Black & Orange Series by Benjamin Kane Ethridge

** Winner of the 2010 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel **Forget everything you know about Halloween. The stories are distortions. They were created to keep the Church of Midnight hidden from the world. Every October 31st a gateway opens to a hostile land of sacrificial magic and chaos. Since the beginning of civilization the Church of Midnight has attempted to open the gateway and unite with its other half, the Church of Morning... more** Winner of the 2010 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel **Forget everything you know about Halloween. The stories are distortions. They were created to keep the Church of Midnight hidden from the world. Every October 31st a gateway opens to a hostile land of sacrificial magic and chaos. Since the beginning of civilization the Church of Midnight has attempted to open the gateway and unite with its other half, the Church of Morning. Each year they’ve come closer, waiting for the ideal sacrifice to open the gateway permanently. This year that sacrifice has come. And only two can protect it. Martin and Teresa are the nomads, battle-hardened people who lack identity and are forever road-bound on an endless mission to guard the sacrifice. Their only direction is from notes left from a mysterious person called the Messenger. Endowed with a strange telekinetic power, the nomads will use everything at their disposal to make it through the night alive. But matters have become even more complicated this year. Teresa has quickly lost ground battling cancer, while Martin has spiraled into a panic over being left alone. His mind may no longer be on the fight when it matters most... because ever on their heels is the insidious physical representation of a united church: Chaplain Cloth. "BLACK AND ORANGE begins like a train and just keeps rolling. Benjamin Kane Ethridge has crafted a dark, yet colorful fantasy, with vivid characters and some of the punchiest dialogue I have read in a long time. Trust me; this book belongs on your must-read list." Rio Youers, author of MAMA FISH and OLD MAN SCRATCH. less

A decade has passed since the events of BLACK & ORANGE and the Church of Midnight has almost been singlehandedly decimated by the Nomad named Patty Middleton. After a series of mass executions, she demands to get answers from the mysterious Messenger, and is tireless in her pursuit, despite the protests of her partner... moreA decade has passed since the events of BLACK & ORANGE and the Church of Midnight has almost been singlehandedly decimated by the Nomad named Patty Middleton. After a series of mass executions, she demands to get answers from the mysterious Messenger, and is tireless in her pursuit, despite the protests of her partner. While Patty seems closer to discovering the identity of the Messenger, she has also developed a dangerous condition with her power to create the invisible fields known as mantles. This condition could kill her or people around her, just when she needs to focus on her enemies, who now include a government group known as the Office of Arcane Phenomenon. Meanwhile, Chaplain Cloth, disappointed and impatient with years of failing, seeks a rumored pair of columns that will hold the gateway open forever. Patty Middleton is more than a match for him though, and half of his Church is gone. If he doesn’t make his move now he might not get another chance for thousands of years. There’s no room for error. He has to get those columns and sacrifice the Heart of the Harvest. But this year the Heart isn’t in our world. This time around, the Nomads and Chaplain Cloth are spending Halloween in the Old Domain. less