Hollywood After Dark: 3 Tales of Terror ~ An Excerpt

By Lisa Maliga

copyright 2013

This October, why not consider looking at some different horror books? More psychological than bloody, these three novelettes contained within the pages of Hollywood After Dark: 3 Tales of Terror, all take place in a certain area of Los Angeles. They also contain some fairly ambitious main characters. Available in both eBook and paperback formats. 138 pages.

The motivation for An Author’s Nightmare, a horror/chick lit tale, came about after reading some bragging posts on a forum about how successful a chick lit writer claimed she was. It gave me the idea for this dark story.

Here’s an excerpt:

That day I heard a radio in the laundry room as the grungy new tenant who worked at a vintage clothing store, always brought along her radio when she did her laundry. I overheard a news reporter describe the untimely death of a literary legend on Mulholland Drive in a freak accident early that morning. “Mega Best Seller Harvey Boston, author of the successful Legionnaire Series, apparently lost control of his Ferrari when it spun out of control and tumbled down an embankment to the bottom of a ravine near Mulholland and Coldwater Canyon.”

Staring at the computer screen open to a new, untitled document, I sat there and gazed upon it, as though willing a new manuscript into existence. I said, “I’d do anything to sell a book manuscript—anything. I’d even sell my soul!” I remember laughing about that, as I didn’t believe in anything as silly as that as there was no god and there was no devil.

And that’s when I noticed the weather icon went crazy the numbers turned red and went from 87 to 88 to 89 and kept getting higher and higher until they stopped at 105. The temperature in the room increased and I was ready to take off my shirt I was so hot and clammy. And that’s when the name came to me: Carlotta’s Cakery: Book 1 Magical Cakes of Love! Yes, that was it, my new book title and I knew how to bake and why the hell hadn’t I thought of that before? Seconds later I had the first line of my book: “My name is Carlotta Sue Carter and I’m the owner of Carlotta’s Cakery. I bake the most awesome personal sized cakes in Brentwood, California, if not the United States!” And that was how it all began.

Paperback available at Amazon

All other purchase links: https://lisamaliga.wordpress.com/novels/hollywood-after-dark-3-tales-of-terror/

Sweet Dreams – A Contemporary Romance eBook

SWEET DREAMS By Lisa Maliga

Copyright 2013 

Former bakery employee Brenda Nevins is now a successful romance author of the Yolanda’s Yummery book series. Best friend and agent, Samantha Ho, has gotten her a movie deal and a reality TV show about her forthcoming bakery, named after her bestselling series. The frosting on Brenda’s cake is her engagement to handsome and sexy Warren Stillman, a Beverly Hills attorney.

Complications arise whenever any communication she sends or receives turns into snippets of a cheesy science fiction story. Her agent, fiancé, movie producer and anyone else on the receiving end thinks she’s playing a stupid joke. Brenda is trying to track down the person responsible for hijacking her career, her finances, and even her fiancé.

For Brenda, finding the culprit is necessary to make sure that her dreams aren’t derailed. In the process, she wonders if her aspirations are as dreamy as she’s imagined?

This novella is approximately 30,000 words.

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/355959

Amazon Link: Sweet Dreams

Kobo Link: Sweet Dreams

Barnes & Noble Link: Sweet Dreams

Read a review of Sweet Dreams at Cheryl’s Book Nook.

“As a book reviewer I couldn’t help but find a few of Brenda’s inner thoughts just a tiny bit snarky. A reviewer who claimed your request for a book review got sent to their spam folder, and all that frilly stuff Brenda spouts off on her blog had me in stitches. Sounds like our author knows from whence she came. This is a delightful novella and I am for sure going to keep my eyes open for more from this author.” Julie, Romancing the Book

Read full review here: http://romancing-the-book.com/2014/08/review-sweet-dreams-by-lisa-maliga.html

South of Sunset ~ An Excerpt from the Short Story “Flipping Over Grigori”

Copyright 2010-2013

By Lisa Maliga

Flipping Over Grigori

*
Lucy

It was another sunless Wednesday morning and my workday started off with a raucous bang. Right outside the furniture store on La Brea Avenue, a spiffy Mini Cooper had been sideswiped by some geriatric in an Oldsmobile that was new around the 1984 Olympics. I happened to walk up to the store just a minute or so after the crash. Already, the two-car accident was clogging the busy artery with the inevitable looky loos—and it was quite the street show. The navy blue with a jaunty white roofed car was upside down, mere inches from the curb. The Olds had a massively crumpled passenger side, and the driver, a slack jawed codger was leaning heavily on his cane, staring at his wrecked car. The bearded young guy who crawled out of his tiny car seemed perplexed, but was physically unhurt. As I unlocked the front door, the police drove up in their black and whites emblazoned with their motto, to protect and to serve written on each side of the vehicles. They managed to protect my view of the scene, along with that of the gathering crowd on the sidewalk.

There was no business as foot traffic was limited and the congested street was gridlocked for miles in both directions. Being a cloudy day, the gloom permeated the large showroom floor and even the warm track lighting and serenely glowing table and floor lamps failed to stave off the murkiness. It was mid winter, and there wasn’t a damn thing to do inside the furniture store. I’d already dusted, vacuumed, scheduled the solitary delivery and was barely able to stay awake.

Arturo, the finishing guy, was out back shellacking a table that was headed for some new house up in those hills of Beverly. I wished I wasn’t earning minimum wage and that I was able to sit in front of a wood burning fireplace, drinking hot chocolate with extra whipped cream, and reading a book.

The phone rang and I picked it up after the first ring, as I was sitting right next to it.

“I am Jorge!” I heard the deep, Spanish accented voice of the owner. Yes, you are, you arrogant asshole, I thought. The man had been here since 1978, couldn’t he figure out how to start a simple sentence?

There was only one reason for Jorge to call – to get the sales stats. I saw that the senior sales clerk, Charlotte, was on the floor talking to an earnest looking young couple that gazed longingly at the lipstick red crushed velvet sofa. It was the tackiest piece of furniture on the floor, but if it sold, Charlotte wouldn’t have to worry about making any more sales that day. I also knew that the daily sales report, for a whopping $56.27, wasn’t going to please Jorge.

I told him the numbers. “But Charlotte’s with some customers right now and they’re looking at that red velvet couch…”

Click. For Jorge to hang up meant that he was either on his way over – or would be soon. Of course with traffic still snarled into infinity and beyond due to the accident, the guy would make a delayed guest appearance.

SOUTH OF SUNSET is an eBook that is available at Amazon and B&N NOOK