Lovelyn Bettison

Paranormal Horror and Suspense

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Black Horror Novels to Read After You See Jordan Peele’s US

Everyone is talking about Jordan Peele’s “Us.” Peele has followed up the modern classic “Get Out” with another bone-chilling movie.

Watching “Us” will make you hungry for more great horror by black authors. Here are some of the best picks out there.

Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler

Shori doesn’t know who she is or where she came from, but she does know that she so very hungry. Nothing can quench her insatiable hunger.

Soon she realizes that she is half human and half vampire. Fledgling follows Shori’s quest to find others like her.

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White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi

Miranda’s family lives in a haunted house that can mysteriously change its residents. She is the house’s latest victim. She begins suffering from an eating disorder and hearing voices. She battles with bouts of psychosis.

When a friend comes to visit her all hell breaks loose and the lives of everyone in the house are changed forever.T

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The Devil in Silver by Victor LaValle

Pepper is put in a mental hospital for a crime he can’t remember committing. He swears he’s not mentally ill. The he starts seeing a half bison half human beast roaming the mental hospital.

Other inmates have seen the creature too. With help of some of the other inmates Pepper plans to do battle with the terrifying beast.

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My Soul to Keep by Tananarive Due

When Jessica marries David she is ready to live her happily ever after. David is the man of her dreams. He’s smart, loving, and good looking. After they marry Jessica’s friend and family begin to die gruelsome deaths.

Jessica gets the shock of her life when David reveals that he is immortal and must return to his homeland. He performs a forbidden sacred ritual that sends their lives into chaos.

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Just Wanna Testify by Pearl Cleage

Blue Hamilton is the unofficial protector of the West End. He’s the man you go to when you want to get things done.

When blue spies Serena Mayflower and her sisters strolling down the street his gut tells him that they are up to no good. With the help of his wife and their friends he sets out to uncover their true intentions.

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We Cast a Shadow by Maurice Carlos Ruffin

In a near-future plagued with police violence and ghetto’s Nigel’s biracial son have a dark birthmark that is getting bigger by the day. Concerned for his son’s future, Nigel decides to get his son a medical procedure that will rectify the situation.

How far is he willing to do to protect his son? Will he destroy his family in the process?

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Mindscape by Andrea Hairston

100 years after a blood red cloud has descended on Earth changing it almost beyond recognition a “Barrier” prevents people in different regions from interacting and causes a neverending war between factions.

Scientists can’t figure out what the cloud was, the “Barrier” or the diseases that now threaten the population. Mindscape follows 5 people as they struggle to survive in this difficult future.

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Let’s Play White by Chesya Burke

This horror anthology explores issues of race, privledge, and power. Each story examines what it might be like to live in someone else’s skin.

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The Birth of a Love of Books

When did your love for reading start? I can remember a moment, a place, and a book that cemented it for me.

THE PLACE: The Atlantic City Free Public Library

The Atlantic City Library was not the closest library to me, but it was the biggest. Once I got my driver’s license, I would tackle my anxiety about being behind the wheel almost weekly to take myself there.

It was a massive concrete building with large round columns in the front. Back then you still had to use the card catalog to find what you were looking for. That card catalog was an enormous wall of tiny square drawers meticulously arranged. I never bothered using it. Instead, I’d like to peruse the shelves.

There were two floors of bookshelves crammed full of books, books on top of books on top of books. It was amazing. Those shelves contained the world. I had my favorite sections: fiction, of course, writing, of course, and photography.

I spent so much time sitting on the dingy gray carpet in those sections with stacks of books next to me waiting to be read.

THE MOMENT: Discovering That One Book then Reading the Last Page

I was browsing the fiction section, running my fingers along the smooth book spines when one caught my eye. The bright fluorescent cover grabbed me. When I pulled it out to examine it, I saw an abstract image the man dancing. I knew I had to read that book.

Have you ever read the final paragraph in a book and realized that something inside you had changed? Once I finish that book the world around me had shifted and what I wanted from a book was different. I knew I would never be the same.

THE BOOK: Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami

When I was drawn to the bright cover and the title of that book I had no idea what to expect. I didn’t read the blurb before checking it out of the library. Surprises can sometimes be good.

What I discovered when I shut myself in my bedroom and began to read was a world unlike anything I’d ever imagined before. The story didn’t only take place in another country; it took place in a completely different world. The eeriness moved me. When I finished, I knew I had to read every book Haruki Murakami had ever written.

The funny thing is now that I’ve read every one of his books, Dance Dance Dance isn’t even one of my favorites, but it will always hold a special place in my heart. It was the first time I read a book that felt like it was written especially for me.

Maggie’s Kitchen

I always use the best ingredients. There are five kinds of cheese in my macaroni and cheese. My collard greens cook all day on low heat and are so tender they melt in your mouth. Visitors to our little town think Maggie’s Kitchen is so busy because I know how to season the food just right. I do, mind you, but that’s not the only reason everybody in town comes to fill up.

I have secret ways to make my customers lives a little bit better. If you get on my bad side, I can make you wish you never left your house this morning too.

When my mother told me that we were witches, she made me promise not to use my abilities to harm anyone … unless they had it coming. I adhere to the rules she laid out before me.

“Maggie,” Rudy calls from the kitchen. Sweat streaming down his face, he holds a plate of chops and mashed potatoes in the air. His gravy-stained apron is pulled tight around his bulging middle. “Mr. Green’s plates ready.”

I walk to the other side of the narrow kitchen and take the warm white plate from Rudy. Some customers need special attention. I whisk the plate back into my office to give it a little dusting of my secret ingredient and say a quick blessing.

Plate in hand, I look out the round window of the kitchen into the dining room. It’s busy with everyone eating and talking and laughing. Exactly the way I like to see it. Mr. Green is alone at the far table. His gray flat cap is sitting on the table next to his place setting. His narrow face is stern. He drums his fingers impatiently on the table in front of him and bounces his foot up and down as he waits.

I launch out of the kitchen and walk directly to him. “Chops, mashed potatoes, and green beans,” I say as I set the plate in front of him.

“And delivered by the owner. I feel so privileged.” A smile pushes all the sternness out of his face.

“I’m the one who should feel privileged. You haven’t been here in ages.”

He looks down at his plate and straightens his knife and fork. “You know it hasn’t been the same sense… Diane…” His words trail off.

“Have you been getting on okay?”

He nods firmly, but I could tell by the way he averts his eyes that he doesn’t want to talk.

“If you need anything you know where to find me.”

“Sure thing.” He jabs the pork chop with his fork.

“I’ll leave you to your food.” I can’t bring his daughter back to him. My powers don’t run that deep, but I can ease his worries and help him know that she’s alright by giving him the briefest glimpse of the other side.

“A good meal like this is just the thing I need to cheer me up.” He takes a bite of his pork chop.

“I hope it does that and more.”

Mr. Green gasps and slumps over in his seat before I make it back into the kitchen. “Call an ambulance.” I hear someone yell and rush to the phone in dial 911. I’m not worried. He won’t be gone long. When he comes back, he’ll have a new perspective that will carry him peacefully through the rest of his life.

The other customers have moved Mr. Green to the floor. Dr. Crawford jumps up from his meal with his family and begins C.P.R. I join the crowd standing around his unconscious body too. When one of the staff catches my eye, I tell her that 911 is on their way. We won’t need them though. I’m counting down the seconds in my head. 5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1 …

Mr. Green wheezes back to life. He gives a few sputtering coughs and rolls onto his side. A flurry of voices asks him if he’s okay. When he sits up, I notice a glint of hope in his eyes that was missing before.

“I’m fine,” Mr. Green says with a raspy voice.

Some people might say what I do isn’t right. I interfere in lives and bend reality, but everything I do is for their own good. If they didn’t like it, they wouldn’t keep coming back. The fact that the restaurant is packed every evening means something. They get more than good food here; they get to fill up the missing pieces in their lives.

This is How You Can Become a Writer

So you want to be a writer. That must be true otherwise you would never have clicked on this post. You’re looking for the secret sauce or the magic biscuit that will make you a writer. I can’t give you that because the secret to becoming a writer is inside you.

I know it sounds like one of those annoying stories where the hero goes through so much hardship and struggle only to learn that he had the magic key all along. Those stories are told over and over again for a reason.

This is how you become a writer. The information is not very secret.

First, you have to write. If you’re reading this article, I assume that you are already doing this. Why else would you be interested in being a writer? If you’re not writing start … TODAY. [Read more…] about This is How You Can Become a Writer

What is Speculative Fiction and Why Do I Write It?

You’ve probably noticed that in my bio I refer to myself as a speculative fiction writer. To most outside of the industry, this might be an obscure term, but it covers a large variety of genres, including fantasy, science fiction, and horror.

If you check Wikipedia, which I just did, they have a pretty long list of genres included under the umbrella term speculative fiction. Besides fantasy, sci-fi, and horror, they include dystopian fiction, utopian fiction, superhero fiction, alternative histories, supernatural fiction, apocalyptic fiction, and post-apocalyptic fiction. I’d like to add magical realism to that list too. That’s a whole lot of things covered by just one term. That’s why like it. It’s kind of a way of choosing a genre, but not really choosing a genre. [Read more…] about What is Speculative Fiction and Why Do I Write It?