Guest Post | The Twelve Coffins of Dr. Coffin by Amy Spector

Today, we have Amy Spector on a visit!!! She’s here to share her release day with us 🥳 Welcome, Amy!

Twelve Coffins FB Quote 1

Hello, everyone! And thank you to Ofelia for letting me stop by to share my new book. 

Today is release day for The Twelve Coffins of Dr. Coffin! Written to celebrate the twelfth anniversary of JMS Books, it’s about making a terrible movie on a tiny budget, while trying not to fall for the same man you made the mistake of falling for once before.

Second chance really does seem to be my trope of choice.

Director and film snob Leo Wayland has been hired to head the new horror unit of Maiden studios and given an impossible task. Three weeks to film, a tiny budget, and a scandal-laden leading man in Everett Reid. A leading man that has not only been linked to nearly every leading lady he’s worked with, but also a man Leo fell for at twenty-one while working for another studio. 

Fun! Fun! LOL

Because my parents are big horror fans, I grew up on the stuff. But they liked to show my siblings and me the old stuff, the not scary stuff, the stuff where you’re more likely to get bricked into a wall than held prisoner by a weirdo with a scalpel fetish. And The Twelve Coffins of Dr. Coffin is about those kinds of movies. Set in 1959, it steals a little from the life of Val Lewton, a little Victor Buono, with some Ed Wood thrown in for good measure.

And, for those who have read them, it includes Lee Hellstrom, the old horror actor from my Cold Fingers series. (http://www.amyspectorauthor.com/cold-fingers-series/) Oh, and I must admit; the title delights me to no end. LOL 

The Twelve Coffins of Dr. Coffin

The Twelve Coffins of Dr Coffin Cover

Blurb

When Leo Wayland accepts a job as head of the new horror unit at Maiden Studios, he knows what is expected. Make cheap movies that earn their money back fast. It doesn’t matter that he dislikes horror. He just needs to escape his assistant director’s position at a rival studio.

But he didn’t expect to be assigned a terrible title and a leading man, all before he even had a script, or that his leading man would be Everett Reid, the actor who rejected a very young Leo’s advances, only to disappear from movies altogether a few years later in a cloud of scandal.

Everett Reid will do anything for a chance to get back the career he lost and away from teaching at a theater camp for children. And if it means working with Leo Wayland again, he can do that too. Especially now that Leo is all grown up and not so untouchable.

With only three weeks, a flamboyant stage actor, twelve scantily clad women, and a sound stage full of coffins may not seem like the makings of something great. But really, that all depends on what you are hoping for.

 

Buy Link

1950’s Period, Romance – 13133 words

JMS Books :: Amazon :: books2read.com/dr-coffin

Excerpt

Everett let himself into the house and tossed the mail on the entry table already cluttered with bills. They’d been piling up the last few weeks since the money had finally run out.
Besides his ‘55 Corvette, the small bungalow nestled at the base of the hills was all that was left of nearly twenty years of work. It was enough to crush him if he let it.
He stared at the decanter left on the table from the night before when he and Taylor had toasted his contract with Maiden. But his brother had always been more of a drinker than he had. He didn’t want a drink. He wanted to fall into bed for a night of dreamless sleep.
He flipped the switch to the back patio light and pressed his head against the glass, watching the first drops of rain disturb the mirror-like surface of the pool.
It didn’t rain much in LA, but whenever it did, it reminded him of the years growing up down south with his mother and Taylor.
He unlatched the door, slid it open, and kicked out of his loafers as he pulled his shirt over his head. By the time he stood at the edge of the pool, he’d stripped completely, and dove in without hesitation.
It had yet to cool down much from the exceedingly hot day, but as Everett swam laps, the rain pelted him, hard and cold.
He swam back and forth, gliding almost soundlessly through the water, letting go of the day and clearing his mind. He ignored the tug at his thoughts of Leo Wayland and the memories they tried to conjure up. Ignored the chirp of crickets, and the distant hint of laughter from the houses on either side of his. He ignored everything until streaks of lightning across the sky forced him to drag himself out of the water again and go searching for a towel.
He left a trail of wet footprints back into the house, like the ghost of a murdered fisherman, through the living room and finally into his bedroom and the attached bath, where he grabbed one the of the white fluffy towels Steven had picked out when they had first moved in together. Before Steven had broken up with him the first time, the second time, and the third. Before Steven had come back that last time, needing a friend and someone to care for him as he worked through whatever he had to work through.
Everett had never understood what that was. Not at the time, and no better now, all these years later. It was enough to know that Steven had been unhappy, that Everett couldn’t make him happy, no matter how hard he had tried, continued to try, even when all he wanted was to move on and find his own happiness.
Once he was dry, he pulled on a pair of briefs and studied his reflection in the mirror. There’d be no more wrangling children at theater camp, or being flirted with by their mothers. Not this summer anyway. This summer he’d be back in front of the camera, doing what he loved.
Everett Reid had done his penance and now he was going to grab some happiness for himself.

Bio

Amy Spector grew up in the United States surviving on a steady diet of old horror movies, television reruns and mystery novels.

After years of blogging about comic books, vintage Gothic romance book cover illustrations, and a shameful amount about herself, she decided to try her hand at writing stories. She found it more than a little like talking about herself in third person, and that suited her just fine.

She blames Universal for her love of horror, Edward Gorey for her love of British drama and writing for awakening the romantic that was probably there all along.

Amy lives in the Midwest with her husband and children, and her cats Poe, Goji and Nekō. 

Links

Website http://www.amyspectorauthor.com/

Blog http://www.amyspectorauthor.com/blog

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/amy.spector.12/

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/amy_spector/

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8366028.Amy_Spector

Wrap-Up Wednesday | July

It’s Wrap-Up Wednesday time, and I’m a little confused about what I’ve read, but let’s give it a go, yeah? I went on a full-on Lousia Masters binge. Or not full on, but last month I read Dragon Ever After and loved it, and I knew that there was another dragon story in the YBBB giveaway, so I meant to read that. I did, but not right away.

I’ll try to do these stories in the order I read them, but I might mess up.

Demons Do It Better by Louisa Masters 

This is the first in the Hidden Species series, and had I known what I know now, I’d started here, but as already mentioned, I read Dragon Ever After first. This is funny! Loved it and went right on to the next one!

Demons do it betterI work for Lucifer. Only, it’s not as cool and satanic as it sounds.

The truth is, I’m an admin assistant who applied for a job that sounded kind of interesting and ended up working for the Community of Species Government. I’m the only human in the office, and basically I ride herd on a team of rambunctious shifters and demons.

I also spend a lot of time avoiding Gideon Bailey, the demon I had a one-night stand with right before I took this job. He hates me, and I really want to avoid being murdered. But I’ve been offered a promotion that will mean working with him, so we’re both going to have to get over it.

Plus, people are going missing. Pregnant people. And the word is that someone is dabbling in genetic experimentation. Putting a stop to that is more important than the sexual tension Gideon and I have been ignoring… isn’t it?

https://books2read.com/Demons-Do-It-Better

One Bite With a Vampire by Louisa Masters

This is funny, though I’d never have the energy to deal with Andrew. I was surprised by how different this was from the first, and yet it’s the same characters present and they’re fighting the same baddies.

One bite with a vampireGetting kidnapped was never part of my life plan. But being rescued opened up a whole world of crazy.

It’s not easy being the only human at the Community of Species Government—and especially not when you’re the rescue case. Two years ago, I was planning to go to college, have a wild time, then settle into a normal life. Instead, I was kidnapped, spent months being a test subject, was in hiding for nearly a year, and then found out that my whole existence is a science experiment conducted by the bad guys. It’s definitely time to reassess.

My rescuers at CSG have been awesome… mostly. They gave me a job, a home, and a support network. But the whole demons, vampires, shifters thing is not easy to get used to. Especially when one particular vampire makes me want to take up stake sharpening for a hobby. How can someone be over eight centuries old and have the maturity of a drunk frat boy?

The thing is, teenage mentality or not, Andrew is a fierce protector. With the bad guys still on the loose, I need someone like that on my side. Plus, did I mention that he’s not hard to look at? I could stare at him all day if only he never opened his mouth.

As we race to find my former captor before he can find me, life takes another twist and upends my world all over again. This time, though, I’m ready—after all, I’ve got an eight-hundred-year-old vampire at my back. What could possibly go wrong?

https://books2read.com/OneBiteWithAVampire

Hijinks With a Hellhound by Louisa Masters

Hellhounds. Alistair is a bit… I mean I love him as a secondary character, and it wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy this book – I did! – but like with Andrew, I get a bit exhausted LOL

Hijinks with a HellhoundI’m a one-and-done kind of hellhound… I don’t catch feeeeeeeelings…

Once upon a time, my first and last relationship taught me that romantic love isn’t enough to stop your boyfriend from trying to kill you. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. My awesomeness is now strictly reserved for one-nighters and casual hookups. Sure, my friends seem to be matching up in romantic bliss, but screw that—I’m not interested.

Besides, things are heating up at the Community of Species Government, and I’m right in the thick of it all. Those bad guys are going down—and not in the good way. They might seem to have the drop on us right now, but we’re going to turn the tables on them. Even if it means going on a mission with Aidan Byrne.

I’m still not happy about the way Aidan handled things with my bestest bestie a few months back, even if he did turn out to be right. Plus, there’s something about him that rubs my fur in the wrong direction. He’s the kind of guy who thinks karaoke is only for college kids and looks down on me for licking my own balls. He also thinks that just because he’s the species leader, he’s in charge.

Too bad for him, I’ve never backed away from a challenge… even if it is unnervingly sexy and really bendy. A hookup won’t lead to feelings… right?

https://books2read.com/HijinksWithAHellhound

Sorcerers Always Satisfy by Louisa Masters

Series exhaustion. You should realise how much I liked these books since I read them all back to back. That’s not something that happens often. In this book more than the others, I wished I’d read the Hidden Species series before I read Dragon Ever After.

Sorcerers always satisfyJust because I enjoy planning and researching doesn’t mean I’m not the most dangerous badass mothercracker around.

The world sees me as boring, dependable David. And I like it that way. I know things and I’m organized. Plus, I’ve seen firsthand the harm a chaotic life can inflict, and I’d rather have my lists and be called dull.

Which is what makes it all the more disconcerting when a sexy elf declares his adoration and begins to “woo” me. What am I supposed to do?

Hide, mostly. It’s hard, though, because Caolan and I are supposed to be working together. And he’s tough to resist: sweet, competent, and so incredibly beautiful. He sees something in me that no one else does. Would it really be such a bad thing if I gave in to temptation?

My personal life can’t be the priority right now, though. The bad guys are gearing up to strike, and if we don’t stop them, the end of the world could be nigh. I need to focus on that, not on letting Caolan show me the benefits of spontaneity. Or do I?

https://books2read.com/SorcerersAlwaysSatisfy

How to Vex a Vampire by Alice Winters

This is the first story in the VRC: Vampire Related Crimes series. I figured I like the Alice Winters story I read last month, so why not give it a try? I… It’s not a bad book, I think I was just a little… after the Hidden Species, and this too is funny. It was too much fun in a row if you get me. My bad, not the book.

How to vex a vampireFinn
Getting into the vampire-only detective unit was the easy part; what’s going to be more difficult is dealing with my new partner, an ancient vampire who keeps threatening to eat me. The unit has never had a human in it, and Marcus—or as I like to call him, Fangy McFangface—would really prefer to keep it that way. He’s grumpy, short-tempered, and broody, but I have a way with words and I know he’s starting to like me, even if he swears he’s not. But what he doesn’t know is that I didn’t join the unit because I was tired of being a homicide detective, I joined because there is someone after me. They’ve already taken enough from me and I’m afraid they’re going to take all of me if I don’t find someone to help. That’s all Marcus was supposed to be, but now, he’s so much more and I can’t imagine my life without him.

Marcus
The moment the pesky human walked through that door, I knew I had to get rid of him. He’s charming and almost everyone else instantly loves him, but he doesn’t understand how risky it is being part of this unit as a human. But as I get to know the stubborn man, I learn that perhaps he’s not as naive as I once thought. And maybe he’s what I needed to realize there is more to life than just work and my dog. A group arises who is threatening to disrupt the alliance between the humans and the vampires, but Finn is the one who shows me how strong that alliance can be and reminds me why it’s worth protecting. When threats hit closer to home, I realize I would do anything for Finn because he’s brought so much joy to my life—and because he’s mine.

This 105k word book contains: A creative use for undergarments, unintentional splits, a wolfhound who just wants to be a part of things, a vertically challenged human who still manages to wrap every vampire he meets around his little finger, the best date ever, possessiveness, really awkward dancing, some workplace revenge, and just a bite or two. Or three.

https://books2read.com/HowToVexAVampire

Freighter Flights by Drew Zachary

This is a story I read now and then when I don’t know what to read. Is it great? Not really. It’s mostly sex, and there are very few stories I like with this much sex in them, but who doesn’t like a growly mechanic? This isn’t available in the shops anymore.

Freighter FlightsWill is the hot shot pilot and second in command on the Arillia, a pretty little cargo ship making runs just this side of legal. When they lose their engineer, Will goes on the hunt in spacedock for a new one. What he finds is Tab, a gruff, scarred man who can get the job done. For Tab, the Arillia is a job, a good one at that, and if the pilot makes him growl and want more than he should, well it sure beats starving. The sparks fly between them and they begin to care, whether they want to or not. If they can survive their pasts, space pirates and nearly being blasted out of space, they just might be able to survive each other.

How to Date a Dragon by Louisa Masters 

Finally, I downloaded this from the YBBB giveaway. Dragons! Who doesn’t love dragons LOL? After this I was about to move on to The Professor’s Dragon, but… I have a thing, I have many things, but teacher-student romances turn my stomach. I think it might be because I’m a teacher and the thought just… Nope, not going there! This is fiction, and if I happily can read about violence and mate-or-die situations, a teacher-student relationship shouldn’t be a problem, right? Well… I might read it later on since I’ve really enjoyed this series.

How to Date a dragonTip #1 for dealing with dragons: be prepared for anything

My whole life, I thought dragons were majestic, wise, fearsome creatures. Not to mention fictional, but that belief has been debunked. Dragons are real, they’re living among us, and I’m the lucky guy who gets to sell a house to their leader. I just have to impress his representative first. No problem—I’m a pro.

Except the dragon rep is the guy I hooked up with last night, and he’s fast disproving everything I believed about dragons. Unless “wise” actually means “addicted to glitter” and “majestic” is a euphemism for “overgrown frat boy.”

Hagen might truly be the most annoying person ever, yet I can’t resist a date with him. One thing’s for sure, someone needs to write me a how-to guide for dating a dragon… glitter not included. 

Download here!

 

Rarely Pure and Never Simple by Angel Martinez 

The reread of the month! Freighter Flights is a reread too, but Rarely Pure and Never Simple is the story I talk about over at Holly’s. I’m so glad this series is happening. I read it for the first time many years ago, and then it was gone from the shelves, and all the while it said it was the first in a series. Now it’s available again, re-edited and the ending has been tweaked, and the second story will be released come autumn. Yay!

Rarely Pure and Never SimpleVariant children are vanishing at an alarming rate. It will take a uniquely mismatched pair of trackers to untangle a web of conspiracy and misdirection to find them.

In his isolated cabin, variant Damien Hazelwood avoids human contact as much as possible to prevent attacks of blind berserker panic. But his rare talent as a locator makes him the go-to contractor for tricky missing person’s cases and when agents bring him a troubling contract involving missing variant children, he finds it impossible to refuse.

Licensed tracker Blaze Emerson can’t help being irritated when he’s expected to follow the strange, twitchy locator’s lead on his latest case. He works alone, he’s damn good, and as a variant sparker, he has both the fire and the firepower to take on anything out there. Though he has to admit there’s something intriguing about a man who can find people with his brain.

With vastly different temperaments and backgrounds, Damien and Blaze need to negotiate quickly how to work together if they’re going to crack this case. Add in the sudden appearance of Blaze’s outlaw ex, the perils of tracking in the wilds, and a maddening lack of discernible motive or method, and they soon find themselves in as much danger as the kids they’re trying to rescue.

Variant Configurations takes place in a future Earth where humanity is reclaiming its spot in a gradually healing world. This book contains mentions of past abuse, action-adventure style mayhem, and the beginning sparks of a slow burn, series-spanning relationship.

https://books2read.com/Rarely-Pure-and-Never-Simple

Guest Post | Love in an Elevator by Holly Day

See outside elevator

Hello, everyone! I’m here as Holly today, and I thought I should tell you a little about my newest story, Love in an Elevatoryes, Aerosmith was part of my teenage soundtrack. And, okay, some of their songs are on some of my Spotify lists.

Love in an Elevator isn’t really about love in an elevator, more about falling in love in an elevator. I wrote it to celebrate National Talk in an Elevator Day and to make the talking a little harder, I made one of the characters have a fluency disorder. As if talking to strangers isn’t hard enough.

After years of speech therapy without success, Corey has given up on spoken language and communicates solely through sign language and written text.

Hayden doesn’t notice at first. He does his best to catch Corey in the elevator as often as he can, and since Corey nods and smiles, it takes a few rides before Hayden realises Corey hasn’t spoken to him.

I had a lot of fun writing this one, and while there is bullying, homophobia, discrimination and so on, I’ll still claim that it’s a light-hearted tale.

And if you have a thing for elevators, Ofelia’s Elevator Pitch is about two guys trapped in an elevator. So on Friday, Talk in an Elevator Day is celebrated on the last Friday of July, you can read two elevator stories. One is contemporary, and the other is paranormal 😊

Love in an Elevator

loveinanelevator

Corey Hope’s school years sucked. With a crippling stutter, he was easy prey, and despite being grown up, his bullies still haunt his nightmares. After he left school, he gave up on trying to talk, and communicates solely through sign language and written text. It works great even though he wished he could say something when Hayden flirts with him in the elevator. 

Hayden does his best to catch Corey in the elevator as often as he can, and he thinks they might have something, but it all comes crashing down when Corey sees him having lunch with his colleagues. Corey might be drawn to Hayden, but seeing him with his school bullies has old memories washing over him. He won’t let them hurt him ever again, and he’d rather forget about Hayden than risk Hayden hurting him. 

How will Hayden convince Corey he’s nothing like his colleagues when Corey refuses to see him? 

Buy links: 

Contemporary gay romance: 17,560 words 

JMS Books :: Amazon :: books2read.com/LoveinanElevator 

Excerpt:

The weekend had passed too damn fast. Corey liked his job, and he’d been lucky to get it, but he liked time off more. He worked from home for the most part and only went into the office for the occasional meeting, but those too were mostly conducted via Zoom these days.
His boss had sent him an email, listing the most urgent projects for him to have a look at. They had built several new websites for different clients, and as a front-end developer, it was his job to create the layout and make sure they ran smoothly.
Today, it didn’t run smoothly. He’d already spent three hours trying to find an error in the coding, and it was driving him insane when he couldn’t spot it.
Stretching, he went to put on more coffee. Once he’d pressed the button on the coffee maker, he stepped into his shoes and exited his apartment. The mail would’ve arrived. All mailboxes were on the ground floor of the building. Corey understood the mailman not wanting to run up all the floors, but sometimes he went weeks between checking his mail. He’d tried to make it routine to go down on his lunch break, but some days he didn’t have the energy. Now he needed a change of scenery.
He yawned and followed it up with another stretch while riding the elevator to the bottom floor. Once the doors slid open, he stepped out and rounded the corner to his left where the mailboxes covered an entire wall. Whisking his key out, he opened the metal door and grimaced at the stack of envelopes. The top one was the electricity bill.
He went back into the elevator while flicking through the letters. Nothing exciting. The door moved when a voice echoed through the lobby.
“Hold the elevator!”
Corey slid his foot out to halt the doors, and as he looked up, Hayden was hurrying toward him.
“Oh, hi.” He grinned, and Corey’s heart sped up. Hayden looked too good for his own good.
“How are you today?” He glanced at the top envelope in Corey’s hand. “Corey Hope?”
Corey smiled and nodded.
A scent of coffee filled the elevator, but this time Hayden didn’t carry a to-go cup. It had been hard to miss the cup he’d carried the last time—the bright green lime slices on an equally bright yellow background had made the cup light up the entire elevator.
Corey narrowed his eyes and breathed in deep. He wasn’t imagining the coffee scent, he couldn’t be.
“Smelling the coffee?”
Nodding, Corey glanced at him.
“Lucky, I wear black, right?” Hayden gestured at his chest, and the black fabric of his a little too tight T-shirt appeared wet. “It was so embarrassing you wouldn’t believe. I was meeting with a potential client, and I’d poured myself a cup of coffee when my asshole boss came through the door. I whirled around, spilled the coffee, and it was super-hot so in my haste to get the fabric away from my skin, I dropped the cup on the floor.”
Corey winced.
“It was a paper cup. What kind of office has paper cups?” He shook his head and sighed. “Tara will be horrified if I tell her. I haven’t decided if I should. It would lead to a ten-minute lecture.” He shrugged. “Could be an amusing one.”
Tara? Should Corey know who Tara was? Maybe she lived in the building too.
Then those dark eyes focused on Corey again. “Anyway, I turned back to the client to apologize for the mess and slipped on the coffee I’d spilled when I dropped the cup. One second, I was standing, the next I was crawling around on the floor. Most humiliating, I’ll have you know.”
Corey gasped and swept his gaze over him, searching for injuries.
“I’ll have a bruise on my hip for a week.” He grinned. “Or at least a couple of days.”
The elevator slowed and soon after the doors opened. Corey stepped out on his floor.
“Are you leaving me, Corey?” There was a sparkle of amusement in his eyes.
Corey nodded.
“But I’m injured. I’d hoped you’d at least offer to kiss it better.” He winked and heat rushed through Corey’s veins. Was Hayden flirting or was he making fun of him?
Corey shook his head, and Hayden exaggeratedly slumped his shoulders. “Maybe next time?”
Corey grinned but shook his head and hurried off toward his apartment. When he glanced over his shoulder, it was to find Hayden keeping the elevator doors from closing with his foot and watching Corey unlock his front door. He gave him a wave goodbye before entering.