Witch of the Black Circle
Dawn of the Blood Witch, #1
by Maria DeVivo
Date of Publication: March 7, 2022
Publisher: 4 Horsemen Publications
Genre: Horror
ASIN: B09NB1G11Y
Number of pages: 217
Word Count: 64k
Tagline: When it comes to witchcraft, it's never just a teenage phase...
BLURB
For as long as she can remember, high school senior Joephie Turner's mother has told her she is cursed by a witch. As she settles into her new hometown of Northport, Long Island at the height of the 1980s Satanic Panic era, Joephie is accepted into a circle of friends obsessed with the occult. Demonic messages on cassette tapes, shady youth group leaders, and passionate sexual encounters push the teen into a thrilling world that lends a deeper meaning to the proverbial mantra: "sex, drugs, and rock and roll." Until it all goes wrong.
A decade later, haunted by nightmares of cults and rituals, formidable burgeoning witch Joephie pieces her memories together in search of answers about the small group of suburban teens that meddled with dark forces. As an adult, Joephie will have to decide what, or who, she is willing to sacrifice from her past in order to claw her way back to sanity.
Inspired by true events, Witch of the Black Circle is a deliciously wicked and nostalgic journey through time where the lines of reality and the supernatural blur. Content warning: satanic rituals; sex; graphic violence; language; drug use
Excerpt
Dan reaches over to his bag and pulls out his math book. In the front pouch, I notice a small novel with a black cover. “Hey,” I say, nodding my head in the backpack’s direction. “Whatcha reading?”
“Uh, nothing,” he answers, shrugging his shoulders.
I put out my arms and tap my fingers together like a baby grasping at something. “Lemme see it!”
“Nah. It’s really nothing,” he repeats, but he’s unconvincing, and it makes my curiosity burn a hole in my brain.
Kit’s curiosity is piqued as well, so she stands up and moves behind the chair with the backpack. “Now, now,” she sings. “No secrets here, Dan!” She grabs the bag from the chair and pulls out the book. “The Satanic Bible?”
Dan quickly shoots up from the chair, snatches the book away from her, and cradles it to his chest as to hide the cover from us. “Shhhh…” he admonishes as he looks side to side, assessing if my mother was in the vicinity or not.
I hold out my hand again. “What are you reading that for?” I ask. “Give it here.”
Reluctantly, he turns the book over to me, and I examine the cover, the spine, and the back like an investigator studying a piece of crime-scene evidence. Only, I don’t have on rubber gloves. I’ve known about this book. Heard about it. Knew the story of the author, Dr. Anton LaVey, and his Church of Satan. Practically, every youth ministry I had attended had mentioned the evil of this piece of literature at some point in time: If you even look at the book, you can be possessed. Being in its presence alone can have a profound effect on your heavenly soul. Dare not open or read the pages for fear of infiltration by a powerful demonic force. But as I actually hold the book for the first time in my life, I feel … nothing. No fear. No wonder. No spooky taboo. I press the book in my palms trying to feel for any ‘other-worldly’ vibrations or indication that if I open it up I will be damned to hell. But no. Nothing. Zip. Zilch. And more lies and deception from my past teachers come into clear view. “Dude. It’s just a book.”
“Yeah, I know it’s just a book,” he huffs, grabs it from me, and shoves it back into his bag.
The three of us sit back down in silence for a few minutes.
“You okay, man?” Kit asks, concerned.
“Yeah. Fine.”
Clearly, he’s not.
“Where’d you get it?” I ask.
“Why’d you get it?” Kit emphasizes.
Dan looks behind him and scans the kitchen again. Then, he moves his upper body slightly across the table as if to beckon me and Kit to huddle in. We oblige him and he speaks in a soft, hushed tone: “Thomas. This guy from my school. He got the connection with that Ricky kid and the Knights of the Black Circle.”
“The Knights of the Black Circle?” I ask. “What’s that?”
Dan glares at me and holds up his arm revealing the faded black circles drawn up and down his arm, over and over and over. I had thought they were just silly drawings borne out of boredom, but…
“They wanted him to read the book and know some stuff before they accepted him,” he continues. “Thomas said he could probably get me in, too, and told me what passages to study and shit.”
Kit’s pretty eyes widen, and her bangs touch her eyelashes again. “He knows the Acid King?”
A sneer forms on Dan’s lips and he nods. “Uh huh.”
“Wait,” I protest. “What are you talking about? Who are the Knights of the Black Circle?
What’s an Acid King?”
“The Knights…” Dan explains, “they’re a group. Local. They do stuff. They know stuff.”
Author Info
Maria is the Author of the Amazon bestselling and award-winning series The Coal Elf Chronicles, the YA psychological horror series The Altered Experience, and the NA Urban Fantasy series The Aestrangel Trinity. When not writing about dark fantasy and horror, she teaches Language Arts and Journalism to middle school students in Florida. A lover of all things dark and demented, she takes pleasure in warping the comfort factor in her readers’ minds. Just when you think you’ve reached a safe space in her stories, she snaps you back into her twisted reality.
The Book Junkie Reads . . .Reckless Dreams Interview with . . . Maria DeVivo . . .
How would you describe your style of writing to someone that has never read your work?
My writing is dark. Even when I write for young adults, there’s always that dark element to it. Everything isn’t what it seems, and in my heart, I’m often rooting for the villain, so if that’s any indication as to what to expect from my work…
What mindset or routine do you feel the need to set when preparing to write (in general whether you are working on a project or just free writing)?
I’m a teacher, so I have a pretty strict and regimented process. During the school year, it’s really hard for me to write because I’m super focused on my kids. During the school months, I’m usually planning storylines and fleshing out characters. Once the summer hits, I switch over to writing mode and hit the ground running!
Have you found yourself bonding with any particular character(s)? If so which one(s)?
I bonded with Ember, the main character from my novel The Coal Elf mainly because she was my first baby. I bonded with Griffin, the main character from my novel The Altered because he was the first male POV character I ever attempted to write, and I feel like he taught me so much. But mostly, I think I bonded the most with Aestrangel, from my Aestrangel novels. She was just something else. There was so much of me in her and so much of her in me. It was a lot of fun to write her. She had a very strong voice in my head.
Do you have a character that you have been working on that you can't wait to put to paper?
Oh, yes! The most ancient of witches! I am so excited to give this character a full background story and her own story arc. She’s been poking around in my brain for a little while now, and the more I keep her locked away, the more she kind of screams at me. But I’m not 100% ready to tell her tale just yet, but she does and will make appearances in my other stories until I can unleash her!
What are some of your writing/publishing goals for this year?
2022 is shaping up to be a pretty intense writing/publishing year for me. The 2nd book in the Dawn of the Blood Witch series, Witch of the Red Thorn, is due to release in June. I’ll be writing book 3 in the series this summer, with a tentative release date of December. I’ll be releasing the third and final novel in my Aestrangel Trinity series on Kindle Vella in September (Aestrangel: The Chosen), and I plan on putting out the audio version of the first book in my Altered Experience series (The Altered) by October. Phew! Just saying all that out loud is kind of dizzying!
Where would you spend one full year, if you could go ANYWhere, money is not a concern? What would you do with this time?
Honestly… for a year? Probably Bora Bora. Just lay on the beach, drink in hand, music playing, dancing by the water at sunset. My life has been a little crazy since 2020 (just like everyone else’s!) and I think I just need a year of ocean to decompress.
Thank you for sharing with us.
Website: https://www.mariadevivo.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorDeVivo
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authordevivo/
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