tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2180136450288929572024-03-04T22:43:10.133-08:00EnchantedUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger45125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218013645028892957.post-76887106170980118082012-05-20T18:34:00.001-07:002012-05-20T18:34:55.311-07:00Ok, so I've been gone a really long, long time! But I'm going to try to be back somewhat, if anyone's still out there! Hello? Hello? :)<br />
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So you may be wondering what I've been up to...unfortunately, I can't claim that I've been writing. I think I've hit some sort of mental roadblock with the third book in the series. I know how it's supposed to end up, but for whatever reason, I just can't seem to force myself to sit down and write at the moment. I want to, but I can't force myself. I will finish it, I have no doubt, but when the time is right. What I have been doing is a lot of reading and crafting and neglecting my housework! <br />
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I had an etsy store open last summer which had a few pieces of artwork up for sale. Didn't do too well, which was fine, but didn't give me the gumption to want to keep at it. Recently, for whatever reason, I seem to have been bitten by the crafting bug, as my mom would say, and I can't seem to stop making stuff! So I reopened my shop and have been having at it. I've got some random items on there, as well as a lot of fun coasters...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizWpeThDF4ylP6tocUdlqSIBr_2AhEJ1K5vkAx6JbgaaLY9QmjakHTkhtLt3QdhhXjIsutzgirxWVVRdK25Ms3s5nAH52zAQXTXtrAh7Z6qKJZvfE_Xv_-aY1TNc6xv0QcgrPm39O7ZXgY/s1600/alicecoasters.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizWpeThDF4ylP6tocUdlqSIBr_2AhEJ1K5vkAx6JbgaaLY9QmjakHTkhtLt3QdhhXjIsutzgirxWVVRdK25Ms3s5nAH52zAQXTXtrAh7Z6qKJZvfE_Xv_-aY1TNc6xv0QcgrPm39O7ZXgY/s320/alicecoasters.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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and flavored sugar cubes. So what does this have to do with all of you? Well, a.) I renamed my shop with a name with literary ties...The name is FromTheLookingGlass and b.) my most recent new crafting obsession is making handmade scrubs, lotion bars, body butter, solid perfumes, and lip balms...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5yR41y1SQ_B9Kxl6eBKPwNE24wogO94rm896bl3NRU16d3oXe_HZ19K-D_LDlkvQT2X1oX8lSzz6zA2RoTtpLlFHkg_UbWQ4bvhA-FBJ6SIpsX1_fcaq0-6BiWE-gCr-0miwor5lZOzIL/s1600/sugarscrub3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5yR41y1SQ_B9Kxl6eBKPwNE24wogO94rm896bl3NRU16d3oXe_HZ19K-D_LDlkvQT2X1oX8lSzz6zA2RoTtpLlFHkg_UbWQ4bvhA-FBJ6SIpsX1_fcaq0-6BiWE-gCr-0miwor5lZOzIL/s320/sugarscrub3.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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so where am I going with all this? I decided it would be cool to name some perfumes/butters/lip balms after certain girls, or characters, in the literary world! For example, a natural one would be Alice from Alice in Wonderland (because of the name of my shop obviously) or the Queen of hearts, etc. <br />
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So if anyone out there is still reading this blog, or happens to stop by and begins to read this blog, I'm curious (and curiouser) as to which characters you think would be good options to name scents after! It can be anybody (not just girls) from a book(s). So far, I'm definitely going with Alice, Gretel, Wendy, Little Red Riding Hood...but I'm looking for other ideas. I'm tempted to do Bella, even though I know that's probably been done into the ground, or Katniss...So anyone who wants to leave a comment I'd love to hear your ideas! And then go check out my shop <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/FromTheLookingGlass">http://www.etsy.com/shop/FromTheLookingGlass</a>! <br />
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I only have three scrubs up right now, but I have supplies coming in this week (which I'm dying to get my hands on) so there will be lots of new bath & body goodies posted soon! <br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218013645028892957.post-38655361402388645102011-11-12T04:56:00.000-08:002011-11-12T04:56:00.392-08:00Guest Post by J.E. Taylor<div dir="ltr" id="internal-source-marker_0.06227923422688325" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong>Today we have a late treat for you, author J.E. Taylor! Now here's J.E. Taylor on writing a series…</strong></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As my bio says, I started writing in 2007 and those first eighteen months provided for some serious prolific prose. I wrote eight full first drafts in that timeframe along with close to a dozen short stories. Twenty years of pent up stories - stories with flushed out plots, three dimensional characters and vivid scenes pieced together in the file cabinet in my mind and when I opened the drawer, man they just rocketed out.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I can still remember the feeling of typing </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The End</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> on my first book. Exhilaration. Pure and simple. For those that have never taken this on, it’s daunting and getting to the finish line can be just as grueling and satisfying as running a marathon.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">But before I could bask in the glow of my accomplishment, before I could take a breath, the characters clamored and demanded I scribe more of their lives and I dove in writing books two and three in my erotic Games Series.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It wasn’t until I finished the series (or so I thought) that I dusted off a novel I began over twenty years ago. That ragged start to a manuscript titled Mirror Lake completely lacked originality. College students trying to flee from a killer in the woods – hmmm – sounds a little too much like Friday the 13</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 7.199pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: super;">th</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> if you ask me.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Well, I re-tooled the plot, throwing in some twists and turns and that initial Friday the 13</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 7.199pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: super;">th</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-esque plot morphed into Dark Reckoning, a thriller/romance introducing my favorite cocky undercover G-man – Special Agent Steve Williams. I never set out to write another series. However, yet again, the characters wouldn’t leave me be and in the next book I took Steve Williams undercover into a highly profitable drug ring in New York City and threw in a serial killer side story just to complicate things. Thus Vengeance was born.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">By this time the characters from both series banged around in the file cabinets of my brain, making such a racket that I had to listen and this created seeds of a very intriguing thought.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The very idea of Special Agent Williams thrown in the same ring with Ty Aris was indeed a thrilling concept – a colossal what if...</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Oh yes, I went there.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As Author Poppet said, I went where very few dare to tread. In Hunting Season, I took a compelling crime novel and added a supernatural twist.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Imagine you’re a criminal that successfully hid from the eyes of the law for fifteen years. Into your life comes an FBI agent on the edge - and this Fed knows your identity. He also knows about your family’s unique set of supernatural gifts. Gifts that could help him hunt down a killer. Welcome to Hunting Season.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Still the characters would not let go, they kept rattling around upstairs while I focused on a couple ideas that I’ve had brewing and before I knew it, the seeds of the latest Steve Williams Novel, Georgia Reign, bloomed. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Georgia Reign takes place in the aftermath of Hunting Season and while Hunting Season was by far the most fun to write, Georgia Reign proved to be the most difficult for a variety of reasons. The blood, sweat and tears that went into Georgia Reign paid off when I got the following review from fellow author Gemma Rice: </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Georgia Reign is impossible to ignore or put down. Once you start reading, you are hooked. A good author gets you emotionally invested with the characters, and Taylor is an exceptional thriller author. If you love crime thrillers, you really HAVE to start reading the Steve Williams novels by J.E. Taylor. She takes you on a ride you will never forget. Gripping, disturbing, page turning crime thrillers don't get better than this.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">” Poppet / Gemma Rice – Author of Seithe, Darkroom and Djinn </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As if that’s not enough, here’s the back cover blurb for Georgia Reign. </span></div><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Special Agent Steve Williams, still reeling from the death of Chris Ryan and his unexpected inheritance, isn’t ready to step back into the line of fire. Relations with his wife are strained at best, and now he’s saddled with a new partner and a not so silent guardian angel. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">When his boss calls with news of another case, a serial killer in Atlanta targeting children, it strikes a nerve in Steve. Caught between responsibility and instinct, he makes a choice – a choice he’ll regret forever.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1sip12iSWdAqCtWPWG4e43OVln5uTi3WPXqiCrgxJ05s0KrmAODQdqahKvlQGuGO2I6_WqACjyiAX8uHD2Gwfm3uAAJMPDFYqQkC6zccEZB51hezfx6pWmfOk4SpIhYWNX7uiYAaKpGYH/s1600/taylor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1sip12iSWdAqCtWPWG4e43OVln5uTi3WPXqiCrgxJ05s0KrmAODQdqahKvlQGuGO2I6_WqACjyiAX8uHD2Gwfm3uAAJMPDFYqQkC6zccEZB51hezfx6pWmfOk4SpIhYWNX7uiYAaKpGYH/s1600/taylor.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Georgia-Reign-Steve-Williams-ebook/dp/B005KMLPH0/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1319069328&sr=1-1"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.amazon.com/Georgia-Reign-Steve-Williams-ebook/dp/B005KMLPH0/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1319069328&sr=1-1</span></a></div></div><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Georgia-Reign-Steve-Williams-ebook/dp/B005KMLPH0/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1319069328&sr=1-1"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></a><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">J.E. Taylor is a writer, a publisher, an editor, a manuscript formatter, a mother, a wife and a business analyst, not necessarily in that order. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">She first sat down to seriously write in February of 2007 after her daughter asked:</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Mom, if you could do anything, what would you do?”</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">From that moment on, she hasn’t looked back and now her writing resume includes six+ published novels along with several short stories on the virtual shelves including a few within eXcessica anthologies.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In addition to being co-owner of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Novel Concept Publishing (</span><a href="http://www.novelconceptpublishing/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">www.novelconceptpublishing</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">)</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, Ms. Taylor also moonlights as an Assistant Editor of Allegory (</span><a href="http://www.allegoryezine.com/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">www.allegoryezine.com</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">), an online venue for Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror. She has been known to edit a book or two and also offers her services judging writing contests for various RWA chapters.</span></div><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">She lives in Connecticut with her husband and two children and during the summer months enjoys her weekends on the shore in southern Maine. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Visit her at </span><a href="http://www.jetaylor75.com/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">www.jetaylor75.com</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">.</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218013645028892957.post-67442983262206818312011-11-02T10:33:00.000-07:002011-11-02T10:33:06.463-07:00Last Days of Twisted: Guest Post by Lizzy Ford<strong>Last up for Twisted is a little treat from Lizzy Ford, author of the <em>Rhyn Trilogy</em> and <em>War of God</em> series...<em>A Demon's Desire</em> is currently free as a little Halloween present for all of you! So go download and get to reading!! For now here's a little bit about Lizzy:</strong><br />
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Lizzy Ford is the hyper-prolific author of the Rhyn Trilogy and War of God series, both launched in 2011, as well as multiple single title sweet paranormal romances. Lizzy’s books have reached into the bestseller lists on both Amazon US and Amazon UK for multiple categories. Lizzy is considered by most to be the ultimate writing freak of nature for her abilityto write and publish a novel every 30-45 days.<br />
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<strong>Synopsis:</strong> Emma crossed paths with a black witch in an ill-fated love triangle that ended in Emma fleeing and the death of the man they both loved. Two years later, the witch is seeking revenge. Emma turns to the only person who can help her: a man rumored to be half-demon with the power to control the shadows. Tristan agrees to help her lift the curse on her family but isn’t prepared for what he uncovers.<br />
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Link: <a href="http://www.guerrillawordfare.com/2011/10/a-demons-desire/">http://www.guerrillawordfare.com/2011/10/a-demons-desire/</a><br />
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Lizzy’s books are available from Amazon, BN, Smashwords,iBooks/iTunes, and all other eReader libraries. <br />
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Lizzy's website: <a href="http://www.guerrillawordfare.com/">http://www.guerrillawordfare.com/</a><br />
<a href="http://www.guerrillawordfare.com/"></a>Facebook fan page: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/#!/LizzyFordBooks">http://www.facebook.com/#!/LizzyFordBooks</a><br />
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/#!/LizzyFordBooks"></a>Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/LizzyFord2010">http://twitter.com/#!/LizzyFord2010</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218013645028892957.post-42444350709214460532011-11-02T10:25:00.000-07:002011-11-02T10:25:56.851-07:00Last Days of Twisted: Guest Post by John Blackport<span id="internal-source-marker_0.5327021195869516" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 7.199pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;"><span style="font-size: small;"><strong>So here in lovely New England, we got slammed with a lovely snow storm...a trick instead of a treat! I've had no internet connection over the last few days, but I've actually been one of the lucky ones because we've had power. So you'll have to excuse my tardiness with the last two posts I had planned for my Twisted feature! This being said, you'll be getting the last two posts today...first up, John Blackport, author of <em>Raingun</em>....</strong></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 7.199pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;"><span style="font-size: small;">I’ve got the</span> <span style="font-size: small;">most shocking Halloween costume planned. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;">Everyone’s going to hate it! It’s offensive! It’s disgusting! I’m dressing up as one of the most depraved, miserable things in existence. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;">I’m going to jump out at passing Trick-or-Treaters dressed as an adverb. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;">Kids will run in horror, and even the most jaded adolescent roped into shepherding their siblings through my neighborhood will pale at the sight of such a horrible menace. The first batch of kids will run away screaming. The second batch will require years of therapy. Before a third batch can be traumatized, the police will cordon off my property with yellow tape, which will soon be lined by legions of outraged parents with torches and pitchforks. Police will wait for haz-mat suits, wondering how they’ll contain a threat like me in time to head off the military nuking the town from orbit. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;">Thanks to Anti-Adverb Hysteria. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;">Sometimes anti-adverb fervor is misapplied by an over-reliance on typing “ly” into Word’s "Find and Replace" function. This is because when it comes to overused adverbs, the most insidious of these DO NOT END with the -ly suffix: "just", "even", "quite" and "still". This can be confusing: “just” is good when used as an adjective, while “even” and “still” can each be used as a verb or an adjective; but when used as adverbs, they are often unnecessary. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;">Come to think of it, "often" is a distant fifth to that list --- because it's "often" unnecessary. (Not here, though!) </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;">Anti-adverb hysteria also claims innocent bystanders. Decent, law-abiding adjectives can get caught in the crossfire of drive-by adverb hunters because the letters "ly" happen to grace their caboose. “Friendly” and “lovely” are the most obvious examples, along with “deadly”, “lonely”, “silly”, “ugly” and “smelly” --- all of which are useful adjectives to have around on Halloween! </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;">I once wrote a scene once where a single mother --- a professional dancer --- was separated from her son after she was wrongly accused of child trafficking. As it happened, she was cleared a day or two later, and was taken by wagon to be reunited with him. It was a very emotional moment for this character: she was worried about her son’s safety, eager to hug him again, but still angry at having been falsely accused. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;">Coming out of the wagon, she slipped. I was not telling the story from the mother’s point of view, so I couldn’t get the reader directly into her head. But I felt it important to show --- not tell! --- the reason </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;">why </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;">she slipped just then (it was her emotional state). If I didn’t show the reason, readers may have thought the woman had been too nervous to eat (and was hungry); hadn’t slept (and was tired); or was eager to touch her son again (thereby leaping off the wagon before it had come to a complete stop). I didn’t want anyo f these outcomes. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;">Readers may have even ignored the fact that she slipped --- which I didn’t want either. Dancers don’t slip all the time. And mothers forcibly separated from their children don’t get reunited with them every day either. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;">I suppose I could have made a bigger deal of the woman’s slip --- I could have her do a faceplant into a mud puddle, for example. And if she was fifty pounds overweight, maybe I would have done it that way. But she was a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;">dancer. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;"> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;">So I found it appropriate to add a smidgen more description to modify the verb, “slipped”. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;"> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;">To modify the verb, I suppose I could have used a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;">phrase</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;"> rather than an adverb. But the worst effect of adverbs isn’t their overuse, but the outrages spawned by the semantic gymnastics of writers trying to *avoid* them. The most common effect seems to be the Unwanted Prepositional Phrase, i.e. "in a sad lament", "with a happy lilt to her voice," "under her angry brow", “with a predatory look in her eye”, or the like --- which only makes the prose more wordy. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;">The purpose of including the scene of the mother-son reunion was to foreshadow conflict in their future relationship. Since it was expository, I had to keep the pace </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;">fast.. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;">Nothing’s faster than one word. So I used . . . an adverb. I’ll bet you’re wondering which one! But that will have to remain a mystery.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;">Frankly, I’ve forgotten </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;">precisely</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;"> which adverb I used. Looking it up would be difficult because ultimately, I cut that scene for word count. But if it hadn’t been cut, I would have kept the adverb! </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;">And I’d do it again! </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;">Try and stop me . . . ! </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;">BWAHAHAHA! </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-hJNoNPEyDoEikBL9SHbML3D7_CQAmkym18F24zGWZHhpk9lLrF2SY6M_pl8VLc1EgIVfwUCuMgzigOEeBg2SnkWi9FN9SPPti6OPptP15htIMNelil89nE5R9_n-wqYxG3Flhr3Yr9FW/s1600/raingun.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-hJNoNPEyDoEikBL9SHbML3D7_CQAmkym18F24zGWZHhpk9lLrF2SY6M_pl8VLc1EgIVfwUCuMgzigOEeBg2SnkWi9FN9SPPti6OPptP15htIMNelil89nE5R9_n-wqYxG3Flhr3Yr9FW/s320/raingun.jpg" width="245" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><strong>Synopsis of <em>Raingun</em>:</strong></div><strong></strong><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;"></span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.041993399106990736" style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;">Rick Rivoire is flush with money, women, and prospects. He protects his country as one of the Rainguns, an elite regiment of spellcasting cavalry.<br class="kix-line-break" /><br class="kix-line-break" />But national policy drifts ominously into slavery and religious persecution, sparking rebellion. Joining the rebels could land Rick on a prison ship, in slave-irons --- or atop the same gallows where he watched his father hang.<br class="kix-line-break" /><br class="kix-line-break" />The alternative looks no brighter. The status quo imperils Rick’s hard-won self-respect. Supporting tyranny would doom his dream to emulate the valiant swordswoman who braved a den of monsters to rescue the lonely, terrified nine-year-old boy he once was.<br class="kix-line-break" /><br class="kix-line-break" />Rick can’t stay above the fray forever. He must either defend an aristocracy whose actions disgust him --- or risk everything he has.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;">Half of this e-book's royalties will go to the Scleroderma Research Foundation, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;">a 501(c)3 nonprofit. The story contains sex and violence, and is intended for adults only. </span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><strong>Excerpt from <em>Raingun</em>:</strong><br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.5542313831241561" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> "Those two are cute together, old and in love,” said Danya. “You mustn’t tell them that, though. Shall we sit?”</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“I’m sure you want to sit again after singing so powerfully. So how did Joaquim lose his eyes?”</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“In Fedyrshchenkoff. He was tortured, for stealing. When he was in the army.”</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Rick’s blood slowed. “That’s awful.”</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“The awful part was losing his eyes. But you knew that.”</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“When did this happen?”</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Many years ago. He sold the army’s korba on the black market. He’s lucky they didn’t execute him.”</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Execution might have been kinder.”</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“He had only one Gift left, even then. Or at least he said he did. No doubt that helped convince them to spare his life.”</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“How long did they have him?”</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Oh, many months. Over a year, maybe two. You can see from the way he shuffles, his hip was broken too. Twice, with a hammer.”</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Why do all that to a helpless old man?”</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“He wasn’t so old and helpless then. They hoped he’d give up names of the buyers. But he didn’t know their names, so that was that. Eventually they believed him and sent him home.” Danya finished rolling something between papers, lit it on the table’s candle, and brought it to her mouth to inhale. “But they beat him very often. He had a bad time.”</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“How did he get through it?”</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Why don’t you ask him.”</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“I can’t do that. It might upset him.”</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“And so what? He’s blind. He can’t hurt you.” She grinned archly. “If he tries to hit you, you can run away.”</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Rick tried to sound firm, but not too serious. “I will not force an amiable old blind fellow who reminds me of my grandfather to relive torture.”</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Oh why the hell not! He makes everyone else relive it. Some days he won’t shut up about it.”</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“So he talks of it often? How did he get through it?”</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Well, Joaquim says. . .” she tapped her hand holding the gasper, trying to shake off ash it didn’t have. “He imagined Samantha’s face. When someone tortures you? They control your thought, so there’s no escape. But some people escape, back to comforting memories, and stay there.”</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“What do you mean, stay there?” Rick didn’t like having his brow knit in front of Danya, because it didn’t show him at his best. But he couldn’t help it now. “Do you mean, they stay there forever, lost forever? Don’t the torturers try to drag them out?”</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Danya exhaled, her face resigned. “I’m sure they do.”</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Like a wolf, trying to get at a rabbit hidden in a hollow log. Only the rabbit can’t bolt out the other side, because it’s stuck now.”</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Danya surveyed him. “You’ve thought about this a lot, haven’t you?” </span></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><strong><em>Raingun</em> is available at:</strong> </div><br />
Amazon: : <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Raingun-The-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B005HQ4JAO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319832417&sr=8-1">http://www.amazon.com/Raingun-The-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B005HQ4JAO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319832417&sr=8-1</a><br />
Barnes & Noble: <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/raingun-john-blackport/1104952552?ean=2940013138414&itm=1&usri=raingun">http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/raingun-john-blackport/1104952552?ean=2940013138414&itm=1&usri=raingun</a> <br />
Smashwords: <a href="http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/81283">http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/81283</a><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 7.199pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub;"></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218013645028892957.post-15944116361952582352011-10-29T09:53:00.000-07:002011-10-29T09:53:44.710-07:0023rd Day of Twisted: Guest Post by Benjamin AndrewsHey all...So there's been a few bumps in the road with my Twisted feature here, but I guess that was to be expected. And I'm back on track today...so without further ado, here's Benjamin Andrews, author of <em>Rift of Askrah</em>. Enjoy!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7lAqcfO0H9fap9wONE4OcvR1xQ-SDQgaIG6yekYHneDd6Cn78B-G1rQpSdpoFmne_GulXJulW2IdU3xS632a6g0WmlFs7T94A3FvzlEVqurBz9YjoiwoOthWZlEPhbu4_rJXUD3aPR_4N/s1600/benandrews.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7lAqcfO0H9fap9wONE4OcvR1xQ-SDQgaIG6yekYHneDd6Cn78B-G1rQpSdpoFmne_GulXJulW2IdU3xS632a6g0WmlFs7T94A3FvzlEVqurBz9YjoiwoOthWZlEPhbu4_rJXUD3aPR_4N/s1600/benandrews.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><strong>Meet the Author - Benjamin Andrews<o:p></o:p></strong><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">First I'd like to thank Rachel for giving me the opportunity to do a guest post on this blog. As an introduction, I am Benjamin Andrews. I've loved books since I was young, and have always enjoyed getting lost in other worlds. I've written various books and stories throughout my youth, and after graduating from college in February of 2011, I set to fulfilling my next life goal. Becoming an author.<o:p></o:p></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Out of various projects I've created over the years, I finally settled on the Rift of Askrah series to be my pilot project. It was tough to decide what I wanted to write first, but after a lot of introspection, I finally settled on this series, which was my second book idea ever. The first time I ever wrote anything associated with this series was at the age of 15. I had just finished the outline to my first series, when this one came to me. I opted to write down this new idea instead of forge on with my first book.<o:p></o:p></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Life has a funny way of taking us down different paths though, and I didn't write for quite some time. After my college graduation though, I decided it was time again, and the Rift of Askrah series was chosen.<o:p></o:p></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><strong>*About the Rift of Askrah series*<o:p></o:p></strong></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><o:p> </o:p>Rift of Askrah is the story of Nihlen Draven, prince of the nation of Draven. His entire life has been spent preparing to take the throne in the future. Nihlen is a highly gifted person, and an ideal candidate to be king.<o:p></o:p></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The world has enjoyed a long era of peace. Peace never lasts forever though, and danger is brewing in the shadows. The scale tips when Nihlen is kidnapped from his castle, during a ceremony he knows little about. The breaking of that ceremony leads to something awakening in Nihlen.<o:p></o:p></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><o:p> </o:p>What awakens is an ability, powers similar to magic. These abilities are just one of the many changes the world is experiencing. Nihlen's kidnapping is only the beginning of these events, and after escaping his confinement, with the help of two of his kidnappers, Nihlen discovers his nation has been invaded by the neighboring kingdom of Rinh. His life now lost to him, Nihlen is forced to flee his homeland. He embarks on a quest to save his kingdom, and is pulled into this changing age. The past of once great nation known as Askrah is resurfacing, and that history centers around Nihlen. Saving his kingdom is only the beginning of the trials he will have to face before all is said and done.<o:p></o:p></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggG3nRUSoJ72SSNkhodWB4tDDsw0_zNDbOuPgFVs0U7mDw6UediIYa0Df4CPsglyYLq3gW6FD3CRcUOpzpPZWB-VQhL7KUq1jJY7tRlu7j22h9AHez7BXyfwDMLEuqpdXHeJQ-BhkPwRj8/s1600/riftofaskrah.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggG3nRUSoJ72SSNkhodWB4tDDsw0_zNDbOuPgFVs0U7mDw6UediIYa0Df4CPsglyYLq3gW6FD3CRcUOpzpPZWB-VQhL7KUq1jJY7tRlu7j22h9AHez7BXyfwDMLEuqpdXHeJQ-BhkPwRj8/s320/riftofaskrah.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><strong>*Purchase Rift of Askrah Book 1: Fracture<o:p></o:p></strong></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Rift-Askrah-Book-Fracture-ebook/dp/B0059XRUJW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317601070&sr=8-1"><span style="color: navy;">Amazon</span></a><o:p></o:p></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/66698"><span style="color: navy;">Smashwords</span></a><o:p></o:p></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/rift-of-askrah-book-1-benjamin-andrews/1104360692?ean=2940011392061&itm=1&usri=rift+of+askrah"><span style="color: navy;">B&N-Nook</span></a><o:p></o:p></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><strong><o:p> </o:p>*About the Writing Process*<o:p></o:p></strong></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Writing books has been one of the most adventurous events of my life. I've imbued a part of my soul into it, and it has taken a life of its own. I've felt few things as rewarding as completing my first book. Seeing the totality of my work out there for others to read and enjoy feels incredible. As I crafted the environments, plots, and characters, I fell into another world. Inside my mind, I can see them at their moments of triumphs, and moments of defeat. I can feel the energy surging through the air, as if an electric current ran through the air.<o:p></o:p></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">When you read my books, I hope you feel the same thing.<o:p></o:p></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><strong><o:p> </o:p>*My Message To Other Writers*<o:p></o:p></strong></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">No matter how you do it, entering the publishing world can be a daunting task. Either facing a mountain of rejection letters, or swimming in obscurity as an independent author. It can be easy to get discouraged, but never give up on your dream! Keep at it, and always keep writing something new. If you work at it, and learn all you can, the rest will work itself out.<o:p></o:p></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><strong><o:p> </o:p>*Find Me On The Web*<o:p></o:p></strong></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Connect with me on the web for up to date information about upcoming and current books, original poetry, blog posts, tweets, and all kinds of other information.<o:p></o:p></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><o:p> </o:p><a href="http://magicjarpublishing.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: navy;">My Blog</span></a><o:p></o:p></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://twitter.com/#!/MagicJarPublish"><span style="color: navy;">Twitter</span></a><o:p></o:p></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/MagicJarPublishing"><span style="color: navy;">Facebook Fan Page</span></a><o:p></o:p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218013645028892957.post-37503949688300244542011-10-25T09:45:00.000-07:002011-10-25T09:45:11.964-07:0019th Day of Twisted: Guest Post by Tallulah Grace19th Day of Twisted already! Today we have Tallulah Grace, author of <em>Fate</em>, <em>Spellbound</em>, and <em>Destiny</em>, with an exciting excerpt from <em>Fate</em>. Enjoy!<br />
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I’ve always been infatuated with experiences and events relating to the paranormal. As a student of psychology, I also find sociopaths, psychopaths and people with even a hint of abnormal behavior intriguing. It’s no wonder that my first trilogy includes three novels that tell the stories of three best friends, all with individual paranormal abilities. Don’t think I left out the psychos; the first two books of the series, FATE and SPELLBOUND, have villainous characters that easily fit into any social setting. The third book, DESTINY, explores reincarnation and the possibility that love can last for more than one lifetime.<br />
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In FATE, Timeless Trilogy, BookOne, Kris Collins is stalked by a serial killer, but how did she ever land on his radar? In the spirit of Halloween, I’m sharing a glimpse into one of their first encounters. The most frightening aspect of this scenario is that it could happen to anyone.<br />
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“I told you not to wear that cat suit. You look like sin on a stick.” Kris laughed as Roni struck a pose.<br />
“Can I help it if Charleston men can’t behave in polite company? I thought Southerners were raised better. Whose idea was this anyway?” <br />
“Yours.” Cassie rolled her eyes as she tried to maneuver across the cobblestone sidewalk on stilettos. “I believe your exact words were, ‘Come on, girls, let’s kick up our heels.’ I could cheerfully kick these heels to kingdom come about now. What were we thinking?” Cassie gave up and stepped out of the torturous shoes,wincing as her feet touched the cold stones.<br />
“Atleast you can get out of yours.” Kris grabbed Cassie’s arm for balance. “I’m strapped into these things three different ways. Why does something that looks so good have to feel so bad?”<br />
“Because men design them; they don’t have to wear them.” Roni sidestepped a group of partygoers taking up most of the walkway. One man stopped to admire her choice of costume. <br />
“Hey little kitty cat, wanna come home with me?” He stumbled slightly, leering first at Roni, then at Cassie and Kris as they stepped to her side. “Your friends are welcome too; we’ll have us a party.” <br />
“In your dreams, Dumbo.” Roni mumbled as the girls switched to the opposite side of the street.<br />
“Hey. Where you going?” The man called, then began to follow.<br />
“Why did we park so far away?” Kris asked as she dug into her purse for pepperspray.<br />
“No worries,” Roni sounded more confident than she felt. “He’s just a harmless drunk.” Looking back, she frowned at the man’s persistence. His progress had been stalled by several groups of trick-or-treaters, but he was now moving towards them with determination and no signs of inebriation. <br />
Cassie glanced back as well and sighed. “What is it about Halloween that brings out the crazies?”<br />
Kris, still digging into her purse, walked straight into a hard, stationary body. <br />
“Oh, I’m sorry.” She apologized as two strong arms helped to steady her. “I’m afraid I didn’t see you.” A pleasant musky aroma that was purely male surrounded her. She stepped back and he slowly dropped his hold.<br />
“No harm done.” He assured her with an engaging smile. “I was also distracted.” Hegestured to the pseudo drunk, now weaving his way through the line of parked cars that separated him from the sidewalk. “Is that gentleman bothering you?” <br />
“That, sir, is no gentleman.” Roni gave her best southern belle impression as she turned to answer the tall stranger.<br />
“In that case, would you ladies like an escort?” His smile briefly included Roniand Cassie before returning to Kris.<br />
“Thanks,” Kris replied, “but our car is just ahead. We’ll be fine.” She met his gaze before pulling the spray from her purse. “Besides, we’re prepared.” She shook the pink canister back and forth.<br />
“So I see.” The handsome stranger tilted his hat and stepped aside, allowing themto pass. “In that case, have a lovely evening ladies.”<br />
“Thanks, you too.” Kris and Cassie spoke in unison as they moved past him. Roni eyed him slowly as she followed. Waiting until he was out of earshot, she poked Kris on the arm. “I think he likes you.”<br />
Kris laughed. “He was just being nice.” She glanced back and met the stranger’s stare. Turning quickly back around, she hastened her pace. “Let’s get home.” <br />
Cassie’s antique Victorian mansion stood only a few streets over from the party. The two minute drive home took almost twenty, thanks to slow moving traffic on streets filled with pedestrians. Goblins, witches, monsters and an array of other costume-clad kids and adults roamed the residential lanes leading to Battery Park. <br />
“Look, there’s Cassie thirty years from now.” Roni pointed at a child dressed as an old hag, dragging a bag nearly filled with candy. <br />
“Speak for yourself, cat woman. At least my costume leaves a little to the imagination.” Cassie teased.<br />
“Look over there,” Kris pointed at the entrance to one of Charleston’s many graveyards. “What do you think they’re supposed to be?” <br />
“Looks like a cross between Frankenstein and the mummy who ate Ohio.” Roni quipped. <br />
The women were so absorbed with the sights and sounds of Halloween, that they failed to notice the man standing in the shadows of the old oak tree towering over Cassie’s front lawn. Moving closer to the tree as they pulled into the driveway, he considered his prey. <br />
“Stupid woman,” he whispered aloud. “She didn’t even recognize me.” <br />
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FATE, SPELLBOUND and DESTINYare available separately or as a compilation at Amazon. Visit <a href="http://www.tallulahgrace.com/">http://www.tallulahgrace.com</a> for more details, or start the journey by taking a look inside FATE here, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0054QZNRA">http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0054QZNRA</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218013645028892957.post-44822716525106797122011-10-24T08:04:00.000-07:002011-10-24T08:04:22.906-07:0018th Day of Twisted: Guest Post by Artemis HuntIt's the 18th Day of Twisted, and unfortunately, Monday...the upside to this is that we have Artemis Hunt here, author of <em>Snow White and the Alien</em> (as well as many more titles), to brighten your morning! Enjoy!<br />
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I'm exactly 2 months into indie publishing, and it has been a heck of a rollercoaster ride. I didn't know what to expect. I guess I was naive. I was a traditionally published author before this, and sales tend to be very huge at launch, where you get maximal display on the HOT NEW RELEASES shelves, and bookstores give you front table space. So you make most of your sales in the first few months of your launch. I remember during one Xmas, I sold 100 books in one bookstore alone and climbed to the No. 2 of their bestseller charts.<br />
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Then after a while, your books get relegated to other shelves, and sales taper off. So it's all about frontage for traditionally published print books.<br />
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I indie published because I heard so much about it from Joe Konrath and Amanda Hocking. So I decided to try it. My first book that I indie published was SNOW WHITE AND THE ALIEN. I was avidly watching sales every day and being a nervous wreck about it. Finally, I couldn't bear putting all my eggs in one book, so I released 2 more novels and several short stories from my traditionally published backlist. All this happened within 2 months. I diversified in many genres - YA fantasy, romantic comedy, horror, erotica - just to see what would take off.<br />
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My sales look like this:<br />
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Aug (1 week): 14<br />
Sept: 44<br />
Oct: 332 (as of time of writing, Oct 21st)<br />
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I soon discovered what took off quickly - erotica! I wrote several short stories under another pen name, and all within 6 hours each. I charged $2.99 for a 5500-word story, and they still sold! I diversified my platforms - I sold not only on Amazon and Smashwords, but All Romance Ebooks and Bookstrand. As a result, I made many sales on many sources. <br />
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My other books might take off later, or they mightn't take off at all. All I know is I didn't stop writing. I learned to do my own professional looking covers for several bucks each, using Dreamstime and Fotolia. As a result, I learned to keep production costs down. I never turned my back on traditional publishing either. I'm in the midst of submitting manuscripts to agents even now (since I parted ways with my old agent a long time ago). My longtime friend and beta-reader just got a $100K Big Six book deal on a book I helped her with, and so I truly believe we should diversify even on those channels - trad publishing and indie! <br />
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It can be done!<br />
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So all this is what I learned so far, and I wanted to share it with all of you. It's not all this or all that. Open your mind, and soon you'll find your niche.<br />
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Please visit my blog at <a href="http://artemishunt.blogspot.com/">http://artemishunt.blogspot.com/</a> for more stories :)<br />
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Artemis HuntUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218013645028892957.post-91842339056008222822011-10-23T05:51:00.000-07:002011-10-23T05:51:33.916-07:0017th Day of Twisted: Guest Post by Dannika Dark<span id="internal-source-marker_0.3271207981910598" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It's the 17th day of Twisted, and we have Dannika Dark, author of <em>Sterling</em>. Story sounds awesome, and the cover looks great! </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">When I was a little girl, I never dreamed of Prince Charming sweeping me off my feet. My head was always in the realm of fantasy, just not </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">that</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> kind of fantasy. I wanted to step through mirrors into alternate worlds, shapeshift, or discover I was a magical being with hidden powers I never thought possible. Fantasy has always been a huge part of my life because it is the heart and soul of imagination. It cannot be explained by numbers, analyzed beneath a microscope, nor does it have limitations.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Then I grew up in a world where everything has an explanation. Yet, there has always been a part of me that is completely fascinated with mythology. What really lurks in the dark shadows? Why do some things have no explanation?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">When I started writing, I thought about the very definition we have placed on every fantasy creature from vampire to mage to ghosts. Some like to think the rules are set in stone. I like to think that if these creatures did exist, that they have removed themselves so completely from humans that everything we thought we knew was wrong. Perhaps they even contributed to some of the false beliefs that have floated around for centuries. It keeps them safe; it keeps them misunderstood. Before technology came along, people lived isolated lives. They feared outsiders and those that were different from them. Someone with power or unique abilities would create fear and jealousy. Therefore it became easy to tell those bedtime stories to children about vampires, the big bad wolf, witches, and trolls. That became the foundation for "Sterling", my first novel.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Zoë Merrick is a woman living an ordinary life when one evening she is brutally attacked and murdered. Except, she isn't really dead. She has been changed into something else, something not human. The really exciting part was discovering right along with her that she was a Mage. I didn't want to stray completely from the idea of what a Mage was - which is a sorcerer or warlock. By definition, it is a person with power. In "Sterling", a Mage is an energy source that uses power and manipulates it. I loved this door opening because it paved the way for each breed that I've written about and allowed such flexibility. A writer’s world is not made of concrete walls; it is expansive and ever changing. It is a never ending canvas. What I love about writing is that I get to unleash that world into written form and allow readers to cross over. I'm very excited to be able to share my books and hope that you love "Sterling" as much as I do.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Dannika Dark</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiEtUQHe1gJ6H4v6chkowgNv8rQ4tyjLsJUURd74mULp8qSQFBq6rQm_7vQBvF4lJ29PbSG5L2lKN3uQgzANA5u6Ek5ufcXOOtXkp6NxOU3T5WogpaX6DF-3coitCd-AOgq9QPLcaOb3uD/s1600/dannika+dark.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiEtUQHe1gJ6H4v6chkowgNv8rQ4tyjLsJUURd74mULp8qSQFBq6rQm_7vQBvF4lJ29PbSG5L2lKN3uQgzANA5u6Ek5ufcXOOtXkp6NxOU3T5WogpaX6DF-3coitCd-AOgq9QPLcaOb3uD/s320/dannika+dark.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">"STERLING" IS AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE ON AMAZON: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sterling-Mageri-Book-1-ebook/dp/B005LHI8K6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1315708957&sr=8-1">http://www.amazon.com/Sterling-Mageri-Book-1-ebook/dp/B005LHI8K6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1315708957&sr=8-1</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">My Blog: <a href="http://dannikadark.blogspot.com/">http://dannikadark.blogspot.com/</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218013645028892957.post-66608830764896991532011-10-22T09:07:00.000-07:002011-10-22T09:07:19.685-07:0016th Day of Twisted: Guest Post by Ty HutchinsonIt's the 16th day of Twisted, which means I've got Ty Hutchinson, author of <em>Chop Suey</em>. Happy reading!<br />
<br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.4446845269172352" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I hate writing about writing. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I try to like it but I don’t. Some writers are very good at it. They’re interesting and informative. I’m not. That’s why I let them handle it. I also suck at writing about the industry too. There are a lot of authors out there who have their fingers on the pulse of this business. They can read an article and in minute spit out a blog post breaking it down, complete with opinions. I’m happy to let them own that. I’m also pretty bad at keeping the two big author arguments alive: traditional versus self-publishing and ninety-nine cents versus two ninety-nine. Boy, some authors are really good at sucking people into that debate.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I know it looks like I don’t contribute much to the conversation. You’re right, at least not in that way.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">However, I am pretty good at killing people. I push them off buildings. I’ll slice their necks with a butcher knife. I can dismember them. I’ll beat them until they’re almost dead and then let the animals finish them off. I don’t know how I got so good at it. I never took classes. The gift of gutting doesn’t run in my family. Prodigy? Perhaps. In any case, I’ll stick with what I know. This is how I contribute. I hope I’m helpful to other writers in the same way they’re helpful to me.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Excuse me. I’ve got some killing to do.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ty Hutchinson is a writer living in Northern California. When he’s not writing, he might be traveling, gaming, eating or sharpening his knife. You can buy his latest book, Chop Suey on </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Chop-Darby-Stansfield-Thriller-ebook/dp/B004YKZP0M/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_t_2"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Amazon</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> and </span><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/chop-suey-ty-hutchinson/1100441538?ean=2940012458421&itm=2&usri=ty%2bhutchinson"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Barnes & Noble</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. It’s a wickedly funny, action thriller. Visit his blog at </span><a href="http://tyhutchinson.wordpress.com/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">tyhutchinson.wordpress.com</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> for more nonsense.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218013645028892957.post-90758568788894231362011-10-21T06:50:00.000-07:002011-10-21T06:50:39.456-07:0015th Day of Twisted: Scary MoviesIt's the 15th Day of Twisted, and I have to admit that I must be asleep at the controls because I can't find today's featured author's post! I made a calendar with people's names on each date that they volunteered to post on, and I have my author's first name written down, but I can't find her post anywhere in my email or anywhere else. So, my fault and I apologize. <br />
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So since I don't know how to contact this first name only mysterious author, I decided to talk about scary movies. It is almost Halloween after all. I saw an article on MSN.com the other day about the 50 scariest movies of all time. After flipping through the slide show, I had to admit I just didn't agree with them. I mean, they had some stuff on there that I had just thought was funny, like the Exorcist. Don't get me wrong, that is fun to watch, but I don't really find it scary. Weird, yes. Creepy, kinda. Scary, no. <br />
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Scary movies seem to go a few ways for me: terrifying, amusing, or let down. Could also be a combination of these labels. For example, I found Thirteen Ghosts terrifying. I would not watch that again if you paid me. I hated that guy with his head in the box. I already said I found the Exorcist amusing. I just watched Paranormal Activity and I found that to be a combination of all three labels. It was creepy, not terrifying. I laughed at the part where she got dragged out of her bed and down the hall. And I hated how the movie ended, total let down. <br />
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So what are your thoughts? Scariest movie of all time? Supposedly scary movie that you found to be more of a comedy or stupid? Comment away!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218013645028892957.post-23406772294828259472011-10-20T04:15:00.000-07:002011-10-20T04:15:55.514-07:0014th Day of Twisted: Guest Post by Tammie Clarke Gibbs<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It's the 14th Day of Twisted and we have Tammie Clarke Gibbs, author of <em>Island of Secrets</em>. Looks intriguing! </span><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><br />
</div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">If there’s one thing I’ve learned as an author it’s that an idea can come from anywhere.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><br />
</div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The loose concept for ISLAND OF SECRETS, my debut novel, came from a family history. The small red book, compiled by a distant family member was written to give each of us insight into our ancestors. In addition, it contained a historical account (whether accurate or legend I couldn’t say) that inspired me to elaborate, and the result was the #1 Bestselling Gothic Romance and #5th Bestselling Time Travel 9/14/11 at Amazon US. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><br />
</div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Imagine a family crest, a ship held up to land by a severed and bloody palm. Imagine a woman struggling with her own problems, pretending to be somebody else to help a friend out who discovers a note of warning dated hundreds of years before she was born and addressed to HER. Imagine an Island of Secrets.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><br />
</div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I love an old manor with a grand staircase and hidden passageways. I love secrets that span centuries just waiting for fate to step in and reveal the answers and right the wrongs of the past that lingered. I love a love story that can withstand the test of time and grow stronger despite evil forces' interference.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><br />
</div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I’ve always had a preoccupation with old books, family histories, old houses, unexplained phenomena and such. The books I enjoy reading the most are those that keep me guessing, those with a little mystery and page-turning suspense woven throughout. When it comes to real life historical accounts like old diaries and such I’m drawn like a moth to a candle. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><br />
</div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Spooky houses have always fascinated me and when I’m traveling, I watch closely for prospects for future books. You never know when you’ll come across a place, a story or an object that will spur your next novel. That’s why I’m always looking. As morbid as it sounds, I visit graveyards to research names appropriate to a time period and scour books that were actually written in the time period my characters will live so that I can get a feel for what they would say and do, first hand. You’d be amazed at how many people depend on histories written by contemporary authors, when the most reliable sources are those who lived during the period. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><br />
</div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I’m working on a new book actually based on a couple of lessor know legends that caught my attention and spurred my imagination. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><br />
</div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Whether you’re a writer or just enjoy the written word, we share one thing in common, the love a good story told well. For now, I’ll endeavor to uncover those little nuggets of information whether via an unusual house or forgotten volume in a dusty library that will prompt my creative juices to flow freely. Until, the next time our paths cross, I’ll leave you with a snippet and invite you to visit an ISLAND OF SECRETS...</span></div><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Tammie Clarke Gibbs</span></div><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong><u>Excerpt:</u></strong></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><br />
</div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Still clenching the scribbled note of warning, Lila Fitzpatrick stepped out of the carriage and into the crisp, cool, night. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><br />
</div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The haunting silhouette of Winship Manor towered above like a savage animal, crouching in the darkness waiting for its prey. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><br />
</div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Large, strange-looking statues were poised protectively on either side of the door. Above them, an eerie glow emanated from the flaming torches that lit part of the narrow pathway.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><br />
</div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Lila shivered. She wished she’d thought to bring a sweater. She wished she was wearing some comfy sweats and not this straight, black skirt she could barely walk in. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><br />
</div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">She reached for the door then paused. Something about the coat of arms bolted under the heavy knocker unnerved her. It wasn’t a very friendly picture. A ship held up to land by a severed, bloody hand and the name Winship. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><br />
</div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">She stood staring for the longest time. She’d been invited, but felt reluctant to announce her arrival. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><br />
</div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Lila looked down at the note then slipped it and the other purse inside her own. She was sure the note had something to do with her jitters, that and the fact that this place looked nothing like the brochure. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><br />
</div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> She was beginning to understand why the heiress and her new hubby fled. Winship Manor did not look like any posh resort she’d ever seen. It looked like a haunted castle. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><br />
</div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The night was chilly. The howling whistle of the wind had followed the carriage the entire distance from the shore to Winship’s tangled gates of iron. Now, however, there was nothing. The trees were oddly still. The only sound, her heart thumping in her breast, echoed in her ears. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><br />
</div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Lila lifted the knocker. It was cold against her fingers, and she dropped it sending a loud, quite annoying thud reverberating through the still evening air. She’d known better than to let Cassie talk her into such a hair-brained scheme. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><br />
</div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Not only was she stuck on an island pretending to be someone she wasn’t she was getting warning notes from more than three hundred years ago too.</span></div><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Tammie Clarke Gibbs is the author of ISLAND OF SECRETS, a Time Travel, Gothic Romance and several other non-fiction titles. She is awaiting the upcoming release of her second novel THE COUNTERFEIT, A Mid-Western Historical Romantic Suspense. You can purchase her books via Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords and at most online ebookstores.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUMROe_zzyVwm0SewYPHxBa-F6XP_2rBheSXkN6HxPAQZZPwqwUvAlMcPIqaatOZAGTsjzaLHlfahKCpbYDqcStGEAubk78QwtE8pAON8z3Jaq6vUDkGpvtS3LEsxOO9VagJFRxLy0MDBz/s1600/tammie+clarke.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUMROe_zzyVwm0SewYPHxBa-F6XP_2rBheSXkN6HxPAQZZPwqwUvAlMcPIqaatOZAGTsjzaLHlfahKCpbYDqcStGEAubk78QwtE8pAON8z3Jaq6vUDkGpvtS3LEsxOO9VagJFRxLy0MDBz/s1600/tammie+clarke.jpg" /></a></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><br />
</div><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Link to Amazon: </span><a href="http://amzn.com/B004DNWQ98"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">http://amzn.com/B004DNWQ98</span></a><br />
<a href="http://amzn.com/B004DNWQ98"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218013645028892957.post-73271092892007257592011-10-19T06:47:00.000-07:002011-10-19T08:48:51.756-07:0013th Day of Twisted: Guest Post by B.J. WhittingtonWelcome to the 13th Day of Twisted! Today we have B.J. Whittington, author of <em>Dragon Soul</em>. Enjoy! <br />
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As a child, my parents encouraged a strong imagination. I suppose most parents do. ‘Make Believe” becomes a major part of a child’s day. From Tea Parties, to laser sword fights to building forts in snow banks or sandcastles on the beach or in the local sand lot. Vivid play-acting enriches the lives of children across the world. A sword can be the high-tech toy purchase from the local department store, or a branch shorn of leaves. It only takes the imagination of the child to propel them into a fantasy world where all things are possible.<br />
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Of course, we cannot forget Halloween, where legions of children don costumes and parade through neighborhoods throughout the United States. My favorite blocks were the ones that some of the houses set up something to scare the kids, a bubbling cauldron, a bowl filled with eyeballs floating in some unsightly goo or even the occasional mini-haunted house. We all knew it was Make Believe, but we immersed ourselves in the moment and screamed in fear or gasped with revulsion.<br />
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We loose all this, as we become adults. Oh, sure, on occasion we can play pirate with our kids or the kids next door, if you’re not a parent yet... Nevertheless, as we grasp the role of a grown-up, we discard the daily simulation of living in a dream world. <br />
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Except . . . In novels. The pages of a book become our portal to different worlds, different lives, new people and situations. I confess, I am a Sci-Fi and Fantasy junky. I cannot go long without my fix. Any day I have not had the opportunity to delve between the pages of a good Fantasy or Sci-fi novel leaves me with a gentle itch that something is missing. Should circumstances warrant I have to go several days, well, I am downright twitchy. I want a deep, immersing tale with multi-layered characters in a world that only exists in the author’s and my imagination. <br />
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Fantasy novels are my favorites, they plunge me into Make Believe every time I open the book. Halloween can be a daily event. I get to dress up in my imagination and play a role, and if the writing is good then it is a treat. <br />
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When I set out to write my book Dragon Soul I wanted to take the reader on the same type of journey that I crave. There used to be a commercial, about bath oil beads, it said “Calgon, take me away”. That is what I wrote Dragon Soul to do: to take the reader away to a different world where they’re anxious when characters are afraid, and laugh aloud at some of their antics. Isn’t that the point? <br />
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Dragon Soul <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EIBEIU">http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EIBEIU</a> is a 130,000 word fantasy novel, the first in the series Dragons in the Mist. The second book will be out by Jan 2012.<br />
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Thol, a goat herder at Vedicville, never imagined he would start his day as a human and end up as a dragon. Who would? Granted, he lived in a village of the Palmir People that mentored Dragon Hosts, but there are usually indications that a person is Host to a Dragon Soul. The first indication for Thol, was when his hands began to elongate and turn into talons. <br />
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At Thol's Scholla they taught that Dragon Souls are intelligent and giving. Not so, with his Dragon Soul--Rasdor--he is almost simple in his thoughts. Food, play and sleep are all that cross his mind, avaricious to please only himself... Unless he is dwelling on his wrath at his perceived ill treatment when he first Transformed, then he is full of a destructive rage verging on madness.<br />
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Rasdor is prone to what Thol's dama called a temper tantrum. However, the temper tantrum thrown by a child is laughable in comparison to those thrown by a dragon. Thol finds Rasdor completely unpredictable. He can see Rasdor's access to skills of his kind coming forth much faster than his maturity level. Soon an all-powerful dragon would be loose on the countryside with the behavior of a spoiled child...<br />
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Vedicville serves as a place to mentor Dragon Souls and Hosts, humans who transform into dragons. When Rasdor emerges unexpectedly and fly's off in a panic, the villagers commence a journey to find him.<br />
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The search uncovers more than the lost dragon, the key to saving their entire civilization. If they realize it in time.<br />
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I invite you to delve into my world with me, hopefully you, too, will have a Take me away moment!<br />
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B.J. Whittington<br />
<a href="http://bjwhittington.com/">http://bjwhittington.com/</a><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDUEzzSXUm5zxmUYCcCbt-BRjeEQ-SBTRcx-8-AEpYlicPnHa6K7bhtfdRkse_0Ex8k53RqRidDgxetKhVEXQJPeAyRQdSRiNextVuNW-TCuuOKQ95rrANGomcUUhCDfXwJTtTdpV_uayS/s1600/dragon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDUEzzSXUm5zxmUYCcCbt-BRjeEQ-SBTRcx-8-AEpYlicPnHa6K7bhtfdRkse_0Ex8k53RqRidDgxetKhVEXQJPeAyRQdSRiNextVuNW-TCuuOKQ95rrANGomcUUhCDfXwJTtTdpV_uayS/s1600/dragon.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Available at: </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Dragon-Soul/BJ-Whittington/e/2940013257221">http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Dragon-Soul/BJ-Whittington/e/2940013257221</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EIBEIU">http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EIBEIU</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218013645028892957.post-41236055829785878702011-10-18T06:43:00.000-07:002011-10-18T06:43:36.810-07:0012th Day of Twisted: Guest Post by CC James<span id="internal-source-marker_0.49420935431339985" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">On the 12th day of Twisted we have CC James, author of <em>Banshee's Cry</em>. Have fun reading her post--Beware of the Banshee's Keen:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As a child my sister and I loved watching the old movie </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Darby O'Gill and the Little People</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. We giggled at Darby's silly antics while he attempted to outsmart King Brian, Lord of the Leprechauns, and giggled even more at James Bond, er, Sean Connery singing sappy love ballads. </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCiBXYVZkRf7MVfCNxzywjzLDuEKdCTvTAZ9hnrkm7cspUednZam5NR_GE03kZbB8919endKJYaPbbE9kPDUGbLh5GNUwPMxbfUCm5uqoChL5sf0noxRbUs_91AVM6CoOHnGku_gvJey2h/s1600/banshee1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCiBXYVZkRf7MVfCNxzywjzLDuEKdCTvTAZ9hnrkm7cspUednZam5NR_GE03kZbB8919endKJYaPbbE9kPDUGbLh5GNUwPMxbfUCm5uqoChL5sf0noxRbUs_91AVM6CoOHnGku_gvJey2h/s1600/banshee1.png" /></a></div><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">And then the Banshee showed up—the spectral keening woman who if you were unfortunate enough to hear her wail—then you were going to die soon. And there really isn't any way to get around it.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I've been fascinated with Banshees ever since. There are legends about them—slightly dif</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">ferent—from various parts of the world.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In Irish mythology, a banshee (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">bean si or bean-sidhe</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">) is a fairy who wails if someone is about to die as an omen of death or messenger from the Otherworld. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In Scottish legend, the Banshee most often appears as an ugly, frightening hag, but she can also appear as a stunningly beautiful woman.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The hag may also appear as a washer-woman, or </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">bean-nighe or washer woman of the ford</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, and is seen washing the blood stained clothes or armor of those doomed to die.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Her mourning call is heard at night when someone is about to die and usually around woods and streams.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPhd3JPWtmExXS_2iOu-5iHdT9OPEfWMaK-GW9Rj6Qg7me8yIBH2DOVac517OEqgekDA_MRY0DpEYwkrsUAyOj-8vQP1qKTSPYzuGh-aBSjsqz36jpVfDFOAKV9uwAMBxTwjoQBdeNMUUf/s1600/banshee2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPhd3JPWtmExXS_2iOu-5iHdT9OPEfWMaK-GW9Rj6Qg7me8yIBH2DOVac517OEqgekDA_MRY0DpEYwkrsUAyOj-8vQP1qKTSPYzuGh-aBSjsqz36jpVfDFOAKV9uwAMBxTwjoQBdeNMUUf/s320/banshee2.png" width="227" /></a></div><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">So when I began my series with monster and ghost hunting brothers, one of the obvious choices of spirits the boys had to go up against just had to be a Banchee. It was great fun, mixing the Irish and Scottish versions and making her my own variation. Then when one of the brothers hears her keen, figuring out how the other brother could get rid of her curse through contemporary methods became a fun challenge. Ipod anyone? </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Banshee's Cry was a blast to write.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqy6EtJUz9I4IRbXCR9573WS44UDqv7IFclP6dGss5uoJa_q1Tuq9ZlTXjMlFGHvHLMhcM-yGr6SqVlga7kCY1WU60KeeNp1EeORdMc4C-LWDEfP45moP7M3GOh-RBbYk08eg5qqOwQeCs/s1600/banshee3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqy6EtJUz9I4IRbXCR9573WS44UDqv7IFclP6dGss5uoJa_q1Tuq9ZlTXjMlFGHvHLMhcM-yGr6SqVlga7kCY1WU60KeeNp1EeORdMc4C-LWDEfP45moP7M3GOh-RBbYk08eg5qqOwQeCs/s320/banshee3.jpg" width="230" /></a></div><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Links: </span><a href="http://www.clovercheryl.blogspot.com/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.clovercheryl.blogspot.com</span></a><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">And/Or </span><a href="http://amzn.to/rgY29J"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">http://amzn.to/rgY29J</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218013645028892957.post-71705261043236919762011-10-17T06:33:00.000-07:002011-10-17T06:33:58.458-07:0011th Day of Twisted: Guest Post by Suzanne Tyrpak<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">It's the 11th Day of Twisted and for your reading enjoyment I have Suzanne Tyrpak, author of <em>Ghost Plane and Other Disturbing Tales</em>. Happy Monday!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtKdXZY6OmWOiCmbhbcTeQwE3Z88M126SJb1cz3qowe813cmts0Ewm-O9RPVF7e492CawiNTdlBfczpD_LzsxyHKZaDx3uRrN0GjtG8U7AAf6awUJZyi-p5gibUB13KWU2zo7OLwWqIZgv/s1600/tyrpak.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtKdXZY6OmWOiCmbhbcTeQwE3Z88M126SJb1cz3qowe813cmts0Ewm-O9RPVF7e492CawiNTdlBfczpD_LzsxyHKZaDx3uRrN0GjtG8U7AAf6awUJZyi-p5gibUB13KWU2zo7OLwWqIZgv/s1600/tyrpak.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Every Day Horror</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Three months ago I had an accident at work resulting in three emergency operations and amputation of a toe. Since then I’ve been thinking a lot about horror. I’ve been thinking about how horror can occur at any time, not just at night when the lights are out, but when we least expect it: walking down a street, at the gym, the supermarket. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Take an every day situation, twist it, and it can become horrifying. Stephen King said the difference between him and other people is: most people board an airplane, open the overhead compartment and wonder if there’s room for their luggage, but he opens the same overhead compartment imagining it’s filled with rats.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In books and movies, I find every day horror more frightening than supernatural monsters. For me, the most horrifying situation imaginable is to discover that </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I’m </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">the monster. The monsters in my psyche, and in other people’s psyches, really scare me. I’m interested in exploring the twisted recesses of our minds. While an event can certainly be frightening and horrible by its nature: a plane crash, violence, lack of freedom, being held against our will, torture—what makes that event truly horrifying is the response of our mind. And our minds can twist any situation into something awful. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I’m interested in every day occurrences that become monstrous. For example, the day I had my accident began as a normal workday. I’m a customer service representation for an airline. I check people in and work the gate. These days I don’t work much out on the ramp, where the job can be physically demanding and dangerous. We had finished boarding the aircraft, and we were pulling away the heavy stairs we use for loading passengers. As we pulled the stairs away from the plane one of the wheels ran over my foot. Over a thousand pounds crushed my toes. I fell onto the tarmac, writhing and screaming. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I find the situation horrifying, not only because of the pain and bodily damage suffered, but because of the unexpectedness. One moment everything was fine, I was looking forward to having breakfast, and the next moment my life changed. I had to face the unknown with no preparation. (By the way, the result of the accident is that, after three emergency operations, I lost a toe, had two broken and dislocated toes, and I’m still recovering from the crush injury and nerve damage. There’s a happy ending, because the accident gave me time to finish my next novel, and I’ve recovered enough to walk and drive again.) </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Horror is intensified when it’s unexpected. In that way, it’s different from suspense. Suspense builds tension. Suspense can lead to horror, but I believe truly horrifying situations contain an element of surprise. It’s not just the monster, it’s the monster that jumps out at us when we least expect it. It’s not just the murderer it’s the person we trust suddenly revealed as a murderer. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Every day horror takes a normal situation and sets it on its head. Sure, it can be horrifying to enter an abandoned building late at night, but setting horror in an everyday situation can be even more disturbing. The contrast builds more tension, because we’re not expecting something awful to occur. That’s why the shower scene in </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Psycho </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">is so frightening—it’s any everyday situation gone wrong.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I invite you to play with this idea. Next time you get into your car, you’re waiting at a bus stop, sitting in church, working out at the gym—imagine how the situation could be turned on its head. That’s what I explore in my short story collection </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Plane-Other-Disturbing-ebook/dp/B0058OX86G/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1318777235&sr=1-1It%20"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Ghost Plane and Other Disturbing Tales</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. It doesn’t have to be a dark and rainy night for something horrific to occur. Horror can occur on a sunny Sunday morning. </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz69AMfHJc5T-MtrSQzIKXkyQK_pDC8Coz8vKFI4oKsOJv-_QEpKseb7nvYQZbJz0F6ElOv3tIkAYLR0Kr49QS_xz-D7aPfns_tCVEk8XD1FNN2qgPNbNV7IUfDEPaRHuTB8ZLnRIwoKKN/s1600/ghost+plane.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz69AMfHJc5T-MtrSQzIKXkyQK_pDC8Coz8vKFI4oKsOJv-_QEpKseb7nvYQZbJz0F6ElOv3tIkAYLR0Kr49QS_xz-D7aPfns_tCVEk8XD1FNN2qgPNbNV7IUfDEPaRHuTB8ZLnRIwoKKN/s1600/ghost+plane.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>Ghost Plane and Other Disturbing Tales</em> available FREE at: </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Plane-Other-Disturbing-ebook/dp/B0058OX86G/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1318777235&sr=1-1">http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Plane-Other-Disturbing-ebook/dp/B0058OX86G/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1318777235&sr=1-1</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ghost-plane-and-other-disturbing-tales-suzanne-tyrpak/1104098717?ean=2940011484766&itm=1&usri=suzanne%2btyrpak">http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ghost-plane-and-other-disturbing-tales-suzanne-tyrpak/1104098717?ean=2940011484766&itm=1&usri=suzanne%2btyrpak</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/71260">http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/71260</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Follow my blog: <a href="http://ghostplanestory.blogspot.com/">http://ghostplanestory.blogspot.com/</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Facebook Author Page: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Suzanne-Tyrpak/144232238928903?ref=ts">https://www.facebook.com/pages/Suzanne-Tyrpak/144232238928903?ref=ts</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/SuzanneTyrpak">http://twitter.com/#!/SuzanneTyrpak</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218013645028892957.post-28315031819884341332011-10-16T05:47:00.000-07:002011-10-16T07:58:28.417-07:0010th Day of Twisted: Guest Post by Collin KelleyHappy 10th day of Twisted! Today's guest post is Mystery and Magical Realism by Collin Kelley...Enjoy!!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ5oY9IL1MgNRPK3RU__WroDZmSRuy4L1V0kYP28GA1spvmmlximtQ9ZOtJrXJJIz0oT1wptV5T6n6DdnW4qgSC6MACb1Tp_kssexbRYxSGvOB_YOQLJycDFyLfOxuMQSinVDpVcIIq-LP/s1600/Collin+Kelley+new.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ5oY9IL1MgNRPK3RU__WroDZmSRuy4L1V0kYP28GA1spvmmlximtQ9ZOtJrXJJIz0oT1wptV5T6n6DdnW4qgSC6MACb1Tp_kssexbRYxSGvOB_YOQLJycDFyLfOxuMQSinVDpVcIIq-LP/s320/Collin+Kelley+new.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
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Remain In Light is a mystery/suspense novel, but it also contains touches of magical realism and its premise relies heavily on Carl Jung's theory of synchronicity, which posits that there are no random occurrences. The main characters, Martin Paige and Irène Laureux, are separated by a 40 year age gap and, initially, a continent, yet the dreams and experiences they share cannot be dismissed as coincidence. They both seem to have an extra-sensory perception of each other and events before they happen. <br />
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In 1968, Irène's husband was murdered during the Paris student and worker riots. Thirty years later, she is still on the hunt for the man who knows how and why Jean-Louis died – his secret lover, Frederick Dubois. Martin, an American expat writer, is helping Irène, but he's also still reeling from a love affair gone wrong with a student, David McLaren. Martin meets a young poet, Christian, and the two fall in love, but their happiness is shaken when Martin's friend, Diane Jacobs, arrives in Paris with news that David has gone missing.<br />
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As Irène and Martin search for clues, they go deeper into an underworld that is not the Paris of postcards and travel programs. The city is filled with corrupt cops, drug dealers, prostitutes, stolen identities and immigrants fleeing genocide living in the shadowy, slightly out of focus urban landscape. I wanted the Paris of Remain In Light to exist in a kind of alternate universe, where I could create buildings, streets and Metro stations that suited the characters and worked to advance the plot.<br />
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I've always had a hard time sticking to one genre. We don't live in the black and white, cut and dry worlds that often exist in genre mystery novels. I wanted to give readers a little jolt, leave them guessing and let them come to their own conclusions about the more paranormal events that take place in the story. If you're reading this and looking for a mystery with an unexpected twist, Remain In Light might be the book for you.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieYF9dZNIXyV52IUdohX9o0Vg4Z4TvhZVSa9SiLtBhOqIyIPePqnq8rYoNS3It3ZB6lqWLOezbKBcrq1MPUS_a2-zrbYLkG5pIIPNxoNTgqHfieIOxCMck1s0xuGWvYoLUTSCnmtyWWMUR/s1600/Remain+In+Ligh+ebook+red+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieYF9dZNIXyV52IUdohX9o0Vg4Z4TvhZVSa9SiLtBhOqIyIPePqnq8rYoNS3It3ZB6lqWLOezbKBcrq1MPUS_a2-zrbYLkG5pIIPNxoNTgqHfieIOxCMck1s0xuGWvYoLUTSCnmtyWWMUR/s320/Remain+In+Ligh+ebook+red+cover.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
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Remain In Light is available in eBook format at Amazon and Smashwords. A trade paperback edition will be published in January. For more visit <a href="http://www.collinkelley.com/">www.collinkelley.com</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218013645028892957.post-17315116480356190742011-10-15T05:49:00.000-07:002011-10-16T07:54:39.951-07:009th Day of Twisted: Guest Post by Red TashIt's the 9th Day of Twisted here today and we have Red Tash, author of <em>This Brilliant Darkness</em>... After you read this, make sure you run over and enter the contest going on at Red's blog!!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxD5DfMjJpANMLN-XF_GIGfYblwzt8einFLV090jzps0OgovHlNjUHA1BRcCx-RK9umjmwbzL8JhtCEN8iVJB3nrSUGoedQlbsV-TLQqS0V8mgOCI1Tqiiea_CZ6YP8QmccBCNuZtQICqP/s1600/redcropweb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxD5DfMjJpANMLN-XF_GIGfYblwzt8einFLV090jzps0OgovHlNjUHA1BRcCx-RK9umjmwbzL8JhtCEN8iVJB3nrSUGoedQlbsV-TLQqS0V8mgOCI1Tqiiea_CZ6YP8QmccBCNuZtQICqP/s1600/redcropweb.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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Thanks for having me on your blog, Rachel! Especially today, when I'm rounding up the last-minute entries to my Trick or Treat Bash. I released my first novel recently, and I've been hosting a Halloween-themed giveaway in celebration, ever since. In fact, many of your guest bloggers have contributed to the Grand Prize: a loaded Kindle! Yep, I'm giving away a new Kindle, and it's going to be loaded with novels and short stories perfect for the Halloween mood. How's that for cool? 2nd and 3rd prizes are Amazon gift cards, and free copies of my book This Brilliant Darkness, as well. Hope to see some of your readers around the Bash before it ends on the 16th!<br />
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So, I write scary stuff. That's not all I write (in my other life I am a journalist), but since I released my book, that's where my focus has been. Lately I have been asked several times how or why I started writing. That's a long and boring story, probably, but here's a tiny part of it that I just remembered, while looking at a pretty fearsome photo. One of the first serious fiction pieces I wrote was horror. And I never thought of myself as a horror writer, back then. Ironically, I dreamed of being as big as Stephen King, but I did *not* want to write horror! LOL! <br />
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So, back in high school (yes, we’re climbing into the Way Back Machine, hold onto your hats), there was a writing competition by the Literary Guild, or Literary Society, or Literary Club, or something like that. I wasn’t a member, only because I was too damned busy running the yearbook and other diversions.<br />
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Anyway, they had a contest. I submitted a story. I have absolutely no recollection what that story was about, but it won. They even gave me a decent cash prize. I think it was $50 or something, which ain’t too shabby for a kid in rural Indiana in the early 90s.<br />
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The Literary Club was preparing some kind of publication, perhaps a journal…? Anyway, they lost my story, so they asked me if I could rewrite it. Yep, this was in the olden days, children, before we typed everything out and had saved copies. They’d lost my only copy of this hand-written masterpiece, and they were deeply remorseful.<br />
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I replied honestly—I didn’t have the heart to rewrite it. I just couldn’t. I guess it was too demoralizing for the 17 y.o. emo-when-emo-wasn’t-cool version of Red.<br />
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So, I offered a compromise. I would write them a *new* story for their journal.<br />
And I did. I wrote a horror story, instead. Again, I don’t remember a thing about that first story, only that it wasn’t horror. Don’t get me wrong, I can do light and fluffy! It’s just not my favorite, and perhaps this story I’m telling you now reveals why I write the kind of fiction I do. <br />
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There was a boy. (Isn’t there always a boy?) He was a complete jackass. I understand he grew up to be a deadbeat “dad,” among other things, so I’m assuming he still is one. Anyway, I digress.<br />
I was waiting for that jackass to check in at the military recruiting office. I don’t know if they were just going ahead and giving him a physical, or what, but he was in there a VERY long time.<br />
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I guess that long, frustrating wait really poisoned my mood (that, along with the jackass), so I wrote a story about a little boy who went completely crazy and slaughtered his family with a large kitchen knife. I think I made that kid about 6 years old.<br />
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Never heard from the Literary Club again.<br />
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Kids, I think, are inherently dangerous. They shout threats that they mean with all their hearts, and the silent thoughts they bear inside their minds are often deadly. Especially the revenge plans. I challenge you to meet any killer who ruthlessly slays others, who doesn’t have the heart of an abused child. I mean that.<br />
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And, hey, even the nice ones are hiding all those TEETH. Think about it.<br />
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HEY, speaking of winning contests, enter mine while you still have time. It ends October 16th, winners announced on the 17th!<br />
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Links, for your convenience:<br />
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My blog: <a href="http://redtash.com/">http://RedTash.com</a><br />
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Kindle Giveaway: <a href="http://redtash.com/bash">http://RedTash.com/bash</a><br />
<a href="http://redtash.com/bash"></a> This Brilliant Darkness: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005LSNB2A/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=myxangaweblog-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399373&creativeASIN=B005LSNB2A">http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005LSNB2A/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=myxangaweblog-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399373&creativeASIN=B005LSNB2A</a><br />
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Follow me on twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/RedTashBooks">http://twitter.com/RedTashBooks</a><br />
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Follow me: <a href="http://facebook.com/RedTashBooks">http://facebook.com/RedTashBooks</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218013645028892957.post-47698278859564272122011-10-14T03:47:00.000-07:002011-10-14T03:47:32.099-07:008th Day of Twisted: Guest Post by V.A. JeffreyWelcome to the 8th day of Twisted! Today we have V.A. Jeffrey, author of <em>Dust and Bones. </em>Awesome title! Enjoy!<div><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">October is the perfect month to talk about stories with dark themes - be they light gray themes with a little silver lining or stories as black as sin (evil laughter!) </span> <br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><i>Dust and Bones</i> is interesting in that I started with a cool sounding title first.. Back when Guns and Roses were at the height of their popularity they had a great song off their <i>Use Your Illusion I </i>album called <i>Dust N' Bones</i>. Both of the <i>Use Your Illusion</i> albums came out the year I graduated. Actually, nearly everything they made was great, but that's off the subject! </span> <br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">I have always loved the song and the title and eventually I became so enamored with the title that I wanted to build a short story around it, but a story never came. I've always had this idea about a guy in the desert, but that was it. So the title and this inchoate idea rattled around in my brain for years while I got on to other things. Oddly enough, last year I was watching some YouTube channels I'm subscribed to and a few of them centered on corrupt ministers. Specifically, two of them. A poster had uploaded videos of some sermons by these two preachers that showed in no uncertain terms what they were really about; raw, naked greed and absolute contempt for those who didn't tithe, those who were not wealthy like them. One of them even had the nerve to brag about buying his wife a $15,000 dog!</span> <br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">It was ugly and blazingly offensive and these YT videos exposed these charlatans for all the world to see! I was so mad after seeing that I didn't know what to do for a long time. Unfortunately, you can no longer watch these videos because, unsurprisingly, YT forced the poster to take them down. I'm certain it was at the behest of these ministers or their "people". Whatever. I will never forget those videos nor will I forget the names of those bad ministers. A lot of other people saw these videos too, so no matter what legal means they use to threaten those who expose them, people know what they are: hucksters! </span> <br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Then it came to me: <i>That's the story! Greedy, wealthy men playing a game hosted by a mysterious man for even </i><b><i>MORE</i></b><i> money! That's the story!</i> I believe in the Almighty and I believe that men (and women) who cloak themselves in the Holy Bible for profit will have a reckoning before God one day. That became the story for <i>Dust and Bones</i>. After I had figured out what I wanted the story to be, it came rather easily. I loved writing <i>Dust and Bones</i> and I hope readers enjoy it. <i>Dust and Bones</i> is free.</span><br />
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<img src="https://mail.google.com/mail/?attid=0.2&disp=emb&view=att&th=132ebc966bbd3e2a" /><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Smashwords Link: <a href="http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/86909" target="_blank">http://www.smashwords.com/<wbr></wbr>books/view/86909</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Scribd link: <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/63958169/Dust-and-Bones" target="_blank">http://www.scribd.com/doc/<wbr></wbr>63958169/Dust-and-Bones</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><i>Dust and Bones</i> is free at Smashwords and Scribd. </span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218013645028892957.post-32986110234176608722011-10-13T04:22:00.000-07:002011-10-13T04:26:01.472-07:007th Day of Twisted: Guest Post by Steve Vernon<div align="left" dir="ltr" id="internal-source-marker_0.42834870639957306" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">For the 7th day of Twisted, we have Steve Vernon with us, author of <em>The Lunenburg Werewolf </em>and<em> Devil Tree</em>...Enjoy!</span><br />
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<img src="http://stevevernonstoryteller.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/camera-shots-007-smaller.jpg?w=408&h=306" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Cabbage Night, Colcannon and Creativity</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">"Did you ever eat Colcannon, made from lovely pickled cream?<br class="kix-line-break" />With the greens and scallions mingled like a picture in a dream.<br class="kix-line-break" />Did you ever make a hole on top to hold the melting flake<br class="kix-line-break" />Of the creamy, flavored butter that your mother used to make?”</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(traditional Irish folksong)</span></div><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">There is going to be an awful lot written about Halloween in the next couple of weeks – but I want to tell you folks about a night that rural Nova Scotia folk sometimes refer to as - Cabbage Night.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In years ago Cabbage Night was a time for running with the shadows and whooping and yelling and building great bonfires and whispering in the darkness.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">And giggling.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Cabbage Night was a night for giggling.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Every year, on the night before Halloween, children on the French Shore of Nova Scotia would stage great raids upon local cabbage fields. Here they would uproot the nastiest and foulest cabbage they could find. They would search through the bracken and ruttle of turned over dirt – hunting for the most frost-bitten and rotten cabbage they could uncover.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I’m not saying it smelled sweet, you understand.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">These cabbages would be flung at the doors and walls of local cottages and houses. They would land with heavy satisfying slaps and splatters against the brick and siding of local residents.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">And woe to those who were careless enough to open their door to a knick-knacking pack of children – for they would find themselves the unhappy recipient of a deftly rolled rotting cabbage head that would bowl forward just long enough to reach the clean spot in the center of the kitchen floor where it would break down into a nasty fragrant decaying mulch.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Also useful were the long, gnarled stumps left over from where the farmers had cut away the good cabbages. These too could be used as wonderfully groaty projectiles but it was far better to use them as cudgels. Great cabbage stump battles would be waged on the shoreline as two or three or thirty hardy – or perhaps foolhardy – young warriors would wage battle with the cruciferae cudgels.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This is what I love to do with my writing.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I root through old fields and midden heaps and graveyards and landfills of history. I rummage about and find something good and groaty and then I pull it out. An old ghost story, a legend, or just the bare hint of a tale.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Sometimes I unearth entire carcasses, other times it is nothing more than the shadow of a bone.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Whatever it is, I work with it and try to give it life. I add meat and build it up – one piece at a time. We writers must often play Frankenstein and stitch up our cadavers from the bits and pieces we discover along the way. We stitch each chunk of rotting cabbage together with love and care and precision – until we have modeled ourselves a fine fat Cabbage King.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">And then we give it life. We let fly our thunderbolts of creativity and give those old bones and rotten meat life – of a sort. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Each of my numerous ghost story collections (Haunted Harbours, Wicked Woods, Halifax Haunts, Maritime Monsters and The Lunenburg Werewolf) are nothing more than a mass of stories based upon the bits of fact, fiction and folklore that I have stitched together. I am a great recycler, taking old yarns and giving them brand new life. I soup them up and update them. I pimp them out.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In the end that is what we writers do. We take our dreams and our memories and we stitch them together with our imagination and a well-placed lightning bolt of creativity and we give our stories life!</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(insert sound-bite of Colin Clive’s craziest cackle – He’s alive, I tell you, alive)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Let me leave you with a wee bit of a recipe.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It is considered customary to make yourself a pot of Colcannon on cabbage night. It is a simple and hearty dish made by mashing boiled cabbage with turnips and potatoes. Butter and salt as liberally as you like.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">On Halloween a ring and a thimble were often added to the mixture. If your bowlful contained the ring it would signify and upcoming marriage in your future – if you were unlucky enough to find the thimble in your bowl of Colcannon it meant you’d be doomed to a single life.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Here’s the recipe.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I used 4-6 potatoes and one good-sized turnip. About 2-3 pounds. Peel them and chunk them and put them in a pot with enough cold water to cover them by at least an inch or so. Scatter a bit of salt over the spuds and neep. Boil until you can smoosh the potatoes with a blunt fork – maybe 15 or 20 minutes. Drain in a colander.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Chop a fair-sized cabbage while you’re waiting for the spuds to boil. Whistle if you must, but do not attempt to dance. It is bad luck to try and jig while you’re chopping cabbage – especially if you’re using a knife.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Put the pot back on the stove and set over medium-high heat. Melt a good wad of butter, about 5-6 tablespoons, into the pot and add the chopped cabbage. Stir it up some until it begins to wilt. While you’re waiting chop some onions. Try and look like you know what you’re doing – even if someone isn’t watching. Practice pays off. Stir in the chopped onions. This whole part of the process shouldn’t take too long. About two minutes for the cabbage and one minute for the onions. Keep stirring and whistling. It is a fine aerobic workout.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Pour in a cup of milk. Traditionalists will use cream, but cream gives me heartburn. Reduce the heat to medium. Don’t burn the milk. Dump the spuds and turnip into the mot and mash them up, getting the cabbage and onion all smooshed together. It ought to look like somebody had dropped a Martian into a bowl of curdled puss and hit frappe.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Salt and butter and pepper to your liking. Serve it with meat – bacon or sausages or pork goes great. Fish is fine too, but it’s awfully healthy for wasting on such a wonderful cholesterol-riddle mess as good Colcannon.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Some people will tell you that you can use kale or chard or even mustard or dandelion greens in place of the cabbage. Others will talk of using parsnips instead of turnip.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">People say a lot of things, don’t they.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Whatever you make it out off, have something cold to drink it with. I favor a thick knife-and-fork ale – say a Guinness or something local from a micro-brewery. Stock up on your incense while you’re at it. Colcannon can be mighty fumish, afterwards.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Just remember that there is no real recipe for anything – beyond boil it, fry it, bake it or barbecue. Cooking, like any form of creativity has no real rules to it. The main thing is to have fun. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I like to make my own version of Colcannon with purple potatoes and red cabbage and fat turnips and a gi-normous red onion. The resulting purple mulch is both tasty and filling – and I call it Nightcrawler Stew – after the teleporting blue-furred X-Man. A bowl or two of this will keep you warm and giggling the whole winter long.</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">"Yes you did, so you did, so did he and so did I.<br class="kix-line-break" />And the more I think about it sure the nearer I'm to cry.<br class="kix-line-break" />Oh, wasn't it the happy days when troubles we had not,<br class="kix-line-break" />And our mothers made Colcannon in the little skillet pot."</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: right;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Yours in storytelling,</span></div><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: right;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Steve Vernon</span></div><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Steve Vernon is a writer/teller/collector of ghost stories and all things that go booga-booga. If you want to try one of his ghost story collections check out The Lunenburg Werewolf – available at Amazon.ca or Chapters/Indigo outlets across Canada – as well as in many wonderful independent bookstores. For Kindle users you might want to take a peek at Steve Vernon’s novel DEVIL TREE or his story collection ROADSIDE GHOSTS.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41McAB9TuLL._SL500_.jpg" /></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Buy <em>The Lunenburg Werewolf</em> here: <a href="http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Lunenburg-Werewolf-Other-Stories-Supernatural-Steve-Vernon/9781551098579-item.html">http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Lunenburg-Werewolf-Other-Stories-Supernatural-Steve-Vernon/9781551098579-item.html</a></span><br />
<br />
<img src="http://store.crossroadpress.com/images/DevilTreeCoverweb.jpg" /><br />
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Buy <em>Devil Tree</em> here: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Devil-Tree-ebook/dp/B004OA6M3G">http://www.amazon.com/Devil-Tree-ebook/dp/B004OA6M3G</a><br />
<br />
or here: <a href="http://store.crossroadpress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=22_28&products_id=229">http://store.crossroadpress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=22_28&products_id=229</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218013645028892957.post-76321212825078455002011-10-12T04:18:00.000-07:002011-10-12T04:18:08.425-07:006th Day of Twisted: Guest Post by Stuart Jaffe<span id="internal-source-marker_0.30977349766585665" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Today's guest author is Stuart Jaffe, author of <em>The Way of the Black Beast</em>. Take it away, Stuart!</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Let's start with a big round of applause for our host! Thanks for letting me and all my writing brethren into your blog home. Now to the post:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I have a confession to make. For a long time, I couldn't stand the fantasy genre. Don't get me wrong. I love fantasy. SF, too. Horror, dark fantasy, gothic, you name it. I love it all. The problem was that since the 1980s, the fantasy genre had become bland and predictable. The Big 6 played everything safe and so produced nothing but medieval epics with a slight twist -- the hero is a heroine, it's a comedy, dragons are the heroes, etc.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Today, thankfully, things have become far more interesting. The Urban Fantasy movement brought classic monsters into a modern light. Authors like China Mieville introduced a successful blend of horrific and grotesque elements with classic fantasy and science-fiction tropes. Then he lit a fuse to it all and watched what happened.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">But the really exciting work is being done by the indie-movement where challenging, fun, and experimental fantasy is growing. David Dalglish, to name one, has produced three excellent fantasy series that blend old fantasy tropes with fresh characters, clean writing, and a big, heaping pile of horrific gore. John Hartness, to name another, takes the typical UF vampire story and spins it around with the easiest twist of a writer's hand. Instead of vampires all being incredibly seductive creatures, John figures once a geek, always a geek. His nerdy vamps are now nerdy for eternity. And then, of course, I have to mention myself. My novel, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Way of the Black Beast,</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> blends many of my favorite elements into one. Post-apocalyptic world, bushido, sword fighting, blues music, parallel universes, bizarre creatures, tattoos, magic, and a lot more can be found in these pages.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">These books, and many like them, revel in the great freedom of the indie-movement -- that the only people who can tell the writer something won't work are the readers. And, because of this, the readers are being exposed to all kinds of fantasy they never had the chance to read before.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It's been said in the last several months that it is a great time to be a writer. This is certainly true. But it's an even better time to be a reader. So, go out there and be an adventurous reader. Try an indie book.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img src="https://mail.google.com/mail/?attid=0.2&disp=emb&view=att&th=132ee0a46ecaefa8" /></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">available at:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Kindle-- <a href="http://amzn.to/r9h7II">http://amzn.to/r9h7II</a><br />
Nook-- <a href="http://bit.ly/pJdKV4">http://bit.ly/pJdKV4</a><br />
Smashwords-- <a href="http://bit.ly/ppqn2l">http://bit.ly/ppqn2l</a><br />
Print-- <a href="http://amzn.to/nmfAwj">http://amzn.to/nmfAwj</a></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218013645028892957.post-83353202526110245142011-10-11T04:13:00.000-07:002011-10-11T04:13:26.848-07:005th Day of Twisted: Guest Post by Eileen Cruz ColemanToday's guest author is Eileen Cruz Coleman, author of <em>Rumpel</em>. Enjoy!<br />
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<table cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1" style="table-layout: fixed;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="windowbg2" height="100%" valign="top" width="85%"><div class="personalmessage">I first heard the story of Rumpelstiltskin when I was seven years old. I remember sitting in "circle time" while my teacher read the story. When she got to the end, I felt that there had to be more to the story. I honestly thought she had read us a shortened version and that the longer version was out there somewhere! From that day on, the story of Rumpelstiltskin fascinated me. I wanted to know why he wanted a baby. What was he going to do with it once he got it? Who were the people in his life? What was his world like? What was his childhood like? All of these questions led me to write Rumpel which is a retelling of Rumpelstiltskin. <br />
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In keeping with the original Brothers Grimm Rumpelstiltskin, Rumpel is dark and at times disturbing, yet it also has a light and quirky element to it in that it is told from the point of view of many different characters all of which play an integral part of the story and how it unfolds. We also get to know Rumpelstiltskin as a child, then as a young man, and finally as a brokenhearted adult.<br />
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When my previous literary agent was not able to sell Rumpel to traditional publishers, I thought long and hard about what to do with Rumpel. With the advent of e-publishing, I decided to publish Rumpel on Amazon Kindle and let readers decide its fate. <br />
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I couldn’t be more thrilled with my decision to publish Rumpel on Amazon Kindle and later on Smashwords and Barnes and Noble. Rumpel is being read and gaining momentum. As a writer that’s all I can really ask for.<br />
I’m planning a sequel to Rumpel which I hope to release within a year. In the meantime, just in time for Halloween, I’m publishing, Taker of Light, a post-apocalyptic speculative fiction story inspired by the Brothers Grimm's lesser-known fairytale, Godfather Death, in which Death raises a child who then betrays him. When a deep darkness descends on earth, sixteen-year-old Raylie must protect herself from the source of the darkness and from the aliens who are seeking to colonize earth when their planet is destroyed.<br />
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Happy Halloween!<br />
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Here is a link to Rumpel on Amazon Kindle: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Rumpel-Cursed-Tales-Novel-ebook/dp/B00408ASDW/" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.com/Rumpel-Cursed-Tales-Novel-ebook/dp/B00408ASDW/</a></div></td></tr>
<tr class="windowbg2"><td class="smalltext" valign="bottom" width="85%"><hr class="hrcolor" size="1" width="100%" /><div class="signature"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00408ASDW/?tag=kindleboards-20" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" height="125" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/415rVwiJsDL._SL160_.jpg" /></a> </div></td></tr>
</tbody> </table>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218013645028892957.post-78399787812063323862011-10-10T04:28:00.000-07:002011-10-10T07:54:24.500-07:004th Day of Twisted: Guest Post by Deanna ChaseToday we have Deanna Chase, author of <em>Haunted on Bourbon Street. </em>Happy reading!<br />
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When you're home alone, do you ever feel like...well, you're not alone? I'm rarely alone since my hubby and I are both self-employed and each have our home offices. During the day I never get that weird vibe. You know the one. When all the sudden you feel another presence in your space.<br />
It's pretty hard for the hubby to sneak up on me. First of all we have a hundred-year-old house and no matter how quiet you are, the wood floors are going to give you away. Even if one did develop super-human, stealthy spy moves that rendered them a silent walker, the dogs would give them away in a heartbeat. They're the type that have to follow you everywhere you go even when you tell them to stay.<br />
Things change after ten p.m. The hubby goes to bed, and I settle in at the computer. I've found nighttime is when I get most of my writing done. Hubby is sleeping, his TV is turned off, regular business is done for the day, and the dogs are crashed out at my feet. <br />
Silence is golden.<br />
Except when it's not. With all that silence I hear every creak of my old house, the wind rambling the windows, rain on my metal roof. Actually all of these things are comfort sounds, and I welcome them. Everything except the footsteps.<br />
I know what it sounds like when someone is walking through my house. It isn't just the house settling, or pipes making noise. It's weighted footsteps. The kind that make me get out of my chair to go make sure no one has broken into my house. And I've done this more than a few times. I know it isn't the hubby getting up for a drink or to use the restroom. It'd be hard to do that while snoring. (Sorry hubs). I can hear him in the next room. It's like white noise.<br />
I never find anything that leads to the mysterious night-walker. I'm left with the only conclusion I can dream up. The house is haunted.<br />
The mysterious night-walkings aren't the only clue though. It appears our ghost may occasionally enjoy a cigar and quite possibly a bit of the Mary Jane. The two distinct aromas are hard to dismiss, especially since this is a strict non-smoking household. I know I'm not smoking. And the hubby is asthmatic. His indulgence of choice is a high quality margarita. <br />
It must be the ghost.<br />
We used to believe we had a ghost dog. Right after we moved in our golden retriever used to stand in the hallway and bark at nothing. She wasn't much of a barker, so her behavior was pretty odd. She'd do it randomly at weird times for no obvious reason. Immediately we assumed we had a ghost dog. You see, she loved people and almost never barked at them. A ghost dog was the logical choice.<br />
Now I'm not so sure. The footsteps at night don't sounds like a dog. My gut says it's a person. Probably a man. Luckily our ghost has done nothing to scare me or freak me out other than make me wonder who was sharing my space. I could also live without the funny smoke smells, but hey, live and let live...or die. <br />
Do you think ghostly second-hand smoke is harmful to ones health? If so I'm gonna have to order him outside for that kind of behavior. What about you? Are you haunted or sharing your space with an uninvited being?<br />
The funny thing is I noticed all of this stuff while working on my book, Haunted on Bourbon Street. Weird right? <br />
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Blurb:<br />
Jade loves her new apartment--until a ghost joins her in the shower. <br />
When empath Jade Calhoun moves into an apartment above a strip bar on Bourbon Street, she expects life to get interesting. What she doesn't count on is making friends with an exotic dancer, attracting a powerful spirit, and developing feelings for Kane, her sexy landlord. <br />
Being an empath has never been easy on Jade's relationships. It's no wonder she keeps her gift a secret. But when the ghost moves from spooking Jade to terrorizing Pyper, the dancer, it's up to Jade to use her unique ability to save her. Except she'll need Kane's help--and he's betrayed her with a secret of his own--to do it. Can she find a way to trust him and herself before Pyper is lost?<br />
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To learn more about Deanna visit her website at <a href="http://www.deannachase.com/">www.DeannaChase.com</a>.<br />
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<img src="http://deannachase.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/hauntedonbourbonstreetlowres.jpg?w=194&h=300" /><br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Haunted-Bourbon-Paranormal-Romance-ebook/dp/B005EHRSUY/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1318246050&sr=1-1">http://www.amazon.com/Haunted-Bourbon-Paranormal-Romance-ebook/dp/B005EHRSUY/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1318246050&sr=1-1</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218013645028892957.post-53643479586486170262011-10-09T03:59:00.000-07:002011-10-09T03:59:53.444-07:003rd Day of Twisted: Guest Post by Hollister Ann Grant<span id="internal-source-marker_0.6095437967586563" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Today we have with us Hollister Ann Grant, author of <span id="btAsinTitle"><em>Haunted Ground: Ghost Photos from the Gettysburg Battlefield</em> Enjoy!</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Good morning, everybody. A special thanks to Rachel for having me here today. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ghosts. Just say the word and I used to be the world’s biggest skeptic. I always thought that people who claimed they’d had a ghostly encounter were making it up or had ridiculous imaginations. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">My late husband Jack and I used to live in Washington, D.C. On Saturday mornings we would jump in our little green Hyundai and drive 90 miles north to Gettysburg to hike and photograph the boulder-strewn hills. The July 1863 battle was the American Civil War’s bloodiest fight with 51,000 casualties (killed, wounded, missing, and captured).</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Jack was a nature photographer and military history buff who’d served in the armed forces, so he was always reading a pile of books about the war. One day he told me he’d read about a haunted triangular field on the southern side of the battlefield.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“People say a ghost interferes with cameras and video equipment,” he said.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The idea of a camera-wrecking ghost made me gleeful.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Oh, wow, let’s go, then,” I told him.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We were using a film camera with new batteries at the time. When we came to the Triangular Field, we walked through a weathered wooden gate into waist-high grass. Thick woods bordered the field on two sides. We passed several overgrown pits that Jack told me might be old burial pits; the military later came back to exhume the dead and bury them in cemeteries. The field had an ominous atmosphere that seemed to grow with every step we took. When we reached the bottom, we stood on a flat rock to get out of the weeds.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Well, here goes,” I said with a laugh. “Let’s see if the ghost messes up our camera.”</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I clicked the camera and the batteries died. They not only died, they died with a loud descending sound as if something had drained them on the spot.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“I can’t believe this,” I said, irritated.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Then I thought maybe the camera would work if I adjusted the batteries. I popped them out, put them back, and tried to shoot again. The batteries made the same sound and died completely, as if something had drained the final drops of juice out of them.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Well, maybe there is a ghost,” I said, a little uneasy, but I was mostly annoyed because we couldn’t shoot any more photos.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We drove to the town, bought a disposable camera, the kind you wind after every shot, and returned with our new toy to the same flat rock.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Okay,” I said, feeling foolish. “If really there is a ghost here, show us why our camera died and what happened on this rock.” Then I shot the flat rock, half-expecting the disposable camera to stop working, too, but it held up.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Later, after we developed our film, we found a strange photo of a misty cloud hovering over the rock. Jack thought the cloud seemed to be in motion, as if someone had been running and fell when they were shot.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">That’s the story of our first ghost photo. On the book cover you can see another photo Jack shot in the woods beside the Triangular Field. When I showed the photos to the head photographer at the newspaper where I worked in Washington, D.C. and asked her if there were any camera defects that might cause effects like that, she shook her head no.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Over the years Jack took thousands of photos of the Gettysburg battlefield, including mysterious mists, orbs, and a spiral that resembles the tunnel some people say they passed through in near-death experiences. He used both film and digital cameras. I collected some of the best photos and our personal stories in Haunted Ground: Ghost Photos from the Gettysburg Battlefield, an ebook on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, and other retailers. The book includes directions to each photo location, a summary of the battle, and travel information about the town of Gettysburg and the National Military Park.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">After hiking across the battlefield, I changed from a skeptic to a reluctant believer. We all have our opinions about ghosts and life after death, whether we’re skeptics or believers, but in the meantime there’s just one reality, and we know very little about it. Life is a mystery. I’ve learned to be more open-minded. I’ve come to believe that some people are so traumatized at death that they can’t let go of this world. I also think that the ghost in the Gettysburg Triangular Field interferes with cameras to let us know he still exists.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Have you seen a ghost or taken a photo of one? I would love to hear from you. Email me at </span><a href="mailto:grantstories@gmail.com"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">grantstories@gmail.com</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> and visit me at </span><a href="http://www.hollistergrant.blogspot.com/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.hollistergrant.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img src="https://mail.google.com/mail/?attid=0.2&disp=emb&view=att&th=132df03292cba271" /></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Haunted-Ground-Gettysburg-Battlefield-ebook/dp/B005AHPCII/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1318001261&sr=8-1">http://www.amazon.com/Haunted-Ground-Gettysburg-Battlefield-ebook/dp/B005AHPCII/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1318001261&sr=8-1</a> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218013645028892957.post-29347805125592868132011-10-08T04:48:00.000-07:002011-10-08T04:48:28.863-07:00Hexed Book TrailerJust wanted to share book trailer for my second book, Hexed, the sequel to Enchnated!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzzE9r1LbUxsT21-HHfeiEw5rMZ2sgmf15mJirY-cNXhNTNu0yGUwyvpDeP_w36ZtOdRjt_NmPOStyvMJ8mBw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218013645028892957.post-19300700377686983132011-10-08T04:32:00.000-07:002011-10-08T04:32:29.676-07:002md Day of Twisted: Guest Post by Phoenix SullivanToday's featured author is Phoenix Sullivan, author of <em>Sector C. </em>Enjoy!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Weaving Science Into Fiction </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We’ve all been there, reading happily along, then bam! -- three pages of exposition on the science in a science fiction story. It’s a tough balance for both reader and author. As a reader, I want to believe the author knows enough about the underlying science to be confident in their execution. As an author, it’s in my best interest to not bore my readers. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Now, I love authors like Michael Crichton as much as the next reader, but he did have a habit of stopping the action to explain things – perhaps a bit too frequently and sometimes in excruciating, chart-popping detail. Raise your hand if you ever found yourself skimming his – or another writer’s – meticulously crafted assurances that the science presented is plausible. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It’s hard not to get excited about your own ideas, of course. To leave 80% of your research off the page and only allow it to inform your characters’ actions? To trust readers to pick up on the basic premises without spoon feeding the information to them? Preposterous! </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Carving out which 20% to include is akin to surgically removing a tumor. While you obviously don’t want to leave any suspicious cells behind, you don’t want to take out more healthy tissue than you have to either. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">So what tricks do authors employ to decide what gets left on the hard drive? </span></div><ul><li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Timing – being able to manipulate the pacing enough to know when to insert the science-y bits.</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Compassion – the empathetic author’s gut guides them in not overwhelming the reader with too much detail. </span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Fortitude – authors are often tempted to throw in a bit of scientific jargon to be more convincing. Then, once they succumb to that temptation, they fear the average reader might not catch on; so on top of using the terms, they explain them too. An author who can </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">just say no</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> is a reader’s best friend. </span></li>
</ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Counter-intuitively, I think near-future SF is far more difficult to insert the science into than alternate-world or far-future stories. It’s often easier to see long-term trends (or to make up alternate ones) than to predict near-term ones. Not to mention that the real science catches up so fast – and often in ways not imagined just a handful of years before. The near-future writer takes a bigger gamble, which may also be why near-future authors are so much more determined to ensure the reader buys into the possibility of the science. It has to hold up even as the years slip by or it quickly becomes dated. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">With memories of my own eyes glazing over to prompt me, I worked hard to achieve a good balance between too much and not enough explanation in my near-future, medical thriller, SECTOR C. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">And since it takes place only a dozen years in the future, I’ll know soon enough if I got the science even close. As it is, earlier this year, not long after I finished the first draft, a team of Japanese geneticists announced they were maybe 4 years out from cloning a wooly mammoth. I sure hope they do it because that fits the timeline of SECTOR C’s science perfectly. What’s sweeter than when the science in SF novels manifests in the real world? </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Except maybe for that pesky species-jumping pandemic in SECTOR C that’s unleashed by that same science. I am a bit ambivalent about seeing that pan out.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img src="https://mail.google.com/mail/?attid=0.2&disp=emb&view=att&th=132d68a72a942a8f" /></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">SECTOR C: “Contagion” meets the science of “Jurassic Park” </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Available at:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Amazon US: </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005K4W0QS"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005K4W0QS</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br class="kix-line-break" />Amazon UK: </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/SECTOR-C-ebook/dp/B005K4W0QS"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.amazon.co.uk/SECTOR-C-ebook/dp/B005K4W0QS</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" />B&N: </span><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1105175664"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1105175664</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br class="kix-line-break" />OmniLit: </span><a href="http://www.omnilit.com/product-sectorc-599461-245.html"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.omnilit.com/product-sectorc-599461-245.html</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br class="kix-line-break" />Smashwords: </span><a href="http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/85483"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/85483</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218013645028892957.post-12621246995739087102011-10-07T03:57:00.000-07:002011-10-07T03:57:06.451-07:001st Day of Twisted: Guest Post by Declan ConnerHi everyone! Today we are kicking off our 25 Days of Twisted event! Everyday I will be featuring a guest post from a different author, each who writes in a "Halloween-y" type genre...paranormal, fantasy, thriller, sci-fi, etc. It's going to be 25 days full of great posts you do not want to miss, so make sure you visit every day! Without further ado, here's my first "Twisted" author, Declan Conner!<br />
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<span id="internal-source-marker_0.6559688284838147" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/KlyU3EuaiZGArZUyJIkkN7v_HGAuVloPiDL70mRS6exrZKW27NFi5hYm6yBmot3pezPnkynimkUuL7xINCAbgs0SBOGL1TC2hjkUGIH5uBl78Svlzlc" style="height: 116px; width: 118px;" /></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Short story thriller writer, Declan Conner.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I started short story writing when I was a member of a writers’ site and submitted a disaster thriller story for a competition about climate change. I found myself short listed for the finals which came as a big surprise, especially as the stories were judged by a panel of Harper Collins Editors and authors. I was so relieved it didn’t make the final cut and their client chose a poem and a rehashed nursery rhyme as the winners. Why relieved you may ask ...Well, for one thing I would have had to give up my copyright for no payment, and the other was that I had to cut two thousand words to meet their word count requirements and I preferred to publish the story in full.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It seems such a long time ago now, but that is what got me started. In no time at all I had twelve thriller stories of around six thousand words (approx 25 pages in a book.) I timed myself reading them and came up with the name of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Lunch Break Thrillers</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, which indicated the time it took to read one of the stories. The rest is as they say history, as the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Lunch Break Thrillers</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> compilation hit the top ten for crime/mystery thriller/ shorts in the UK and stayed in the bestseller chart for seven months this year, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Stephen King. Since then I have published all the stories individually to give readers a choice.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">One of the stories, Hide and Seek, is a ghost thriller and is a favorite of mine. I was really pleased when the first review came in on smashwords. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Review by: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Kaye George on July 19, 2011 : </span><img height="16" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/DD98DYd402mdyua4dpSAqzsxd5roiMx-D049zgAuO3GZ3dCxNPsUpcV9MhPp5sljHl3peCPmTcWg_VEoiRETSTowEqPaxCCBp9kF7_vP5qqgA7RiXR0" width="16" /><img height="16" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/DD98DYd402mdyua4dpSAqzsxd5roiMx-D049zgAuO3GZ3dCxNPsUpcV9MhPp5sljHl3peCPmTcWg_VEoiRETSTowEqPaxCCBp9kF7_vP5qqgA7RiXR0" width="16" /><img height="16" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/DD98DYd402mdyua4dpSAqzsxd5roiMx-D049zgAuO3GZ3dCxNPsUpcV9MhPp5sljHl3peCPmTcWg_VEoiRETSTowEqPaxCCBp9kF7_vP5qqgA7RiXR0" width="16" /><img height="16" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/DD98DYd402mdyua4dpSAqzsxd5roiMx-D049zgAuO3GZ3dCxNPsUpcV9MhPp5sljHl3peCPmTcWg_VEoiRETSTowEqPaxCCBp9kF7_vP5qqgA7RiXR0" width="16" /><img height="16" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/DD98DYd402mdyua4dpSAqzsxd5roiMx-D049zgAuO3GZ3dCxNPsUpcV9MhPp5sljHl3peCPmTcWg_VEoiRETSTowEqPaxCCBp9kF7_vP5qqgA7RiXR0" width="16" /><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I enjoyed writing and plotting Hide and Seek and I am currently working on finishing twelve paranormal stories, which I am hoping to publish as </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Lunch Break Paranormals</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> at the end of November. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Hide and Seek, also available in the Lunch Break Thrillers compilation. For a full list of eBooks to Include, Where there’s a will, there’s a war. FREE short political thriller ... </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/s?_encoding=UTF8&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=Declan%20Conner"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Amazon Author page</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">,</span><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0055HYNS8"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Hide and Seek</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> US </span><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0055HYNS8"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Hide and Seek</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> UK</span><img height="138" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/Fhc6tXaxtdulZJMVHhfWR1GgoZg7r_xltSqrvwix4Loj5NgPBDCxzv0gvRwjPQMrxEsKZeLjx6xGK1cIUliY484DokP_0HmtYqHWhTRmyP0jbuLy8ak" width="91" /><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0