Eva Gordon's Blog, page 21

Off To RT Convention and up dates

  This week I fly to  Los Angeles, CA for the Romantic Times Convention. Yes, of course I'll be on a dirigible not an airplane. On the left is my picture  in my proper explorer attire for the Dallas All Con steampunk convention I attended.

At RT I will be attending fun workshops and picking up freebies. On Friday I will be presenting on How to be a Dialogue Diva Panel. We each get to discuss some aspect of genre dialogue. I get to discuss dialogue in steampunk, paranormal and fantasy novels.




 Here is an example of what we mean by dialogue:

"You talkin' to me? (Taxi Driver, 1976)

It's no accident that some of the most memorable moments in movies come from dialogue. Who can forget "Go ahead, make my day," "Beam me up, Scotty," "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn" and so many more? Just as in the movies, dialogue in your book must do much of the storytelling while adding pace and drama to your work. Promising plenty of fun and laughter, this session explores the five key jobs dialogue has to do, looks at the starring roles your hero and heroine should play and how to keep your stars happy with the lines you write for them. Panelists: Eileen Dreyer aka Kathleen Korbel,  Valerie Parv, Eva Gordon and Mary Louise Schwartz (scriptwriter and Hollywood literary agent specializing in books into film)

My  character from my werewolf novels would say:

"You growling at me?"




If you want to learn more please follow this link:


www.rtconvention.com


On my return I will have an interesting line up of guests for my Bestiary Parlor interviews. Stay tuned for more up dates in a couple weeks.

Thank you for the Blog Award!!

 Thank You Rainy of the Dark for the Award
http://www.rainyofthedark.com/2011/03/awards-were-you-nominated/

Interview with Little Golden-Hood about her Encounter with the Wolf

The story is my favorite version of Little Red Riding Hood and is different from the Brothers Grimm version.  This version is found in The Red Fairy Book by Andrew Lang who derived his tale from the works of Charles Marelles. Andrew Lang (1844-1912) was a Scottish poet, novelist, anthropologist and was an avid collector of folk and fairy tales. By the way the University of St. Andrews, which Kate and William attended and met, was named after him.
My interview is not with the child but with Golden-Hood as a grown woman.  We met at my favorite cafe.
 
My goal was to hear about her long ago encounter with the wolf and the magic that saved her. Or did it?

The door opens and I see a tall confident beautiful woman with long dark hair, however she does not wear a golden-hood but a red cloak.


Me: "Welcome and please introduce yourself"B: "Merry Meet, my name is Blanchette of the Wood, once known as Little Golden-Hood."Me: "Why were you nicknamed Golden Hood?" 

B: " When I was a child my grandmother who knew of the old ways made me a magical golden cloak from the rays of sunshine. It would forever bring me luck and protect me. I used to wear it everywhere. Soon all the villages throughout knew me as Little Golden-Hood."

Me: "What do you mean your grandmother knew of the old ways?"B:  "My grandmother was a witch and was so old could not remember her true age. Yet she was very powerful. So powerful that not even the witch hunters gave her trouble." 
Me: "Where did you live?" B: "Our village was high in the mountains at the edge of the wood. My grandmother lived across the wood near her village's windmill."

Me: "What happened on the way to Grandma's house?" 
B: "My mother made grandmother cake and instructed me to take it to her. She told me not to stop to chatter and especially not with strangers. On the way a wolf, bigger than most and with the ability of speech stepped in front of me. He introduced himself as Friend Wolf and asked where I was going."

Me: "You must have been frightened" B: "I was but I was a foolish girl and told him I was visiting my grandmother and describe her cottage. He knew of the house and that he would get there fast and tell my grandmother I was on my way."Me: "I wonder why he didn't attack you in the middle of the wood?" B: "Not too far from where we spoke were wood-cutters and he knew my screams would attract them. He dashed away and I took my time. It was spring and I enjoyed picking daisies, and watching birds building nests. I even put my basket down for a moment to chase butterflies. Like my grandmother I enjoyed the natural world." Me: "So what happened when you arrived to Grandmother's house?" B: "What I didn't know then was that Grandmother had gone to the town to sell herbs.  Unaware I knocked on the door. "Toc, Toc." The voice that answered was raspy and almost sounded like a growl. I was told to come in and I immediately asked Grandmother if she had a cold? Back then so many died of the Black Death that I felt my heart race, thinking she may be ill. The wolf that lay under the covers coughed to play along with his deception."

Me: "And you didn't recognize the wolf?"B: "No, it had cleverly disguised itself in Grandmother's nightwear and cap. But then as I moved closer she began to remind me of Friend Wolf. Here is what I remember about our conversation:   'Oh!' How like you are to friend Wolf, Grandmother!'

'That's on account of my night-cap, child,' replies the Wolf.

'Oh! what hairy arms you've got, Grandmother!'

'All the better to hug you, my child.'

'Oh! what a big tongue you've got, Grandmother!'

'All the better for answering, child.'

'Oh! what a mouthful of great white teeth you have, Grandmother!'

'That's for crunching little children with! 'And the Wolf opened his jaws wide to swallow me. I called, "Mama!" and ran. He was only able to grab hold of my golden hood. 

He then howled as the hood burnt his tongue. In agony he continued to howl and desperately tried to get out but Grandmother arrived just in time. 


She nabbed him into her magical sack and then threw him down the well where he drowns." She smoothed her cloak. "My golden-hood was torn but years later after I apprenticed with Grandmother she gave me this red cloak."Me: "And now it's been twenty years and surely you must know this was no ordinary wolf?" B: "No he was not. He was a werewolf and well known to have killed many." 

Me: "Do you stay away from the wood?" 

B: Blanchette smiles with a toothed grin. "No, I live deep in the forest. Away from the village."Me: "But why?" B: "You see before I leapt from the bed, the wolf managed to nip me. Just a pinch, not a savage bite, but enough to curse me with lycanthropy."

Me: It was then that I noticed a fine layer of fur on her arms and her pointed ears. She removed her cap and it was then that I saw her true appearance. 

B: She smiled with fine glistening fangs. "Don't worry I'm not a bad wolf." She stood and bowed. "Nonetheless, I must leave and tend to my cubs. They get quite rambunctious during the full moon."Me: "I was astonished at such a twist in fate. Yet I knew I was looking at a good parent. As a mother what advice do you give your children?"B:"Never talk to strangers, especially humans."Me: A howl outside the café prickled my skin. "Another werewolf?"

B: "My mate." She left and sauntered into the deep wood.
So I concluded my interview with Blanchette.  If you like Little Red Riding Stories I highly recommend The Company of Wolves.
 I hope you enjoyed this brief interview and come by again to meet another fantastical creature from my Bestiary Parlor.

4 Howls for Red Riding Hood for Fun YA movie

I did not have high expectations but must admit I loved the imagery and the sweet Twilight-like Romance. I'm also a sucker for all the versions of Little Red Riding Hood. Next full moon I will be interviewing my favorite version, TBA soon. Anyway, the story revolved around a small village at the edge of the forest with a big canine problem. Like Twilight there are two hot guys who like the same girl. Amanda Seyfried plays Red Riding Hood.  Shiloh Fernandez plays Peter (was he named after Peter and the Wolf?).


Max Irons plays love interest number 2, Henry, the rich blacksmith's son.

Unlike Jacob from Twilight, these guys keep their shirts on. Must be the cold temperatures.



Gary Oldman plays the tormented Werewolf Hunter (his story is based on an old legend). He has a creative way to make you confess to being a werewolf. Racks and thumb screws are so yesterday, though his technique is not cost effective. Not 'green'.

The grandmother is definitely baby boomer, not like sweet plump old granny from older versions. Very  new age.


If you pay close attention you get to see the 3 little pigs, a man in sheep's clothing and big bad wolf "my what big features you have" references. The werewolf is typical Hollywood. There is the full moon, silver used to kill the beast, its aversion to holy ground and its bite that will turn one into a werewolf.

The audience is kept guessing on who the werewolf is. Though in the beginning there is a subtle hint. No spoilers here. Could be anyone. In my town I think the werewolf was my former math teacher.


Who is the werewolf in your neck of the woods? Could it be Charlie Sheen? No, Duh! He has tiger not wolf blood. Nonetheless, I never let my kids talk to strangers.

I liked the village. No city distractions and they really know how to throw a fun celebration with cool masks.
Village occupations seems to be woodcutters, blacksmiths, priests, mask makers, pig farmers and healers. Do they have high unemployment? They apparently outsource the production of silver swords.  There were no school  but maybe they closed because of the economy. I bet the kids are home schooled. There was one pub. Not sure about the menu. The village is alpine but no one seemed to complain about the cold. We are such wimps. We wear snow boots, gloves, down jackets and have snow days. So that's why there was no school.
What would be your occupation in Red Riding Hood's village?

The werewolf was the super-sized variety seen in Twilight and in my novels. Real wolves are about the size of a German Shepard. No real wolves used in the making of this movie. Using the lycanthrope werewolf, like in 'The Howling' type might have turned the movie into a horror. What is your preference?
The music was modern meant perhaps for the teen audience. I would have preferred music by Medieval bands such as Corvus corax, Medieval Babes or Nox Arcana. What do you all think?

My favorite part was grandmother's cool home in the woods. What a cool place to write my werewolf novels. Totally off the grid. Then again, I would need internet service.


I also found the ending satisfying. Feel free to let me know what you thought of the movie and or the answers to my questions. Here are some folks that read this blog;

Gary Oldman



My favorite wolf reporter.

Red Riding Hood trailer

Feel free to drop reviews about the movie. I especially want to hear from werewolves, grandmas, woodsman and young village girls who are partial to red hoods. Will it be 5 howls or not even a yelp?

On the next Full Moon (March 19) I plan to interview the more traditional Red Riding Hood

Happy Lupercalia! Wolf Valentine's Day!

How an ancient Roman holiday inspired my werewolf universe.My readers know I use this ancient Roman festival in my paranormal romance werewolf novels. In my universe it is the time when lycans are most fertile, find their mates or play naughty werewolf games.  I use some of the rituals below, with the exception of sacrificing the dog in my lycan festival. The Lupercal, the cave where Romulus and Remus were suckled by the she-wolf is what I call the ruling governing party run by 12 female alpha lycans. Below are some facts about Lupercalia from several sources on the web. "The Origins of the LupercaliaThe Lupercalia was started to honor a forgotten fertility god, but the during the Augustan period, the god Lupercus had been invented to explain the festival, according to the Dictionary of Roman Religion. Adkins and Adkins, authors of the book, state that Faunus might have been the god the Lupercalia. The Lupercalia Festival ItselfThe festival was held on February 15th, the day after the modern Valentine's Day Celebration. The month of February occurred later in the Roman calendar. Celebrants would gather at the Lupercal cave on the Palatine Hill in Rome, where Romulus and Remus were suckled by their adoptive wolf mother, according to Roman legend.Luperci Priests made sacrifices of goats and dogs as part of the festival, and two young people were smeared by the blood of the sacrifice and then wiped away by wool dipped in milk. As part of the Lupercalia celebration, young men would go through the streets whipping people with goat skins to encourage fertility.  The youths then donned loincloths made from the skin of the goat and led groups of priests around the pomarium, the sacred boundary of the ancient city, and around the base of the hills of Rome. The occasion was happy and festive. As they ran about the city, the young men lightly struck women along the way with strips of the goat hide. It is from these implements of purification, or februa, that the month of February gets its name. This act supposedly provided purification from curses, bad luck, and infertility.
Long after Palentine HIll became the seat of the powerful city, state and empire of Rome, the Lupercalia festival lived on. Roman armies took the Lupercalia customs with them as they invaded France and Britain. One of these was a lottery where the names of available maidens were placed in a box and drawn out by the young men. Each man accepted the girl whose name he drew as his love - for the duration of the festival, or sometimes longer.
As Christianity began to slowly and systematically dismantle the pagan pantheons, it frequently replaced the festivals of the pagan gods with more ecumenical celebrations. It was easier to convert the local population if they could continue to celebrate on the same days... they would just be instructed to celebrate different people and ideologies..
Lupercalia, with its lover lottery, had no place in the new Christian order. In the year 496 AD, Pope Gelasius did away with the festival of Lupercalia, citing that it was pagan and immoral. He chose Valentine as the patron saint of lovers, who would be honored at the new festival on the fourteenth of every February. The church decided to come up with its own lottery and so the feast of St. Valentine featured a lottery of Saints. One would pull the name of a saint out of a box, and for the following year, study and attempt to emulate that saint."
In a sense I think we have gone back to a weird form of Lupercalia lovers lottery I call it computer dating. True, you do still get to learn about the person, but do you really? It really is like drawing a date out of a lottery.

Check out my 5 Star Reviews on Amazon For White Wolf of Avalon: Werewolf Knight

http://www.amazon.com/White-Wolf-Avalon-Werewolf-Knight/dp/1935407325/ref=tmm_pap_title_0
Brief Blurb:

White Wolf of Avalon: Werewolf Knight is the story of the secret society of lycans that reside in ancient Britain. Bledig, an orphan raised by a childless couple near the magical Isle of Avalon dreams of someday becoming a knight of the Round Table. Bledig refuses to become a beast and wants no part in marrying a wolf maiden and begetting lycan children. Annora, a Romano Greco wolf maiden, is more interested in intellectual pursuits than romantic ones. She is a scribe and historian who prefers to marry an older alpha lycan who might better understand her need to focus on her writings. As Annora travels up north to meet with her brother and family, they are attacked by Gorlagon's she-lycan, Trivia, and her pack of warrior lycans. In the wilderness, Annora and Bledig meet. She is the beautiful woman he has dreamt of nightly while heading to retrieve his brother s moonstone. He, the knight in shining armor she had fantasized about, brave, handsome and chivalrous. Their attraction is instantaneous. She is stunned to learn he is a lycan, the white wolf destined to unite all the lycans of Britain. Her mate. Danger lurks everywhere. Gorlagon and Gargol have not given up on their hunt to find Annora and the Pict wolfen she released from his dank dungeons. But most of all they wish to use her as a breeder. Intrigue and secrecy abound in King Arthur's court at Camulod. Mordred, Arthur's son by his own sister, Morgause, plots to rule. He has become Gorlagon's secret Lupercii in the hopes of having a lycan army to defeat his father in battle. Will Bledig reject his true destiny as the prophesized lycan leader of Britain, and most importantly, can he deny his feelings for the lovely wolf maiden, Annora, who has already captured his heart and soul? Can Annora survive the lycans who hunt her? Will Bledig finally submit to his lycan nature and forever claim her as his wolf maiden? Will magic save their kind, the fae of Avalon and King Arthur's Britain?

Full Moon in January is the Wolf Moon

 

Imagine the chill cold of the deep January winter. Game is scarce and your pack grows hungry. Beneath the crystal globe of the full moon you and the other wolves in your pack howl.  Native tribes from New England to Lake Superior hear your songs. Your voice is heard and the people of the land name the January full moon the Wolf Moon in your honor.

Music I listen to while writing my gothic steampunk novel

Time Travelling until Febuary 2011

Dear Followers,
I must time travel to Victorian England for the next month, hence, my lack of blogs lately. Busy working on my aether time portal machine.


I need to leave as the portal opens on this Winter Solstice. The total Eclipse tonight will enhance my passage. The last time this eclipse coincided with Winter Solstice was 456 years ago.


As you can see I'm packed and ready to go. Will be taking plenty of notes to work on my Steampunk series.
On my  return I will go further back into time and interview the Neuri.


Cheers,