Title: Serenade Author: Morgan Shamy Series: The Dark Nocturne #1 Genre: Young Adult Paranormal Mystery
St. Paul’s Academy of the Arts isn’t your usual boarding school…
When November Huntington is sent away to live with her long-lost family, she’s forced to attend a music school for the gifted—which wouldn’t be a problem if November were musical. She’s an athlete through and through, and hates being different.
The kids at the school don’t welcome her, they’re wary of her presence, especially Vincent, a brooding teenage boy involved with dark spirits, who can make time stop when he plays his piano. In fact, all her classmates are all obsessed with playing their instruments. And odd things happen when the do.
But something is off about the school. Deaths have occurred through the years, students showing up dead the same way November’s parents were killed—with their throats ripped out.
A killer is on the loose… November must figure out a way to stop whoever it is, balance her feelings for Vincent, and solve her parents’ past before she, too, is numbered among the dead.
The first in a Paranormal Fantasy Saga by debut author Morgan Shamy.
She started forward once more, silently cursing, when a soft melody drifted from the woods. The sound jarred her to a stop, and her heart suddenly spiked. She wasn’t alone. Someone was out here. The music drew closer, heightening. It was slow and haunting, tinkling, like a music box. It didn’t sound like music from a radio or phone. It moved through the trees, wrapping around the bushes, spreading out toward her. She could feel it all around her, soaking into her.
“Hello?” she asked, backing up a step. She squinted into the trees. “Hello?”
No one answered.
The music continued, and she wrapped her arms around herself, backing up further.
“Hello?”
Deep into the forest, a bright light appeared, small at first until it burst outward. The light seared her eyes, large and white, and she ripped her gaze away. A voice in the back of her mind screamed at her to run. The music continued to play on the air, soaring toward her. It was getting closer, becoming thicker, heavier.
This couldn’t be happening. She was having hallucinations. She needed to get out of here. She needed to find stability. Ground herself.
She pushed herself faster, her feet pounding on the forest floor. But the music slithered after her, brushing along her back, carrying with her as she ran.
“Stop!” she yelled. “Stop!” She continued to race, until she dropped to her knees. She covered her hands over her ears, squeezing her eyes shut. “Stop!”
In a blink, the music halted, and the light dissipated, but the music still echoed inside her head, hanging on the air. She stretched her eyes wide, her gaze darting side to side. She stayed frozen, her knees on the dusty ground. Her heart beat loud as the breeze picked up and tickled the hair off her face. Birds chirped, and the forest came alive again. She slowly lowered her hands.
Everything was normal. Everything was fine. She had been hallucinating.
She huffed out a frustrated breath and headed back down the trail, shaking out her arms. She was stupid to think someone had been after her, or to think she’d heard music or seen such a bright light, but the sweet melodic sound wouldn’t leave her alone. The melody lingered inside her head, weaving through her memory. Maybe someone had been there, and maybe she had been its target.
Morgan Shamy is an ex-ballerina turned YA writer. She has been immersed in the arts since the young age of 4, where she performed various roles alongside a professional ballet company for over seven years, and has danced on prestigious stages like soloing at Carnegie Hall in New York City. She has taught hundreds of girls in her fifteen years of teaching, where some of her students have received full-ride scholarships to schools like School of American Ballet, the Harid Conservatory, Kirov Academy of Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet, to name a few.
Morgan discovered writing when her three-year-old son was diagnosed with cancer. It was through that experience which instilled the need to share art and magic with children through words on the page.
Morgan is also an accomplished concert pianist. She was the first girl in Utah to receive the 75 pt. Gold Cup in the Utah Federation of Music in piano solo/concerto competition. Morgan currently lives with her X-Games gold-medalist husband and four children in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Title: Only in Darkness Author: Brenda Stanley Genre: Paranormal Thriller
Based on ancient Mayan mythology comes a story of bloodlust, love and the horrors of coming of age.
In ancient Central America, the legend of the Camazotz: large, bat-like creatures that desire blood and terrorize the villages in search of prey. When the volcano, Masaya, erupts and kills the tribe from which the Camazotz are from, they discover a miracle ash in the ruins.
Years later in present-day eastern Idaho, 17-year-old Emilio Chavez lives in an isolated area near the lava rock cliffs of the American Falls reservoir. From birth, he has been different. After Emilio’s friend Clara falls victim to a terrible accident, suspicions about Emilio arise, and he discovers an astonishing secret about his past.
As a sinister force tightens its grip on Clara, can Milo save her from those searching for blood while keeping his own internal demons at bay?
I stand looking off the cliff at the raging river and jagged boulders below. I’m going to jump–or rather let myself give in to it and just fall–that I know. What I don’t know is what will happen next. There are two ways it will end, and the more I think about it, the more trouble I have deciding which result will be worse. Often, it’s the not knowing that makes life hell. I’ve been in the dark and unaware for so many years. Now I know what I am. But it is the unknown of what that fate holds for me, should I survive, that makes me shudder.
I’ve lost my family, my friends, and everything I’ve ever known, and still, someone, or something, is out there hunting me down like an animal, trying to take what has completely altered my life. The only thing I do know is I’m going to take the leap. It will be a rush for a few seconds, and then I will hit the rocks and hopefully die instantly or–and this is what I can’t fathom–if what they say is true, my back will explode, and I will transform into what my grandmother and the others of the tribe call the winged ones.
Brenda Stanley is a former television news anchor and investigative reporter for the NBC affiliate in Eastern Idaho. She has been recognized for her writing by the Scripps Howard Foundation, the Hearst Journalism Awards, The Idaho Press Club and the Society for Professional Journalists. She is a graduate of Dixie College in St. George, Utah and the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. She is the mother of 5 children, including two sets of twins. Brenda and her husband Dave, a veterinarian, live on a small ranch near the Snake River with their horses and dogs.
Title: Pura Vida Author: Jim Utsler Genre: Mystery
Detroit homicide detective Jacob Miller has been accused of many things, but being smart isn’t one of them. The murder of drug dealer Willy is proof enough, but not covering it up is even worse. So why would he think that stealing a fellow inmate’s hidden fortune is any wiser, especially when an ex-mafia family head is after the same thing?
But even the stupidest people have occasional flashes of brilliance, and Jacob is no exception. After being released from prison and moving to sunny Costa Rica, he solves an international murder mystery involving the usual suspects: love, lust, and murder.
Despite that mildly brainiac feather in his cap, he still has to deal with the beef between him, his fellow inmate, and the mob boss…and the violent fallout that ensues.
He was dressed in casual slacks and shirt—and just as casually entered the room. He was probably thinking, An electrical glitch ofsome sort. I was sure he hadn’t thought that someone had broken into his house to do—well, whatever. He walked over to the stereo
and hit the power button.
The music died. He looked around the room but didn’t see me behind the desk, even though I wasn’t hiding. He didn’t see Bob behind the door either, probably because he was hiding. As he was about to leave, I turned on the banker’s lamp. Pusser blinked at the sudden light.
“What—” he said, probably meaning to tack “—the hell?” on the end of that. And then he saw me, blinked a few more times, and simply muttered, “Son of a bitch.”
“Hey, you remember me,” I said.
Pusser turned as I motioned for Bob to close the door.
“I suppose you know why I’m here,” I said.
“I have no fucking clue,” he replied. “And you better get the fuck out. I’m sure the police are on their way right now.”
“What? The alarm system? Your back door was open.”
He just stood there, staring at me, not so casual now. “So why are you here?” he finally said. “And who’s this?” he added, throwing a thumb over his shoulder toward Bob.
“He’s no one. No offense, Bob.” Bob didn’t say anything.
“And why am I here?” I continued.
“Yeah.”
“Because…” I paused. “Bob, would you mind stepping out for a minute?”
Bob shrugged his shoulders. “Whatever.” He closed the door behind himself.
“So, like I was saying—”
“Look, you and your sister and your friend, you already bled me dry. There’s no more.”
I looked around his room, office, study, and all the expensive baubles here and there. I thought about the trophy car his trophy wife drove, the gate that opened and closed automatically, the everyday maid, the pool and hot tub out back. “Looks like you don’t
have it so bad.”
“This, this is all my wife’s. I don’t own a damn thing. Between what you and Patari did, you left me nothing.”
“Oh, c’mon,” I said. “It might be in your wife’s name, but it’s yours. I’m sure you, your accountant and attorney Condon took good care of that.”
“And what you did?”
I shook my head. “That’s kind of off the table right now.”
“Is it?” He stood a little straighter now, more forcefully. He was going into offensive, CXO mode.
