Reading on Halloween

Are you a Halloween decoration junkie like my sister and her boyfriend or a Halloween avoider? If you need definitions to help define the catagories, let's just say I'm visiting my sister while I'm in town for some booksignings and I was up until 2am last night building a ufo for the lawn (it is very cool, even when I'm not hyped up on candy. Hey, a master builder needs her strength!) and we are in a panic because we need MORE fog machines. I suppose this doesn't help clarify the distinction, as anyone normal would seem like an avoider.

In any case, if reading Halloweeny books is more your way of doing things, I recommend Underdead and the sequel, Underdead In Denial. Because I wrote them and my Halloween candy addiction is getting expensive, so please help a writer by buying books!

Award-winning mystery UNDERDEAD is the story of overworked, unappreciated middle school science teacher Jo Gartner who is bitten by an inept vampire and becomes almost Undead.

In the sequel UNDERDEAD IN DENIAL, gorgeous, enigmatic vampire Will is back and almost undead Jo Gartner is more determined than ever to avoid all things vampire and maintain a normal life. And what's more normal than doing community service to help a lovesick friend? But getting dressed up in a Halloween costume for a haunted house fundraiser is not what Jo had in mind. Especially when one of the extras turns up dead…


Here's an excerpt from
UNDERDEAD IN DENIAL
By Liz Jasper
www.lizjasper.com
Cerridwen Press
http://www.cerridwenpress.com/productpage.asp?ISBN=9781419917929
Rated PG

* * * * *

From cozy vampire mystery Underdead In Denial, sequel to award-winning Underdead.
Gorgeous, enigmatic vampire Will is back and almost undead Jo Gartner is more determined than ever to avoid all things vampire and maintain a normal life. And what's more normal than doing community service to help a lovesick friend? But getting dressed up in a Halloween costume for a haunted house fundraiser is not what Jo had in mind. Especially when one of the extras turns up dead…


Excerpt:
“What do you want, Will?”

He stepped forward and touched his lips to mine in a light kiss that sent traitorous quivers along my nerve endings.

“I thought that was obvious.”

“I see. Absence makes the heart grow fonder? A little trite for someone of your age. How old are you, anyway?”

His face lit with a sudden grin. “I have missed you, Josephine Gartner.”

A bittersweet pang beat against my chest. I ignored it. “You didn’t come to see the play? The drama kids will be disappointed. They worked so hard littering the town with posters.”

“I came to see you. You decided to live in this world.” A wave of his hand took in the administration building, the academic quad, and the gym hulking in the distance. His gaze remained fixed on me, suddenly serious. “There’s a place for you in…mine, when you want it.”

“Is that what you want? To be my boyfriend?”

“Are you offering?”

A rusty Toyota idling at the gate pulled out onto the street and I realized with a start that the teacher’s parking lot was deserted.

So did Will. The air crackled with the awareness between us. He shifted closer. Only a fraction of an inch separated his hard, lithe body and mine.

He said, “‘You meet your destiny on the road you take to avoid it.’ Carl Jung.”

“Better than sitting and doing nothing. Jo Gartner.”

He pulled me hard against him and kissed me. I had forgotten how good he was at that. I forgot that I was supposed to be scared…

Chattering voices pealed like warning bells from the path around the side of the administration building. I shoved Will away.

By the time the group rounded the corner into the parking lot, Will was leaning casually against the SUV parked next to me, gorgeously unruffled, appearing every inch the chivalrous male. He wasn’t looking at the group. His midnight gaze was fixed on me. He watched and waited as I somehow fit my key in the lock, got in, started up my car and drove out of the parking lot.

When I gathered the courage to look back, he was gone. Another black shadow in the night.
*****

Today, etrick or treat with me and other Paranormal, Fantasy and Horror authors. The winner gets a huge bag of books and Halloween treats, including a signed copy of UNDERDEAD. To play, visit my website at www.lizjasper.com!


Liz Jasper
Award winning mystery author of UNDERDEAD and UNDERDEAD IN DENIAL
www.lizjasper.com
Not undead, merely...UNDERDEAD