Where do the dead go – Whereafter @_TerriBruce

whereafterbanner

About the Book

Whereafter by Terri Bruce

Publication Date: March 15, 2016

Publisher: Mictlan Press

Number of Pages: 345

Genre: Paranormal / Contemporary Fantasy

Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000446_00074]

Stuck on an island encircled by fire and hunted by shadows bent on trapping them there forever, Irene and Andras struggle to hold onto the last vestiges of their physical selves, without which they can never return to the land of the living. But it’s not just external forces they’ll have to fight as the pair grow to realize they have different goals. Irene still clings to the hope that she can somehow return to her old life—the one she had before she died—while Andras would be only too glad to embrace oblivion.

Meanwhile, Jonah desperately searches for a way to cross over to the other side, even if doing so means his death. His crossing over, however, is the one thing that could destroy Irene’s chances of returning home.

Too many obstacles, too many people to save, and the thing Irene most desperately wants—to return to her old life—seems farther away than ever. Only one thing is clear: moving on will require making a terrible sacrifice.

About the Author

Terri Bruce has been making up adventure stories for as long as she can remember and won her first writing award when she was twelve. Like Anne Shirley, she prefers to make people cry rather than laugh, but is happy if she can do either. She produces fantasy and adventure stories from a haunted house in New England where she lives with her husband and three cats.

Contact Details:  Email: tbruce@terribruce.net  /  Website/Blog  /  Goodreads

 GIVEAWAY

Win a $15 Amazon gift card!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Excerpt

Andras grunted, the sound filled with suspicion. Irene bent down to tie her shoelace, as much to avoid eye contact as anything. When she straightened up, something in the distance caught her eye, shimmering like a mirage. She squinted, not sure she was really seeing what she thought she saw.

“You know, now might be a good time for you to tell me what it was like to live in a castle,” she said.

Andras shook his head, sadly, as if Irene had disappointed him. “You cling too much to the past. Forget the trappings of life. Free your mind from these longings, and so, free your soul. Only then will we be able to escape these shackles and enter Heaven to rest at the side of God.”

Why did he always have to argue about everything? “For God’s sake,” she said, exasperated, “just answer the question!”

“Wherefore?”

Irene pointed to the hulking structure in the distance. “Because,” she said as Andras whirled around to see what she was pointing at, “correct me if I’m wrong, but that looks like a castle.”

“Wow!” Irene said, her eyes roving over the dark, crenellated structure hulking in the far distance. It gleamed dully, the color of burnt blood in a fading afternoon sun. “What the hell do you think that is?”

Andras grunted. “As you said—Hell.”

Irene frowned at him, but her lips quirked in amusement. “Why do you have to be so negative? It could just as easily be Heaven. God is supposed to live in a palace, right—the whole ‘my father’s house has many rooms’ thing? A castle is just a type of palace.”

Andras gave her a dry look. “Does that look like Heaven?”

Irene was on the verge of agreeing that the castle did not in any way look how she imagined Heaven when it shimmered, as if the fading sunlight had been redirected by mirrors. Light rippled across the castle’s surface and the dull, dark, burnt-blood color transformed into gleaming, bright, silver-white. Crisp white pennants flapped from the corners as if whipped by wind. Irene thought she could hear them snapping crisply.

Irene looked at Andras, and he looked at her. His expression made it clear that he had seen the same transformation she had. It was as if the building was trying to trick them into coming closer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

To see all my Giveaways, go HERE.

If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?

animated smilies photo: animated animated.gifLook on the right sidebar and let’s talk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.

If you have a problem commenting, look for the twitter, facebook…buttons.

Thanks for visiting fundinmental!

.

Would You Like A Glimpse of the Afterlife? My Review of Hereafter by Terri Bruce

What happens after you die? Thereafter by Terri Bruce – Giveaway

Thereafter_Banner_Tour_450_x_169I was supposed to have a review ready for the tour, but due to a family emergency, I have not finished reading Thereafter by Terri Bruce.

Please keep your eyes open for the review in the very near future.

thereafter_ebookgoodreads-badge-add-plus

Thereafter (Afterlife Book 2) by Terri Bruce

 Genre: Contemporary fantasy/paranormal

Publisher: Mictlan Press

 Date of Publication: May 1, 2014

 ISBN: 978-0-9913036-2-5 (print) / ISBN: 978-0-9913036-3-2 (ebook)

 Number of pages: 318

Word Count: 99,000

 Cover Artist: Artwork by Shelby Robinson; cover layout by Jennifer Stolzer

 Book Description

 When recently-deceased Irene Dunphy decided to “follow the light,” she thought she’d end up in Heaven or Hell and her journey would be over.

Boy, was she wrong.

She soon finds that “the other side” isn’t a final destination but a kind of purgatory where billions of spirits are stuck, with no way to move forward or back. Even worse, deranged phantoms known as “Hungry Ghosts” stalk the dead, intent on destroying them. The only way out is for Irene to forget her life on earth—including the boy who risked everything to help her cross over—which she’s not about to do.

As Irene desperately searches for an alternative, help unexpectedly comes in the unlikeliest of forms: a twelfth-century Spanish knight and a nineteenth-century American cowboy. Even more surprising, one offers a chance for redemption; the other, love. Unfortunately, she won’t be able to have either if she can’t find a way to escape the hellish limbo where they’re all trapped.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author’s Note

I am THRILLED beyond all measure to finally be able to bring you Thereafter, and I want to thank all the fans who have waited (more or less patiently) an extra year for this book to finally come out. Thereafter would not have been possible without your support—thank you all! I hope you love this beautiful new cover as much as I do, and I hope you find Thereafter to be worth the wait.

 Excerpt

 Her hand touched a rock, one of the flat beach stones she’d seen on graves. She picked it up, laying it flat in her palm. She didn’t remember picking this up. In fact, she had been careful not to take any. It had seemed disrespectful and too much like stealing to remove them, and while she’d seen a few here—both loose and piled in cairns—she hadn’t picked any of them up. There had been no point. What would she do with a rock?

No wonder her bag was so heavy.

She tossed the rock over her shoulder and heard it hit the ground with a satisfying thud some distance away. It felt good to be rid of something, to make a decision and be sure it was the right one.

She surveyed the pile again and then grabbed a small handful of paper animals. She picked one up between a finger and thumb. It was a horse. Irene had been in Chinatown during Chinese Ghost Festival, a holiday in which the living left offerings for the dead. These offerings included paper replicas of things people thought the dead would need in the afterlife—money, clothes, television sets, and even animals. Irene had admired the precise and delicate folds of the Origami figures and had picked some up to admire them more closely. Without thinking, she had dropped them into her bag and apparently been carrying them ever since.

Well, even Jonah couldn’t argue with her on this—there was no way she was going to need a paper horse on her journey through the afterlife. Plus, these didn’t hold any sentimental value. She cast the horse onto a nearby fire and watched as the paper curled and blackened in the low-burning flames.

The fire leapt and seemed to glow blue for a moment. Irene tensed—what was happening?

Thick black smoke began to rise slowly from the flames, spiraling upward in a thickening column. The smoke grew denser and then elongated sideways. Irene leapt to her feet and backed away, her heart pounding. Something was forming in the fire.

The smoke was taking shape now; there was purpose and design in its movements. She could see a long, horizontal back, four legs, a neck, and finally a head and a tail. The smoke swirled with a final flourish and then shuddered into the solidity of a smoke-colored horse. The animal blinked passively. Then it violently shook its head, blew out a breath, and delicately picked its way forward out of the fire. It immediately put its head down and began to lip the ground, looking for food.

Irene stared stupidly at it. “Are you shitting me?”

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~

 About the Author

 Terri BruceTerri Bruce has been making up adventure stories for as long as she can remember. Like Anne Shirley, she prefers to make people cry rather than laugh, but is happy if she can do either. She produces fantasy and adventure stories from a haunted house in New England where she lives with her husband and three cats.

Website/Blog   /  Goodreads Profile  Facebook Fan Page

  Twitter  Amazon Author Page

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Would You Like A Glimpse of the Afterlife? Review of Hereafter by Terri Bruce

To get your copy of Hereafter or learn more about Terri Bruce, click on the cover below.

Get you Amazon copy of Thereafter by clicking on the cover below.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~

taiwan flag smiley animated gif Pictures, Images and PhotosGIVEAWAY

2 $50 Amazon gift cards

5 signed paperback copies of Thereafter (U.S./Canada Only)

 ENTER THE RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY HERE

~~~~~~~~~~~~

To see all my Reviews, go HERE.
To see all my Giveaways, go HERE.

If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?

animated smilies photo: animated animated.gifLook on the right sidebar at Home and let’s talk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cover Reveal – Life After Death – Thereafter by Terri Bruce

<<< Gremlins have attacked my blog.Please be patient while we locate them >>>

Thereafter_Banner_Cover_Reveal_450_x_169

I read Hereafter, Book I, and fell in love with Irene. I have been waiting for Thereafter and am very excited to be a part of this tour.

Would You Like A Glimpse of the Afterlife? Review of Hereafter by Terri Bruce

thereafter_ebook

Thereafter, Afterlife, Book 2 by Terri Bruce

 Genre: Contemporary fantasy/paranormal

 Publisher: Mictlan Press

 Date of Publication: May 1, 2014

 ISBN: 978-0-9913036-2-5 (print) /

ISBN: 978-0-9913036-3-2 (ebook)

Number of pages: 318

Word Count: 99,000

 Cover Artist: Artwork by Shelby Robinson;

Cover layout by Jennifer Stolzer

 Book Description

When recently-deceased Irene Dunphy decided to “follow the light,” she thought she’d end up in Heaven or Hell and her journey would be over.

Boy, was she wrong.

She soon finds that “the other side” isn’t a final destination but a kind of purgatory where billions of spirits are stuck, with no way to move forward or back. Even worse, deranged phantoms known as “Hungry Ghosts” stalk the dead, intent on destroying them. The only way out is for Irene to forget her life on earth—including the boy who risked everything to help her cross over—which she’s not about to do.

As Irene desperately searches for an alternative, help unexpectedly comes in the unlikeliest of forms: a twelfth-century Spanish knight and a nineteenth-century American cowboy. Even more surprising, one offers a chance for redemption; the other, love. Unfortunately, she won’t be able to have either if she can’t find a way to escape the hellish limbo where they’re all trapped.

 Author’s Note

I am THRILLED beyond all measure to finally be able to bring you Thereafter, and I want to thank all the fans who have waited (more or less patiently) an extra year for this book to finally come out. Thereafter would not have been possible without your support—thank you all! I hope you love this beautiful new cover as much as I do, and I hope you find Thereafter to be worth the wait.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

EXCERPT

Her hand touched a rock, one of the flat beach stones she’d seen on graves. She picked it up, laying it flat in her palm. She didn’t remember picking this up. In fact, she had been careful not to take any. It had seemed disrespectful and too much like stealing to remove them, and while she’d seen a few here—both loose and piled in cairns—she hadn’t picked any of them up. There had been no point. What would she do with a rock?

No wonder her bag was so heavy.

She tossed the rock over her shoulder and heard it hit the ground with a satisfying thud some distance away. It felt good to be rid of something, to make a decision and be sure it was the right one.

She surveyed the pile again and then grabbed a small handful of paper animals. She picked one up between a finger and thumb. It was a horse. Irene had been in Chinatown during Chinese Ghost Festival, a holiday in which the living left offerings for the dead. These offerings included paper replicas of things people thought the dead would need in the afterlife—money, clothes, television sets, and even animals. Irene had admired the precise and delicate folds of the Origami figures and had picked some up to admire them more closely. Without thinking, she had dropped them into her bag and apparently been carrying them ever since.

Well, even Jonah couldn’t argue with her on this—there was no way she was going to need a paper horse on her journey through the afterlife. Plus, these didn’t hold any sentimental value. She cast the horse onto a nearby fire and watched as the paper curled and blackened in the low-burning flames.

The fire leapt and seemed to glow blue for a moment. Irene tensed—what was happening?

Thick black smoke began to rise slowly from the flames, spiraling upward in a thickening column. The smoke grew denser and then elongated sideways. Irene leapt to her feet and backed away, her heart pounding. Something was forming in the fire.

The smoke was taking shape now; there was purpose and design in its movements. She could see a long, horizontal back, four legs, a neck, and finally a head and a tail. The smoke swirled with a final flourish and then shuddered into the solidity of a smoke-colored horse. The animal blinked passively. Then it violently shook its head, blew out a breath, and delicately picked its way forward out of the fire. It immediately put its head down and began to lip the ground, looking for food.

Irene stared stupidly at it. “Are you shitting me?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Terri BruceTerri Bruce has been making up adventure stories for as long as she can remember. Like Anne Shirley, she prefers to make people cry rather than laugh, but is happy if she can do either. She produces fantasy and adventure stories from a haunted house in New England where she lives with her husband and three cats.

 Website/Blog   /  Goodreads Profile  Facebook Fan Page

  Twitter  Amazon Author Page

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Would You Like A Glimpse of the Afterlife? Review of Hereafter by Terri Bruce

To get your copy of Hereafter or learn more about Terri Bruce, click on the cover below.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~

taiwan flag smiley animated gif Pictures, Images and PhotosGIVEAWAY

1 $25 Amazon gift card
5 Thereafter swag packs –open to US Shipping

~~~~~~~~~~~~

To see all my Reviews, go HERE.
To see all my Giveaways, go HERE.

If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?

animated smilies photo: animated animated.gifLook below or on the right sidebar at Home and let’s talk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~