Hallow's Eve Triptych - a guest post by Tonya Cannariato

NOTE: The long-suffering Tonya wrote this before my winter exodus cross-country and it was meant to go up the week of Christmas. I managed to schedule it for Christmas 2014 instead of 2013 based on the assumption that all of you are Time Lords. Since the majority of you are probably not Time Lords (feel free to drop by and correct me if I'm wrong) I thought maybe it would be best to rescue this from the depths of the blog queue and post it now. Slightly late, but still wonderful! 

While Liana's away, the authors shall play; I'm sure we're all crossing our fingers for her that her move and holiday season are filled with joy and not much hassle. In the meantime, today it's my turn to entertain you with something new. I'm Tonya Cannariato and I've hosted Liana on my site a few times for reviews of Fey Lights and Even Villains Fall in Love , as well as her recent blog tour celebrating the release of Even Villains Go to the Movies, so I'm glad to lend a hand on her site as well.

This year has been busy for me. I've been taking classes toward my MBA, but I still managed to release three books--which still surprises me. I'm very grateful for the ROW80 community for the way it forces me into public accountability for my progress toward whatever my stated goals might be.
:)

All that, to introduce my latest release. It started out as my response to a call for short horror stories. I've always objected to horror on general principle (who wants THAT polluting their minds?!), but then it was pointed out to me that my short story last year, Angel Mine,  had werewolves, one of whom was on a revenge mission that turns bloody, so I should feel right at home.

It got me to thinking: Is there a way to handle horror in a non-traditional manner? In fact, based on my experience with my parents' divorce (after 42 years of marriage), it seemed the horror humans can inflict on each other was worth some kind of cautionary tale. That did inspire me. I decided I needed to stretch my story-telling muscles and delve into some spooky topics.

As that first story took shape, and its title presented itself to me as "The Last Supper," it occurred to me, too, that some of the horrors inflicted in the name of religion could be reflected in my story names; the other two story titles are also Biblical phrases: "Through the Mirror, Darkly," and "Root of All Evil." Each reflects, thematically, the core of the story within, so all three stories have a particular focus that links them together--even if none of the characters is in any way related.

I'm very proud to introduce my Hallow's Eve Triptych
to Liana's audience. I hope those who appreciate a good metaphysical shiver can enjoy the collection as much as I enjoyed writing it.