A Modern Day Fairy Tale

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The Secrets of Hawthorne House Book Tour + Giveaway


The Secrets of Hawthorne House
by Donald Firesmith
Genre: Teen Paranormal Mystery

Fifteen-year-old Matt Mitchell was having the worst summer imaginable. Matt’s misery started when a drunk driver killed his mother. Then Matt’s father moved him and his sister to a small town in rural Indiana, as far as his grieving father could get from the ocean that his mother had loved. At the new high school, three bullies were determined to make Matt miserable. And to top it off, Matt learned that the recluse who lived in the dilapidated Victorian mansion next door was none other than Old Lady Hawthorne, the town’s infamous witch and murderer. Matt’s terrible summer was turning into an awful autumn when something quite unexpected happened. Old Lady Hawthorne’s niece and her three children moved in next door, and Matt met Gerallt.



A geek by day, Donald Firesmith works as a system and software engineer helping the US Government acquire large, complex software-intensive systems. In this guise, he has authored seven technical books, written numerous software- and system-related articles and papers, and spoken at more conferences than he can possibly remember. He's also proud to have been named a Distinguished Engineer by the Association of Computing Machinery, although his pride is tempered somewhat by his fear that the term "distinguished" makes him sound like a graybeard academic rather than an active engineer whose beard is still slightly more red than gray.


By night and on weekends, his alter ego writes modern paranormal fantasy, apocalyptic science fiction, action and adventure novels and relaxes by handcrafting magic wands from various magical woods and mystical gemstones. His first foray into fiction is the book Magical Wands: A Cornucopia of Wand Lore written under the pen name Wolfrick Ignatius Feuerschmied. He lives in Crafton, Pennsylvania with his wife Becky, and his son Dane, and varying numbers of dogs, cats, and birds.





Follow the tour HERE for exclusive excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!





16 Comments

  1. When did you first start writing?

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    1. I started writing science fiction short stories back in high school during the 1970s. I stopped for many years. I began writing technical books from 1993-2014. I began writing fiction again around 2000 and have been writing part time ever since. I hope to eventually retire and begin writing full time.

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  2. I like the lighted window in the creepyish house. I wonder what is the youngest age you think this book would be appropriate for?

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    1. The main characters are 15 and just starting high school. I would say the book would be interesting to children as young as 11 or 12. One reviewer who taught middle and high school said she would recommend it to her students. On the other hand, many adults like it too.

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  3. this looks like a book I can't wait to read

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  4. A spooky cover, makes me want to read it even more.

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  5. Looks like a good one to snuggle up with.

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  6. I like the cover-thanks for the giveaway

    tiramisu392 (at) yahoo.com

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  7. Looks like an interesting book.
    Thanks for the contest. 
    slehan at juno dot com

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  8. Love your self description. Wishing you much success. Thank you. Nancy P

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  9. It looks like an interesting read.

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  10. Sounds mysterious! This is a book that both my young daughter and I would enjoy!

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  11. is there a character bnased on yourself?

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