Release Blitz: CIRQUE by Ashleigh Giannoccaro
CIRQUE by Ashleigh Giannoccaro
A boy looked in a window, to see a
naughty show
Through the pane of pain, the master
clown did blow
The circus is a holy tent, the keeper
of my rhyme
Where I forged my chains, creating this
pantomime
Pretending to be normal, I wait until
after dark
Then I paint the frown on, get a whore
from the park
At the bottom of that bed was a darling
in a chest
She watched with big eyes, horror
hooking her from rest
She dances for the maniac, twirling on
her strings
I will make her mine, sharing damaged
things
I will be her riddle, she will help me
grin
So why does she run away, she has to
let me in
No one loves the clown, not even the
midget
We’ve gone too far, she will know my
secret
Love can break the hardest mask, I know
this to be true
Nightmares have hearts too, I only
needed you
“You have to come with us dear, this
is against the law for a child to be brought up like this.”
My mum is ripping at the man who holds
her back from me, her red nails clawing at his big arms as they drag
her out of reach. Black streaks stain her face where tears pour over
the perfect paint that makes her so beautiful.
The white haired lady is talking to me,
but I don’t hear her; she pulled me out of the box where I was
hiding away practising to bend like mum. I wasn’t done, I wasn’t
ready to get out, mum was still busy with the clown man and I have to
wait ’til they are done or I will get in trouble.
I want to be bendy like her so I can
sparkle when the lights shine on me; I have to be useful to stay in
the circus. The clown told me if I’m not useful I’ll get taken
away. I was trying to be useful. He makes us all be useful, and I’m
good at doing what the clown asks of me.
When I wait in the box like a good
girl, then he teaches me useful things. Not like mum who teaches me
to swing and bend, he teaches me other useful thing we aren’t
allowed to tell about. It’s secret circus magic. The circus is a
magical place and we have to keep it safe, outsiders aren’t allowed
to know our secrets.
“I’m special,” I scream at the
lady who is now pulling me by the arm, hurting me. “I’m special,
I have circus magic! Let me go!” I dig my heals in, and cry and
shriek, trying to get her off me so I can go back to the trailer
where mum is.
I eventually get free and run, leaving
my shoes behind, bare feet slipping on the wet grass as I hurtle back
to my life, my home and my mother. She is crying on the clown’s
chest, she sobs and points to a man standing at the black car outside
the gate. “I knew he would do this, I knew he’d come find me.”
Wrapping me in her arms, mum’s chest
shakes with cries that I don’t understand. I want the magic mum, I
want to stay.
I don’t say anything, I just stay
still and look over her shoulder into the dark eyes of the man who
waits for me. His black suit and dark hair make him look like a
ringmaster, he just needs a tophat.
“You can’t stay with the circus
Immy, your daddy has come for you and he doesn’t have the magic.”
Mum held me tight as I fell.
I fell hard, plummeted into the
darkness where magic didn’t matter and nothing was the same. “Don’t
forget you have the circus inside you, magic lives in you my little
one. Keep practicing and you can find us again one day. When you can,
my baby, you run away back to the circus, because it’s your home.
You will always have it in you.”
The clown man looked angry and bent
down to where I was on the grass, he made me feel the fear as he
whispered in my ear, “Imogene, you can’t tell the secrets or I
will find you and get you in your sleep. Don’t forget we are
family, and that means not telling anyone.” I whimpered as my world
was falling apart. “Remember what happened to the lady with the
dogs who said I was bad? You know how bad I am Imogene, don’t you
ever forget.”
My father fetched me from the circus
that day, and my mother and the clown didn’t return with them the
following year, or ever again after that.
The tent disappeared from my vision,
but never from my heart. I have the circus in me. I always will.
Amazon best selling author Ashleigh
Giannoccaro lives In Jozi AKA Johannesburg South Africa with her high
school sweetheart also known as her husband and two young daughters.
She loves sunshine and psychopaths, her blood type is coffee and she
has a pet Meerkat called Porky. She is a full time mom and author,
and while she looks like the soccer mom on the surface her books are
another story.
As a youngster Ashleigh grew up
devouring thrillers and crime fiction, favouring Jeffrey Deaver all
the while reading Sweet Valley High to fit in with her friends. When
thrillers didn't give her the love and the romance novels didn’t
pack the punch she needed Ashleigh discovered the small genre of Dark
Romance and her heart was happy. Here’s where the lines of right
snd wrong get blurry and the bad guy gets the girl, Ashleigh found
the perfect balance of what she looked for in a book. When the time
came to write her own stories she knew exactly what they would be,
dark and twisted with just enough love. Colour My Ugly was published
in October 2014 and since then it’s been a whirlwind of words and
adventure that included a trip to the Books Are Bigger In Texas
signing in April 2016 and six novels beings let out into the universe
to challenge readers and hopefully leave a lasting mark.
Her Colour Series novels are dark
romance set within the lives of three crime families. She loves to
make you fall in love with the villain, because after all they need
love too. Three full length novels span three generations and
challenge ideas such as nature vs. nurture. Sometimes Ashleigh
conducts psychiatric experiments in between the pages, like that one
time she let two sociopaths fall in love. To her the bad guy doesn't
need to be redeemed to get the happy ending.
The best selling Red Market Series
followed when she teamed up with Mary E. Palmerin to see just how
dark a love story could be. The series pushed limits that had never
before been pushed and quickly become know as the darkest of the dark
reads. The two book series was given best seller status by Amazon,
even after ashleigh and Mary both believed it would be banned on
release day. She still asks herself “who does that?” about this
series quite regularly.
Now writing solo again Ashleigh has
turned a poll she took about her readers biggest fears and turned it
into a pyscho-erotic thriller about a clown. Cirque will make you
forget how much you fear them and hopefully make you fall in love
with the painted faces. A dark magical look inside the broken minds
of two characters with the circus in their blood, Cirque is something
completely different and new for Ashleigh.
When she’s not dreaming up crazy
stories or creating villains for you to love, Ashleigh spends her
time reading and supporting the Indie author community. Ashleigh has
a passion for words and is constantly seeking new ones to read and
write.
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