Monthly Archives: March 2025

What Fans Are Saying About Draakensky

Here’s the latest from readers and fans of Draakensky,

A Supernatural Tale of Magick and Romance.

Greetings,

Of the 56+ reviews Draakensky has on Amazon, which has gathered a 4.7 star rating, this customer review became the winner.

Joseph, Amazon ReviewerDraakensky beckons to those who thrive on tricks of eerie landscapes and beguiling psychological tension, walking astutely on either side between horror and beauty. Paula Cappa immerses the reader into that strange and horrible immortality of the spectral. The novel balances the Gothic while remaining discomfited with a modern sensibility. Cappa inspires such clarity—owl magick, river spells, and necromancy forces—that readers become firmly plunged in a brilliantly imagined realm.”

Thank you to all the literary blogs that featured Draakensky.

Thriller Boulevard  “There’s a seductive pull to Draakensky—not just in the romance, but in the way the estate itself seems to breathe. It’s the kind of book that makes you believe in hidden worlds just beyond our reach.”

Blue Reading Corner  “If The Haunting of Hill House met Practical Magic at a windswept Gothic estate, you’d get something like Draakensky. It’s part eerie mystery, part romance, and fully committed to the strange and supernatural.

Fantasy Souls “I didn’t realize how much I needed a book about a haunted windmill until I picked up Draakensky. It’s moody, magical, and has just the right amount of eerie romance to keep you hooked.”

Best Books in Town “At its heart, Draakensky asks a compelling question: How much of ourselves are we willing to risk for the unknown? Through Charlotte’s journey, Cappa explores the seductive and dangerous nature of power and desire.”

Red Book Stack Draakensky is the kind of book you devour in one sitting. Atmospheric, mysterious, and with a love story tangled in magick, it’s perfect for fans of Gothic fiction who want a little extra enchantment.”

Jump A Book  “Finally—a Gothic novel that acknowledges what we’re all really here for: creepy old estates, complicated witches, and a romance with just enough danger to keep things interesting. Draakensky delivers all that and a windmill with serious attitude.

Silver Book Mark “Look, if a haunted windmill estate, a mysterious sorceress, and a brooding love interest don’t sell you on Draakensky, I don’t know what will. It’s like stepping into a stormy Gothic daydream—moody, magical, and just a little wicked.”

TBM Horror Features  “Draakensky  is an atmospheric escape into a world where wind sorcery whispers secrets and magick shapes fate. The estate itself seems to breathe, its shadows hiding more than just old secrets. Cappa crafts a world where supernatural forces lurk just beneath the surface, tempting and testing. The novel doesn’t rely on jump scares or overt horror but instead weaves a hypnotic, atmospheric dread, reminiscent of classic Gothic tales like The Haunting of Hill House or Rebecca.”

The Secret Shelves  Draakensky wraps you in its eerie embrace. The wind howls, secrets swirl, and nothing is ever quite as it seems. If you like your Gothic tales with a side of supernatural danger, this one’s for you.”

Hidden Book News  “There’s an allure to Draakensky that’s hard to shake—it feels like reading a spell. With each chapter, Cappa draws you closer to the heart of the estate’s dark magick, and by the end, you might find yourself glancing over your shoulder.”

Crystal Chapter Book “The wind is more than just weather in Draakensky—it’s a character in its own right. Cappa crafts a world where the breeze carries whispers of the past, and every gust pulls the reader deeper into a realm of mystery and magick.”

I have been receiving many comments about the title Draakensky for the magickal estate in Bedford, New York. Here’s a peek into how I came to discover the story of Draakensky, and its name—and where I met the ghost. Come with me on my cemetery walk.

 

“If there could ever be a dark whisper in the wind,

I am that darkness.”—The Ghost of Draakensky Windmill Estate.

 

 

 

Thank you for supporting Reading Fiction Blog

No permission is given for the use of this material from this blog, on any and all pages, for AI training purposes.

© 2012 Paula Cappa, Reading Fiction Blog

 

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Mystery Art and Poetry for Springtime

Art and Poetry for Springtime!

March 25, 2025

W.H. Auden said  “A poet is, before anything else, a person who is in love with language.”

Leonardo da Vinci said  “Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen. ”

Let’s combine art and poetry for a moment and allow our imagination to sweep in and become empowered.

 

 

The ‘Flowers in the Window’ is a mystery painting by a mystery artist. Some say it’s a Monet but probably not. The signature on the bottom right corner is unclear. For me, these spring flowers glowing in the window sunlight bring nature inside like a meditation.

The  poet Rainer Maria Rilke makes a lovely point of this in his poem “Spring” …

“Everything gets ready and moves towards manifested joy;
the earth and all the rest
will soon be charming us.”

Rilke has this thought for today, March 25, in A Year With Rilke  . . .

“(The angel speaks)  . . . your hands seem to me so wonderfully blessed,
they are almost radient. I am the day, I am the dew. You, though, are the tree.”

Please join me  in my reading nook once a month for

a vision of art and poetry.

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Book Recommendation: Dark Fantasy and Horror and Romance

BOOK RECOMMENDATION!

This Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror by Paula Guran was nominated for a World Fantasy Award in 2022.

If you love to dive into short stories and explore a blend of dark fantasy, the supernatural, and romance— and who doesn’t these days as this genre is trending hotter than ever now—these stories will certainly entertain and thrill.

Romantasy, anyone?
Magickal Romantasy?
Horromantasy?
Horromance?
Dark Fantasy Horror?

This Volume 2 has it all.

Editor Paula Guran has edited over fifty anthologies, novels, and single-author short story collections. Paula has been honored with two Bram Stoker Awards, two IHG Awards, and other nominations. She has contributed reviews, interviews, and articles to numerous professional publications.

You’re in good hands.

“There’s not a story in the mix that doesn’t merit the appellation of “best,” and the diversity of the selections bodes well for future annuals. ” — Publishers Weekly Starred Review

On Amazon

Check out Volume 5 released in  October 2024

READING FICTION BLOG

Comments are welcome! Feel free to click “LIKE.”

Please join me in my reading nook.

I invite you to browse the INDEX OF AUTHORS’ TALES above for free short stories. This is a compendium of nearly 400 short stories by some 170 famous contemporary and classic storytellers of mystery, Gothic, suspense, supernatural, ghost stories, crime, sci-fi, romance, horror and quiet-horror, fantasy, and mainstream fiction.

Follow Reading Fiction Blog via email for once-a-month posts. A free short story or an Author of the Month. And book recommendations!

Follow me on  Facebook,  and Instagram. 

BlueSky.Social    Goodreads

And on my Amazon Author Page.

LinkTree

 

Other Reading Websites to Visit

Shepherd is putting the magic back in book discovery.

Wander through 12,000 book lists by experts:

Shepherd.com

The Gothic Wanderer

Kirkus Mystery & Thrillers Reviews

Books & Such   

NewYorkerFictionOnline

For Authors/Writers:  The Writer Unboxed

Literature Blog Directory

Blog Collection

Blog Top Sites

Thank you for supporting Reading Fiction Blog

No permission is given for the use of this material from this blog, on any and all pages, for AI training purposes.

© 2012 Paula Cappa, Reading Fiction Blog

 

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Filed under #horror short stories, book bloggers, Book Reviews, dark fantasy, dark fantasy fiction, dark literature, fantasy, fiction bloggers, ghost stories, ghost story blogs, Gothic fiction, Gothic Horror, haunted houses, haunted mind, horromantasy, horror, horror blogs, horror short stories, literary horror, literary short stories, literature, magical romance, Magical stories, magick, magickal romance, magickal romantasy, murder mystery, mysteries, occult, paranormal, Penny Dreadful, psychological horror, quiet horror, Reading Fiction, Reading Fiction Blog, READING FICTION BLOG Paula Cappa, romantasy, romantic thrillers, short stories, short story blogs, soft horror, speculative fiction, supernatural fiction, supernatural mysteries, supernatural tales, supernatural thrillers, suspense, tales of terror, vampires, werewolves, witches, witchraft, wolf stories

Draakensky News for March, 2025

Announcement!  I am happy to tell my followers here that Draakensky, A Supernatural Tale of Magick and Romance is listed in Locus Magazine, Science Fiction & Fantasy, January Issue 768, 2025.

Locus is “an industry-standard science fiction, fantasy, and horror literary periodical for book reviews, interviews, faces and places, new & notable books, recommended reading, monthly bestsellers, and events.”

 

Besides being a supernatural mystery, Draakensky also qualifies as dark fantasy fiction, dark Gothic romance, romantasy, and horromantasy.

 

Watch for more news about Draakensky in the coming weeks!

Murder and Magick. Ghostly and Gothic.

Mystery and Romance.

 

 

And, The Wind Witch of Draakensky, A Short Story is still free on Amazon but not for much longer.

Also free on  Apple Books,  Smashwords,  KoboBarnes&Noble,

 UK Amazon and other countries.

 

 

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AI, Meta, Zuckerman, Pirated Books, and Shadow Libraries

I am posting this because authors and readers need to keep sharp on what is happening with Artificial Intelligence (AI), shadow libraries, pirated books, and CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg. From Locus Magazine . . .

 

 

 

None of my novels, short stories, or any of my writing is AI-generative created. I am the sole creator of everything I write and produce.

Recently, The Authors Guild have created a program for authors to register their books as “Human Authored” with certification numbers so that readers, editors, publishers, literary agents, and booksellers can have verification that the work they represent has not be written, generated, or developed by an AI bot.

For my novel Draakensky, published by Crystal Lake Publishing, I state on the copyright page the following:

No generative AI was used in the conceptualization, planning, drafting, or creative writing of this work. No permission is given for the use of this material for AI training purposes.

Since Draakensky’s publication in September 2024, I registered the novel with The Authors Guild.

And also for The Wind Witch of Draakensky, A Short Story

 

The Authors Guild Statement:

The Authors Guild believes that it is inherently unfair to use and incorporate books, articles, and other copyrighted works in the fabric of AI technologies without the author’s consent, compensation, or credit. While generative AI technologies capable of generating text and other content can be useful tools for writers, guardrails around their development and use are urgently needed to protect the writing profession and literary culture. There is a serious risk of market dilution from machine-generated works that can be cheaply mass-produced and inevitably lower the value of human-authored works. We need to safeguard the incentives that fuel the creation of a rich and diverse literary culture, so vital to our democratic culture that they are inscribed in the Constitution.

As part of its advocacy, the Authors Guild is asking Congress to:

  • Require AI-generated content to be labeled as such. This will prevent AI-generated content from being passed off as human written, and consumers have the right to know.
  • Require AI companies to disclose what copyrighted materials they used to “train” their AI.
  • Creation of a well-articulated federal right of publicity law that would give creators the right to sue for unauthorized use of their names or other identifying information in prompts and AI outputs.

 

I welcome comments from readers and writers. 

 

Thank you for supporting Reading Fiction Blog

No permission is given for the use of this material from this blog, on any and all pages, for AI training purposes.

© 2012 Paula Cappa, Reading Fiction Blog

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Pop-up Short Story, The Old House on Vauxhall Walk by Charlotte Riddell

Pop-up short story (audio), in honor of  Women in Horror Month for March . . . 

The Old House on Vauxhall Walk  by  Charlotte Riddell (1882)

I love to read dead authors’ stories. We enter the past into the minds and creativity of the early horror and mystery writers who wrote in long hand and often by candlelight. Today, we recognize Charlotte Riddell, (1832-1906), a British writer and native of Ireland. She wrote her first full novel at age fifteen (never published).

Charlotte is known for her 56 published books, novels and story collections. Fairy Water (1873), The Haunted River (1877), The Disappearance of Mr. Jeremiah Redworth (1878), and The Nun’s Curse (1888)— all deal with supernatural phenomena.

In this haunted house story, where there is an unsolved murder, the mystery builds until you find the ghosts—the haunted and the haunting. (1-hour audio)

This is a dramatic reading by Tony Walker, Classic Ghost Stories Podcast.

 

READING FICTION BLOG

Comments are welcome! Feel free to click “LIKE.”

Please join me in my reading nook.

I invite you to browse the INDEX OF AUTHORS’ TALES above for free short stories. This is a compendium of nearly 400 short stories by some 170 famous contemporary and classic storytellers of mystery, Gothic, suspense, supernatural, ghost stories, crime, sci-fi, romance, horror and quiet-horror, fantasy, and mainstream fiction.

Follow Reading Fiction Blog via email for once-a-month posts. A free short story or an Author of the Month. And book recommendations!

Follow me on  Facebook,  and Instagram. 

BlueSky.Social    Goodreads

And on my Amazon Author Page.

LinkTree

 

Other Reading Websites to Visit

Shepherd is putting the magic back in book discovery.

Wander through 12,000 book lists by experts:

Shepherd.com

The Gothic Wanderer

Kirkus Mystery & Thrillers Reviews

Books & Such   

NewYorkerFictionOnline

For Authors/Writers:  The Writer Unboxed

Literature Blog Directory

Leave a comment

Filed under #horror short stories, book bloggers, book recommendations, classic horror stories, crime thrillers, dark fantasy, dark literature, fiction, fiction bloggers, free fiction audios, free horror short stories online, free short stories, free short stories online, ghost stories, ghost story blogs, Ghosts, Gothic fiction, Gothic Horror, haunted houses, haunted mind, Hauntings, historical fiction, historical ghost stories, horror, horror blogs, horror short stories, literary horror, literary short stories, literature, murder mystery, mysteries, novels, occult, paranormal, Penny Dreadful, psychological horror, quiet horror, Reading Fiction, Reading Fiction Blog, READING FICTION BLOG Paula Cappa, short stories, short stories online, short story blogs, soft horror, supernatural, supernatural fiction, supernatural mysteries, supernatural tales, supernatural thrillers, suspense, tales of terror, Women In Horror, Women in Horror Month

Read a FREE Ebook Week

Join me for Read an Ebook Week, March 3 to 8 as spring approaches!

 

I have lots of FREE ebooks of my short stories on Smashwords (and Amazon too). My most recent The Wind Witch of Draakensky, a free peek (prequel) to my Gothic thriller Draakensky, A Supernatural Tale of Magick and Romance (Crystal Lake Publishing). If you read the short story about Jaa Morland (30-minute read) and like it, I sure could use a few reviews on Amazon and/or Smashwords. Goodreads too.

To view all my ebooks and free short stories on Smashwords, click here: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/pcappa

ANYONE can buy books at Smashwords, which offers multiple ebook delivery options: to your Smashwords Library, to your DropBox, or email straight to your e-reading device.  And since my short stories are FREE, you don’t need to add your credit card. Just download!

The Wind Witch of Draakensky

Smashwords:https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1676919

Amazon:

 

Sky Wolf, A Fairy Tale (Novelette)

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1559119

Amazon:

 

Jasper Peacock

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1124420

Amazon:

 

Abasteron House

This has been one of my all time best selling Flash Fiction story, originally published at Every Day Fiction. (15-minute read)

Available at Smashwords only: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/350384

 

Lots more free short stories in the sidebar at the right, click direct to Amazon.

Thank you to all my readers, subscribers, and followers here at Reading Fiction Blog. Your support and friendship means a lot to me and inspires me to keep writing and sharing our literary endeavors. Wishing you all a healthy and happy springtime for 2025.

 

 

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