Blood of the Winter Solstice

"Blood of the Winter Solstice" is a fantasy novel that serves as the second installment in the Night Witch Series, particularly within the Widow's Watch Novel series. The plot centers around a powerful grimoire known as the Book of Belphegor, which is sought after by various characters for their own motives. The narrative unfolds during the Winter Solstice festival in northern Maine, where the stakes are high as witches and warlocks converge to seek the book, leading to potential conflicts and dark magic.

The Grimoire, described as being bound in human skin, contains potent spells and incantations that could cause great destruction if misused. Count Boris Sergev, the High Priest of the Obsidian Circle, is on a mission to recover the Grimoire, which has gone missing, as he fears it may be in the hands of a young witch.

Ultimately, the novel reflects on the characters' journeys and the challenges they face in the battle between light and dark forces. The fate of the Grimoire remains uncertain, setting the stage for further adventures in the ongoing struggle within the world of magic.

Mark E. Welch has spent a lifetime chasing the phantoms of story-first as a boy listening to the restless Atlantic on the coast of Maine, and later as a novelist drawn to the macabre, the historical, and the unexpected. Born in 1964, Welch's dark-edged imagination was forged on the rugged Maine coast, heavily influenced by devouring Stephen King's mid-1970s breakout masterpieces-like Carrie and 'Salem's Lot-as they took the literary world by storm. This taste for terror was balanced by the vivid clarity of E.B. White, Shirley Jackson, and Peter Straub, shaping a voice that is as precise as it is atmospheric. And by the way, Clive Barker's Hellraiser wasn't too shabby.That lifelong fixation has yielded a diverse body of work spanning over 14 novels, novellas, and short stories published across North America and Europe. While he frequently steps into the shadows with chilling tales like A Haunting on Cape Neddick, his Nightwitch Triolgy and his short story collections, his imagination refuses to be confined to the dark. He is the author of Kiwa's Story, a touching children's adventure about a young dolphin, as well as a series of comedic mysteries featuring Detective Charles W. Radcliff III-a well-meaning but delightfully bungling investigator whose unorthodox methods always uncover the truth.Welch now writes from the windswept coastal region of Viana do Castelo, Portugal, in the historic, shadow-woven district of Montedor. There, alongside his wife, Eva, and their two Boxer dogs, Thor and True Blue, he lives surrounded by ancient stones and the roar of the sea, continuously conjuring tales meant to haunt, humor, and surprise readers until the very last page.