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Kali's Embrace: Twelve Hearts to Feed the Goddess
124 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 31, 2026
1 person is currently reading
62 people want to read
About the author
Jack D. Ace
4 books12 followersHey there, fellow travelers of the dark… I’m Jack. Jack D. Ace.
Welcome to the stretch of road I’ve been driving down for years — the one that never quite ends, even when the headlights flicker and the radio goes static.I live in New York, the kind of city that never sleeps and sometimes never lets you forget the things that hide in plain sight. By day I’m elbow-deep in code and servers in a glass tower in Manhattan, fixing what’s broken and writing lines that keep everything running. By night… well, that’s when the real work begins.I’ve spent decades chasing the kind of stories that make your skin crawl because they feel possible. Real terrors — Ed Gein’s quiet house, objects that carry bad luck like a stain you can’t scrub off, the kind of true-crime details that stick in your head at 3 a.m. — those are the things that fuel my fiction. My debut novel Ghoul Car: The Road Never Ends came out of all those late-night talks with my friend Peter Stadlera (yeah, that Peter Stadlera — the Goodreads horror legend who’s probably influenced me more than I’ll ever admit out loud), endless research, and the stubborn belief that some curses don’t fade… they just wait.I write the stuff that’s unflinching, visceral, the kind you feel in your gut long after you close the book. And I do it because I know there are readers out there who crave exactly that — who want to stare into the shadows and not look away.So if you’re here, if you’ve picked up Ghoul Car or you’re just curious about the guy behind the wheel… thank you. Seriously. Thank you for stepping into this ride with me.I hope we’ve got a long, twisted road ahead together. Plenty of dark turns, dead ends that aren’t really dead ends, and stories that’ll keep you up wondering what’s waiting just past the next mile marker.Buckle up. The engine’s already running.— Jack D. Ace
New York, somewhere between the skyscrapers and the nightmares
Welcome to the stretch of road I’ve been driving down for years — the one that never quite ends, even when the headlights flicker and the radio goes static.I live in New York, the kind of city that never sleeps and sometimes never lets you forget the things that hide in plain sight. By day I’m elbow-deep in code and servers in a glass tower in Manhattan, fixing what’s broken and writing lines that keep everything running. By night… well, that’s when the real work begins.I’ve spent decades chasing the kind of stories that make your skin crawl because they feel possible. Real terrors — Ed Gein’s quiet house, objects that carry bad luck like a stain you can’t scrub off, the kind of true-crime details that stick in your head at 3 a.m. — those are the things that fuel my fiction. My debut novel Ghoul Car: The Road Never Ends came out of all those late-night talks with my friend Peter Stadlera (yeah, that Peter Stadlera — the Goodreads horror legend who’s probably influenced me more than I’ll ever admit out loud), endless research, and the stubborn belief that some curses don’t fade… they just wait.I write the stuff that’s unflinching, visceral, the kind you feel in your gut long after you close the book. And I do it because I know there are readers out there who crave exactly that — who want to stare into the shadows and not look away.So if you’re here, if you’ve picked up Ghoul Car or you’re just curious about the guy behind the wheel… thank you. Seriously. Thank you for stepping into this ride with me.I hope we’ve got a long, twisted road ahead together. Plenty of dark turns, dead ends that aren’t really dead ends, and stories that’ll keep you up wondering what’s waiting just past the next mile marker.Buckle up. The engine’s already running.— Jack D. Ace
New York, somewhere between the skyscrapers and the nightmares
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 3, 2026
Kali incarnate on the page that is pure nightmare fuel! I’ve read a lot of occult and erotic horror, but nothing has ever hit like Kali’s Embrace. The way Ace builds Ruby’s seduction into something truly divine and apocalyptic is chilling. The explicit scenes are not just graphic—they’re sacramental, and they stay with you long after you finish. The transformation sequences and the city-wide descent into madness are genuinely frightening. This is the most powerful depiction of Kali I’ve read in fiction so far. Unforgettable and deeply disturbing. Highly recommended!
February 4, 2026
I decided to DNF this book very early on. While the premise of seductive horror with a deity like Kali could have been intriguing, the execution is highly problematic. The writing relies heavily on male gaze, sexualised descriptions, with the protagonist repeatedly reduced to body parts and eroticised “exotic” features. Her age is framed as a deficit, her skin and eyes are described through objectifying metaphors, and even her name (Ruby Vindaloo, and yes I understand it's probably just a way of labelling her as spicy) and her daughter’s name (Aryan) feel culturally insensitive and careless. Particularly when you realise it takes place in Munich.
The book also offers little in terms of plot or character development. The narrative quickly devolves into the protagonist having repeated sexual encounters, framed as service to a possessive, sexualised version of Kali. There is no meaningful exploration of the deity, culture, or character interiority, only repetitive, fetishised scenes.
The book also offers little in terms of plot or character development. The narrative quickly devolves into the protagonist having repeated sexual encounters, framed as service to a possessive, sexualised version of Kali. There is no meaningful exploration of the deity, culture, or character interiority, only repetitive, fetishised scenes.
February 1, 2026
I’ve been obsessed with Kali since I first saw her statue in a Kolkata temple at nineteen—black skin, lolling tongue, necklace of skulls, four arms dancing on corpses. She wasn’t evil; she was necessary. Creation and destruction fused into one ecstatic motion. No other deity scared and seduced me like that.
Horror fiction has given us vampires, demons, cosmic voids—but almost no one has dared to write Kali properly. Not as metaphor, not as costume, but as the living, fucking, devouring force she is. The gap was huge. Too huge.
So I wrote Kali's Embrace to fill it.
No safe words. No redemption. Just raw, ritualistic desire that ends in annihilation.
Ruby isn’t a villain. She’s the vessel. And when the vessel breaks open, the goddess walks.
This isn’t another polite occult thriller.
This is what happens when you let Kali wear the skin of a modern woman and give her twelve hearts to eat.
I didn’t want to scare you gently.
I wanted to scare you beautifully.
And I think I did.
Horror fiction has given us vampires, demons, cosmic voids—but almost no one has dared to write Kali properly. Not as metaphor, not as costume, but as the living, fucking, devouring force she is. The gap was huge. Too huge.
So I wrote Kali's Embrace to fill it.
No safe words. No redemption. Just raw, ritualistic desire that ends in annihilation.
Ruby isn’t a villain. She’s the vessel. And when the vessel breaks open, the goddess walks.
This isn’t another polite occult thriller.
This is what happens when you let Kali wear the skin of a modern woman and give her twelve hearts to eat.
I didn’t want to scare you gently.
I wanted to scare you beautifully.
And I think I did.
February 6, 2026
I would have liked more occultism and horror and less sex. Why did the prophesy call for twelve hearts, three would have been sufficient and I wouldn’t have had to read twelve quite similar sex scenes.
And I just couldn’t take the story seriously when Ruby’s last name was Vindaloo…
And I just couldn’t take the story seriously when Ruby’s last name was Vindaloo…
February 15, 2026
I really wanted to like this book more. The premise is fantastic, but the execution fell short. The constant repetitive descriptions were a bit too much. I needed more detail on Ruby's past before Kali. And what happened with Anna? I would've loved her perspective on things. Loved the ending, though.
February 16, 2026
Kali, Kali....Kali......Kaliii. Silence
Actual star score 4.5.
Again, this is a book by Jack that needs a trigger warning. If you don’t like books that involve extreme sexual activity, stay away. Plus, there is the suicidal implications.
Ruby, a dark, beautiful woman from India, teaches classes about religious ecstacy in Middle Eastern religions in a university in Munich, Germany. Married, with a 5 year old son, she has known since she was young that the goddess Kali and herself were destined to become one. Her father, the keeper of a small temple had blessed her in Kali's name, in front of her quiet, plain sister.
If you dare, as with all of Jack's books. If you have the courage to read to find out how Kali is fed, and Ruby's place in it all,read on....
Actual star score 4.5.
Again, this is a book by Jack that needs a trigger warning. If you don’t like books that involve extreme sexual activity, stay away. Plus, there is the suicidal implications.
Ruby, a dark, beautiful woman from India, teaches classes about religious ecstacy in Middle Eastern religions in a university in Munich, Germany. Married, with a 5 year old son, she has known since she was young that the goddess Kali and herself were destined to become one. Her father, the keeper of a small temple had blessed her in Kali's name, in front of her quiet, plain sister.
If you dare, as with all of Jack's books. If you have the courage to read to find out how Kali is fed, and Ruby's place in it all,read on....
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews