I’ll Buy Anything They Write

 Last week I shared with you 10 of my favorite fictional characters. 

Today, I thought I’d share with you 13 of my favorite fictioneers. Contemporary writers who I find so very satisfying I’ll buy anything they write.

So here’s a shoutout to my Dazzling (Baker’s) Dozen.

Crispian Thurlborn

This guy can write. Weird. Fantasy. He can do so with dark wry humor. He can slowburn his way to your fear button. He can lead you down a strange and dreamy road to terror. He’s just plain good. One of my top 5 favs.

Find him on Amazon.

Richard Schwindt

Schwindt writes hilarious satire; occult detective stories laced with dark humor; poignant, introspective whodunits; humorous paranormal adventures; and fabulous literary quality short stories.

He will make you think, laugh, and cry. And that’s a pretty doggone good combo.

Find him on Amazon.

Caleb Pirtle III

Pirtle writes non-fiction by the bucket load. I’m not a non-fic guy, but I can tell you, from what I’ve read, he can spin a good yarn even writing non-fic. Doesn’t matter if he’s writing a biography of a person or a town, it will be an interesting story.

But it’s in his fiction where I think he shines. Pirtle makes the past (his favorite place to be) or the present come alive. And the people you meet in the pages of his books are just as real as your next door neighbor.

Pirtle will make you feel the heat and humidity. He’ll make you feel the hope and the despair. He will make you stop and ponder a bit of wisdom one of his people just said. He’ll make you laugh. And he’ll make you cry. He’s a magician with the written word.

I’d probably buy his grocery list. They don’t come any better than Caleb Pirtle.

Catch him on Amazon.

Joe Congel

I like well-drawn, realistic characters, who move through a realistic story. I appreciate a story that is told well. And Joe Congel does this with panache.

He writes contemporary PI novels with a hardboiled feel. And he peoples his realistic tales with well-drawn, realistic characters. 

Introduce yourself to Joe Congel. You’re in for a treat.

Check him out on Amazon.

Matthew Cormack

Cormack creates some of the best characters to ever step out of the pages of a book. They are totally lifelike.

He is the epitome of Bradbury’s dictum: create your characters, let them do their thing, and there’s your story. And what stories they are.

His books are, quite simply, a cut above.

And you can find them on Amazon.

James Vincett

Magnificent worldbuilding. Brilliant imagination. Fabulous characters. Incredible stories. These are the hallmarks of the science fiction of James Vincett.

His work is fabulous and I’m first in line to get his next book. I hope it drops soon.

Get his books on Amazon.

Andy Graham

Graham writes some of the best slowburn horror that you can buy. The suspense is oppressive. There are times I have to put the book down in order to catch my breath and get my pulse down.

Graham’s writing is simply top drawer, and you can get his books on Amazon.

Brian Fatah Steele

Steele writes incredibly imaginative modern cosmic horror. A worthy successor to old HPL himself.

I find his imagination unparalleled. He will show you dimensions you can’t even dream of.

His story “Bleak Mathematics”, IMO, is a modern classic.

Find him on Amazon.

John F Leonard

I love Leonard’s imagination. He can range from the cosmic to what’s in your pocket. Stuff you just can’t imagine comes out on the page to terrify you, or just plain scare the crap out of you.

He just might be one of the best writers you’ve never heard of. So make your acquaintance. Pronto. On Amazon.

Ray Zacek

Zacek is good. Plain and simple. Whether it’s biting satire, or terrifying horror, or spooky macabre — Zacek delivers.

His imagination will take you to places you may not in the end want to go. But you know you have to. This guy is one of the best.

Get his books on Amazon.

Garrett Dennis

Dennis’s Storm Ketchum is a truly enjoyable character. Sad to say, though, it looks like the Storm Ketchum series is complete. I hope not. Because Storm is the amateur sleuth par excellence and the supporting cast of characters is amazing.

The stories are as laid back as is Outer Banks island life, which is where the stories take place. Yet, don’t be fooled. Because when excitement is called for, Dennis delivers and you’ll find yourself on the edge of your chair.

I truly hope Mr. Dennis writes more stories of Storm and the Outer Banks. I’m standing in line waiting. On Amazon.

Terry Newman

I love Terry Newman’s Nicely Strongoak — dwarf PI. The mysteries are fun, intriguing, and suspense-filled whodunits. All set in a fantasy world that is not a whole lot different from our own. Great reading you don’t want to miss.

On Amazon.

Jack Tyler

I think Tyler can write anything. He’s that versatile. Steampunk. Epic fantasy. Occult detective. Humor. Police procedurals. Horror. It’s all there and it’s all good.

Whatever’s next on his list to publish, I’m there to buy it.

Tyler is one of the best writers you probably never heard of. And now you have. Go forth and support this guy.

On Amazon.

On Kindle Vella.

There’s my baker’s dozen of writers whose work I will buy sight unseen and will even wait in line to get.

Check them out. You won’t be sorry.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

CW Hawes is a playwright; award-winning poet; and a fictioneer, with a bestselling novel. He’s also an armchair philosopher, political theorist, social commentator, and traveler. He loves a good cup of tea and agrees that everything’s better with pizza.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider buying me a cup of tea. Thanks! PayPal.me/CWHawes 

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Weird Fiction and the Occult Detective

The occult detective can be found in all the various categories of horror. Although, I think he is most prominent in ghost stories, creature features, and weird fiction.

We know what ghost stories are, and creature features are pretty much self-explanatory. The story features a monster that must be disposed of.

But what exactly is weird fiction? Recently, I received a story bundle email in which Robert Jeschonek provided an excellent description of weird fiction. He wrote:

Something doesn’t feel quite right. The world around you seems a little…off. Things turn strange and fluid, as if you’re trapped inside a dream…but you aren’t. Something about you might have changed in a fundamental way that you sense but can’t understand.

This is what weird fiction at its best feels like. It’s more about unsettling dread than outright terror. It’s more about the mysterious influence than the in-your-face threat. It’s more about questioning the nature of reality than wondering what’s about to jump out of the shadows at you.

Two occult detectives come to mind who primarily investigate the weird: Flaxman Low and Aylmer Vance.

Flaxman Low was the pseudonym for one of the leading psychologists of the Victorian era, so the story goes, and became the chief occult psychologist of his day. Writing as H. Heron and E. Heron, Hesketh Hesketh-Prichard and his mother, Kate O’Brien Ryall Prichard, chronicled a dozen of Flaxman Low’s occult investigations.

The stories are filled with unsettling dread. Things are a little off. Nothing is as it should be. There’s no out and out terror. There’s no gruesome gore splattering your face. You just feel uncomfortable as you follow Low. And when he uncovers the cause of our discomfort, we feel immense relief.

I very much enjoy the Flaxman Low stories. And even though they date from 1898 and 1899, they read well and will definitely make you feel uncomfortable.

The first 6 stories you can get for free from Project Gutenberg Australia. If you want all 12, you can pick them up from Amazon for $1.39, as of this writing. IMO, they are definitely worth reading. And the price is right.

Aylmer Vance was the creation of Alice and Claude Askew. He appeared in 8 spooky occult investigations back in 1914. The tales ooze that feeling of uneasiness, and subtle dread that give a story the spooky creepiness we readers of weird fiction so desire.

I very much like the Aylmer Vance stories, and regret that the Askews only wrote 8 of them. They ended up dying in the war to end all wars, as did so many writers.

The stories are not thrillers. No monsters jump out at you. Their pacing is gentle: the epitome of slowburn storytelling. They are, however, told so well you may find yourself binge reading them.

You can get all the stories in the Black Heath edition on Amazon for only 99¢. Truly a deal.

Weird fiction and the occult detective. A very spooky and unsettling combination indeed.

Comments are always welcome. And until next time, happy reading!

Tales of Terror - Part 3

 

Halloween is fast approaching and in this final post celebrating Halloween 2021, I offer a few more of my terror-inducing favorites. These are stories by contemporary writers, my peers, so to speak. And these guys set the bar quite high.

Bleak Mathematics

I love the cosmic horror of Brian Fatah Steele. It is some of the most imaginative stuff I’ve read — by any writer.

Steele’s short story collection, Your Arms Around Entropy: And Other Stories, is one of the best collections of the macabre you will ever come across. And the story “Bleak Mathematics” is not only my favorite from the collection, but one of the most memorable stories I’ve read.

Steele is quite easily the inheritor of Lovecraft’s mantle. Pick up a copy of Your Arms Around Entropy and you will never be the same.

A Crow’s Game

There’s weird, and then there’s Andy Graham’s weird. And Andy’s weird is truly terrifying.

A Crow’s Game is part of The Risen World Series and I could have easily picked any of the 4 books, or the entire series for that matter, to spotlight.

A Crow’s Game is somewhat unusual because it has a weird, nonsensically nightmarish quality about it. Dreampunk terror perhaps.

Andy Graham’s stories are crazy scary. They reveal a world that we really don’t want to know exists. A world that for all of our modern finesse we know does exist, lingering in the deepest recesses of our id.

Get A Crow’s Game on Amazon, and be forewarned: it will scare the bejeezus out of you.

Congeal

John F Leonard is a fairly new to me writer, and I’m very glad to have met him. The stories I’ve read thus far put him amongst the top writers of the tale of terror.

Congeal is a story of post-apocalyptic cosmic horror which, should you read at night, you’ll want to make sure all the lights are on.

I look forward to reading more of Leonard’s work, and I hope you join me on the road into terror.

Pick up a copy of Congeal from Amazon.

Tony Price: Confidential

Richard Schwindt’s work is no stranger to this blog. And his occult detective, Tony Price, is perfect for Halloween. Tony is a colorful character with whom you will quickly fall in love.

The three adventures in Tony Price: Confidential are spooky scary creature-features, filled with dark humor, and, well, scary monsters.

I can’t say enough good things about Richard’s writing, so pick up a copy of Tony Price: Confidential on Amazon and give yourself a scare.

01134 and Exit

Crispian Thurlborn is also no stranger to this blog. I admire the craftsmanship of his work, and when he uncorks the terror it’s the kind that sneaks up on you and grabs you after you’ve read the last page.

01134 and Exit are two super spooky tales of terror. Subtle, understated, they will clobber you in the middle of the night, long after you’ve finished reading. Perfect for Halloween, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Both stories are available on Amazon: 01134 and Exit.

There you have them. Wonderful tales of terror to spook out your Halloween. Enjoy!

Comments are always welcome. And until next time, happy reading!

For the Weekend 8

 This weekend I am offering a bit of a smorgasbord for your reading pleasure. A little something for everybody.

MACABRE

If the weird is your thing, or the paranormal, or horror, if you will, then look no further. One of my favorite authors, Crispian Thurlborn, has what you’re looking for!

Exit by Crispian Thurlborn is a fine tale of the bizarre, the uncanny, the weird, and, yes, horror. The slow burn and subtle kind of horror that doesn’t fully hit you until sometime after you’re done reading the book.

You can get Exit on Amazon.

I’ve become a big fan of occult detectives over the past year or so. And guess what? There is a magazine devoted to the occult detective. Its former name is The Occult Detective Quarterly, and the new name is Occult Detective Magazine.

If you’re into the occult, the paranormal, the weird — and you like mysteries as well — then Occult Detective Magazine is for you.

It’s available at Amazon.

CHRISTIAN FICTION

Do you like YA? Strong female characters? A faith that produces tough, resilient people? Then give CJ Peterson’s Strength From Within a try. Once again, you can find it at Amazon.

ROMANCE

Perhaps you’re looking for romance with a dash of mystery and angsty stuff dealing with PTSD, then NE Brown’s Carson Chance, PI series just might be your cup of tea. Check it out on Amazon.

POST-APOCALYPTIC

I’m a big fan of the cozy catastrophe — that version of the post-apocalyptic novel where the survivors try to create a better world than the one that was destroyed.

One of the finest writers of the cozy catastrophe today is Matthew Cormack.

Ganbaru is set in his Piranha Pandemic world. It’s a classic tale of good vs evil. The characters are dynamic and the situation he paints is totally realistic.

Get Ganbaru on Amazon.

SCIENCE FANTASY

Erik Ga Bean writes books that border on the surreal, with a delightful touch of whimsy.

You really shouldn’t ignore his Trifle Airship. It’s a delight and you can get it on Smashwords.

That ought to keep you going until next time.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

Pierce Mostyn Continues

In two weeks, the sixth Pierce Mostyn Paranormal Investigation, Demons in the Dunes, will hit the virtual bookshelves. And the word is that it’s the best Pierce Mostyn thus far. Which has me quite jazzed. I enjoy writing the Pierce Mostyn books and it’s good to know they are getting better and better.

I follow the school of thought that says don’t fully define your characters. Just start with a brief sketch and let them grow from story to story.

In practice, this means the characters may not come across as fully developed in the first book or two. Personally, I’m okay with that. I like to see a series character grow. And if what my advance readers are telling me is true, the characters are growing. Which means I am becoming more and more comfortable with them. And that is a very good thing.

Demons in the Dunes is also a bit different from the other books in the series in that the setting is not in the United States, but in the Empty Quarter of the Arabian Peninsula. There is nothing like an exotic location to spice a read!

For me, one of the most interesting things to watch in the series is the development of Dr. Rafe Bardon. And Demons reveals yet another side of the good doctor that we haven’t seen before. He is truly one enigmatic fellow!

You can find the entire series here. If you become a VIP reader, you’ll get the novelette “The Feeder” as a gift. It’s another rousing paranormal tale of adventure, and it’s not available in stores.

I’ll have more next week, so stay tuned!

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

HP Lovecraft and Robert E Howard

Reading has been a huge part of my life. And quite frankly still is. Long before I developed an interest in music, I was reading.

Don’t get me wrong. I very much enjoy music. But I was a reader long before I was a music aficionado.

When I was a kid I frequently got to spend the whole day at my grandparents’s place. My grandmother used to insist that my brother and I take a nap in the afternoon. I suppose she just wanted us out of her hair for an hour or two.

I’ve never been a napper, and I used that “quiet time” to read. I’d rummage around in my uncle’s books and find something to occupy my time. Some of the books, maybe most of them, weren’t age appropriate. But they were there and nobody said I couldn’t read them.

One of the books I treasured was Groff Conklin’s Omnibus of Science Fiction. The book was published in 1952, the year I was born, and has some absolutely fabulous stories within its covers. And it was in the Omnibus where I discovered HP Lovecraft, through his story “The Color Out Of Space”; an amazing tale of sci-fi horror.

Years later, I picked up the Beagle Books reprinting of the Arkham edition of HPL’s works and discovered HPL in full.

My introduction to Robert E Howard occurred somewhat after my purchase of the Beagle HPL paperbacks in the early 1970s.

A friend of mine at the time mentioned that he thought one of the scariest stories ever written was Howard’s “Pigeons from Hell”.

Intrigued, I went out and bought the Lancer paperback The Dark Man and Others, which contains “Pigeons from Hell” and 14 other fantastic journeys into the weird.

I fell in love with Howard. “Pigeons from Hell” is not only an excellent example of Southern Gothic, it is indeed one of the spookiest stories I’ve ever read.

There is an ongoing debate as to which of the two is the real master of weird fiction. In the circles that I traveled in, Lovecraft was acknowledged as the master. However, being the iconoclast that I am, I held out for REH. My argument was that at their very best the two were equal.

However, of the two, I argued that REH was consistently better than HPL. The overall quality of Howard’s weird fiction is higher than that of Lovecraft.

I realize my position is a minority view. And I think the debate ultimately boils down to one of taste.

When Lovecraft was on top of his game, he was the master of slowburn, atmospheric weird fiction. And there is none finer.

There’s nothing slowburn about Howard. He was the quintessential man of action. His finest weird tales are replete with action.

There’s also the differences in the main characters of the two writers. Lovecraft’s narrators often exist on the edge of sanity. They are not known for their physical prowess, and are often bookish intellectuals. Even their names tend to be unknown, or little mentioned.

Howard, on the other hand, wrote about vibrant characters. Characters that were full of life. Characters, even the women, that were physically and emotionally strong. King Kull, Conan, Solomon Kane, Bran Mak Morn, Red Sonja. Perhaps this was the case because Howard wrote in series, or at least conceptualized his heroes and heroines as series characters. Lovecraft did not. His main characters for the most part make sole appearances, with the implication that they will not survive. And they don’t. We usually never see them again.

In some ways, my Pierce Mostyn series tips the hat to both of these giants of weird fiction. There is the slowburn, but there is also action. Pierce Mostyn is something of a fusion of HPL and REH. And in that perhaps he’s all CWH.

I owe a lot to HP Lovecraft and Robert E Howard. The two giants of weird fiction. Both have influenced my approach to the genre, and how I think it should be written. And if Pierce Mostyn comes across to readers as a fusion of those two giants, I will be very satisfied.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

The Medusa Ritual - Installment 15

The Medusa Ritual

A Pierce Mostyn Paranormal Investigation

by

CW Hawes

Dotty discovers something about herself, and Mostyn comes up with a new plan to secure her rescue and capture the mysterious and deadly book of arcane knowledge. But when Mostyn and NicAskill run into a living myth, will all be for naught?

Read on! The adventure continues!

Chapter 19

Pierce Mostyn slowly opened his eyes and coughed. He gradually maneuvered himself into a sitting position. He was covered in a grayish-colored dust and bits of concrete, brick, and earth. He looked at the humps of dust and dirt that marked where his team members lay, and slowly stood.

The last one in the line was only a few feet from where a wall of broken masonry and earth stretched from floor to ceiling. Mostyn made his way the that last team member and shook him. The person was Willie Lee Baker.

“Willie Lee, are you alright?” Mostyn shook him again.

A groan came from his lips, and Mostyn brushed away the stones and dirt. “Are you okay, Willie Lee?”

Baker shook his head and opened his eyes.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I think so, Mostyn. I’m not in any great pain.”

“Good to hear.”

Mostyn moved down the row checking on each team member. They all were alive. Hammerschmidt’s back hurt, and NicAskill complained about her thigh. But there were no broken bones. Mostyn breathed a sigh of relief.

“Listen up,” he began, “we can only move forward. Somewhere ahead of us is Dr Kemper and the book and perhaps more unpleasant surprises. Drink some water, clear your heads, and get ready to move out.”

Mostyn took out his phone and brought up the holographic map of the tunnel system. The first thing he noticed was the dot representing Dotty Kemper had moved. He keyed his helmet mic.

“Sumer Base. Come in, Sumer Base.”

“We read you, Mostyn, but you’re breaking up.”

“Same for you, Langston. We had a cave-in.”

“Everyone alright?”

“We lost Petrie.”

“Sorry to hear that.”

“Thanks. I notice Dr Kemper’s moved. Where is she now?”

“She’s under central Chinatown. Before that she was under a church. I’ve highlighted the most direct route of you to reach her. You should see it on the hologram now.”

“Roger that, Sumer Base.”

“Mostyn, we’ve…”

The transmission disintegrated into static.

“Jones, anything you can do with the phone?”

“No, Boss. Maybe we need to get clear of this cave-in. It might be interfering with reception.”

“Okay, let’s move out. We need to quick time it.” And Mostyn took off at a jog down the tunnel, the rest of the team following. Behind Mostyn was Baker, and him were Stoppen, NicAskill, Hammerschmidt, and Jones.

A half-mile down the tunnel a side branch came in, and Mostyn took it. He continued on for five hundred feet and stopped.

“According to my calculations, we have at least a mile to go before we reach Dr Kemper. I’m going to divide the team. NicAskill and I are going to go on ahead.”

“And we slow pokes,” Dr Stoppen said, “will catch up as soon as possible.”

“No offense, Dr Stoppen,” Mostyn said.

“None taken, Special Agent Mostyn. Go rescue Dr Kemper and secure the book. We’ll catch up as soon as we can.”

“Sure you don’t need a photographer?” Baker asked.

“Sorry, Willie Lee,” Mostyn replied.

“Okay, I can take a hint,” Baker said, with a smile. “I need to go on a diet.”

“Your words, not mine,” Mostyn said.

Baker waved away Mostyn’s comment. “Yeah, yeah. You just want NicAskill to yourself.”

Mostyn simply smiled, and turned to Jones. “Keep everyone safe.” He had Jones study the hologram and the route he’d need to follow.

“Okay, NicAskill, let’s go.”

The two sprinted down the tunnel and quickly disappeared into the stygian blackness.

***

Dr Dotty Kemper took a look at herself in the mirror Zi had provided her. She’d bathed in an old-fashioned tin tub that had been brought in. She’d been given a massage. Zi had expertly applied her makeup.

I look pretty damn good, Dotty thought. To Zi, she said, “So what’s all this for?”

“The master will tell you. He will come soon.” Zi turned and left. Men came in and removed the tub and the mirror. On their departure, the door was closed and locked.

Dotty sat in a chair. “Well, Mr Mask,” she said out loud, “you’re either getting me all dolled up for my wedding or my funeral. And if it’s my funeral, then I guess I’m going out with a bang.”

After a moment, her flippant attitude vanished. “I don’t want to die.” The words came out soft and barely audible. “I don’t want to be some monster’s baby factory either. I want to be with Pierce. I want him to hold me, and kiss me, and make love to me, and treat me like a princess.” Tears collected in her eyes, and then ran down her cheeks.

***

Mostyn and NicAskill ran down the tunnel. The beams from their helmet lamps bounced off walls and floor. Rubble was everywhere. A testimony to the deterioration for the abandoned tunnel.

Holding the phone in hand, Mostyn kept them on course, moving every closer to Dotty Kemper’s location.

“Take that tunnel there,” Mostyn said.

He and NicAskill turned down a tunnel that came in on their right. However, fifty feet in the hologram collapsed and disappeared.

“Oh for crying out loud,” Mostyn exclaimed.

“What, Boss?”

“The hologram collapsed. Either my phone is dead, or we are out of range of Jones’s special phone. Mostyn tried contacting Sumer Base and was greeted with nothing but static.

“Looks like we’re out of range,” NicAskill said.

“It does. But the map should be in the app and shouldn’t be dependent on a connection to Sumer Base.”

“Well, whatever it is, we don’t have it. So now what?”

Mostyn pulled a compass out of a pocket. “She was north and east. We keep going.”

They ran for another four hundred feet and came to a stop. The tunnel came to a dead end in a vertical shaft. Mostyn walked to the edge. He looked up. Nothing but darkness beyond the reach of his helmet lamp. He lay on the floor, and peered over the edge into the shaft. He closed his eyes and swallowed, forcing down the bile rising in his throat. He took deep breaths to quell the vertigo threatening to overwhelm him.

He opened his eyes and took another look. Nothing but incredible darkness beyond the reach of the lamp. He pushed himself back from the edge and stood up.

NicAskill went to the edge and dropped a piece of rubble. After a couple seconds they heard it hit something solid.

“An elevator shaft?” NicAskill asked.

“Maybe. The question is, how do we get down?”

“You sure we want to go down and not up?”

“Not one hundred percent sure, but if I was our masked man, I’d hold dotty in a lower tunnel. Not a higher one. Less chance of her being found in a lower tunnel.”

“Makes sense, Boss.” NicAskill swept the vertical tunnel with her lamp. “Over there, Boss. A ladder.”

“And it has to be over there rather than over here.” Mostyn shook his head.

He and NicAskill slid off their backpacks, rummaged inside and retrieved the abseil lines and a small graphing hook. They attached the grappling hook to one end of the line.

“All set?” Mostyn asked.

“Ready to go.”

“Very good. Ladies first.”

NicAskill tossed the grappling hook across the expanse of the shaft. It caught on one of the rungs. She pulled on the line. Both the hook and ladder held. She sat on the edge, and the scooted off. Through the air she sailed, her boots hit the wall on either side of the ladder. She bounced back out a ways, came back in, and grabbed the ladder with her left hand. She let go of the line.

“Seems sturdy enough,” she called back to Mostyn.

She climbed a few rungs, retrieved the grappling hook and started down the ladder.

Mostyn repeated what NicAskill had done and in a few minutes both were in the lower tunnel.

“I don’t think this is part of the original system,” NicAskill said.

“Or maybe it is the original system.”

The tunnel was narrow, at most three people could stand side by side. The ceiling was only about seven feet above the floor. The walls and ceiling were rough hewn stone. The floor had been smoothed, in places with concrete. Mostyn figured that had been a more recent addition.

The lighting fixtures were few and far between and were not operating. They were located along the wall near the ceiling.

“God, it’s hotter than hell down here,” NicAskill said.

“No ventilation either,” Mostyn added. He looked at the compass. “At least it goes in the same general direction we want to go.”

The two packed up the grapnels and abseil lines, put their backpacks back on and took off down the tunnel. About a thousand feet on, the tunnel made a sharp turn to the left. Mostyn and NicAskill came to a quick stop. For standing before them were two creatures.

“Oh, my God!” NicAskill exclaimed. “There are lizard people.”

To Be Continued!

While waiting for the next installment, the entire Pierce Mostyn Paranormal series is available for your reading pleasure.

Do you hate cliffhangers? There’s none in this series. Each book stands by itself.

Do you think books are magic? That for just a little while you can be anywhere, doing anything? Then join Pierce Mostyn and experience some magic!

What people are saying about the Pierce Mostyn series:

“…a fast-paced story with lots of action, yet does not neglect the characters.”

“Hawes has a great time with this series and does a good job (too good) of leaving us wanting more.”

“This series is fun…”

“…a weird tale of adventure, humor, and horror.”

Get the Book!

Are engaging characters your thing? Join my VIP Readers and you’ll get the Pierce Mostyn novelette, “The Feeder” — available only to my VIP Readers! 

And you’ll be the first to know when the revised book version of The Medusa Ritual comes out!

The Medusa Ritual is copyright © 2019 by CW Hawes. All rights reserved.