Introducing The Hellfire and Damnation Series by Connie Corcoran Wilson!

The Hellfire and Damnation Series by Connie Corcoran Wilson is a tour of the 9 Circles of Hell described in Dante's Inferno. It uses the framing device of the sins punished at each of the 9 Circles of Hell. If you enjoy scary short stories that will linger long after you've finished reading them, these are the books for you.

I was also delighted to learn that the second book of the series will be free to download from Amazon for one day only - Friday, August 25th! Grab yourself a copy as soon as possible.

Meet Connie Corcoran Wilson

Connie (Corcoran) Wilson taught composition at 6 IA/IL colleges and wrote for 5 newspapers. She currently writes for 6 blogs, was named 2008 Content Producer of the Year by Associated Content (2009), Midwestern Writing Center Writer of the Year (March 30, 2010), received the Illinois Women's Press Association Silver Feather Award on June 6, 2012, and has received numerous E-Lit Gold Medal awards for her works, including the first book in The Color of Evil series. She currently is a Featured Contributor for Yahoo, reviewing movies, television, entertainment and politics.

A graduate of the University of Iowa, Berkeley, Western Illinois University, Northern Illinois University and the University of Chicago, she was film and book critic for the Quad City Times during the 70’s and 80’s. Her (Jan., 2011) nonfiction release It Came from the ‘70s: From The Godfather to Apocalypse Now consists of 50 reviews written during the seventies, with 76 photos, major cast and interactive trivia.

Connie’s continuing short story collection, Hellfire and Damnation, stories focused on the 9 Circles of Hell described in Dante's Inferno will soon have a third installment. Her screenplay based on her novel Out of Time was a winner in the 2007 Writer’s Digest competition.

In addition to interviewing Kurt Vonnegut, William F. Nolan, David Morrell, Joe Hill, Frederik Pohl, Jon Land, John Irving and Anne Perry for print and online publications, Connie taught for 33 years, founded and was CEO of 2 businesses (Sylvan Learning Center #3301 and Prometric Testing Center #3301), has a son (Scott) and a daughter (Stacey) born 19 years apart, is married 45 years to husband, Craig. Her twin granddaughters, Ava and Elise, who appear on the cover of her humorous book of essays, Laughing Through Life, turned four on January 11, 2013.

Hellfire and Damnation by Connie Corcoran Wilson (2011)

Length: 124 pages

Purchase your copy from Amazon!

Hellfire and Damnation Blurb:

Hellfire and Damnation is a series of short stories (some based on true stories) organized around Dante's Inferno and the 9 circles of Hell. As William F. Nolan (Logan's Run, Nightworlds) put it, "Her frame for this collection is unique: stories built around Dante's 9 circles of hell, a unifying concept that is classically fresh. Many of these hellish tales are based on truth, amplified into fiction. Her 4 stories set along Route 66 from Missouri through California are all true ghost stories. The final statements of convicted prisoners on Death Row, as they await execution in Georgia, provide the dialogue for the story that takes us through the Gates of Hell, "Hotter than Hell."

Scott Edelman (Sci Fi Weekly) put it this way "Connie (Corcoran) Wilson puts her characters through Hell in Hellfire and Damnation, and with her horrific stories, takes me along to places I did not want to go." Gary Braunbeck (Coffin County, Far Dark Fields) said, Hellfire and Damnation marks her not so much as a writer to watch, but one to watch out for. Exploring the 9 levels of Dante's Inferno via contemporary settings and sensibilities, and the sins punished therein, this collection veers from sinister noir (Going Through Hell) to the bizarrely whimsical (Amazing Andy, the Wonder Chicken) to the outright, no-holds-barred horrific. Never have the 9 Circles of Hell been so much fun. I had a blast following Wilson on her tour of the Inferno, and you will, as well." 

M. J. Turner of Dark Scribe Magazine said, "A unique concept binds the tales in Connie Corcoran Wilson's short story collection Hellfire and Damnation. Unified by the theme of Dante's Inferno and its 9 Circles of Hell, each story corresponds to the sin represented by the circle in which it appears and each takes readers deeper into the bowels of Hell...Subjects of many of the tales in the collection seem ripped straight from the headlines, and Wilson's cool and matter-of-fact style serves only to make the stories more disturbing."

Hellfire and Damnation II by Connie Corcoran Wilson (2012)

Length: 170 pages

Purchase your copy from Amazon!

Hellfire and Damnation II Blurb:

Hellfire and Damnation II by Connie (Corcoran) Wilson is another tour of the 9 Circles of Hell described in Dante's Inferno. It picks up where the first collection of short stories (2011, www.HellfireandDamnationTheBook.com) left off, using the framing device of the sins punished at each of the 9 Circles of Hell in Dante's Inferno.

Winner of the (IWPA) Silver Feather award, sequel to the E-Lit Gold Medal award winner Hellfire  and Damnation, Hellfire and Damnation II as a tour of Dante's Inferno doesn't require that you have read the first collection of short stories, which also illustrated the sins punished at each of the 9 Circles of Hell. There are no recurring characters, but there are 11 short stories, accompanying illustrations and a "From the Author" section explaining the inspiration or each story.

As 5-time Stoker winner Gary Braunbeck said: "I really don't know how she managed to do it, but Wilson surpasses her previous Hellfire and Damnation collection with its sequel. Her writing is stronger, streamlined, and often lyrical, despite the nastiness her words describe. This is another impressive collection of tales from a writer I could very well learn to hate if she gets much better. Seriously, Connie, can't you write just one stinker so the rest of us will feel a little bit better?"

New York Times best-selling author Jon Land, the author of the Caitlin Strong series says: "Connie (Corcoran) Wilson's Hellfire and Damnation II is a remarkable collection of somber, noirish, flat-out scary and altogether satisfying stories that seek to find hope in a dark world that defies it. Her subtle irony and penchant for finding terror in the least expected places will generate comparisons to Stephen King and Ray Bradbury, with just a hint of Philip K. Dick thrown in. But don't be fooled: Wilson has a wondrous voice in her own right and her tight, twisty tales establish her as a force to be reckoned with."

Nate Kenyon, award-winning author of Diablo: The Order and Day One said: "Take a twisted ride through Hell and back with Connie (Corcoran) Wilson's Hellfire and Damnation II.....Frozen corpses, homicidal authors and sociopathic presidential candidates just scratch the surface of this inspired collection. Don't miss it!"

Terrie Leigh Relf, author of The Waters of Nyr and co-author, with Henry Lewis Sanders, of Blood Journey and The Ancient One said, "Whether Connie (Corcoran) Wilson has been visited by Dante's spirit or eavesdropping by Hell's confessionals, Hellfire and Damnation II definitely delivers on its title. There is a fine line between good and evil within these pages. A very fine line. Be careful that you don't teeter into the abyss. From a Norwegian army deserter trapped in Limbo within the Colorado ice to parents pondering the sale of their organs to fund their college-bound son, these stories abound with life's - and death's - ironies."

Brian Pinkerton, author of Rough Cut: "Connie Wilson's new short story collection Hellfire and Damnation II sends the reader spiraling down Dante's 9 Circles of Hell with devilish twists and turns of time and place, across eleven superb short stories."

If you enjoy scary short stories that will linger long after you've finished reading them, this is the book for you.

Hellfire and Damnation III by Connie Corcoran Wilson (2015)

Length: 120 pages

Purchase your copy from Amazon!

Hellfire and Damnation III Blurb:

Hellfire and Damnation III is a third tour of the 9 Circles of Hell described in Dante’s Inferno. Each of the 9 stories illustrate one of the crimes or seven deadly sins punished at that level of Hell.

This third installment in the award-winning series has a large number of stories substantially based on true life events - 7 out of 9. This adds a sense of authenticity to their engrossing plots. Whether the tale centers on a new species of spider or a crazed Satanist urging a mentally challenged young man to commit murder, readers will experience stories of Limbo, lust, gluttony, avarice and prodigality, wrath and sullenness, heresy, the violent, the fraudulent and treachery.

Settings range from New Zealand to Washington state to the Midwest. Each story contains an illustration that helps anchor the setting in the reader’s mind. Cover art for this freaky horror collection is by World Famous Artist Vincent Chong.

May you read well and often

Calling All Book Reviewers!

Hello everyone! :) I hope that you are all having a wonderful day today. I know that I am! ;) Anyway, I recently saw on Facebook that author Kathryn Meyer Griffith is looking for more reviews for some of her books, and because I think she is such a remarkable writer, I thought that I would make a request of all the readers of Emeraldfire's Bookmark.

Like so many authors out there, Ms. Griffith is always on the look out for more reviewers for her books - most specifically her horror novel The Calling. All that is required from these potential reviewers, is a willingness to read the book, and also to write a fair and honest review of what you read. As I've said before, this is just a request of all the readers of my blog - but if you do decide to review this book, I would appreciate it very much! And I know that Ms. Griffith would as well. ;)

Meet Kathryn Meyer Griffith

Since childhood I’ve been an artist and worked as a graphic designer in the corporate world and for newspapers for twenty-three years before I quit to write full time. But I’d already begun writing novels at 21, over forty-two years ago now, and have had twenty (ten romantic horror, two horror novels, two romantic SF horror, one romantic suspense, one romantic time travel, one historical romance and three murder mysteries) previous novels, two novellas and twelve short stories published from Zebra Books, Leisure Books, Avalon Books, The Wild Rose Press, Damnation Books/Eternal Press; and I’ve self-published my last five novels with Amazon Kindle Direct and my dinosaur novels are my best-sellers.

I’ve been married to Russell for thirty-six years; have a son, James, and two grandchildren, Joshua and Caitlyn, and I live in a small quaint town in Illinois, which is right across the JB Bridge from St. Louis, Mo. We have three quirky cats, ghost cat Sasha and Cleo, and live cat Sasha (Too), and the five of us live happily in an old house in the heart of town. Though I’ve been an artist, and a folk singer in my youth with my brother Jim, writing has always been my greatest passion, my butterfly stage, and I’ll probably write stories until the day I die…or until my memory goes.

2012 EPIC EBOOK AWARDS *FINALIST* for my horror novel The Last Vampire - Revised Author’s Edition ~ 2014 EPIC EBOOK AWARDS *FINALIST* for my thriller novel Dinosaur Lake.

Connect and Socialize with Kathryn!

Website * Facebook * Goodreads * Amazon Author Page

The Calling by Kathryn Meyer Griffith (2015)

Length: 339 pages

Purchase your copy from Amazon!

The Calling Blurb:

Faye Summer has been haunted by a three-thousand-year-old-murdered Egyptian princess, one of the five daughters of Nefertiti and the doomed pharaoh Akhenaton, since she was a young girl...and has glimpsed her desperate ghostly face in darkened mirrors and heard her whispers in her dreams. Whispers begging for Faye’s help in uncovering the true story of her and her family’s long ago disappearances and deaths, their terrible fate, so the ghost would no longer be damned to her eternal wandering. On that grave quest, Faye and her husband, Nick, reluctantly travel to Egypt and among the ancient pyramids, sparkling hot sands and the ghosts of the past they discover a truth far worse than they could have imagined and end up fighting for their own survival.

May you read well and often

Book Spotlight For The Comfort of Secrets by Christine Nolfi

Hello Everyone! I hope that you're all having a wonderful day today. As this is her long-awaited Release Day, I'm delighted to welcome award-winning Contemporary Romance author Christine Nolfi author of The Comfort of Secrets - Book 2 of The Sweet Lake Series - to Emeraldfire's Bookmark. This is also my thirty-first Book Spotlight post ever, but I still hope that I do The Comfort of Secrets by Christine Nolfi justice.

About The Comfort of Secrets:

Cat Mendoza needs a win. After a business failure and years of dating the wrong men, she’s ready to turn things around.

First she must convince the residents of Sweet Lake, Ohio, that she’s taking her responsibilities seriously. As the events director of the newly restored Wayfair Inn, she has the support of her best friends, Linnie and Jada. But everyone else - including her overprotective mother and the well-meaning Sweet Lake Sirens - can’t help but chime in with advice about her plans, her apparently too-tight clothes, and her undeniable attraction to Ryan D’Angelo, the charming ad exec hired to promote the inn.

Cat knows she should keep Ryan at a distance, but she’s drawn closer by the heartbreak he tries to hide. Will uncovering his secrets derail the new life Cat hopes to achieve...or will she gain something to cherish forever?

Purchase your copy from Amazon!

Meet Christine Nolfi

Award-winning author Christine Nolfi provides readers with heartwarming and inspiring fiction. Her novel Treasure Me, Liberty Series Book 2, is a Next Generation Indie Awards finalist. The Midwest Book Review lists Second Chance Grill, Liberty Series Book 1, and the other Liberty books as "highly recommended".

Look for Sweet Lake, Book 1 of her new series, on February 28, 2017 and The Comfort of Secrets, Book 2, on July 18, 2017. Visit her at www.christinenolfi.com

Connect and Socialize with Christine!

Website * Twitter * Facebook * Amazon Author Page

May you read well and often

Book Blast For The Raid on Troy by Murray Lee Eiland Jr.

Hello Everyone! I hope that you're all having a wonderful day today. I am delighted to welcome Murray Lee Eiland Jr., author of the young adult historical fantasy novel The Raid on Troy to Emeraldfire's Bookmark. Mr. Eiland will be going on a Virtual Book Blast Tour with Pump up Your Book! lasting through the middle of July. This is also my thirtieth Book Blast post ever, but I still hope that I do The Raid on Troy by Murray Lee Eiland Jr. justice.

About The Raid on Troy:

The Greek raid on Troy is chronicled in the Iliad and the Odyssey. These poems are pillars of ancient literature and continue to be carefully studied. Homer, who lived in the 8th or 7th century BC, is credited as the author. The actual conflict has been dated from 1260-1180 BC or even earlier. The question is, how close is Homer’s account to real history?

In the Orfeo Saga Volume Seven there are some familiar characters from Homer. Their motivations, as well as their history, can be radically different. Memnon is a self-made man and a petty king who craves the fabled gold of Troy. His brother Menas is king of Sparta. They assemble a coalition to sack the city.

Telemon, not eager to join the expedition, is moved to act after his daughter Elena is taken. He seizes the city of Mycenae and goes to Troy. Odysees might not be as clever or brave as the man described in Homer, but he joins the expedition out of greed. He soon meets Orfeo’s son, who is in search of his first real adventure.

Orfeo is on the Trojan side, and has to face the assembled military might of Greece as well as Odysees cunning plans. The Greeks have Ajax, who they count on to defeat any foe in single combat. Can Telemon - now an old man - defeat the greatest Greek warrior and recover his daughter?

The Raid on Troy might not be any closer to real history than the ancient poems, but it does offer insights into what might form the basis of the stories.

Purchase your copy:

Amazon

Meet Murray Lee Eiland Jr.

Dr Eiland is a psychiatrist by training, and has written about Near Eastern art and culture. His novels are set in the heroic past and feature fictional characters in a realistic matrix. He has a special interest in exploring how and why people lead. The books contain themes that are suitable for young adults who have an interest in history.

Connect and Socialize with Murray!

Website * Twitter * Facebook

The Raid on Troy Excerpt:

Memnon knew the ship was hitting the beach. He heard the scraping of the hull against sand and pebbles, and the angle of the deck changed as the prow rose higher. He had not seen the ship’s deck for days, nor had he been permitted to walk around on land for perhaps two years. Slaves on Theran ships were treated with about the same respect as sheep, only slaves could not even be eaten because of some Theran religious prohibition.

Galley slaves were useful, but were neither expensive nor in short supply. At age fourteen, Memnon had seen little else of the world, as he had been seized in a slaver raid as he and his brothers played on an unknown beach now well beyond remembering. He knew he was less than five years old at the time, and now he believed he was nearly fifteen, although no one had been interested in explaining the concept of birthdays to him. Memnon had learned virtually all of what he knew from other slaves in the orchards of Thera, where he had begun his working career by carrying buckets of water to the men who tended the trees and picked the fruit. 

He had been separated from the two older brothers seized at the same time, but recognized one of them as he was taken to his place at an oar on one of the warships the Therans used to exact tribute from various cities; Memnon had occasionally spoken with him when their different groups of oarsmen were allowed on deck. Memnon recognized that his brother burned with rage. Over time, Memnon found himself coming to understand its origin and nature. Although he could not recall much about his life before his abduction, he remembered a world with occasional comforts, and even times of celebration.

May you read well and often

Kathryn Meyer Griffith - Spooky Short Stories

Reread. Spooky Short Stories by Kathryn Meyer Griffith (2013)

Length: 103 pages 

Genre: Horror

Originally Read: 11 August 2014

Reread Finished: 6 July 2017

Where did it come from? Originally I downloaded a copy of this book for free from Amazon in August of 2014. I acquired this book again as a gift to myself in March of 2015.

So back in August of 2014 - August 2nd, to be exact - I downloaded a copy of this book for free from Amazon. Actually, I had initially read all four short stories featured in this book separately over three days in January of 2013 - and after I learned that the book itself was being offered for free back in August of 2014 - I downloaded it immediately. I read the stories again and wrote my review on August 11, 2014. Although I deleted the first copy of the book right after I read it, I had always wanted to be able to reread the book again at some point.

I got my chance to download a second copy of this book back in March of 2015 - March 4th, to be exact - and I downloaded it for free again. I reread the book over three days in July of 2017 - from July 3rd, to July 6th, 2017. I'm keeping this book to read again at some point in the very near future.

May you read well and often

Book Review Campaign For Gossamer by Joni Parker - Come Join Us!

Hello Everyone! I am extremely happy to announce that Joni Parker will be touring the blogosphere to promote her fantasy novel Gossamer. This is Ms. Parker's third virtual book review campaign with Pump up Your Book! It will last until October 3, 2017 so come join us for all the fun!

Gossamer Book Review Campaign Information:

Meet Joni Parker

Joni Parker was born in Chicago, Illinois, but left the windy city at an early age when her family moved to Japan. Upon return to the United States, her family moved to Phoenix, Arizona where she graduated from Camelback High School and began college. However within months, Joni quit college and joined the Navy where she became a Photographer’s Mate.

After 3 years in the Navy, she returned to college and got married. She got a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and an MBA before she returned to the Navy. As a Commissioned Officer, Joni attended the US Army Command and General Staff College, completing a Master of Military Arts and Sciences Degree. She retired from the Navy with over 22 years of service and spent several years traveling the United States in a motorhome with her husband.

When he died unexpectedly, Joni returned to work for the federal government in a civil service job. Five years ago, she started writing and retired once more to devote more time to her new passion. She currently lives in Texas.

Her latest fantasy book is Gossamer - Book Three in The Chronicles of Eledon Series.

Connect and Socialize with Joni!

Website * Facebook * Twitter * Goodreads

About Gossamer:

Lady Alexin, Eledon's Keeper of the Keys must continue to prove her powers when her grandmother, Lady Lestin and her friend, Lady Opaline of the Gossamer Elves are kidnapped by rebels and held for ransom. Alex attempts a daring rescue, only to discover that there is far more to this plot than she immediately suspected and the betrayal extends to the highest levels of the High Council of Elders. Threatened by rebel factions, suspected by Council members and under attack by deadly spiders, the young warrior has only her wits, her fighting skills and the power of the Keys to help her. But will they be enough to save them all?

Praise For The Chronicles of Eledon: Spell Breaker: Book One, 2016 Book Excellence Award Finalist:

"A crisp, clean, straight-forward story; a rich, strong plot; a mind-blowing concept on the lines of parallel worlds; a head-strong protagonist - gave me one of the most fascinating reads..." 

- Preeti posted on Preeti's Panorama and Goodreads

"I personally really enjoyed this book..."

- Teah Mist posted on Goodreads 

The Blue Witch: Book Two: "It is a story of contrasts and double standards and deceit. At the end you will want to grab the next book as soon as you can."

Purchase your copy from Amazon!

May you read well and often

Reading Wrap-up For June at Emeraldfire's Bookmark

Hello everyone out there and I hope that you all had a terrific reading month for yourselves. I am known as Emeraldfire around the Internet and this is my new personal reading blog.

Anyway, I started out June with about two hundred unread books lying around the house and ended the month with...umm...uncountable amounts of books unread. All of the books that I acquired this month came from Bookmooch and Amazon.

Let me try to break down the influx for you:

Changes to the TBR pile

Read from my TBR pile (Yes! I am a reading machine :))
- You Say Tomato, I Say Tomato, She Says Murder: A Short But Sweet Mystery by Duncan Whitehead
- The Best Man: A Dark Comedy by Duncan Whitehead
- Noticing Jamilla: A Tale of Andor by M. K. Theodoratus
- Doom Comes For a Sold Soul: A Tale of Andor by M. K. Theodoratus
- Meg and the Mystery in Williamsburg by Holly Beth Walker
- The Comfort of Secrets by Christine Nolfi

Added to my TBR pile (oh well, you win some and you lose some! :))
- Eleven on Top by Janet Evanovich
- The Power of Alchemy by Genevieve Crownson

Taken off my TBR pile and sent to a new home (Yay! Happy Dance! :))

- You Say Tomato, I Say Tomato, She Says Murder: A Short But Sweet Mystery by Duncan Whitehead
- The Best Man: A Dark Comedy by Duncan Whitehead
- Noticing Jamilla: A Tale of Andor by M. K. Theodoratus
- Doom Comes For a Sold Soul: A Tale of Andor by M. K. Theodoratus
- The Comfort of Secrets by Christine Nolfi

Well, there it is...the breakdown! All in all, a very good reading month for me, considering. Here's a further breakdown:

Books Read: 6
Pages Read: 542
Grade Range: A!

So, there you go! The reading month that was June. I hope that you all had an equally good reading month; if not a little better. :) See you all next month! :)

May you read well and often