It is said that the Wolf may howl at the Moon, but the Moon never howls at the Wolf. In the gritty urban streets of Los Angeles in 1975, Leticia Gordon is forced to come to terms with many things: the tragic death of her stepmother and baby sister in a car accident, fear she’ll wind up in foster care, and the sudden revelation she belongs to a long line of powerful witches known as Lunae – who exhibit first power at menarche (first menstruation). Running from foes natural and supernatural, will her new found powers be the turning point that elevates her position of honor, or will it destroy her like the dark forces that consumed her father? In a world turned upside down where time itself seems in flux, in whom can she trust?
The Moon Cried Blood series is the serialized re-envisioning of the original novel. Re-imagined, reedited, and revamped into a series of eight novelettes designed to be more accessible for Young Adult audiences, the new series includes added material, addresses plot inconsistencies, and has improved proofreading and line editing. It features glorious new full-color covers based on acrylic paintings by the author depicting the action of the story.
Book One of the serialized tale of The Moon Cried Blood, Legend of the Luna introduces us to the Lunae, four clans of witches who have been endowed with their powers by the moon personified. The spirit of Mother Moon has endowed each Luna clan with a different power: the power to see into the future belongs to the Luna of Beyond, the ability to revisit the pass belongs to the Luna of Before, the Luna of Below can see into the hearts of men, and the Luna of Above can see changes made to the timeline. We are also introduced Leticia Gordon, the thirteen year old protagonist of this story. Distraught and stricken by a series of tragedies, this young girl is now suddenly faced with the dawning revelation that she belongs to not one, but two of these lines of Luna, known collectively as the Lunae.
The Moon Cried Blood Saga continues as young Tisha Gordon travels across country with her great-great-grandmother Letty and learns both her fate and her history. Meanwhile, her estranged mother, Joy, is on a journey of her own. Troubled by mental illness, haunted by her own tragedies and her ex-husband’s betrayals, Joy fears the worst for her daughter. Has Tisha inherited her mother’s mental health issues? How have the terrible losses of her young life affected her? Will mother and daughter be reunited? Are Tisha’s tragedies finally at an end, or are they only just beginning? Who is this mysterious Nana Letty, and what is the secret she is hiding from her past? Letty thinks that Tisha is the last of her line, but is she? Her father, Mark, had many dalliances. There may be others.
For Tisha Gordon, it is a family reunion. For her mother Joy, it is a homecoming. Things seem to have calmed down in both of their lives, but things are still not all wine and roses for the Gordon family. Joy has had a disturbing premonition and fears the worse, while Nana Letty is being stalked by a California condor, a death omen, and is anxiously performing rituals in the apartment of the tragically lost Bridget and Kara Gordon in anticipation of some late night visits by family members from the other side of the veil. The relatives who have left this plane are not the only ones who have to be faced: Joy is reuniting with her estranged adoptive parents, Joseph and Noelle Todd, and is about to be visited by another blast from her past.
Joy’s reunion with her birth family is tainted by tragedy and as the story of her family unfolds, it becomes ever the more clear the ways in which her separation from the Lunae of Beyond left her, and by extension, her daughter Tisha, in a vulnerable position, open to exploitation by the forces of darkness and the sometimes malevolent machinations of Tisha’s bigamist father, Mark Gordon, whose betrayals are even deeper than they seemed. Letty continues to be stalked by the death omen, and even as Tisha and Joy meet their extended blood family, Letty’s mind is seeming to unravel. Who is the tall and mysterious Elle, and who was the troubled Victoria? Why is the condor still following Letty?
In Book Five of the serialized tale of “The Moon Cried Blood, “Shadow and Substance,” things really start to heat up when the Lunae witches start to suffer from frightening dreams and visions, and a new threat, the Dark Luna. Who is she and why is she such a danger to all of the Lunae witches? Shocking supernatural/family revelations abound in the wildest episode of the Moon Cried Blood series
Tisha Gordon’s mother Joy was adopted. After years of separation, the death of Tisha’s biological grandmother Victoria reunites Tisha and Joy with Joy’s birth family. During the wake of Victoria’s funeral service, Tisha is visited by her ghost, and the strange apparition of a sickly young girl named Lita who says she is from the future. Lita claims to be Tisha’s grand daugther. She says that there is a war between the forces of good and evil. The forces of evil have mounted to prevent Lita’s birth, and only Tisha can save her.
In a dream, Tisha’s father, Mark Gordon, comes back from the dead, and boy does he have some explaining to do. Not only are his exwife Joy and daughter Tisha annoyed with him, but his evil daughter Alita wants to have words with him. Meanwhile, Bobby Guerrero, the boy Tisha has a crush on, turns out to be one of Lucia’s relatives. He shows up at the house and makes life a little more interesting for Leticia Gordon.
In the eight and final book of The Moon Cried Series, there is a showdown between the forces of good and evil. The corrupt Alita faces off with Joy and Tisha Gordon, aiming to prevent the birth of Tisha’s powerful granddaughter Lita forty years in the future. It is said the moon never howls at the wolf, but in this strange, new, unpredictable time, things that were never seen before are seen. Those who fought on the side of the wolf, after generations spent in the moon’s bloodline, change their allegiance. Is there now hope even for those like Mark Gordon, who were taken over by dark forces long ago?
Sumiko Saulson 