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Title: Beautiful Freaks
Author: Katie M. John
Series: Stand Alone
Genre: YA/Paranormal/Gothic/Romance
Publisher: Little Bird Publishing House, London
Release Date: Ebook October 2012 Print February 2013
Edition/Formats Available In: Currently just ebook print coming soon Feb 14 2013.

Synopsis:

**** A PARANORMAL GOTHIC DETECTIVE TALE ****

Between these pages you will find yourself transported back in time to the high Gothic. Victorian London.

The year is 1899 and both the century and the Queen are dying.

As the London populace is gripped by a terrifying series of paranormal murders, eighteen year old Kaspian Blackthorne finds himself on a decadent journey of self discovery. Victorian London is a place where appearance is everything, but sometimes appearances can be deceiving. Behind the grand houses, carriages and silks, London is a dark labyrinth of sorrow and violence. Amongst the gambling dens, dancehalls, and brothels you’ll find No 7, known to its members as Eve’s; the most exclusive club in London, infamous for its ‘Palace of Beautiful Freaks’.

Each exhibit has a history, each their own unique story.

Purchase Links:

Amazon UK | Amazon US | Smashwords

Goodreads

Author Bio:

Katie. M John is a writer of YA, Dark Fairytales, Contemporary Paranormal Fantasy and Horror.

She lives in the London suburbs, is married to a dashingly handsome giant and is mummy to a 3ft Mud-puddle Fairy. Katie likes to write whilst eating Jaffa cakes and listening to her i-Pod.

Katie’s Contemporary Arthurian series, ‘The Knight Trilogy’ was launched in December 2010 with the release of ‘The Forest of Adventures’ and the subsequent release of ‘Immortal Beloved’ in 2011. Both books have been in the UK top 10 Amazon charts for Contemporary Fantasy and Fairytales. The final book ‘Star Fire’ was released this summer.

She has recently released a standalone YA novel called ‘Beautiful Freaks’, a steam punk, Victorian Gothic detective fairytale in London, which has gained a loyal fan base.

She is currently working on a seven book series called the ‘Pentacle Chronicles’, a tale of witchcraft and other supernatural happenings in a quaint English village.

She is a founding member of Dark Heart & Night Shade; a twice yearly anthology publication that showcases emerging YA talent.

Author Links:

Blog | Beautiful Freaks Website | Website | Facebook: Beautiful Freaks | Twitter | Goodreads

Excerpt:

Chapter One

Kaspian pondered his eighteen years as he walked through the evening gloom of the London streets. The rain had forced most people inside, creating the impression that the great metropolis had turned into a ghost town. Kaspian liked walking at times like this. It made him feel as if he were walking through his own silent empire.

Then he saw her.

She was standing under the streetlight, a newspaper held out in front of her as if she were reading it. Kaspian thought it obvious that she wasn’t; she was watching the church on the other side of the cobbled street. He stopped midstride and pulled himself behind a tree; spied on her as she took a pocket-watch from her pocket and flip open the lid. He thought it strange she should read it by placing flat in front of her eyes rather than looking down on it – it was as if she were taking a reading from a compass. Kaspian looked over to where she was watching. The church was empty and he couldn’t fathom what could possibly be of interest. The lights were out, the door locked, and the whole place had the impression of sleeping.

The woman was tall and slender; striking in a slightly over-powerful way. Despite wearing a full, black silk skirt, the fitted waistcoat and black necktie were more manish in dress than ladylike. Kaspian had never seen a woman like her, although he had heard of ‘her sort’ as Heartlock’s companions would say.

When he looked closer, he could see she wore a monocle in her left eye and was at least ten years younger than he’d guessed from the first impression: twenty one was the age he now settled on in his mind.

She must have sensed him looking at her because she turned towards him and, seeing him poking out from behind a tree, smiled. It was a strange reaction to the discovery that someone was spying on you. The boldness of her action unsettled Kaspian in a way he couldn’t quite understand. He bent down, pretending that he had been about to tie his shoelaces. When he was sure she had returned to her own secret observations, he scuttled past her and almost ran all the way to the safety of home.

By the time he pushed open the imposing, black front door, Kaspian carried the strangest sense that something deep within him had changed, and things would never be quite as before.

Book Title: Sliding Beneath the Surface (Book 1)
Release Date: August 24, 2011
Series: The St. Augustine Trilogy
Author: Doug Dillon
Print Length: 166 Pages
Genre: YA Paranormal
Presented by: As You Wish Tours

Hello St. Augustine Fans! Let’s not forget the YA Paranormal Fans!

For two days, the Kindle version for Sliding Beneath the Surface will be available FOR FREE on Amazon.com—a special promotion. Those days will be May 18th & 19th. Spread the word and tell everyone you know about this wonderful opportunity.

BRIEF SYNOPSIS:

In old St. Augustine, Florida, fifteen-year-old Jeff Golden’s recurring dream of being stabbed in the chest and bleeding all over his bed is driving him crazy. It’s causing him to lose sleep and giving him severe headaches. When his psychically gifted friend Carla and an ornery Native American shaman named Lobo try to help, Jeff is inundated with terrifying paranormal Reaching out of Florida’s distant past, something increasingly entangles Jeff in tentacles of danger that threaten his sanity and eventually his life. But the harder he tries to understand, the deeper he gets. When comprehension finally dawns though, time has almost run out. Lobo does his best to prepare Jeff for what he must face in order to survive but it may be too little and It’s at this point that both Jeff and Carla find themselves swept headlong into an alternative reality from which they may never return. If they don’t quickly and fully adapt to this situation, all hope is lost. From Lobo they know how it might be possible to change what is happening but the question is, can they? Repeatedly, Lobo has told both teens, “You create your own reality whether in this world or in another.” If acted upon properly, that advice just might save their lives and end suffering on an even wider scale.

BLURB:

A new resident of America’s oldest and most haunted city, St. Augustine, Florida, fifteen-year-old Jeff Golden suddenly finds himself up to his eyeballs in frightening paranormal experiences. At the end of his rope in trying to figure out what is happening to him, Jeff decides to rely on his friend Carla Rodriguez, and Lobo, an old Native American shaman, for help.

Despite this guidance, things get even worse. Jeff’s spine tingling encounters increase in number and intensity at an alarming rate, scaring him even more. Eventually, he makes the startling discovery that unresolved circumstances involving a bloody event directly out of Florida’s distant past threatens his sanity and possibly his life.

Finally, overwhelmed by forces he cannot understand or control, Jeff’s world shifts from frightening to downright terrifying. In desperation, and on Lobo’s advice, he leaps headlong into the unknown in order to save himself. What Jeff discovers though is that he has entered a level of reality he is completely unprepared to handle while unwittingly dragging Carla with him.

Like all the books in THE ST. AUGUSTINE TRILOGY, the premise for Sliding Beneath the Surface is simply this: You create your own reality.

EXCERPT:

With a final laugh, Carla coughed, caught her breath, and said, “That alarm system is Lobo‘s way of scaring off unwanted visitors without actually having to use real dogs. So, are you finally “Anything to get away from you letting me get attacked by wild dogs,” I said, trying to sound serious, even though I realized I probably had looked pretty silly.

“Oh poor baby,” Carla said with one of her sly, sexy smiles.

God she looks so good when she smiles. I mean she looks good all the time, but her smiles are something else, like a flash of warm sunshine. Ruining the moment, the screech of a power saw sliced the air for a short time and stopped. It sounded like it came from the small, unpainted building. I remembered hearing that saw noise from Carla‘s back yard.

“He‘s in his workshop,” she said. “Not good. He doesn‘t like being interrupted when he‘s concentrating on his carvings. He might even be a little grumpier than usual, so try not to be “Great, can‘t wait.” I groaned, massaging my left temple with the tips of my fingers when Carla turned away. “Sounds like so much freakin‘ fun.” The idea of facing some bad tempered old man was not really how I wanted to end my day, you know? Bad dream or no bad dream. By then though, we were approaching Mr. Lobo‘s beat-up truck. To the left of the truck, light shown between the blinds of the two large windows in the workshop, but I couldn‘t really see anything “Being sarcastic isn‘t going to make things any better,” Carla said. “We‘re not here to have fun, we‘re here to get you some help, OK?” She sounded like a mother taking her child to see the doctor for the first time.

“Yes, momma,” I kidded, using a squeaky child‘s voice, “I promise I‘ll be good.”

Carla rolled her eyes, shook her head and punched me in the arm. “You are absolutely hopeless sometimes.” When I say punch, I mean punch! For a small person, she packs a wallop.