Month9Books 2nd Birthday | A Murder of Magpies by Sarah Bromley

Welcome to Month9Books Birthday Bash! I’m so excited to have Sarah Bromley as a special guest today, as part of their 2nd birthday celebration! This is going to be an awesome event with many tour stops featuring Month9Books authors. The full schedule is below and make sure to stick around for the EPIC Giveaway taking place!

Here’s a quick note from Georgia McBride, owner of Month9Books!

“Month9Books is turning 2 this year and I could not be happier. We are living proof that if you have a dream to write, create and inspire, you should follow that dream and let nothing keep you from realizing it. Thank you to all the readers, writers, agents, partners and friends who have made this possible. We write for you.” –Georgia McBride, Publisher and Owner of Month9Books

And now, check out Sarah Bromley’s debut, A MURDER OF MAGPIES, and her guest post listing her top 5 scary movies and books!

Sarah Bromley’s Top 5 Scary Movies and Top 5 Scary Books

I am a certified horror fanatic. I mean, come on, I’m one of the YA Scream Queens, so my passion for peril and the paranormal is extreme. However, when it comes to my five favorite scary movies, I will always dig in for classics over for more modern fare, save for one exception.

5. THE CONJURING. This is my most recent addition to the list. I grew up on books of hauntings written by Ed Warren, and I’ve been familiar with the Warrens’ work for years. This movie, while perhaps a bit predictable, pays homage to the horror tropes with just enough jumpy delights to make it spooktastic.

4. CARRIE. A bullied girl with telekinesis gets her revenge, and it is bloody and horrifying. If you are going to indulge in this movie, it had better be the original with Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie.

3. THE BIRDS. It’s Alfred Hitchcock directing one of his three works based on Daphne Du Maurier’s writing (the other’s being REBECCA and JAMAICA INN). The birds in town all go insane and start attacking the residents. It’s mysterious and creepy, and I was ducking any swooping birds for weeks after.

2. HALLOWEEN. The original John Carpenter film with Jamie Lee Curtis and shot on a shoestring budget. It’s a fantastic tale of a babysitter with a psycho killer stalking her. It’s also a lesson in cinematographer and the use of atmosphere and soundtrack in place of wild special effects. One thing to notice is that there is very little blood or gore in this movie. It’s all implied. I watch it ever Halloween, and I finally broke down this year and bought my own copyl

1. THE EXORCIST. I was far too young the first time I ever saw this movie about a young girl possessed by a demon and the priest who tried to help her. As an adult, I moved to St. Louis where the actual exorcism that the story was based upon took place. I’ve known people who were parishioners of the priests involved and families who lived in the home where the exorcism took place. All believe something happened that night in the last 1940s, but few are willing to talk about it, which makes it all that much more frightening.

My five favorite scary books also run a pretty wide gamut from classic Gothics to recent YA. These are the books that I would stow away with me in trunk.

5. BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA by April Genevieve Tucholke. Lush prose with characters you hate to love and love to hate is a crumbling, seaside manor. This is all the things a Gothic YA should be.

4. GRAVEMINDER by Melissa Marr. Most YA readers know Marr for her WICKED LOVELY books, but GRAVEMINDER is a Southern Gothic with folklore and dead who don’t want to stay dead. I stayed up all night reading it and had a hard time turning out the light.

3. IN THE SHADOW OF BLACKBIRDS by Cat Winters. A historical YA set in the Spiritualism craze during World War I and the Spanish Flu epidemic. Winters writing draws you into her heroine’s world and the horrors she faces and weaves it with ghost photography, séances, and grief. It is a beautiful, haunting tale.

2. REBECCA by Daphne Du Maurier. A young woman becomes the second Mrs. De Winter. But is the first Mrs. De Winter, the late Rebecca, truly gone? It’s a gripping Gothic novel with notes of psychological horror, and one of my favorite novels of all time.

1. THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE by Shirley Jackson. Oh, Shirley had a way with words, a way that made the common so cruel. And this is the ghost story by which all other ghost stories are measured.

About Sarah Bromley

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While all of the posts are from Month9Books authors that have books out already, we’re also looking forward to some of the 2015 titles!

Here’s a slide show of some 2015 books from Month9Books!