Merry Summer Solstice!

🌞Solstice Blessings, my pagan friends, and to those of you down under, Merry Winter Solstice!🔥

Here is an excerpt from the short story, My Vampire Boyfriend, available in the anthology, My Vampire Boyfriend (A Redcliffe Anthology):

            Jack brought the boat ashore on a tiny beach about a mile around the headland from Redcliffe Bay. He leaped down into the shallow water and waded towards the sand, leaving me to follow. He was angry about my telepathic wandering with Danny. I didn’t blame him. I would be angry too if he did that to me. Sighing heavily, I gripped the side of the boat and climbed out, yelping in surprise when the freezing water hit my bare feet and ankles. Jack simply turned his face towards me and smirked, and I glared at him, cursing as I splashed noisily towards the beach.
            “Oh, you think this is funny, do you, Jack Mason?” I shouted as I moved, “Well, I’ll show you!”
            “Come and get me,” Jack taunted, spreading his arms wide and peering at me over the rim of his sunglasses, “Witch.”
            I could feel tremors of magical energy flitting through my body after my interaction with Danny. My fingertips seemed to shoot sparks out into the water, and it even appeared to bubble around me like a cooking pot. Jack stood watching me from further up the beach, and I saw his expression change as he sensed my magic flaring. I knew that when I returned his gaze, my eyes were glowing with green fire, and I smiled. Jack returned the smile, but this time I saw his fangs. He was warning me, but his intention had the opposite effect. I launched myself onto the beach, running towards him as fast as I could, harnessing some of his vampire energy to match his speed. He laughed and raced away from me, and I laughed wickedly, delighting in our game.
            Finally, I caught up with him, threw myself onto his back, and knocked him down onto the beach. We rolled around together as he crushed his lips to mine, gripping my head possessively, nipping me with his razor-sharp teeth. I rode him hard, ripping away his jeans and t-shirt, baring his white skin to the sun. He flinched a little, but I felt him draw on my magic to shield him, and I allowed it. He was my vampire, and I would protect him. I lifted his sunglasses, blocking the sun with my body, and I lost myself in his silver gaze.
            There was a cool wind blowing, a threat of rain in the air, but neither of us felt it, or even cared. Jack didn’t need warmth, and I was enveloped in my magic and the energy of the werewolves. It followed me out here, creeping around the bay from Redcliffe, oozing from the rock that towered above us. They were probably up there in the woods, stalking prey, sensing that I was below them. I didn’t seek them out. I simply welcomed their protection, and their power. 

Download your FREE copy of It’s Complicated (A Redcliffe Short Story) and meet the werewolves of Cornwall, England.  Click here. 

“My New Master” inside The Mirador Fantasmagoria

My New Master is available inside The Mirador Fantasmagoria, on Amazon Kindle and in paperback.

Mirador Publishing invited submissions of short stories celebrating the Weird and the Wonderful. We were overwhelmed by the number and the quality of entries. Choosing the winners proved to be a monumental task. Our criteria centred on the gifts of storytelling and imagination. We believe these should be the overriding considerations, for the exploration of the human condition through the story telling process. We take great pleasure in presenting this selection by some of the world's most promising new writers and we look forward to working with these immensely talented story tellers on future projects. Have fun and lose yourself in the wonderful Mirador Fantasmagoria.

Click here to buy the book.

Are you Team Jack or Team Danny? Sign up now and receive your FREE copy of It’s Complicated from #TheRedcliffeNovels series set in Cornwall, England.

Do You Want Something Dark and Sexy for Summer? #ASMSG

Then read the short stories from My Vampire Boyfriend (A Redcliffe Short Story Anthology). Set in the fictional seaside town of Redcliffe in Cornwall, we explore the sexual and spiritual awakening of young witch Jessica Stone and her involvement with the Mason brothers; one vampire, the other an alpha werewolf. Has that give you a sexy thrill of desire? Excellent! Read on…

Did you enjoy this article? Join my tribe today, and I will send you a fabulous FREE book to get you started… (be warned, my vampires do not sparkle, and my wolves will bite!) 

My Vampire Boyfriend & Valentines Book Signing Event

I have been very quiet on the book front for the past ten months or so, and with good reason. I am still writing, but I am also planning and organizing my books and their design. One challenge has been that of the book cover, and to that end I am in the process of having professional covers designed for some of my self-published books, in keeping with the contemporary Gothic feel of my work. Today I give you My Vampire Boyfriend (A Redcliffe Short Story Anthology) - what do you think?

Grab your copy of the anthology today, then come and see me in Telford this weekend so we can discuss all things Gothic, vampire and magical... I'm bringing my Tarot cards! 

Did you enjoy this article? Join my tribe today, and I will send you a fabulous FREE book to get you started… (be warned, my vampires do not sparkle, and my wolves will bite!) 

New Books for Boxing Day

Alright, who got a shiny new Kindle for Christmas? Or a stack of books? Do share news of your hauls, I love to indulge. Perhaps I can interest you in some discounted books to download on your new device…

Did you enjoy this article? Join my tribe today, and I will send you a fabulous FREE book to get you started… (be warned, my vampires do not sparkle, and my wolves will bite!) 

Happy Birthday, Book Lover! #amreading #ASMSG

It's my birthday, woo-hoo!!! I have had a very busy week, because we celebrated our elder daughter's 5th birthday just a couple of days ago. Naturally it turned into a big celebration involving two parties, two cakes, and lots of crazy kids running riot. Today I am taking the day off (well, sort of, I mean I still have to do some mothering outside of school). I am going out for afternoon tea with a friend.

Now, since I can't very well share my birthday cake with you here online, I have another treat to share: grab your FREE COPY of my brand new short story It's Complicated (A Redcliffe Short Story) while I am in a good mood... hurry! Have a fabulous weekend my friends.

Unfinished Business, Short Stories and New Novels

I have been looking through my files of short stories, searching for something to post on my blog. It occurred to me that I have several short stories, but about three of them are variations of the same theme, as yet unfinished. I have a few more still in progress, and the completed ones have already been shared. I have also finished writing a couple of novels and started another one. Oops! I tend to start something, then get distracted, and return to it at a later date. I think it might be time for some file organizing and spring cleaning, so I can figure out where I stand with works in progress.

In the meantime, you can view my edited short stories at Wattpad and a Redcliffe werewolf story on my author website or in the young adult anthology The Mirador Fantasmagoria. You can also find a vampire short story published under my maiden name Catherine Hargreaves in Devils, Demons and Werewolves.

Happy reading!

A Redcliffe Short Story: It’s Complicated

Join my tribe today, and I will send you a fabulous FREE book to get you started… (be warned, my vampires do not sparkle, and my wolves will bite!) 

“Sally, would you take bloods from Mr Kelner in bed 3 please?” asked Sister Bond, my supervisor,  “and then assist Doctor Wayne with the patient in bed 1.” she added in her clipped, efficient tone.   

 I nodded and hurried away to fulfill my tasks, several in an everlasting list at this busy city hospital in the English Riviera.  Well, that’s what people call Devon and Cornwall isn’t it?  No matter, I love this place, even if it is work.  I love my job, I love my home, and I love my friends.  Life is good.

But life isn’t perfect, not by a long shot.  I’m still single, despite my best attempts to seduce my boss.  And I don’t mean my boss at the hospital.  Nope, I have two jobs.  By day I’m a mild-mannered, efficient, NHS nurse at my local hospital.  But in my personal life, I am third in command to the Redcliffe werewolf pack.  Yes, that’s right, we do exist!  And that is where my life becomes complicated.  Not because I’m a werewolf, although that can be confusing at times.  Especially around the full moon when I have to work with sick and wounded patients, and their blood smells so good, and all I can see is food when I’m supposed to care for them. 

No, being a werewolf is easy.  I’m powerful and strong, which is why I am a deputy pack leader.  The complicated part is my alpha male, Danny Mason, and his lieutenant, Simon Bunce.  You see, I am in love with Danny, and so is Simon.  I am certain that Danny loves me too, but he won’t commit to a relationship because he cares deeply for Simon.  Danny isn’t gay, but he and Simon share a special relationship, and for that he makes exceptions.  And this is where the complications arise. 

Danny has only recently returned to Redcliffe after a long mission working undercover for the police in Scotland.  That is a whole different story.  While he was gone, Simon and I commanded the pack.  Simon took over as alpha male, and I was alpha female.  I still am in some ways, since Danny won’t choose a mate, but I still fall in line behind Simon because he is stronger than me, and Danny defers everything to him. 

“Nurse Frost, did you hear me?” asked Doctor Wayne, rousing me from my thoughts.  I shook my head, cleared my throat, and ducked my head in an embarrassed gesture. 

“Sorry, Doctor Wayne, what did you say?” I asked politely.  But it was too late. 

Doctor Marianne Wayne couldn’t stand dreamers, and she especially couldn’t stand me.  Here in the hospital she was a successful cardio surgeon, with a track record of success and a skill with new medical techniques.  At five feet and ten inches tall she dwarfed my petite frame.  I knew she was jealous of my naturally blond hair, but what really upset her was my superiority outside of work.  Doctor Wayne is a member of our pack, and she wants the job of alpha female.  But in wolf form, I overpower her in every way.  She could never challenge me because I would win, and she knows that.  So at work, in the hospital, she makes my life a living hell.