In a weird bit of synchronicity, August appears to have had a distinctly African flavour here at The Eloquent Page. First there was that fine debut novel Infernal from South African born author Mark de Jager. Then the fantastic Poison City by Durban based author Paul Crilley arrived. To round things off, it seemed only appropriate to celebrate another of my favourite authors from the southern hemisphere, Joan De La Haye. So breaking from tradition, today you are getting two reviews for the price of one. I’ve decided to rename Friday August 26th to “Joan De La Haye Appreciation Day”. I first discovered Joan’s work a couple of years ago with her splendid zombie novella Oasis. Since then, she has continued to produce wonderfully dark fiction including the deliciously evil Fury. I kept promising myself that I would go back and check out some of her other work in her back catalogue. This week, I finally managed to get some space in my schedule and so decided it was high time to check out the two books below. Burning Marcie Grove is a lonely witch. After a full moon ritual she decides to do something about the abysmal state of…
Hot on the heels of the Angry Robot cover release this afternoon, we now have a little something from the good people at Fox Spirit. (I know, I know. I don’t do any news for ages and then two articles come along at once. I’m like a bus). Fox Spirit books are pleased to announce that Joan De La Haye’s psychological horror ‘Shadows’ is now available from amazon (to follow at other outlets soon). ‘Shadows’ was Joan’s first published novel and we are delighted to re release it. Sarah is forced to the edge of sanity by the ghosts of her family’s past. Suffering from violent and bloody hallucinations, she seeks the help of psychologist and friend, Michael Brink. After being sent to an institution in a catatonic state covered in blood from stabbing her unfaithful boyfriend, Sarah is forced to confront the truth about her father’s death and the demon, Jack, who caused her fathers suicide and is now the reason for her horrific hallucinations. Unlike her father, Sarah refuses to kill herself. She bargains for her life and succeeds. In Sarah’s struggle to regain her life and her sanity, she discovers more things to the world than she…