Tina Glasneck, USA Today Bestselling Author

new release

‘Make Me Howl’ will make you swoon

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There are some stories that stay with you… and when I met Sunflower, she sort of changed my life.

She’d only communicate with profound, heart-wrenching poetry—much of which found its way on Youtube, Instagram, and Tiktok. I couldn’t stop producing poetry as pages upon pages poured out her love and loss.

She gave me confidence that I’d not found before, a voice that I’d long pushed away.

In writing, I often leave a piece of myself in my stories, but for this one, it was like opening up my heart again and finding all of that from a lifetime ago, cutting open a vein to bleed out on the page. Weeks of sobbing gave birth to this glorious tale that has a HEA, so much love, and showcases the power of second chances.

What are readers saying?

“Ok, the title alone intrigued me, and I had to just check it out being the bookworm I am. It jumps straight to the story without skipping a beat. Killian seems down on his luck, the lady he had been with didn’t cut it and he’s on the search for his “one”. Then as the story progressed, I realized Sunflower, his love interest – they had met before and had split. So when she runs into him again at this club called the Decadence, it’s like oh…. this is about to get interesting. If you want some paranormal romance, why not head over and check this out….” Tasha Creed, Author (quote used with permission)

This is one couple I so believe deserves their HEA, and it’s great to see them not only fight for it but earn it too!

This story is currently loading on patreon with the first episodes now available!

Krampus

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It’s December 5th, and that means… Krampus is coming to town!!!!

Over the years, I’ve seen his popularity grow. But I thought a bit of an introductory post might be helpful in letting you know who this figure from lore and legend is…

Who is Krampus?

Krampus is the half-goat, half-demon, bad Santa, dates back to pagan times. He has sharp teeth, a long tongue, large claws, is tall, hairy like a goat and with cloven hooves, has a long tail, sometimes can be seen with chains, and carries a sack and switches. He is said to appear to take away those who have made the naughty list.

Yep, that sack isn’t for toys but to stuff the bad boys and girls (and adults) into it. 

This holiday figure has gained attention over the years, even with some Christmas horror movies, like the movie named after him, called Krampus, A Christmas Horror Story, Krampus: The Reckoning, Krampus: The Christmas Devil, and more (as listed on IMDB)

Yep, he even has a song “Karol of the Bells”.

As Krampus becomes more popular in pop culture, we see more with the Krampuslauf (The Krampus Run).

In Southern Germany, Austria, and even here in the States, many places participate in Krampus Night by dressing up, watching the Bad Santa parade, and even enjoying this anxious-filled yuletide. Yep, it’s sort of like if Halloween and Christmas had a terrifying and shaggy baby with horns that walked around with large cowbells, a sack, and switches.

He has pagan origins. Some mention that Krampus was once a fertility god, and could be associated with Pan—at least physically and that he was part of the winter solstice rituals. Legend even proclaims him to be the son of Lady Hel, from Norse mythology.

Why is Krampus associated with St. Nicholas?

In Germany, December 6th is known as St. Nicholas Day, when St. Nicholas will place sweets into the shoes of good girls and boys. But on the night before, St. Nicholas (St. Nick) goes from house to house with Krampus (who also is wearing chains). You see, St. Nicholas was a known exorcist. This would then make Krampus the one who is doing St. Nicholas’s bidding – totally changes the idea of Santa Clause.

I’m happy to share my love of lore and legend, and since Krampus plays a major part in A Half-Cocked Vampire: A Vampire Urban Fantasy, I invite you to continue to dive into this holiday tale, now knowing about the magic of Krampus, too!

Glimpses of Inspiration: Russia

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Oh wow, today is release day for New Year, New Boo, which includes the limited-time release of A Half-Cocked Vampire.

As we know, I love to pour stories and snippets into my stories that tell of actual events (be they personal or gathered from the 24-hour news cycle). Well, for this one, I reference my first trip abroad – to Russia.

Long before my love of Loki – Tom give me a call (LOL!) – I was a young religious girl with a traveling heart. Back then, I had a map with wooden toothpicks taped to all of the countries I wished to visit. 

You see, I always had a thing for people—learning about different cultures, languages, and history. Yet, as a kid, I didn’t necessarily grasp what all of it meant. I was very much inexperienced in traveling, and though I tried to prepare to learn about Russia before the trip, there was a lot left out of my training.

Back in 1995, Russia was still pretty much in a new situation politically. The USSR was no longer “a thing,” and the borders were open. As a youth, I traveled there and was awestruck at so much beauty and history.

While there, we traveled around the city and performed, working with a church associated with my then American Church. This included visits around the city, hospitals, and neighborhoods.

One of my favorite memories is that of a kind, older woman, grandmother type, who welcomed us all into her house for tea. She was gracious and delightful. We had a translator with us, and although my Russian accumulated to around ten words (including hello, goodbye, and ice cream), I found her to be quite kind.

Visiting Russia changed my paradigm. So much was so very different from what I knew: from the Russian mafia that was quite noticeable to the Orthodox Church reporters who actively reported on everything we did. Yet, some things crossed cultures easily. No matter where you go in the world, good ice cream can build bridges.

It’s been more than 20 years since the trip that started what I like to call my great metamorphosis (that’s still in process), but it’s remarkable how those small moments and people we meet along the way can help to change our perspectives.  

I often think about those people from long ago, and although they may never know, those amazing people I met then left a fingerprint on my life, for sure.

 All I can say is a simple, Спасибо (pronounced spaSEEbah)!

Buy New Year New Boo

New Release Alert — New Year, New Boo

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I am happy to be part of this amazing new urban fantasy and paranormal romance anthology, which celebrates new beginnings.

For my contribution, I’ve included A Half-Cocked Vampire, starring the fabulous vampire seer, Leslie Love.

The early reviews are coming in, and readers seem to be enjoying this set, as well. Here is one that made my heart overflow with gladness:

“Half-cocked vampire by Tina Glasneck- The characters are compelling and honestly the final fight scene… I was entranced. It feels like it is part of a series and I might have more understanding if I was familiar with her books and based off this book I will be reading more of her work. Despite having not read any of her books, this author does a truly wonderful job of introducing a reader to a world that you know nothing about, in a way that wouldn’t be redundant for her loyal readers.” — Amazon Review

What is A Half-Cocked Vampire about?

Here is the blurb:

Baby witches are cursing the moon, large unexplained crystal monoliths are sprouting up around the world, and supernatural doom is on the horizon…

Could it be a worse time to make a delivery? Doubtful.

Leslie Love has received her first trainee assignment with the Order. As a new vampire and seer, she must deliver an appearance warrant. Which should be simple. But simple is like apple pie, and Leslie’s allergic to fruit.

A magnet for the weird, demons, and everything in paranormal tarnation, Leslie’s in trouble when the rogue vampire runs.

Things have gone worse than sideways, and now she must deal with rogue vampires and malevolent magic. Only the timely help from a death goddess can save the day.

But with a devil of a task and the world at stake, can Leslie rise to the challenge?

Grab your brooms, b’witches, we’re in for a rough ride.

2020 gave us tons of fiction fodder. I couldn’t help myself but to use some of it to create this installment in the Order of the Dragon series!

You can order your copy of New Year, New Boo (currently on sale for 99 cents) here. This set is widely available.

A Vampire Gives No Quarter

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I’m excitedly counting down to the next Leslie the Vampire story—Leslie in Quarantine.

Let me give you the deets behind why I even wrote this.

A few months ago, at the beginning of the pandemic, people lost their ever-loving mind here in Virginia. 

I mean, shoppers started to hoard toilet paper and yeast worse than during Hurricane season. 

Fistfights broke out, and I can swear that I spent $50 on two packs of toilet paper (a huge markup from the regular cost, for sure).

I drove around like a madwoman trying to find T-P for the family of four. The ideas of using newspapers, napkins or paper towels were not options (besides, I didn’t want to clog up my pipes).

My thought was: if I can find toilet paper and keep life as normal as possible, we could survive whatever else might come our way.

After hours of searching, hunting it down on social media, following threads on where one might find toilet paper, I finally located the last two rolls that a poor stock boy was putting back on the shelf.

I celebrated with a selfie, put the toilet paper in the closet, and completely forgot about the story of success.

Until now.

One of the organizers from the Coastal Magic kindly asked what my character was up to during quarantine.

This is not a story I thought about lightly. The pandemic has hit us all so hard. 

My goal in writing this short was to pull from my humorous situation of searching for toilet paper and create Leslie’s world a bit more because, if you’re like me, you probably never thought about if vampires had to use the bathroom or not, too!

A Vampire Gives No Quarter releases on October 28th. This story, which is around 9,000 words, helps to highlight more of Leslie’s world, introduce a new character, and entertain you.

You can learn more and download your copy from your online bookstore here:

Please note, if you are a Nook Reader, due to the recent cyber-attack on Barnes and Noble, their site is down (and the preorder has not gone live there yet. 

You can, however, should you desire, directly download it from my store on Payhip, which links with Bookfunnel). 

The story is live now, on Payhip, as well.