Dark Secrets:
A Paranormal Noir Anthology
Rachel Caine, Cynthia Eden,
Megan Hart, Suzanne Johnson, Jeffe Kennedy, Mina Khan
Genre: Paranormal Noir,
Romance, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy
Date of Publication: September 29, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-942840-05-3
ASIN: B0147D7JTU
Number of pages: Approx. 350
Word Count: Approx. 150,000
Cover Artist: Robin Ludwig Design
Book Description:
Six award-winning authors bring you this spellbinding collection of stories about dark desires, mysterious worlds, and danger that lurks in the shadows of the night. Where nothing is black and white; where things might not be as they seem; where magic and mayhem rule.
MARION, MISSING by Rachel Caine
Valentine is a detective with two major problems: he's been offered a kidnapping case that will probably get him killed, and his partner won't let him turn it down. He owes her that much … since his partner's a ghost, and he's the one who killed her. A dark, haunting noir mystery of love, hate and loss.
FEMME FATALE by Cynthia Eden
PI Mick Swayne has seen it all—his clients have included liars, thieves, and even killers. He thinks he can handle anything and anyone. Then she walks into his office. Savannah Moreau is beautiful, seductive, and…a vampire? The gorgeous vamp hires Mick to help her track down a killer who is hunting in Chicago, but as Mick slips deeper into Savannah’s paranormal world, he wonders if he can really trust his new client…
THE CONSORT by Suzanne Johnson
Faulkner Hearne, the captain of the ruthless Fae Hunters, finds his duty at odds with his heart when he’s ordered to capture the consort of Faerie’s cruel Prince of Summer when she flees across the veil into modern New Orleans. Can Faulk turn Liandra over to a certain death at the hands of the prince, or will he risk a war with Faerie in order to save her? An all-new novella set in the Sentinels of New Orleans multiverse.
HEART’S BLOOD by Jeffe Kennedy, a Twelve Kingdoms novella
A dark fairytale retelling of a princess robbed of rank, husband and even her name.
Nix is nothing. The Princess Natilde—her former waiting woman—attacked her on the journey to wed Prince Cavan, stripping her of everything and taking her place. With no serving skills, Nix becomes a goose girl. Perhaps if Nix keeps her promise never to reveal who she really is, Natilde won’t carry out her vile threats. Prince Cavan entered his arranged marriage determined to have a congenial, if not loving relationship with his future queen—for the sake of both their kingdoms. But, his wife repels him more each day and he finds himself absurdly drawn to the lovely Nix....With broken vows, anguish and dark secrets between them, Cavan and Nix struggle to find the magic to restore what’s gone terribly wrong... if it ever can be.
THE DJINN IN THE MIRROR by Mina Khan, a Djinn World novella
A paranormal Cinderella story with a young witch as the heroine and a wicked, sexy djinn instead of a fairy godmother....Dahlia, the step-daughter of a power hungry wizard, promises to free a djinn trapped in a mirror if he rescues her from impending death. But Ashmael the djinn has his own agenda: to trick & seduce his way to freedom. The only problem is he ends up falling for Dahlia. Can he win his freedom and save the girl?
Guest post from author Jeffe Kennedy
Top 5 fairytales
It’s no secret that I love fairytales. I draw on them in my work a great deal, probably in part because they were among the first books I ever read. I have tons of them, too – from the books I dug out of my grandparents’ house, to the matched set of Andersen’s and Grimms Fairy Tales my mother gave me for Christmas when I was six, to the ones I’ve carefully collected over the years. Some of my best finds were in a wonderfully smoky used bookstore in Inverness.
The older, the better. If I can find them from pre-Christian or non-Christian cultures, that’s gold.
So what are my top five favorites of all time?
5. Princess Goldenhair and the Wonderful Flower
This is one I found at my grandparents’ house. It’s not old at all—published in 1932—and it’s more a retelling in a fairy tale theme. I instantly and lastingly loved the story for its unusually even-handed approach to the story, especially the princess. In researching for this post, I’ve discovered that the author, Flora Spiegelberg, was a Jewish woman who lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where I live now. No wonder I loved her book!
4. Táin Bó Cuailnge
This isn’t exactly a fairy tale either, but it counts in my head. The Táin is an Irish epic tale which dates back to the eighth century in its current form and is thought to reference events from around the time of Christ. It’s all about Cúchulainn, who is represented as a shapeshifter in some tales, and the great warrior queen Medb, among others. Fantastic stuff.
3. The Twelve Dancing Princesses
This is a terrific tale that actually informed my Twelve Kingdoms books pretty heavily. I couldn’t really pull off writing about twelve princesses, so I carved the idea down to the traditional three. In the fairy tale, however, the twelve princesses sneak out every night to dance with the fairies. They claim to be sleeping, but each morning their shoes are worn out. I always loved the idea of them being so rebellious and partying away, with no one able to thwart them.
2. Beauty and the Beast
How can I leave this out? There are so many versions of the tale, going back to ancient, almost unrecognizable ones taken from oral histories, to the copious retellings. In fact, the story is so pervasive, it’s become a trope. I’ve done it at least twice – an erotic version, called Petals and Thorns, and it’s really the core of the second Twelve Kingdoms book, The Tears of the Rose.
1. The Goose Girl
Still my all-time favorite fairy tale, largely because I had a difficult time understanding it. The image from that book my mom gave me when I was six has haunted me all my life. I read the story over and over, wanting to dig into it and never quite sure what it was telling me. And I always wanted to do a retelling. Now, with Heart’s Blood in Dark Secrets: a Paranormal Noir Anthology, I finally got to.
I’m really pleased with what I discovered.
About the Authors:
Rachel Caine is the New York Times, USA Today, and #1 internationally bestselling author of more than 45 novels that span the categories of horror, suspense, urban fantasy, science fiction, media tie-in, historical, and young adult. She’s also the author of more than 100 short stories.
http://www.rachelcaine.com
Twitter: @rachelcaine
Facebook: www.facebook.com/rachelcainefanpage
Award-winning author Cynthia Eden writes dark tales of paranormal romance and romantic suspense. She is a New York Times, USA Today, Digital Book World, and IndieReader best-seller. Cynthia is also a three-time finalist for the prestigious RITA® award. Since she began writing full-time in 2005, Cynthia has written over fifty novels and novellas.
http://www.cynthiaeden.com
Twitter: @cynthiaeden
Facebook: www.facebook.com/cynthiaedenfanpage
Megan Hart is a USA Today, Publisher’s Weekly and New York Times bestselling author who writes in many genres including mainstream fiction, erotic fiction, science fiction, romance, fantasy and horror.
http://www.meganhart.com
Twitter: @megan_hart
Facebook: www.facebook.com/megan.hart
Suzanne Johnson is the author of the award-winning Sentinels of New Orleans urban fantasy series. Writing as Susannah Sandlin, she is author of the award-winning Penton Legacy paranormal romance series as well as The Collectors romantic suspense series, including Lovely, Dark, and Deep, winner of the 2015 Holt Medallion and the 2015 Booksellers Best Award winner for romantic suspense. Her new Wildlife Wardens romantic suspense series begins in 2016 with Wild Man’s Bluff.
http://www.suzannejohnsonauthor.com
Twitter: @suzanne_johnson
Facebook: www.facebook.com/AuthorSuzanneJohnson
Jeffe Kennedy is an award-winning author whose works include non-fiction, poetry, short fiction, and novels. Her most recent works include a number of fiction series: the fantasy romance novels of A Covenant of Thorns; the contemporary BDSM novellas of the Facets of Passion, an erotic contemporary serial novel, Master of the Opera, the fantasy series The Twelve Kingdoms, and the erotic romance trilogy, Falling Under. The first of the Twelve Kingdoms books, The Mark of the Tala, has been nominated for the RT Book of the Year while the sequel, The Tears of the Rose, has been nominated for best fantasy romance of the year. Jeffe lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with two Maine coon cats, plentiful free-range lizards and a very handsome Doctor of Oriental Medicine.
http://www.jeffekennedy.com
Twitter: @jeffekennedy
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Author.Jeffe.Kennedy
Award-winning author Mina Khan grew up in Bangladesh on stories of djinns, ghosts and monsters. These childhood fancies now color her fiction. She daydreams of hunky paranormal heroes, magic, mayhem and mischief and writes them down as stories. She is the author of the Djinn World Chronicles, including The Djinn’s Dilemma and A Tale of Two Djinns, as well as Wildfire, a paranormal mystery with cowboys and dragons.
http://minakhan.blogspot.com/
Twitter: @SpiceBites
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Mina.Khan.Author
My Reviews
Overall Review Rating
Marion Missing
Femme Fatale
The Consort
Heart's Blood
The Djinn in the Mirror
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