July, 2023 - Rougeski Reads

The Croning | Laird Baron | Rougeski Review

July 5, 2023 Rougeski 0

The Croning by Laird Barron is a brilliant example of cosmic horror. However, it is much more than just an exciting, masterfully written, and unique novel. It could be said that it is an insightful [more]

Cauchemar Media

Publications

Behind Lace Curtains

Jake Preston, New York photographer, spent his life searching for something more, a magic he could never quite perceive--yet he always let the lens see for him. He hungered for a revelation, but was terrified at the prospect of finding one . . . until he discovered his lover, dead on his blood-spattered bathroom floor, and on a mirror, a Cajun French message scrawled in fresh blood, the words merging with his reflection like sordid war paint.

Even though he cannot translate the scarlet message, he knows what it means. The murder is his fault--blood for blood. With unblinking eyes, Jake smears the haunting words into a meaningless blur of red and then with scarlet-stained fingers transcribes the message onto his flesh, transferring the bloodguilt onto his soul, completing the ritual by painting his face with a glistening mask of red. He knows what he has to do.

Library Angel

Jimmy and Julia, two college students, are haunted by oppressive memories of tyrannical, deceased mothers; Julia responds by becoming a reclusive overachiever and Jimmy, a serial killer. Their lives become inextricably intertwined by a shared fixation for a missing library book that contains marginalia detailing plans for the brutal murder of a local woman.

Julia, believing she has uncovered information that can stop a string of serial killings, struggles to find a way to prevent the murderer from striking again, never realizing she has embarked on a perilous, unconscious quest for freedom from the past. And Jimmy goes hunting . . . for Julia.

At the Devil's Own Game

When Gina, a former prostitute and drug addict from Chicago crosses paths with Zachary, a Louisiana Satanist posing as a defrocked priest, sparks fly. Each has something that the other requires in order to prevail. What could possibly go wrong?

* * *

Kaitlyn suffered an abusive childhood. Her nightmare family life drove her to become one with the Chicago night world of prostitution and drugs, all she believed she deserved. Visions of her father naked under his black bathrobe continued to haunt her. Years later, she ends up in prison. A well-respected judge, mesmerized by her beauty, frees her from jail and marries her. However, Kaitlyn is still a prisoner, owned by another man who wears a black robe. Unable to conceive a child, she believes she is doomed to live without the only love she might ever find. During a suicide attempt, a drop of her blood lands on a newspaper article which promises her the pure love she longs for. She takes on the former name of her only friend, a nun, and is reborn as Gina, apostate nun, who heads to Louisiana to fulfill her dream. But first, she must beat the devil at his own game.

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