October in Phoenix means I can once again enjoy the outside. It’s only 80+ after all 🙂 But the evenings and mornings are glorious, and we put up our Halloween decorations! It’s the only holiday in which I decorate the house. There’s just something about hanging skeletons from the roof that appeals to me and I’m not going to explore that thought any further. One of the many lovely advantages of having a five year old is enjoying the holiday through him. I get to trick or treat again!! And this year we’re doing the zombie walk!

Lots of things going on this month. I’m  participating in a Fall into Fantasy giveaway (click here to go to Rafflecopter) and releasing my short story, titled The Werewolf’s Devotion,  about my werewolf character, Brandon, from the Necromancer’s Seduction. And I heard from ImaJinn that they plan on continuing on with the contracted books after the passing of Linda Kichline. We will become an imprint of Bell Books/Belle Bridge Books. I’m excited about joining Belle Bridge. So it looks good for a March 2014 release for book two in the Necromancer Series. It has to be pretty intense for Linda’s family after her death, and I greatly appreciate the care they’ve taken with the ImaJinn authors.

So I promised a Halloween short!! Ruby and Adam take a stroll through a cemetery. What can go wrong when a necromancer and a revenant visit the dead? Enjoy!

I should have known beforehand to walk away when a revenant asked if I wanted to take a “little stroll” through a cemetery on Halloween night.

On the positive side, I did learn something new about Adam, my revenant, but would have really preferred to have read it in a manual. Hands on learning is over-rated.

Halloween is my favorite holiday, yet it tests my evasion of the supernatural world. The supernatural community goes all out on the one night when strange happenings are tolerated by the general public. Cora, my grandmother, had always attended some killer party held by the witches, and constantly pestered me to accompany her. I almost surrendered to her indomitable will a couple of times, then remembered my mother’s death, chilling my enthusiasm.

We arrived at the cemetery, situated next to a church in the fashion of cozy European village cemeteries. Many of the dead rested in old tombs and masoleums, nestled among lush shrubs and shrouded by trees. We climbed the brick wall and dropped to the thick grass next to a stone angel, her white marble stained green by algae. The nearly full moon served only to lengthen the shadows cast by the trees and graves.

“Somehow, this just doesn’t feel as foreboding as when I was alive,” Adam said. “Why don’t you raise some zombies?” Continue reading →