A reading of the descriptions of the Afterlife Institutions read by Raven Knughtshade
Afterlife Institutions Video
27 Wednesday Sep 2023
27 Wednesday Sep 2023
A reading of the descriptions of the Afterlife Institutions read by Raven Knughtshade
25 Monday Sep 2023
Posted Afterlife Institutions, Horror, Knightshade Manor, Novels
inTags
afterlife, Fiction, ghosts, horror, humor, Knightshade, Spirits, supernatural
Book One of the Afterlife Institution Series. Knightshade Manor is the luxury style hotel where the recently deceased can reside while they reenact the events that led to their death. It is by working with other spirits and the caretakers that the guests are able to learn and perhaps chose a different option than the one that led to their unexpected demise. Bear in mind, all residents of the Manor have issues to deal with, that is why they are in an afterlife psychiatric institution. A mixture of tales from guests and caretakers are presented to you in the fiction format of horror, macabre, and dark humor. It is the first in a series of novels that will cover the gambit of human death experience of which they create an illusion of comfort and hence require the familiarity of their chosen occupation within which to spend their afterlife. As the Manor is set up as a residential hotel, the rooms are assigned, the amenities are explained and several stories occur on the grounds, and within the environs of the Manor.
Amazon USA Purchase and rank here
Read a sample here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1539429784?asin=1539429784&revisionId=&format=4&depth=1
22 Friday Sep 2023
Posted Afterlife Institutions, Dark Highways, Horror, Novels
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The second book in the Afterlife Institutions series. Kevin. Louis and Octavius act as bounty hunters who leave the afterlife to locate wayward spirits who have evaded their journey to their destined Afterlife Institutions. Raven, Aaron, Dena and others from Knightshade Manor make appearances. This is a horror novel, so demons, ghosts, Bigfoot, and vampires also appear within the short stories or cases that our hunters pursue. Enjoy riding on the back of a customized motorcycle with your arms wrapped around any one of the men, who are all sexy and interesting with a variance available to all tastes. I admit, I have also interacted with some of these cases, as I have a unique perspective having spent years in the archives extracting the details of each of these spirits. – Raven.
Amazon USA https://www.amazon.com/dp/B083XX4BS7
02 Saturday Sep 2023
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At a time, when Raven was actively involved in music, there was an event that deeply affected her desire to interact with the living. A young man who had auditioned for one of the bands decided to end his life.
As the band’s lead guitarist commented to her, “you know why we pick up guitars is to get girls.” So, he wasn’t surprised, that this man was acting that way. Many of the guys he knew had made it clear she was desirable. He figured she should use it.
During the audition, the young man stared at her relentlessly. During breaks, he picked songs on his guitar and softly singing lyrics of unrequited love.
After the audition, the band agreed to meet up at a local coffee shop. This was important to be seen in the scene. I remember small talk, jokes the usual socializing. Seeing friends and fans as it is still a popular spot for local musicians. Suddenly, he declared he was bored. He wanted to head out,. He offered Raven a ride home as she resided near him. The other band mates were staying at the venue until later.
Raven carried her acoustic guitar in its gig bag to his car. As it was placed in the mammoth trunk of the powder blue Chevy Nova. She informed him that it had been in storage and needed to be tuned. He unzipped the bag and admired the workmanship. As it was made of a dark wood, he offered to tune it even oil the wooden body. Raven thanked him and agreed to the idea.
As they rode towards their neighborhood, a red and blue light flashed in the rear view mirror. A short bark of a siren.
“Oh no” he groaned. He looked at Raven, deeply embarrassed.
“It’s ok, cops are real jerks.” she said, trying to make him feel better.
After the traffic stop, the officer gave him the ticket.
They drove on in silence.
When they arrived at her house, the silence was broken. They said the brief goodbyes of acquaintances . They made plans to meet up the next day. He would work on her guitar that night.
A few days went by, she did not hear from him. She was informed by one of the other band mates,. Bob had set up the guitar in his dining room on the table. He had tightened the strings and oiled the guitar as promised. He then placed the barrel against his right temple. He pulled the trigger on the 9 mm handgun. He fell forward and bled out on the guitar and table.
02 Saturday Sep 2023
Tags
afterlife, death, Fiction, goth, horror, Knightshade, Raven Knightshade, Spirits, supernatural
As Raven Knightshade, I was once a lead singer and keyboardist for a variety of bands within the Goth and metal genre. I was writing the beginning stories and developing the characters who would be featured in the Afterlife Institutions graphic novels.. My guitarist uploaded some of these stories online as part of our promotions for fans. Soon thereafter, fans would bring their printed off copies for me to sign at shows.
After one of the shows, one fan asked me “How does one get to the Manor?” meaning Knightshade Manor, a psychiatric hospital for the dead. I answered “if he had read the introduction letter, that the guests at the Manor ended up there who died prematurely. Often due to their own decisions.” Distracted, I stated my response facetiously. I looked up and saw his eyes. I felt really concerned and realized that he was serious. I stopped writing the tales for years. But Raven would not be suppressed forever. Knightshade Manor became a book. Rather than a graphic novel. Dark Highways and Browning Memorial Hospital were soon written and published via Amazon.
12 Friday May 2023
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From the Book Dark Highways
A Banshee who resides within the caretakers cabin on the edge of the forest, it enables her to keep an eye on the creatures within the forest, as well as the temporary bungalows for the arriving children. She spends part of her time at the Manor, and part of her time guiding souls through the fens of Northern Europe.
Further Introductions can be found in Knightshade Manor, Kerringer Castle, Browning Memorial Hospital and the following:
She has the slim muscular body of a swimmer. She is of a race of merpeople . Her ability to communicate with animals and the youmg allows her to comfort those souls. She is wild and fierce and very protective of her wards. To her wards she is warm and carung, never sneak up on her. Shout her bane from a distance so she can see your approach. She does not walk upon the ground more like swims through the air. If you ask her about this, she will tell you there is enough water in the air for her to swim, that she pulls the moisture towards herself.
07 Tuesday Feb 2023
Tags
Fiction, horror, lycan, Raven Knightshade, supernatural, werewolf
Dearest Angel,
I am writing you from inside a carriage. The creaking of the wooden wheels as the wooden frame complaing of the weight of the passengers and our luggage. I have embarked on this journey to locate one of our more nefarious escapees. He has escaped into the countryside of this already isolated rural region in the forests of Northern Europe. This form of transport has been rejuvenated by the tourist industry, for those who seek a historic experience. Ha, you laugh? Yes, I see the irony as well, this countryside was once rampant with creatures and demonically possessed peasants as well as the insane aristocrats who sacraficed strangers as a matter of course, to preserve their way of life, whether it be agricultural sustainability, success in war, or preserving one’s youth.
As I stare out the cloth windows into the sunlit valley below the tree line, I reflect on the hardships one must have had to endure to travel in this manner. Albeit, the wooden seats have a cushion and pillows placed along the seat back. Yes, there are blankets. My tendency to feel coold, I confirmed and commandered a blanket immiediately upon entering the carriage.
Back to my thoughts, As night fell, the only lantern would have been near the driver at his seat high above the carriage. Hearing the howling, and growling of said creatures for hours at a time. If they were lucky, they had a hotel or lodge in which they would spend the night. If not, a bedroll at the side of the road. It is intriguing that there is so little written about those weary travelers and their disappearances, some risks, it was just assumed that it was the will of God. Ha, we knew better.
Now about my quarry, he is Herman, a common name, maybe not as common as previous generations, which of course he is an elder. He has reached the age of 65 in human years. He is in phenomenal shape, for I saw his muscular chest and forearms as the moonlight shimmered through the trees. Every sinew and bones of his rib cage looked carved from marble. His chest hair thickened as he endured the change. The moon is still below the horizon as I write, so I am unable to see if it will be full tonight. That by the way is a myth, His kind transforms every night, it is just easier for mortals to see them under a full month. And after what I saw a few nights ago at the Manor, they are quite impressive.
He is my first Lycan Anthromorph, I am not certain which is his natural state. He could have been born a human, or a wolf and transformed to the other state once he hit puberty. The problem is their blood lust, and rage. Of course in my opinion, a desparate need to shave. And the wet dog smell, eeww don’t get me started. I would gladly book him a day spa at the dog groomers on a daily. Ha ha. Although, I am riding into the land of his ancestors, I have no fear. He would not attack me, for I do not possess the flesh of which he craves. However, this group of tourists, in this caravan of three carriages and their drivers provides a nice number of victims. I wonder, do the Lycan hunt in packs?
Ah, there it is, a swirl of smoke spiraling blue in between the trees reaching the sky. There are othersd who have already set up a camp for us to rest for the night. And there is the first how. Herman is near, I sense him, I smell his scent in the air. He is in his human form at the moment, there is slight variance in his musk when he wears less fur. I lick my lips, it is a sweet flavor, his phermones causing a slight but of saliva to form within my mouth. I wonder what roast Lycan tastes like? But I digress, the scent of my co-riders over ride that faint smell of smoke from the campsite.
I suppose I could describe the tourists with whom I am currently traveling. First and foremost, I only met up with these people at the hotel lobby in a small Slavic town several miles west of here. There is a large man, probably American, his well proportioned gut speaks of many hours of beer and snackfood consumption while watching athletes performing physical feats on his personal entertainment device. His wife, I presume, by the adoring glances she makes towards him as he completely ignores her. Is a doughy face women with pale red curly hair framing what may have been a beautiful face in her youth. Her eyes a cornflower blue under her heavily coated eyelashes. I wish I could use a paring knife to remove some of the powder that she has caked onto her features, I can see great bone structure hidden beneath her veneer. I digress. The third passanger is a spindly bookish man, he wears black rimmed glasses and has a large nose to support them. His smile contains too many teeth. If I were a small rodent, I would be terrified of him. He gives a sense of menace that can’t quite be clearly defined. I understand that he is some sort of scientist by profession, probably spends most of his time in a white lab coat, watching and torturing rats. I think he might actually survive a Lycan attack. His hair is stiff and stringy black with a shine, the result of sweating is my guess. To bad it is such a bad cut, it might be sexy on another.
I had not had time to view the other passengers in the other carriages. I can hear their conversations and the announcements from their drivers through the thin wooden walls of our carriage. One woman, has loud raucous laughter, I imagine she is quite large. I wonder how loud she can scream? If Herman and his relatives are as close as I think, then that question will answer itself. The driver of our carriage is quite, but I feel like he knows more about this woods then he lets on. His nervous twitching and eyes darting searching the landscape. He knows something. I wonder if he is an accomplice to the Lycan? It isn’t unheard of, certain people feeding the Lycan population strangers to protect their own families. What an amazing means of providing fresh prey, create a tourist trap… Literally.
06 Saturday Aug 2022
Posted Afterlife Institutions, Browning Memorial Hospital, Horror, Novels
inTags
An excerpt of the novel to be released Oct 2022
Both Alfred and Slurgh have occurred in previously published Afterlife Institution. Knightshade Manor
Office of Alfred Knightshade
Alfred smiled grimly when he sat down to face the stack of folders containing the resumes of potential candidates for positions to be filled within the hospital. An agreement between Slurgh and the hospital, all of whom were part of an exchange program between the hospital and hell. Alfred had to function as the Human resources director. Honestly, he would have it no other way. His flare for absorbing details about each spirit made him quite astute in retaining details of their capabilities. Being aware that the length of time the individual will be employed at the hospital could last for centuries. . He sighed. He lit the black candle made of lard scraped from an extinct biped and soaked in the blood of an extinct dodo bird which tended to sedate him while it informs the other staff that he did not want to be disturbed. His closed office door emitted the swirling oranges, yellows, reds of eternal flame, another visual reminder that he was in meetings with denizens of hell and MUST NOT be disturbed.
Sighing, he performed the mental exercises of protection to prepare for the toxicity and negative details he would read in the files stacked 6 inches away from his right hand. The stack was about a foot high. He shuddered as he pulled on the 15th century leathery gloves made of the skin of a monk who had negotiated with Slurgh, the Demon King who currently holds dominion over the household demons currently employed at the Afterlife Institutions. He looked at the name on the first file, Dr. Henry Howard Holmes. A very famous serial killer from the United States who managed a “Murder Castle” where he tortured and murdered an unknown number of individuals.
05 Sunday Jun 2022
Posted Afterlife Institutions, Dark Highways, Horror, Howard Place, Knightshade Manor, Novels
inTags
afterlife, Dark Highways, death, Fiction, goth, horror, Kevin Knightshade, Knightshade, Louis Knightshade, Raven Knightshade, Spirits, supernatural
Afterlife Institution Book 2 in the series. This book follows Kevin Knightshade and Louis Knightshade both of whom are cousins to Aaron from Knightshade Manor. The two men riding motorcycles whose blueprints originated in hell ride into the world of the living to collect the souls or soon to be souls that have avoided their transition to the afterlife. Raven still offers her guidance and advises them to connect with their grandfather who has ridden the Drk Highways for decades seeking guests who are long overdue. A few of the tales of their wards are quite surprising, once again this novel is not for the faint of heart. Remember, these are horror stories about the dead, who no longer feel pain or can be further injured unless it is a creation of their own imagination. Of course the souls that I helped locate and bring back to Howard Place were going to be forgotten and well that would simply not do. – Raven Knightshade
10 Monday Feb 2020
Posted Afterlife Institutions, Horror, Knightshade Manor, Novels
inKnightshade Manor Staff
The main Afterlife Institution.
Aaron Knightshade
Ariel
Caroline Browning
Clara & Marie
Dena Knightshade
Dr. Geoffrey Shaw, M.D.
Jessica Knightshade
Kevin Knightshade
Louis Knightshade
Marions/Marians
Octavius Knightshade
Raven Knightshade
Sallyn
Simon Knightshade
Slurgh