authors you may
not have heard of before. In my world they are rock stars, so it's hard to
imagine when someone doesn't know who they are. But, if you don't I'm proud to
introduce them to you. Like I said, I'll choose one book per author, but every
book they each have out is gold.
3. Here** (On the Otherside) by Denise
Grover Swank: This was the hardest one to choose. Denise is my literary hero
and I can't choose my favorite of her books, I never have been able to decide,
but today I'll go with Here.
Julia is awesome and I love the way she
matures and grows throughout the series, but it's Reese that I really fell in
love with. Even though it's supposed to be Evan, I was always team Reese...always
::swoon::
Anyway, this is one of those books where
giving details means spoilers, and I'm not very good at this anyway. So please,
check out the blurb and reviews. You won't be sorry.
4. Whispers in Autumn**** (The Last Year)
by Trisha Leigh AKA Lyla Payne (trust me, if you check out this series and love
her writing as much as I do you'll want to check out her NA series penned as
Lyla):
Trisha has a way of putting words
together that astonishes me. Her descriptions are rich and vivid without
bogging down the story. The characters are so real and deep sometimes I forget
they don't exist. You will be completely emerged in her books unable to come up
for air until the ride is over.
5. Wander Dust*** by Michelle Warren:
Seraphina Parrish is one kick-ass
heroine. She's smart, she's strong, she's stubborn, and she has a very hard
time following the rules. There is so much that happens in these books and it's
all amazing. The world Michelle creates is vivid and she makes you want to live
there even though in reality living there and loving it means you're-- nope... spoiler,
sorry. If you're a human, with feelings, you will have lots of them and it will
do twisty things to your heart.... but in the end...one word: perfection.
Giveaway!
I agree with both!! I love the cover :)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for participating!
ReplyDelete