Please give a warm welcome to my guest blogger today. Take it away, Justine!
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Hello – as a keen Whovian, I'm very excited
to be in the TARDIS today. It's bigger on the inside, isn't it? Wow.
Well, I'm here today to tell you about my
new novel, Saxonhurst Secrets. It's
published by Xcite Books and it's my first attempt at tackling the paranormal
genre. Whether or not it's also my last remains to be seen…
I'm going to open this tour with the basics
– the facts, the figures, the buy links, the cover and a little snippet to
start you off with. I hope you enjoy it. First of all, here's the blurb:
But what explanations are there for its unfailingly bountiful harvests, its amazingly successful cricket team, its bizarre and bacchanalian May Day rituals?
New vicar Adam Flint is bent on finding out why Saxonhurst has the nickname 'most godless village in
Will the secrets of Saxonhurst be Adam's ruin?"
So far, so mysterious…
Here's an excerpt to get you going.
What exactly it was that drew him out of the vicarage study and into
the unseasonably warm April air was never clear to Adam Flint. One minute he
was unpacking a crate of theological texts, lining them up in neat subsections
along the dark wood shelving. The next, he was sweating and giddy, inhabited by
the most powerful urge to get outside and be part of the village springtime.
"What's this? Some kind of spring fever?" He spoke to
himself, a habit he had got into over the years of rehearsing rhetorical
questions for his sermons. Nobody else ever gave him properly satisfactory
answers besides. "Well, a bit of fresh air, what's the harm?"
But if somebody had been there to answer that question, before he
grabbed the old-fashioned hat and walking cane he liked to affect, despite his
being only thirty one, perhaps he would have stayed indoors. What was the harm?
He would know soon enough.
Saxonhurst certainly didn't look like the outpost of godlessness
he'd been led to expect. The circle of honey coloured cottages nestled around
the church had all the correct bucolic fixtures and fittings – flowery
trellises up the walls, diamond-paned windows, thatched roofs. He breathed in
the aroma of hyacinths, the sweetness steadying him somewhat, bringing him back
to his senses. There was nothing odd or sinister about this place. It was
simply a village that had fallen prey to the common twenty-first century
syndrome of entitled materialism and the consequent atrophy of faith. They were
good people who looked after their homes. They were capable of redemption.
From the corner of his eye, he caught the twitch of a lace curtain.
A black cat ran across his path by the National Trust pub. The strong feeling
that he should be walking out towards the arable farms on the northern
outskirts of the village overwhelmed him, turning his footsteps away from the
recreation ground and the infants' school, along a narrower lane.
The cottages soon gave way to acres of polytunnels housing tomato
plants and courgettes. On his left loomed the ruins of Palmer's Barn, where local
legend had it that a man had killed a girl then hanged himself. He almost fell
over the wishing well, hidden by weeds, as his curious eye outlined instead the
brutal skeleton of the mythic building. It looked evil and brooding. Perhaps he
should perform a consecration there, bring the grace of the redeemer to that
burnt out wreck. Or perhaps he should just write to the council and suggest its
demolition. What was the good of keeping it there, a reminder of wickedness
past? It couldn't be good for village spirits.
When he tried to tear away his gaze and move forward, towards the
endless fields of bright yellow rape and the hills beyond, he found that he
couldn't. The blackened timbers held him in thrall, calling to him. This way. It's this way.
He hacked a path through brambles and weeds with his walking cane,
struggling slowly towards the barn. And then he heard voices, a male shout,
some laughter, a high-pitched female shriek that reminded him of a siren's
song.
There were people behind the barn. Parishioners, he supposed, on a
picnic, or maybe some truanting schoolchildren. Whatever they were up to, it
sounded rowdy, bacchanalian even. Adam's eyebrow twitched, a sign that the
devil was present and close. He moved forward into the shadow of the barn.
He stopped.
Six men, burly young fellows who shone with physical health and
strength, chased a woman through the bushy green wheat. It was clear that she
was enjoying herself, whooping and laughing as she dodged their great lunging
hands. It could be a simple game of chase under the spring sunshine. Except
that the men were all painted green and she was completely naked.
What on earth could be going on? If you
have a burning desire to find out, it's available now from Amazon in the UK US
Thanks for reading! And thanks to Doris for
providing this lovely guest stop.
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Thanks for sharing with us today, Justine :-)
Doris and Justine on a rainy grey morning - really cheered me up. Thanks, girls. Looking forward to reading this one.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Toni, and thanks, Doris for being such a great hostess :).
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