Sunday Scramble - High Rollers

Unfortunately, we did not have a winner for last week's scramble. 

The answer to last week's scramble is:

A few memories leaked out. She let them rest beneath the turtle’s belly. He’d have to grow before he could swallow all her secrets.




ethenba - beneath
osmrieem - memories
lyelb - belly
setsecr - secrets
alswwlo - swallo

This week's scramble is from High Rollers, which is on sale starting tomorrow on Amazon. It's a countdown sale, so get your Kindle edition early.

Monday March 17th -Wednesday March 19th - 99 cents
Thursday March 20th - Saturday March 23rd - $1.99

On Sunday March 24, the price goes back to its normal $2.99.

Of course, if you're the first to solve the scramble, you won't need to buy it because we'll send you a free copy.





Here's the scramble.

As Regan stepped into the ___________ , the first thing she saw was her own reflection ____________ from jagged ____________ shards arranged _________________ to look like ______________. 

ardhazlyhap 
niligsm 
romirr 
lacstaestit
sincao

Oh and there is more news this week. We will be participating in the Leaping Leprehchauns & Frolicking Fairies blog hop. With a little help from Regan, I've invited my father, Duncan O'Malley back from the dead to talk about his encounter with the little people. He'll tell his story tomorrow and will give away an ebook coupon for Angels in Hell's Kitchen to whoever comments. Then on Thursday, Toledo Cats will talk about the fairies she's encountered and share a story about Whiskey Joe, She'll be giving away ebook coupons for Rips in the Weave to anyone who comments on her post. 

Regan Recommends - Sidecars with a Sugar Rim

Regan Worth

A few nights ago, I went to dinner at Hanover's place. Hanover made some steaks on the grill and I brought wine. Toledo brought grapefruit pie for dessert and Mary brought a couple of salads. All in all, it was a fun, relaxing meal, but the big surprise came after we ate.

Hanover brought out a bottle of cognac-- the good stuff Courvoisier VSOP Exclusif. He poured us all a glass and it was nice. It warmed me up inside. But it also got me thinking about one of my favorite drinks: the sidecar.

So I asked Hanover whether he had any fresh lemons. He had lemon juice, but it's just not the same. He didn't, of course. "Why do you want lemons anyway?" he asked.

"To make a sidecar," I said.

"Ruin a good cognac," he grumbled the way he always does when I mention something tasty.

"Whatever," I rolled my eyes and filled my glass with the straight stuff. It was good, like I said, but it was definitely not a sidecar.

Well, last night I got a surprise. Hanover stopped by with a basket of everything you need to make a sidecar. "What's the occasion?" I asked as he squeezed the lemons.

"Does there have to be an occasion?" he asked. "I was just thinking back to that boat we went on. You know...the Mud Imp. Is that what it was called?"

"The A. Neon Mud Imp. What a disaster that night was."

"I wouldn't call it a disaster. We had a good time, didn't we?" Hanover poured some cognac in the shaker.

"Not too heavy on the cognac, Hanover. I like mine a little on the tart side."

"If you want it tart, why do you put sugar on the rim?" He poured  in an equal amount of Cointreau.

Hanover always gripes about my sugar. But the fact is, I invented putting sugar on the rim of a drink. I was fifteen, I think, and I'd hang out at the Owl listening to Daddy play. They'd pour me hooch, if I asked, but it was hard to drink. So I wiped the rim of my glass with a lemon and dipped it in sugar. When I had my first sidecar a few years later, I knew it would go good with sugar. And people copied me and before long, it was all the rage.

"I just like it that way," I said. 

"Ruin a good drink," Hanover grumbled. But he wiped lemon around the rim and dipped it in granulated sugar. 

He poured the mixture into the two glasses -- one with sugar, one without.

"I think we'd better toast," he handed me my glass.

"To what?" I asked. "I thought there was no occasion."

"It looks like we might be going on another adventure?" he said.

"Where?" I asked.

"It's a surprise." He smiled and we touched glasses. Hanover knows how much I like surprises.

If you want to know more about our adventure on the A. Neon Mud Imp, you can read about it in High Rollers. If you want to know more about how to make a sidecar, visit Sidecar Recipe.

An Unexpected Turn of Events #coffinhop

The party continues. You drink and watch the people in their strange old-fashioned costumes chatter.

"Having fun?" Regan titters.

Hanover scowls and you notice he looks a little green. "What are you and Caprice up to now?"

"I have no idea what you even mean, Hanover. We're supposed to be showing our guests a few ghosts, right?" She hands Hanover the other bottle. "Can you pop the cork on this? I don't want to break a nail."

Hanover takes the bottle twists the cork. It doesn't budge. He looks at the label. "1963? Where on earth did you get a bottle of 1963 champagne?"

"From the waiter, of course. You saw me buy it."

Hanover gives a hard twist. The cork pops loud -- like a gunshot. No one stops laughing. "Hold you glass over here."

Regan puts her glass under the foam just in time. She takes yours and puts it in the stream, then hands it back to you.

"I'm not sure I need any more," you say, more than a little disturbed by the sudden feeling the floor is dropping out from under you.

"Of course you do. Besides, we're celebrating. My book High Rollers is free on Kindle today. We'll it's my story and Hanover's, but he's had others. This is my first so we're celebrating."

You feel like your feet have lost contact with the ground. You look out the window and see flashing lights in the darknesss. You realize the train is no longer on the tracks...instead, it is drifting above some eerie village.



It lurches to a stop. The door opens and a woman steps in. She is tall and thin with platinum blonde hair. She is somehow more substantial than the other partiers. Regan hurries toward her and offers her a glass of champagne.

The woman smiles and takes it.

Regan takes the woman's hand. "I'd like you to meet Kitty Kirwin, the author. I can't believe she made it. Have you read her books of ghost stories?  Haunted Bedtime Stories is so real....it's like the kind of book I would write. So that's why I knew you could see ghosts, Kitty, and why I was dying to meet you."

"Dying to meet me?" Kitty says. "That's not really necessary. I mean...then how would I read more of your adventures?"

"You read my book?!" Regan asks.

"Of course! And it was faBOO!" Kitty takes a sips of champagne. "But you know...you should think about dying your hair. I think you're really a blonde deep down inside."

To be continued.

A special thanks to K.F. (Kitty) Kirwin for appearing in our adventure and for letting me use her village in our flyover scene. For more ghost stories on the #coffinhop, make sure to stop by Kitty's blog.  

Excited Beyond Belief - High Rollers is RELEASED!

Good morning! Yes, it is a good morning and I'm more excited than I've been in decades. Why? Because my book High Rollers is on Kindle. Finally! Now you can read the story of how I came to realize that Hanover is not just an ordinary Dick. What, Mary? I didn't mean to be offensive. That's what we called private detectives back in the day when chasing the dragon was vogue and a Death in the Afternoon was a sparkling and refreshing beverage.

I mean, look at the cover! Rodger Francis did a great job portraying the age, don't you think? I mean, there's the piano my Dad used to play in the Ossified Owl. There's the riverboat casino where the story takes place. And there's my sweet little breezer. Oh, how I miss afternoons racing through the streets of New Orleans, the wind rustling my bob. Oh...and the lipstick. Hanover never would tell me who that lipstick belonged too, but he sure got upset when I found it.

Anyway, not only is my book available, but the authors have asked me and Hanover to take you on a ghost tour to celebrate Halloween. It's part of coffin hop and it starts Wednesday, October 24th.  To go on the tour, meet us here, at The Black Cat .

We'll grab a bite to eat before we hop the train and journey to some haunted spots. Hopefully the ghosts will be cooperative.

See you then...and if you want to read a ghost story in the meantime, pick up High Rollers on your Kindle.



Hauntingly Beautiful - Spirits Revealed

Regan Worth

OK, whatever. No one has a clue where to find the spirits? Fine...I'll just have to show you.

I swear, you are all as bad as Hanover. Oblivious.

Maybe you'll see them if you take a closer look.

Can you see them now? I certainly hope so...I mean, they're obvious, right?

Anyway, it's nearly Halloween and we have some exciting things in store for you this week -- ghostly things!

The best thing is that my story High Rollers is finally hitting the shelves. I expect it will be available very soon...maybe even tomorrow. We're putting out a Kindle edition first...mostly because I'm too impatient to wait for print. I want to share my story, after all.

 

The other thing is Coffin Hop. It starts Wednesday. Our authors are participating and we've agreed to do a few guest posts to help them out. So stay tuned.  Look for the #coffinhop posts on Twitter..last I looked there were almost 100 participating authors. That's a lot of great spooky stuff to start your Halloween off right.

 

 

 

Ghosts in the Moon

Regan Worth

I absolutely love a full moon -- it's a time to get crazy, to open up a bottle of your favorite wine, and howl. Not that I'm a werewolf or anything -- I'm not. Besides, werewolves are so last year.

This year, we're dedicating October to my favorite subject -- ghosts. We're going to (at last) release a book about me. It's called High Rollers and tells the story of how I got involved with Hanover Fist. We're also going to release a FREE short story on Amazon, if the writers get busy. It's also about me and ghosts. It doesn't have a title yet, but I'll let you know when it does.
Anyway...back to the full moon.

Ghost in the Harvest Moon

Have you ever sat out and looked at the full moon when you can't really see it because there's a tree in the way? That's my favorite way to look at it because you can see the ghosts. If you're lucky, like I am, they will even speak to you. Take the woman in the picture to the right. I saw her last night...she whispered to me about a man she'd been missing. He's coming to meet her soon...she can feel it. She's been waiting for over 30 years. Can you imagine? I can't even DATE a man for 30 days, let alone wait on one for 30 years. Well, unless you consider Hanover, and he doesn't count.



Harvest moon - 2012

 And then there's the moon itself...unatainable for most of us. That makes it exciting. Even I can't travel there and I have been to a lot of places most people can't go -- the chaos realm for instance.

Which brings up another point. Caprice has absolutely no say over the moon. There is no chaos to how it spins around the earth. And sure, I like chaos most of the time. Hell, I thrive on chaos if you want to know the truth. But even I like to take a deep breath now and then, take off my chothes, and dance with moonbeams shining in my eyes. The ghosts dance too.

Hanover, will you join me?  Anyone else?

At last - a story about Regan Worth

Regan Worth

Well it's about time! I told a story about one of my adventures to the authors 3 years ago and yet no one has ever read it. Why? The authors had some bizarre idea about telling the earlier stories first.

I mean seriously! Age before beauty and all that melarky. Just because I'm the youngest (and prettiest) of the Dime Store Novel characters doesn't mean I should have to wait to be famous. My stories are FUN. They're filled with parties, good music, wild times and spirits. And not just the tasty drinking kind of spirits either.

Anyway, they finally came to their senses and agreed to publish High Rollers. It's a story about my first adventure with Hanover Fist. I didn't like him very much then, as you'll see in the book. But what's a girl to do when her Daddy insists she take an escort to the social event of the year? Well, if the girl is me, I turn the night into an experience Hanover will never forget. *wink*

You'll find out more about High Rollers soon. The writers plan to contact the artist this week. I hope he does me justice.

Gotta go. Time to crack open a bottle of the bubbly and celebrate my upcoming fame.