Demon's Ink
Blurb:
There are lots of dangerous things hanging (or, maybe I should say, dangling) around Portland lately but, when a Demonic tattoo artist comes to town, everything goes to Hell, in DEMON’S INK.
This
young adult novel set in Portland, Oregon is available on Amazon now
and with Halloween coming, you'll want to have a story to share...
Here's one: DEMON'S INK: It's about art, that's more than anyone bargained for.
Drake
and Bartos come to the Pacific Northwest, where they open yet another
tattoo shop but Bartos has no trouble dealing with the competition
because there’s nothing normal about his art. And he’s stealing more
than clients from the local skin artists. He's stealing their souls.
Customers
fall in love with Bartos Slinderman’s tats but end up paying the
ultimate price for their purchase because unlike Oscar Wilde’s Dorian
Gray, they can’t walk away from this art and it’s beautiful until the
artwork takes on a life of its own...
EXCERPT:
DRAKE
Expectations can ruin everything. Like thinking my senior year was going to be something special. What a set up that was.
I should have known better than to get my hopes up.
Ever.
I’d
never been lucky. No one in my family was. I was probably only six when
I’d heard grandpa say, “We come from a long line of losers.” He was
talking to my Dad. I don’t even know about what. But, now, I know I
should have listened to him.
Dad
had already gone to prison, leaving Mom and me worse off than ever. And
we were never good but, at least while he’d hung around, she managed to
act like things were okay. Now she wasn’t even trying to pretend.
Really it was way worse than that; she wasn’t even getting up off the
couch any more.
I’d
come home from school to find her passed out. The first couple times it
freaked me out. Seeing her face-planted in the front room and not
knowing whether she was alive or dead, I didn’t want to be the one to
find her like that, to turn her over, to have to check to see if she was
still breathing but I did. . . and I had no idea if she was high or
drunk. I didn’t even care because what difference did it make? She was
out of it. That was all that mattered.
So, after Dad went to jail, I was completely alone until Bartos made me a deal I couldn’t refuse but that was later.
For
weeks, I’d come home after class and make a sandwich—if there was
bread—otherwise it was a bowl of cereal for breakfast and dinner,
sometimes I’d eat it dry because the milk had gone bad.
I
knew I was going to have to get a job if I wanted to survive and I’d
started looking around but that was right before everything changed.
It
was late one Thursday evening. I still remember because I was thinking,
“Only one more day…” I just didn’t know how right I was.
I
don’t know what woke me up that night. Maybe it was the smell, the
heat, the sound of my Mom screaming. I really don’t know. But I opened
my eyes to the thick burning haze of a room filled with smoke.
I’d gone down into the basement that night and fallen asleep.
Looking around, I already knew there were no windows. I was trapped.
That's is one great cover! I very much like the title and the whole premise of the book too. I am heading now to follow Kimbra on social media and put the book on my tbr. I like the Portland setting too.
ReplyDeleteMesmerizing eyes. A great cover indeed. I'm sure Kim will be happy to find new fans.
DeleteThank you for checking the post, Flossie!
Thanks so much Flossie for following :)
DeleteI love helping keep Portland weird...it's our motto ;)
DeleteSpooky for sure. What a unique premise for a book. Definitely a choice read with Halloween looming around the corner. Congrats on your release, Kimbra. Wishing you many sales!
ReplyDeleteThanks Maeclair....with Halloween around the corner Demon's Ink would be the perfect Demon to cuddle up with
DeleteThank you for dropping by, Mae!
DeleteYes, a character fit for Halloween indeed.
A very scary ending to the snippet. A sure lure to make me want to read more. Good luck with the book.
ReplyDelete