Authors here at Untethered Realms write speculative fiction. It encompasses science fiction, fantasy, horror, paranormal and anything that pushes the boundaries of fictional belief. For most of us, including creatures in our writing is a must. It adds that suspension of disbelief flavor that so many specfic readers enjoy.
You name it, and we probably got it here at the Realms!
In my Afterlife novella series, I include ghosts, demons, shapeshifters, gardengoyles, shadow people and Doppelgangers. Of course, it wouldn't be fun or interesting if they didn't misbehave.
Take Doppelgangers for instance.
A doppelganger is your double. Someone who looks like you, but isn't you. Every
culture has a different twist on what it means to see your double. But whatever the
culture, it is never a good sign and is often the harbinger of death.
In Second Death, their own doppelgangers tease and test
the mettle of Indigo and Badger, intent on getting a rise out of them. They’re pros at mimicry. They took deeply seated desires and taunted the pair by turning something innocent into something...other than innocent.
It’s even said that doppelgangers have demonic qualities. So using them
in Second Death was a bit of
foreshadowing.
It should be clear by now that you do
not want to see your own doppelganger. Or mine!
To set the scene for the following excerpt, here's what happened to Indigo and Badger. Indigo is drafted onto the Missing Paranormal Committee, which leads the gang to the Gertrude's Garden cotillion, the social center nightclub for paranormals. While following a trail of shadow people, they meet their trouble-making doppelgangers in a mirror. Now
this is the real meaning of in through the
looking glass…
We smiled at our reflections.
Our reflections smiled back.
We laughed.
Our reflections laughed back.
Our reflections waved…
Wait.
I did not wave…so how…
I turned to Badger—he turned to me.
“What…did you…I
didn’t…” Badger looked as freaked out as I felt.
We looked back at the mirror. Although no sound reached us, they were laughing at us! Having a good
laugh, too, hanging on each other’s shoulders.
She stuck her tongue out at us.
He made an obscene hand gesture.
I sucked in a breath. My fists went to my hips. “Stop
that!”
Badger, the real one, frowned. “What are they?”
“Right off hand I’d say they’re doppelgangers. Our doubles.”
An electrical current zipped up my spine and lodged at the base of my skull.
Weren’t doppelgangers harbingers of death? And they were our doppelgangers, so
did that mean they were harbingers of our own deaths? I shook my head. It was
no time for fanciful imaginings. Gertrude’s Garden and the attached cemetery
was nothing but death. That made more sense.
“Well, what are they doing here? What do they want with us?”
“Good question.” I ignored the thoughts that persistently
tapped me on the shoulder. “Or more importantly, why are they purposely
antagonizing us?”
“They are
deliberately trying to get a rise out of us. I wonder why?” said Badger.
“Who are you?” I don’t know what her game was, but someone
else wearing my face and body wasn’t cool.
She turned and kissed the Badger reflection right on the
lips. A long, sensuous, face-sucking, tongue-wrangling kiss.
I gasped and took a step closer, a brief flicker of
something like jealousy momentarily sparking my temper. Was he enjoying kissing
her, er, me? I didn’t see him
struggling...
Then she turned back to me and winked.
“Why you little…” The moment I touched the mirror, I fell
through, Badger’s voice ringing in my ears. I face-planted on the other side,
only seconds before Badger. I sat up, slightly in shock. What the heck just happened?
Badger sat up and rested his forearms on his knees. He
cocked his head and raised his eyebrows at me. “I don’t suppose you have an
explanation?”
I gazed around the hall, no sign of our doppelgangers. A
mirror image of the hall we just left, only bone-chillingly cold, looked back.
I shivered. “Right off hand I’d say we fell through the rabbit hole.” And I sat spread eagle on the floor like a
bumbling Alice.
What do you think?
Could you take on a doppelganger?
Second Death
Book I
The Afterlife Novella Series
Blurb:
Second Death:
The Sabrina Shores spirit community is in crisis.
Ghosties are mysteriously disappearing at an alarming rate.
They’re simply…gone. A second death.
The clues are limited, but it’s clear that the one common factor is Gertrude’s Garden, the nightclub social center of the spirit community which just happens to adjoin the Sabrina Shores cemetery: the one place Indigo makes a point of not going. Ever. She has her reasons.
Indigo Eady:
Much to her chagrin, Indigo Eady is a celebrity among spirits. She’s the girl who can see and speak with them. She has a proven track record in helping spirits find their murderers, so it’s no surprise when she’s drafted onto the Missing Paranormal Committee. Who better to help them than the experienced teenage ghost whisperer- investigator and her friends?
***
Blog Tour Stops:
(Book I)
(Yeah, I rub elbows with some awesome peeps!)
Ghostly Gallows available October 6th!
Secret Keepers available October 20th!
Giveaways!
Everyone who comments here or at any of the stops during my Afterlife Blog Tour will be put into a drawing for FREE ebooks of Second Death, Ghostly Gallows and Secret Keepers. Five copies will be given away during the two week release period of each book.
Everyone who leaves a review of any book in the Afterlife series by October 31, 2014 will be put in a drawing for a $25 Amazon gift card.
Everyone who purchases the complete ebook set or boxed ebook collection set by the end of the Afterlife blog tour (by October 31, 2014) will be put in a drawing for a $25 Amazon gift card (boxed ebook set available October).
A print book giveaway of the series will also be up for grabs - stay tuned for more details!
Send your purchase links with the heading "AFTERLIFE" in the subject line to GwenMGardner@cox.net to be entered into the drawings.
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