Kellyann Zuzulo's Blog, page 14

Come Celebrate THE GENIE IGNITES

[image error]

The Genie Ignites Is Here!

The Genie Ignites  released today, Friday, March 2nd!

We’ll have a whirlwind weekend of celebrations and Zubis will be my date on Monday at the  5th Anniversary Bash at Beyond Her Book, a blog hosted by Publishers Weekly. The event is a huge gathering of authors and readers who love books and have suggestions for great titles. Best of all are the giveaways. I see that this year there are several ereaders being given to some lucky people who leave  comments. I’m offering a free copy of The Genie Ignites as well as a $30 Barnes & Noble ebook Gift Card. Please stop by…..

Meanwhile, download your copy today!

Best Wishes,

Kellyann

The Last Storyteller

The Last Storyteller: A Novel Of Ireland by Frank Delaney

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is how a story should be told: heroes and villains, trials and tribulations, hope and joy. An engrossing, layered plot and captivating characters. I especially enjoyed Delaney’s masterful juxtaposition of bygone tales and current drama. When THE storyteller Ben MacCarthy meets up with happy-go-lucky gadabout Jimmy Bermingham (and we soon learn, he’s in the IRA), they come upon Emma Sloane who is on the run from a father who whips her and would marry her off to a wealthy but ancient and heartsick man. This unfolding catastrophe mirrors the old tale that Ben’s mentor, John Jacob, has just told him about the lovely young Emer being betrothed to the hoary but heroic Malachi MacCool. Ben sees the parallels immediately, which commits him all the more to the constancy of storytelling. The meeting of Ben and Jimmy and Emma occurs early in the novel. With this encounter, Delaney sets the hook of what makes a story a great story: “And so three people, complete strangers to one another, set out on a coldish rainy afternoon in County Kilkenny in the year 1956, not knowing what on earth lay ahead.”

What was most enjoyable about this novel for me was that Ben was not just the storyteller of Ireland’s history and myths, he was telling his own story. Divided from his beloved Venetia and their two children, his tale is the tale of a quest. As a reader, I was drawn in and held fast as Delaney weaves the journey.

A compelling tale that you shouldn’t miss.

View all my reviews

Introducing CALEN by Rie McGaha

Today, we take a break from our Paranormal Poll to share this space with an exciting new book from Rie McGaha, which she describes as parts fantasy and paranormal.  Thanks to Rie McGaha for visiting the blog.  Please check out her article here for prize drawings!
Calen (Book 1 My Soul To Keep Trilogy)
by Rie McGaha

[image error]How far would you go to save the life of the one you love? On May 14, 2011 you’ll find out how far one man is willing to go.

Calen is technically a fantasy, but it has a paranormal quality as well. Researching the paranormal is not an easy task because most paranormal sites deal with ghosts, ghost sightings, and the age old argument as to whether ghosts exists or not. For me, the paranormal is much easier to write because I see dead people. I know, you’ve seen the movie, right? I’ve had dreams and seen dead people since I was about three years old. I think it’s where the bulk of my very imaginative stories came from when I was preschool age. This isn’t something anyone asks for, or at least I didn’t. And for me, it’s not something I actively pursue, but suffice to say, it’s not like Ghost Whisperer.

Calen was not originally a book on its own, but a brother in the story, My Soul To Keep.   The story was just so long that the publisher felt it would fare better if broken into three parts for the e-book.  However, for print, the story will be one single book. I hope you enjoy the story and be sure to stop by our blog for the low down on the prizes being given away, and be sure to “follow” the blog to be entered into the drawing for the grand prize.

* * * *

[image error]

Rie McGaha is an author, editor, and reviewer.  She has more than a dozen books to her credit, and her recent release, Calen, is the first book in the My Soul To Keep Trilogy, with the other two books being released later this year from Silver Publishing. You can join Rie, GA Hauser, & Stormy Glenn for Blog Blast 2011, on Blog Talk Radio, May 14, 2011 at noon CST, with an all day group chat at Erotic Promo.

Prizes will be given away all day long, so join us!  And check out Blog Blast 2011 for a list of prizes, and “follow” us to be entered into the grand prize drawing.

Everyone who comments on this blog is also eligible to win!

GA Hauser – http://authorgahauser.com/
Stormy Glenn – http://stormyglenn.com/
Rie McGaha – http://www.riemcgaha.com/
Check out Rie’s new release.
Thanks,
Kellyann
www.kfzuzulo.com
DISSOLVE, part of the SPELLS, SLOTS & SIRENS Anthology,
coming this summer from Sapphire Blue Publishing

Who Are the Jinn?

Jinn are genies.  They are described in pre-Islamic lore and there’s even a book in the Koran, the al-Jinn, dedicated to describing how they should live and how humans should interact with them.  In answer to last week’s Paranormal Poll, Shaitan is not a type of genie.  Shaitan is the name of a powerful jinni who defied God.  Shaitan came to be known in Western lore as Satan.  Primary difference between the two depictions is that Westerners believe Satan was an angel and Middle Eastern belief describes him as a genie.

As for for the three types of jinn, they are:

Marid: Wicked and malicious spirits, like devils and demons
Ifrit: Strong and powerful spirits that are not necessarily evil.
Ghuls: Lesser phantoms who can fly, much like ghosts and ghouls.

And that’s today’s genie lesson.  Any questions?

Best Wishes,
Kellyann
www.kfzuzulo.com
DISSOLVE, part of the SPELLS, SLOTS & SIRENS Anthology,
coming this summer from Sapphire Blue Publishing

The Paranormal Poll: What are the types of genies?

[image error]

Artists have been imagining genies for thousands of years.

There are three types of jinn or genies.  Which of the following is NOT one of the types of jinn?

MARID

IFRIT

SHAITAN

GHUL

Check back for the answer and elaboration.

Cheers!

Kellyann

www.kfzuzulo.com

Spirits of the Trees

[image error]The answer to last week’s Paranormal Poll was, indeed, the DRYAD.  These tree spirits have been sung, chanted and hugged by myriad cultures since the dawn of time ~ they have a decidedly evergreen awareness.  Dryads are believed to be individualistic entities that inhabit a single tree for the life of the tree, unlike some other elementals ~ like naiads and sylphs ~ that cluster and swirl together.

When they have been perceived, tree spirits are described as being tall, angular of face, brown or dusky of countenance, leggy of limb.  They are subtle, stoic, patient and ponderous like, well, like a tree.

I have a little book called THE REAL WORLD OF FAIRIES by Dora Van Gelder.  In chapter seven, she elaborates on the social life of dryads:  At night these beings seem to have more free time and opportunity for social life.  They all come out of their barks, and if the person upon whom they have bestowed their affection is staying in a house and the tree is not too far away, the tree spirits may come out and go in search of him.  I think one reason why most people feel afraid at night in a forest is because all these beings seem to have emerged from their trees, so that one feels surrounded by unseen presences.

She goes on to write that trees may have an aversion to certain humans.  Regarding this, my sister Verona firmly believes that the big old oak in her backyard dislikes her immensely, and throws acorns or drops branches on her at every opportunity (but leaves the rest of the family alone).  She knows better than to chop it down though…because then the dryad would go a wandering….  I feel a story coming on.

Do you have any tree spirit stories?

Best Wishes,
Kellyann Zuzulo
www.kfzuzulo.com
DISSOLVE, part of Spells, Slots & Sirens: Stories of the Aracana Royale
coming this summer from Sapphire Blue Publishing.

The Paranormal Poll: What is a tree spirit called?

[image error]J. R. R. Tolkien based his descriptions of Ents in Lord of the Rings on stories of tree spirits that had been described for eons.  What are these tree spirits called?

Check back on Monday for the answer and another Paranormal Poll.

Best Wishes,
Kellyann Zuzulo
www.kfzuzulo.com
DISSOLVE coming in June from Sapphire Blue Publishing
as part of SPELLS, SLOTS & SIRENS: Stories of the Arcana Royale anthology.

You’ve got to play to win….

[image error]We’re interrupting our regularly scheduled programming – i.e. The Paranormal Poll – in order to select two winners today of the $20 B&N eGift Card.  This fine gift is brought to you by author K. F. Zuzulo (that’s me) and all the readers who have read (and paid for) her books (that’s you…right?).  This is my little way of saying thank you, but also getting subscribers to Genie Digest, a fascinating collection of tidbits & ticklers, little-known facts and tendrils of fiction.  All of which will be coming to you only four times a year on a heavily embroidered virtual carpet.

So get over to that little box on the right now and enter your email address.  I do not share, sully, or expose these addresses in any way.  Drawing around 4 p.m. EST today.  If you don’t win, you’re thrown back into the lamp for next month.

Shazam!
Kellyann
and check out Seven Souls A Leaping from Sapphire Blue Publishing
Spells, Slots & Sirens coming in June….

Horror of the Heights

[image error]That title is not about a fear of flying…necessarily.  It’s the answer to this past week’s Paranormal Poll.  Conan Doyle (as in Sir Arthur) first published his short story Horror of the Heights in Strand Magazine in 1913.  In this paranormal tale, an aviator on a quest to discover the cause of deaths of several airmen at high altitudes, soars into the atmosphere. What he encounters gives credence to the oft-told legends of giant, dragon-like beasts of tangible, terrible air high above the earth.  The story is a classic of horror fiction.

Many cultures have stories of sylphs (fairies of air) that populate an airy atmosphere and of giant storm fairies that lurk even higher above the earth.  Apparently, the sylphs are gossamer gliders that are typically described as gorgeous and mostly gentle.  It is the force above them — driving the winds around the earth – that can be as treacherous and unpredictable as a beast.  Winds can and have done damage for millenia.  Early people would have seen this unharnessable force as an evil demon or god.  We now know that science can explain the drafts of air that sweep the face of this planet.  And yet anyone who has ever been tickled, traced or buffeted by some form of air might wonder….

Some folks guessed Stephen King as the famous author who wrote about giant storm fairies.   I’ve read and love most of his books, but am not as familiar with his shorts.  He very well may have written a story about giant storm fairies.  If you know of such a tale, please share.

Until next week’s Paranormal Poll,
Best Wishes,
Kellyann
www.kfzuzulo.com

Breezy Ideas and Gods of Wind

Whistling was the answer to last week’s Paranormal Poll.  Whistling is widely believed to summon ill winds, is considered uncouth for a lady, and may share your bad breath with those around you.  I was told when I was a young girl, “Never whistle!”  But I do so enjoy pursed lip activities, whistling among them.

[image error]

Painting of Boreas & Oreithyia by Evelyn DeMorgan

We continue our March march here in the Paranormal Poll with the elemental facets of the wind.  Boreas is the Greek god personifying the North wind, that alpha breeze of the earth’s atmosphere.  He’s pictured here with the hapless princess Oreithyia, whom he swooped off and ravished among the cumulus clouds above Athens.  Apparently, Boreas didn’t totally blow it — or maybe that’s why — but Oreithyia became his wife and had four children and was the first to feature the windswept hairstyle.  Later, the Athenians agreed to drop the kidnapping charges if Boreas would help them defeat Xerxes of Persia.  Boreas invoked a violent storm, sank 400 ships and swept into town for a celebratory parade, blowing up skirts left and right (he would later renew this penchant with a new favorite, Marilyn Monroe).  Of course, he was given a splendid temple sanctuary on the banks of the River Illisus, which boasted wonderful cross-ventilation and gave rise to a popular architectural feature, the breezeway.

His Roman doppelganger is called Aquilo, which also means North Wind or Devouring.

Now back to whistling while I work…on DISSOLVE, my installment for SPELLS, SLOTS & SIRENS, a new anthology coming soon from Sapphire Blue Publishing, which will include stories from Heather Long and Lisa Pietsch.  DISSOLVE is about a fiery-tempered genie named Lena who blows into Vegas looking for her sister but who must first burn through the secrets that shroud her family.  She finds an intriguing ally in a big guy with a bigger secret.

Best Wishes,
Kellyann
www.kfzuzulo.com