Morgan Brice – Signs and Wonders

Today, author Morgan Brice is guesting. She’s talking about her latest release Signs and Wonders, book seven in the Witchbane series, a supernatural m/m romance adventure. Don’t forget to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway.

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Morgan’s inspiration for her story idea:

I love TV shows and books about anything paranormal, especially ghosts, psychics, and supernatural creatures. In the Witchbane books, my main character, Seth Tanner, is hunting the dark coven of warlocks who killed his brother—and are behind a cycle of ritual murders going back a hundred years. In the first book of the series, he rescues their next intended victim—Evan Malone—and falls in love with him. Evan goes on the road with him to destroy the rest of the coven and stop the murders, getting a crash course in everything supernatural.

Witchbane moves to a different location in each book. In Signs and Wonders, they go to West Virginia, following the trail of one of the coven members who has hidden himself over the years as a preacher and then later as a charismatic wellness expert. The warlock is a skilled conman, and he’s also funding a cybercrime racket. Seth and Evan pursue him to Buckhannon, near an area called the National Radio Quiet Zone where a huge observatory restricts cell phones, wifi and even microwaves to get better images of the universe.

The NRQZ is real, but it also made a great setting for the book because being largely cut off from communication ups the stakes when Seth and Evan confront the bad guy. West Virginia is a beautiful state, but its mountains and deep valleys already pose a challenge to keeping a good signal. I really enjoyed writing around the NRQZ restrictions because it had a big impact on how the climactic battle of the book played out.

Coming up with the story idea for a Witchbane book is both easy and hard. It’s easy from the standpoint that we know there were twelve warlocks, so each book sees Seth and Evan taking on a new coven member. But it’s also hard because I need to make each encounter different from the other books and not feel repetitious.

Some of that comes in the location, which changes each time. I draw a lot on the ghost stories, haunted places, history, and legends local to the place the book is set, to give it the feel of the location. Seth and Evan also rescue a different intended victim in each book, and the circumstances and personality of the victim also helps to shape the story and the vibes.

Researching those details is part of the fun for me—and I hope that readers can feel like they’ve visited the places I write about by the time they have finished the book!

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Title: Signs and Wonders: A Supernatural MM Romance Adventure
Series: Witchbane, book seven
Author: Morgan Brice
Genres: Paranormal MM romance, romantic suspense
Tropes: Hurt/comfort, getting comfortable with commitment
Themes: Learning to trust, evolving established relationship
Release Date: November 15, 2023
Heat Rating: 4 flames
Length: 57 000 words/ 211 pages
Publisher: Darkwind Press

Can Seth and Evan save the warlock’s next target, bring down his crime syndicate, and live to tell the tale?

Blurb: When a coven of dark warlocks killed Seth Tanner’s brother, Seth became a man driven by vengeance, sworn to stop the cycle of ritual killings, willing to die for the cause. He never expected to fall head over heels in love with the witches’ next intended victim. Evan Malone didn’t believe the supernatural was real until Seth swept in with his magic and motorcycle to save him from being the next sacrifice.

Now they’ve gone on the road together, hunting the rest of the coven while they figure out how to keep the white-hot, once-in-a-lifetime bond between them. Days are filled tracking their paranormal quarry, honing their monster hunting skills, and gaining control of the small magics that have made a life-or-death difference. Nights are spent together, entangled in adrenaline-fueled passion, learning how to make this love last forever despite the odds. Seth fears that if they don’t eliminate the rest of the coven, they’ll be on the run forever, and more people will die. Evan is afraid that Seth’s obsession with revenge means they might not survive to get a happily ever after.

Seth and Evan head to West Virginia to confront one of the dark warlocks, a master con man running a cybercrime empire. Can Seth and Evan save the warlock’s next target, bring down his crime syndicate, and live to tell the tale?

Signs and Wonders is a thrill-packed supernatural thrill ride with plenty of paranormal suspense, hurt/comfort, hot nights, found family, deadly magic, immortal witches, determined hunters, haunted places, creepy ghosts, impressive explosions, spooky chills, and sexy thrills, and features an evolving, established romantic relationship with all the feels.

Note: It is part of a series (Witchbane, book 7) but can be read as a standalone. It does not end on a cliffhanger.

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“You are dead and buried. This is not your place. Let go and move on to what lies ahead.” Seth continued the ritual, although his heart broke for the young woman whose life had been cut short by a thirst for adventure.

“I don’t want to go.”

Jenny’s spirit no longer attacked, weakened by the sigils Seth had chalked. She looked young and scared, lost in a place between life and death.

“Your family and friends cherish your memory. But you do not belong here. Go in peace, and do no more harm. In the name of that which creates, empowers, and sustains, and by the will of all those who loved you—move on.”

Jenny’s ghost flickered again and then faded as an icy wind swept through the atrium, making dust motes dance in the light.

“Is she gone?” Evan kept his shotgun racked and ready.

“I think so. At least for now, if not permanently. Milo said that if the banishment didn’t send her on, it would sap her strength so she couldn’t hurt anyone again for a while,” Seth replied. “I tried to get one of the local mediums to come with us, but once they found out where we were going, they all said ‘hell no.’”

“Guess we were just dumb enough to do it anyhow.” Evan’s grin made it clear he relished the adventure.

“Sounds like us.” Seth bumped Evan’s shoulder in agreement.

The abandoned Molly Stark Hospital was legendary for its haunts, but the crazed spirit that attacked them wasn’t from the building’s past as a tuberculosis sanitarium. Jenny Summers was a much more recent death, an unfortunate urban explorer who had come to investigate the hospital’s supernatural reputation and fallen to her death through a hole in the floor.

Unlike the hospital’s other ghosts, Jenny’s angry spirit lashed out at security guards and tour guides who ventured too near the building. That made her a hazard, meaning someone had to set her soul to rest. When the head of security couldn’t persuade any of the local ghost hunters to rid the site of Jenny, he had reached out to Seth’s mentor, Milo, who had tapped Seth and Evan since they were passing through the area.

“These old hospitals were built to stand forever, even when no one needed them anymore,” Evan noted wistfully as they slipped out the back door, locking it with the key borrowed from the security chief.

The four-story Spanish Revival hospital dated from 1929, when it had been considered cutting-edge in its amenities. Huge windows, wide verandas, and courtyards were meant to provide sunlight and fresh air to patients. By the time it shuttered in the 1990s, medical advances had left the huge complex behind.

“There are over a thousand feet of tunnels running between the main building and the outbuildings,” Seth said as they slipped through the cut in the chain link fence.

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Morgan Brice is the romance pen name of bestselling author Gail Z. Martin. Morgan writes urban fantasy MM paranormal romance, with plenty of action, adventure and supernatural thrills to go with the happily ever after. Gail writes epic and urban fantasy, with less romance, more explosions.

All of the modern-day Morgan Brice and Gail Z. Martin series crossover, so characters from one series appear in cameos and on page in important secondary roles in books from other series. Each book can be read as a standalone, but the more you read the more the expanded universe of friendships and connections becomes clear.

Morgan and Gail believe that paranormal elements make any story even better, and her worlds are full of ghosts, psychics, shifters, creatures, vampires, monster hunters, and magic.

She’s also a huge fan of the TV show Supernatural. (Chibi art by Kamidiox)