Kellyann Zuzulo's Blog, page 10

Genies Rock the Casbah

Charming though crumbling Casbah.

Among the ruelle of the Casbah in Algiers, Algeria, the jinn lurk. Or at least you could imagine they do. That’s why I used the Casbah as a setting in my novel The Genie Smolders [coming this winter from Boroughs Publishing Group]. A ruelle is a narrow street that sometimes winds into a cul-de-sac. Cobbled streets, crumbling walls, dark alcoves are all perfect havens for jinn. The Casbah is rife with crumbling, cobbling, and dark. Officially, Algeria is in north Africa, but this coastal citadel is in the Arab world. And here roots  of belief in the jinn burrow deep into the chalky stone. Maybe that’s why the city is crumbling. The jinn have taken hold and begin to uproot what humans have built. Or maybe the infrastructure has no resources. It’s one or the other. Perhaps a combination of both. Genies and poor economic development.

Rooftops in the Casbah.

Once a stalwart citadel, the Casbah has fallen prey to the ghosts of what it once was. The historic city needs major renovations. You can still sense the lives, intrigue of centuries, but today it’s almost as if humans have abandoned possession to the jinn. There is beauty here. But there is disquiet, too. A lingering unease. A perfect place to look for the jinn. I think tourists should return here just to walk the streets and listen. Hot draft on your ankles? It’s either a turgid breeze or a genie. Salty scent tickling your nostrils? Either an approaching jinni or wind off the Mediterranean Sea. I want to see Americans in pastel pants and white linen shirts glancing back over their shoulders as they walk up this staircase. The streets are ancient and the atmosphere is fraught with mysticism. That’s hard to find in the States. Well, you could visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando in Disney World. But it’s not quite the same. You’ve got to go the Casbah to Rock the Casbah.

Or you could read The Genie Smolders when it comes out. In the meantime, read The Genie Ignites to get up to speed on Zubis and the world of the jinn. And when you do, Rock the Casbah in time to the Clash….

Best Wishes,

Kellyann

What Would You Wish For?

Check out THE CHRISTMAS BOTTLE.

A jinni released in the Winter Solstice brings heat and hope to one woman’s life.

Do Breasts Sell Books?

Her name is Rosie. Her breasts help to sell bras for Victoria’s Secret.

Of course they do. Breasts can sell anything. Put a pair on a product and sales pick up…or at least temporary interest picks up. We can’t help it. We are a mammalian species. Men and women love to look. Women, you say? Sure. We like to assess, maybe compare. “Hmm, would I really want breasts that big?” “Do my breasts look like THAT?” “How can I make my breasts look like that?”

Marketers long ago discovered that sex sells. That means any image that connotes sex will be used in their ads; even if the product is a type of car that will be primarily purchased by men. Scratch that. Especially if the product is a product that will be purchased by men: rifles, rods, reels, workboots. Romance novels would be a natural showcase for breasts. You would think.

This is an erotic title. Breasts don’t usually show up so proudly on romance novels.

Turns out, not so much. In the bestselling romances of the past week, not a single breast is in sight. And these are romances! Let’s look to the top selling romances of all time. Nope. No breasts. Really, the only books on which I found a bodacious bounty of breasts were on erotica titles. And even then, the covers mostly depict torsos gleaming and clutching, frequently with a bare-chested heroine. But then her slim (flat) back is the only skin exposed to the reader. Obviously, her breasts are pressed against the chest of her paramour. But you’ll only get that explanation, and what comes after, when you start reading.

Breasts selling cars

Unlike in the world of commerce (cars, guns, and fishing equipment), even the books targeted to men forego a cover that busts out. On most of the thrillers, you’re going to get a silhouette of an angst-ridden hero, a cosmopolitan city skyline, guns and ammunition. So, what’s the formula for selling a romance novel by its cover? Well, it definitely has to be appealing. But what does that mean? In my own anecdotal survey, seems to be that best-selling covers allude to a couple intent on

Her breasts are selling the shampoo Pantene.

love, whether that’s just showing a couple near a lighthouse…or just the lighthouse. People love romantic images. They don’t necessarily want overt images. Even the sexy books aim to be subtle. 50 Shades of Grey shows a necktie, for God’s sake. A necktie. Not even a necktie dangling between two large breasts. Just the necktie. However, the theme is implicit with that one necktie. Readers like to use their imaginations. That’s why they read. Ultimately, what people want from a book is a well-written story.

And that’s my 75 cents for the day (take it and buy a copy of my romance, which does have breasts on the cover, but not as a featured product. More of a tableau item.). Why have I exhibited all these breasts here? To make a point, I guess. Breasts may not sell books, but they do get hits on websites. I’m going to milk that for all its worth…excuse the pun.

 Best Wishes,

Kellyann

Thank you for the phonograph, Thomas Edison.

The hand-cranked phonograph.

How do you listen to your music? Stereo, CDs, ear buds, iPod, satellite, television as receiver? I jam, tap, and hum in time (well, not always in time) via all those methods. And I’d like to thank one man today for that privilege. Thomas Alva Edison first demonstrated the hand-cranked phonograph on this date in 1877. A mere 135 years later and we are surrounded by reproduced strains of music and voice that were all first cranked into possibility on that day.

Edison’s device was the first that was able to reproduce recorded sound. Other predecessors had only been able to record. And what good is that? (It’s like writing a book that you keep in drawer.) Using a cylinder covered in a tinfoil sheet, Edison’s phonograph scratched wavy lines into the sheet as the cylinder rotated. Thus, the cranking. The result was the magical release of sound. This didn’t just apply to music but also to spoken recordings. Here was the birth of the first audio book. As a music fan, I thank Mr. Edison. As a writer, I thank Mr. Edison. As a reader, I thank Mr. Edison. My genie characters thank him, too. Zipping through the atmosphere on waves of energy are something they can appreciate.

My CD collection is quickly becoming an antique.

I constantly have a book on CD playing in the car as I drive. And I realize that even that technology is becoming antiquated. CDs will soon go the way of the phonograph. I have pieces of furniture anchored to my wall that are dedicated to storing these vehicles of sound. All they do now is collect dust. Satellite and iPod downloads are fast capturing and storing sound on the cloud. The good thing about this cloud is that it doesn’t take up any space on my wall. I don’t have to dust! Another chore discarded. If that’s not magic, I don’t know what is.

Meanwhile, I have transitioned to more modern methods of sound reproduction. An effort that was instigated by my niece asking, “What’s a CD.” Pandora, Spotify, and Sirius XM are all services that have taken Edison’s original concept and sent it flying into the ether. Eighty years after the phonograph, Max Mathews of Bell Telephone Laboratories developed a process to digitally record sound via computer. I think Edison would be impressed by what we’ve done with his invention.

Sound has always been waves of energy, but our scientific pioneers have found ways to lasso and pen those waves. There are bound to be improvements in the near future. Keep listening.

Best Wishes,

Kellyann Zuzulo

Pick up the digital book The Christmas Bottle today.

At 75 cents, it’s cheaper than a light bulb and more entertaining.

Forced by Nature

Nature decided I wouldn’t be sitting in this chair today.

Last night, I determined that I was going to do something today. I was going to violate a sacred vow and indulge in a recently abandoned pastime. Although the air was brisk, the sky was clear and so was my conscience. I longed for the touch of cold air on skin and warm hands in gloves. Coming off of five straight days of hosting, cooking, entertaining and cleaning, it was finally my time.  Obligation be damned. But it was not to be. Forces beyond my control intervened. Did they know of my wayward soul? Did the unseen in nature–that I so frequently tout–conspire to control me, to correct me?

What I wanted to do was sit down on that chair on my deck and read a book. Bundled up and cocooned in wool, I was going to escape into fiction. I haven’t read a book in the seven days leading up to and through Thanksgiving. Yet, the vow I would have violated was the one I made to sit at my desk and write. With a new book in the works and another that needed revisions, priorities demanded that  I work at my writing. But I didn’t want to. I wanted to indulge. I wanted to sit down and read. We should all make a point of taking time for ourselves and all that. But when there are things to get done, we have to set aside our little pleasures and tend to the big tasks. Sorry, self. You don’t want to hear it, but it’s true. I think too often we do what we want to do rather than what we need to do. I had to be schooled today…by the snow.

Thanks to the Snow Fairy, I started writing a new genie romance novel today.

When I came downstairs this morning, with my Kindle in hand, and looked out the window, the image above is the scene I saw. Heavy sigh. I inhaled, squared my shoulders, and made my way to my desk. I’ll read tonight. Today, I wrote.  And wrote. This will be the day that I was bossed around by the snow. If there are forces at work in nature, then I have to thank them. Begrudgingly. I had really wanted to sit down and relax today. But nobody likes a cold, wet bottom.

Best Wishes,

Kellyann

The Christmas Bottle is now available from Boroughs Publishing Company.

Pick it up for the holidays for only 75 cents.

A Genie Romance for 75 Cents

Romance for less than a dollar.

It smolders. It sizzles. It tugs all the right places and starts a fire in the belly. It is The Christmas Bottle. And it is a romantic short about an exotic and mystical jinni who breaks through the veil between worlds to ease a lonely woman’s longing. This tale of desire fulfilled can be yours for three quarters. That’s cheaper than a cup of Arabian coffee.

How’s that for marketing copy? I’m a writer and this is me trying my hand at hawking my new book. While I enjoy conjuring promotional copy, I have to admit that it makes me a bit uncomfortable to do so for my own work. Tooting my own horn, puffing out my chest, patting my own back, and all that. But if you’re writer in the 21-st century, you know that it’s necessary.  And, really, why are we uncomfortable about it? Perhaps we feel it lessens the quality of our narrative efforts. That a good story stands on its own merits. That quality will win out. Yes, that’s all true. But quality will languish in the bin of invisible prose unless it is exposed to the world, showcased to readers, tooted and puffed. The only way to do all that is to tell people about it. In this massive byte-sized world of cyber scribes and digital publishers galore, the author must be the biggest tooter of all. Unlike many self-published authors, I do have a publisher who helps with the marketing and sales efforts, but that doesn’t shift the onus of sharing from my shoulders. If I want people to read my books (and I do), I have to tell them about them.

So, here I am telling you about my new story, The Christmas Bottle. It’s a really good story (IMHO) and well written. I’m comfortable stating that the quality is there because I had a well-respected, experienced editor who made sure of it. I hope you’ll read it. And for one more bit of necessary self-promotion, please “like” the book at Amazon. (TIP: Buy it from Boroughs Publishing Group, though. It’s 75 cents from the publisher and 99 cents from Amazon. If you have a Kindle, just order the Mobi version from Boroughs. Then you email the file to your Kindle account (you can find that address in your Amazon account, under “Manage my Kindle”.)

p.s. Many thanks to my WordPress buddy, Walid Ataya, for help with how to write “The Christmas Bottle” in Arabic. I used Fukharet Al-Milad because the bottle was made of ceramic…hand-crafted and apparently harboring a jinni. ; )

Thank You & Best Wishes,

Kellyann Zuzulo

What Would You Wish For?

If you like this story, you’ll love my novel THE GENIE IGNITES.

Read it today, because book two in the series will be out soon.

The Role of the Jinn in Mideast Empire Building

A Middle East kingdom built by a small nation. (credit: BAS Library)

Faced with the external threat of invasion from its more established neighbors, this small Middle Eastern nation began to build. They controlled the trade routes of the Persian Gulf, accumulating wealth and resources. Their construction established them as a major force in the region. Who are they? This upstart nation was known as the Chaldean tribe of southern Babylonia and first appeared in historical accounts around 3,000 years ago.

Accounts of ancient intrigue are a great source of literary inspiration for me. Who were these Chaldeans and why were they able to make a mark in history? Who really knows? All the players are dead and written accounts are scarce. I’m going to tap a reliable though fabricated resource: my imagination. My answer to who the Chaldeans were will be incorporated into my new novel, another romance about the rule of the jinn. Genies are described in folklore as being great builders. Could they have helped a tiny kingdom establish a temple and shrine that became known as the Foundation of Heaven and Earth? Sure, they could have. At least that’s the narrative I”m going to use in my novel.

The actual answer to how the Chaldeans rose to power can be partly found in history. My primary resource for this novel will be the Biblical Archaeology Society library. According to historical accounts, the Chaldeans benefited from the fact that their more powerful neighbors had weakened. With a strong ruler at the helm, the Chaldeans simply outmaneuvered the competition. Eriba-Marduk was the first ethnic Chaldean monarch of Babylonia. He must have been a bold risk-taker. Was he ruthless? Who knows. But if he were, he’d be a great villain. That’s where I’m heading with this. “The King who built an empire at any cost…using mercenaries and magic.” Whaddya think?

Chaldean ruler Merodach-baladan II, left, who set the stage for Eriba-Marduk’s rise to power by building on their land holdings.

The remains of the Etemenanki ziggurat, known as “The Foundation of Heaven and Earth”

The real Eriba-Marduk’s reign lasted only nine years, but it set the stage for Chaldean resistance to the Assyrians for the next century and a half. King Nebuchadnezzar (much better known than his Chaldean predecessor) made his reputation off the construction projects that Eriba-Marduk started. As a matter of fact, the ziggurat called Etemenanki, which Eriba-Marduk started and Nebuchadnezzar restored, was believed to be the Biblical Tower of Babel. And who better to build an mammoth tower that reaches into the heavens than the jinn. Stay tuned for their exploits in my next novel.

Meanwhile, you can check out THE GENIE IGNITES from Boroughs Publishing Group…the story of a genie bound to the modern kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the woman who would win his heart and maybe his freedom.

(Historical information for this blog was drawn from the Biblical Archaeology Society library, Nebuchadnezzar & Solomon: Parallel Lives Illuminate History by Bill T. Arnold: Jan/Feb 2007.)

 Best Wishes,

Kellyann Zuzulo

Look for THE CHRISTMAS BOTTLE, a new Lunchbox Romance from Boroughs Publishing Group about a mystical night that unites a brutal man, his hopeful wife, and an alluring jinni. To be released November  25th, 2012.

Go In ONE DIRECTION. Keep your eyes on the LITTLE THINGS

One Direction, as interpreted by Tiah Zuzulo.

Yes, I am offering advice from the top boy band in the United States right now. Go in ONE DIRECTION. Keep your eyes on the LITTLE THINGS. I’m not a “boy band” type of person, tending more toward world music, jazz, and stomping Celtic jams. But I have been seduced. I’ll blame my current music psychology on my pre-teens, who have inculcated my world with the characters and the music of One Direction. I see Liam, Zayn, Niall, Harry and Louis now as reminders of FOCUS. They are, after all, ONE DIRECTION.

As a writer, I’m painfully aware of my focus. I write every day. I have to write every day. I may not want to write every day. But when I do, I’m glad I did. Once I start writing a new novel, it is oh-so-important to keep going. Get the words onto the page. That doesn’t mean that my story or my characters can’t go in more than one direction. They can. The point is that I must keep going in one direction. And that’s forward.

How did I get hooked on my One Direction epiphany? First of all, the name is great. You can only go in one direction at one time. Move forward. Stay on track. (Add your own platitude here: _____). Of course, there is a need to explore sometimes and go off the beaten track. Discover new trails. But once you’re out there, beating through the underbrush, finding your way, the advice still works. Keep going in One Direction. Get it done, then move on.

The boys of ONE DIRECTION have inimitable appeal for teeny boppers the world over. They each have a very particular style. Please notice my 11-year-old daughter’s eraser-board rendering above of the ONE DIRECTION characters. (I think it’s brilliant.) She’s tapped in to how each of them has little quirks that make them unique. Yet, what everyone loves is how they sound so seamless together. It reminds me to keep my characters like that. Imperious villains and reluctant heroines are predictable. One might say boring. Give them quirks and catchphrases, accents or tics. And a swoopy cute haircut doesn’t hurt either.

LITTLE THINGS is the title of their new single, which was released this month. If you’re a conscious American with ears, you’ve probably already heard their hit song “Live While We’re Young.” Yeah, cute. That’s what young people do. But I really like their new one, “Little Things.” It’s slower. Has more thoughtful lyrics. Though, honestly, I don’t think they could have written it about another teeny bopper with lyrics like:  ”I know you’ve never loved the crinkles by your eyes.”  ”You never loved your stomach or your thighs.” The upshot is the line, ”All your little things add up to, I’m in love with you.”  Basically, all the little parts make a whole. The little parts are important. In a book, those are the characters, what they think, and why they do what they do. I have to remember that. I can’t just come up with a great plot and jot it down. It needs smiles, reflection, memories (go easy on the flashbacks), longing, humor, good dialogue, and maybe a cute hairstyle. All these little things matter.

I’m off in ONE DIRECTION.

 Best Wishes,

Kellyann

THE GENIE IGNITES now available.

THE GENIE SMOLDERS coming soon from Boroughs Publishing Group.

Tower Of London: Break In

The Tower of London

Where do writers get the ideas for stories? I find inspiration in news accounts, magazine articles, and other blogs. Here’s a fascinating story I came across this morning about a break-in at the Tower of London. The blogger hearkens back to another infamous trespass at this historic site. It got me to thinking: That’s something a genie could do…in and out with never a whisper of its presence. Look for a bandit jinni in an upcoming novel. Meanwhile, read about this audacious breach.

Tower Of London: Break In.

Best Wishes,

Kellyann

THE GENIE IGNITES now available from Boroughs Publishing Group.

The Genie Ignites | Book Club Reading List

Tea & shortbread & books

Book Clubs always remind me of lemon-ginger tea and shortbread cookies. I must have gone to a book club meeting once and that’s what they served. It would have stuck with me because I enjoy both and I usually attend social events that offer food and drink. Also, Book Clubs conjure images of soft couches, overstuffed pillows, stockinged feet on thick carpets, maybe a glass of white wine. Now, I’m wondering why I don’t go to more book club meetings. I stopped going to that particular club only because they weren’t reading a book I was interested in and it was taking a really long time to move on to the next title. But that misses the point, doesn’t it. A Book Club is a cozy social event for people who love to read. Discussing the plot and characters draws out layers in the story that may otherwise fall into the margins. I think it’s time to find another Book Club. In the meantime, I am looking for a book club to bring my genie to. He loves lemon-ginger tea, too, but is more a figs and tabouleh kind of guy.

Zubis is the main character in The Genie Ignites, a paranormal romance I wrote that was released earlier this year by Boroughs Publishing Group. I just submitted Book Two to my editor. So, Zubis has worked hard and wants to get out and meet people. He’s perfectly willing to attend Book Clubs in person, or at least through Skype. Oh, he’ll be there. Just can’t guarantee that he’ll come out of his lamp. I’ll bring the shortbread. Get more information on how to bring Zubis to your book club from the link below…

The Genie Ignites [Book One of the Zubis Chronicles] | Book Club Reading List.

p.s. You can get the recipe for  these shortbread biscuits by clicking the picture.

Best Wishes,

Kellyann 

Arabian Nights. American Days.

An ancient Assyrian carving of a jinni.

I write about genies. A good Irish-American former Catholic girl like me writes romances about an iconic Middle Eastern elemental. How did that happen? Let’s just break that down. It’s really not such a stretch. If you’re interested in history and myth–and I am–then any fantastical figures are fair game. My background gave me fairies, banshee, and demons. Jinn fit right into that population.

I think part of what makes all elementals so durable is that they’re hard-wired into our consciousness. They’re..well…elemental. They all sprang up before religion; way back when nature and imagination were the only way to describe what was happening in the world around us. Genies were described in a pre-Islamic world when fairies and banshee were flying in a pre-Christian world. Yet, they were so intrinsic to how humans explained good and evil influences that each was incorporated into the major religious texts: Jinn have a chapter in the Koran and demons show up repeatedly in the Bible.

I first came across genies by reading The Arabian Nights. With research, I would learn that the jinn and how they live and appear and what they’re believed to be capable of are not all that different from Western world elementals. Demons as described in Western literature are really not all that different from how genies are described. In a translation of The Arabian Nights by Husain Haddawy, genies are interchangeable with demons. (Part of why genies get a bad rap is that they’re often described as demons. Literally, they have been demonized.)

Check out this passage from The Ninth Night. Shahrazad has started the story of a fisherman who has bad luck and catches no fish. One day, he captures a brass jar in his net. Here’s what happens next:

The familiar jinni. Not sure why he became blue; maybe because smoke can be blue-gray.

After a while, there began to emerge from the jar a great column of smoke, which rose and spread over the face of the earth, increasing so much that it covered the sea and rising so high that it reached the clouds and hid the daylight. For a long time, the smoke kept rising from the jar; then it gathered and took shape, and suddenly it shook and there stood a demon, with his feet on the ground and his head in the clouds. He had a head like a tomb, fangs like pincers, a mouth like a cave, teeth like stones, nostrils like trumpets, ears like shields, a throat like an alley, and eyes like lanterns.”

The Banshee

Wow! What a sight, eh? You can also see why Westerners put the genie in a bottle and make him emerge in a cloud of smoke. In fact, genies are created “from the smokeless flame”. So, maybe it’s more of a mist. It all depends on the translation. Which would also be why this particular guy is so darn ugly. The jinn supposedly don’t look much different from humans. But there’s the power of the imagination again, creating tales and figures from the unknown. From what I learned about banshee, they have a similar travel ability. They are frightful spirits who portend a death. They wail and screech. If you see one, you will die soon. Therein lies the link among all these elementals. We can’t see them. The jinn means “the hidden.” Yet, we have all sorts of descriptions about what they look like. Because that’s what humans do. They try to explain the unseen. And that’s what writers do. They create stories to construct a world around the things that are part of our consciousness but which have no evidence for their existence. And that’s how I came to write novels about genies.

You don’t have to believe in them as being real. But it sure is fun to imagine a world with them in it.

Best Wishes,

Kellyann

Read THE GENIE IGNITES for a new tale of the jinn.

On Kindle. On Nook.