Kellyann Zuzulo's Blog, page 5

What Characters Do While They Wait…

… they “live”. I am the Dr. Frankenstein of a slew of magical characters. I created them; nurtured them; guided them. They’re out there. I haven’t paid much attention to them this summer. Life gets in the way. When my husband had a heart attack last week, they were asked to take a seat and wait. (Actually, I didn’t give them a thought… but they knew).  So, they sit in the wings living the magical lives I created for them. Not to overstate it…but they may owe me some rent. The point is that our imaginations create very real things.  Whether they move forward or step back is up to us. For now, I think they’re content to wait. I hope you are, too.

 

~Kellyann

Buy my books. That’s really what any author wants.

Romance Book Giveaway!

The Smardy Pants book blog is offering three free copies of To Have and To Hold, the first book in the 101 Nights series from Boroughs Publishing Group.  Smardy Pants is a really fun blog that describes itself as “Obsessed with Rock Stars, Bad Boys, and all Things Paranormal.” Lots of freebies and great reading suggestions. Check it out and enter to win a giveaway of my book….explore love, lust, and lies in the New Jersey suburbs as genie Amani Zarin settles into domestic life with her new scientist husband. Something’s going to explode! [click on the pic to enter giveaway]

What Librarians Read

You know that feeling you get when a big box wrapped in shiny paper with a perfectly curled ribbon is placed in front of you…. I got that feeling when I heard that The Genie Smolders was being reviewed in Library Journal. For those of you who don’t know, Library Journal is a trade publication for librarians with a circulation of 100,000. The so what — besides the fact that the Journal was founded in 1875 by the same guy who invented the Dewey Decimal System — is that most librarians read this journal. These are the people who make the decisions about the books that go into the library. Okay, so people borrow books from libraries, not buy them. But the librarians have to buy some copies to make them available. And, you know what, who cares who buys what…it is just so cool.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve always had a nearly reverential respect for all librarians. They know things. They have access to nearly limitless stores of knowledge and they access it on a regular basis. Cool. Anyway, here’s what a librarian thought of my book….  (I’m all aflutter as I unwrap that package….)

Zuzulo, Kellyann. The Genie Smolders. Boroughs Pub. (Zubis Chronicles, Bk. 2). Jul. 2013. 208p. ebk. ISBN 9781938876158. $3.99. ETHNOCULTURAL, PARANORMAL ROMANCE

This second installment in the “Zubis Chronicles” (after The Genie Ignites) continues the story of the forbidden love between Zubis, a jinni or genie, and Bethany O’Brien, a human woman who is the reincarnation of a priestess from the time of Solomon. Zubis has loved Bethany for 3,000 years, and Bethany has recently given birth to Zubis’s daughter, Fia. Malevolent forces have conspired to keep them apart by kidnapping Fia in order to force Zubis to help the evil jinni Iblis—also known as “Shaitan” or Satan—to conquer the world. A varied cast of human and jinni plotters take advantage of Zubis’s further vulnerability: he is in thrall to an Arabian family because he owes them the third of three wishes.

Verdict Unexpected angelic help and the power of sexual healing add layers of interest, while well-crafted romantic interludes and the use of Arabic phrases and locales lend authenticity and depth. The complex plot and multiple characters would make reading the first book in the series essential for most readers.—Henry Bankhead, Los Gatos Lib., CA.

If you’ve lost your library card, you can download The Genie Smolders today…

Best Wishes,

Kellyann

The Genie in USA Today

The Genie Smolders, my new novel, is featured in USA Today’s Happy Ever After blog. The article lists paranormal, steampunk, and sci-fi romance titles that are newly released. The Genie Smolders, the second book in The Zubis Chronicles is listed in the same section as Heather Graham’s new one Deep Midnight. Now that’s a dream come true. I’m a longtime fan of Heather’s books and have met her several times at ThrillerFest and at romance conferences. She’s probably the nicest author I’ve ever come across and she’s likely the most prolific, with around 200 books written. That is, if we don’t count James Patterson. But he uses the “factory approach,” with lots of little writing elves helping him to crank out books. As far as I know, Heather Graham writes all of her own books.

Anyway, that’s my brush with celebrity for today and wanted to share.

Best Wishes,

Kellyann

Download your copy of The Genie Smolders from Boroughs Publishing Group.

Please read it and leave a little review if you like it.

It’s currently available at AllRomance, Amazon for Kindle download, and at Smashwords, with more ebookstores being added.

Press Tour for a Genie

Zubis the genie is on a press tour in the desert to promote the release of The Genie Smolders, coming July 1. Today, he was interviewed for Supernatural Snark.

I’m excited today to introduce author Kellyann Zuzulo and her adult paranormal romance,  The Genie Ignites , with a behind the scenes interview with the genie himself, Zubis. The Genie Ignites is a finalist in the Abalone Awards for “Outstanding Ethno-Cultural Romance” so I’m thrilled to give you guys a little inside look at this one, I hope you enjoy!

Our reporter caught up to Zubis via satellite in the desert, in a section known as the Empty Quarter or Rub-al-Khali, an area notorious for genie activity. It is the legendary portal to the world of Jinnistan. He appears quite comfortable sitting on a folding canvas chair in a steel-gray linen tunic, open at the neck, and pair of loose, white, gauzy trousers. [In this reporter’s objective opinion, he is devastatingly handsome.]

Reporter: Is it hot there at the edge of the Rub-al-Khali in Saudi Arabia, Mr. Zubis?



Zubis: [eyebrow goes up] Just Zubis, please. Yes, it can be quite hot. Especially when the lovely Bethany O’Brien stands close.

R: What are you doing in the desert, Zubis?

Z: [appears solemn, though those curlicue glyphs, barely covered by a fall of dense black hair along his brow, have begun to glow.] I await the arrival of Bethany. Only she can liberate me from my 3,000 years of bondage. I was condemned in the time of Solomon and have waited 3,000 years for her to return…. [a glint returns to his golden eyes.]

R: Eh…return? How old is she exactly?

Z: Well, in this incarnation, she is a delectable 32 years old. But her heart first belonged to me when she roamed the earth as the Asima Uruk in the time of Solomon.

R: So what happened to her?

Z: [The rugged lines across his brow deepen with concern.] She died. I was cursed and could not save her.

R: Wow. That’s sad. Now what?

Z: She will come. I will remind her of what we once had and she will be mine again. [He brings his fingers to his lips and his gaze is distant for a moment.]

R: Sounds pretty straightforward. What’s the hold-up?

Ouch! Was that an electrical shock that you just shot at me?!

Z: Hold-up? [He rises to his feet. He is quite large.] …………….READ THE REST OF THE INTERVIEW HERE.

And check in with Boroughs Publishing Company next week as The Zubis Chronicles continue with THE GENIE SMOLDERS.

Best Wishes,

Kellyann

A House of Jinn in Syria

A massive avenue in Palmyra, Syria

As I do my research into what is known about the realm of the jinn, I’m always on the lookout for archaeolgical links to places that may have a mysterious history; locations whose lore or legends lend themselves to jinn occupation. Mazraat Beit Jinn in the foothills of Mount Hermon is such a place. Translated from Arabic, Mazraat Beit Jinn means Farm in the Jinn House. There is a nearby town simply called Beit Jinn, which means House of the Jinn. Why? Why would residents of long ago give such a name to this windswept, sparsely populated desert outpost? Were the jinn here? There’s no answer now. Beit Jinn is a small village among a cluster of small villages southwest of Damascus having a total population of just over 2,000 souls. At one time, however, it sat along the route of the Silk Road. Once it was vibrant. Once, it might have hosted the jinn.

Beit Jinn translates as House of Jinn

Not far from Beit Jinn, northeast of Damascus, lies Palmyra. And here, there are more remnants that lore credits to the handiwork of the jinn. Although located in the arid center of a desert, Palmyra employed a system of elaborate dams and cisterns 2,000 years ago to bring water to more than 100,00 inhabitants. A pretty big feat. Unless you have some jinn working for you. And here’s some literary evidence to support that theory:

“Rise up and go into the world to release it from error and send word to the Jinn and I will give them leave to build Tadmur with hewn stones and columns.” ~God said to Solomon according to the pre-Islamic Arab poet Nabigha al Dhubyain.

Tadmur is the Arabic name for Palmyra.

Here’s my theory. The jinn were active in the desert thousands of years ago. They claimed it as their own. They helped humans to build magnificent cities to provide respite from the heat. They didn’t care that conditions could be harsh and inhospitable. They were the jinn: great engineers. They tapped into the wadi, reservoirs of water beneath the sand; they erected cool marble halls; they brought elegance and civility to the desert. They worked with humans, but humans became more numerous. When Solomon was given control of the jinn nearly a thousand years ago, the game changed. They built his temple (there are allusions to this in the Christian Bible) and some other cities (Petra and Meda’in Salah among them). Here, we get back to Beit Jinn. While the jinn moved about from such locations as Palmyra in the north to Petra in the south, they would have resided at towns along the way. Towns that would forever bear the memory with such names as Beit Jinn and Mazraat Beit Jinn. But the jinn were seen increasingly as a threat. They were no longer needed. They withdrew. Where are they now?

You can certainly find them in my novels. Check out The Genie Ignites and 101 Nights for some fictional insight on what the realm of the jinn might be like. Sadly, to travel to Syria now is to risk getting caught in the civil strife there. News accounts report that the ancient citadel of Palmyra and those in Aleppo have been damaged by mortar fire. Hopefully, a resolution will soon be found so that this wonderful history isn’t lost forever.

Get The Genie Ignites on Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Kobo. Smashwords. Diesel. Apple iBooks.

Get To Have and To Hold of the 101 Nights series on Amazon. Barnes & Noble. Kobo. Smashwords. Diesel. Apple iBooks.

Best Wishes,

Kellyann

A Father. A Hero. Tommy Mac from the Railroad Track

My Dad. Tommy Mac from the Railroad Track.

I think it’s important on Father’s Day to not only get a really clever gift that your Dad will appreciate–and probably return if he’s anything like my Dad–but that you take a few minutes to recall all the ways your Dad made you who you are.

I don’t know who gave him the nickname, whether it was one of the funny, tough cops he worked with, one of his seven brothers and sisters, or himself. He was really good with a turn of phrase. But his name was Thomas Joseph McDonnell, so you see where Tommy Mac came from. Born and raised in Philadelphia, for most of his adult life he worked as a police office for the Pennsylvania Railroad. By the time the railroads began to collapse and then merged into Conrail (Consolidated Rail Corporation) in the ’70s, he was still a cop but now he was a lieutenant. Said he never wanted to be a captain because it would have meant leaving the union and being subject to whatever hours administration put to him; hours that would take him away from his family. As it was, for most of my childhood, I remember him working his regular shift while we were at school and then taking on the graveyard shift while we slept. But he still joined us six kids and my Mom for dinner every night and helped us with our homework. He made each one of us feel special. I remember he used to do this thing where we’d all be sitting at the dinner table. We’d needle him about who he liked best. “Okay,” he’d say. “Close your eyes. I’m going to tap my favorite on the head. But you can’t say anything.” We closed our eyes. Held our breath. Got a tap on the head. What a bunch of smug faces when we opened our eyes, each thinking that we were his favorite. In a way, each of us was.

It was during one of those pre-dawn railroad beats that he was chasing thieves down the tracks. They’d broken into a boxcar and were hauling off stereos and some other equipment that obviously didn’t belong to them. At 6’3″, he was fast. Never drew his gun on a suspect,  though he carried one. Every year, he was deemed a sharpshooter at the range. But he told me once that he didn’t actually want to hurt anyone. Anyway, he saw he could catch two of the guys if he clambered over the coupling between freight cars. So he did. Right at that moment, one of the cars began to move and pinned him between hookups. Providentially, the car eased back for a better hook and he pulled himself out. Three ribs broken. He came home from work early, but went back on duty the next day.

He didn’t like to take sick time. In fact, I don’t ever remember him calling out sick. He liked to save all his days so that he could take us on vacations. Sometimes, he rented a cabin up in the Poconos, but mostly he took us to the Jersey shore. His sister Helen owned a house in North Wildwood and I think his happiest times were backfloating in the ocean (he could backfloat for an hour; riding the currents until he was just a speck in the distance) or sitting out in the yard by the bay watching us kids catch crabs off the dock. He would sing  Otis Redding’s “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay” and then announce to no one in particular, “Oh, I’m a happy man.”

He was happy and that made us happy. He was married to the love of his life. Bridget Ann Kelly from Ireland. His pixie, he called her. Met at the A.O.H. club. The Ancient Order of Hibernians. They were well matched. He was calm and steadfast. She was passionate and headstrong and loving. They both had great humor. She said he made her laugh every day. Often, we’d hear them talking late at night in their bedroom of the three-bedroom, one-bath rowhome where we lived in Philly. And then she would laugh at something he’d said. A robust,  full-hearted, throaty laugh that made us laugh.

I only saw him cry twice. The first time was when my 22-year-old sister Christina, his youngest daughter of four girls, drowned in the ocean at the Jersey Shore. The second time was when his “bride”–that’s what he still called her after 40 years together–died at the age of 60 of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Then he dried his tears and got about the business of burying them.

He taught me that life is what you make it, so make it good. I remember once complaining about something in my life that seemed unfair or upsetting or whatever. I was a young adult with a full-time job, college education, my own apartment, and a car. He said, “Don’t you see, Kellyann. You’ve got the world by the ass. Enjoy it.”

When I said wanted to be a writer, he just smiled. “Why don’t you get an engineering degree. You can always write.” But I had the bug. I got a journalism degree instead and I think he liked that. He was a writer, as his father was. He was a cop, his father was a fire chief, but they both had poems and short stories published in magazines. We talked about literature. He would recite entire poems by Wordsworth, Keats, and anonymous authors. He had a beautiful singing voice. We mostly heard it when he was in the shower.

He was erudite, spiritual, honest, funny, so intelligent, perceptive, and wise. We would talk for hours about the spiritual journey we take in life. I’m not sure where he got his very Zen-like outlook. He was an Irish Catholic boy who went to West Catholic and did two years at St. Joseph’s College. But he had ideas that I would later learn reached into the teachings of the ancient philosophers. He was widely read. Gave The Painted Bird to me to read when I was thirteen. I think it was his way of showing me what humanity was capable of, and what it is capable of overcoming. His way of outfitting me for the world. I’d never been exposed to literature like that. It changed my world. We talked about Shakespeare, the Bible, magic, science, politics. He taught me to backfloat in the ocean. He taught me that anything is possible.

He taught me that, above all things, to thine own self be true. That’s from Shakespeare. But also from Tommy Mac.

He broke his leg in 2009 and when they operated on him at Holy Redeemer Hospital, they slipped in a couple of superbugs by accident. Bacteria that would steal his mobility, burn through his leg, and ultimately kill him just two years later. Despite having lived decades with ankylosing spondilitis that curved his spine and constricted his chest, and rheumatoid arthritis, he never complained. Not until those last months of searing agony from the infection in his leg. Every once in a while, he’d shift to get more comfortable, wince, and say, “Those dirty bastards.” But then he’d looked at us, and he’d smile.

I was alone with him when the last breath left his body. It was surreal. It  was just like it’s ever been described anywhere: a person expelling his last breath. Like a sigh. It broke my heart. But I don’t let it weigh me down. There was another quote from Shakespeare that he liked to refer to: “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” I’ll see him again.

In the meantime…. Dearly loved. Sorely missed. Never forgotten. Happy Father’s Day, Tommy Mac. Thanks for making me who I am.

~Kellyann

Interview With A Genie - Guest Post by Kellyann Zuzulo, author of The Genie Ignites

Reblogged from Babette James:

I’m delighted to welcome Kellyann Zuzulo, author of The Genie Ignites here today.

Interview With A Genie

What follows is a first-person interview with Zubis. He is the cursed and captivating genie who appears, and sometimes disappears, in The Genie Ignites by Kellyann Zuzulo. We caught up to him via satellite between the 1st millennium B.C.E. and the current year, where he’s just defeated former jinni colleague Borzal (a rather ferocious fellow).

Read more… 1,401 more words

Zubis is on location.

101 Nights Off to A Great Start

Book Nerds Anonymous gives To Have and To Hold four out of five nerds.

“refreshing” “inventive” “great lead characters”

Review – To Have and to Hold (101 Nights) by Kellyann Zuzulo.

Jersey Hasn’t Seen A Wife Like This

Reluctant Rapture is book two in the 101 Nights series. Get it today for $1.99.

Amani Zarin is a real genie housewife and the star of 101 Nights from Boroughs Publishing Group. She’s relocated from Jinnistan to Jersey to figure out a way to save her homeland. After a sensual wedding night, she  settles into a suburban life of swinging neighbors, wandering deer, afternoon champagne cocktails, an angry genie ex, and a scientist husband who monitors her every move.  Can she last for 101 Nights or will she bring down the house with a flick of a fiery finger? Reluctant Rapture is the second book in the 101 Nights romance series. The first book is To Have and To Hold. Each book is only $1.99 from Boroughs Publishing Company.

Best Wishes,

Kellyann Zuzulo