New Release...The Light at the End of Judgment and Day #UrbanFantasy

The Light at the End of Judgment and Day

by Marcia Colette

Genre: Paranormal/Urban Fantasy

Violinist and angel, Yvette Mills has spent almost 200 years living among humans while rounding up ghosts to send into Judgment. Back on the mend from her last confrontation with a malevolent entity, she’s ready to reenter the classical-music scene. One problem. She’s not facing one ghost. She’s facing hundreds with a few demonic entities sprinkled in.

Dozens of tenants have left the Folsom Building in downtown Charlotte because of the strange goings on. When Yvette’s agent goes for the bargain-basement rental prices and now has an office there, her mission is clear. Rid the building of the paranormal vermin to keep him and the few tenants left, safe. It won’t be easy when a psychic, who’s leading a team of paranormal investigators, discovers she can see ghosts, too.

With a job this big, Yvette will need all the help she can get. But if they discover her angelic identify, hell will become her new home.

Available Now Via

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About Marcia Colette

Bestselling author Marcia Colette didn’t discover her love for reading until her late teens when she started reading John Saul and progressed to works by Bentley Little, Stephen King and Laurell K. Hamilton. Her reading tastes convinced her to write paranormals where curses cause people to shift into spiders, psychotic and telekinetic mothers are locked away in attics, and murderous doppelgangers are on a rampage. Let's not forget about the hunky werecheetah coalitions who live throughout North Carolina. As long as she can make it believable, that's all that matters.

Born and raised in upstate New York, Marcia now lives in North Carolina with her mom and beautiful daughter. They’re not raising zombies in the backyard. There aren’t any hellhounds living in the den, only a rabbit and a cockatiel. So where she gets her ideas is as much a mystery to her as anyone else.
The best place to find her—when she's not stirring up trouble—is on her blog where she loves connecting with readers.

Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Coming of age in horror...

Greetings all.

Women in Horror Month has drawn to a close, and March madness is upon us.  In previous posts, many fine examples have been cited of interesting and dynamic female characters in the realm of horror.  It got me thinking of several even more interesting female characters of the teenage variety.  The girls of horror.  One doesn't usually think of murderous horror as a coming of age experience for a teenage girl blossoming into womanhood, but that's what makes it interesting.

The most famous such character of all is probably the immortal "Carrie."  Though the creation of a male writer (Stephen King) Carrie aimed at the everyday struggles of a shy, awkward girl in the cruel world of high school.  She fought to escape her domineering, puritanical, extremely scary mother and fended off the cruel taunts of her bitchy classmates while above all fighting to become, as she put it "a whole person."  Her emerging telekinetic power evolves in tandem with her emerging sexuality.  The now-famous, horrific scene at the school prom, her superhuman power exploding into an apocalyptic revenge fantasy come alive, and her mutually fatal duel with her mom, though in an extremely bizarre way, hit home, I suspect, to many, if only at a subconscious level.  The story illustrated how the darkly fantastic can metaphorically express the kind of primal horror common to all.

And, does anyone remember the movie "Teeth?"  Oh, that one had bite.  The teenaged heroine in that one had to come of age in a puritanical Christian town where all the kids were required to take a chastity pledge, and the school text books selectively covered the illustrations of the female genitalia.  From the gilded misogyny of the Christian conservative mindset to the deceptive smiles of handsome, seductive boys who turn out to be cads and would-be rapists, our young protagonist runs the full gamut of dangers every teenaged girl must face.  But, she does so with her own emerging paranormal power:  an extra set of extremely sharp teeth.  No, not in her mouth.  You guessed it.  Vagina Dentata.  Every slick, smooth-talking young swine who tries to take advantage of her finds his most prized possession bitten off in the process.  In one scene, she even bites off the cold, probing fingers of her completely non-empathetic male gynecologist.  What girl hasn't fantasized doing that?  The film starkly illustrates the primal male fear of female sexuality, and implies a quantum leap in female evolution.

And, last but not least:  "Hannah."  A bizarre cross-genre film of spy action, horror, sci-fi, and what could arguably be called ghoulish black comedy, this round-the-world action flick was also a coming of age story of a sheltered girl raised alone by her adoptive father in the arctic wilderness for reasons known only to him.  When she reaches the age of emerging womanhood and demands to see the world, to be free, she learns the dark secret her dad-wannabe has been keeping from her all her life.  She's really a genetically engineered killing machine, and the C.I.A. is out to put her down.  The life-and-death international chase, from Morocco to Spain to Germany, may not seem like the kind of story any normal girl could identify with.  But, again, the metaphors keep coming.  The natural desire to break free of parental control and live.  Dad holding on too tight, and keeping the facts of life secret too long.  The touching bits of humanity that emerge in Hannah's otherwise cold and perilous life, like her brief but heart-felt friendship with a teenaged girl she meets in her travels, keep the blood pumping.  Life is new to Hannah, and still a mystery.  But, she knows she just wants a life.  And, she'll fight to get it.

Horror is at its best when it strikes home.  The female perspective is one that's been largely overlooked for a very long time.  But, the creative use of horror themes can artfully and graphically illustrate that perspective.

Being a REAL Writer is Tough Work!

That title might annoy some people...but it says what I want to stress. Being a real writer isn't as easy as writing a book. And I am not saying that it applies to anyone but me. However, since I am the only person I can speak for, it is true for me.

I started calling myself a professional writer in 2000 when my first novel was published. I was quite proud to finally be able to claim that title after all the years I had wanted it.

For the next twelve years I considered myself a professional writer...

But it wasn't until three years ago that I actually started acting like it.

I have talked about this before, but it bears repeating, because it is a lesson that can't be stressed enough. You aren't a real writer unless you write.

And it isn't enough to write. You have to do something with what you write. You can't just pop it in a drawer and expect to be famous someday.

I've told you about my rejection challenge. First year three hundred rejections, last year two hundred.
Trying to meet this challenge gave me incentive to write more than I ever had in my life. It taught me that the more you write, the easier it is to be polished, and the quicker a polished draft appears.

This year, I've upped the game. It didn't start out to be a thing, but after I got started on this year's challenge, it has become a point of honor. This year, I have challenged myself to make a submission a day.

Now, I know what being a writer really is. It's exhausting. It means writing a LOT. It means making connections. It means perseverance. It means not letting a rejection bother you--but looking at it as an opportunity to get another submission out the door.

And, as a side benefit, the piece you get rejected today might be perfect for the next market you send it to. I've almost hit the absolute bottom of my orphan pieces. Stories that had been out four, five, six times finally found the perfect home.

Set what looks/feels like an impossible goal. Work to achieve it. Nothing feels better than making that goal. And even if you don't make it, as long as you are working to achieve it, you are working. And that is what makes a REAL writer. :)

If you want to see how my personal goal is going this year, follow me on Twitter at @RieSheridanRose and #howlongcanitgo

So far, I've made 62 submissions this year.