Marissa Farrar's Blog, page 17

SFTW! Interview with Erotic Fantasy Author, Danielle Gavan and Win ALL of Her Books!

Happy Friday everyone! Hope you all had a good week and I'm sure, like me, you're all pleased the weekend is here. Before I introduce my next guest, I just wanted to apologise for my lack of commenting on either this blog or anyone elses. For some reason Blogger is no longer recognising my login details and won't let me leave comments. So, I'm not ignoring you, promise! I'm also aware of a few other people who've been unable to leave comments. If you've had this problem while trying to enter one of the giveaways, please email me your entry at marissafarrar@hotmail.co.uk and I'll be sure to include you!

Now, for my guest for this week, Danielle Gavan. I met Danielle over at the Write in the Shadows blog, where we co-blogged, (and which is now being relaunched as Digital Digest, but I will share more on this venture another time). Not only is she a gifted author, she is also a talented cover designer and a total expert on all things formatting. Seriously, this lady knows it all and she is a great person to get to know!

So, Danielle, thanks for stopping by my blog and sharing a little about yourself and your work.


Let's start with the most important thing: your books. Give us a brief description of the novel you want to talk about today.

D.G.  The novel I'd like to tell you about today is UnWrapped. It's a novella about four supernatural siblings who discover just how fun getting older can be for a Satyr, Incubus, Dhampire and Fae. Readers who follow Everything Erotic will have seen some of the chapters on the blog.


M.F.  So what are you working on at the moment? Have you got any new projects in the pipeline?

D.G.  I'm currently working on a few projects. The Lists is a novella about the Elves who supervise the Naughty and Nice lists. Some of the things they get up to in the office, and out, are downright naughty and a whole lot of nice. Untouchable is another novella I'm working on about the children of angels and demons and their fight to save themselves from extermination. Lastly, I have a series in the works called Finders Keepers with fellow author Jennifer Feuerstein. The five books we have planned focus on a group of supersoldiers who must find the one woman meant for them in order to free themselves from the clutches of The Council.

M.F.  Lol. So not much then.. ;-) Is writing something you've recently got into, or have you been writing for ages?

D.G.   I've been writing for ages. I can remember sitting in grade school with a friend while we passed notes back and forth. We'd end up with page after page of stories about the rock/pop stars we fantasized about. My pages are no longer filled with rock stars. Instead, they contain werewolves, demons, angels and other supernatural beings.

M.F.  What do you make of the changes in the industry, with so many more people going 'indie'?

D.G.   Honestly? I think it's about time people took back control of what they've worked so hard for. We, the authors, spend weeks/months/years creating and yet those who go the traditional publishing route end up with the smallest share of the profit from their blood, sweat and tears. That doesn't make sense to me. Sure, I understand the publishing houses need to recoup their costs for editing, cover design and all the other minutiae that goes along with putting out a book but when you see an author making $0.48 off a $6.99 book…that's just wrong, in my opinion.

M.F. I hear you sista!  Who is your greatest influence when it comes to your writing?

D.G.  Hmm.. I can't say there's just one person that has influenced me more than the other. I've read so many great authors, it's hard to pin point just one. I'd have to say it's a tie between Laurell K. Hamilton, Diana Gabaldon and Gena Showalter. All three are wonderful writers whom I greatly admire.

M.F.  Stephen King says when he writes, it is for his wife Tabitha. When you write, is there anyone you are writing for?

D.G.  My family. My husband and our two boys. I think, in some way, I'm also writing for my mom. She's always been an avid reader and if it weren't for her love of books, I'd never have become the book worm I am. I don't think she's read any of my work yet but, I hope when she does it'll make her proud.

M.F.  What sort of books do you read yourself?

D.G.  I like paranormal romance/urban fantasy mostly. I do read some YA, but again, it's mostly the paranormal stuff. The last two books I read were Hit List by Laurell K. Hamilton and City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare. Both were fabulous reads.

.M.F.  Now for some more abstract questions: If you could be any character in fiction, who would you be?

D.G.  Ooh, good one. Hmm… I think it's a toss-up between Anita Blake and Meredith Gentry from Laurell's two series.

M.F.  If aliens landed in front of you and offered you anything you wanted, what would it be?

D.G.   LOL I'd have to unfurl the extremely long scroll of things I want and play eenie-meenie to answer that one.

M.F.  Tell us something quirky/interesting that people probably don't know about you.

D.G.   I can wiggle my nose like a bunny, and I've got an extreme paranoia when it comes to bugs.

Thanks so much for taking part Danielle!

***COMPETITION TIME***
Danielle would like to give away a copy of each of her titles to ONE lucky winner. So that's FOUR books in total! Just leave her a comment below or email me at the address above if you're unable to comment!

[image error] Author Bio:
Danielle Gavan lives in Ontario, Canada with her husband of eight years, and their two sons. Danielle has been writing in her spare time since she was in middle school. She is currently writing, editing and doing cover design full time.
You can find out more about Danielle at her Facebook Page, by following her on Twitter!

Her erotic short stories also appear on the blogs site and ebooks, Everything Erotic

Something for the Weekend! Paranormal Romance author Shannan Albright and a Giveaway!

[image error] M.F.  Welcome Shannan Albright! Thanks for stopping by my blog and sharing a little about yourself and your work. Let's start with the most important thing: your books. Give us a brief description of the novel you want to talk about today.

S.A   Dark Passion Rising is a paranormal romance/ urban fantasy set in Las Vegas. Here is a quick blurb:


Tambra Ellis has just had her world turned upside down! Surviving a bite from a Lycan, attracted to one hot vampire guy and now she has to look forward to turning into something from some bad werewolf movie.


Marcus Valerian has enough on his plate without the added complication of Tambra Ellis. Fiery and independent? Sure. Beautiful with a body made for sin? Oh Yeh. And a human cop. Tambra is everything he needs to stay away from.


As leader of the Tribunal's enforcers it's up to him to find out why the Dark Breeds are going feral and killing humans in ever increasing numbers. Tambra's life is in the balance as the secrets of her past place her in the middle of old deceits and a betrayal that will change the world forever.


Will Marcus and Tambra's love survive or will it be too late.

M.F.  Sounds great! So what are you working on at the moment? Have you got any new projects in the pipeline?

S.A.   I am putting on the finishing touches to a novella called Beloved Wizard and will soon be submitting it. It's about King Arthur's return with all of his round table. The first book is about Merlin reincarnated as Drake and sets the stage for future books.


I also am working on the second Dark Breed novel and hope to have it to my publisher in about a month. It's called Passions Flight.

M.F.   Is writing something you've recently got into, or have you been writing for ages?

S.A   I have been writing for many years, but thanks to eBooks and epublishers I have finally gotten my foot in the door and can say I'm published.

M.F.  What do you make of the changes in the industry, with so many more people going 'indie'?

S.A.   I love the changes it opens up so much for a new author and I love that there is now the opportunity available to publish your own work. This is an exciting time in the publishing industry and I can't wait to see how this all shakes out in the end.

M.F.   Who is your greatest influence when it comes to your writing?

S.A.   Wow I want to say I've been influenced by everyone I read, but if I had to narrow it down it would be Sherrilyn Kenyon, J. R. Ward , Erin Quinn (whom I had the pleasure of meeting and found her to be an absolute delight.)All three struck a chord with me because of their unique blend of characterization, layering of the plot and description.

M.F.  Stephen King says when he writes, it is for his wife Tabitha. When you write, is there anyone you are writing for?

S.A.  I write for the readers out there who love good stories as much as I do.

M.F.  Good answer! What sort of books do you read yourself?

S.A.  I love Paranormal Romance, Paranormal Historical Romance, Urban Fantasy and Steampunk.

M.F.  I'm still at a bit of a loss about what Steampunk actually is! If anyone can give me a brief run down, it would be appreciated! Lol. Now for some more abstract questions: If you could be any character in fiction, who would you be?

S.A.  Maggie the cat from Tennessee Williams Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. I find her a compelling blend of strength and desperation.

M.F.  If aliens landed in front of you and offered you anything you wanted, what would it be?

S.A.  More time to write. Perhaps they could give me a clone? Humm...scary thought having more than one of me in the world.

M.F. I hear you there! I think all writers want more time to write. Tell us something quirky/interesting that people probably don't know about you.

S.A.  I read Tarot cards and give regular readings to friends. I learned them as a small child from my great grandmother.
M.F.  Oooh! I love stuff like that. Maybe virtual readings are possible??? Thanks so much for stopping by Shannan. It's beeen great learning a bit more about you and your books.

S.A.  Thanks for this opportunity!

***COMPETITION TIME***
Shannan would love to giveaway one e-copy of her book Dark Passion Rising to one of our readers. All you need to do is leave her a comment together with your own email address or blog address so we can contact you if you win!

[image error] Author BioLynnet Shannan using the pen name Shannan Albright writes Paranormal Romance primarily. She got serious about writing as a business in 2008 when she became a member of Romance Writers of America. She uses oil painting as a way to work through her books and relaxes with a good book. She lives in Las Vegas with her husband, step-daughter, two cats and two dogs.You can find out more about Shannan on facebook, twitter, her blog, or at her website!Her novel, Dark Passion Rising is available to buy from Amazon.

Writers write for a different reason than publishers publish...

I read this on the Smashwords blog page today and it kind of rang a bell with me.

The problem is that now the boundaries between writers and publishers are blurring. With so many authors turning Indie, we now have to accept that if we want our work to sell, we need to have some of the business nuance of a publisher. We need to be able to produce great covers, with catchy blurbs. We need to be clever with pricing and promotion.

But what about the books themselves? Should we also be writing books we think will sell or simply writing to 'express' ourselves?

A good friend of mine recently told me she modeled her own (now successful) series on that of a number of other already successful author's series'. I have to be honest, when I was told that, I was surprised. It has never occurred to me to produce a book modeled on something I knew would sell. For me, I've just written the story because the idea popped in my head and wouldn't go away until I'd written it all down.

But let's be honest, while I'm sure there are plenty of writers out there who do it purely for the love of writing, this is a business and needs to be treated as such. Writing to a particular 'formula' which I know would sell, makes sense, doesn't it?

I'm struggling a little with a number of things as far as my writing goes at the moment. I have one book currently due out, but I'm getting so many different pieces of advice about the book, my head is spinning. The second problem I have is with an ending of a novel that is basically done--all except the final scene, which I can't bring myself to write. I know how the book is supposed to end, but I know that ending won't please the readers and it will hinder the sales of the third in the series.

So, what do I do? Go with my guts, or be savvy and write what sells?

Something for the Weekend! Author of the smash hit, Vampire Vacation, C.J. Ellisson!

This week I'd like to welcome the author of the super sexy, Vampire Vacation, C.J. Ellisson, to Something for the Weekend! Vampire Vacation has been sky-rocketing on both the Amazon and Barnes & Noble sales charts and is now up there with Amanda Hocking, among others.


This woman has single-handedly changed how I approach both my writing and the publishing industry. She gave me the confidence to make some changes, which ultimately led to me to being able to write full-time. I'm honoured to have her here and feel blessed that our paths crossed. I only wish I'd met her sooner.
So, C.J., welcome.


C.J.  Thanks for having me, Marissa! And you're too kind to even mention me in the same sentence with the wunderkid, Amanda Hocking.
I'm glad we met as well, but you had everything you needed. Let's just say I gave you a helpful push in the right direction.

M.F.  First, tell us a bit about Vampire Vacation.

C.J.   The book blurb says it best, but I'll spare your readers from copying and pasting it. They can always click a link at the end if they'd like to read it.


For me, Vampire Vacation is simply what I saw missing in the urban fantasy genre. I wanted a monogamous married couple who worked side by side to solve a problem, rather than another strong female character with a wreck of a personal life. I wanted the couple to bicker, have pasts they'd rather forget, respect one another through the occasional snarky barb, and have smoking hot sex when the mood strikes them—you know, just like real life ;-)
In this case, the wife happens to be an ancient vampire and the husband is human. She's the volatile, sexy creature he tries his best to manage.

M.F.  I know the sequel to Vampire Vacation, The Hunt, is on its way. How did you find writing a sequel?

C.J    It was much harder than I thought. Not because the story itself was problematic, but because of personal and professional hurdles. This past year had ups and downs galore, I dealt with things the best I could. Made some mistakes, made some good choices. Live and learn.

M.F.  You're not many years into your writing career, yet you're seeing great success. What do you think your key to success has been and what advice would you give any aspiring authors.

C.J.   LOL! I wish it were that simple: "Here, take this advice and you'll sell lots of books." There really is no quick fix, as you can well attest to.

Like any venture in life you need faith—not in God, not in "the powers that be", not in your moral beliefs of right and wrong—but first and foremost, in your self.
If you say, "I can't do this". You're dead RIGHT, you sure as hell can't. If you worry your work is not good enough, then it most certainly isn't.

Realize one thing: you can't make everyone happy. All you can do is your best and work your ass off on every piece you put out for readers to enjoy.
If you allow your fears to rule how you perceive your own work, then it will also color how other people see it as well.

M.F.  So what do you make about the recent changes in the publishing industry? Do you have any cheeky predictions about how things will continue to change?

C.J.   I think it's a fascinating time to be a writer. It also makes me feel like the one time in my life I have an edge. A business background in a time where some of the writers I've met can't grasp advertising cost and rate of return?

M.F.  What does the future hold for publishing? I have no idea. More of the same? Drastic changes regarding print and ebook pricing?

C.J.  It sounds like the industry is on a good path for most savvy writers, that's for darn sure.

M.F.  How long have you been writing for and what prompted you to pick up a pen?

C.J.  Ah... the moment where we get to shock everyone. I can hear them now: "Is she a hack? Why in the hell were we impressed with her?"

This past February marked two years from when I wrote "Chapter One". It marked the first bit of fiction writing I'd attempted since college back in 1989. Yes, twenty years later I thought I'd give writing a try.


I started writing as an escape. I had some health issues overwhelming me and had to end my previous career. It was humbling to be stuck at home with hours and hours staring back at me… and with not even the strength to walk around the block. Writing became the one thing I could still do, so I threw myself in with gusto.

M.F.  Whom do you read yourself? What authors have inspired you to write?

C.J.  Although I'm not thrilled with her current stuff as much as her older titles, Laurell K. Hamilton remains one of the best storytellers I've had the pleasure to read.
Way before True Blood, I'd read about Ms. Teagarden, Lily Bard and the chick who finds dead people—Charlaine Harris remains a master of combining a British cozy feel with compelling characters and storylines. Love her work.


Of course, some others I auto-buy are just as darn good: Jim Butcher, P.N. Elrod, Kim Harrison, Kelley Armstrong, Keri Arthur, Carrie Vaughn, and Jenna Black. I could name quite a few more in other genres… but we'd be here all day.

None of them inspired me to write, my own professional isolation and desire to shut out medical worries I could do nothing to change did that. But, the above authors all inspired me to write better.

 M.F.  Other than publishing The Hunt, what's next on the agenda?

C.J.  I promised my kids I'd do their middle grade book next. This is especially dear to me since they can't read even one of the three titles I've currently got out. We plotted out ideas for a book last summer and after I penned chapter one, I allowed myself to get pulled in many directions. Once the editing is done on The Hunt I plan to start their story, Black is for Lies. It will be under a new pen name, C.J. Stern.
After that will be another erotica novella and working on book three in The V V Inn series.

M.F.  Thanks so much for stopping by C.J. and huge congrats on all your success. It couldn't happen to a nicer person!

C.J.  Thanks for having me, Marissa. I'm grateful we met and thrilled to have you as a partner in crime.

~~*~~


**CONTEST TIME**


C.J. is running a unique pre-launch promo contest. She plans to give away ten signed and numbered copies of The Hunt. They will be mailed to winners when the print book goes up for sale, which is slotted right now for June 30th, 2011.


Here's how you enter: You comment on any blog C.J. does for the next three weeks. She will notify readers when a new post is live via her Facebook business page, and she'll Tweet about it. Each comment counts as one entry (only one entry per post, but you can comment more if you'd like). The comments must be made within the first 48 hours of the post going live, and she'll post a "closing" comment when the entries for that day are closed.



All entries will be tossed into a drawing, and the participants with more entries have a higher chance of winning. BONUS!! Every entrant who comments on at least six blog posts and does not win a signed print copy will receive a free ecopy when the book goes up for sale.




Delays and Contest Winners!

Well, today was supposed to be my publication date for The Followers, but something has come up and so it will be postponed for a couple of weeks. Ah, well...best laid plans and all of that. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow. Naturally, I'm disappointed, but I'd rather my book went out as good as it can possibly be, then rush things.

In the meantime, I have some competition winners to announce! The winner of the anthology 2013: The Aftermath was Denise Zaky (Goodreads entry) and the winners of Armand Rosamilia's extreme zombie novella, Dying Days, are Blaze McRob and Kalex.

This Friday I've got author, C.J. Ellisson stopping by the blog to tell us all about her novel, Vampire Vacation, (which is currently clambering for best-selling status on both Amazon and Barnes & Noble) and the forth coming sequel, The Hunt!

Hope to see you all then!

BTW. I'm having some problems commenting on my own posts at the moment, so if I've not answered any of your comments, please don't think I haven't read them...

SFTW! Hurricane Katrina, Wizards and Pirates..Oh my!

I had the pleasure of meeting Suzanne Johnson through a joint blog I was invited to contribute to. An editor by day, she has the first in a fantasy series, Royal Street, scheduled for an April 2012 release through Tor Books. She also runs the fabulous Preternatura blog! If you've not already discovered it, you really should stop by.


M.F.   Welcome Suzanne, lovely to have you here.

Tell me a little about Royal Street.

S.J.   Well, Royal Street is the first in a new urban fantasy series that will come out next April. It's set in New Orleans at the time of Hurricane Katrina. The storm's fluctuating barometric pressure has caused breaches in the border between our modern world and the Beyond, where the beings of myth and legend live. The heroine of the story is DJ Jaco, a young wizard who evacuates New Orleans for the hurricane and comes back to find her mentor missing and the city flooded with preternatural creatures and the historical undead—famous former citizens kept alive by the magic of memory. She has to fight off an attempt by the 'pretes' to overthrow the borders permanently while trying to find her missing mentor and stave off the revenge-seeking pirate Jean Lafitte. Okay, and there are a couple of hot guys in the picture, too.

M.F.  How did your own personal experience of Hurricane Katrina affect your life and your writing?

S.J.   Honestly, I would never have written a word of fiction had Katrina not happened. At the time of the storm, I was well established in my career in higher education and had been working at Tulane University for twelve years as a magazine editor and speechwriter. Katrina turned everything upside-down.


I had moderate damage to my property from the high winds and levee breach-induced flooding, but much worse was the psychological damage. I came out much better than a lot of others, but the experience really made me step back and reassess what's important in life. I found myself after two years still trying to deal with the aftermath. Finally, I had to turn all that anger and grief into something positive. I started writing a story, not really expecting to do anything with it. LOL. Then the fiction bug grabbed me and I found a new, very unexpected career.

M.F.  It's an incredible turnaround and it's wonderful to hear something positive come out of such a devastating time. What about your day job; does being an editor by trade govern how you write?

S.J.   In some ways, although it's a different process and uses a different set of skills. I don't think it has much influence on how I write, but it does influence how I look at revisions. As a nonfiction editor, what I do is rewrite and revise. So revisions, even extensive revisions, don't freak me out—I enjoy the process. I always know a piece of writing can be improved, and I'm lucky to have an editor at Tor who can look at my work and hone in on exactly what needs to be done to make it better. Then the editor side of my brain can go to work and revise.

M.F.  What do you like to read and which writers have most influenced you?

S.J.   I'm a voracious reader—always have been. I guess if I had to pull one writer out as being influential to me it would be Stephen King. His character development is amazing, and now that I'm writing myself I go back to read his older work and realize what a master he has always been at subtly weaving backstory into his narrative and keeping his language descriptive without losing its clarity and deceptive simplicity. Current favorites to read? I'm a huge urban fantasy fan: Jim Butcher, Kim Harrison, and Patricia Briggs are favorites. In paranormal romance, I adore J.R. Ward.

M.F.   Stephen King is mentioned so many times on this blog alone. I'm guessing he has inspired a ridiculous number of authors. So what are you working on at the moment?

S.J.    I'm in the middle of revisions for River Road, the second in my series for Tor, and hope to start a third in the series by late summer—unless that YA rattling around in my brain wants to come out first. I'm also a blog-slut! In addition to my own blog, I do a monthly series of blogs called "Fiction Affliction" at Tor.com, and just started a Tor.com read of Stephen King's Dark Tower series. I read a few chapters a week and post a weekly blog on my reactions as I go. This is a seven book series, so I figure it will take me about three years! My Tor blogs can be found at http://www.tor.com/Suzanne-Johnson. Finally, I have dipped my toe into paranormal romance, and have a series proposal ready to make the rounds.

M.F.   Is there anywhere readers can get a taste of your work?

S.J.   I have begun a series of short stories based on my urban fantasy series and am posting them on my Preternatura blog, http://www.suzanne-johnson.com. "Chenoire" is a novelette involving a family of Cajun mermen in Southeast Louisiana—one of the mer characters is in River Road. And "Intervention" introduces two major series characters, Jacob and Alexander Warin, a couple of sexy cousins with a fierce, near-sibling rivalry and a little demon problem. Both of them, as well as upcoming stories, can be found under the "Free Read" tabs on my blog.

M.F.   Now for some slightly more abstract questions... If you could have one physical possession that you don't currently own, what would it be?

S.J.   LOL. My needs are simple An iPad and a vehicle that gets better mileage than my 2002 Nissan Xterra, much as I love it. Oh, wait! Make that a ten-book publishing contract!

M.F.  Well that's just greedy! You gotta leave some contracts out there for the rest of us! ;-)

If you could trade places with any person, living or dead or even fictional, who would it be?

S.J.   Hmm. I'd be happy to be a "shellan" of one of JR Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood dudes--I'm not even that picky about which one  (well, okay, Rhage). I don't think I'd want to be any of the heroes or heroines in the books I read because they're always in serious trouble!

M.F.   If you could be a super hero, what super power would you have?

S.J.   I'd like to be able to disapparate and apparate. I don't like to fly—not because I have a fear of crashing but because I'm claustrophobic. So if I could close my eyes and zap myself to NYC or LA (or London), that would be awesome.

M.F.   Thanks so much for being here, Suzanne. I'm eagerly awaiting Royal Street to be released!

Thanks, Marissa!

Any movie makers out there???

My good twitter friend Daniel (Di) Davidson-Amadi (@TheSplinterCell) has started up a new competition site for film-makers. He's a great guy to get involved with (whether you're a film-maker or not) and he'd love for all you aspiring movie makers out there to get involved!

Here's a bit more info:

Hi and welcome to Sixty Second Stories.
In case you're not familiar with it, Sixty Second Stories is a global survey of cinematic storytelling from a new generation of filmmakers.
It's about inspiring new filmmakers all over the world to make short one minute films. Then we'll be pulling the best ones together into a feature which we'll present at the Berlin film festival this year.
You can learn more about it at the facebook page! Or follow the twitter account: @SfSixty

SFTW! Win a signed paperback of one of my anthologies!

A slight change to schedule this week guys, so I've decided to give away a paperback of one of the anthologies I'm featured in, 2013: The Aftermath, from Pill Hill Press.

My story is called After the Revelation and takes place several months after the Revelation has actually happened. All of the innocent have been taken to heaven, leaving a body strewn, scorched earth for the Devil. Those people unworthy of experiencing the Revelation have been left alive.

This is a short story, but ended up being about 15K in length, so wasn't far off a novella. Next year I'd like to develop the idea into a full length novel. My characters had flesh and I think they deserved a proper run.

So if you'd like the chance to win the copy (and hell, I might even signed my story for you!) then just leave me a comment below!

Here's the start for you to enjoy:

After the Revelation
By Marissa Farrar


Revelation 20:7
And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison…


A hot wind blew, carrying with it the stench of burning. The ground was blackened and scorched beneath foot. Jez Stephens stood on London's Primrose Hill, looking down across the city below. The huge curve of the London Eye rose from the skyline, though it would never again turn with tourists, and the huge antennae of the BT tower protruded into the sky like an alien spaceship.

Even the aviary of London Zoo could be seen, though no sound of birdsong rose from beneath its netting, the birds long since dead. Those left had bigger problems than feeding them.

On first glace, most things appeared normal. Only on closer inspection did the silence of the city become deafening, the fires—both those raging below ground, and those above—became painfully obvious.

Death surrounded him. The trees and grass were little more than charcoal. Ash thickened the air, falling like snow on much of the city.

Nature could no longer provide them with what they needed. The soil was charred, the water polluted. Most livestock had been killed. Jez survived by looting and stealing from shops and restaurants. Anything pre-packaged and tinned was still edible. Everything else was ruined.

Jez narrowed his eyes, his body tensed for fight or flight. He watched for movement, for any sign of life. So far, in his experience, finding others alive was not such a good thing.

Unconsciously, he rubbed at the huge twisted scar running from the top of his right shoulder down to his elbow. The scar was the width of his hand and had formed badly, being that there were no surgeons, plastic or otherwise, to put together the arm that had basically been flayed.

Those had been bad times, worse even, than now. He had not believed he would get out of it alive, especially when so many others hadn't.

With the memory came a pang of guilt and he pushed the memory aside, concentrating on the job at hand.

He hoisted his bag onto his shoulder and started the walk down the hill. The soles of his feet warmed from the heat of the hill, from the fires that raged beneath it. Fire burnt throughout the country now, and, he guessed, the rest of the world. He had heard no stories of anywhere that had escaped. No cool oasis in this scorched earth.

Jez needed supplies. Only a small bottle of water weighted his bag and he needed to restock. If nothing else, he was thankful for the twenty-first century's obsession with bottled water. Without it he would have been dead a long time ago. Sulphur had poisoned all of the water sources—leaving rivers with dead fish, floating like fallen autumn leaves, clogging the waterways.

He walked down the hill, approaching the road ringing its base. Traffic was at a standstill—permanently so. Cars were smashed into the backs of others, causing mini pile-ups everywhere he looked. As he grew closer he could smell the unmistakable stench of death beneath the acrid reek of burning. It was a smell he could never get used to

In front of him, a blue Ford skewed in the middle of the road. The body of a man slumped over the steering wheel, a woman slouched in the passenger seat beside him. Behind them, a small child was still strapped into its car seat. Each of their faces, black and puffy with decomposition.

Jez couldn't tell if the child was a boy or a girl, but he wasn't planning to look hard enough to find out. How strange to think that these were the lucky ones? The ones who experienced the Revelation. The ones who escaped.

It never failed to amaze him how people had just dropped dead where they were. The world had turned into the Mary Celeste, only the people hadn't disappeared in the middle of what they were doing, they had died. The Revelation had been so instantaneous, people had not even had a chance to run. They were all just living their lives one minute, and gone the next.

Jez had asked himself the same question a hundred times: if he had known the truth, would he have done things differently? If he had known there truly was a God, and what He was capable of, would he have thought before he acted?

Jez doubted it.

Even before God had allowed that perverted psychopath, Mitchell Werner, to rape and murder Jez's nine-year old daughter, he and God hadn't been on such good terms. That there had been a God who could have prevented such things from happening just made him all the more furious.

Murdering Mitchell Werner wasn't something Jez would ever regret. The bastard deserved everything he got.

It had been a big deal at the time. People had known the name 'Jeremy Stephens.' He had been all over the news. Many protested on his behalf, saying he shouldn't be locked up for what he did, but the court had wanted to make sure the rest of the population knew it was not okay to take the law into your own hands and had given him three years. Three years that had almost turned into a life's sentence.

Now nobody had the use for surnames, and his nickname of Jez almost made him forget the man he used to be. All Jez took comfort in was knowing that Lily was safe, where ever she was now. Judgment day had been real and even a heathen like him knew that the dead were raised before the living. Where ever Lily was now, she was at least in the arms of God.

Jez didn't like to go into the cities. It had been over nine months now since the Revelation had happened, but London had succumbed to a long and hot summer and the bodies had not fared well in the extended heat. With the now polluted atmosphere acting as cloud cover, the city remained warm and muggy.

Jez negotiated the pile up of cars, trying not to look into the blank, cloudy eyes of the corpses they contained. He was heading towards Camden, knowing there were some small supermarkets there that would have water and other supplies. He wasn't relishing the idea of going into the store. There would be bodies littering the aisles. Any one who was out shopping when it happened would have simply dropped dead in the aisles. There was no one left who cared enough to attempt to clear them away or bury them. Even if the size of the job had been comprehensible, the people left weren't the type to care.

He walked along the canal, the red stone wall dividing the pathway from the main road. The route was preferable to the road, but was still not empty. Either side of him, through cracks in the earth, small fires raged. Beside him the canal had long since dried up, leaving the bottom fractured and broken. Jez stepped over an old man, crumpled in the middle of the path, and a young mother toppled, a baby dead in its pram.

Jez clenched his jaw, his lips tight. He would never get used to seeing the children. It was the thing that hurt most of all, despite knowing their souls had gone to a better place.

He kept walking, averting his gaze the best he could. Instead of the bodies, he stared at the tired red brick of the wall running along beside him. Graffiti marked the wall, 'Denny woz 'ere' and 'FJ LUVS RS'. They were markings of a time before, of a time when people had lived in ignorance of religion, believing it to be no more real than the latest sci-fi flick at the local cinema. Of course, ignorance hadn't bought them eternal damnation, far from it. Even those who had never so much as uttered the word 'God' had still made the cut, as long as they hadn't committed whatever sins God decided were too great to forgive.

Lost in thought, one marking in particular caught his breath. His heart raced, his muscles tensed. About a foot long and high, the shape of the dragon had been sprayed in white paint. The marking was new, its whiteness not yet sullied by the grey soot of the environment.

Despite the warmth of the day and the heat of the fires burning around him, the sight of it ran a chill through him. He had seen the same graffiti all over, or at least versions of it, but it wasn't just that. His dreams had been plagued by visions of the dragon, though sometimes it came in the shape of a serpent. Whatever shape it took, Jez knew it pointed towards the same thing.

The Devil walked among them.

Judgment day had happened. Taking the innocent into heaven, God had left only the unworthy to fight it out amongst themselves. Now the devil was among them, calling to the ones who had been left, calling to them to fight. Jez tried to remain strong, tried to keep its power and passion out of his head, but, when times were as hard as this, it was difficult not to turn to something of strength and authority, to give his future into the hands of someone else.

Of something else.

Editing, editing, editing...

At the start of this year, I made a promise to myself. I wasn't going to start a new novel until I'd put out all the works languishing on my laptop. So far, I'm doing okay. I've been working my ass off on The Followers and it's now with the editor. I should hit my June 1st release date as long as I keep my nose to the keyboard and my ass on the chair.

I am, however, really looking forward to moving on to something else. As much as I love my novel, I'm just plain sick of the sight of it. I've lost track of the number of edits I've done on the book now and considering I wrote the novel in 2007 (I think) I would say it's definitely ready to be read.

Yesterday, I read a good post over at Julie Musil's blog about the dangers of over-editing. I totally agree with what she says about being careful about over-editing our writing. As much as we want to make our work perfect, we have to make sure we don't end up taking all the personality out of it. I've read some pieces before where a writer has tried to take every 'was' 'that' and 'it' out of every line they'd written. The result was a static, jerky piece of writing and simply didn't flow.

I'm a big fan of the site www.autocrit.com to help with my writing, but I am careful not to go completely overboard with it. There are times when certain words simply need to be overused, like for example, when someone is having a conversation. People talk how people talk, and cutting out words people would normally use will end up making their speech sound stilted.

So, now I'm working on the edits that are coming back to me. I'm being thorough, but not too thorough, and I'm looking forward to June 1st when I can finally wave my novel goodbye.

Something for the Weekend! Horror author Armand Rosamilia and Giveaway!

M.F.  Hi Armand Rosamilia, thanks for stopping by my blog and sharing a little bit about yourself and your work.
Let's start with the most important thing: your books. Tell me a bit about the novel you want to talk about today.

A.R.   My latest release is "Dying Days", an extreme zombie novella featuring Darlene Bobich, who first appeared in the short story "Rear Guard", the bonus story in my first extreme zombie release, "Highway To Hell"… it's about a woman, not too strong and not too weak, who has to deal with surviving in a world overrun with zombies who don't just want to bite you, they want to rip you apart… sexually… yeah, extreme…

M.F. Wow, that does sound extreme! So what are you working on at the moment? Have you got any new projects in the pipeline?

A.R.   Always! I'm in the midst of writing half a dozen zombie stories for various anthologies, editing anthologies for Rymfire eBooks like the "State of Horror" series, and working on something completely different for me… erotic paranormal stories! I also write a non-fiction series about women into Heavy metal music called "Metal Queens"… always busy…

M.F. Cool. I love anything 'Zombie'. Is writing something you've recently got into, or have you been writing for ages?

A.R.   I've been writing since high school, with sporadic stories published over the last 20+ years since I graduated in '88… but in the last four or five years I've had several sales… the biggest to date was probably my "Death Metal" urban horror novella released by Sam's Dot Publishing in 2009 and recently re-released by Rymfire eBooks…

M.F.   What do you make of the changes in the industry, with so many people going 'indie'?

A.R.   I love it! There's no longer that stigma of writers releasing their own works… one of my favorite writers, Scott Nicholson, does an amazing job putting out new work and re-releasing his older material…
M.F.   I'll have to check him out. Who is your greatest influence when it comes to your writing?

A.R.   My mother, because she allowed me at an early age to read her Stephen King, Dean Koontz and other horror writers… but the one author that I loved as a child was Robert E. Howard…

M.F.  I had to laugh at that! I did exactly the same thing and grew up reading my mother's Stephen King and Dean Koontz. So while we're on the topic...Stephen King says when he writes, it is for his wife Tabitha. When you write, is there anyone you're writing for?

A.R.   I write for myself… I find that when I target a certain audience or worry about what my mother or my fiancé Kim will think, I get lost… when I write the story naturally, they end up liking it anyway… although my mother won't read my extreme zombie stories…

M.F.  What sort of books do you read yourself?

A.R.   I am a huge fan of horror (obviously), fantasy and non-fiction entertainment books about music (Heavy Metal fan), pro wrestling, biographies, writing books… Kim bought me a Kindle for Valentine's Day and I can't stay away from it…

M.F.   What a lovely fiance you have! Now for some more abstract questions: if you could be any character in fiction, who would you be?

A.R.  Conan the barbarian, but not the Arnold version, I'd be the Robert E. Howard version, battling, whoring and drinking as I conquer the land before me… or an orc from Lord of The Rings… either way…

M.F.    If aliens landed in front of you and offered you anything you wanted, what would it be?

A.R.   Since this isn't an erotic blog… the power to have a secret room, where time stops for five extra hours per day, that allows me to write in silence… I'd get more done that way… or comfortable shoes…

M.F.  That sounds like my idea of heaven. Tell us something quirky/interesting that people probably don't know about you.

A.R.  Most people know too much about me already, since I tend to talk too much when I meet you… hmm… I was a Dungeons & Dragons geek in junior high and high school that dressed and loved Heavy Metal… I had a mullet like everyone else growing up in the '80's in New Jersey… I have a very dry sense of humor… I love to say mean or inappropriate things for a laugh, if that makes sense… I'm a horrible flirt but love my Kim… I'm a chubby chaser… yeah, I said it… I've only ridden a bike twice in my life, I have horrible balance… I'm afraid of stray dogs… I hate pets, but have three in the house… and I eat too much chocolate…

M.F.  Thanks so much for stopping by Armand. I know I certainly know more about you now! If anyone would like to find out a bit more about Armand and his work then please stop by his blog! His books are available direct from RymFire eBooks or you can also find him at Amazon, Lulu, or Smashwords.

Now for the giveaway!!! Armand would like to give away three ebook copies of his new novella, Dying Days. So just leave him a comment, together with an email addy or blog link so we can contact you if you win. Good luck everyone!