Author/ Editor Barbara Custer

Barbara has published numerous horror and science fiction tales in small press magazines. The second edition of her book Twilight Healer was released this past June by Tree Press.  Barbara changed Night To Dawn’s format, replacing the spiral binding with regular binding. She added more artists and a larger review section.

Barbara is active with Marguerite Press, Careerdoctorforwriters, Carnival of Wicked Writers, Tomjohnsonsjur, and Kim’s Crew. Please stop by and visit her blog.  Barbara is happy to share an excerpt from Twilight Healer:

"Drusilla." Leslie yawned. Grayness was setting in until dirt got into her nostrils. She sneezed heartily, jarring her broken bones. The ten-thousand kilowatts of agony that followed jolted her back to reality. She tried telling herself that death offered reunion with her mother, but she kept thinking about her father. Who would cook his mechanically soft meals? Certainly not Warren. He hated cooking. After spitting more blood, she gasped for breath. "I'll die before your bats find me. Please leave me alone so I can make my peace with God."
"Better make your peace with Hades. He’ll damn your soul to Tartarus. Listen," Drusilla said. "You'll hear the condemned beg for mercy."
Listening hard, Leslie made out a cacophony of cries, sounding like people caught in a burning building.
Stooping low, Drusilla stepped inside the cave. Her feet made horrible crunching noises. The stench of carrion caused Leslie's stomach to churn. Bile rose in her throat, and she swallowed hard to keep from vomiting.
To her right, a young woman lay tethered to a rock, writhing against her ties.  Her screams had faded, replaced by barely audible whimpers. Dirt and mud coated her face, skeletal limbs, and clothes.
Something gleamed in the moonlight, only a few feet from the beaten woman. A human skeleton, fully gutted, lay propped against the rocky wall, suspended by chains around its wrists and ankles. Even in the darkness, Leslie saw tufts of pink flesh and gristle clinging to its ribs. Flies formed dark clouds over the body. She opened her mouth to scream, on her cracked, roughened voice afforded only faint, crowing noises.
Bending over, Drusilla laid Leslie on the ground next to the skeleton.  "The sun will come up soon," she said, glancing toward the archway, "so I can't watch the fun.  But I'll check on you tomorrow night."  With a peal of laughter, she glided into the shadows.
Leslie kept her head flat, eyes away from the skeleton.  Razor blades of pain shot through her hip and shoulder is she so much as wriggled.  Her left arm dangled like a battered ornament.  Even if she could run, where could she go?  Miles of forest surrounded the cave.

To find out more about Twilight Healer and Night To Dawn, check out:
www.bloodredshadows.com
www.treepress.net
http://popple-redshadows.blogspot.com