Free Spine Tingling Horror Book for Halloween + Listen to it on YouTube Too!

Free Horror Book for Halloween

Happy Halloween one and all.

As has become a tradition for me and Soph at Wittegen Press, we like to give away a free book for Halloween (link and instructions at the bottom). It started when we heard about Neil Gaiman's All Hallows Read way back in 2012, where the idea is to give books as a Halloween treat.

Soph and I created eBooks to give away from 2012 to 2021. We took a little break in 2022 for family reasons, but now I am back to continue the tradition!👻 (Soph's been too busy at work this year to join in, poor thing - hopefully she'll have more time next Halloween).

This year the book is called Mirror Mirror: A Haunting Tale of Horror, which is the first story, and it also contains The Crosses We Bear.

A chill runs down your spine as you enter your refurbished home in Mirror Mirror. Little do you know that glancing in a mirror will spell doom for you. 

In The Crosses We Bear, meet Lyle and Susan, two ad executives who are about to discover that a remote Scottish hotel is only the beginning of their terrifying journey. Follow their story of facing terrible things in the dark as they confront the horror they find.

I also decided it would be fun to read Mirror Mirror over on my YouTube channel. I hope I come off as sufficiently spine tingling 😱 - although not too creepy or YouTube will bury my vid 😉.

The book is available from all the usual eBook sites, but to get it FREE you need to pop to Smashwords - and use this coupon code on checkout: HA85H

The offer is valid until 01 Dec 2023 - so grab your copy before it runs out.

🎃Please be aware the stories this year are not kid friendly - they are for older trick or treaters who enjoy a bit of horror.🎃

I do love writing a bit of dark horror from time to time. It balances out my usual desperate need for a happy ending I suppose 😉. Hope you enjoy the stories and have a fabulous Halloween.

If you are looking for more spooky horror, all the previous years books can be found here.

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Happy Halloween! Free eBook of Ghostly Tales #AllHallowsRead

Happy Halloween!

Greetings lovelies, I hope we are all having a fun and spooky time this 31st October! It's Halloween when the ghouls and the ghosts, the sprites and the spirits all come out to play and that means:

FREE BOOK TIME!

As usual, Soph and I have put together a small anthology of 2 ghost stories to give away in support of All Hallows Read.

Title: We All Fall Down
Author: Sophie Duncan & Natasha Duncan-Drake
Genre: horror, ghost
Length: 2 Short Stories
Coupon Code: QF26Z
Description:
Join us as a lone grad student braves the silence in the restricted books section of her campus library and all the mystery it contains, or as a witch dares to investigate the cryptic darkness on the third floor of her local tea room.
Both are fraught with danger and the icy spark of fear. Come in and find out why.

How to get your free book:

1. Click the link We All Fall Down and visit Smashwords.
2. Click the buy link to add the book to your cart.
3. Put the coupon Code QF26Z into to box on the checkout screen.
4. Click "Apply Coupons"
5. Click "checkout" and the book will available for download.

We very much hope you enjoy the book and our spooky little tales.

Coffee Morning in Aid of Cancer Research UK

Sophie and I, along with another author friend, are hosting a coffee morning on 10th November 2018 between 10am and 1pm at my house, in Chartham near Canterbury, Kent, UK. If you happen to be in the area, we will be selling our books, as well as homemade cakes, drinks, a raffle, cream teas and we'll be doing readings as well. All the proceeds from the food etc are going to Cancer Research UK and £1 from every book sale is also going to the charity.

Both our families have had to deal with cancer in one way or another, so we wanted to do something to help the wonderful work carrier out by Cancer Research UK.

Full details can be found at our website here: Creatives Against Cancer

We also have a Just Giving page for those who can't be with us, but would like to contribute to the charity. Many thanks.

All Hallows Read - Free Book - Possession Is Nine Tenths of the Law

All Hallows Read
Free Book
Possession is Nine Tenths of the Law

by Natasha Duncan-Drake & Sophie Duncan

As is our tradition at Halloween, Soph and I are supporting All Hallows Read once again. The idea is that instead of candy we give out a free book. This makes giving over the internet much easier and promotes the joy of reading, so it's win/win!

Our book this year is called Possession is Nine Tenths of the Law and it has two spooky stories in it to tingle the spine:

• Looking for Luticia by Natasha Duncan-Drake
  Lucy is the host of a successful ghost hunting TV show, but their latest location is going to be a lot more haunting than she or her crew have ever dealt with before.
• Lost in the Dark by Sophie Duncan
  Evelyn Edness is a medium who works for the dead, helping them to move on from the limbo of an eternity as ghosts. Kate Grange has come to ask for her help.

It is free to download from Smashwords for all our trick or treating visitors. After Halloween it will be 99c so grab your copy TODAY while it is free. Just click below and you're away.

Possession is Nine Tenths of the Law

Happy Halloween!

Creepy Countdown Day 8 - Canopy of Doom

We're almost at Halloween and we all know how that get's the mind turning. It's often just the idea of ghoulies and ghosties and long legged beasties that make us hide under the covers, or run for the light switch, so from now until the big day I thought it would be fun to talk about ordinary things that scare us when the mood is right. These are the kind of thing good horror movies love to twist to get us going.

Canopy of Doom

And here we are on the last day before Halloween! Everyone ready with all the candy, costumes and chocolate? We don't go in much for trick or treating around here, but I have the goodies in, just in case we get a few.

So on a bright summer's day there is nothing nicer than driving along a lovely road with overhanging trees. The beautiful greens and natural atmosphere is wonderful. This is especially true on those amazing roads that have a complete canopy over them. We have several near where I live and they are exquisite.

However ...

We all knew that was coming didn't we :)

There is nothing more sinister on a dark Autumn night than driving down the same kind of road with only headlights to guide the way. It doesn't matter if it's a two lane road or a single track lane - the effect is the same.

These are the roads all those ghost stories talk about. The ones with the phantom hitchhiker, or the lady in white that appears in the back or passenger seat of the car. The ones we can't do anything to avoid.

It doesn't matter what we believe during the day, at night, all bets are off. There are definitely ghosts waiting for us somewhere under the dark, eerie canopy.

All there is in front of us is a dark tunnel with seemingly no end. No stars, no moon, just trees reaching down, ready to bar our way when the ghost tells them to. What is beautiful in the sun is terrifying when night descends.

Do you have any road with tree canopies near you or have you driven down such roads? Were they scary? Do you have any other types of roads that give you the creeps?

~*~

Coming October 31st

FREE for 1 day only for All Hallows Read

Possession is Nine Tenths of the Law

by Natasha Duncan-Drake and Sophie Duncan

Two spooky stories to give you chills.

Check back on Halloween for details of how to download.

poster by blablover5

Creepy Counrdown Day 7 - Into the Dark

We're almost at Halloween and we all know how that get's the mind turning. It's often just the idea of ghoulies and ghosties and long legged beasties that make us hide under the covers, or run for the light switch, so from now until the big day I thought it would be fun to talk about ordinary things that scare us when the mood is right. These are the kind of thing good horror movies love to twist to get us going.

Into the Dark

Entering a dark room can be unsettling, simply because, most of us, at some level, are scared of the dark. It's a primeval instinct left over from when the dark could kill us, and since some of us still regularly fall over the cat, the instinct is well honed. However, I find that this instinct is even worse if there is a staircase involved.

At home there is nothing worse on an Autumn evening, than working away upstairs and then realising I have forgotten to turn any lights on downstairs. I have to go from the brightness of my PC screens, down into blackness.

Equally, sometimes on a Winter morning, when I have to go up to my office, all there is upstairs is darkness and my heart always skips a beat. It never helps when one of my cats comes with me and then decides to hightail it back downstairs half way up, either!

Somehow the stairs are like the doorway into another world, one of light and the other of darkness. There could be nasty, creepy things waiting in that darkness, patiently sitting there until I bridge the gap between realities.

I also hate to admit it, but there have been a number of times I have charged downstairs after turning the lights off up there too!

Do you have any places you really don't like to enter if they are dark? How do you feel about staircases that descend or rise into darkness?

~*~

Coming October 31st

FREE for 1 day only for All Hallows Read

Possession is Nine Tenths of the Law

by Natasha Duncan-Drake and Sophie Duncan

Two spooky stories to give you chills.

Check back on Halloween for details of how to download.

poster by blablover5

Creepy Countdown Day 6 - Tap, Tap, Tapping At the Window Pane

We're almost at Halloween and we all know how that get's the mind turning. It's often just the idea of ghoulies and ghosties and long legged beasties that make us hide under the covers, or run for the light switch, so from now until the big day I thought it would be fun to talk about ordinary things that scare us when the mood is right. These are the kind of thing good horror movies love to twist to get us going.

Tap, Tap, Tapping At the Window Pane

So, the other day I talked about shadows through the window, but there is, of course, something even worse. What could be creepier than something tapping on our windows in the middle of the night, or even scraping along the glass?

It's an image that works so well to terrify - everyone remember that iconic scene in Poltergeist. Of course that film takes it a little further in that the tree really is out to get Robbie.

Come to think of it, it may be that film I have to blame for my long held fear of branches tap, tap, tapping at the window. I'm very glad to say there is no tree anywhere near our bedroom window.

Of course in horror it doesn't just have to be a tree, it could be an insane bird, or even Dracula. That is what makes such noises in the middle of the night so utterly terrifying. When we are in the mindset to believe, the monster is always trying to get in.

Windows these days are a little more sturdy then they once were, but we all know even tripple glazing wouldn't stand up to the monster slowly scratching away at the glass. Its claws must be really long and sharp to make that noise, or is that the sound of fingernails as ghostly apparitions make known they want to come in.

I'll tell you one thing, I'm diving under the duvet - no way am I parting the curtains to check!

Have you ever had a room or stayed in one where a tree made itself known by tapping at night? Or anything else for that matter?

~*~

Coming October 31st

FREE for 1 day only for All Hallows Read

Possession is Nine Tenths of the Law

by Natasha Duncan-Drake and Sophie Duncan

Two spooky stories to give you chills.

Check back on Halloween for details of how to download.

poster by blablover5

Creepy Countdown Day 5 - What's Up Pussy Cat

We're almost at Halloween and we all know how that get's the mind turning. It's often just the idea of ghoulies and ghosties and long legged beasties that make us hide under the covers, or run for the light switch, so from now until the big day I thought it would be fun to talk about ordinary things that scare us when the mood is right. These are the kind of thing good horror movies love to twist to get us going.

What's Up Pussy Cat

Apparently today is National Black Cat day, so of course I had to do something to do with cats. Always remember, black cats are lucky—treat them well and we will do well, treat them badly and the worst luck will find us. I don't have a black cat at the moment, but my sister has an adorable little girl called Binx who loves head scritches :).

Now we all know cats are odd creatures and it's no surprise that Ancient Egyptians thought they were sacred. Anyone who has cats knows their cat can never fully be explained by mere mortals. In one way they are very useful to explain away spooky things - anyone with cats will immediately assume that any weird bangs and crashes are the cats getting into things they shouldn't be getting into.

However, there is one really, really creepy thing they do...

We all know what I'm going to say, right?

It's when they suddenly stare at nothing as if they are looking at something we just can't see. Even worse is when they do it just over out shoulder with that OMG expression to go with it.

The other day I was sitting on the floor reordering DVDs on the shelf to put away new ones (yes, my collection is alphabetised ... and by category) and Amber was helping, as cats are wont to do. Then all of a sudden she stared over my left shoulder in that way she has when someone dares enter her presence she does not wish to deal with. It was so very, very creepy. I admit it, I had to turn the lights on at the other end of the room just so there were no dark corners!

Do you have cats? Do they do the stare at nothing thing, or do you know cats that do? Does it freak you out?

~*~

Coming October 31st

FREE for 1 day only for All Hallows Read

Possession is Nine Tenths of the Law

by Natasha Duncan-Drake and Sophie Duncan

Two spooky stories to give you chills.

Check back on Halloween for details of how to download.

poster by blablover5

Creepy Countdown Day 4 - Moving Shadows

We're almost at Halloween and we all know how that get's the mind turning. It's often just the idea of ghoulies and ghosties and long legged beasties that make us hide under the covers, or run for the light switch, so from now until the big day I thought it would be fun to talk about ordinary things that scare us when the mood is right. These are the kind of thing good horror movies love to twist to get us going.

Moving Shadows

Light coming through a window and curtains and creating shadows on a wall can be incredibly beautiful. It can also be inordinately creepy.

If I can't sleep I sometimes enjoy looking at the shadows on the wall as cars pass. Our bedroom doesn't face the road and it's far enough away that the light isn't intrusive, but when cars come up the road lights come past the house next door and throw interesting patterns sometimes. This is fine most of the time, in fact it's interesting.

However ...

Waking up in the middle of the night just when a car goes past can be really freaky.

That moment between waking and sleeping when our brains remain confused, that's the time when moving shadows are at their worst. When there is no conscious connect between source and what is appearing on the wall.

Shadows, but their very nature can make the most amazing shapes. For example, the one below is actually a leaf being held in bright sunlight, but I cropped it, added a couple of gradients and a Halloween raven and bam, it's a freaky hand reaching out.

Our brains are very good at making shapes into things. We pattern match all the time and come to conclusions, it's how we can process large amounts of information so fast. In the dead of night, just waking up, it's the whole flight of fight reflex that often kicks in, especially if the threat is moving.

It has been many years since I have ended up in the hallway thanks to thinking something will get me, but moving shadows still make my heart pound.

Shadows can be used so effectively in fiction as well. The visual media has used them so well, like in the famous scene from Nosferatu and all through films like Darkness Falls. Also, more than one scene I've read in books makes sinister shadows so very creepy. Horror is a genre that often takes the small things and makes them seem huge in our minds. Shadows should not be allowed to hurt us, but every horror fan knows, we can never trust the darkness.

When you think moving shadows, do any films or TV series immediately jump to mind? Did you ever have a personal creepy experience with shadows in your life?

~*~

Coming October 31st

FREE for 1 day only for All Hallows Read

Possession is Nine Tenths of the Law

by Natasha Duncan-Drake and Sophie Duncan

Two spooky stories to give you chills.

Check back on Halloween for details of how to download.

poster by blablover5

Creepy Countdown Day 3 - Tick, Tock

We're almost at Halloween and we all know how that get's the mind turning. It's often just the idea of ghoulies and ghosties and long legged beasties that make us hide under the covers, or run for the light switch, so from now until the big day I thought it would be fun to talk about ordinary things that scare us when the mood is right. These are the kind of thing good horror movies love to twist to get us going.

Tick Tock

Normally I love the sound of a ticking clock. That regular rhythm is soothing and restful. It's one of those white noise type of sounds that is great to entertain parts of the brain while working or trying to go to sleep.

However, there are exceptions to this rule.

Thanks to numerous horror scenes over the years, the ticking of a grandfather clock, with it's deep sounds and reverberating tocks is not so restful. This is especially true if it has heavy sounding chimes.

We become trained to react to certain things, like Pavlov's dogs, if we experience it over and over again, and the ticking of a grandfather clock does that to me. From Sapphire and Steel to good old Hammer horror, the grandfather clock is a tick tock of doom.

I love the look of such big clocks, but I really couldn't deal with one in my house :).

It's like the clock is counting out until something really bad happens. It could be a ghost, it could be a monster, but it's definitely coming. AND the chimes are like the announcement that the bad thing is here! Even someone describing the deep ticking of a grandfather clock in a novel gives me the shivers.

Hearing is such an important sense, especially when it's dark, and somethings are perfect for getting under our skin.

The other thing that makes my skin crawl is too many clocks. There is something inordinately creepy about a room with clocks all over it. It's as if there's too much time and there is a dred hanging in the air that they will all chime at once.

Ever been disturbed by a clock, or maybe have you heard any scary stories about them you'd like to share?

~*~

Coming October 31st

FREE for 1 day only for All Hallows Read

Possession is Nine Tenths of the Law

by Natasha Duncan-Drake and Sophie Duncan

Two spooky stories to give you chills.

Check back on Halloween for details of how to download.

poster by blablover5

Creepy Countdown Day 2 - Mirror Mirror

We're almost at Halloween and we all know how that get's the mind turning. It's often just the idea of ghoulies and ghosties and long legged beasties that make us hide under the covers, or run for the light switch, so from now until the big day I thought it would be fun to talk about ordinary things that scare us when the mood is right. These are the kind of thing good horror movies love to twist to get us going.

Mirror Mirror

Okay, I admit it, this one gets me all year round, it doesn't have to be Halloween.

We have a perfectly normal bathroom mirror. It's modern, it's practical, it's easily cleaned. Nothing antique or spooky or remotely strange about it. During the day I often glance into it as I wash my hands or as I clean my teeth etc.

However, you could not pay me enough to look into it on a night time trip to the loo!

It's utterly ridiculous, but somewhere in the back of my brain, that little voice that screams at the people in horror movies for doing really stupid things, is yelling that if I look I will see something terrible.

Admittedly it is always darker in the bathroom at night because I only ever turn the hall light on so my eyes don't adjust too much and make the walk back hazardous :), but it's still totally irrational.

We've all seen the poor person in the horror film innocently standing in front of the mirror, only they catch something hideous or lethal out of the corner of their eye.

Yep, so not taking that risk. Head down, wash hands, flee back to safety of bedroom - that's how it's done!

It gets me so often that I wrote a flash fic about it a while back and published it on this blog - Mirror, Mirror On the Wall.

Anyone else not like to risk the bathroom mirror in the middle of the night or am I the only one?

~*~

Coming October 31st

FREE for 1 day only for All Hallows Read

Possession is Nine Tenths of the Law

by Natasha Duncan-Drake and Sophie Duncan

Two spooky stories to give you chills.

Check back on Halloween for details of how to download.

poster by blablover5

Creepy Countdown Day 1 - What's That Noise?

We're almost at Halloween and we all know how that get's the mind turning. It's often just the idea of ghoulies and ghosties and long legged beasties that make us hide under the covers, or run for the light switch, so from now until the big day I thought it would be fun to talk about ordinary things that scare us when the mood is right. These are the kind of things good horror movies love to twist to get us going.

What's That Noise?

When we are primed for chills down our spines anything can set us off. The mind is the greatest weapon in the horror creator's arsenal. Once set along the right path, the smallest noise can trigger the creepiest feeling.

Something that is perfectly ordinary during the day can be terrifying at night, or after watching something spooky on the telly. This is both the joy and the drawback of enjoying a good scare.

Anything that is just a little strange, or that we weren't expecting can do it. In my house this is the ice maker in our refrigerator.

I kid you not!

It's getting dark earlier and earlier now and, sometimes, while I'm cooking diner and waiting for Rob to get home, I'll have my laptop on in the kitchen and I'll watch something spooky. Lately this is Evil Things - which is dramatisations of people being haunted in different ways because of things or places. So far the ice maker has got me three times!

When it makes more ice it whirs and drops the ice into the ice box. This makes a sudden, variable noise that spooks me every time. When it does this is also completely random.

It's bad enough with all the lights on, but, in our house, you have to go through the kitchen to get to the bathroom, so sometimes it makes me jump out of my skin when I'm padding to the loo, in the dark, in the middle of the night. Stupid machine!

This is the type of scare a horror movie would use to build tension and then break it with the mundane, making us even more scared because we know next time it's going to be for real. It's silly, but it doesn't half get the blood pumping!

Do you have any appliances in your house that like to randomly scare you?

Check back tomorrow for more Creepy Countdown.

~*~

Coming October 31st

FREE for 1 day only for All Hallows Read

Possession is Nine Tenths of the Law

by Natasha Duncan-Drake and Sophie Duncan

Two spooky stories to give you chills.

Check back on Halloween for details of how to download.

poster by blablover5

FREE Books! Trick-or-Treat Halloween Book Giveaway #TrickOrTreatReads

It's Halloween! Yay. Are you ready for all the ghouls, goblins, vampires, werewolf, ghosts and everything spooky? Mawww ha ha...

In honour of this wonderfully ghoulish holiday, Soph and I are giving away some books and we have lots of others on offer too. We are also part of the Trick-or-Treat Book Blog Hop, run by the wonderful Patricia Lynne, where many brilliant authors give away books instead of candy. See the bottom of the post for the list of all those taking part.

FREE books!

Every year at this time Soph and I create a two story Halloween anthology to give away for AllHallowsRead. This is an idea supported by the wonderful Neil Gaiman where people give a scary book for Halloween.

Made In Blood: Tales of Terror

Authors: Sophie Duncan & Natasha Duncan-Drake
Genre: horror

Two delicious tales of terror to tingle the spine:
The Warmth of Blood by Natasha Duncan-Drake
Mirror Twins by Sophie Duncan

The book is downloadable from Smashwords for free, just follow the link and download it.

Dead Before Dawn: The Vampire Curse
(in progress and FREE to read on Wattpad)

Author: Natasha Duncan-Drake
Genre: Vampire

Max Statton is in Moscow for the premiere of his new movie when a terrifying encounter turns his life on its head. Attacked by one of the city's resident vampires, Max is bitten and infected. Only a team of local vampire hunters prevent him being dragged into the underworld of the undead.

Fighting for his very existence, Max must resist the vampire curse trying to take over his body.

Free Books With Discount Codes:

All of following books are available on Smashwords for free for 24hrs, but to get the discount you have to do the following:

• click the buy button at the linked book page (click the title)
• put the coupon code (in bold after the title) in the box on the page that comes up
• click apply coupon
• checkout as normal and the book is yours for free

Books:

• The Beginning: Blood and Curses (Vampires: The New Age #2 - Prequel #1) - UY35K
• Out of the Frying Pan - EE82Z
• An Amusement: The Vampire's Concubine #1 - BC37E
• Rage: The Vampire's Concubine #2 - HL69F
• The Need In Me - SE54Q
• The Trade - HG22E
• Face of the Dead - UA22A
• Forbidden Soul (Book 2 of the Soul Reader Series) - MT52E (other books in this series are perma-free)
• In The Event of Death - DZ23D
• When Darkness Beckons - EF44F

Discount Books

All our other horror/paranormal genre books are reduced by 35% as well.

Blood Sacrifice: The Avebury Legacy

Author: Natasha Duncan-Drake

Genre: vampire

Code: JM78G

The Burning Web

Author: Sophie Duncan

Genre: ghost story

Code: EY92D

Night Blood (a.k.a Death In The Family)

Author: Sophie Duncan

Genre: vampire

Code: BN37F

Supernature: Paranormal Stories From The Wittegen Press Giveaway Games

Author: Sophie Duncan & Natasha Duncan-Drake

Genre: paranormal adventure and romance

Code: SE52M

Book Of Darkness: The Horror Stories From The Wittegen Press Giveaway Games

Author: Sophie Duncan & Natasha Duncan-Drake

Genre: horror

Code: SG76Z

Cursed - A Horror Collection

Author: Sophie Duncan & Natasha Duncan-Drake

Genre: horror

Code: KS85H

The End Of The Journey

Author: Sophie Duncan

Genre: paranormal adventure

Code: NH48E

Don't forget to check out all the other wonderful authors giving away books today as well - click the links in the list below to visit their sites.

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