OH, THE HORROR!
J.L. Murray writes horror, dark fantasy, and sci-fi. Thank you for visiting, and be sure to sign up for the newsletter to find out about new releases, giveaways, and creepy fun.
The Diablerists (rewrites)
181.23%
Sanguine
(Frankie Mourning #3)
57.78%
The Hungry Deep (OFF TO THE EDITOR!)
118.71%
The Collins Widow (last revision)
0%
COMING SOON: THE HUNGRY DEEP
“In the church, in the garden, among the headstones, in the trees, and all the way through the old decrepit town. Lavinia is always with him, haunting his memories, and her voice is so real sometimes that he imagines she could simply reach out and touch him from the grave.”
Some places are abandoned for a reason.
Lavinia Corrigan is dead, thought to have committed suicide in the twisted forest that separates the town of Goodhope from Corrigan House, and which has been haunted ever since she died. But on the anniversary of her demise, the remaining residents of Goodhope have to contend with a dark past when Lavinia seemingly rises from her grave, and begins to exact revenge on those who wronged her.
Eleanor Ryder, who had been Lavinia’s lover, uncovers the last hours of Lavinia’s life and becomes less and less certain that Lavinia actually died. Lavinia’s widower husband is behaving awfully peculiar, and his new wife, Rachel, Lavinia’s successor at Corrigan House, begins to unravel Lavinia’s secrets. The more Eleanor and Rachel learn about Lavinia’s so-called death, the more they start to suspect that perhaps it is not so much revenge, but justice that she seeks.
In a secluded Gothic manor, on a cold night in late October, all the secrets Goodhope holds close will come bursting out as the townspeople fight for their lives. And Lavinia Corrigan is just getting started.
Pre-order The Hungry Deep now, or add it to your Goodreads list here.
Some places are abandoned for a reason.
Lavinia Corrigan is dead, thought to have committed suicide in the twisted forest that separates the town of Goodhope from Corrigan House, and which has been haunted ever since she died. But on the anniversary of her demise, the remaining residents of Goodhope have to contend with a dark past when Lavinia seemingly rises from her grave, and begins to exact revenge on those who wronged her.
Eleanor Ryder, who had been Lavinia’s lover, uncovers the last hours of Lavinia’s life and becomes less and less certain that Lavinia actually died. Lavinia’s widower husband is behaving awfully peculiar, and his new wife, Rachel, Lavinia’s successor at Corrigan House, begins to unravel Lavinia’s secrets. The more Eleanor and Rachel learn about Lavinia’s so-called death, the more they start to suspect that perhaps it is not so much revenge, but justice that she seeks.
In a secluded Gothic manor, on a cold night in late October, all the secrets Goodhope holds close will come bursting out as the townspeople fight for their lives. And Lavinia Corrigan is just getting started.
Pre-order The Hungry Deep now, or add it to your Goodreads list here.
HOARFROST (Blood of Cain #2)
"The Mother of Hearts is here."
Plagued with terrifying visions and hounded by wraiths, Frankie Mourning is on the run again. Afraid she will hurt Thomas Dekker, she goes off on her own and does what she does best: killing the killers. But Dekker needs her help. Corpses are washing up onto the Oregon coast, frozen solid and covered in hoarfrost. And their hearts are missing.
As Frankie and Dekker delve deeper into the mystery, things get stranger. Frozen oceans; a woman who bursts into flame; holes in the fabric of reality; a shapeshifter; and a horrifying woman in a white shroud who claims she wants to help. Despite herself, Frankie finds herself closer to Dekker than ever, but her frightening power and terrifying visions grow stronger, threatening to hurt the last person alive she loves, along with anyone who gets in her way.
But Dekker has a secret of his own, and it might just tear Frankie apart. If she can't keep it together, she's not sure what she's capable of. Though a dwindling group of gods seem to think she could be the salvation the world needs...or the catalyst of its destruction.
Hoarfrost is available at Amazon.com.
Plagued with terrifying visions and hounded by wraiths, Frankie Mourning is on the run again. Afraid she will hurt Thomas Dekker, she goes off on her own and does what she does best: killing the killers. But Dekker needs her help. Corpses are washing up onto the Oregon coast, frozen solid and covered in hoarfrost. And their hearts are missing.
As Frankie and Dekker delve deeper into the mystery, things get stranger. Frozen oceans; a woman who bursts into flame; holes in the fabric of reality; a shapeshifter; and a horrifying woman in a white shroud who claims she wants to help. Despite herself, Frankie finds herself closer to Dekker than ever, but her frightening power and terrifying visions grow stronger, threatening to hurt the last person alive she loves, along with anyone who gets in her way.
But Dekker has a secret of his own, and it might just tear Frankie apart. If she can't keep it together, she's not sure what she's capable of. Though a dwindling group of gods seem to think she could be the salvation the world needs...or the catalyst of its destruction.
Hoarfrost is available at Amazon.com.
MONSTROUS (Blood of Cain #1)
AVAILABLE NOW!
Kindle Book Awards finalist for Horror/Suspense.
Frankie Mourning died on a Thursday. Then she came back.
Tasked with killing the killers – people with the blood of Cain running through their veins – Frankie always gets her murderer. But this time it's different. This time she has to go home. Something strange is happening in Helmville, Montana. People are dying at an alarming rate, and the sheriff is ruling them all accidents and suicides. Nothing is as it seems and Frankie soon finds herself sucked into the tangled and seemingly supernatural mystery. Because the people acting strangely, the people killing everyone around her are haunting the mirrors. Now Frankie's own reflection is behaving strangely and seems hellbent on causing her harm.
In a world enmeshed in remote beauty, dark magic, and violent memories, Frankie feels lost. Luckily, a detective on the run for murder shows up. Thomas Dekker wants to help and claims he cares about Frankie. But daring to trust him could cost her everything.
Kindle Book Awards finalist for Horror/Suspense.
Frankie Mourning died on a Thursday. Then she came back.
Tasked with killing the killers – people with the blood of Cain running through their veins – Frankie always gets her murderer. But this time it's different. This time she has to go home. Something strange is happening in Helmville, Montana. People are dying at an alarming rate, and the sheriff is ruling them all accidents and suicides. Nothing is as it seems and Frankie soon finds herself sucked into the tangled and seemingly supernatural mystery. Because the people acting strangely, the people killing everyone around her are haunting the mirrors. Now Frankie's own reflection is behaving strangely and seems hellbent on causing her harm.
In a world enmeshed in remote beauty, dark magic, and violent memories, Frankie feels lost. Luckily, a detective on the run for murder shows up. Thomas Dekker wants to help and claims he cares about Frankie. But daring to trust him could cost her everything.
BLOOD OF THE STARS
"I remember my name."
Spencer McQuarrie wakes to find himself in a New Orleans hospital in 1945, in a spiraling sequence of events that ends with the brutal murder of his wife, Josephine. Pulled back through time to 1927, he is reunited with a still-living Josephine, and desperately tries to piece together his broken mind to avoid her future death. But then McQuarrie finds himself in the middle of a war between Haitian Vodou demigods – the Loa – and they do not have his best interests at heart.
The loa pull the couple from one time to another, demanding that McQuarrie learn who is killing almost everyone he knows. As McQuarrie starts losing time and waking up in different parishes throughout New Orleans, the list of suspects grows, and he begins to decipher his connection to the killer. Knowing the truth may mean losing Josephine's love. But to save her, he would give up everything: He would fight, he would kill, he would die.
To save her, he would burn worlds upon worlds upon worlds.
Spencer McQuarrie wakes to find himself in a New Orleans hospital in 1945, in a spiraling sequence of events that ends with the brutal murder of his wife, Josephine. Pulled back through time to 1927, he is reunited with a still-living Josephine, and desperately tries to piece together his broken mind to avoid her future death. But then McQuarrie finds himself in the middle of a war between Haitian Vodou demigods – the Loa – and they do not have his best interests at heart.
The loa pull the couple from one time to another, demanding that McQuarrie learn who is killing almost everyone he knows. As McQuarrie starts losing time and waking up in different parishes throughout New Orleans, the list of suspects grows, and he begins to decipher his connection to the killer. Knowing the truth may mean losing Josephine's love. But to save her, he would give up everything: He would fight, he would kill, he would die.
To save her, he would burn worlds upon worlds upon worlds.
BLOOD DAY
This is the way the world ends.
When millions of children went missing during a global blackout, no one suspected monsters. No one thought that vampires were real, or that they would overthrow every world power, instituting a nightmare version of totalitarianism. Yet that is exactly what the Revenants did.
After an initial orgy of terror, however, the monsters vow to stop killing in exchange for a government-enforced Blood Day: mass donations of human blood to satisfy their insatiable thirst. But not all Revenants are interested in a new way of life, and not all humans are willing to obey.
Sia Aoki, a classical musician, wakes up in an experimental hospital, high on Slack and refusing to donate blood. She soon learns the Revenants don't plan to punish her, but are planning to use her for an experiment that will change everything. As Sia recovers from addiction, however, it becomes obvious that there is more to her that meets the eye. And the Revenants have no idea what's coming.
Mike Novak, a journalist with a checkered past, is on the run after writing about the new experimental hospitals. He holes up in an abandoned farmhouse at the behest of a mysterious new benefactor, and begins working on an underground newspaper, printing real news about the Revs, and the humans working to bring the monsters to their knees.
Genevieve White has lost everything: her medical career, her home, and her family. Recruited to work in a new kind of hospital, she meets Sia Aoki, a strange and troubled patient. But Viv has a secret, too. She knows how to destroy the monsters that ruined her life.
With the help of a rebel Revenant, Joshua Flynn, the three strangers fight to save what's left of humanity, and to destroy the despot, an ambitious Revenant named Ambrose Conrad. He is the architect of the massive takeover, and he has far more horrific plans for the dwindling population. Sia, Mike, and Viv must survive if they want to save a world drowning in despair.
That is, if despair doesn't destroy them first.
EAT THE ONES YOU LOVE
(JENNY UNDEAD #2)
AVAILABLE NOW
"What have I become?"
Jenny always lives to fight another day. But she’s not so sure she wants to. She saved Declan, and he hasn’t come back quite right. And after meeting a group who call themselves The Thirteen, Jenny is convinced that she would be better off on her own.
But when the group is attacked at her mother’s old bunker, Jenny wakes up to find her little undead family in tatters, the newcomers gone, and one of her friends missing. If she wants to find him, she’s going to need to talk to someone she’d much rather kill: her mother. In the process, Jenny finds that she has a much larger family than she thought.
Yet nothing is ever as it seems. And on a journey that started with Jenny hopeful that she could save the world, she’s more than sure it’s going to end in despair. To save the people that she loves, Jenny is going to have to get angry. To save the people she loves, she’s going to have to kill. To save the people she loves, she’s going to have to die. Again and again and again and again…
Available at Amazon.com.
"What have I become?"
Jenny always lives to fight another day. But she’s not so sure she wants to. She saved Declan, and he hasn’t come back quite right. And after meeting a group who call themselves The Thirteen, Jenny is convinced that she would be better off on her own.
But when the group is attacked at her mother’s old bunker, Jenny wakes up to find her little undead family in tatters, the newcomers gone, and one of her friends missing. If she wants to find him, she’s going to need to talk to someone she’d much rather kill: her mother. In the process, Jenny finds that she has a much larger family than she thought.
Yet nothing is ever as it seems. And on a journey that started with Jenny hopeful that she could save the world, she’s more than sure it’s going to end in despair. To save the people that she loves, Jenny is going to have to get angry. To save the people she loves, she’s going to have to kill. To save the people she loves, she’s going to have to die. Again and again and again and again…
Available at Amazon.com.
THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE
(NIKI SLOBODIAN #5)
AVAILABLE NOW!
“What does Death fear?”
Niki has been to Hell and back to find a single shred of something to call a life. As Death, she has very little time to do anything but usher the lost souls to their resting places. But when Lucifer, the reason for her taste of happiness, comes up missing, Niki has to face how she feels about him. And about the prospect of losing him.
At the same time, there is something stalking the living of the World. Something from another place…somewhere far from the reaches of Heaven or Hell. And someone is opening up holes in the world and letting the monsters out.
Niki has to make a choice: save her only chance at something good, or fulfill her duties as Death and save humanity. But something is coming. Something bigger and more terrifying that could put all the worlds in peril. Something even the Creator fears. With all the angels out of commission, Niki might be the World’s — and the devil’s — last chance at survival.
And in case she didn't have enough to deal with, the Creator has given Niki another gift...
The Devil's Backbone will be the fifth and final book in the Niki Slobodian series. Available now at Amazon.com.
“What does Death fear?”
Niki has been to Hell and back to find a single shred of something to call a life. As Death, she has very little time to do anything but usher the lost souls to their resting places. But when Lucifer, the reason for her taste of happiness, comes up missing, Niki has to face how she feels about him. And about the prospect of losing him.
At the same time, there is something stalking the living of the World. Something from another place…somewhere far from the reaches of Heaven or Hell. And someone is opening up holes in the world and letting the monsters out.
Niki has to make a choice: save her only chance at something good, or fulfill her duties as Death and save humanity. But something is coming. Something bigger and more terrifying that could put all the worlds in peril. Something even the Creator fears. With all the angels out of commission, Niki might be the World’s — and the devil’s — last chance at survival.
And in case she didn't have enough to deal with, the Creator has given Niki another gift...
The Devil's Backbone will be the fifth and final book in the Niki Slobodian series. Available now at Amazon.com.
