Guest Author Catherine Cavendish Dishes On Revenge And Her Latest Book – Dark Avenging Angel
It’s an honor to host one of my favorite Samhain authors, Catherine Cavendish. Her previous book, The Pendle Curse, blew me away. I can’t wait to dive into her latest, Dark Avenging Angel. It’s so special that I’m saving it for my annual #Horrortober reading list, where I settle in with the best the genre has to offer for the month of October. Patience, my boy, patience!
So please sit back, dim the lights and let Catherine do her best to shiver your timbers…
The Avenging Goddesses
My latest novella – Dark Avenging Angel – is, as its title suggests, concerned with revenge. In this case, revenge of the most demonic kind. We’ve all heard the old adage, “Be careful what you wish for…” Jane learns the truth of this in graphic ways.
Avenging angels and demons abound in the traditions and folklore of people all over the world. From ancient Greek and Roman legend, we have the three sisters of vengeance known variously as The Furies or The Erinyes.
Though they are known by different names, their characteristics are essentially the same. The Erinyes avenged crimes against the natural order of things, so were particularly keen to avenge murder – especially where that murder occurred within a family. Anyone committing the sin of patricide or matricide could expect to find the curse of the Erinyes visited upon them in the form of a tormenting madness, illness and/or disease, and any nation providing shelter to such a criminal could find the wrath of the Erinyes visited on them too. Pestilence, hunger and disease would all follow.
The sisters’ vengeance did not stop at killing their victim. They would continue their torment long after death, until finally the sinner would show remorse for his crime.
Their particular desire to see murder within families avenged probably stemmed from their own origins. The Erinyes were created when the Titan – Cronos – tore off the genitalia of his father, Uranus, and flung it into the sea. From the blood, the three sisters were formed.
The avenging goddesses were also servants of Hades and Persephone in the underworld, where they oversaw the torture of those criminals doomed forever to dwell in the Dungeons of the Damned.
In appearance, the Erinyes were appalling to look at. They had burning breath and poisonous blood dripped from their eyes. Instead of hair, their heads were wreathed with serpents, rather like Medusa. Serpents also entwined around their arms and waists. They are often depicted as winged and clothed in either long black mourning robes or the short skirts and boots of huntresses. They wielded whips.
Anyone unfortunate enough to incur the wrath of the Erinyes would have a near-impossible task of fending them off. The only way would be to perform rites of ritual purification and some task assigned to them for the purposes of atonement.
Now, to give you a taste of Dark Avenging Angel, here’s the blurb:
Don’t hurt Jane. You may live to regret it.
Bullied by her abusive father, Jane always felt different. Then the lonely child found a friend in a mysterious dark lady who offers her protection—a lady she calls her “angel”. But that protection carries a terrible price, one to be paid with the souls of those Jane chooses to suffer a hideous and eternal fate.
When Jane refuses to name another victim, the angel reveals her most terrifying side. Payment must be made in full—one way or the other.
And here’s a brief extract:
Something had woken me from a deep sleep troubled by my recurring nightmare in which I was in a wood, being chased by some unimaginable horror. I never saw its face, assuming it even had one. But I knew if I didn’t find sanctuary, it would kill me. I had just made it into the strange little house that always appeared in the clearing, when my eyes opened and I gasped at the white, smiling face looking down at me.
That night, my angel seemed different somehow.
Oh, she looked the same. Same black cloak, but this time it shimmered and I wanted to touch it. I was sure it would feel soft as velvet under my fingers.
She put her finger to her lips and stroked my hair. Her touch was like a gentle breeze in summertime. My eyes wanted to close, but I forced them to stay open.
I knew I mustn’t speak out loud, but I could still whisper. “I wish I knew your name. Who are you? Please will you tell me?”
She continued to smile. Her lips moved, but the answering voice I heard was again in my head.
Do not be afraid, child. It is not yet time, but soon you will have the power to avenge yourself on those who have done you harm. Look for me in the shadows and I will be there, taking account.
I understood nothing of what she said. But, from somewhere, a calm I had never felt before emerged and wrapped itself around me.
I blinked in the darkness as she faded from sight.
Then I closed my eyes and slept. I never had that nightmare again after that night. But what if I’d known what was ahead for me?
Some things are better off left in the dark.
You can find Dark Avenging Angel here:
About the author:
Following a varied career in sales, advertising and career guidance, Cat is now the full time author of a number of paranormal, ghostly and Gothic horror novels, novellas and short stories. She was the 2013 joint winner of the Samhain Gothic Horror Anthology Competition, with Linden Manor, which features in the anthology What Waits in the Shadows. Her novels, The Pendle Curse and Saving Grace Devine are also published by Samhain. Her latest novella – Dark Avenging Angel – will be followed by her next novel – The Devil’s Serenade – in April 2016
You can connect with Cat here:
You’re A Witch Girl – Catherine Cavendish’s The PENDLE CURSE
I have to admit, my fascination with witches has extended to Witchy-Poo from Bugs Bunny, Hocus Pocus and the TV show, Charmed, mostly because it had Alyssa Milano.
When it came to witches in horror fiction, I hadn’t even dipped my toes in the water until I read Brian Moreland’s THE WITCHING HOUSE, which was so good, I knew in an instant I was hooked on a sub genre. It came just in time, because I was getting pretty damn bored with vampires and zombies.
So imagine my delight when I found out that fellow Samhainer, Catherine Cavendish, came out with her own witch’s brew of horror, THE PENDLE CURSE. It only took two pages for me to realize I was in the capable hands of someone who is at the top of their game, and with that, I settled in for one of the best novels of this very young year.
Here’s the scoop on the story –
Four hundred years ago, ten convicted witches were hanged on Gallows Hill. Now they are back…for vengeance.
Laura Phillips’s grief at her husband’s sudden death shows no sign of passing. Even sleep brings her no peace. She experiences vivid, disturbing dreams of a dark, brooding hill, and a man—somehow out of time—who seems to know her. She discovers that the place she has dreamed about exists. Pendle Hill. And she knows she must go there.
But as soon as she arrives, the dream becomes a nightmare. She is caught up in a web of witchcraft and evil…and a curse that will not die.
As someone who has a chronically ill wife, my biggest fear is losing her. So right away, I’m completely sympathetic to Laura, a woman trying to cope with the loss of her husband. There’s a little touch of a ghost story here, too, just enough to make you wonder what’s coming next and to feel her pain and curiosity about the strange things happening in her home.
Cavendish expertly takes us on a ride between past and present as Laura is cast under the spell of the Pendle Curse. A simple trip to get away from things and heal turns into an absolute nightmare. She does a fantastic job creating what could have been cookie cutter characters into fully fleshed out human beings with strengths and faults that make you love them one minute and hate them the next. I literally had no idea what was going to happen, and for someone who knows how the sausage is made, this is high praise indeed.
Now, the witches in The Pendle Curse aren’t sporting warts or riding around on brooms, but they are terrifying in their own right. And there’s a little something extra within these pages for fans of classic VC Andrews yarns. I’m not giving away any spoilers, because you have to get the book and read it yourself.
Catherine Cavendish is now on my top 10 list. I give it 5 out of 5 brooms!
Hunter Shea 