Yvonne
Welcome to the final day of this Halloween mini-cover reveal extravaganza, hosted by the lovely teams at Aria Fiction and Head of Zeus.
HoZ definitely take the prize with this, their Halloween Eve ‘piece de resistance’. Now, insects don’t usually bother me as a rule, however I have to admit to being totally freaked out by this spooky cover art, for a book written by one of the giants in the genre, whose work I confess to not having read since my youth, although I plan to rectify that as soon as possible!
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THE LAST DROP OF BLOOD – (Katie Maguire – Book #11)
It started with the judge.
He was about to sentence five of Cork’s most notorious criminals. But his body has just turned up, beaten and broken, on an isolated road in his burned-out car.
Now four members of a rival gang have been shot, and in retaliation three civilians have been blown up.
To Katie’s horror, Cork is becoming a gang battleground like Dublin.
Can Katie save the city? Can she save herself?
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GRAHAM MASTERTON
Graham Masterton was born in Edinburgh in 1946. His grandfather was Thomas Thorne Baker, the eminent scientist who invented DayGlo and was the first man to transmit news photographs by wireless.
After training as a newspaper reporter, Graham went on to edit the new British men’s magazine Mayfair, where he encouraged William Burroughs to develop a series of scientific and philosophical articles which eventually became Burroughs’ novel The Wild Boys.
At the age of 24, Graham was appointed executive editor of both Penthouse and Penthouse Forum magazines. He is a regular contributor to Cosmopolitan, Men’s Health, Woman, Woman’s Own and other mass-market self-improvement magazines.
Graham has published more than thirty-five horror novels and three short story collections. He is an Edgar Award and Bram Stoker Award-winner and a World Fantasy Award-nominee. In 2019 he was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Horror Writers’ Association. Graham’s novels often contain visceral sex and horror.
In addition to his novels Graham has also written a number of sex instruction books, including How To Drive Your Man Wild In Bed and Wild Sex for New Lovers.
Following the death of his late wife, Graham has relocated from their Gothic mansion in Cork, Ireland and is currently living in Surrey.
Keep up to date with Graham’s latest news on his website
Follow Graham on Twitter
Connect with Graham on Facebook
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Yes, very realistic. I love how that fly looks like it has just landed on the cover.
Thank you for the introduction to Graham and his books, all of them.
Hi Felicity,
Graham has been very fortunate indeed with the choice of cover artist for this book, the almost 3D effect of the fly definitely adds the crowning touch. In fact with the ‘gold’ appearance of the fly, I was almost reminded of a ‘James Bond’ opening film sequence, on a much smaller scale.
I haven’t read any books by this author for many years, probably not since the 1970s in fact, when Graham’s stories in the ‘Harry Erskine’ series, were well and truly defined in the genre of horror reading, which I was very much into at the time. I am looking forward to becoming re-acquainted with his writing.
Thanks for taking the time to comment, I always appreciate your support 🙂
While this storyline might interest me the least of the three, the cover more than makes up for it! As Felicity noted, very realistic!!
Hi Kelly,
Gangland crime isn’t one of my most favourite genres, especially when we are up to book #11 in the series, although I have books by several more writers in the genre, both new and established, lined up in my TBR pile.
I was genuinely surprised to receive promotional work with Graham Masterton, a name to be reckoned with in the world of the horror story, I had no idea that he had changed genres ever so slightly with this particular series, nor that book #1 was published way back in 2003 and must have then been placed on the back-burner until book #2 arrived in 2013.
Graham certainly knows how to choose a good cover for his books – take a quick look and you will see what I mean …
https://www.fantasticfiction.com/m/graham-masterton/
I’m not too afraid of insects as a rule, but this fly is definitely spooky looking, even more so when I had literally just finished reading an article about a new strain of brain harming tick has reached the UK’s shores – check out this scary looking little beast …
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-50206382
Sweet Dreams 🙂
Ugh! I hate ticks and have far more run-ins with them than I care to talk about.
We live in the heart of the countryside, although if anyone is risk in our house it will be hubbie. He is always the one up for a walk in the woods, or around one of the many local National Trust estates. Me, I’m more of a coastal lover, so a relatively tick free environment! 🙂
This one sounds good Yvonne and perfect for this time of year. That is very cool cover art. I don’t like bugs and will scream like a banshee if one lands on me.
How interesting that the author writes for Cosmo.
Hi Naida,
I’m not too bad with bugs and I am generally the ‘bug catcher’ in our house. The only creepy crawly I am not too fond of is a ‘daddy long legs’ and we are just coming into that season now!
I was quite surprised that given the author’s penchant for horror and thriller writing, he should also have chosen to write for sex magazines, as well as authoring sex manuals and books of his own. Much of this was during his early career, however I did find one or two such books which were written in the early ‘naughties’.
I hope that this story is as realistic as the cover art, although given Graham’s pedigree, I am not really in any doubt about it 🙂