Virgin Blood
"Janie is one of the best fictional characters I've come across in a long time -- beaten but not broken, earthy yet innocent, a thoroughly modern saint. . . . at the end of the book, I almost broke into tears. And you have the stylistic sophistication to be able to blend gritty realism and outright magic and pull it off. In short, Virgin Blood is a marvelous book."
-- Dave King, Dave King Editorial Services
When mentally challenged Janie Braxton arrives at the emergency room, she doesn't remember the rape and beating that sent her there.
Nor does she understand why the spirit of an ancient Indian chief talks to her. Nor does she understand she too is on the astral plane. But as gang criminals chase her two little girls through the streets of St. Louis, her rage builds to an inferno that threatens the Indian chief's plot to realign the cosmos.
The world labels Janie as mentally retarded soon after her birth.
Other children make fun of her.
Her father tries to beat the Devil out of her.
Her uncle rapes her.
Her mother wants to abort her baby.
Her friends abandon her.
Her criminal boyfriend beats her.
Her boyfriend's mother steals her large back SSI check.
Her boyfriend's younger brother Dewie hates her because he wants to screw her.
On the astral plane, Sun of Suns, the ruthless spirit of a Native American king who ruled Cahokia before Europeans arrive, plots to return to the physical dimension as an all-powerful demon.
Only Marilyn, a counselor at a homeless shelter for women, befriends Janie.
Instructed by Sun of Suns, Dewie begins the sacrificial ceremony to bring Sun of Suns back into the material world. He ambushes Janie in a deserted house. He rapes her, then knocks her out with a pipe. Before he can kill her, however, Janie's two daughters -- seven and three -- interrupt the sacrifice.
The little girls, Latasha and Shontell, escape, and flee alone through the streets of St. Louis. Where can they go?
An ambulance rushes Janie to the Emergency Room, where she joins Sun of Suns on the astral plane.
Dewie calls on his gang buddies to help him find Latasha and Shontell, to complete the sacrificial ceremony.
Although Sun of Suns did not achieve his goal, he makes Dewie superstrong and indestructible.
Dewie doesn't understand his powers right away, but in this contemporary paranormal urban fantasy thriller, he kills a prostitute, survives gunfire from rival gangsters, and destroys a car with his bare hands.
Alerted by a hospital social worker, Marilyn searches for the two little girls.
Janie's mother and father hold a death watch at the Neuro-ICU, and argue over the two grandchildren neither wants.
Can Marilyn find the two girls before Dewie and his gang member buddies sacrifice them to Sun of Suns?
How can a young, mentally challenged woman who doesn't even realize she occupies the astral plane while her physical body hovers on the edge of death defeat the evil, ancient spirit Sun of Suns?
How can Marilyn stop Dewie from destroying the homeless shelter and killing Janie's two daughters -- when he laughs off the bullets she fires at him with a Glock 9?
In this contemporary urban fantasy thriller, many characters choose sides and contend. From the impoverished streets of St. Louis to the capital city of pre-Columbian Native Americans to the astral dimension where Janie re-lives her past.
If you enjoy a paranormal horror fantasy with people you love to root for and others you love to hate, Virgin Blood is for you.
90,000 words.
Therefore, scroll up and download Virgin Blood now.
Richard Stooker hails from the small Mississippi River town of Alton, Illinois. According to FATE Magazine, "the most haunted small town in America." Alton's history mixes legend and violence -- great lessons for a budding dark fantasy writer.
Richard's job history includes 30 years with a government social service agency, walking the toughest streets of St. Louis as a door-to-door cable TV salesperson, and delivering pizzas in and around Rock Hill.
