Title: The Watcher – A Jack the Ripper Story
Author: A. L. Butcher
Genre: Horror/Historical Fiction
Book Blurb:
The year is 1888, and the place is Whitechapel, in the very heart of London. But the heart is bleeding. A mysterious killer is stalking women of the streets - his true name is unknown, but his legend will go down in history. This is a short tale of Jack the Ripper.
18 rated for scenes of violence.
Excerpt:
1888
Women of the lowest class plied their pitiful trade beneath the spluttering gas lamps, among the filth, the crime and the poverty. Some argued they embodied all three. The Great Social Evil – the plague of vice had been called, and Oscar Wilde wrote of the ‘mechanical grotesques’ ‘ghosts’ and ‘skeletons’ and for many of these poor souls, this was their fate. The ‘unfortunates’ sold their bodies for the cost of a bed for the night, barely a couple of pennies, or a glass of Geneva liquor, the scourge of the poor. Solace came at a price.
This was the London of Her Majesty Queen Victoria in the declining years of the Nineteenth Century and it was dark and deadly for the poor, although the Empire spanned a quarter of the world. It was held to be the greatest Empire, the most advanced, but history can shield many lies. This was the age of steam travel, science, and ever-growing knowledge. The superstitions of the past were waning. Widowed, ever-mourning, upright and moral, Victoria ruled this realm and many others as far-flung as India. This was a time of literature and of discovery, of social unrest and discontent. Behind the façade, a pernicious creature lurked. And this creature wanted blood.
Venereal disease, alcoholism, and assault were commonplace, and life was, unfortunately, cheap. Women and children often paid the ultimate price. The enlightened Victorians turned their sight away from the darkness which crawled through the streets and the terror and despair which lurked around every corner for the poor.
In the autumn of 1888, things were about to get worse…much, much worse. A legend would stalk the streets, taking lives and gaining a kind of immortality. Death would come early to five women, perhaps more, and brutality would rule.
To this day no one knows the true identity of Britain’s most infamous serial killer, although many have put forward theories – from a Prince of the Realm, to a mad midwife, to a doctor, to a sailor, to an American, to a Jew. He or she could have been any of these or none. The first modern murderer, a deadly threat, a terrible myth – all of these and more, was this killer. None knew why he killed as and when he did, not then.
For three months, he held London in terror. Then he disappeared. Yet his legacy lived on for many years. Even now this man, if he was a man, fascinates students of true crime, but the truth remains as elusive as the shadowy figure of Jack the Ripper…
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):
If you could dress up as anything or anyone this Halloween, what or who would it be and why?
A vampire. Tormented, immortal, forever young – you could read every book, listen to every piece of music. And the clothes are cool.
Explain why your featured book is a treat to read:
I’ve been interested in the mystery of the Jack the Ripper murders for years. Who was he (or she)? The Watcher puts a different slant on the tale – it’s told from the Ripper’s point of view and the twist at the end…. Well, you’ll have to read it to find out.
Giveaway –
One lucky reader will win a $75 Amazon (US or Canada) gift card.
Open internationally. You must have an active Amazon US or Amazon Canada account to be eligible.
Runs October 1 – 31
Drawing will be held on November 1.
Author Biography:
British-born A. L. Butcher is an avid reader and creator of worlds, a poet, and a dreamer, a lover of science, natural history, history, and monkeys. Her prose has been described as ‘dark and gritty’ and her poetry as ‘evocative’. She writes with a sure and sometimes erotic sensibility of things that might have been, never were, but could be.
Alex is the author of the Light Beyond the Storm Chronicles and the Tales of Erana lyrical fantasy series. She also has several short stories in the fantasy, fantasy romance genres with occasional forays into gothic style horror, including the Legacy of the Mask series. With a background in politics, classical studies, ancient history and myth, her affinities bring an eclectic and unique flavour in her work, mixing reality and dream in alchemical proportions that bring her characters and worlds to life.
She also curates speculative fiction themed book bundles on Pubshare - for the most part - the Here Be Series
Alex is also proud to be a writer for Perseid Press where her work features in Heroika: Dragon Eaters, Heroika Skirmishers – where she was editor and cover designer as well as writer and Lovers in Hell and Mystics in Helll – part of the acclaimed Heroes in Hell series. http://www.theperseidpress.com/
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