Origins by Sean Hayden

An Urban Fantasy

ORIGINS

(Demonkin, #1)

by

Sean Hayden

Published with Untold Press

 

  Being different is never easy, especially when you're a vampire. Ashlyn is far from normal. She was born a vampire, a trait that makes her utterly unique. Knowing this, her family strived to keep her existence a secret. Tragedy forces her from hiding and hunger drives her into the open. Unfortunately, living in a world that has accepted, embraced, and yet still fears the supernatural is never a good place to stand out. Especially when the one who notices you wants you dead. The only people who can save her want to use her as well, but she's left with little choice. Ashlyn joins the FBI and becomes torn between two worlds. She can either be a monster, or she can help destroy them.  

 

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  Born the son of a fire chief, Sean naturally developed a love of playing with fire. His family and friends quickly found other outlets for his destructive creativity. Writing is his latest endeavor. Always a fan of the macabre, mythical, and magical, Sean found a love of urban fantasy and horror. After writing several novels in this genre, he found, fell in love with, and immersed himself in steampunk. He has always wanted to rewrite history and steampunk gave him that opportunity. Sean currently lives in Florida as a fiber-optic engineer as well as an author. He was blessed with the two most amazing children he could ever hope for, has met the absolute love of his life, who coincidentally is his partner in everything. His hobbies include grand designs on world domination as well as a starring role  in his own television sitcom .

REVIEW: My Soul to Keep

It was only a wish Connor Sullivan was painfully average. The very highlight of his existence was going to school, doing homework, and playing video games. He thought nothing would ever change that. Unfortunately, homework usually screws everything up. A cut, some blood, and a hastily scrawled promise to sell his soul for his fondest wish…and all hell breaks loose. Literally. The Demons take him up on his offer. In a last ditch effort to keep his soul, he wishes to become one of the demons, or Fallen as they call themselves. Connor thought he had found a solution to his problem. He never fully understood the meaning of the phrase, “From the frying pan into the fire,” until his wish was granted. The biggest catch? Never ever fall in love with a human… And then she walked into his school. Beautiful, red-haired, funny…and blind. Connor’s heart didn’t stand a chance. Neither did the Fallen’s rules. He had saved his soul, but could he find happiness without hurting the girl he loved? Or would secrets Jessica didn’t even know she had destroy them all?

My Review:

I discovered Sean Hayden´s work through Jen Wylie when she was looking for reviewers for their anthologies of stories Flashy Fiction & Other Insane Tales 1&2. I´ve read some short stories written by Sean Hayden and I loved his writing, humor and witty. He created wonderful stories in just a couple of pages so I was eager to read a whole book written by him and I have to say that My Soul to Keep fulfilled all my expectations.

The setting for the story is an average city where everything seems normal till Connor, the main character decides to make a pact with the evil just for fun. I love the fact that he does it just for the fun of doing something dangerous and because he is bored because that is something teenage boys really do these days. The whole story mixes ordinary things that can actually happen in real life with paranormal traces creating a blend that makes the story completely fascinating and believable.

I loved reading a story narrated by a male character, especially a teenager since almost every book I´ve read is narrated from a female point of view or from a male point of view where the author never seems to really make me believe the story is narrated by a man. So I was completely hooked while reading the story from Connor´s perspective. My Soul to Keep is a story full of fantasy, mystery and some romance touches which made it more appealing from my point view because I am sucker for love stories. My favourite character was Clarissa, I really preferred her over Jessica because she is really mysterious and I think she will play a bigger role in the next book.

I love the author´s writing style. It is refreshing, strong, full of humour and sarcasm with doses of reality. I had a blast reading it and I think I am addicted to Sean Hayden´s narrative.He has been able to create something refreshing and original in a genre where that´s almost completely impossible. I can´t wait to read the next book to see what is going to happen.

REVIEW: Flashy Fiction & Other Insane Tales 1&2

To the quiet ones, the trodden on, the kids in the hall The wolves in sheep's clothing, fooling them all. To the Goth, the dark, and the utterly strange The bizarre, the mutants, and the strangely deranged To the clinically insane and those not yet diagnosed Even un-medicated, you understand us the most This Flashy combo's for you An anthology of the strange, bizarre, and just plain weird. In Volume 1 find Zombies, vampires, ghosts, and ...crickets? If you dare, keep reading Volume 2 for Unicorns, zombies, devils, dark whispers, teddy bears, and ...fireflies? Try a taste of writing from two very different fantasy authors. Flash fiction stories are super short and perfect for when you 'just have a minute'.

MY REVIEW:

When I started reading Flashy Fiction & Other Insane Tales I didn´t know quite well what to expect. From the cover I thought it was going to be a collection of horror stories and it is true there are some creepy ones, but mainly there are insane tales, as the title perfectly points out.

I won´t compare their writings because each of them is unique and I would really, really love to read more collaborations between them.

I am a HUGE FAN of Jen´s work and writing so from the very beginning I knew I was going to love her stories. Echoes of Darkness was my favourite short story, and now I want to read The Untouchable Echo to know more. As always, Jen's writing is powerful, descriptive and lyrical at the same time. 

 Before this collection of short stories I haven´t heard about Sean Hayden and what a wonderful author I have been missing. Now I NEED to read some of his novels because if he has been able to create mysterious and funny novels in a bunch of pages such as The Day I Got Caught or And You Think Your Job Sucks to name some, I would love to read and know what he can do with a whole book length. I had A LOT of fun reading Sean´s stories, he has a really peculiar sense of humor that had me gaping and laughing at the more unexpected moments. And the whole idea of twitter/ facebook competition was awesome!

The short explanations that came with every short story where really useful to know more about each story and about the authors. It was amazing to really see the difference between their writing when they are the character and when they are being themselves, I don´t know if I have explained it good.

I also felt the difference between the 2 different parts. I liked the 1^st one because of the craziness of each story, while the second one was more creepy and I loved that through their writing I could feel that they were even more attuned (don´t know if this word is the proper one).

Flashy Fiction & Other Insane Tales is a funny and fast reading that sends good vibrations while you are reading. It also blends Jen´s descriptive, lyrical and absorbing style with Sean´s unexpected, sassy and powerful narrative.