A pleasure today to be joining the blog blitz for The Lights Went Out and Other Stories by Fiona Cooke Hogan, published in October 2015, and available from Amazon in the UK and US.
The Lights Went out And Other Stories is a quirky collection of flash fiction, short and longer stories. With themes ranging from romantic to dark fairy tales, humour to horror there something for every reader. At times humorous, eerie and poignant; a mother burdened by financial troubles shares her problem with a stranger, a young couples’ journey to the airport takes a strange turn, a wedding anniversary in Dingle goes from bad to worse, a small dog is forced to change his ways and a vampire hiding out in suburbia just wants to be left alone.
Amazon reviewers have called it “quite beautiful, almost poetic in its forms” and “brilliant, hilarious and scary”: the collection was awarded a Chill with a Book Reader’s Award in April 2017.
To give you a taster, here’s an extract from one of the stories, Darkling…
Unable to take her eyes off the stranger, Emmeline moved from tree to tree until he seemed close enough to touch until finally as if in a dream, she stepped out from behind the cover of the trees to face him, a bird released from a trap with no choice but to fly towards danger.
The walker between the trees turned on his heel sensing her, he moved towards the slight figure of the girl in the grey cloak whose wide eyes shone at his approach. The stitching on his waistcoat glinted in the moons light as he neared. Her eyes were drawn to a face of contradictions; ancient yet youthful.
His skin was white as the light that the moon poured down.
White as bone bleached in the sun.
Pale as the ice in the village pond in midwinter.
Pale and cold as death.
With thanks to the author and tour organiser Brook Cottage Books, I’m delighted to offer the chance to win an e-copy. Here’s the rafflecopter for entry:
About the author
Fiona Cooke Hogan is a writer, blogger and editor living in beautiful rural Ireland. She has published four books on Amazon – The Lights Went Out and Other Stories, and What Happened in Dingle under the name Fiona Cooke Hogan and Death Comes Calling and The Nightmare under her horror name – F.B. Hogan. She is a Tolkien obsessive, zombie enthusiast and Diana Gabaldon addict. She refuses to be tied to any particular genre.
Her latest novel, Martha’s Cottage, is currently with the publisher and she is writing its sequel, and half-way through another novel – a psychological thriller. She hopes to publish another collection of horror stories in time for Hallowe’en 2018.