🌍Blog Tour Stop! GIVEAWAY & Sharonica's Logical Review: "Hallelujah" guest post by F.E. Feeley Jr🌏

Kim Fielding and F.E. Feeley Jr. have a new gay horror book out:

Hallelujah!

Publisher: self

Release Date: Tuesday, March 31 2020

Format: Paperback, eBook

Is This Book Romance?: No

Word Count: 110K or so

Genres: Horror, paranormal

Keywords/Categories: demons, ghosts, spirits, apocalypse, magic, gay, religion, Nebraska, Arizona, good v. evil

Is This Part of a Series?: No

Blurb:

Can you hear it?

Whispering in the dark.

Secrets only the dark knows.

Joseph Moore, choir director for the First Baptist Church of Lenora, Nebraska, has secrets of his own. Terrible, lonely secrets. One that involves natural human desire. One that calls forth powers he cannot begin to understand. Both with the potential to destroy him and those he loves.

Now the world is changing. The darkness, the shadows, the ghosts, are closing in—and Joseph and his lover, Kevin, are being stalked by a merciless demon, hell-bent on possession.

Can you hear it now?

There in the dark.

It’s whispering your name.

Warnings: violence. This is not a romance.

Amazon | iBooks | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Smashwords

MMy Thoughts and Review:

“You’ve been chosen because you’re an artist, Joseph. You bring people together with song. Artists see what others cannot.”

Hallelujah!

That was one twisted ride, and in many ways, a ride down memory lane. In quite a few ways Hallelujah took me back in time to my senior year in high school when I read a series of horror books by a Christian author, that take place in a small town, much like the one in this story. Even now, some thirty years later I will come across these books and they are always stashed in the horror section, waiting like a rebellious old friend. I have a feeling I will look on Hallelujah in much the same way over time…

The battle of good and evil, saints and sinners, god and devils has gone on in one form or other since the dawn of time. To some, it’s a religious pursuit, to others a battle of wills. All claim they, “fight on the side of right,” or “have god on their side,” while slaughtering innocents in their pursuits. Did “the devil make them do it” or was it an act of free will? Was it god who called them to action, something more sinister like a demon or devil or perhaps the games of men in general?

For a young man, Joseph, recently returned home from college, where he studied music, life has not turn out the way he thought it would, but that doesn’t make it a terrible life…except for all the ghosts…the secret…the tragedy he keeps buried in his soul for almost 30 years…and the demon hell-bent on making him his own.

It has been a really long time since I have read a hero’s journey I have enjoyed so much. There were a couple of times I got lost for a second and had to pause my TTS and open the book to follow along, but that had more to do with the print layout than the story. Just FYI, for other audio readers.

I absolutely loved Francine and would love to spend time with her in real life. She is someone who has seen and done much in her time on earth making her edges hard, but she has a heart of gold. An amazing and stalwart warrior in her own right.

My heart was filled with nostalgia every time Joseph or one of the other characters sang the lyrics to a hymn from my childhood. When the young ghost mentioned an old Neil Diamond song, well you coulda just forked me, ’cause I was done. That particular song has been an earwig for days now. No matter how I change up my playlist, the song still finds a way in, so thanks for that dear authors…haha hahaha.

You can tell a lot of love, pain from the past (maybe even a few ghosts), hard work, and collab time went into making this story great. The authors succeeded magnificently! There is something for every appetite here, it’s like a buffet at a family reunion. So, if you enjoy horror stories with a demonic/ supernatural theme, that plays out very much like the hero’s journeys of old, then you are in luck, Fielding and Feeley are Fabulous together! Don’t miss this one!

4.50 song-sung-blue-stars🌟🌟🌟🌟•🌟

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Other Worlds Ink 🍀

Giveaway

Kim and F.E. are giving away a $20 Amazon gift card with this cover reveal and tour. For a chance to win, enter via Rafflecopter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Direct Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b60e8d47103/?

Excerpt

“NO!”

Joseph fought against the hands on his shoulders. The room was sweltering, and all his strength had sapped away.

“NO!”

“Joseph, open your eyes! Open your eyes, dammit!”

He was being shaken, and despite his unwillingness, his eyes opened. Kevin’s face stared down at him.

“Fuck you. Let me go!”

Joseph pulled away and fell backward onto the altar steps. His attempt to break the fall caused his wrist to smart painfully, and he whimpered. His whole body shook; he felt sick to his stomach.

Kevin raised his hands in surrender. “What the hell, man? Who did this to you?”

“What?”

“What do you mean, ‘what’? You’re beat to shit. Did someone jump you?”

Joseph looked down and saw his scratched-up legs and swollen ankle. He scanned the sanctuary, half expecting the shadowed figure to be lurking somewhere nearby. But that wasn’t the case. All the lights were on, brilliantly illuminating every corner. There was no sign of the spirit who normally haunted the place.

“Who are you looking for?”

Joseph faced Kevin once again. “What? No one. What are you doing here?”

Although Kevin had been bare-chested at their last meeting, he was wearing a shirt now. Well, part of a shirt. It was an old Budweiser tee with the sleeves cut out and the sides wide open. When he moved, it revealed glimpses of his chest and flat stomach. Joseph felt his face flush as he averted his gaze.

“I was driving by and saw all the lights on and the door open. Figured the joint was getting robbed or somethin’. Then I found you wailing on the floor in…. Damn, dude. Look at your wrist.”

Joseph saw it was swollen. The memory of where he’d been flashed in his mind once more. The red-eyed gaze was burned into his memory.

But that had all been a dream, hadn’t it?

Please, Lord, let it have been a dream.

“Who did this to you?” Kevin repeated with a furrowed brow.

“Nobody. Look, I came back here because I thought I left something, and I fell. I must have banged my head or something.”

“You fell. Where? Into a war zone?”

Joseph snorted a laugh and looked up at him ruefully. “I don’t know what happened.” He hoped Kevin would leave it alone.

Outside, thunder crashed loudly enough to make them jump, and through the front door of the church, they could see the rain falling in torrents.

“Shit, my car windows!” Kevin took off running.

Joseph watched him go, Kevin’s ass bouncing as his long legs carried him out of the door. “Dammit,” Joseph muttered as he clenched his eyes closed.

He tried to get up, but as soon as he put weight on his ankle, it gave and forced him to sit back down.

What am I going to do?

Just then he saw the ghost once more. She was floating on the upstairs balcony, looking down at him. Her mouth was moving, and if Joseph sat really still, he swore he could hear her words, carried on the wind that howled through the open church door.

Rock of Ages, cleft for me

Let me hide myself in thee

He felt sadness wash over him. She wasn’t terrible to look at; in life she must have been quite beautiful. But he didn’t know how to help her.

“You must help them, cher.” Celine had said.

Kevin dashed in through the door. His jeans were soaked and his wannabe T-shirt stuck to his muscular build. “Well, we got two options.”

“Yeah, what’s that?”

“We could wait out the storm before I take you home, or I can haul your crippled ass right now into said storm and take you home.”

Joseph reached out his good hand to Kevin, who grasped it and pulled. Joseph lurched to his feet and, in trying to keep the weight off his swollen ankle, ended up clinging to Kevin. They were almost nose to nose, staring into each other’s eyes as they held fast.

Blood pounded in his Joseph’s head. “I gotta get home.”

Kevin’s long eyelashes fluttered once, twice, three times before registering what he’d said. Yet his hands didn’t move. The two of them looked as if they were on a dance floor waiting for a waltz to start.

“Yeah, let’s get you home. Here, lean on me.”

“I appreciate it.”

They moved slowly across the floor of the church.

“You gonna tell me who did this?”

“I honestly don’t know.”

“Crazy shit, man.”

Joseph nodded. “Yup. It’s been a hell of a night.”

They closed the door behind them, got into the car, and drove cautiously into the downpour with the windshield wipers slapping.

Five minutes later, the lights they’d forgotten to turn off went dark.

Author Bios

Kim Fielding

Kim Fielding is the bestselling author of numerous m/m romance novels, novellas, and short stories. Like Kim herself, her work is eclectic, spanning genres such as contemporary, fantasy, paranormal, and historical. Her stories are set in alternate worlds, in 15th century Bosnia, in modern-day Oregon. Her heroes are hipster architect werewolves, housekeepers, maimed giants, and conflicted graduate students. They’re usually flawed, they often encounter terrible obstacles, but they always find love.

After having migrated back and forth across the western two-thirds of the United States, Kim calls California home. She lives there with her family and her day job as a university professor, but escapes as often as possible via car, train, plane, or boat. This may explai@n why her characters often seem to be in transit as well. She dreams of traveling and writing full-time.

Stalk Kim Fielding:

Author Website: http://kfieldingwrites.com

Author Facebook (Author Page): https://www.facebook.com/KFieldingWrites/

Author Twitter: @KFieldingWrites

Author Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kfieldingwrites/

Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4105707.Kim_Fielding

Author QueeRomance Ink: https://www.queeromanceink.com/mbm-book-author/kim-fielding/

Author Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Kim-Fielding/

F.E. Feeley Jr.

First and foremost, I am a husband to my wonderful husband, John. I am a father of our five-year-old German Shephard, Kaiser. I am an avid reader of Mysteries, Horror, and Suspense, and biographies. I am a gamer. My favorite ones are Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Star Trek Online, Skyrim, Assassin’s Creed, Fallout, and Civilization Five. I love to cook and I love trying new recipes (hint hint). I am an avid music junkie from POPular music to Opera, to Showtunes, Gospel, Rock, Rap, and Hip Hop. I am also a Poet – a lot of which is offered on this web page for free. And I do some gay fiction writing from time to time.

I love connecting with people. As an ex- fundi, I grew up in a world where there was this invisible boundary set down between me and the world around me. I felt more like an observer than an actual participant in that world. Since I’ve left fundamentalism – it has been my constant endeavor to be a part of the world. To be a part of humanity. And when I write my poetry or my books, I draw from the experiences of being raised in that environment as well as the experiences of tasting the bouquet of humanity I’d been denied all those years ago.

Feeley was sweet enough (and a great sport too) to answer some questions just for funsies. He will have you crackin’ up at some of his answers. -SL😁

Hallelujah – Guest Post by F.E. Feeley Jr
Fun Questions

Describe yourself using… ( a food, a book, a song, a movie, an animal, a drink, a place etc)
I am definitely Detroit. It’s in my bones. It raised me. The Motor City. Motown. The concrete. The crime. The streets. The graffiti. The anger. The sadness. The revelation. All of it. It’s me. Black. White. Gay. Straight. Gangbanger. Cop. Hispanic. Irish. It’s all me. From the Renascence Center to Belle Isle From the North End to Southwest Detroit where I grew up. I am the river that flows through it.

Do you have any strange writing habits or superstitions?

I do most of my writing at night between the hours of 9 p.m and 3 a.m. My husband hates that but I’ve got a laptop so I can now be in bed with him while he sleeps but that’s the creative time for me. Nighttime belongs to artists. It is our time. When the house is settled and quiet and you can’t distract yourself from the day. This is when magic happens.

If you could create a new holiday, what would it be?

I would make Voting Day a Federal Holiday that people get off work so there’s no excuse. Vote.

If you were stuck on a desert island all alone with only three things, what would they be?

It would be a source of potable water (duh), a knowledge of which fish and vegetation I can eat (double duh), and my husband.

What action would your name be if it were a verb? LOL – what?
Uh, fucking…sex…cryin…living…eating..I don’t know LOL

What fantasy realm would you choose to live in and why?

Definitely Dragon Age. I like Harry Potter and J.R. R Tolkein’s world but DA is just freaking awesome.

What fictional speculative fiction character would you like to spend an evening with, and why?

I would love to spend an evening with Roland Deschain of Gilead. I think the stories he could tell would be absolutely sublime.

Which of your own characters would you Kill? Fuck? Marry? And why?
I would Kill “Christopher” I would Fuck “The Preacher” and I would Marry “Ted.” Personal reasons.

Would you visit the future or the past, and why?

I don’t think I would want to visit either. I think the past is rife with struggle for people like me and for people of color and I don’t want to bear witness to that and the future is so uncertain right now – I wouldn’t want to be disappointed.

How does the world end?
We stop caring. Apathy. The darkness consumes us.

Star Trek or Star Wars? Why?
Yes. Because.

What meds are you supposed to be taking?
Is this a serious question? Lol. I take all my meds.

What’s your drink of choice?
H.E. B. Sparkling water. It has flavors.

What’s in your fridge right now?
Food.

What food(s) fuel your writing?
Carbohydrates.