Welcome to ‘EVEN IN MADNESS’!!!

This story collection is kind of a bittersweet one for me …

All but two of these tales were published with other publishers. One folded due to economic reasons, and the other collapsed due to the sudden passing of its CEO. (May you rest in peace, Andrea.) I would NEVER have asked for my rights to be returned to me in this manner!

But …

When it comes to Art, the show must go on. Andrea would have told me the same, and that in a rather scolding manner. She always described herself as an ‘accountant personality,’ and trust me: that was accurate. She was all about being practical.

So welcome to the skinny on ‘Even in Madness’! I got some horror for you, some romance, a few tales that are neither one nor the other, and some that are a WICKED blend of both! https://geni.us/talesofloveanddeath

BLURB

Our world is a depressing place sometimes. Just watch the news.

Ah, but in another world …!

In another world, a werewolf might go on the hunt for a human mate. In another world, the stars might shower us with sexy cowboys. Perhaps a pair of serial killers will fall madly in love, or a crumbling manor reveal itself as the gateway to another reality. Perhaps a fallen ‘goddess’ will seek refuge in the mortal world, or maybe a mysterious redhead will save her people from certain doom. Hell, Frankenstein’s monster might even re-emerge from the shadows!

Welcome to a kaleidoscopic collection of tales by the bestselling, award-winning author Virginia Wallace. For even in madness there is often an element of love, and love itself would soon become meaningless without the necessary contrast of horror …   

Renewing Forever

Orion

They Always Fall for Ruby

The Ritual

Behind the Wall of Sleep

The Monolith

Talitha

Beginning Forever

RENEWING FOREVER

Most of us wander blissfully throughout our mundane lives. We pass in and out of crowds on a daily basis, willfully oblivious to those around us. Anonymity is comforting; it simplifies life. But anonymity is a double-edged sword because it can also provide a mask for monsters, allowing them to walk un-detected among us.

But even monsters often seek a sense of normalcy. They run errands, hold down ordinary jobs, and sometimes they even get married. It is in marriage that the difference between plebeian and monster disappears, for all marriages suffer friction. Conflicts can be caused by issues such as children, money, careers, and cultural differences.

David Wollstonecroft has always tried to be a good husband to his wife, Jillian. Jillian was born into a world of shadows, and secrets; she comes from a society quite different from David’s, and thus their marriage occasionally falters. Lately, it almost seems destined to fail.

David, however, is determined to repair the damage …

Because if he can’t, Jillian might literally tear him to pieces.

ORION

Daisy O’Reilly will someday inherit a prosperous ranch …

But what she desires even more than wealth is to marry the man she loves, and to start a family. But Life, it seems, has a way of ruining even the best-laid plans. As Daisy’s dreams of motherhood slip away from her, it also seems likely that her beau Orion might disappear just as strangely as he appeared—on the night of a strange astronomical phenomenon.

Daisy thought she was riding straight towards her ‘happily ever after’. Now she’s not so sure. Will Orion make her into the wife, the mother that she wants to be?

Or will the stars reclaim him as abruptly as they sent him?

THEY ALWAYS FALL FOR RUBY

It has always been the goal of wicked men to dominate all life on the planet. To decide who lives and who dies, to decide who serves which purpose—and who serves no purpose at all.

It wasn’t until the twenty-first century that the global oligarchy finally acquired the technology necessary to realize its evil dream. The end began with a twin set of plagues and culminated in slave compounds; it was an unholy miracle that mankind meekly accepted his own ‘en masse’ debasement, foolishly trading his freedom for endless digital stimulation.

It was into this world that the man designated ‘IZC-5926’ was born.

And it was also into this world that a reckless temptress named ‘Ruby’ would someday wander …

THE RITUAL

Bert was quite content with his happy-go-lucky existence, endlessly rolling through the swamps of North Carolina in stolen truck after stolen truck …

Then he met Romy.

Bert has penchant for vehicle theft, and occasionally running people over with said stolen vehicles. Romy has a penchant for setting people, places, and things on fire. That these two psychopathic lovers ‘hooked up’ is enough to make any sane person question his or her belief in a benevolent God.

Yet despite their malevolence, Bert and Romy are living examples of true love. Their devotion to one another serves as a shining inspiration to us all …

Or not. Most lovers don’t go around killing people, do they?

BEHIND THE WALL OF SLEEP

Mankind has always found catharsis in dreams …

And so has Miles. Ever since his awkward ‘tween years, he has been tormented by the enticing specter of an otherworldly, elegant redhead. His curiosity for her changed into a need for her as adolescence slowly crushed him in its inescapable embrace.

The boy Miles wasn’t quite sure what to make of those dreams, and the man Miles is almost as confused as the boy. While his expertise lies in the field of science, he is nevertheless haunted by a rather esoteric question: wherein lies the line between fantasy and reality? Is a tangible dream any less ‘real’ than a humdrum, ephemeral existence?

The very question begs another question: If there is indeed a line between fantasy and reality …

Is it possible to cross it?

THE MONOLITH

Once upon a time, in North Carolina …

Three teenage boys once made a hobby of doing things they shouldn’t, and going places they had no right to be. Although they proudly called themselves ‘explorers,’ it was highly probable that any outsider would have witheringly labeled them ‘habitual trespassers.’ 

It was all just fun and games, until they discovered an eerie, abandoned manor deep in farm country. ‘Damn the Cripples,’ read the rusting arch over the property entrance. Little did Moe and his trusty friends know that walking under that arch would alter their lives forever.

‘The Dream House’ was just a spooky old place to explore, or so the boys thought. Now, they must face the fact that their adolescent shenanigans awakened something ancient …

Something evil.

TALITHA

During the twilight of the eighteenth century, a ship’s captain named Robert Walton penned a series of letters to his sister. Through those letters, he told the grisly tale of an evil scientist who chose to play God: Victor Frankenstein, the fiend who created a monster. It is anyone’s guess as to how the mewling novelist Mary Shelley came to be in possession of those letters, but she nevertheless published them as her own ‘fiction.’

In so doing, she inadvertently destroyed the life of one Agatha DeLacey.

Now a ship’s doctor, Agatha is sailing the high seas, safely hidden behind the pseudonym ‘Talitha de Morte.’ Only once did she ever encounter Frankenstein’s monster, but that encounter left her forever scarred; she carries a dagger strapped beneath her skirt, should she ever see his hideous face again. Creating a future—or finding love—in such a state of perpetual wariness seems almost impossible.

Almost …

BEGINNING FOREVER

Life doesn’t always go according to plan …

Jillian never meant to become a wife. Neither did she mean to become a mother, but Fate nevertheless decreed it to be so. She was quite accustomed to her existence, serving as an assassin for her kin—the Deista’ari, the hidden nation of werewolves.

But love has a way of blind-siding a girl, and Jillian is reeling from its unexpected backlash. She has a choice to make: continue in the life she knows, or throw it all away for one single, desperate shot at happiness.

This explosive prequel to ‘Renewing Forever’ pulls back the curtain on the dark secrets of Jillian Wollstonecroft’s sordid past. This is not ‘Jillian the homemaker’, and neither is it ‘Jillian the devoted mother’ …

No, this is ‘Jillian: the unrepentant KILLER’!!!

So there you HAVE it, my friends! I do hope you enjoy this collection of tales. It’s my opus, the result of years of honing my craft. And, hey, if you DON’T like it …

My publishers made me do it! TOTALLY not my fault.

Cheers! – V