Bea's Book Nook: Hore

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Spotlight On Housetrap by R.J. Hore

The blurb for this sounded interesting and I knew I had to participate in the promo blitz for it. It mixes two of my favorite genres, urban fantasy and mystery. The book was released on December third, so if you like the excerpt below, you can go and purchase it.

The author,R.J. Hore was a reader of genre fiction since a very early age. He got down to serious attempts at writing over thirty years ago, although employment kept getting in the way. He did write a considerable amount of non-fiction during his business career, enough to be listed as a professional writer by the Canadian Authors Association.

His hobbies include trying to keep on the good side of his wife, keeping track of his children and grandchildren, and wrestling the blasted cat off of his keyboard. In his diminishing spare time he sails on Lake Winnipeg and try not to get lost.

He currently reviews science fiction and fantasy genre novels and anthologies for an on-line magazine aimed primarily at school libraries. He's losing track, but has done somewhere over 60 reviews so far.

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Excerpt

Faith tongued my ear and moved on, leaving me quite damp. I don’t know what some parents think about raising children, but Grizzly’s methods leave something to be seriously reviewed by the Committee of Public Knowledge and Enlightenment. A young lady should definitely not be brought up and educated in an all-night snack and beverage emporium. And she should at the least learn to respect her elders. I dragged my tired carcass onto a pair of flat feet and headed for the exit sign.

The rain had stopped but the early morning air remained chill. I often thought things out clearest while strolling during these purple-grey hours before the sun cleared the buildings. My own little rooms were only blocks away. After the first block I knew I was being followed.

The empty street stretched out ahead, a long mist-clad tunnel of dark shadows and faint gaslight. One or two of the street lamps in the next block had already burned out, leaving gaps of pure blackness not yet touched by the yawning whisper of the dawn. There were at least two of them trailing behind me; I could tell that much by the muffled footsteps. Which two, and why they were not bothering to hide their approach, I could only guess at. But if I were a gambler, I’d wager Bertha’s next pay cheque that they had some connection with our little lost love, dear Rupert. Passing through the pale ring of light on the sidewalk cast by the next lamp, I paused, slipping my left hand into the glass knuckles in my coat pocket, and casually turned around so that my followers would be caught in the glow.

“Good evening gentlemen, taking an early morning stroll? I don’t believe I've seen you in the neighbourhood before.”

The Vampire smiled, fixing his sunken black eyes upon me. The more elderly and taller partner of the pair, he stood motionless, long grasping hands dangling out from the sleeves of his greatcoat, thin fingers twitching. The Demon shimmered silently beside him, the light sparkling on his green scales. Shorter and stockier than his cadaverous companion, he licked his lips.

The bloodsucker spoke first, in a voice that echoed as a cross somewhere between coarse sandpaper and an untuned fiddle. “I believe you know a close acquaintance of ours, a young Master Rupert? We are searching for him.”

“Don't know the lad, I’m afraid.” I recognized the tall Ghoul’s accent though.

The Vampire drifted to the nearer edge of the dim circle of light. The Demon faded toward my right and the deserted street. I loosened the splatter gun with a slight move of my shoulder.

“Oh dear, we just want to speak with the boy. What can you tell us of his whereabouts?”

Not only was this parasite on the ripe side of the last century, but he had a set of bad teeth and nasty breath I could smell from ten feet away.

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