Glamour & Shadows
Glamour & Shadows Book 1
by Robert Hazelton
Genre:
Urban Fantasy

260 pages

From the Author of Drown the Heart and Creative Spark, this is where the
Society stories all begin with a dimming of the lights.

Monsters Exist

Only the Society keeps humanity blissfully ignorant of the dangers that
lurk within every shadow.

Incubus Detective Algiers Stanton and his fairy partner Ophelia Dupre have
been working together for quite a while. One serious, one not so
much, they make a perfect team; complementing each other even as one
grates on the other's nerves.

When they're called upon to investigate a grisly murder thought to be
committed by a shapeshifter, it looks like a routine case of clean &
close, everyone happy. But the complications of a millennia old
organization refuse to go quietly under the rug and when the past
rises up to shake the very pillars of the Society, the two
detective's lives may change forever in the process.

The shadows await!




Nightlife Interrupted
Glamour & Shadows Book 2

221 pages

From the Author of Glamour & Shadows, Drown the Heart and Creative
Spark comes a vampire story with heart, soul and a twenty-sided die.

Roll for Initiative

Vinny Presaro has it made. A newly created vampire, he owns the hottest
game store in town, wiling away his nights with role playing and
graphic novels. His life would be idyllic if not for his terrible
luck with romance and the vivid, disturbing dreams he has every
couple weeks. They seemed like mere fantasy so he did his best to
write them off (the dreams, sure but also the chances of being near a
woman without her nervously eyeing the door).

His latest nightmare came in the form of an apocalyptic scene complete
with rivers of blood, pieces of people and a demonic girl dancing
amongst the carnage. When she comes walking into the store, he’s
faced with the possibility that he could be having premonitions and
not a chemical reaction to bottled blood.

Vinny reaches out to investigator Ophelia Dupre to help him understand his
revelation. Unfortunately, she has some trouble with Vampires so
their working relationship is strained to say the least. Armed with
pop culture references, preconceived notions and a couple big guns,
these two very well may be the only thing standing between the world
and the end of days.

We might be in trouble
Chapter 1

My name is Alvin Presaro. When I was old enough to hate my name, I found out my mom was the one who wanted it. I asked my dad why he didn’t argue for something cooler and he said he didn’t care what they called me as long as I was a boy.
I’ve gone by Vinny ever since. Yeah, I get a lot of jokes about the Joe Pesci movie but they're a shit load better than the Chipmunk jokes I would’ve been subjected to.
—Vinny’s Facebook Profile

Waking up always sucked, even before I became a vampire. It sure as hell hadn’t gotten any better, especially after one of the dreams. Most of the time, we creatures of the night were dead to the world during the day (see what I did there?) and that cut down on any inconvenient night time fantasies. Sometimes…well, let’s just say My Little Pony was on permanent vacation from my crazy subconscious mind.
One of my many misconceptions about vampires was how nothing should bother us. Horror movies, freaky monsters, haunted houses and clowns were all no big deal. We drink blood to live and can do some terrifying stuff so why would we get scared? I figured that as a monster myself, I’d see something creepy, nod and say something to the effect of ‘hey, cool guys. Keep up the good work.’
Not even close.
Just after I was on my own, I went to the theater to catch the latest scary movie. I was an arrogant ass about it, stomping in there like it was going to be a Hugh Grant fiasco. Thank God I didn’t go with buddies. I was a cowering wuss before the first hour was up and when it was over, I was too chicken shit to walk four blocks home. Every shadow had me jumping and I was still in front of the box office.
I ended up taking a cab, which turned out to be the best twenty bucks I ever spent.
The point of this massive rant comes back to the whole dream thing. We do get freaked out. Drinking blood just makes us worthy of being scary, not immune to it. Dreaming about the end of days was not pleasant and my imagination was more vivid than ever. Considering how much time I spent gaming, that’s saying a lot. If shit got any more real, I’d be bringing stuff back like an Inkheart Silvertongue.
Every couple weeks, I’d wake up feeling like I’d finished off a bottle of Everclear, wrote the shit in my journal and went about my day. The details were fresh for roughly an hour before they faded so I had to be quick. After being a vampire for only a year and a half, I already filled one full book and was starting on my second.
The Satanic rave took up two pages.
Aside from that crazy shit, life was far better than it probably should have been. I had a kick ass place to sleep, a great shop to sell game stuff and a home theater that made the local art house places jealous. After writing down whatever psychotic episode wanted to play out in my head, I didn’t have a care in the world. I just went about my day, hanging with regulars and talking about entertainment.
If that’s how I had to spend the rest of forever, then I figured I had it pretty good. After all, not many people can say they died and came back to their ideal lifestyle. Well…I guess people would have to like…come back once in a while to have an opinion…or there’d have to be more vampires…or…I don’t know.
Whatever!

***

Supernatural critters all belong to a thing called The Society. It’s basically an archaic club of assholes like the Council in the Blade movie keeping all of us in line. They control the media, the police and every other human organization that matters. Most of us have little interaction with them. As long as we behave, we’re all good.
Those that cause trouble can experience anything from a warning to execution. The Society doesn’t mess around. None of us had the luxury of making mistakes. If the humans found out about us, then we were screwed. I’m not talking about a few one offs, because there are groups of dicks out there who go around hunting various creatures. I’m talking about genuine fuck ups that involve mass groups learning about the existence of vampires, shape shifters, demons, wizards or whatever else.
I was thinking about that while I showered. If any of my dreams ever came true, they’d mess up the world big time. A few months back, I had a doozy about some necromancer asshole causing a war between shifters and the society to bring his dead girlfriend back to life. It sounded like the plot of the Mummy and thank God it didn’t happen but if it had, life as we supernaturals knew it would’ve been over.
Part of me wanted to tell someone about the dreams. There were people in the Society that might’ve been able to help, sort of supernatural shrinks. I didn’t know a lot of other vampires so there was no one to ask if what I went through was normal. What little I did know about other supernaturals came from movies and novels, games and television programs. If they taught me anything at all, it was trust should never be freely given.
Unfortunately, most entertainment mediums were probably bullshit but they were all I had to roll with.
By the time I was dressed and ready for my night, I had let it all go. I was set to play a miniature game and I needed all my focus if I was going to stand a chance. My Monday night regulars were bad ass strategists and they could recite rules like a priest spouting bible passages. If ever they decided to use their powers for evil, it probably would’ve gone something like Season Six Buffy with the three nerd dudes doing ridiculous shit.
Luckily, these guys were interested in only three things: kicking people’s asses at board games, knowing more about Doctor Who than the people who invented it and doing breast checks in any new sci fi or fantasy movie. A little weird, yes but benevolent enough. I was just on the outskirts of being too old for them so some of my useless knowledge was considered retro.
I was still cool for a while longer.
Nightlife Gaming was my store’s name. It was located in a three story building with a basement in a decent part of town a few blocks from a big ass mall. The place belonged to me so I didn’t have to worry about landlords or leases, just taxes and keeping the place up. It was pretty easy for the most part, especially since it had been renovated before I took possession of it.


The Hermes Foundation
Glamour & Shadows Book 3

258 pages

From the Author of Glamour & Shadows and Nightlife Interrupted comes
the third book set in the world of the Society. 

Magic is Real

Lillian Bowan has seen a lot. A former war correspondent turned struggling
journalist, she has been searching for the one story which will
satisfy her ambition, to be part of something meaningful. When she
rushed down for a coveted TV spot covering a gas main explosion, she
never dreamed it would put her on a dangerous path of discovery.

Nicolas Chabrier lives in a world of demons and mysticism, where vampires are
real and shape shifters stalk the night. An independent wizard
trained by an esoteric group outside the bounds of reality, he tries
to keep a low profile out of the supernatural spotlight. When he
saves Lillian from a demonic incursion and tries to erase her memory,
he finds something far more insidious than a random invasion.

But not always wondrous



The Midnight Turn
Glamour & Shadows Book 4

202 pages

Hollywood beckons!

Genevieve St. Claire’s novel The Midnight Turn became a big hit when it was
initially released. Her meteoric ride to genre fame brought her to
various conventions, talk shows and workshops across the country.
When a movie producer decides to option the book for a big budget
movie, her head spins with the possibilities, especially since she
can’t claim the rights to her first book, a well-known horror novel published in 1818…

Gen’s second dive into literature was inspired by her vampire creator,
Christian Lark, an unpredictable and romantic figure she’s polished
into something a modern audience can tolerate. Enter the proposed
leading man, Jacob Moran, wizard and descendant of the Lark line. His
semblance is uncanny, his youth intoxicating but there’s also Allan
Taylor, the handsome screenwriter hired to adapt the book.

With half a dozen lives intermingling amidst the chaos of film production,
The Midnight Turn explores a human experience through the eyes of the supernatural. 

Enjoy the show!



Dark Side of the Vale
Glamour & Shadows Book 5
295 pages

A Messy Crime

A seemingly normal family is murdered, their home turned into a
horrifying scene of torture and chaos. Their deaths follow a pattern,
an extreme version of three serial killers terrorizing the country.
The Society steps in to explore any supernatural angle the case may
present and begin to work with Special Agent Rebecca Marsh of a newly
formed FBI group code named The Park. Versed in all manner of
paranormal creatures, she is to act as an ambassador to ensure humans
and monsters can work together.

Such a dramatic change comes as quite the shock to Incubus detective
Algiers Stanton and his fairy partner Ophelia Dupre. They land the
case and the task of playing politics with their new human colleague.
After spending years ensuring humans never learn about them, this
goes against everything they know but they’ll need all the help
they can get to stop the murderers before they strike again. For
these fiends are not merely ending lives, they are collecting
ingredients for a sinister plan, one which may destroy the world as we know it.

The Detectives Have Returned



Fairy Tale Ending
Glamour & Shadows Book 6

214 pages

Desperation Breeds Obedience

Renard Martin lives a simple life. As a hitman for a Society bigwig, he
takes on targets the former Cleaners used to handle. As a graduate of
the infamous Lark sanctum, he’s a dangerous and irreverent person
who has no desire to remain beholden to anyone. After his family was
brutally murdered, he thought he lost them all but then he heard a
rumor. His sister Victoria may still be alive and the vampire Marius
Sontag promised to help him find her…for the price of becoming an assassin.

Belia Dellacroix never got to live for herself. The ward of an ancient
vampire, every event of her existence has been carefully planned,
governed and censored. This has not left her without guile, however
and once she discovered the grim fate her guardian had in store for
her, she took drastic action. Stepping out means incredible risk and
so she turns to the only person she can in her carefully designed
world: a certain Society hitman looking for something dear to him.

But will Renard prove too unpredictable and harsh for her needs? Holding
leverage over his head might well be the most dangerous thing she’s
ever done but desperate times call for desperate measures. Without
him, she’ll be an unwilling sacrifice, killed for a chance to claim
ancient power but if she can keep her protector on track and under
control, she may just get the fairy tale ending she’s always hoped for. 



The Lark Legacy
A Prequel to The Hermes Foundation

Glamour & Shadows Book 7

Without Direction

Ruby Lark comes from a long line of curious and reckless wizards. Her
father, Henry Lark, runs a strict sanctum where students are taught
through a brutal curriculum of harsh consequences and cruelty. He
seems to have some nebulous purpose for her in mind but his
dispassion and formality have kept them apart, master and student
instead of parent and child. With no friends, no recourse and no
sanctuary, she steeled herself for a life of service to a cause she
would probably never understand.

Mortimer Dampton started at the Lark Sanctum at the end of his education. A
brash, charming wizard, he comes with a wealth of necromantic
knowledge. Henry assigns him to partner with Ruby, who instantly
takes a dislike to his overly familiar, roguish personality. But he
may just hold the key to her salvation, even as he begins to defy the
edicts of her father, sending them both on a course to their fates.

Without Limits





Robert Hazelton has been writing short fiction, novels and music his entire
life. As the founding member of Deadly Nightshade Botanical Society
and a long time member of the band Abney Park, he has traveled
extensively and performed countless shows in exotic locales. 

Robert writes in a variety of genres but keeps drifting back to modern
fantasy/horror. He considers Elizabeth Moon, Frank Herbert, and
Steven Pressfield to be his biggest influences.



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