E.J. Stevens's Blog, page 9

"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside of you." —Maya Angelou

Let's celebrate the holidays and ring in the new year with fabulous prizes.  Today we are giving away a HUGE dark faerie themed prize pack.

Dark Faerie Prize Pack
We are giving away a Dark Faerie Prize Pack, including a coloring book, faerie necklace, book, earbuds, and more!

Gothic Dark Fantasy Coloring BookFaerie NecklaceAmy Brown Faerie Greeting CardIvy Granger LED Keychain FlashlightIvy Granger ButtonShadow Sight (Ivy Granger #1) EbookSigned Ivy Granger PostcardCustom Purple Earbuds

To enter, please use the Rafflecopter form below.  This giveaway is open to the US, UK, and Canada.  Giveaway begins December 15, 2016 and ends December 31, 2016.

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What is your favorite creature from folklore?(Faeries, Banshees, Unicorns, Trolls, Pixies, Goblins, Kelpies...)

I was interviewed recently for the Citywide Blackout program on WEMF Radio Boston.  You can listen to my The Blackout Bootleg radio interview with Citywide Blackout here:

WEMF Radio Interview with E.J. Stevens
My interview starts around 2:30 and I'm interviewed by show host Max Bowen.  Big thanks to Max Bowen, Citywide Blackout, and WEMF Radio Boston!

 Full show details:

We open the show with a packed house of horror! I interview Izzy Lee, James A. Moore, Scott Goudsward, and John M. McIlveen about The Haverhill Public Library Holiday Bookfear and what makes a good horror story.

Filmmaker Maura Smith has worked on some pretty major films, like Black Mass and Spotlight Movie, but she's also produced some great work that's all her own, some of which was featured at the Massachusetts Independent Film Festival over the summer. She joins Max over the phone with fellow filmmaker Kate Brown, whom she's worked with in the past.

Matt of My Silent Bravery returns to the show with some great new tunes to share with all of you. His new album "Breakthrough" was released earlier this fall to some impressive reviews, and he'll have plenty of shows to come.

The electric rock band Western Education returns to the show for the fourth time to talk about their new album, "Restless Dreams." Their style is such a great blend of electric and rock sounds, and they've accomplished a lot in the last few years.

We're going into extra innings this week! Ed of the brotherly duo Scotch Mist joins me on to talk about their most recent release, some of which is inspired by those very close to home. Plus, he plays live with some stellar tunes!

BONUS: The Blackout Bootlegs are back! Max talks to author E.J. Stevens at the Merrimack Halloween Book Festival. She has an extensive collection of titles, including the popular Ivy Granger series.

Did you enjoy the interview?  Have any questions we missed?  Leave your questions in the comments!

We have a special giveaway for you today.  We're giving away an amazing Magneto Prize Pack!


Magneto Prize Pack Giveaway
We are giving away a Magneto prize pack including these great prizes:
Issues of X-Men Unlimited 1 - 25 Funko POP Marvel: Classic X-Men - Magneto Action FigureUnopened 1993 Series #1 Magneto Action FigureUnopened Diamond Select Toys Marvel Select: Magneto Action Figure
To enter, please use the Rafflecopter form below.  This giveaway is international.  Prizes sponsored by Jeremy Flagg author of the Children of Nostradamus series about ordinary geeks with extraordinary abilities.  Giveaway ends December 21, 2016.  Good luck!

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Who is YOUR favorite comic book villain?

This month is Faerie Celebration Month at From the Shadows and today we have a special ONE SMOKING HOT FAIRY TAIL by Kevin James Breaux book excerpt and giveaway for you.

Keep reading for a chance to win a One Smoking Hot Fairy Tale prize pack, including a signed book, postcard, bookmark, and $25 Amazon Gift Card!

Book Excerpt: One Smoking Hot Fairy Tail
     Sitting in her shadow-soaked bedroom, Moselle Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair repeatedly glanced at her smartphone, eager for it to ring. A candelabrum burned seven small red flames, illuminating her room just enough for her to not only spy two of her Abyssinian cats as they chased each other across the marble floor, but to also see what she was mixing.
     Moselle poured jojoba oil from a large container into a small, dark glass bottle with a glass rod applicator. Ten drops of jasmine oil from the flowers she had handpicked in her garden the night before splashed into the bottle as she pondered how much ylang-ylang oil she should add to the mix, desiring nothing but the most erotic scent to seduce the man she had been dating.
     At the chime of her smartphone, Moselle set the bottles aside and pressed the answer button with the tip of her index finger’s nail.
     “Greetings, Father.”
     “You sound disappointed, my daughter.” Moselle’s father’s voice was deep and steeped with his strong Egyptian accent.
     “No, no, no… not at all.” Moselle cleared her throat and presented him with the respect he was due. “How may I serve you, Father?”
     “I am pleased to inform you that everything has gone as designed with the new Club Afterlife,” he said. “This opening is already being touted as a once-in-a-lifetime, red carpet event.”
     “Blessings be, Father.”
     “Have you made travel arrangements yet, Moselle?”
     She took a second to compose her words before speaking.
     “I have not. Father, it is a great honor to attend, not only as the subject of all of the advertisements in your recent campaign, but as your loving daughter, still I have a request.” She sat up. 
      “You know full well your mother is currently unable to entertain,” he stated, clearly assuming she was going to ask if her mother could be at the opening.
     “Oh, yes that. I haven’t broken bread with Mother since last year’s birthday party. I do miss her.”
     “Birthdays?” She heard her father’s dissatisfied tone. “Moselle, you know I find them a foolish distraction.”
     “Yes, I know.”
     “Good,” he replied quickly. “I will send the private jet to Los Angeles in two days. It will transport you to New York City for the event.”
     “Father, my request,” she reminded him. “I have met someone very special, a young man whom I have been dating. He works at the advertising agency you hired for the new club.”
     “Tell me again, Moselle, why do you find them so interesting?” Her father’s tone was filled with frustration and annoyance. “What could you possibly have in common with this… this American?”
     “He is strong, handsome, and funny, Father.”
     “He is not one of us.”
     “I do not care about that. He warms my soul with his humor and kindness. When we work together preparing your advertisements, I find myself inexplicably drawn to him. I have not felt this way in ten or more years.”
     “Moselle!”
     Her father’s raised voice startled her so badly her body froze. She had not angered her him in many, many years, not since long before she had moved out of his home into her own.
     “Why do you tell me this?”
     “I would like him to accompany me to the grand opening as my date,” Moselle answered timidly.
     The phone went silent, and Moselle waited patiently.
     “So be it,” he conceded. “Invite him, but he will need to find his own means of travel to New York. Understood?”
     “Yes.” Moselle beamed.
     “Did you pass along my request to your other friend?”
     “I spoke to Sabrina earlier; she accepted the invitation already.”
     “She is well now, you say?”
     “As well as can be,” Moselle admitted.
     “Good, then, regardless, this will be an opening night for all to remember. Safe journey, my daughter.”
     “Safe journey to you too, Father.”
     Moselle watched the slender metal hands on her wall clock tick forward another notch as she hung up. The hand’s movement boomed in her ears like the footsteps of a titan. It was nearing nine o’clock at night; she had hoped her new boyfriend would have called by now. She unconsciously tapped the bottom corner of her smartphone on the table, harder and harder until… Snap. The protective case broke.    
     “Curse this devil’s game.” Moselle ran her finger over the jagged crack. “My phone, a sacrifice to you, Hathor. See it not wasted.”
     Moselle pressed the speed-dial graphic, a tiny photo associated with his name: Jackson Abernathy.
     “Hello.”
     “Jackson, darling, it is Moselle Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair.”
     “Hey, Moselle…” He paused a moment before finishing. “What’s happening?”
    Jackson’s voice did not ring with the excitement she had yearned for, and she had a clear guess why.
     “Are you still at work?”
     “Yeah, I’m putting the finishing touches on that freelance project I did with Candice Swanepoel.”
     Moselle finally heard a hint of excitement in his voice, but it was not for her.
     “You work too hard and play too little.” Moselle stood feeling suddenly jealous; she was more driven than ever to see Jackson now.
     “To be honest, I need the extra money. I lost a few bucks on the game last night.”
     Moselle admired herself in the full-length mirror attached to the inside of her closet door as she listened. She examined her eye makeup, which included a coat of sparkling purple mascara that complemented her dark eyes.
     “All I am suggesting is that you take a short break.”
     “I took a break earlier when you sent me that one text message. The one with the picture attached. What did it say again?”
     “It said that tomorrow marks a full month on the calendar since you asked me out. It said to prepare for a night filled with earthly delights.”
     Jackson laughed. “Moselle, you are unlike any other girl I’ve ever known.”
     “You are right, Jackson. All you have known are girls, scatterbrained models with apathy toward most things. I am a woman, one who knows what she wants.”
     “Well… I wanted to finish this project and then get a jump-start touching up that advertisement of you in the silver bikini with the—”
     “Jackson.” Moselle’s voice rose in frustration. “Such labor should be done during the hours our beloved sun is high above us.”
     “You’re right, but wouldn’t your father be even more impressed with me if I handed him extra work?”
     “While I find it pleasing that you strive to win my father’s approval, Jackson, I must ask you this: would you have me spend the next few hours alone while you stare at my likeness, or would you gaze upon me in person over a few drinks?”
     “Would you like to go out for coffee, Moselle?”
     “I would love to.”


One Smoking Hot Fairy Tail by Kevin James Breaux.

Sabrina, a lovely fairy has it all: fame, fortune, and beauty—until her boyfriend Cade, a rebel vampire, films their involvement in a crime as well as the passionate lovemaking that follows.

But Cade loses his camera and the video is posted online, ruining Sabrina’s life. After a year of nursing her wounds, she resurfaces only to find herself hunted for her wings.

The lives of all unearthly beings are at stake—fairies, windigos, mummies, and elemental spirits, caught up in a frightening flood of events that threaten their discovery. Sabrina and Moselle, a sex-starved mummy and the daughter of a wealthy businessman, find themselves in the middle of the conflict, forced to take drastic action to protect their identities and lives.

In trying to save themselves can they also prevent the United States from falling into the hands of an evil mind with horrible intentions?

Add to Goodreads.

OSHFT Prize Pack Giveaway
We are giving away a One Smoking Hot Fairy Tale prize pack, including a signed book, postcard, bookmark, and $25 Amazon Gift Card!

Signed BookPostcardBookmark$25 Amazon Gift Card
To enter, please use the Rafflecopter form below.  This giveaway is open to US mailing addresses.  Giveaway ends December 16, 2016 midnight EST.  Good luck!

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What did you think of the book excerpt?  Do you recall the name of the club where the red carpet event is scheduled take place?

ON SALE TODAY.  Hunting in Bruges, the first novel in the Hunters' Guild urban fantasy series, is only 99 cents for a limited time.


Hunting in Bruges (Hunters' Guild #1, Ivy Granger #3.5)

The only thing worse than being a Hunter in the fae-ridden city of Harborsmouth, is hunting vampires in Bruges.

Being shipped off to Belgium sucks. The medieval city of Bruges is quaint, but the local Hunters' Guild is understaffed, the canals are choked with dead bodies, and there's no shortage of supernatural predators as likely suspects.

On second thought, maybe Bruges isn't so bad after all.

With a desire to prove herself, protect the innocent, and advance within the ranks of the Hunters' Guild, Jenna Lehane hits the cobbled streets of Bruges with blades at the ready. Someone, or something, is murdering tourists and dumping their bodies in the city's scenic canals. With the help of a mysterious stranger, Jenna begins to piece together clues that are dotted throughout the city like blood spatter.

Determined to stop the killings, Jenna delves into a bloody local history that only raises more questions—but some secrets are best left buried. Jenna must put her combat training to the test as she struggles to unearth the truth about an ancient enemy.

Hunting in Bruges is the first novel in the Hunters' Guild urban fantasy series set in the award-winning world of Ivy Granger.

Buy Now for 99 CentsAmazon | Amazon UK | Kobo | Barnes & Noble | iTunes
Returns to full price November 30th!

BOOK NEWS:  Hunting in Bruges Dutch translations to release worldwide April 2017.

It's time for our annual Bite Before Christmas Giveaway at From the Shadows.  Thank you so much for following my blog!

This year, I have some amazing prizes for you.  Keep reading for your chance to win!

Bite Before Christmas Giveaway
Win a $20 Amazon Gift Card and an Ivy Granger World Prize Pack filled with signed swag, including postcards, posters, stickers, and buttons.

To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter form below.  This giveaway is INTERNATIONAL.  Giveaway ends December 8, 2016 midnight EST. 

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Happy Holidays!
Want to enter more giveaways here at From the Shadows?  You're in luck!

Holiday Giveaways at From the Shadows
Comic Book Extravaganza, Ends 11/30Dark Faery Prize Pack, 11/30-12/14One Smoking Hot Fairy Tale Prize Pack, 12/6-12/16
I've also contributed to the Urban Fantasy Unveiled Giveaway ending 11/30.  Don't miss your chance to win one of these prizes: Black Kindle Fire, Blue Kindle Fire, Orange Kindle Fire, Magenta Kindle Fire, $10 Amazon Gift Card (5 Winners), 3-Month Kindle Unlimited Subscription (or $30 Amazon Gift Card; 3 Winners).

All Urban Fantasy Unveiled Giveaway entrants also receive a FREE Urban Fantasy sampler.

What is your favorite thing about the holidays?

We have a special Comic Book Geek Extravaganza Giveaway with fab geekalicious prizes sponsored by Jeremy Flagg.  Flagg is author of the Children of Nostradamus series, including NIGHTHAWKS.

Comic Book Geek Giveaway
We are giving away this amazing prize pack, including
Justice League of America (1-4), 2004The Secret Defenders (1-4), 1993Civil War Funko Pop VinylsAvengers TattoosMarvel Mystery Mini BagDC Mystery Mighty Mini
To enter, use the Rafflecopter form below.  This giveaway is INTERNATIONAL.  Giveaway ends November 30, 2016 at 7PM EST.

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Good luck!
You can learn more about Jeremy Flagg by visiting his website.  More about his novel NIGHTHAWKS below.


Nighthawks (Children of Nostradamus #1) by Jeremy Flagg.

Twenty-six-year-old painter Conthan Cowan takes art to a shocking frontier…

His debut exhibit features the transformation of his high school friend, Sarah, as she went from a shy, soft-spoken girl to a Child of Nostradamus—an individual gifted with extraordinary abilities. Living in a society where the Children of Nostradamus are captured by the government, Conthan’s exhibit draws attention from officials and protesters alike.

A government psychic may be dead, but that doesn’t stop her from manipulating the future…

The deceased White House aide is only remembered for her failed assassination attempt on the president decades before Conthan was born. Foreseeing her own death, she scribed letters to bring together specific Children of Nostradamus on a mission that will change the world.

On the night of the gallery exhibition, Conthan receives one of those letters…

Whispers from the past direct him to visit Sarah, the subject of his paintings, who like many Children of Nostradamus, is being detained in a government research facility. It’s there he finds himself aligned with a rogue group of Children on a mission to prevent a dark future.

As a dark future unfolds, there's only one hope to stop the destruction of the world...The Children of Nostradamus.

Add to Goodreads.

Thank you Jeremy Flagg for the chance to win fabulous prizes!

Come on boys and ghouls!  It's time to hop on Route 666 for a spooktacular Paranormal Road Trip.

This week's stop is Spokane, Washington and our special guide is Cathy Clamp author of the Tales of the Sazi series and the spin-off Luna Lake series, including new release ILLICIT.

Spokane's Top 5 Spooky Places
The Sazi of Luna Lake novels are set in rural northeastern Washington in Ferry County. Just to the west of Ferry County, and where the residents go to shop and interact with regular humans is Spokane, which has a rich history of hauntings, owing to the gold mines that made the fortunes, or were the deaths of many fortune seekers.

Clark Mansion.  One such fortune seeker was Patrick (known to his friends as “Patsy”) Clark. At the young age of 18, Patsy made his way to the United States from Ireland and quickly mastered the art of mining. He made his way up through the ranks of some of the most well known mines in western America, including the Comstock lode in Nevada, and the Alice Mine in Montana, until he was ready to be owner of his own mines: The Poor Man mine in Spokane and The Republic mine in Ferry County. Patsy and his bride, Mary, lived in the Clark Mansion until their deaths in 1915 and 1923, when it was sold to investors. It wasn’t until the 1970s that the hauntings began and nobody really knows why they started, as the house was never reported to have been the subject of any tragedies. But former employees of the restaurant that it eventually became report strange happenings. Wine bottles are tossed about, voices of at least three entities can be heard in the basement and cold spots and chilled breezes from nowhere are reported.

Mirabeau Park Hotel.  Set among 76 surrounding lakes and multiple golf courses, this luxury resort in Spokane has several permanent (and transparent) residents. A reported suicide of a guest in a room near the front desk has resulted in a spirit who asks night bellman and maids for extra towels but disappears before they can get a room number. The ghosts of a woman and her two children have also been seen by guests and staff alike, and while most of the sightings have been mundane or simply mysterious, some have been frightening. There are also some rooms that more sensitive employees refuse to enter for reasons they can’t explain.

Greenwood Cemetery.  While a haunted cemetery might seem almost like the norm in any major city, Greenwood Cemetery goes a step above. A thousand steps, actually. The staircase at Greenwood Cemetery was supposedly the site of satanic rituals in the past and visitors report that they are unable to make it to the top of the stairs because the disembodied faces of the men, women and children sacrificed appear to prevent them from going further as they climb. Those who have made it to the top report shrieks and cries of the dead greet them and rain pelts their skin, although they never get wet. Don’t try to visit this one, though. The thousand step staircase is on private property and access renovations to the cemetery have made the staircase obsolete.

The Davenport Hotel.  Louis Davenport loved the hotel he built in 1914. In fact, he lived there, in Suite 1105, until his death in 1951. He was reported to have said “I never want to leave here,” before he died. And according to staff, he never did. He died in his beloved room, as did his wife Verus, in 1967. Suite 1105 still houses their spirits. During renovations, wiring blew back and forth in the breeze while workers watched. Except there was no breeze. The windows were sealed and the electricity was off to do the work. Party noisemakers are often reported heard near the room. That sort of makes sense, since the first event in the hotel was a New Years Eve party.  There’s also a spirit haunting the mezzanine in 1920's vintage party wear, walking back and forth through a door. Ellen MacNamara supposedly fell to her death through the lobby skylight by walking through the same door. Employees report that Louis Davenport always seems to appear when guests need attending to. One bellman believes that a ‘legacy of supreme hospitality’ isn’t such a bad spirit for a hotel to have.

Monaghan Hall.  No trip down the paranormal highway in Spokane would be complete without Monaghan Hall on the Gonzaga University campus. James Monaghan was another Irishman who made the rags to riches journey because of the mines. Except he wasn’t a miner.  He was a trader and shipper who contracted with the U.S. mail and Army to haul freight, and with steamboat and ferry companies to bring goods to the bustling mine area. By 1909 he was a millionaire. He became a county commissioner and justice of the peace and by the time of his death in 1916 of natural causes, “Spokane Jim” had a funeral procession that was one of the largest in the city’s history. Jim was among the first graduating class of Gonzaga College and was later donated heavily to the Jesuit-run learning institution. There are any number of rumors about how Monaghan Hall came to be haunted.

One of the most widely believed is that a young seminary student hanged himself in the attic and it’s his spirit that roams the halls. But organ music can often be heard as well, and reportedly, it’s the same music heard at Spokane Jim’s funeral. Another tie to Monaghan is that a photograph of the donor, lying in state, was supposedly found by an historical society in a hole in a dirt wall in the basement of the Hall that shows the crucifixes around his coffin upside down. A housekeeper reported that attempts to burn the photograph failed and it was buried there instead. A former director of music, responding to the reports of hauntings, began to sleep on his office couch and was frequently awakened by the sound of phantom flautists and organists and also by doors opening and shutting with nobody there.  There are varying reports of “rituals” being done in the 1970s (although the university does not admit to any sort of exorcism being done) to remove the entities that witnesses reported would cause feelings of tingling skin, paralysis and a strangling sensation.

Thank you Cathy for giving us such a haunting tour of Spokane! 
Learn more about Cathy Clamp and her books by visiting her website.  You can add ILLICIT here on Goodreads.


What did you think of Cathy's picks for spooky places?
On our last Paranormal Road Trip we visited Houma, Louisianna with Madison Granger.

Join us for another spine-tingling Paranormal Road Trip...
if you dare!

And don't miss our Q+A with Cathy Clamp from our From the Shadows blog archives.  We talk about casting for the first Luna Lake novel FORBIDDEN, favorite supernatural talents, and more!

CLUB NEXUS is on sale for a limited time.  This week you can grab an ebook copy on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and iTunes for just 99 cents!


Club Nexus (Ivy Granger, Psychic Detective #2.5) by E.J. Stevens

A demon, a human, an Unseelie faerie, and a vampire walk into a bar...

This Ivy Granger series special contains four intertwining stories set in Club Nexus, the hidden haunt of Harborsmouth's paranormal underworld.

ICED
A bargain gone wrong leads a highborn Unseelie faerie to life as an enslaved bartender with a taste for revenge.

DUSTED
Being a highly skilled predator doesn't necessarily put you at the top of the food chain at Club Nexus. A southern vampire with a hankering for blood and wanton violence may have bit off more than he can chew.

DEMONIZED
The demon attorney we love to hate has his eye on a certain rockabilly human. Too bad she's brought a crossbow loaded with holy water dipped bolts for this night on the town.

JINXED
Just when Jinx needs a carefree girl's night out with Ivy, a smoking hot demon tries to buy her a drink.  She really is the unluckiest human on the planet.

Club Nexus is a great introduction into the award-winning urban fantasy world of Ivy Granger.

Genre: Urban Fantasy, Dark Fantasy
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