Legacy of the Hough Family: Ancestral Connections from St. Johnsville NY to Janesville WI, by Cora Lee Perry Palma

 I've been leaning heavy on the self promo this year, and while this is sort of that, it also isn't. Writing does seem to thread through the genes of my family, though, which is why my current WIP at the time of this blog entry is a cozy paranormal mystery that I'm adapting from an old script written long ago by my mom. It's a challenge to fill in the gaps of a story--written by Mom--that, while needing to fix a few plot holes still maintains the intent and ambience of the original work. We don't want to offend Mom by changing up her story, after all, but that writing group critic inside me can see spots that need improvement. It's coming along well--I think--but wish me well in reaching the goal: a published work that incudes my mom's name on it.

Cover Image courtesy of the author
link to Amazon Page

Speaking of writing running through the family genes, the book in the title, Legacy of the Hough Family, comes from a cousin of mine, Cora Lee Perry Palma. Her specialty is genealogy, mostly connected to her family--which extends into mine, and is rooted in the history of families throughout the Mohawk Valley of Central New York State. She has focused on the Hough family lineage, particularly in the village of St. Johnsville NY for this one, so it is a specialty read. Still, if your genealogy search has brought you here because of the right topic tags, I highly recommend that you check this book out. It's personal to the Hough family lineage, but if you're a Hough (or by extension, a Central NY Perry), it's worth a perusal. Cora Lee also has a more detailed book, From the Pear Tree: Historical Heritage of the Perry - Hanlon Family, that this new book compliments.

Am I in this book? No, thank goodness because my life is booorrring! But I do have a connecting lineage in this book that is pretty darned cool. Therefore, it's kinda (but not) self promotion. I've got some cool ancestors, though, and I don't care what anyone else says because that makes me cool. LOL... Do people say lol anymore? Doesn't matter. Still cool.

This Cold Night, a ghost story novella by Erica Schaef

 

Cover Image courtesy of
Brigids Gate Press 

A solid ghost tale reminiscent of Shirley Jackson.

A funeral. A family in mourning. One girl who may not be blood, but stands by her family, by her adopted home. This is one cold night with the family back together. But something is amiss in the old mansion full of fond memories, and one by one something plans to make it their home forever. 

This is a ghost story, pure and simple. A solid entry from author Schaef and Brigids Gate Press. 

Click on the cover image above for the Amazon link. 

Take a Ride into the Weird Wild West with KC Grifant and Her 2nd Installment of the Melinda West Series

Cover Image courtesy of
Brigids Gate Press, LLC

Once again, KC Grifant offers up an entertaining, genre bending read with Melinda West and the Gremlin Queen. I had the fortune of reading the first installment of the Melinda West series over a year ago, and this second installment is just as imaginative as the first with an obvious tease for a third installment at the end.

I do recommend picking up Melinda West, Monster Gunslinger and reading it first in order to get to know the main characters and the Weird West world that they live in. It also sets up some important elements about Melinda’s backstory and her struggle with PTSD that might be confusing if you go into book two blind. But if you’re a series reader, this mashup of Wild West, Horror and even SciFi promises to have some longevity.

As with the first, this installment is plot centric and pulpy, and I feel like it pulls its story from a wellspring of pop culture Scifi reimagined for a Wild West world, with the obvious hat tip to Gremlins. There are touches of Alien, and the Borg in Star Trek comes to mind, but the story is still its own story and not some rehash dressed in Western duds. Also, Grifant populates the piece with a diverse cast.

I want to thank Brigids Gate and Grifant for approving this ARC request via NetGalley. And one final shoutout for the striking cover! Click on the cover image above, or the link below for purchase options: 

https://brigidsgatepress.com/product/melinda-west-and-the-gremlin-queen

Another Self Promo Post --This Time for Reals

 And I know, the last blog entry about an anthology barely included me in it -- the Dancer anthology -- which had a couple of my haikus and a lot of short horror gems from other writers. But this time I need to give a shoutout to Graveside Press and this beautiful horror anthology called Tiny Terrors: Spring 2025.

I have checked out Graveside Press in the past, and was blown away by A Mortuary for Songs by Elizabeth Guilt in particular. It inspired me to submit something to an open call for submissions, and I did, never thinking it would get accepted. But it did, and here it is: The Body and the Blood, among a list of over thirty stellar pieces by various authors. It's fresh out, as of today and while I haven't had time to read all of the stories in it yet, I have read a few. So let me touch on those three because, again, I was blown away.

The ones I chose at random to read gave nods to classic horror authors while maintaining their own originality.

Lawyer, Captain, Cook by Kevin Oldham tells the tale of a lawyer who makes a disturbing bargain while on a privateering journey across the high seas in order to save his own skin, as it were...

The Echo and the Altar by P. N. Harrison pays respects to Lovecraft, as a son discovers the reasons behind his veteran father's PTSD.

The Confession of R. N. Renfield (Undated and Unread) by Kay Hanifen presents Stoker's side character from Dracula and gives him an intriguing backstory.

and then there's mine, The Body and the Blood, about a priest on the edge of losing his faith until he finds himself locked inside his church with others taking refuge at the dawn of a zombie apocalypse. George Romero is mentioned... 

Okay, maybe my entry has a totally different tone, but that's the beauty of this anthology. There's a little something for the niche horror fan and a whole lot of everything for the general horror fan. The writing of the above three mentioned stories is stellar, and I give props to the Graveside Press editors who tackled mine. So go to the direct link at Graveside Press, or go to your favorite book retailer and buy your copy. It's a worthwhile edition to any horror reader's collection.

click for sales link

Self Promo Time—But Not Really: Reviewing Dancer, A HauntedMTL Charity Anthology

Cover Image
Courtesy of Czykmate Books

So, I’m between a rock and a hard place with this unique little anthology of horror. You see, I'm in it, and I have made a commitment to refrain from rating my own work. My contribution to this collection consists of two haikus, six total lines within 150 pages. So maaaayyybeee I can review it? Without technically rating it? The haikus are fantastic (haha jk), but seriously, the collection of short stories and poetry is worth a look. Standouts for me include:

Kevin Hollaway's graveyard crime story Unrest

Nicole Luttrell's environmental horror piece Everything Is Fine

Sci-fi horror The Hunger Between the Stars by Kody Greene

Kathy Sherwood's The Roadside Room about a dangerous one night stand

Glenn B. Dungan's weird The Bug Room about a boy and sentient bugs with cryptic lessons

Rob Swystun's touch of folk horror with Canta Hotinza, about a mysterious construction site spreading across the land

But that’s not all. Sarah Das Gupta has both poetry and short stories of merit, and the rest of the collection has the potential to resonate with readers of a variety of tastes and interests.

Better yet, the curator of this collection, Jim Phoenix, plans to give the proceeds of this book to a worthy charity, the children of Ukraine. Anthologies are a great way to get in a touch of reading when you’re too busy to commit to a full fledged novel. And this one is for a great cause! Check it out. I recommend it even if I’m technically a part of it. My part is two cents worth of the entire book, so I think I might get a pass this time. 😉

Find it here, or wherever you choose to buy your books.