Year of Genesis: Giveaways and Ghouls
I think y'all already know how much I love Halloween. The Arista house already has its decorations up, the Bean has selected her costume, and I've got the movie marathons lined up. Not even CoVid is going to stop me celebrating the one holiday of the year that is made for spooky little girls like me. I like to call it the one time of the year that I feel normal.
So with this Year of the Genesis, I thought I'd do something that might generate a little goodwill: share a bit of THE TRUTH ABOUT NIGHT and give away a few copies! Five print copies are available to cuddle up with on a dark night. The Goodreads giveaway is open Oct 1-15 in time to get the read for Halloween!
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| Click here to enter! |
And just in case you need a little more instant creepiness to get you through the day, below is part of The Truth about Night, available everywhere!
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From the layout, there was only one more room to explore, the bedroom. I knew the truth about what I
was going to find in the bedroom. Had smelled the garlic of decay when I’d walked in the door.
One foot in front of the other, I made my way toward the back of the apartment. Rafe’s heat pressed against me as he followed closely.
It was on the bed, tangled up in sheets like a rowdy night gone wrong. From the doorway, I could make out a foot and maybe an elbow sticking out from under the white sheet with yellow flowers. Someone had covered up the body.
“Stay here,” I whispered to Rafe.
I took another step into the bedroom. Morning light slipped through the windows, and I was glad that no shadows hid in the corners. With one more step, I stood at the end of the bed. I reached toward sheet, but Rafe came to stop my hand.
“I’ve seen dead bodies before,” I assured him.
“What about evidence? What about—”
“I need to know if it’s Benny.”
He pressed his lips together and released my arm, standing next to me, shoulder to shoulder, a united front against the dead, against what might be under that sheet.
I rummaged around in my bag for a glove and pulled out the familiar blue latex.
An arch formed in Rafe’s brow.
“I’ve seen dead bodies before,” I repeated as I snapped the gloves on.
I slowly reached to pull the sheet from the bed. It wasn’t what I expected.
I’d seen dead bodies before. I’ve seen them freshly bloodied. I’d seen them bloated and floating and spread out across the highway like jam. But I’d never seen anything like this.
It was an experiment human beef jerky. The skin was tanned and dried—all of the moisture completely drained from it. The dress seemed starched, then freeze dried to the figure. The arms jutted out to form sharp angles and her legs were splayed wide, but feet touching. The lips peeled back from white teeth. But the hair was perfect. Long, dark hair splayed out against the pillow made her look like she was peacefully floating in water, like driftwood.
Rafe flinched. He had not seen as many dead bodies as I had, but still knew this was unholy.
“What’s wrong here?” he asked, easing into our natural pattern of professor and journalist.
“Everything.”
******
Hope you guys enjoy and keep on being Spooky!!
Amanda Arista
Author, The Merci Lanard Files & Diaries of an Urban Panther
Insta&Twitter: @pantherista
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