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May
7 2012 | ||
MAGICAL TRICKS. DEMONIC TREATS.
After narrowly escaping her fate as a sacrificial scapegoat, Arcadia Bell is back to normal. Or at least as ordinary as life can be for a renegade magician and owner of a tiki bar that caters to Earthbound demons. She’s gearing up for the busiest day of the year—Halloween—when a vengeful kidnapper paralyzes the community. The influential head of the local Hellfire Club taps Cady to track down the fiendish bogeyman, and now that she’s dating red-hot Lon Butler, the Club’s wayward son, she can hardly say no.
Cady and Lon untangle a gruesome thirty-year trail of clues that points to danger for the club members’ children. But locating the person behind the terror will require some metaphysical help from Cady’s loyal bar patrons as well as her potent new Moonchild powers—and she’d better figure it out before the final victim disappears and her own darkest secret becomes her biggest enemy.
The second book in my Arcadia Bell urban fantasy series, SUMMONING THE NIGHT, finds Cady and Lon tracking down a local boogeyman known as The Snatcher. In this exclusive excerpt, their investigations lead them into an abandoned cannery on the coast of California—the location featured on the cover of the book. Inside the crumbling building, they accidently set off a strange magical trap that unleashes . . . well, something that would give any sane person nightmares.
“So, this is the guy you’re looking for, yeah?” Hajo said. “Looks like he was involved in some heavy occult shit. Remind me not to cross a magician.”
“Damn straight,” Lon muttered.
Hajo squatted down near the circle and pointed. “What’s that? There’s something behind the jaw. Looks like he swallowed it.”
Lon shifted the flashlight’s beam to illuminate the skull, while Hajo leaned over the skeleton to reach for it. When his fingers almost made it, he leaned in farther, taking a step inside the oval, and a tinge of dull red light, barely perceptible, washed over his shoe.
“No!” I shouted. But it was too late.
The red light sizzled around the oval and brightened. Another spell. It wasn’t a deterrent this time. Not a warning, either . . .
A deafening blast cracked the concrete beneath the skeleton and the whole room shook. An unseen force rushed at us, knocking Hajo against the wall and slamming Lon into the conveyor machine. My back hit the concrete floor. Pain ripped through my lungs. Lon’s flashlight flew from his hand and ricocheted off the wall. It blinked a couple of times as it spun on the floor and rolled nearby.
“Cady!” Lon bellowed in the darkness.
I pushed myself up, scanning the dark for the flashlight. It was pointed at the wall. I touched the handle with my fingertips, accidently pushing it away as a strange scuttling sound vibrated through the air, somewhere off in the corner.
Scritch, scritch, scritch, scritch, scritch.
“Be quiet!” I yelled.
My hand stilled as I strained to listen to the bizarre scratching sound. It multiplied and moved, and my heart nearly stopped.
Scritch, scritch, scritch, scritch.
What was that? Claws?
Something small was clicking on the concrete, moving closer.
Jenn is awesomely offering up a signed copy of Summoning the Demon to one lucky winner (US/Canada only) chosen from the comments to this post. I’ll announce the winner on May 14th!
May 7th, 2012 at 6:33 am · Link
I must be living under a rock to have missed this series. The excerpt has me hooked. I’m heading to Jenn’s site to learn more about her and her works.
May 7th, 2012 at 6:46 am · Link
I missed this one to. It sounds really interesting
May 7th, 2012 at 7:05 am · Link
I’ve been living under that rock too!! Loved the excerpt and I will absolutely be looking for more information about Jenn and these books!! 🙂
May 7th, 2012 at 7:08 am · Link
Yeah, I missed this series too. Will have to add Jenn to my wish list!
May 7th, 2012 at 7:08 am · Link
Wow! Another new one for me!
May 7th, 2012 at 7:12 am · Link
I’ve never heard of this series! It sounds so good ~~ and awesome cover!
May 7th, 2012 at 7:32 am · Link
I must of had my head in the clouds because I have not heard of this series!! This sound like it will be great. Now I must track down the first book!! 😉
May 7th, 2012 at 7:37 am · Link
I have actually never heard of this author before.. Hmm. The excerpt sounds fantastic!I will have to check her out.
May 7th, 2012 at 7:37 am · Link
Never heard of the series or the author but it looks like an interesting read.
May 7th, 2012 at 7:40 am · Link
Don’t enter my comment, I’m not from the US or Canada..also, I already own both books 😛
Just wanted to say to all people commenting above that this is an awesome series and that they won’t regret giving it a shot since it’s crazy good!
May 7th, 2012 at 8:19 am · Link
Like everyone else I have never heard of her or this series. Awesome cover. Adding to my to read list.
May 7th, 2012 at 8:27 am · Link
Hate to sound like a broken record, but I too have never read this series. It sounds good though and will be going on my list.
May 7th, 2012 at 9:00 am · Link
Great excerpt. Sounds good. I like the cover to your book.
May 7th, 2012 at 9:09 am · Link
This has been on my TBR list for some time – thanks for the opportunity to win the second book of the series.
May 7th, 2012 at 11:25 am · Link
I have recently become a fan of Urban Fantasy novels. So I am really glad to have read this post. Now I have a new author to add to my list. Thanks so very, very much 😛
May 7th, 2012 at 12:47 pm · Link
I don’t know how I missed this series, but it has been added to my list and it sounds great. Thanks for sharing with us.
May 7th, 2012 at 1:12 pm · Link
Boy, I fall right in line with all the others and have somehow missed this series. Thank you for guest posting Jenn and making us aware ;).
May 7th, 2012 at 1:37 pm · Link
These popped up on my radar recently and I will be checking this series out! Thanks!
May 7th, 2012 at 4:12 pm · Link
This series sounds great, I can’t believe I didn’t know about it before.
May 7th, 2012 at 4:23 pm · Link
I’ve had this series on my wish list for awhile now. I’d love to win a copy.
May 7th, 2012 at 4:56 pm · Link
Nice excerpt. Sounds like a good series.
May 7th, 2012 at 7:34 pm · Link
I have seen this series at a couple of sites recently and I admit I am interested in reading it. I love UF and paranormal and kick ass chicks!
May 8th, 2012 at 4:41 pm · Link
I haven’t had the chance to read this series yet. Thanks for the chance!
May 8th, 2012 at 7:30 pm · Link
I have so got to get started on this seres. Sounds great and if you are pimping it I am definitely sold.
May 8th, 2012 at 7:35 pm · Link
I want to read this series so bad. I discovered Jenn on Pocket After Dark and after I read the excerpts I knew I had to read this series.
May 9th, 2012 at 2:45 pm · Link
I really loved reading this excerpt!
May 13th, 2012 at 6:01 am · Link
Sounds like another great read! I have such a long list of books to read.
Jennifer B.
NYC