The Perilous Prophecy Haunted London Blog Tour: Day 4 – The River Thames

About the Haunted London Blog Tour: The Haunted tour has become tradition to celebrate release week of my Strangely Beautiful series of Gothic Victorian Fantasy novels. Here I introduce the real, documented London haunts who “ghost-star” in the latest book. Special thanks, as always, to Richard Jones, www.haunted-london.com, for being my foremost ghostly resource! About this prequel novel: The Perilous Prophecy of Guard and Goddess features a young Beatrice Smith grappling with her duties as leader of The Guard of spectral police, while a faltering Goddess of beauty and light sacrifices all for a snow-white child of destiny to be born into the gilded Victorian Age. For all involved in the making of delicate Prophecy, the answers to divine questions lie in passionate, imperfect mortal hearts. — I write Gothic novels, so prepare a capital D for Drama, set your sights on ghosts and myth, prophecies and fraught perils, all manner of intense characters, and come along for the ride!

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The River Thames. An incredible river with an enormous history. As I feel with all rivers in prominent world cities, I feel that to understand the Thames is to understand the heart of London. As London has been packed with invention, mystery, life, disaster, triumph and death, so has its waterway. It would be impossible to pick out one sole ghost story out of all the many suicides, accidents and other mishaps that would have happened along the river in London’s many years as a bustling and industrialized metropolis. So, bets are it’s a fairly haunted river and the chance of there being only one ghost at a time seems unlikely.

Beatrice’s Guard, freshly arrived from Cairo, certainly see this as true. From The Perilous Prophecy of Guard and Goddess:

It was an odd feeling here in London, foreign, not like the Pull had felt in Cairo. It wrenched Beatrice’s heart as she descended the school stairs, and she dreaded to think this would be how it always felt here. Tears stung the corner of her eyes as her body all but dragged her toward the river.

The change troubled the whole of the Guard; it was clear from the looks on everyone’s faces. They gathered on Embankment and stared at the mass of spirits that rolled across the Thames like whitecaps upon the ocean. London, it would seem, had more restless dead even than ancient tombs.

Beatrice noticed that Ibrahim’s face was grimmest of all. She’d never seen him smile, and it was a look she couldn’t imagine. She wanted to.

Surely he sensed her staring at him, for he snapped his head around to look at her. Glancing back at the spirits, his eyes darkened. “And so, which of that undulating mass are we meant to corral?”

“All?” Verena gulped.

There was an army, suddenly. Troop after troop, a wafting battalion in greyscale lines, a sea of floating forms that stared down from great height. It was a ghastly welcoming committee that didn’t seem very welcoming, and they dove down upon the Guard at once. There was no time to take hands, bind them or gather their great fire.

“Why, that’s the most coordinated effort I’ve seen yet,” Beatrice said, dodging the spirits that flew at her. The others did, too. Righting herself and smoothing her skirts, Beatrice lifted her hands and blue fire leaped indignantly forth. It was as strong as it had once been in Cairo.

“Perhaps they’ve begun to unionize,” said George.

Ahmed giggled. Beatrice could have blessed him for that sound, which reminded them all that they could choose to feel the freezing weight of death or instead find their position somewhat absurd. That simple point of view made it easier to fight.

— (End of Excerpt)

Leave a comment for your chance to win either a download code or a print copy of one Strangely Beautiful book from the series (winner’s preference)!

Follow along the rest of the tour for more ghost stories and chances to win! Tour schedule available via the Haunted London Tour page of my website: http://leannareneehieber.com where you can also find the archives from Haunted Tours past! I also hope you’ll join me for the launch of my new MAGIC MOST FOUL saga of Gothic Victorian Paranormal novels set in 1880s NYC with Sourcebooks Fire. DARKER STILL (Magic Most Foul #1) hits the shelves 11/11!

Happy Haunting!

Leanna Renee Hieber

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Thanks Leanna! To enter, leave a comment! Contest open through May 8th.