Black Gate

I stumbled on Edgar Cantero’s debut novel on Amazon as a bargain book, and I ordered it based on the captivating plot description (and, I must admit, because of the giant eyeball on the cover… I think it looked into my very soul.)

The Supernatural Enhancements begins as a gothic ghost story, and soon evolves into a twisted treasure hunt and modern-day adventure. Author Justin Taylor (Flings) calls it “Eerie… Cantero pays homage to Bram Stoker and H.P. Lovecraft and The Shining, but he’s no less enamored of The X-Files, fax machines, and punk girls with dreads.” Definitely worth a look, I think.

When twentysomething A., the European relative of the Wells family, inherits a beautiful, yet eerie, estate set deep in the woods of Point Bless, Virginia, it comes as a surprise to everyone — including A. himself. After all, he never knew he had a “second cousin, twice removed” in America, much less that his eccentric relative had recently committed suicide by jumping out of the third floor bedroom window — at the same age and in the same way as his father had before him . . .

Together with A.’s companion, Niamh, a mute teenage punk girl from Ireland, they arrive in Virginia and quickly come to feel as if they have inherited much more than just a rambling home and an opulent lifestyle. Axton House is haunted… they know it… but the presence of a ghost is just the first of a series of disturbing secrets they slowly uncover. What led to the suicides? What became of the Axton House butler who fled shortly after his master died? What lurks in the garden maze – and what does the basement vault keep? Even more troubling, what of the rumors in town about a mysterious yearly gathering at Axton House on the night of the winter solstice?

Told vividly through a series of journal entries, cryptic ciphers, recovered security footage, and letters to a distant Aunt Liza, Edgar Cantero has written an absorbing, kinetic and highly original supernatural adventure with classic horror elements that introduces readers to a deviously sly and powerful new voice.

The Supernatural Enhancements was published by Doubleday on August 12, 2014. It is 353 pages, priced at $26.95 in hardcover and $12.99 for the digital edition. The cover is by Michael J. Windsor. A trade paperback edition is scheduled for release on July 21; I bought the hardcover new at a bargain price on Amazon.com.

Graeme Davis is the co-author of the classic Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay game, and he’s written adventures and supplements for most of the major RPG lines, including AD&D, Pathfinder, GURPS, Freeport, Vampire: The Masquerade, Colonial Gothic, and many others. He’s no stranger to Osprey’s Myths and Legends line either, with both Thor: The Viking God of Thunder and Theseus and the Minotaur to his credit.

His latest book for Osprey, Werewolves: A Hunter’s Guide, reveals the shocking role that werewolves have played in some of history’s most significant events.

Fear the full moon; for on that day of lunacy the terrible wrath of the werewolves is unleashed. For thousands of years, from ancient Greek chronicles to modern news reports, from the depths of the darkest forests to dimly lit city streets, these dread beasts have stalked us in the realms of shadow and nightmare. Now, they are awakening. This book is the only thing standing between humanity and an overwhelming horde of snarling, ferocious lycanthropes. It reveals the secret societies devoted to studying their condition, providing information on where werewolves live, and what they do to survive. It illustrates the startling variety of werewolf subspecies, as diverse as humanity itself, collecting reports of skinwalkers, hengeyokai, and other shapeshifters from across the world.

Werewolves offers the dearly bought information from those that have hunted them down through the centuries – the best techniques to find and slay these creatures of the night.

Werewolves: A Hunter’s Guide was published by Osprey Publishing on March 24, 2015. It is 80 pages in full color, priced at $18.95 in trade paperback, and $12.99 for the digital edition.