DARK SATANIC CHILLS -- THE NEW RAINE'S LANDING NOVEL

If you've ever visited this blog before, then you're quite familiar with the following words: "It may look like a perfectly ordinary New England town, a little larger than most. But Raine’s Landing, Massachusetts, holds some very dark secrets. The real witches of Salem fled here just before the Trials of 1692, and the place has been full of magic – the good and the bad kind – ever since. And a curse hangs over the whole population … there are so many people because nobody born here can ever leave."

Well, they're all still stuck there, troubleshooter Ross Devries, his sidekick Cassie Mallory, Doc Willets, police lieutenant Saul Hobart, high witch Emaline Pendramere, Judge Samuel Levin and the whole other crew, including master magician and arch-loon Woodard Raine himself. And in the fifth book in the series, they are facing down worse trouble than they've ever seen before. Here's the description:

"It’s only early February, and the town should still be in the grip of winter. But the air has turned unseasonably warm and an unexpected thaw has come. And as the snows begin to melt back, bodies start to be discovered, murdered human corpses, each with strange ritual markings carved into their flesh.

At first another serial killer is suspected, but it is not that. The markings are satanic ones. Somebody inside the town is practising black magic of the foulest kind. Demons have been summoned, dark spells cast, doorways opened into deeper realms. And then the Landing’s adepts start to be attacked.

And with his sidekick, Cassie Mallory, unable to help him, ex-cop Ross Devries is facing the toughest and most brutal fight of his entire life. Because this time, he is battling the Hordes of Hell."

You can read an excerpt right HERE.

The book's first review on Amazon calls it the best Raine's Landing thriller yet, and gives it 5 stars.

SPEAK OF THE DEVIL is available exclusively as a $2.99 ebook on Amazon US and Amazon UK.

SHERLOCK HOLMES IS FEELING LIKE A BRAND-NEW MAN

 Fans of the great detective might like to know that I've revamped all 4 of my books of modern-day Holmes stories on Amazon Kindle, with linked ToCs and new information about the humble author and his other books. You can find out more about the Immortal Holmes series here. And if you're a true blue Brit (cold, wet, and hacked-off, in other words) here the UK link.

TWO SURE THINGS

It's been a good long while -- college days, in fact -- since I wrote a regular film column. So I haven't had the chance to predict any Oscar nominations, in public at least, for quite a time. But I'm going to do so now.

The obvious one, already pegged as a sure thing by many, is Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine. Despite the ravings of the critics, I found the movie itself something of a let-down after the whimsical brilliance of Midnight in Paris, rather uneven and forced. But Blanchett's performance as a mentally ill woman is a revelation, a modern-day Blanche DuBois, almost wholly reliant on the waning kindness of people who ought not be strangers, but who are.

And then, just last night, I watched the DVD of Behind the Candelabra, the Liberace biopic. And, my Lord, did Michael Douglas shine! That guy's come a good long way since Streets of San Francisco, let me tell you, capturing perfectly an extremely strange man (with a stage show like that, how could he not be?) who was neither a good person nor a bad one, but merely a person wholly detached from the normal world, inhabiting a universe that existed only in his mind.

Both are brilliant. Both are surely going to make the shortlist for that little golden statuette. And if there's any justice in the word, then they'll both win.

OH, WHAT A LOVELY BAY!

I already sang the praises of Ibiza Town -- capital of the Balearic island of Ibiza -- in an earlier posting on this blog (A Sight for Tired Eyes, 8th May). But Louise and myself got the chance to return to the island for a four-day break just recently, and found ourselves in a great location, in the next bay along from the town. I just thought I'd share a couple of the views with you.

And here's what the place looked like at sunset.

ICE COLD IN THE CARIBBEAN

My first novel from a major publisher in 4 years - and my first stand-alone novel since 1995's Night Feast - is now available from Simon & Schuster/Pocket Star.

Tropic of Darkness is set mostly in Havana, Cuba, with the action shifting from the present day to the late Fifties, when the Mob virtually ran that city. In fact, the action starts with none other than Meyer Lansky stepping off a plane at Havana Airport, only to receive some rather strange and troubling news. Here's the book's back-cover blurb:

"Enter a dim-lit, sultry world full of the darkest secrets, where age-old legends come to life, dreams get mixed up with reality, and nothing save for death is truly as it seems.

Jack Gilliard is a man with a dark past, and he hasn’t been back to the United States for more than a decade. But when he washes up in Havana, Cuba, he finds himself being drawn into a business darker than he ever dared think. Ancient passions, ancient treacheries, an age-old curse, and the evils of his past are now consuming the present—and Jack is caught in the midst of it all. To survive, all he has to do is leave the country—a prospect much more difficult than anticipated. But the real question is: can Jack escape before the darkness claims him altogether?"

And the first review's an excellent one:

“The tension built well as the story progressed and kept me turning pages. All in all, Tropic of Darkness is a well-crafted tale, and well worth reading. I rate this work as Highly Recommended for adult readers” – The Monster Librarian.

Read an extract here.

Tropic of Darkness is available in a wide variety of different ebook formats. Find out more here. 

A paperback version will be released in 2014.

REALITY RELOADED

My long-running website, richardsreality.com, has just been completely updated. There’s a better Photo Gallery, a massively expanded Art Gallery with over a dozen new paintings and drawings by M. Wayne Miller and Steve Upham, a new interview conducted by award-winning author Ed Gorman, a complete list of my available ebooks, both from major publishers and self-published, and news of my latest novels and collections.

Huge thanks to Marie O’Regan for putting it all together.

Why not take a look?

JUDGING A BOOK, Part Two

And this one's an absolute beaut. I've had some terrific artists provide covers for my books before, Steve Upham, Wayne Miller, Erin Wells, Paul Mudie, Paul  Lowe, all talked about in earlier postings in this very blog. But this one by James Perales is near perfect. It's for my supernatural horror novel Tropic of Darkness, due out on 16th September from Simon & Schuster/Pocket Star and largely set in Havana, Cuba. And what James has done is create a brand-new artistic sub-genre  ... let's call it 'Caribbean Gothic.' It's a great piece, and I hope that you agree. I'll be talking about the book itself a little later on.