 “Whence They Came: The Beginning” is a biblical historical fiction/horror novel written by Josephine Leonard. Be warned, though, that while this book is not erotica, there may be a bit more carnality (sex scenes) than you’re expecting from a book based on biblical events. But, the sex is -mostly - integral to the plot. So, what’s this book about?
What’s particularly fascinating about this book is that it follows two demons, Vetis and Asmodeus, as well as the wickedest woman on earth, Lilith. If you’re familiar with demonology, those names will sound familiar. Basically, when the world began, there were first demons. But as the world brightened, humans began to take over the earth, the demons had to go into hiding. The first demon in the world, Vetis, wishes to possess a human body in order to be able to go out into the light. This is so he can spread darkness and evil into the world against the wishes of God. But to do this, he needs the help of another powerful demon by the name of Asmodeus and his human sorceress, Lilith. Because the demons can’t go out in the daytime, or be burned to ashes. So, Lilith has to be a big part of their plan. After damning the first humans created by God, Vetis finally finds the human body he wishes to inhabit. But first, he must be corrupted enough for Vetis to possess him. Asmodeus and Lilith need to help corrupt the target human by convincing him to lay with his sister and kill his brother. Only then will the man’s heart be “black” enough for Vetis to possess. Of course, things don’t go exactly according to plan. Without giving too much away, if you know the story of Genesis chapters one through five, you may be able to guess at some major events in the storyline. Since this is meant to be a spoiler-free review, I’ll just go into some of the better points of this book. Two of the characters in this book are actually quite likeable. Asmodeus and Lilith really are the “heroes” of this book. The relationship between the two is actually quite adorable. While there are plenty of impromptu sexual encounters that didn’t really further the plot, necessarily, it’s clear that there is far more to this relationship than just the sex. Also, while Vetis may be considered the “villain,” it’s really not that black and white. In fact, in this book, God is essentially considered the bad guy. You don’t read many books like this, but the way that it’s done, who’s actually good and who’s actually evil is really up to interpretation. By following the characters who would traditionally be the “bad guys” is what makes this story such a page-turner. Lastly, the world is very well laid out and follows the biblical stories quite well. But, the twists and turns in the plot and the interference of Vetis and Asmodeus makes for quite an entertaining read. But, be forewarned that this book is actually quite disturbing. It may even give you nightmares. But, sparing no details is one of this book’s best qualities. As I’ve said already, there’s really nothing like this book out there. There isn’t really a proper genre to nail down what this book really fits into. That’s a plus for those that get into this sort of thing. One thing that would have been good to see were more direct confrontations between demons and angels, as well as more scenes with Lucifer himself and God himself. Since those were out of the scope of this particular plot, though, those could be featured in another story. As is, focusing on the main characters kept the pace of the book moving, so that was a fine decision on the part of the author. As biblical retellings go, especially with a horror aspect told from the perspective of the demons and their wicked human, this is definitely a page-turner. It may not be your thing. But, if it sounds like it interests you just from the description alone, then this book is worth a read for you. Just be sure that you’re OK with a lot of sex between a demon and a human, and you’ll probably enjoy “Whence They Came.” You can buy “Whence They Came: the Beginning” on Amazon in Kindle or paperback format.
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by Phoenix A. Desertsong, Staff Writer, Healer & Advocate  The Blooddoll Factory is a rising paranormal erotica novel written by Stacey Carroll. While it’s not typically a genre that I’d read, the premise sounded good enough to make it worth the read. The story is that an unemployed male nurse lands a job at a reproductive clinic. Right away, though, it’s clear something isn’t right.
After being unemployed for a year, the protagonist William gets a call from Elite Surrogates and Adopted - also known as ESA - for an interview. The interview with the HR manager starts out normal, until he realizes he’ll have to “perform” to get the fifty dollar an hour job. But, he needs the money to catch up on his underwater mortgage and save his marriage, one he’s not even sure he really wants to save. Things only get weirder, though, as William discovers ESA is keeping plenty of secrets, including that those adopting their babies he’s helping to create are actually vampires who are looking for a ready supply of fresh blood. The story is well-paced and while it starts off on a wild sexual note, it’s not clear that anything is terribly wrong until well into the first act of the book. But, things are off-beat enough to keep you interested, and as the climax is reached in the story, you get hooked in rather quickly. There’s plenty of dangerous encounters, and you never quite know just how close William and Sadie will come to being killed for what they learn. Besides the weird, gross stuff going on with ESA, it’s the chemistry - sexual and otherwise - between William and Sadie that really drove the book forward. There are some clever plot twists and turns to keep the story exciting. Without giving too much away, the ending is satisfying, but also rather disturbing. Overall, “The Blooddoll Factory” is a solid paranormal erotica novel with a well-paced plot, good characters, plenty of sex scenes, and with just enough vampire intrigue to make it interesting, but not overwhelming. This book is definitely worth a read if plot-centered erotica is your thing. Buy “The Blooddoll Factory” here on Amazon or read it on Kindle Unlimited. **I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. Thriller Author Stacey Carroll Announces the Release of Thunderstorms and .45s Avia Version Amazon3/12/2018 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  March 13, 2018 – Thriller author Stacey Carroll is releasing Thunderstoms and .45: Avia Version on Amazon Kindle and in print on March 20, 2018. Thunderstorms and .45s will be placed on Amazon under Books -> Mystery Thriller and Suspense -> Thriller and Suspense -> Crime -> Heist, for purchase in digital and print formats. After gunning down a police officer in front of the Sarasota police station, Avia flees to Michigan where con artist Benton Docks and hitman Brian are scamming a rich socialite out of her money. Hoping to relax and integrate herself into the scam, she’s thrown into another disaster when one of her cohorts shoots the woman for threatening to expose them. If you’re tired of thrillers that look like thinly disguised horror novels with more blood, guts and gore than you’ve seen on The Walking Dead, and suspense novels that forget critical character and relationship development, Avia is for you. Thunderstorms & .45s Avia Version promises a thrilling ride and an introduction into the organized crime world of the Company. The kindle version will retail on Amazon for $4.99. The print version will retail for $8.99.  Author Bio
Stacey Carroll is the author of the thriller series - Avia. She also authors the paranormal erotica series - The Blooddoll Factory. Stacey grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana. she went to college at Indiana State University (ISU) and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in aerospace in the professional pilot program. She has flown Cessna 152s, Cessna 172s, the Pipe Seneca and the King Air. She also graduated with a minor in computer science that specialized in web design. She has always been interested in reading and writing, and the first book she was ever read was the Grimms Brother's Fairy tales. From the ages of 6 to 11, she read the Nancy Drew series. By the age of 11, she had graduated to Stephen King novels. A few of her favorites include Carrie, Tommyknockers, The Dark Tower Series up to book 3 (That's where it stopped in the late 80s/ early 90s), Pet Semetary, The Shining, Night Shift, The Stand, It, Cujo, Christine, The Eyes of the Dragon and Thinner (Richard Bachman). In her teen years, she moved on to Anne Rice and got through about four of those books before they degraded. If you've ever read Anne Rice, you know book 5 isn't readable. Stacey has read a couple Harry Potter books as she was introduced to them in the early 2000s, and she's never read or watched anything Twilight or 50 Shades. Sorry. I'm a vampire purist, and nothing needs to be said about the latter. You already know. She is currently an author and freelance writer. She received an honorable mention in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine in 2008 for a short story entitled The Field. In 2014, she was published in 13 Stories by Us by MacKenzie Publishing. Other books by Stacey 
Love paranormal or fantasy fiction, or a little of both? Here are 6 paranormal & fantasy books that you can lose yourself in.
Are you into thrillers, action, and suspense novels? Here are 14 hand-picked novels we think may whet your action and suspense fiction appetite!
As the full might of the American intelligence community is mobilized to stop it, the CIA's new director must confront a web of threats both at home and abroad, from a resentful White House chieftain, to a cunning Israeli spymaster, and the fearsome commander of the Iranian Quds Force.
In Moscow--after an oil trader with ties to the Kremlin is found burned alive in his Geneva home--an aide to Russia's adored and despotic president is caught between opposing powers. At one side is an eccentric billionaire with lofty dreams of reorienting Russia toward the West, and at the other is the autocratic strongman whose ardent quest for resurgence has brought Russia into a risky, open confrontation with NATO. In Lebanon, the Syrian civil war that raged for years across the border has reached its bloody climax. Yet in its wake, a new menace comes crawling from the shadows to feast on the remains. A brilliant CIA officer in Beirut, working desperately to penetrate an exhausted Hezbollah, is first to recognize the danger. As she begins calling on deaf ears, it is only a matter of time until the drums of war start beating again in the Middle East--and now with the greatest terrorist the world has ever known leading the charge. Warping the line between illusion and reality, amid a labyrinth of characters, plots and counter-plots that span the globe--from the halls of the Kremlin and the suburbs of northern Virginia, to the slums of Beirut and the back alleys of Tehran--comes a story of intrigue and betrayal, life and death, setting a collision course toward a firestorm that will consume thousands and blind a superpower.
Then the Captain drops a new assignment on their desk: an affluent Bay Area lawyer is missing. The man’s wife stomps into their office screaming about a contract she found hidden in the backups of their home computer. A contract with a seven-figure payout, and an incriminating Exhibit A.
Following the trail of both the motorcycle rider and the lawyer with Kandy complaining, “We’re homicide detectives, there should be a body,” leads to a vintage motorcycle club called the Ton Up where lips are sealed, a yacht harbor on the coast where riddles run deep, and a midnight roadside confrontation that ends with a splash. As the trails twist they soon find that these people and places have one thing in common: A violist named Mylin. Who plays in an all-female orchestra called The Girls of the Orient. And, unbeknownst to her, is the subject of a fine-art photographer’s latest collection. From San Francisco to Mexico, the treacherous cliffs of the Pacific coast to the desolation of Nevada’s high desert, Tune Up moves like Kandy’s turbocharged Mini through a foggy landscape of false identities, fake romance, and frenzied chases, as Qigiq realizes one picture really can reveal more than 1,000 words.
As he covers an intense season of high school football, Jake is blown away by the passion everyone has for the sport. But as the new guy in an alien, insular town, he’s also running up against the old-boy network. That’s making it difficult for him to get answers about murky financial dealings and a dubious school redistricting decision that just so happens to have brought some of the best players in the state to perennial powerhouse Dolphin High, which had fallen from dominance.
Three Yards and a Plate of Mullet is a thoroughly entertaining flashback to 1980s Florida. Uniting the worlds of high-stakes high school football with newsroom drama and eccentric characters, it follows our intrepid young reporter as he works to make it in the business he loves while finding his way around a peculiar culture.
He holes up at The Watergate on a senator's dime and enlists a call girl as his unwitting ally. But with the media eating Trent alive, he doesn't have long before they catch him. From the tony clubs of Georgetown to murders on Capitol Hill, The Intern has all the twists and turns of a classic DC thriller, with an added comedic flair.
He immediately meets a damsel in hitchhiking distress who says her name is Mona. Her presence persuades him that the bright lights and dark clubs of Chicago might be his kind of town. So on a summer Saturday night they settle into a fancy hotel overlooking the beaches of Lake Michigan.
On Sunday...Mona disappears. But she leaves behind more than a sweet memory that involves Tommy in a brand new cash flow problem he never imagined. While trying to sort out how to stay on the right side of the law and get back on the road, he meets a young criminologist who helps him, a DJ who doesn't, and a librarian who teaches him about the city, women, and the art of the makeover. After truth and lies are stirred like a blue martini, being assaulted by a pink monkey, and witnessing a drive-by shooting that drowns a Ferrari--Tommy is desperate to help Mona. If he can find her.
As his investigation progresses, he unravels a plot that, if not stopped, will result in the untimely and murderous deaths of tens of millions of people. Bai Tide is Bai’s greatest challenge yet. A mission that will take him from the windswept beaches of San Diego to a whiteout blizzard in the foothills of Pyongyang, and make him question everything he thought he knew about working in the field…and about himself.
With a little dry humor and some heart-stopping tension, Michael Kravitz wades into the drama of a post-EMP attack. It is the story of Ben Randal, his family, his neighbors, and some quirky friends coming together with some old-fashioned values and hope as they struggled to survive in this sudden and unprecedented crisis as Boston Darkens.
Whether it's for a birthday, Christmas, or any other special occasion, historical fiction and nonfiction lovers always enjoy the gift of a good read! Here are some historical fiction novels and nonfiction books worth checking out and giving as gifts!
Facing the horrors of slavery, she triumphs by gaining freedom papers for her maid Emma's enslaved husband and son. Brianna and Edward escape with them to San Francisco. There she becomes one of the most sought after madams in the gold rush parlor house trade. But will her fame and pluck be enough to save Edward from the Vigilante noose? This is the first book in the American Madams series.
His boring and uninteresting life is transported into a magical life of excitement and adventure through explorations of rural ranch life, fishing in remote lakes, and the Gulf of Mexico. A Scout Master provides the opportunity of a life time for these wonderful new experiences, but is there too big of a price to pay? Only the boy can answer this question as he seeks the truth.
What is lost when identity is concealed? What price is paid? Tom’s emotional story unfolds against the backdrop of the Cincinnati race riots of 1836 and 1841 and the oncoming Civil War. In a place and time beset with racism, hate, jealousy and violence, the novel’s characters forge deep evolving loves, friendships, and loyalties as they move towards freedom, their ultimate goal.
This is the author’s imagined story of her own maternal ancestry.
Centuries before Iniki struck, the land belonged to Kauai's royal family. The lush coconut grove along the Wailua River was home to Queen Deborah, the last reigning monarch, whose remains have never been found. Rumor has it that she walks the halls of the resort.
After more than two decades, corporate New York lawyer, Abby Parker has been hired to acquire the property for a wealthy land developer. Abby soon discovers that the Heritage and Cultural Association is not the biggest obstacle to stand in her way. Within hours of arriving on the island, Abby finds herself on a gurney, in the back of an ambulance. Abby may have bitten off more than she can chew.
The Cold War is raging. Mendel falls for Sara Cavanaugh, the engineer responsible for a controversial tower under construction on a sacred site. If completed, the tower will communicate globally with the American nuclear submarine fleet. The Binyan patriarch and his brilliant son are in a generational conflict over the tower and the son’s future.
Spiced with magical realism and mysticism, The Seed Apple (a follow up to Greene’s Lost and Found) is a mysterious, funny, moving novel by a critically acclaimed author.
The grieving, confused son can no longer keep this apparition from his wife and kids—and opens the door. The Marine finally declares why he is there: to straighten out his stray son—and bum a ride to see his dying mother in a 1942 Sioux City, Iowa hospital. The son needs to take his family to Sioux City in the year 2000 to attend his father’s funeral. So the young father and the old son take their battles back to World War II on a trip across a wartime America towards death and an elusive reconciliation.
An emotional journey through paranormal realms, Expect Deception is a fast-paced, suspenseful tale of what happens when US Navy psychics pit themselves against their Nazi counterparts.
 The threat of an EMP attack on a major United States city is a real one. Michael Kravitz brings the consequences of an electromagnetic pulse bomb attack to life in his short thriller, Boston Darkens. As the title would suggest, the setting revolves around Boston, Massachusetts and surrounding cities and towns in nearby Rhode Island and Connecticut. The tale is told by Ben, originally from Nebraska, who fortunately knows a thing or two about survival and being self-sufficient.
What's particularly good about Ben’s first person narrative is that it's believable. As someone who is from southern New England myself, I can verify many of the details that Kravitz weaves into Ben's picture of the highly disordered post-EMP attack chaos in the region. The characters he creates are believable and the situations realistic. Kravitz thought this world out well, clearly depicting just how a world without electricity well could be. Even the electrical components of most vehicles are fried too, leaving the streets and highways an auto graveyard. There is plenty of detail, and it draws you into the new reality of a world thrown into disarray. Even with the detail, the narrative flows well and Ben's own personality is reflected throughout. He is honest and tells the story just as if this was really happening here and now. Without giving too much away, I can say the greatest strength of Boston Darkens is showing both the good and bad sides of human nature with equal treatment. I have many other good things to say about this short novel. But being as brief as it is, too many spoilers would be given away if I go any more in-depth. Despite being such a quick read, Boston Darkens is enjoyable and exciting. It’s worth the price of admission. There's plenty of action and drama, with just enough reflection on the state of things to give you a break. I daresay that this story has blockbuster film potential. It's well-told, and while there is a conclusion, it's open-ended. This is intentional, as this book is the first in a series. I look forward to seeing what becomes of Ben, his family, and friends in sequels to Boston Darkens. You can buy “Boston Darkens” as an ebook, paperback, or hardcover at Amazon. *I received a free review copy in exchange for a fair and honest review. This review is in no way influenced by any outside sources. No other compensation was received for this review.  This is an expanded version of a book review I submitted to Amazon. I will warn you: spoilers follow…
“Unless” is a novel that has received mixed reviews. Some call it boring. Some say the ending is too predictable. I actually have to say I didn’t pick up on it until the last few pages. But I suppose I wasn’t reading the book for the ending. Perhaps the way in which you read this book is most important. Some might say that it doesn’t have enough action, and that there isn’t a coherent storyline. Some complain that the book is about a writer writing about writing a book about a woman writer. There are complaints that the book is extremely feminist; that is something I have no problem with. All the points Shields makes in the book are perfectly valid. I think that this book is about how to deal with an extremely difficult situation: someone you love dearly has suddenly fallen out of life. As we find out, this actually is not as crazy as it first appears. Life does not stop while you are dealing with a situation; you have to learn to cope. There are a lot of undertones about how women are made to feel powerless in our society; this does seem to be a major theme in contemporary Canadian literature and I think this ruins the book for some people. But when you take it from the perspective of the character of Reta, an extremely well-written first-person narrative, it’s actually pretty easy to get caught up into thinking these words could be taken from a real woman’s diary. In fact, I actually found myself wondering about the actuality of certain aspects of the plot. I will refrain from giving away too many spoilers, but I really felt after reading this book that there were real people involved in the story of this book. I felt these were real people being written about. Reta, our protagonist, is a writer, but mainly has been the personal translator for a legendary French/Canadian author Danielle Westerman. This character of Westerman was so interesting to me that I actually turned to Almighty Google to see what I could dig up. I found a musician, quite a lovely musician/model at that, and a link to an interview with Carol Shields, which basically said that Westerman was totally made up and not based on anyone in particular – this to me makes the character even more fascinating. Danielle Westerman, at the telling of this story, is eighty-five going on eighty-six years old. She is a major feminist writer who lived through the Holocaust, who’s always written in French. Reta has translated three out of five volumes of Westerman’s memoirs, and she has received great praise from them all. Shields makes this woman so interesting that I wanted to read these memoirs for myself. They obviously, alas, do not exist for our enjoyment. But now, Reta has taken a shot at novel writing. Her first was a modest success, so naturally, she is now pursuing her second. Being a writer of sorts, I found this sort-of “inside analysis” of the writing process of her novel most interesting; I think a lot of people were not too entertained by this aspect of the story. I must say that I’m not fond of the sort of “light fiction” she was working on, or the very annoying editor character introduced towards the end, but what she writes about character development was very interesting. Shields makes Reta a very thoughtful and observant person. People may say this detracts from the story-telling, but I think Shields wrote this book exactly this way for a reason; she’s a writer writing about a writer and how she writes. It does seem to me, however, that someone as eloquent in her letters and her diary/journal entries would be much better served publishing such musings rather than some contrived silly work of “light” fiction. Apologies for this being a major spoiler, but I understand exactly why Reta’s daughter, Norah, falls out in the way that she does. There’s actually quite a traumatic event, as you may infer is the case from something noted earlier in the book, involved in Norah’s sudden abandonment of her “normal life.” This concept of “goodness” I must say, that Norah becomes a silent spokesman for on a Toronto street corner, is never really dealt with in the pages of the book as I sort of hoped it would be. It is actually an act of “goodness” that has Norah end up in this apparently catatonic state, an act of goodness that does not go unpunished; she is scarred in more ways than one. I honestly can’t blame her. But all the while everyone is trying to psychologically deconstruct her; “what the hell went wrong?” people ask. I am relieved that in the end there was a perfectly understandable reason behind it. But it seems what Shields was trying to do here was make people ask themselves, what is “goodness” really? This was a book designed to make you think. Unfortunately, for as much as I liked this book, I felt it lacked something. But for me, that something it was missing was made up for by my own experience. But again, maybe that was the point. This book is written from quite a feminist perspective, yes, and those “underpinnings” are not at all subtle; so it would be improper to refer to these obvious messages as underpinnings, then. It's true that women are extremely under-represented in many areas of society. As I'll say again, it seems to be still an extremely polarizing issue in Canada. Also, the marginalization of women in literature also becomes a major theme in the book. This is something that I think greatly distracts from the main plot with Norah. That is one major criticism I have with the book – even though it is one thing Norah does make clear she was rather displeased with a certain college literature professor about. But this story is about a lot more than that. What touched me so much about this book is that it is about a mother doing everything possible to continue living a “normal” life while her daughter has totally abandoned any sort of “normality.” One of these coping mechanisms is writing the “light” fiction novel I mentioned before. But that is only one such mechanism: reading, “club” meetings, daily routines, etc. This novel is about a “real” person coping with harsh “reality” by immersing herself in something “light.” So while people may think this is a weakness of the book, I feel it is a strength. I really “got to know” Reta. I want to have tea with her. I want to help Norah in trying to get her life back together. Not being one for reading novels, honestly, I found this book to be a fantastic read. I read it in an evening, actually, and I couldn’t put it down. It made me reflect on the concept of “goodness” and how Reta’s daughter’s sudden falling out of “normal” life, trying to understand things that you just can’t explain, and having that overwhelm you to the point where “normality” seems irrelevant – that aspect of the story to me was very moving. Whether this is Carol Shields’ greatest work I cannot say, for it’s the only work of hers, so far, I’ve read. But I will say that it is a tremendous bookend to a marvelous literary career. by Joshua Packard, Fullness of Happy  I cannot recommend enough the reading of the Old English heroic epic tale of “Beowulf”. When I was very young, my Uncle Nathaniel told a paraphrased version to myself and my brother of this epic poem. Sometimes, I think he gave me the best version, even though later in high school, and again a few weeks ago, I read the superb Seamus Heaney verse translation. “Beowulf” is possibly the oldest surviving English story that we have today. It fills the need we have as human beings to long for virtuous and strong heroes who put their own safety and survival on the line to save and protect the innocent and vulnerable.
The epic poem is really in three parts, where the hero Beowulf fights against three monsters who prey on the people in the party hall called the Hall of Hearts. Beowulf fights grotesque monsters and is rewarded greatly. I cannot do very much justice to the quality of the writing, but I recommend everyone at least read this once, if not for enjoyment than at least for historical literacy, as this is a very crucial piece of literature and has a very heroic and exciting tale to tell. Seamus Heaney's translation can be purchased at Amazon here. |
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