You may or may not be aware that there have been issues with a number of WordPress sites due to a glitch with Jetpack. My site was one that was affected. It means that, over the past month, none of my blog followers have been receiving my emails. Unfortunately it went down a couple of days before Blood Bound’s release. We’ve been trying to rectify it in the background. If you are now receiving this email, it has all thankfully been fixed and no further problems should occur.
I’m mainly notifying you of it now because I’m currently running a giveaway that is closing at midnight (GMT) tonight. If you don’t follow me on other social media, you may not have seen it. I’m giving away two signed copies of Blood Bound and would hate for you to miss out if you would like to join in.
Let’s hope everything has now been fixed! Thank you so much for your patience.
Vybers, stashers and plaigars, oh my…! (For anyone who’s never seen The Wizard of Oz, my adaptation of the infamous line will mean nothing.)
Halloween is nearly upon us so what better time to have a giveaway? I have two signed paperbacks of Blackthorn’s penultimate book BLOOD BOUND ready to be claimed.
As it’s Halloween, I thought we’d veer away from the pleasures of Blackthorn for a change and place all that goes bump in the night centre stage instead. After all, Blackthorn might be known for its dark romance but let’s not forget the ghoulish fourth species lingering in the shadows – nor our villains.
SIRIUS, ROB and FEINITH appear to be the front-runners when it comes to the Blackthorn villains who chill you to your core so, just for this weekend, I thought it was time they faced a horror of their own – and you get to choose it!
HOW TO ENTER
1) PICK THE VILLAIN YOU LOVE TO HATE
2) DECIDE WHICH FOURTH SPECIES THEY SHOULD ENCOUNTER
Maybe you’d like to lock Rob in a room with Night Children, have Feinith left to a pack of vybers, or for Sirius to come face-to-face with a soul ripper. I hope you find it darkly satisfying after all they’re put our beloved heroes and heroines through. 😉 (If you can’t remember your soul ripper from your nilkim, I’ve added a reminder at the bottom of this post.)
Best of all each villain counts as one entry, so you can have up to three chances to win!
(And, yes, if you’d like them to have a run-in with one of our Blackthorn heroes or heroines first, you can include that too.)
The giveaway is open NOW and will close at midnight (GMT) on Halloween.
Winners will be drawn using a random number generator and will be announced here and on my Facebook page on Tuesday1st November.
THE FINER DETAILS
Winners will need to claim their prizes within fourteen days of the announcement, so please check back to see if you have won.
As with all Blackthorn giveaways, prizes will be posted anywhere. Proof of sending will be retained and prizes cannot be replaced if lost in transit.
Good luck – and have a great Halloween weekend! <3
Fourth Species
Physical features
Why you wouldn’t want to meet them in a dark alley
Bone feasters
Willowy shadows that move within iridescent acidic mist.
Always in a group, they can be seen huddled facing each other as they wait for their prey.
They use acidic mist to melt the flesh from their victims, making their bones more accessible.
Night children
Appear as young children but keep their leathery aged faces covered until ready to attack. Their faces are mouthless with black canyons where their eyes should be. Although small, they’re fast and strong.
Once pinned down, they clamp their mouth over their victim’s to drain the life essence out of them, aging them to death within minutes. They appear as a collective in a crowded place and always target the youngest victim in a group first.
Nilkim
Giant, twenty-foot-high pile of white flab, inanimate until disturbed.
Rolls like a snowball, using suckers to gain momentum as well as snag its victims either suffocating or consuming them in the process.
Plaigars
Proportionally too-long arms, chunky muscular thighs, wasp-like waists and rotund upper torsos. They are bald all over with a tan-like hue to their skin. Whilst resting, they hang upside down like bats.
Fast runners once active, they have suckers on their three-toed feet to enable them to run up walls as well as along ceilings. Their teeth are pin-like darts that they fire to paralyse their prey. They use their cylindrical tongue to drain their victims of all their bodily fluids.
Stasher
Can be heard making a tic-tic sound when it senses its prey. They have a human-like form. They use their round-piercing red eyes to paralyse their victims ready for attack.
Once their prey is paralysed, this fourth species stashes them in hidden places such as crevices until they’re ready to feed. In order to feed, they roll their prey into a ball, crushing them whilst they’re still alive, before feeding them directly into their mouth-like abdominal cavity to be slowly digested.
Soul ripper
They take on the form someone the victim recognises – often a loved one. If you look into their eyes, your image will appear upside down.
They rip the astral body out of their victims to keep the soul contained within, preventing them from entering the afterlife. They imprison the victim on the astral plain, feeding off the energy generated by their soul until it finally evaporates. Once they start on a family, they always return to finish the line.
Vybers
Seven-feet tall and masked by a dark cloak, they have grasshopper-like legs for leaping onto their prey. Often seen to hold their arms semi-aloft, their lengthy talons play the air like a piano as they sense vibrations caused by movement or sound.
Impossible to escape and likely to hear and feel you coming long before you spot them, vybers are smart, strategic and never work alone.
