Zombie Tarot

YAY! The Zombie Tarot is thisclose to launching (June 5th)! Headcase Design (Housewives Tarot) did an amazing job with the illustrations and I couldn't be more excited to share a few of them with y'all!

The Zombie Tarot is available for pre-order at Amazon. 

You just had to take this card literally, didn't you? Rather than seeing the Death card in a spread as a bad omen, think of it as one of opportunity. This is a time to shed bad habits and abandon past restraints; a great transformation may be underway. Go ahead and bury those old relationships -- just be sure they don't crawl back out later. 

The Hanged Man has sacrificed himself, so that his friends might live to fight another day. But not every sacrifice is necessarily terminal. There's a good chance that you've arrived at an epiphany that will allow you to continue on your path. It’s time to discard old ideas and move on; often this is the only way to set yourself free.

Decisions, decisions. Where do you start - the head or the heart? The Lovers are duality in motion and you must make up your mind before moving on to the next phase.  If you decide to overlook that your lover is one of the undead, don’t be surprised when he or she rips your heart out. Maybe it’s better to leave this relationship behind – it’s starting to stink.

A feminine force to be reckoned with, the Empress embodies the cycles of birth, death and reanimation. Her maternal instincts kick into high gear whenever her offspring are threatened. She knows there’s no problem she can’t solve with patience, love, and a shovel to the back of the head. She is a nurturer, so her home is filled with both the living and the undead. Watch where your step.

Our hero begins his journey with a spring in his step and a healthy set of blinders, unaware of the zombie claws reaching for his feet. You’re bound to make plenty of mistakes in your new adventures, but your enthusiasm might be able to get you through a bumpy beginning. Try to pay attention to your surroundings, are those storm clouds on the horizon?

So whatcha think?  =]

Get your Viking on! Ice Picks anthology released today

"Well that was creepy."

Hopefully they're talking about my recent story, Betrayal, in Ice Picks: Most Chilling Stories from the Ice Plaza, and not my cooking. I won't take it too personally.

Released into the wild in its Kindle form today, those who like to ruffle the pages of a paperback will be able to get their tactile groove on soon.

Ready for a bit of a tease?

“What the holy Hell is that?” Cutting off the man mid-sentence, Muldoon pointed to a slab of rough ice across the hotel’s wide foyer. “Is there something in there?” Crossing under the chandelier and ignoring his wife as she tried to grab his parka to pull her across the floor, he slid closer and ran his hands over the six-foot long block of ice.

“Sir, that’s part of the new exhibit we’re installing. You’ll have to wait for the Grand Opening ceremony tomorrow to see it,” said the bellman. His shift nearing its end, he was ready to dump the tourists and head to the bar himself. Hours of explaining how to use a frozen toilet to guests can wear a man down.

“Fine… yeah. We’ll wait then,” Muldoon said. Scraping the ice with the soft edge of his glove, he couldn’t shake the feeling that the dark figure frozen inside had been looking at him.

Oooooh - spooky.

There are bits of naughtiness running all through this story, have some fun and check it out along with the other fine storytelling prowess of Jeremy Shipp, Todd Austin Hunt, Damien Walters Grintalis and more!

Highway to Hello Kitty

I love the young people. Which probably explains why I gave birth to so many of them. Today, I visited Vyolette's Kindergarten class where I will be a weekly guest reader until my eyeballs dry up. I can test out new picture book material, play with people my own ADD level and cheat at Duck Duck Goose with a wider group of children than my own. Besides, I'm there so often they're about to give me my own cubby.

Today, a nearly toothless young man asked me if I could whistle. Damn straight, I can. It may be my one musical claim to fame that I can whistle the hell out of anything. It's a big change from my early childhood when I followed my father and my older brother around the house proclaiming I had the chops to tweet with the big boys.

"I CAN WHISTLE! WATCH ME! No, over here. I'm short, look down."

Then I'd then squeal through pursed lips until they ran away nodded appreciatively.

The conversation with the Kindergartners got a little fuzzy after that. It morphed into beegums and aliens wearing underpants but next week, I will turn that classroom on its head and we shall work on our performance piece. I just can't decide between "Purple Rain" or "Highway to Hello Kitty" (that would make an awesome band name).

What can you whistle?

Image credit: harveymillican.wordpress.com