Published June 2, 2023 by Macfarlane Lantern Publishing

A village abandons all they knew in search of water.

A man covets the last roses of summer and pays the price in blood.

Two young monsters seek a peaceful life by the seaside.

A scorching prophecy threatens to destroy all that a princess holds dear.

Once upon a time stories travelled from place to place on the tongues of merchants and thieves and kings alike. Around a crackling bonfire beneath a sky that never grew dark they were shared, and traded, and altered, until every corner of the globe had their own collection of tales.

In the spirit of these age-old stories comes Once Upon a Summer , a seasonal anthology of folk and fairy tales from 15 authors across the globe. It covers everything from summer romances to eco-terror to seaside ghost stories, and features both intriguing twists on classic tales and exciting original stories.

The second of four planned seasonal anthologies from Macfarlane Lantern Publishing, Once Upon a Summer is sure to have a story for just about everyone. Grab your copy in time for the solstice today!

Inside this

The I Scream Van by Caroline Logan

What Big Geese You Have by Adie Hart

The Forest at the End of the World by Josie Jaffrey

It Is Written by S. Markem

These Burning Bones by Laila Amado

Vespertine by Elanna Bellows

The Last Roses of Summer by Kate Longstone

Love, Pride, Virtue and Fate by Bharat Krishnan

Juniper and the Upside Down Well by Ella Holmes

Love in the Time of Volcanoes by Jake Curran-Pipe

Bluebeard’s Beach House by Jenna Smithwick

The Knucker of Lyminster by Katherine Shaw

Summer Dreams by R. A. Gerritse

The Witches of Dogtown by A. J. Van Belle

Contract with a Mermaid by M. J. Weatherall

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My love for fairytale retellings is no secret here. Having previously read, Once Upon a Winter (You can read my review here.), I was excited to dive into the summer. I wasn't able to spend as much time with this anthology as I wanted but I did jump in on a couple of the stories. What I read, I loved! Most are cute and fluffy, while a few are dark, which is exactly what I wanted. 

Bluebeard’s Beach House by Jenna Smithwick was the story I most wanted to read, given its' darker origin story. Bluebeard, or La barbe bleue,  was written down by Charles Perrault—who also authored Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Little Red Riding Hood. The story begins with a wealthy nobleman wanting to remarry after the death of his SIX previous wives. Red flag much? Of course, it is, which is why after much debate (mostly due to his ugly blue beard and NOT the dead wives), one of the daughters of a neighbor agrees to marry him,  He leaves, but before he does, he gives his new wife the keys to all his treasures. Strangely, given all that he is giving her free access to, she is forbidden, upon severe punishment, to open one particular closet. While he's away she has her sister and family over for a party and her curiosity gets the best of her. When she enters the closet, she finds the previous six wives' bodies laying there! She drops the key in the blood on the floor, and no matter what she tries, she can't get the blood off. When the husband arrives home, seeing the blood on the key and knowing what she saw, he is going to kill her. She asks for one last prayer with her sister, Anne. After stalling, she goes downstairs to her fate, but right before she's killed, her brothers show up and stab Bluebeard to death. She inherits the estate and remarries, giving her a happily ever after...hopefully.

**Spoilers ahead**

In Smithwick's story, the new wife Josephine, is preparing in full 50s housewife magazine style for a dinner party. The magazines came from wife #2, Danielle. In her version of the story, Henry, our clean-shaven Bluebeard, is a little less rich, and the dinner party is to charm prospective partners. Josephine wonders if wife #2, felt the way she feels having to live up to Henry's expectations of his first wife. She has a certain amount of resigned jealousy seeing their portraits hanging still from their place of honor at the top of the stairs. She feels inadequate in the face of his previous marriages and under constant disapproval from Henry. Thinking she sees the portrait move, she drops the glass she's holding, a wedding gift of Henry and Mary's, and cuts herself in the process of cleaning the shards up. Pleading illness, Henry goes alone to the party but warns her not to rummage in the attic. After a ghostly vision of Mary urging her to give in to temptation, Josephine grabs the key and heads upstairs. The first thing she experiences is the smell, and there are weird skittering and scratching sounds, there's blood on the neck of a dress, and are those...feet? She stumbles over a dollhouse, a complete miniature of the house she's in, and inside the attic room, there are two dolls—Mary and Danielle. Blood from her cut hand gets on the white dresses of the dolls and she knows Henry will know she's been in the attic. She calls her sister in panic, who comes over. Henry arrives home and threatens her, Anne smacks him with a cast iron pan, and Josephine locks him in the attic, and sets the place on fire. Her happy ending comes with building a new house on the land, one that is airy and comfortable, and while there may be a new love interest there, it's not dependent on a man. 

This was such a great story! The buildup of tension and the creepy atmosphere were perfect! I loved the changes that Smithwick made to the classic story: the ghostly visitations/visions that Josephine had of the two previous wives, how they are actually warning her, and how Josephine, in the end, releases them from the house. Even though there aren't bloody bodies laying in a closet, I thought that the dollhouse was a very effective way of linking back to the origin stories. I especially loved the twist at the end of Josephine's little girl playing with the dollhouse, saying that Daddy is being mean, and how Josephine picks up the doll that looks like Henry, puts him in the attic, and shuts the door. This is exactly how you take a fairytale and give it a contemporary twist. 

Be sure to go back and check out the other stops on the tour! 

Publication date: June 9th, 2021

Links: Amazon | Goodreads

Not all gifts are a blessing. Some are a curse.

When Amelia turned 12, she began growing pearls. Every month, a crop of beautiful pearls bursts from the skin on her back. Her mother, Denise, believes her daughter is blessed, and sells the pearls to put food on the table. Amelia sees her condition as a curse. As the pearls form, her body aches and her skin grows feverish. The harvest of pearls brings temporary relief from the pain, but leaves her back marred by scars. Denise hides Amelia away from the world, worried that Amelia’s gift will be discovered and she will be abducted for the wealth she can provide. Now a young woman, Amelia realizes she has become her mother’s captive, and plans her escape. When she runs away from home, she finds a new family in a troupe of performers at a museum of human oddities. She soon discovers the world is much more dangerous than her mother feared.

Read now

Body horror and the female body

by Melissa Eskue ousley

I love stories where magic comes with a price. I was thinking about that concept as I wrote

Constellations of Scars, which is about a girl who grows pearls under her skin. A gift like that would be both a blessing and a curse. You could sell the pearls and become wealthy, but the act of growing the pearls would take a toll. It would be painful and leave your skin marred by scars. It would also be a dangerous gift, because if the wrong people found out about it, they might exploit you to enrich themselves.

I paired Amelia’s gift of growing pearls with her menstrual cycle because it seemed logical to link the phenomenon to hormones and a monthly occurrence. To stay true to the story, I needed to describe the process of growing pearls in a way that was both magical and realistic, that gave a sense of the pain and horror that a person would experience if they had to go through that every month.

But how much horror is too much? There’s a fine line between evoking horror and keeping readers engaged, and pushing that boundary so far the reader becomes disgusted and is turned off by the story. That line is subjective. Every reader has different limits when it comes to horror.

On the other hand, the human experience—growing older, dealing with illness, wrestling with one’s own mortality—is full of horror. In the end, that’s what Constellations of Scars is about: what it means to be human. Amelia’s experience, and the experiences of some of the other characters in the story who have physical oddities, may be different than that of most human beings, but suffering is universal. We all know what it’s like to experience pain and hardship. In that sense, horror is a shared experience.

Melissa Eskue Ousley is an award-winning author living on the Oregon coast with her family, a neurotic dog, two charming cats, and a piranha. Her suspense novel, Pitcher Plant, is set in Seaside, and won a 2018 Independent Publisher Book Award. Her young adult novel, Sunset Empire, debuted in a bestselling boxed set. Her short stories have been included in Rain Magazine, The North Coast Squid, and various anthologies. When she’s not writing, she can be found volunteering for her local wildlife center, caring for injured owls and hawks.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

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There are only three rules in Darby Adler’s life. 

One: Don’t talk to the dead in front of the living.
Two: Stay off the Arcane Bureau of Investigation’s radar.
Three: Don’t forget rules one and two.

With a murderer desperate for Darby’s attention and an ABI agent in town, things are about to get mighty interesting in Haunted Peak, TN.

As evil ravages the north and the dead walk, all eyes fall to Arn… The apprentice journeys south, home to the College, unaware of the dark events that transpired in the High Passes after his departure. His leg in ruins, and haunted by watching shadows, the College council in Arn awaits him, but he does not travel south alone.

Arnulf and his warriors must travel to Arn also, with tidings for the king of the risen dead and the terrible curse which has destroyed all that he knew. Arnulf seeks vengeance upon the College, but must choose wisely if he is to save his son.

Meanwhile in the west, Bjorn and his strange Wildman companion report back to High Lord Archeon at Oldstones with grim news of cannibal Stonemen encroaching from the Barrens, but is embroiled in news of war and invasion as Archeon requests his service once more.

In the capital sickness awaits them all, Nym has fled to the city and must now continue her struggle for survival on the plague ridden streets of Arn, keeping all who she cares for safe from the halls of Old Night.

The many threads of this Saga converge on the city of Arn, but amid plague, invasion and terror, a greater darkness is looming. Dark forces are seeking to unleash evil upon Arnar, honour and renown is all, and sword, axe and shield is all that stands between the living and the grasping hands of the dead.

THERE IS SOMETHING STRANGE HAPPENING IN PLACIDVILLE!

It is 1962. Kathy Anderson, a serious actress who took her training at the Actors Studio in New York, is

stuck playing Vivacia, the Vampire Woman on Vivacia’s House of Horrors for a local Chicago TV station.

Finally fed up showing old monster movies to creature feature fans, she quits and heads to New York

and the fame and footlights of Broadway.

She stops off to visit her parents and old friends in Placidville, the all-Ameican, middle-class, blissfully

normal Midwest small town she grew up in.

But she finds things are strange in Placidville.

Kathy’s parents, her best friend from high school, the local druggist, even the Oberhausen twins are all

acting curiously creepy, odiously odd, and wholly weird. Especially the town’s super geeky nerd, Gerald,

who warns of dark days ahead.

Has Kathy entered a zone in the twilight? Did she reach the limits that are outer? Has she fallen through

a mirror that is black? Or is it just—just—politics as usual!

After a deal with loan sharks sours, Darlene’s brother is permanently transformed into a chipmunk. Not one to accept impossibility as a good excuse for failure, she’s determined to rescue her brother and secure revenge against those who’d poisoned him with grade-a transformatives.

If she wants to perform a miracle, she’ll need to join forces with a divine, but the man upstairs and his angels refuse to help.

None of the other so-called benevolent divines are willing to help her, either.

Running out of time and options, Darlene prepares to storm the gates of hell for her brother.

She never expected to fall in love with the Devil.

Warning: this novel contains a woman with a chip on her shoulder, humor, and one hell of a hero. Proceed with caution.

Life is never easy for those with the strength to change the world.

These are their stories.

Inquisitor

When Allison is asked to play Cinderella-turned-Fianceé at a Halloween ball, the last thing she expected was to be accused of murder. She has to find the killer or she’ll be put to death for the crimes she didn’t commit. To make matters worse, the victims are all werewolves.

On the short list of potential victims, Allison has to act fast, or the killer will have one more body to add to his little black book of corpses.

Winter Wolf

When Nicole dabbled in the occult, she lost it all: Her voice, her family, and her name. Now on the run from the Inquisition, she must prove to herself—and the world—that not all wizards are too dangerous to let live.

Blood Diamond

The world is full of corpses, and Jackson knows them by name. When a group strives to destroy the Inquisition, his powers may be all standing between the supernaturals and extinction.

Silver Bullet

Finished with being a victim, Vicky will do everything in her power to put an end to Basin once and for all, even if it means she must make the ultimate sacrifice and bite a silver bullet for the sake of her family, her friends, and the rest of the supernatural world.

This collection also contains Tales of the Winter Wolf Vol. Six.

A bungled murder.
A ridiculous quest.
And a hero with extremely dodgy credentials.

Christmas 1889. Count Balthazar Jozsef Habsburg‎-Koháry tries to lead a simple life.

Oh, he enjoys a few hobbies.

Collecting ancient Egyptian artifacts. Hunting necromancers with a wire garrote. Impersonating dead Hungarian nobility. Seducing an endless string of women who never suspect the price of the count’s attentions.

But considering what Balthazar used to be like, these pursuits are harmless. And surely he deserves a reward for assassinating the elusive necromancer John Mortlake in the middle of Cairo’s teeming bazaar. What could be better than a holiday cruise up the Nile with his secretary Lucas Devereaux?

There’s just one thing that might ruin his mood.

If, for example, someone stole the talisman that’s kept him alive for two thousand years.

That would really suck.

Welcome to the blog tour for chilling novel, The Patience of a Dead Man by Michael Clark. Read on for an excerpt and a chance to win a fantastic giveaway! 

He just spent everything on a house in disrepair, but he didn’t know someone was waiting inside.

Tim Russell just put his last dollar on a handyman’s dream; a quaint but dilapidated farmhouse in New Hampshire. Newly single after a messy divorce, his plan is to live in the house as he restores it for resale. To his horror, as soon as the papers are signed and his work starts, ghosts begin to appear. A bone-white little boy. A woman covered in flies. Tim can’t afford to leave and lose it all, so he turns to his real estate agent Holly Burns to help him decide whether he has any shot at solving his haunted problem. Can they solve the mystery before he loses his investment…or maybe his life?

Some secrets are worth killing for.

The ancient city of Kepos sits in an isolated valley, cut off from the outside world by a towering wall. Behind it, the souls of the dead clamour for release. Or so the priesthood says.

Kala has never had any reason to doubt their word – until her father dies in suspicious circumstances that implicate the city's high priest. She's determined to investigate, but she has a more immediate problem: the laws of the city require her mother to remarry straight away.

Kala's new stepfather is a monster, but his son Leon is something altogether more dangerous: kind.

With her family fractured and the investigation putting her life in danger, the last thing Kala needs is romance. She would rather ignore Leon entirely, however difficult he makes it. But when she learns the truth of what really clamours behind the wall at the end of the valley, she faces a choice: share what she knows and jeopardise her escape, or abandon him to his fate along with the rest of the city.

If she doesn't move fast, then no one will make it out of the valley alive.

A crown I don’t want. A bargain I can’t take back. A life I refuse to sacrifice.

After four hundred years on my own, one would think I’d be able to walk away and never look back. I’d done it a thousand times before with nary an inkling of guilt. But with my brand new predicament, there is no way I can turn down the offered bargain—not if I want everyone I love to stay alive.

Now, all I have to do is trek through the very realm I nearly died to keep sealed. Sure. Because there’s no way that could go wrong.

Unseelie Court, here I come.

Caitlyn always thought she was just your average small-town waitress, but she’s anything but average. Suffering from frequent headaches and vivid daydreams, her oddities mask a secret hidden deep within her mind—one that could defeat even the cleverest of psychics.

When a mysterious circus arrives in town, Caitlyn is immediately drawn to it. While visiting the hypnotic show, she meets a seer who warns her of a gruesome future and urges her to stay away. But soon, Caitlyn finds herself ensnared in the show and the Ringmaster himself.

Recognizing Caitlyn’s powers for what they are, and believing they are the ones he has been searching for, the Ringmaster is determined to claim them as his own. Trapped within the circus and the Ringmaster’s devious grip, Caitlyn realizes that to escape the seer’s foretold fate, her only choice is to fight. Banding together with Bevier, an imprisoned psychic, Meg, an eccentric seamstress, and Daniel, a handsome magician, Caitlyn falls into the Psychic Realm to thwart the Ringmaster and stop the show before they succumb to his control and are trapped forever in his spectacle of souls.

Old Hallows Eve, when things go bump in the night,

Children come to play, and the witches provide the fright.

For 21 authors, USA Today and international bestselling,

The Halloween tales become more than this foretelling.

In the Soul’s Day Boxset, a mansion feeds on souls,

A gargoyle captures them, and a demon dungeon master makes the calls,

Campers gets picked off one by one,

The Karnaval’s corn dogs are less than fun,

Ghosts lurking around every bend,

‘I do’ at the wedding is the very end.

A boxset of chills and thrills to keep you up at night,

One-click pre-order to snap your copy filled with fright.

On old Hallow’s eve when creatures come to play,

With this spine chilling pages, it’s where you’ll want to stay.

If the murderer you’re tracking is a vampire, then you want a vampire detective.
Just maybe not this one.

Fate brings consequence.

Separated from his brother by curses and lies, Derek Areios is forced into hiding. With rogue goddesses on his side, he begins his search for the Mind of Cronus. But his plans come to a screeching halt when the Olympians send nightmarish warriors to hunt him. Creatures even the gods themselves fear.

Liam Areios, lost without his brother and trapped in service for the Olympians, continues the hunt for the Mind of Cronus. The remaining gods refuse to trust him—or any human—and Liam begins to see just how mad power has made them. Becoming entangled in the schemes of mortals and immortals, Liam will have to fight or lose everyone he loves.

Deadly monsters, betrayal, and pulse-pounding action fill the pages of the third novel in the AREIOS BROTHERS series.

Jacky Leon isn’t someone who goes looking for trouble. She owns a bar, pays her taxes, and serves her drinks cold outside a small town in Texas. The fact that she’s a werecat is just something she’s had to live with. Alone in her territory, she’s lived a secretive life for six years: under the radar, avoiding her past and the baggage that comes with it.

Trouble finds Jacky, though, in the form of an eleven year old girl and a werewolf turf war just outside her borders. Forced to honor an ancient treaty and the Laws of the supernatural world, Jacky swears an oath to protect Carey Everson, the human daughter of a local werewolf Alpha from Dallas.

When his enemies come after Jacky and her charge, she’s going to have to embrace the more dangerous side of who and what she is. She’s going to have to challenge the very Laws that govern her kind.

And nothing is going to stop her from honoring her word.

Welcome to the blog tour for Double Barrel Horror Volume #3, a collection of thrills and chills by six amazing authors! Hold onto your pants folks!

Publication Date: March 22nd, 2020

Brace yourself for another two-barrel blast of unrelenting horror and suspense. Volume 3 of the ‘Double Barrel Horror’ anthology series delivers two chilling tales from each of six talented authors for a 12-story onslaught that will blow you out of your sneakers. This time around, your fate lies in the hands of Christine Morgan, Mark Matthews, Theresa Braun, Calvin Demmer, Glenn Rolfe, and Robert Essig.

The Guide by Glenn Rolfe

Declan watched the new arrival make his way through the valley of homeless folk littering the alley. He watched closely, curious as the man navigated those scraping the bottom of discarded canned foods and crumpled Styrofoam containers. A child in a tattered green sweatshirt looked up as he grazed past her. She was the only vagrant to note the newcomer’s presence. Not surprising since the young tend to be able to sense such things. Declan stood, a shadow among all these breathing ghosts, a silent witness. The man sought an empty corner in the alley and hunkered down. Tucking his knees to his chest, he closed his eyes and bowed his head. 

Declan allowed him a moment to rest or cry. Some did both, while others just stared off slacked-jawed and weary, unaware of their new place in this world. After a few moments, Declan made his way over to introduce himself.

“Hey,” Declan said. “Boyo.”

The man raised his chin and stared. “Hi, can I help you?”

“Yeah, you can tell me your story.”

The guy waved him off and lowered his head. “Sorry, man. I’m trying to get some rest.”

Declan sat next to him. “Rest, eh? Well, you’ve got plenty of time for that. What’s your name?”

“Fuck, man,” the guy said, exasperated. “Go find your pot of gold somewhere else and fuck off.” 

“You don’t know, do ya?”

“What? What are you going on about?”

Declan laughed, hearty, with his gut. He hadn’t laughed since, well, since he was alive, he reckoned.

“Jesus,” the guy said. “My name’s Bruce, okay? Now, go bother someone else.”

Declan wiped at tears that never fell and looked Bruce in the eye. “You’re a ghost, boyo.”

“What the hell are you on?” Bruce asked.

Declan pulled his shoulder-length gray hair back in a ponytail, ran his hand over the permanent gray stubble of his face and stood.  “Come with me, then.”

“I told you, I need some goddamn rest.”

“And I told you, you’re dead. Now, get up and walk with me.”

He watched as Bruce’s eyes and face loosened, his confidence wavering.

“I promise ya, boyo. It’s no lie. No trick. Sometimes, it happens this way. You don’t even realize. Not until you try to touch someone. Try and talk to someone.”

“I’m talking to you—” Bruce began, but must have caught on midway through. “You’re a ghost.”

Declan nodded.

Blog Tour Schedule

May 11^th

Reads & Reels (Spotlight) http://readsandreels.com

Kim Knight (Spotlight) http://kimknightauthor.wordpress.com

Literary Dust (Review) https://literarydust.wordpress.com/

May 12^th

Breakeven Books (Spotlight) https://breakevenbooks.com

The Scary Reviews (Review) https://thescaryreviews.com

Cats Luv Coffee (Spotlight) https://catsluvcoffee.com

May 13^th

Entertainingly Nerdy (Spotlight) https://www.entertaininglynerdy.com

The Faerie Review (Spotlight) http://www.thefaeriereview.com

Book Dragons Not Worms (Spotlight) https://bookdragonsnotworms.blogspot.com/?m=1

May 14^th

Dark Whimsical Art (Spotlight) https://www.darkwhimsicalart.com/blogs/news

Didi Oviatt (Review) https://didioviatt.wordpress.com

Books Teacup & Reviews (Spotlight) https://booksteacupnreviews.wordpress.com/

May 15^th

I Smell Sheep (Spotlight) http://www.ismellsheep.com/

Jessica Belmont (Review) https://jessicabelmont.wordpress.com/

Banshee Irish Horror Blog (Review) www.bansheeirishhorrorblog.com

Tranquil Dreams (Review) https://klling.wordpress.com/

Matthew Weber 

Christine Morgan

Mark Matthews 

Theresa Braun 

Calvin Demmer

Glenn Rolfe

Robert Essig 

Blog Tour Organized By:



R&R Book Tours

Death is a way of life outside of the safety of Inner Tulsa, and Jade means to keep flipping Mother Nature off until old age claims her. With one eye always on the sky, the last thing she needs is a pack of bounty hunters out for her living head. With no idea of why anyone would want her, her wits might keep her free, assuming she can resist the charming lures of Sandro, one of the men out to claim her as his own.

Left with the choice of being the evening snack of a tornado or taking shelter with the bounty hunter, she does what she does best: she lives on the edge.

Striking a bargain with the handsome bounty hunter buys her another day of life, but it also dumps her into the heart of a sinister plot, one meant to enslave the residents of the storm-tossed city—and the others brave and foolish enough to call the Alley home.

Out-of-control magic that could destroy a young apprentice’s master and their worldWayward Magic (Magic Underground Book II) reveals stories of missing people, rescue, and most of all, magic. Our heroes will grapple with magic gone wayward in order to save themselves, their families, and often the world.

A dark tale of legendary creatures stalking the isolated trails of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park in the deep cold of winter.

Lured by her high peaks and vast forests, adventurers swarm to the siren call of Alaska’s backcountry. Her harsh bite scars many. Some never return.

Please find my son’s remains…

Haunted by the last request of her foster mother, experienced outdoorswoman, Rose Long, skis into the Wrangell-St. Elias wilderness to search for clues surrounding the missing man. Concerned about the suspicious circumstances surrounding the older woman’s death, her childhood friend, Ulrik, joins the quest to protect the woman he secretly loves.

Ancient evil seethes in the ice-locked boreal forest, watching their every move during the long northern nights. The legend of the Headless Ravine is steeped in blood. The Dark Land’s hunger for flesh never sleeps, even in the deepest cold of winter—and it has marked Rose as its next victim.