Divine Fantasy: An Ambrose Bierce Paranormal Romance

Ambrose Bierce, great American writer and lycanthrope has been living in exile on an island in Figi hoping to avoid the attention of the evil Saint Germain. His decade of peaceful living is disturbed by the arrival of a biographer, Joyous Jones, and then a horde of zombies. Trapped on an island as the zombie horde closes in, help arrives from an unexpected quarter; the Wildside fey. Joyous Jones, a biographer who's been abandoned by every important person in her life, including her parents who shipped her off to boarding as a child because she had a heart murmur, and a husband who abandoned her following a miscarriage, escapes the cold of Bavaria to explore the warmer climate of Fiji. There she discovers that the old news of great American writer and lycanthrope Ambrose Bierce's death in Mexico in 1914 has been greatly exaggerated. Ambrose is very much alive and the pair fall in love. Zombies descend on the island in hordes, making this werewolf romance complicated as Amrose finds himself fighting off the nasties. However, Ambrose must split his magical powers between the fighting ghouls by day and keeping Joyous' heart continuously beating so she won't perish. This is an unusual romantic novel that will satisfy both fantasy and romance readers alike.

Melanie Jackson has done it again! Divine Fantasy is a slam-bam, horror adventure that combines romance and exotic locale. Joyous Jones, the narrator of the tale, is a witty verbalist that is more than a match for Ambrose Bierce, whom she meets at his secluded island resort. And that is where the fun begins. Between fighting off the walking dead and avoiding the full moon, these two loners find the other half of their souls.

As a child her parents exiled her because of a heart defect that made her imperfect in their minds; Audrey Atheneum, which is not her "joyous" birth name, but instead her adult pen name as a biographer of the almost famous quirky people, was shipped off to boarding schools as out of sight out of mind was the mantra of her family. The worst time was holidays, which the other kids looked forward to while Audrey knew she would remain alone. She met Max Ober and fell in love, but after a miscarriage they broke up partly because he turned to the big breasted Bavarian floozy efficient Gretchen. Needing time to heal and with no one to turn to as her parents are dead besides they were never there for her when she was alive, Audrey leaves Bavaria for Fiji where on Dolphin Island she meets author Ambrose Bierce, who allegedly died after vanishing in 1914. However, her fun in the sun turns even stranger when she and Ambrose battle zombies and ghouls while he uses his magic to keep her heart from failing. This is a fascinating twist on the DIVINE FANTASY universe of Melanie Jackson as much of the story line is dialogue between the heroine and the author of The Devil's Dictionary starting with their first Dr. Livingstone, I presume" encounter. There is plenty of action even with the discussions and musings of the A level lead characters and a great final spin. Fans seeking something different will appreciate this clever fantasy because in between the musings is war with zombies and ghouls. Harriet Klausner