A Snippet from Hellbender.

My first snippet for Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday is taken from my Appalachian dark fantasy novel, Hellbender (Raw Dog Screaming Press).

Description:There are some strange things happening at the edge of reality where love is forever even when death isn’t and where magic doesn’t have to be seen to be believed.

Henry Collins' quiet life is changed forever the day he buries his little sister.

Her death forces him to enter a strange world whose very existence he spent his whole life denying--a dark wilderness where the old magic thrives--a place far darker and deadlier than the Appalachia he grew up in. To avenge his sister Henry must slip past the boundaries of logic and reason to a place where the only reality is survival. He won't be able to come home until his life is no longer simple, his heart no longer kind.

This is a tale of star-crossed lovers and civil revenge by uncivil hands, written in blood that is barely thicker than water.

--

If I could’ve carried her by myself, I would have. But just the weight of the pine and spruce box was more than I could bear alone. The linens that covered her body and her clothes, the last she’d ever wear, made her heavier. The coins that covered her eyes added a few ounces more.

I could’ve carried her, by herself, forever.

January wasn’t a kind time for a burial, but we don’t get to choose. Old Christmas hid the sun behind a flat grey wall of clouds. January has a way of taking a person's optimism and crushing it beneath its bony heel.

I’d take June, when long days kept wayward pessimism at bay for just a few hours more, when blackberry blossoms spilt over old stone fences while young rabbits got fat and lazy. I’d take Solstice over Old Christmas any day.

--

Check out other author snippets at the official site: Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday

(BAD) LOVE IS IN THE AIR! Get THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK free for your Kindle for some Valentine's Day reading. Promotion starts today.

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Double Fantasy Working Version

Buy the book on Amazon.

From THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK:

    Mick watched from his stool, arms crossed. After a moment to let me calm down he replied with sudden earnestness, "I suppose you have to ask yourself if it's worth it. You think I saw the Beatles on Ed Sullivan and went to bed that night dreaming about running a music shop? My band gigged five or six nights a week anywhere we could—roller rinks, amusement parks. But you know what? I met a girl and had some kids. Now I have grandkids. I figure my life's okay. Not what I'd hoped, but okay." Mick stiffened as a pair of high school students came in. They headed straight back to Stu's drum kit.
    "And at least once a day I ask myself, what if I'd have kept at it for another year more?" Mick waved me aside. Once his line of sight cleared he relaxed. "What if I'd have given it another year?"

Had a John Lennon dream this morning. First one ever, despite having written one into my book. It's a weird one, so hang on: Heidi and I were locked in the Uniontown Burger King after hours. There was a music festival across the street at Mt. St. Macrina, and we were hanging out with some type of R&B band before they went on, singing and playing guitar and fooling around. At first it was just the seven of us, but then the place got more crowded. John was sitting in a corner with Sean. John was wearing that silver puffy jacket from the late Seventies.

He showed me a few videos of Sean fooling around in the studio--the only thing I really remember was Sean holding a guitar and singing "Two of Us", except he changed the lyrics to "Three of us," a reference to him and John and Yoko. We sat there awkwardly for a moment, then I started telling him about my situation with my dad--how after not speaking to him for most of my adult life we finally reconciled. Then how just a year after that he had a stroke that would mean I'd never get him back the way I hoped.

The last bit we discussed was his new stuff, especially DOUBLE FANTASY. I asked how working with Yoko differed from working with Paul, or even just competing with Paul. John didn't acknowledge the comment except to say he felt the Seventies were a really creative time for him, and that being in the studio recently was a lot of fun.

That's all I can remember, try as I might to get a little more of the dream back.

Download the DOUBLE FANTASY WORKING VERSION at Sugarmegs.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono
Double Fantasy Working Version
MBE CD
69 Minutes
CD/EAC/WAV/FLAC

1. Starting Over (Intro Session)
2. Starting Over
3. I'm Your Angel
4. Beautiful Boy (With Sean's "oyasuminasai" ("good night")
5. Don't Be Scared
6. Watching the Wheels
7. Everyman Has A Woman
8. I'm Losing You ***
9. Walking On Thin Ice
10 Dear Yoko
11 Woman
12 I'm Moving On (Cheap Trick Version)
13 Clean Up Time
14 Hard Times Are Over
15 I'm Stepping Out
16 I Don't Wanna Face It
17 Nobody Told Me
18 Borrowed Time
19 (Forgive Me) My Little Flower Princess
20 Nobody Sees Me Like You Do

All Unreleased Nothing Official
***I'm Losing You was the Cheap Trick Version released on "John Lennon Anthology" so I replaced it with a unreleased version.