A Tempting Taste of Contemporary Gothic Romance!
Out this week as an ebook, and soon to be available in print-on-demand, is Gothic West, two collected novellas using the well-known theme of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre.
That is, a young person, bereft of family, is hired as caretaker/tutor by an enigmatic employer. Mystery, danger and romance ensue.
“In the Shade of Horses”, originally published in the “Bound in Skin” romantic Gothic literature anthology edited by Sonya M Shannon, follows Vivian, a young nurse traumatized by horses, who moves to remote Idaho to care for the dying matriarch of a horse ranch. Mystery (with ghosts), danger and romance ensue.
“The Light of Owen Frost” follows the titular character’s career as tutor hired by a software queen’s young charge. Set in the far-ish–or maybe sooner than we think–future Las Vegas, mystery (with cyber-enhancements), danger and romance ensue.
The book includes the bonus short story “Greg’s Ghost.” It needs no introduction, only to say that romance is key.
The west coast (“best coast”, IMO) is a inevitable theme in all my works. As a second generation Californian, I can’t stop myself from using the settings of my native state, even as I have lived the last 30 years in the Pacific northwest.
“Witch’s Child” by Hunter Morrison is set in Southern California, near San Juan Capistrano. The town of Escudillo, of course, is not known to ordinary dwellers of the beach towns, as you will find when you read it. I grew up in Northern California, but my father was born in Los Angeles. Thus why I can’t leave the place alone.
However “Finding the Eye”, also by Hunter Morrison, lives in Seattle. When we first moved here, Georgetown and the Duwamish waterway were funky and working class, and the old Rainier Brewery was a warren of artist studios. When Jules Mae re-opened in the early 2000’s, we became regulars. (I need to write an entire blog about that era of my life.) At any rate, Georgetown has greatly evolved (perhaps devolved) into hipster-ville. The Hat and Boots were hauled away from the old gas station site on East Marginal Way to Occidental Park on Corson. But Maxine and Dante still hang out around there.
Jill Zeller 