New Cover Art: The Monster Hunter's Manual

The Monster Hunter's Manual is the story of Gabriel.  Gabriel is a boy who has just lost everything.  His parents have died and he's forced to move to a strange county, France, to find a new home.  He dislikes his crazy aunt, who he has to live with, he doesn't want to learn French, and to make matters worse, the only real family he has left is his whinny, baby brother.  Despite all this, as soon as Gabriel enters his aunt's ancient castle, he realizes that all these disasters might be the beginning of a grand adventure.  In the castle of Chateau Larcher, the walls groan and the attic talks.  Shadows take on strange shapes and Gabriel becomes convinced the castle is haunted.  But the ghosts in Chateau Larcher aren't what Gabriel expects and he soon learns that skeletons aren't always scary and ghosts can tell the most interesting stories.  Even Aunt Perrine can end up being the most powerful monster hunter in the world.

The Monster Hunter's Manual is my first children's book and the first in a series of books which will chronicle the adventures of Gabriel and Alex.  Hopefully, it will be coming out soon.

This beautiful cover and all the inside illustrations were done for me by the amazing Irina Grabarnik.  You can look at more of her work at www.irinagrabarnik.com .   She has created some really beautiful work for my book!

Monsters, Queens, and Books!

Over the last few weeks, I have been working very hard to finish editing The Monster Hunter's Manual, my first middle grade book.  I am excited to be working with a new editor at Our Street Books.  She has been wonderful to work with and I feel like The Monster Hunter's Manual will be one of my best books.   It is the story of two brothers who are force to move to France and live in a haunted castle with their eccentric aunt after their parents die.  It is the first in a series of books about Gabriel and Alex's adventures in France fighting zombies, ghouls, werewolves, and many other things that go bump in the night. 

I am also preparing for the release of my new post apocalyptic fantasy novel, The Midnight Queen. It is the sequel to The Twilight Saint.  Here is the cover art for this tragic tale of violence and deception.   In a deperate future, a dark queen rises from the ashes of oblivion to unify a broken world.

 

The first book in this series is The Twilight Saint.  It is available at amazon.com

I'm hoping to get back to searching for more ghostly tales for this blog next week.   Krampus day is coming up and the winter solstice always brings dark tales of ghosts and witches!

All things dark and wondeful: Movies that I love this fall!

Over the years, some of my favorite movies have been dark movies for children.  Long before I had children, movies like The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride made me giddy with dark delight.  They featured ghosts, ghouls, and all things dark and wonderful.  That is why this year's movie selection has made me particularly ecstatic.  Here are the three films that have made going to the movies one of my favorite activities this Halloween season.

Paranorman...... I loved this movie.  It is the simple tale of a boy who sees dead people.  Although that plot may not be original, its presentation is utterly original.  The boy uses this gift to save some zombies and defeat a witch.  This movie is fabulous and funny.  I would watch it again and again.

Hotel Transylvania.... I haven't seen this one yet, but I can't wait until it is released.  This is the tender story of a vampire daughter and her overprotective father.  It looks silly, funny, and filled with all the haunting things that make fall fabulous.

Frankenweenie..... This one I think will be my favorite.  Of course, I can't be sure.  But this cute story of a little boy who brings his dog back from the dead sounds like just the right mix of touching and twisted to make my holiday season a more than joyful occasion.

Of course,  all this makes me particularly happy since my middle grade book, The Monster Hunter's Manual, is coming out soon and it seems to capture this growing market of my favorite things.  I hope this trend lasts, for more reasons than I can count.