Jilo (Witching Savannah) Book Giveaway Winner

Congratulations Lori B. the winner of the Jilo Book Giveaway at From the Shadows!  Lori will receive JILO a Witching Savannah novel by J.D. Horn in her choice of ebook or trade paperback.

Thank you to all who entered!

*Winner randomly selected using Random.org*

Book Giveaway: Jilo (Witching Savannah) by J.D. Horn

Today we have a special book giveaway for our readers.  We are giving away JILO a Witching Savannah novel by J.D. Horn!

Jilo (Witching Savannah #4) by J.D. Horn

Aged Mother Jilo is wise in the ways of magic…but once upon a time, she was just a girl.

1950s Georgia: King Cotton has fallen. Savannah is known as the “beautiful woman with a dirty face,” its stately elegance faded by neglect, its soul withering from racial injustice and political corruption.

Young Jilo—fiercely independent, intelligent, and ambitious, but thwarted by Savannah’s maddeningly genteel version of bigotry—finds herself forced to embrace a dark power that has pursued her family for generations, an ancient magic that may prove her salvation…or her undoing.

Explore the fascinating history of one of the Witching Savannah series’ most vivid and beloved characters, as the resourceful and determined Jilo comes of age, strives to master formidable magical skills in the face of overwhelming adversity, and forges her strange destiny against the turbulent backdrop of the civil rights struggle in the American South.

Release Date: April 26, 2016
Genre: Paranormal, Mystery, Urban Fantasy
Add to Goodreads.

Jilo Book Giveaway

We are giving away JILO a Witching Savannah novel by J.D. Horn in reader's choice of ebook or trade paperback.

To enter, leave a comment on this post and include your email address so we may contact you if you win.  BONUS ENTRY: Visit J.D.'s Paranormal Road Trip to Savannah guest post and leave a comment, then come back here and comment to let us know you did.  Ebook portion of giveaway is international, trade paperback option open to mailing addresses in the US and Canada.  Giveaway ends May 12, 2016.

Good luck!

Want to learn more about J.D. Horn and his books?  Check out our Q+A with author J.D. Horn here at From the Shadows.

Paranormal Road Trip: Destination Savannah with J.D. Horn

Come on boys and ghouls!  It's time to hop on Route 666 for a spooktacular Paranormal Road Trip.  This week's stop is Savannah, Georgia and our special guide is J.D. Horn author of the Witching Savannah series.

The Witching Savannah series is set in Savannah, Georgia so it seems fitting that our guide for this week's Paranormal Road Trip be the amazing J.D. Horn.  Let's see what terrifying places J.D. has planned for our tour.

Savannah's Top Five Spooky Places

5. East Oglethorpe Avenue between Abercorn and Habersham - Yes, Colonial Park Cemetery is just on the south side of the street, but the street itself is built over unmarked graves. It's one thing to be in a cemetery and know it. When you are in a cemetery and don't know it, that's an entirely different matter. (Oh, and don't even get me started on the playground located on the other side of the cemetery.)

4. Twelve West Oglethorpe - You hear on all the ghost hunter shows about spirits draining away energy from batteries. I'm not saying the place is haunted, but I aimed my freshly charged camera through a  hole--already existing, I swear I didn't make it--in a window to take a shot. (This was going to be the first picture of the day.)  I'm not saying the place is haunted, but my camera's battery died as soon as I snapped the shutter. No photo was taken.

3. The old gunpowder magazine - Hidden by trees off Ogeechee Road (a bit between an auto parts store and a drive-in restaurant), I was alone there, but I didn't feel alone. It was creepy enough for me to use it in the first chapter of THE SOURCE.

2. Old Candler Hospital  - I thought I had hit setting gold when I came across Old Candler. Reputedly haunted, steeped in dramatic history, and creepy as all get out. I used the the yellow fever tunnels that run underneath its parking lot to beneath Forsyth Park in THE LINE, and had intended to set the Tillandsia Club meetings from THE SOURCE there. Then after sitting deserted for years, a law school purchased the property. Had to wrap up that storyline right quick.  I look forward to seeing if the students report any paranormal encounters, or if the former hospital's reputation for being haunted will fade.

1. "Jilo's Crossroads" (Normandy Street) - There's a reason why I set Jilo's crossroads in the wooded area surrounding Normandy Street (west of the golf club and east of Randolph Street). Not only have I come across accounts of homeless encampments in the general vicinity, the whole area just has a weird vibe to it. I don't know if the land is privately or publicly owned, but either way, I recommend staying clear of it.

Thank you J.D. for giving us such a haunting tour of Savannah!

To learn more about J.D. Horn and his books, please visit his website and don't miss our Q+A with J.D. Horn here at From the Shadows.  You can add his Witching Savannah series here on Goodreads.

Readers, was this your first visit to Savannah?  Have you experienced anything supernatural in Savannah?

What did you think of J.D. Horn's picks for spooky places?

Next week on Paranormal Road Trip, we'll be traveling to New Orleans with Suzanne Johnson.

Join us for another spine-tingling Paranormal Road Trip...
if you dare!

Readers: What do you think of this new weekly feature?  Your feedback is important to us as we strive to bring you fresh new content that you want to read. 

Kindle First: The Line by J.D. Horn

Have you been dying to read The Line ever since our interview with J.D. Horn?  Well you're in luck! 

The Line is one of this month's Kindle First titles.  If you have an Amazon Prime account, go to the Kindle First page and grab your free copy today...before the book is available to the public.  Cool deal, right?

The Line (Witching Savannah #1) by J.D. Horn

Savannah is considered a Southern treasure, a city of beauty with a rich, colorful past. Some might even call it magical…

To the uninitiated, Savannah shows only her bright face and genteel manner. Those who know her well, though, can see beyond her colonial trappings and small-city charm to a world where witchcraft is respected, Hoodoo is feared, and spirits linger. Mercy Taylor is all too familiar with the supernatural side of Savannah, being a member of the most powerful family of witches in the South.

Despite being powerless herself, of course.

Having grown up without magic of her own, in the shadow of her talented and charismatic twin sister, Mercy has always thought herself content. But when a series of mishaps—culminating in the death of the Taylor matriarch—leaves a vacuum in the mystical underpinnings of Savannah, she finds herself thrust into a mystery that could shake her family apart…and unleash a darkness the line of Taylor witches has been keeping at bay for generations.

In The Line, the first book of the Witching Savannah series, J.D. Horn weaves magic, romance, and betrayal into a captivating Southern Gothic fantasy with a contemporary flare.

Release Date:  February 1, 2014
Add to Goodreads.

The Line Giveaway Winner

Congratulations Leah H. winner of The Line Giveaway here at From the Shadows!  Leah will receive an autographed copy of THE LINE, the first novel in the Witching Savannah series, by J.D. Horn.

Thank you to all who entered!

**Giveaway winners selected using Random.org**

Q+A with J.D. Horn + The Line Giveaway

Please welcome today's paranormal guest author J.D. Horn!  J.D. is the author of The Line, the first novel in the Witching Savannah series.

Keep reading for a chance to win an autographed copy of The Line by J.D. Horn!

EJ:  When did you begin writing?
 
JD:  I began writing as a teenager. On a real live typewriter, even. I always wanted to write, but I got derailed in college when I studied Comparative World Literature. My studies involved dissecting masterpieces, but never covered the creative process. The comparisons I made between the finished works of the greats and my own inchoate and immature efforts discouraged me. It took me several years to get past this. I wrote my first novel—as yet unpublished, although I still have hopes for it—when I was finally able to take joy again in storytelling. “The Line” will be my first published work and the first book of the Witching Savannah series. The Witching Savannah series continues in “The Source” and “The Void.”

EJ:  What brought you to the paranormal genre?
 
JD:  I have always loved all things paranormal. I cut my teeth while watching “Dark Shadows”—imagine the thrill I got when Kathryn Leigh Scott agreed to review “The Line.” Frankly, though, it was my own real life paranormal experiences that cemented my interest in the supernatural. I had a Southern Gothic childhood, and when I reach inside to my creative space, the world of spirits and elementals has so far proven the most fertile ground.

EJ:  If you could be any paranormal or have any one supernatural talent, what would it be? Why?
 
JD:  We, as author and reader, share a supernatural talent. Together we build worlds. I don’t mean that in some trite and condescending way. I really do believe that reality is pliant. When you as a reader joins forces with an author, I suspect this union forms and nurtures a type of bubble universe that on some level truly does exist. Am I nuts? Maybe a little. I am currently writing the third book in the “Witching Savannah” series. In this third book, one of the characters will take up writing, and will begin writing about me.

EJ:  Tell us why readers will enjoy your new release.
 
JD:  Because it is about deeply-flawed people who want to live better lives than they have been living. Because in spite of the magic, the Taylors, Witching Savannah’s central family, face very human problems. Because even though it is the first of a series, the story leaves off at a satisfying place. Because Savannah itself is a central character, not just a throwaway location. Because even though it is one sweet young woman who acts as our window on the Witching Savannah world, the story encompasses a full cast of living, breathing, well-rounded characters.

EJ:  If your book(s) were being made into a movie, who would you cast for the leading roles? Why?
 
JD:  Goodness! Emma Stone or Debra Ann Woll. Both are capable of portraying the mix of toughness, spunk and fragility that Mercy Taylor embodies. The second lady of the Witching Savannah series would be Mercy’s Aunt Ellen. From Ellen’s inception, I saw her as Kelley Menighan Hensley. Kelley can chew up the scenery when she sets her mind to it, and I think she would be perfect to portray the beautiful train wreck Ellen. Colton Haynes would be perfect as Jackson. He’s great at playing the really hot guy you just want to punch. Probably Sean McGowan as Peter, the good guy who makes a really bad choice, due to Sean’s boy-next-door appeal.

The Line (Witching Savannah #1) by J.D. Horn

Savannah is considered a Southern treasure, a city of beauty with a rich, colorful past. Some might even call it magical…

To the uninitiated, Savannah shows only her bright face and genteel manner. Those who know her well, though, can see beyond her colonial trappings and small-city charm to a world where witchcraft is respected, Hoodoo is feared, and spirits linger. Mercy Taylor is all too familiar with the supernatural side of Savannah, being a member of the most powerful family of witches in the South.

Despite being powerless herself, of course.

Having grown up without magic of her own, in the shadow of her talented and charismatic twin sister, Mercy has always thought herself content. But when a series of mishaps—culminating in the death of the Taylor matriarch—leaves a vacuum in the mystical underpinnings of Savannah, she finds herself thrust into a mystery that could shake her family apart…and unleash a darkness the line of Taylor witches has been keeping at bay for generations.

In The Line, the first book of the Witching Savannah series, J.D. Horn weaves magic, romance, and betrayal into a captivating Southern Gothic fantasy with a contemporary flare.

Release Date:  February 1, 2014
Add to Goodreads.

Thank you J.D. for joining us here at From the Shadows!  To learn more about J.D. Horn and his books, please visit his website.

***The Line Giveaway***

Okay, now for the giveaway!  We are giving away one autographed copy of The Line, the first novel in the Witching Savannah series, by J.D. Horn.

To enter, please leave a comment on this blog post and include your email address so that we may contact you if you win.  This giveaway is open to US mailing addresses only.  Giveaway ends January 6th midnight EST.