About the Author:
Crystal Y. Connor grew up telling spooky little campfire-style stories at slumber parties. Living on a steady literary diet of Stephen King, Robin Cook, Dean R. Koontz and healthy doses of cinema masterpieces such as The Birds, Friday the 13th, Hellraiser, The Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone it surprises no one that she ended up writing a horror novel!
Crystal now living in Seattle has been writing poetry and short stories specializing in the Urban Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror since before Jr. high School. The Darkness, her début novel and book I in The Spectrum Trilogy has been selected as a two time Award-Winning Finalist in the 2011International Book Awards in the fiction categories of Cross Genre Fiction and Multicultural Fiction.
Title: In The Foothills of Mt. Empyreal: The End is Now
Author: Crystal Connor, writing as Connor Titus
To Be Published: May 26th, 2014
Word Count: approx. 81,000
Genre: Horror, Dark Fantasy, Apocalyptic
Content Warning: Adult content and violence
Recommended Age: 17+
Synopsis:
The Order of The Sentinels.
The Order of The Learned.
The Order of The Writs.
The Order of The Cloth.
Angels.
Demon.
In the foothills of Mt. Empyreal the most powerful forces in the world are drawn into combat.
And the fate of all the world hangs in the balance.
Excerpt from The End is Now by Connor Titus:
For hours, she drove in silence, enjoying the beauty of the wintry landscape that seemed somehow amplified in the quiet of a planet without the noise of technology. The rumble of the engine against the backdrop of the stillness lured Khrystle into a state of calmness that she had never before achieved, but when the abomination wrapped its tail around her wrist, she was jerked back to reality by the sounds of her own screaming.
She slid to a screeching stop and jumped from the ATV. After a deep breath, she put the demonic spawn back in the cargo space and picked up her shotgun for comfort.
The reprieve was short-lived.
It was a military plane, a fighter jet, and its silent descent from the sky was nothing short of memorizing. There was an earth-shattering explosion. Moments later, she was blasted off her feet by the hot wind.
Standing, she watched the black smoke climb into the bright sky. How long she stood staring, she couldn’t remember, but after a while, she straddled the vehicle and started the engine.
It had taken her two days to reach the …
… Devastation.
It took Khrystle a moment to realize that the dissemination before her was the result of the fighter jet slamming into an Amtrak.
The sickly sweet, acrid smell that seared her throat was so strong she could actually taste it. When it donned on her that it was the smell of burning flesh, she fell to her knees and soiled the pristine snow as her body violently emptied the meager contents of her stomach.
At that moment, she couldn’t remember a prayer, so she wept instead.
The dog’s growling was barely heard above the girl’s sobbing, but was loud enough to cease her tears.
Rising from the basin with the black smoke and red-orange flame was a man. She stood as she watched him stumble, fall, and struggle to his feet, only to fall again.
Blood poured from beneath his hair to fall across his swollen face like a cascade. The purple bruising around his right eye had caused it to close; his left eye stared at nothing.
The threads of his charred pants billowed in the winter breeze, exposing muscle and bone from the rip in flesh above his right knee. Second and third degree burns covered his skin and a book was clutched within his blistering arms.
How was it, she asked herself, that this man would be able to walk away from a train wreck?
When he was mere feet from Khrystle, he collapsed. She ran to him. Kneeling, she unzipped her duffle bag, but was distracted as she reached in for her medical kit.
It was a feather, a large black feather from a crow. She looked up in time to watch the black bird land on the power line. Before she had the time to look away, another bird landed.
And then another, and yet another.
In just minutes hundreds of crows were assembled judiciously above her.
Their silence was alarming.
She dragged her attention from the birds to the man who lay injured. That simple act caused her vision to blacken along the edges.
Her question was answered when she saw the book he clutched. The storm that surged across her mind was as forceful and devastating as a category five hurricane, leaving debilitating fear and biting goose bumps in its wake.
… And through the dark, he will come to shield the book.
The embossing on the book was written in Aramaic, but she knew what it said anyway.
This is the Book of the First.
Lori Titus is the author of Lazarus (September 2010) and Green Water Lullaby: A Collection of Short Stories (March 2011), and Hailey’s Shadow (June 2011).
Lori is also the Managing Editor of Flashes in the Dark, a website that features flash fiction, serials, and author interviews.
Lori splits her time between blogging, and working on several writing and editing projects.
Title: The Guardians of Man: Black Feathers Fell in the Foothills of Mt. Empyreal
Author: Lori Titus, writing as Connor Titus
To Be Published: May 26th, 2014
Word Count: approx. 68,000
Genre: Horror, Dark Fantasy, Apocalyptic
Content Warning: Adult content and violence
Recommended Age: 17+
Synopsis:
In the mountain community of Fate’s Keep, the battle for mankind had begun.
After a geometric storm plunges the world into darkness, destroying electronic communication, light, and power, residents living in the shadow of Mt. Empyreal struggle for survival. Terrified of what is yet to come, they hide in their homes, waiting for the first, overdue snowfall of the year to come.
Along with the snow comes an ancient evil, free after centuries of imprisonment. The birth of a child and the worldwide power outage are only the start of events that have been prophesied.
With time running out, and supernatural enemies surrounding them, will The Guardians of Man be able to save the Earth?
Excerpt for The Guardians of Man:
And through the dark, he will come to shield the book.
Jessica heard the words as if they came to her from some faraway place, but she was very sure of what was being said. Despite the fact that the words were not English, some primal instinct made the words as clear as her mother tongue.
In the dream, she was outside in the snow. From a mountain top she looked down and saw the town below. Part was lost in smoke and ashes. She could make out movement in the streets. Black crows rose in the air, unfettered by the acid snow that fell upon them.
Giveaway Details:
There is a tour wide giveaway. Prizes include the following:
- One lucky winner will receive signed, print copies of both The End is Now and The Guardians of Man.
Giveaway is International.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Meg Xuemei X is an award-winning author. She grew up in a backward, southern town in China, went to college in Akron, and dropped out from Tisch School.
