{"id":1534,"date":"2014-02-12T08:21:21","date_gmt":"2014-02-12T16:21:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bestfantasynovel.com\/?p=1534"},"modified":"2014-02-12T08:21:21","modified_gmt":"2014-02-12T16:21:21","slug":"the-unseen-by-j-l-bryan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/2014\/02\/12\/the-unseen-by-j-l-bryan\/","title":{"rendered":"The Unseen by J.L. Bryan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"theunseenCover-1SMALLER\"<\/a><\/p>\n

If you like a darker fantasy novel, check out J.L. Bryan’s\u00a0The Unseen<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Cassidy is a young tattoo artist living in the Little Five Points neighborhood of Atlanta. She’s always suffered terrible nightmares, and sometimes the hideous creatures seem to follow her out of her dreams and into her waking life, though she’s the only one who can see them. Drugs and alcohol can blot them out, but never entirely chase them away.<\/span><\/p>\n

When a demonic cult begins to take control of the people in her life, including her younger brother, Cassidy discovers that the unseen world of monsters is very real. She can no longer avoid it. To protect those she loves, she must accept her own hidden supernatural talents and face the forces of evil before the sinister cult achieves its twisted goals and casts the world into darkness.<\/p>\n

You can download\u00a0The Unseen<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>on Amazon<\/a>, Barnes and Noble<\/a>, iTunes<\/a>, Sony<\/a>,\u00a0Kobo<\/a> and Smashwords<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Excerpt<\/b><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cCome on, Tami.\u00a0 It\u2019ll be fun.\u00a0 Please?\u201d Cassidy resorted to a begging tone, locking eyes with Tamila.\u00a0 What she wanted to say was: I am desperately trying to make you part of the group here, so please stop acting like such a tromboner tonight<\/i>. \u201cAs a favor to me?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does work better with four people,\u201d Barb added.<\/p>\n

Tamila sighed, looked at the board, and reluctantly left her chair to sit next to Cassidy, while offering a shaky, frightened smile to no one in particular.<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay.\u00a0 Let\u2019s get it over with,\u201d Tamila whispered.\u00a0 She placed her trembling fingers on the base of the upside-down wine glass. \u201cWe should say a prayer first.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barb and Reese found this hilarious, and Tamila frowned at their peals of drunken laughter.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s go,\u201d Barb said.\u00a0 She closed her eyes. \u201cAre there any spirits\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCome talk to us, spirits!\u201d Reese interrupted, closing her eyes and also swaying from side to side.\u00a0 In her best drama-club voice, she projected, \u201cSpeak to us, give us messages<\/i> from the world<\/i> of the dead<\/i>…\u201d<\/p>\n

The glass trembled under their fingers, and Cassidy gasped.\u00a0 Everybody leaned in for a closer look, but the glass became still again.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou should say only good<\/i> spirits,\u201d Tamila whispered. \u201cOr we could end up talking to demons, or evil ghosts, or dead murderers…\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCalling all demons, evil ghosts, and dead murderers!\u201d Reese cried out in a slurred voice, then doubled forward, laughing.<\/p>\n

\u201cBe serious, Reese,\u201d Barb said.\u00a0 In a louder, more formal voice, she asked, \u201cAre there any messages from the Other Side?\u00a0 Like from our spirit guides or totem animals?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTotem animals,\u201d Reese snickered.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all have one.\u00a0 Mine\u2019s a frog,\u201d Barb told her, and Reese laughed and shook her head, tossing her blond hair.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou look<\/i> like a frog!\u201d Reese said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSh!\u00a0 It\u2019s moving,\u201d Cassidy told them.<\/p>\n

The wine glass shuddered again, and this time it began to slide over the poster board, the lip scraping and smearing a few of the still-wet letters, gathering glowing paint around its rim.<\/p>\n

The glass moved across the alphabet to the word YES<\/b> in the upper left corner of the poster, scraping up glue and glitter from a sparkly red pentagram along the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho\u2019s doing that?\u00a0 Are you doing that?\u201d Reese asked Tamila, who shook her head, her wide eyes fixed on the board.<\/p>\n

\u201cHello?\u00a0 Are you a spirit?\u201d Barb asked.<\/p>\n

The glass slid half an inch, then right back into place.\u00a0 YES<\/b> again.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho are you?\u201d Barb asked. \u201cI mean, to whom do we have the pleasure of speaking?\u201d<\/p>\n

The wineglass lay still for a moment, then vibrated and hummed as if someone had plinked it with a fingernail.\u00a0 The glass slid over the alphabet.<\/p>\n

Cassidy felt her heart racing.\u00a0 She hadn\u2019t expected it to work at all, and it was starting to freak her out.\u00a0 She wished they hadn\u2019t turned off the lights.<\/p>\n

The wine glass smeared its way across the board, its entire rim glowing green now.\u00a0 It stopped at the letter N<\/i><\/b>, and didn\u2019t move again until Barb said the letter aloud.\u00a0 It stopped again on the I<\/i><\/b>.<\/p>\n

\u201cN…I…\u201d Barb said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNipple?\u201d Reese suggested.<\/p>\n

The glass continued on to the B<\/i><\/b>, then H<\/i><\/b>…A<\/i><\/b>…and then it stopped on Z<\/i><\/b>.<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cN-I-B-H-A-Z,\u201d Barb said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just nonsense,\u201d Cassidy said.<\/p>\n

The wineglass jerked under their fingers, then flew to the word NO<\/b>, dragging their fingers with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho\u2019s doing that?\u201d Reese asked. \u201cIs it you, Cassidy?\u00a0 Barb?\u00a0 It\u2019s you, isn\u2019t it, Barb?\u00a0 You big Goth girl.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSh,\u201d Barb said. \u201cNib…haz?\u00a0 Is that right?\u201d<\/p>\n

The wineglass zipped over to YES<\/b>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d Cassidy asked.<\/p>\n

The wineglass spelled out N<\/i><\/b>…A<\/i><\/b>…M<\/i><\/b>…E<\/i><\/b>.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour name is Nibhaz?\u201d<\/p>\n

YES<\/b>.<\/p>\n

\u201cSounds like a demon\u2019s name to me,\u201d Tamila said in a soft voice.<\/p>\n

\u201cPfft, shut up,\u201d Reese told her. \u201cLike you would know.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you have a message for someone here, Nibhaz?\u201d Barb asked.<\/p>\n

YES<\/b>.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor who?\u201d Barb asked.<\/p>\n

C<\/i><\/b>…A<\/i><\/b>…S<\/i><\/b>…S<\/i><\/b>…<\/p>\n

Cassidy felt her blood turn cold.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, shit, for Cassidy?\u201d Reese asked.<\/p>\n

YES<\/b>.<\/p>\n

\u201cNibhaz, what is your message for Cassidy?\u201d Barb asked.<\/p>\n

The four girls watched as the glass crept back and forth along the top row of text.\u00a0 D<\/i><\/b>…I<\/i><\/b>…E<\/i><\/b>…<\/p>\n

\u201cDie?\u00a0 It\u2019s telling her to die?\u201d Tamila gasped.<\/p>\n

\u201cSh, it\u2019s not done<\/i> yet,\u201d Barb told her.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, it\u2019s not done yet,\u201d Reese echoed, her eyes fixated on the glass.<\/p>\n

Cassidy shivered, trying to think of any non-scary word that started with \u201cdie.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDiesel?\u201d Cassidy asked in a shaky voice.\u00a0 She expected someone to laugh at her, but nobody did.<\/p>\n

The glass moved back to the letter D<\/i><\/b>.<\/p>\n

\u201cDied,\u201d Barb said. \u201cHe\u2019s saying he<\/i> died, I think.\u00a0 He\u2019s a ghost.\u201d<\/p>\n

The glass whipped over to the word NO<\/b>, then returned to the letter D<\/i><\/b>.<\/p>\n

D<\/i><\/b>…I<\/i><\/b>…E<\/i><\/b>…<\/p>\n

D<\/i><\/b>…I<\/i><\/b>…E<\/i><\/b>…<\/p>\n

D<\/i><\/b>…I<\/i><\/b>…E<\/i><\/b>…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To read the rest of the story,\u00a0download\u00a0The Unseen<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>from\u00a0Amazon<\/a>,\u00a0Barnes and Noble<\/a>,\u00a0iTunes<\/a>,\u00a0Sony<\/a>,\u00a0Kobo<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Smashwords<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To find more from J.L. Bryan, visit his website<\/a>, Twitter<\/a> and Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you like a darker fantasy novel, check out J.L. Bryan’s\u00a0The Unseen. Cassidy is a young tattoo artist living in the Little Five Points neighborhood of Atlanta. She’s always suffered terrible nightmares, and sometimes the hideous creatures seem to follow her out of her dreams and into her waking life, though she’s the only one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[161,162,177],"tags":[622,642,657],"class_list":["post-1534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-excerpt","category-excerpts","category-fantasy","tag-dark-fantasy","tag-fantasy","tag-horror"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}