Cover Image: Erin Dameron-Hill Graphics Will you venture into Hungry House, a place where few come out? A gauntlet of terror awaits, with a grim Mistress at the top of the stairs. Come one, come all...if you dare. Amazon , Barnes & Noble , Kobo , Apple , Smashwords , print Read on for an excerpt. What good is paradise when your other half is gone? * * * *  Hours slid by, and Gina remained near the door. During that time, Iz returned to tell her the children’s paradise looked legitimate. There was a campground with adorable bungalows beyond the nearby hill where the kids and their caretakers slept. Or they could stay in tents, near the campfires where they sat around making s’mores and telling ghost stories late into the night. “The only way it could be better is if Willie Wonka showed up to take them on a cruise down a chocolate river.” She sat down with a pitcher of lemonade and a couple of tumblers and poured them both drinks. “There’s an ice cream store, a candy sto...

Cover Image: Erin Dameron-Hill Graphics Monsters, monsters everywhere. * * * * Thud . The step under Gina’s feet vibrated. Thud . Startled, the trio above her whirled, half a dozen steps from the top. Gina turned too. The corpse creature emerged from the mist, close to the foot of the stairs. It blinked its hideous arm-eyelids at the group. Its mouth opened, and a glistening flayed torso peeked out. The monster used it to lick the legs that made up its lips. Gina was dimly aware the boys were screaming. She stared. The creature thudded toward the stairs until it reached them. It set its foot on the first riser, though with its height, it could have plucked Gina from where she stood. “Gina, come on!” Iz’s voice was piercing with hysteria. The corpse creature paused as another huge shape materialized from the fog. Bird-man would have been hideous, had there not been the other monster to compare him to. He possessed the naked body of a man and a bird’s head. A crow, Gina...

  Cover Image: Erin Dameron-Hill Graphics Gina comes face to face with Hungry House's terrible Mistress. * * * *  The terror had ended. Success was in sight. Gina’s heart beat with hopeful excitement. She ascended a white marble staircase set in the side of a mountain. The fog had become clouds, white and cottony, as soft as a cat rubbing her cheek when she brushed against them. Golden light passed through those over her head, a heavenly glow. She emerged above them. The light was a blazing brightness that she blinked against. The mountaintop was less than a dozen steps more. She was going to make it. Her face ached from the joyful smile stretching it. Up, up, up, she floated rather than climbed. She stood on the flattened peak, above the white billowy blanket. Before her stretched a walkway, a continuation of the stairs’ white marble, but pulled taut and smooth. Gina’s eagerness faltered. The walkway ended at a throne made of more polished stone threaded with the finest...

  Cover Image: Erin Dameron-Hill Graphics A new door brings Gina and Mattie to a forest of witches and warlocks with a taste for blood...and the story of Hungry House's mistress. * * * * Gina spent the following hour’s walk through the woods watching their captors. The captured meadow people weren’t resigned to their fates, she noted. They struggled and fought despite being bound. They resisted taking every step no matter how the witchy bunch beat them or zapped them with their wands. Definitely wands. Gina never saw beams or sparks fly when they were directed at a victim, but whomever they were aimed at reacted in pain. Over and over again, meadow folk fell to the ground and screamed though they showed no injury. The witches and warlocks kicked them until they scrambled up and took a few steps before fighting back again. The meadow dwellers’ desperate battle to not be taken deep into the cool shadows of the forest quelled Gina’s scant optimism. Whatever was at the end of their...

  Cover Image: Erin Dameron-Hill Graphics What is a 'hell-gator'? Unfortunately, Gina and Mattie are about to find out. * * * * Silence reigned for a few moments, broken by the water lapping on the shore. Gina held her breath and listened for movement. Her skin crawled, as if she could feel the gaze of whatever was out there on her, sizing her up. It came out, a shadow slithering through the trees, its eyes gleaming greenish in the light that glowed beneath the water. Gina wasn’t allowed a chance to form a suspicion of what it was until its thin, scaly snout, lined with what must have been hundreds of sharp teeth, emerged from the growth. Even as it crawled toward them, she couldn’t have given it a name. Perhaps it was some ancient alligator ancestor. It had many of that familiar creature’s characteristics. Otherwise, it was straight out of a nightmare. It was huge, tall enough on its four legs for the top of its spade-shaped head to reach her chest. At least fifteen feet...

  Cover Image: Erin Dameron-Hill Graphics Through another door, the horrors continue for Gina and Mattie. * * * * Her ankle throbbed and forced Gina to accept Amy’s better judgment. “Will the sirens notice us here? Will they try to attack us on land if we wait a couple of days?” “I’ve never stuck around to find out.” Amy shoved her hand out, though her expression stated she didn’t expect them to shake it. “I’m going for it. Good luck when you make your attempt.” Gina gripped her palm. “Good luck right now. To all of you.” Mattie relented and accepted her fate. Her warning glare forbade Gina from suggesting she go without her. She murmured her best wishes for them, and the boys echoed it in return. The trio set off. They leaped across stones sticking out of the glowing water. Several were widely spaced, and Gina held her breath, sure they’d fall in. She watched for signs of man-eating mermaids, but only soft, slow waves drew faint lines on the shimmering surface. She chewe...