Kimberly Kinrade's Blog, page 16

How well do you know me? Guess my lies and get some books!

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My glam shot back in the day!

I’m going to be a guest on the awesome Journal Jabber radio show tonight (July 24, 2012) at 6 p.m. PST. If you tune in, or listen after, you’ll learn some random top secret facts about me and have a chance to win some books! Check it out and tune in here: Kimberly Kinrade on Journal Jabber.

However, I wanted to bring the fun to my blog too, so for the next week, I’m running a truth or lie contest. Find the lies and win!

If you were like Lucy, the human lie detector in Forbidden Mind, you’d know which of these statements were true, and which were lies. If you were like mind-reading Sam, it’d be easy as pie to pick out the fib.  (On a totally unrelated side note, what the heck does ‘easy as pie’ mean?? Pie, to actually make from scratch, is hard. Maybe it means the eating of pie… which is totally easy? Damn, now I’m hungry!)

But back to the point, since you probably don’t have any specific para-powers, you’ll have to guess! (Or hope you know me well enough to NOT guess. J)

Here are 10 statements about me. Guess the lies in the next 7 days and win a free e-copy of Forbidden Mind, Lexie World and Bits of You & Pieces of Me. I’ll even give you a hint, of the 10 statements, 3 are lies. You must guess all 3 correctly to win. I’ll announce the truths (and lies) and the winners on July 31st.

Facts (or Lies) About Me:

1. In the span of a summer in France, I dated an Italian, an Algerian and a French man. (Sounds like the start of a dirty joke, doesn’t it?)

2. Years ago, during my newspaper days as an Entertainment writer, I had a business dinner date with Gabriel Byrne (End of Days, Stigmata, The Man in the Iron Mask, Point of No Return, etc.) to interview him for article an article in the L.A. Times. He was SO swoon-worthy and funny. Apparently, when people call him ‘dark and brooding’, he thinks they’re going to lay an egg, because that’s how the word brooding is used in Ireland—to describe a hen about to lay an egg.

3. I wrote my first published novel in a week.

4. I was in a movie with Dean Cain from the television series Superman and had lunch with him. He even invited me to a party he was having, but I was going out of town that weekend.

5. Thomas Jane, (who played the shark wrangler in Deep Blue Sea, co-starred with Antonio Banderas and Angelina Jolie in Original Sin, and star of The Punisher) offered me a bite of the tomato he bought while we were at the Farmer’s Market, then later bought me lunch. He told me about his worst job ever—sweeping out a sex club every night!

6. While studying theater at Sarah Lawrence College, I worked as a stage manager for the now famous Blue Man Group. (They weren’t as famous back then.)

7. My little sister, who’s 13, makes a living starring as a dead girl in multiple movies and television shows. She makes a great corpse.

8. My sister (not the 13-year-old) and brother (both blood related to me) married each other. And it was legal.

9. My brother is a reality television star and is known as being ‘ridiculously good looking.’

10. I spent a year abroad in England while in college and dated a guy at Oxford who, if 233 people were to die, would be the next king. He was hot. Especially the accent. (but I like my Russian man better!)

There you have it, folks. Can you spot the lies? Leave a comment with your answer (and no cheating by reading the other comments first!)

There were other truths I so badly wanted to include in this, but I write YA and children’s lit. Oh, if only I wrote erotica! *Sigh*

Can’t wait to hear what you all think are the truths vs. the lies! lol

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My other house is this! Truth or lie? lol

A letter to Sykosa from Sam

Today I’m taking part in the Passing Notes with Sykosa event! It’s kind of a cool thing where the main character from Justin Ordonez’s book Sykosa passes a note to my character ,Sam, from Forbidden Mind, and then I post their response. It’s a fun way to get to know other authors and characters AND there’s a chance for you to win $50, a paperback of Sykosa or one of 11 ebooks! The entry form is at the end of this post.

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Sykosa has already written her note to Sam. Check out what she had to say: Letter to Sam from Sykosa.

Now, here’s Sam’s note back!

***

Sykosa,

[image error]First off, love your name! It’s so unique, unlike Sam which is tres boring! I don’t even get a last name, so it sucks. Second, I really try not to read my friends’ minds. It’s hard sometimes, especially if you get really excited and ‘loud’ in your thoughts, but I do try.

And it’s hard to for me to read someone’s mind from a distance, so you’re safe! Lol Also I thought goosebumps meant someone was walking over your grave? But I could be wrong. I don’t think they mean someone’s reading your mind though, because I get them and no one else at my school can read minds.

It does sound like we have a lot in common. I’m so sorry about what your parochial school has done to you and your friends in covering things up with what happened. It sounds awful. I wish I could help, but I’ve kind of got my hands full here. See, something bad’s happening here too. I haven’t put all the pieces together yet, but I’m scared. My bff’s Luke and Lucy (twins… and O.M.G. Luke is so hot! You should meet him. I just wish he wasn’t like such a brother to me, because thinking about him like that is kind of—ew!) Anyways, they’re trying to help me figure out what’s going on before it’s too late.

So is Drake. Thing is, Drake and I have never met in person before. Crazy right? We practically live in each other’s heads though. And I won’t deny having certain—thoughts—about him. Shhh!! There, now you know one of my secrets too. lol

Anyways, I can’t wait to finally meet him in person. It’s really hard falling for a guy and never being able to touch him or sit with him or hold his hand or… you know, other stuff!

Does that sound totally crazy? Probably.

But it sounds like we’re in similar situations. It’s kind of ironic. You’re being hurt by the Roman Catholic Church and I’m being hurt by a paranormal organization with major secrets. Though I’m not religious and neither is Drake, the man who is like a father to him is actually Father Patrick, a Catholic Priest. We’re hoping he can help us. Guess there’s potential for corruption anytime you have humans involved in something, whether they have para-powers or not. But know that there are some good people in the church too. There’s potential for great kindness as well. Don’t give up!

Well, I hope it all works out for you. Thanks so much for contacting me and let’s try to stay in touch. Once I turn 18 I’m supposed to be free of this place, and that big day is just around the corner. I haven’t heard from Sarah Lawrence yet, but I’ll let you know. Maybe we can hang out sometime? If I’m ever in Washington on assignment I’ll try to look you up.

Talk soon,

Sam

***

Thanks for following along. There are 2 posts everyday and lots of chances to enter to win prizes, so check out the main event info on Sykosa’s Facebook Page and enter to win!

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Get into the mind of a serial killer… and get $50

What makes a good book? Something so addicting you just can’t put down? For me, it’s a combination of characters, engaging plot and strong prose.

Forgive Me, Alex by Lane Diamond has all of this and more–and is currently touring with Novel Publicity with major prizes!

My mini review:

[image error]Lane Diamond has hit a home run with this brilliant, riveting and deeply engaging psychological thriller. Not only is his writing style flawless, his story telling skills are unparalleled.

Tony Hooper and Mitchell Norton are the yin and yang of each other, each haunted by their own demons, scarred by the past as they wage war on each other’s future. Tony Hooper’s life was forever changed by Mitchell Norton. Now that Norton’s out of jail and free to hunt, will the hunter become the hunted?

With a deeply attuned attention to the nature of humanity and psychosis, Diamond delves into the darkest corners of the human mind and pulls out nuggets of horror and absolution that will leave you wanting more. I look forward to more books from this amazing author. This is a book to rival any of the great thrillers you’ve ever read and is a definite must read!

***** 5 Star Must Read!

Novel Publicity Blog Tour Notes:

Wanna win a $50 gift card or an autographed copy of Forgive Me, Alex? Well, there are two ways to enter…

Leave a comment on my blog. One random commenter during this tour will win a $50 gift card. For the full list of participating blogs, visit the official Forgive Me, Alex tour page.
Enter the Rafflecopter contest! I’ve posted the contest form below, or you can enter on the tour page linked above.

[image error]About the author: I write fiction, long and short. My writings cross over many genres and focus on diverse subjects, ranging from the mysteries of the human mind, with its fragile psychological and emotional states, to the everyday joy and anguish of life on Earth. Ultimately, characters move me – as both a reader and an author. It’s all about the people. When not writing, I’m Publisher and Executive Editor at Evolved Publishing. Connect with me on my website, Facebook, Twitter, GoodReads, or via Evolved Publishing.

Get Forgive Me, Alex on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

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How Kimberly Turned Me Into a Paranormal Fan: A guest post from a self-proclaimed fan girl

Today I’m so excited to introduce the very dear and awesome, Erin Lindsey of Hooks and Books review blog. I love this lady, and no, not just because she says I made a fan-girl out of her with my books! (But that totally didn’t hurt our relationship any.)

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[image error]Hi guys, I’m Erin, the writer behind a new book review blog, Hooks and Book (www.hooksandbook.blogspot.com). Kimberly has graciously let me stop over here to talk a little bit about being a fan-girl, which when it comes to her work, I certainly am.

I learned how to read when I was four, and no one believed me. I was constantly asking people to read me stories, so my family just thought I memorized the words. Until they bought me new books and I could still figure it out. You see, this desire to drink up books like they’re water was sparked in me from day one. Thank god for the Kindle, because constantly lugging around a library probably would have caused a need for back surgery at an early age.

Since those early days, I have considered myself a reader extraordinaire, but not so much a fan girl. I was constantly scouring book store and library shelves for stories with really strong characters. From Anne of Green Gables to romance novels, I wanted to read it all, but I was not in love with any particular author. I fell for Harry Potter, but did not really consider myself a paranormal-lover.

ENTER THE WORKS OF MS. KINRADE and everything I thought I knew about loving books just changed. I fell in love with her gripping book Bits of You & Pieces of Me. From that moment on, I was determined to soak up as much Kinrade as humanly possible.

Though, I will admit that I was a bit skeptical before picking up Forbidden Mind. I mean, I’m 29, what was I going to get out of a YA paranormal thriller/romance? What I got was a gripping story, filled with kids that stole my heart and a deep wish that Forbidden Fire was immediately available. Luckily, for you guys, it is!

Kimberly’s style swept me up from the very beginning. My past endeavors into the paranormal world caused me to feel a bit lost, trying to figure out a world that did not make sense. Or, I found myself wanting to love the story, but becoming trapped up in a goofy, overly sappy writing style.

With Forbidden Mind, all of those reservations just blew right out the window. Sam, Drake, Luke and Lucy stole my heart. Here were real kids dealing with typical high-school problems combined with the added pressures of super-powers AND a school administration that might be trying to kill them. Talk about pressure.

I was immediately sucked in so deep, I could not stop reading. I found myself staying up late, cuddling with my Kindle. I could not put it down. The same was true for Forbidden Fire. It was extraordinary. I believed in this world, I believed in these kids. There was adventure, romance and plenty of superpowers. Not only did I adore the story, I wanted to stand beside them and fight with them.

Kinrade changed everything I thought about paranormal stories and kids with super powers. If most of those stories are cheesy, predictable or overplayed, than Kinrade’s work is power, beautifully crafted and suspenseful. Her Forbidden series epitomizes everything a paranormal story should be. Her books should be the models for up and coming paranormal authors everywhere.

And for me, go ahead call me a fan girl. I will wear that label with pride. You will find me first in line for every Kinrade release from now on.

Read my review of Forbidden Mind here.

About Erin Lindsey

[image error]I’m a girl with literature in my soul and yarn in my veins. Celebrating with book reviews on Hooks and Book. Future handmade shop owner. My relationship with my wife and my puppy is only rivaled by my relationship with my Kindle. My new shop, Country Mouse Creative is set to launch on September 1st.

You can find me here:

Hooks and Book Blog

Hooks and Book Facebook

Country Mouse Creative Facebook

Twitter

A weekly podcast: Forbidden Mind: Chapter 2 and 3: YA Paranormal Romance/Thriller

Think X-Men meets Dollhouse, if Professor X had been an evil human trafficking geneticist. I’m posting weekly podcasts of Forbidden Mind, my award-winning YA paranormal novel. Here’s chapter 2 & 3. If you enjoy, please share! Want to get caught up? Click here for chapter 1.

A weekly podcast: Forbidden Mind: Chapter 1: YA Paranormal Romance/Thriller

Think X-Men meets Dollhouse, if Professor X had been an evil human trafficking geneticist.

I’m posting weekly podcasts of Forbidden Mind, my award-winning YA paranormal novel. Here’s chapter 1. If you enjoy, please share!

Down with the Garbage Goblins!

[image error]Lexie World is all about caring for the environment, from the perspective of a 5 year old girl and her two big sisters. Given that I based this book on the imagination of my own little Lexie, I’m very excited to announce that it is a finalist in the Global e-Book Awards for Children Literature Fiction. We find out the winner on Aug. 20th. Eeep!

Written for lower-grade readers age 4-9, Lexie World is getting rave reviews by adults and kids alike.

“Lexie World was fun to read. I learned we need to take care of our things and our Earth. I REALLY love unicorns and I’m glad it had unicorns that talked. They were my favorite. I liked Lexie, too. I think all kids would like this story. It’s magical. It’s fun. Kids can help the Earth, too, by picking up and cleaning up. I liked the pictures. The pictures were pretty.” –Callie, 8 years old, 5 stars

“This is the best book I have ever read. It teaches a lesson that all kids should learn. It is a magical story that was very intesting to read.” A Kid’s Review on Amazon, 5 stars

“I read this with my eight year old daughter. She struggles with reading and so reading anything just isn’t fun for her. But, with Lexie World, she enjoyed reading and asked to read every night together. It was a slow process, because of her struggles, but she accomplished it and can’t wait to read the rest of the books in the series.” Angela Scott, Author, 5 stars

About Lexie World

[image error]…Each time I put my foot down, it sank deeper into trash. The crunch and grind of it all sounded like monsters coming to eat me.

“Oh my goodness!” The crunching and grinding got louder. So loud, I knew it couldn’t be just us.

My hands shook and my feet stopped working right. I didn’t want to look behind me.

Then something smacked me in the back of my head! My eyes got all cloudy with tears.

I looked behind me. Big mistake….

In the first book of the enchanting children’s special edition trilogy, The Three Lost Kids, Lexie and her sisters discover Lexie World, a beautiful world that’s being destroyed by Garbage Goblins. To save the world, Lexie, her sisters, their faithful dog TayTay, and their new Unicorn friend must travel over the Waters of Waste, climb the Mountain of Lost Clothes, and retrieve the Mirror of Ice.

Through the journey, 5-year-old Lexie learns about courage, and about how to care for the earth.

With exquisite full color illustrations by Josh Evans, this lower-grade chapter book will engage readers from 4 to 9 years old in its magic and fun!

Look for the rest of the Three Lost Kids Trilogy–Bella World and Maddie World (coming soon)–if you like enchanted Dragons, Fairies, and more adventures through magical worlds with great life lessons for kids!

To learn more, go to ThreeLostKids.com

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5 Don’ts of Getting Married (plus, the Writing In Love Epic Love Story Video)

[image error]As you may have heard, Dmytry Karpov and I got married on Monday, July 2nd. In a small ceremony with just a few very close friends, we committed our lives to each other and to our children. It was perfect and beautiful and I’m deliriously happy.

And I learned a few things of what NOT to do on your wedding day.

The Don’ts
1. Don’t start a new skin care regime three days before your wedding.

You’d think this was a no-brainer, but I have really clear skin and have NEVER had any breakouts or problems when I switch skin care. I’d run out of my normal cleanser and lotion, something I bought in California, and needed a new brand. So, on Friday, I picked up some very good products and began using them. By Monday, my face had turned red and blotchy with random breakouts. Thank goodness I also bought some new concealer, or all would have been lost. Moral of the story… just don’t do it!

2. Don’t use a new hairdresser three days before your wedding.

Again, no brainer. *sigh* Why must I learn these things the hard way? Our last hair dresser cut my hair super short, at my request. She did a great job. It’s not her fault I miss my long hair. She gave Dmytry an epic GQ look!

So, I’m growing out my hair again, but wanted it shaped for the wedding. Only, that hairdresser moved to a new location and we got someone new. I was not happy with either of our haircuts, but especially mine. I think it was actually better ‘unshaped.’

3. Don’t assume that a small living room wedding will be easy and fast to prep for.

It’s not. We had four friends coming up from California, and two friends who joined us via[image error] G+ hangouts. That was it. How hard could that possibly be? Well, several hundred dollars and a lot of shopping, primping and planning later, and yeah… turns out it is a big deal. Maybe it’s just me. I’m not a party person, or party planner. I don’t really enjoy doing that. The only party I’ve really loved was the epic New Year’s Eve party on the night Dmytry and I finally got to be together in person for the first time, and Ranee Dillon did a lot of that prep work with me, so it was easier. This time, she was an online guest!

4. Don’t assume that those tulle bows on the tulle packages are as easy to create as they lead you to believe.

They’re not. Mine looked like a poodle on a frizzy hair day. Fortunately, our 9-year-old is better at these things.

5. The most important! Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff.

[image error]And it’s all small stuff. Yes, my face was blotchy. Yes, my hair was a wreck. Yes, it was a lot of work. But you know what? We’re married and we’re happy and our dearest friends were there to celebrate with us. And eventually we’ll have another ceremony for our family and friends who couldn’t attend.

It’s the journey, the commitment and joining of two lives, that matters–not the decorations or the hair. When I looked at Dmytry, I didn’t care about his hair cut, and he didn’t care about mine. No one noticed my poodle bows. The only thing anyone noticed or cared about was the love in the room. The rest is just frosting on the cake.

(Speaking of which, I actually made our wedding cake, and I’m so not a baker. Gluten free[image error] with vanilla filling… I even decorated it… and it didn’t suck! Yay!)

Dmytry and I met with a tweet and fell in love while writing partners. Now we’re married, raising three little girls together, and writing books together. The rest is inconsequential.

And for those of you who couldn’t be there, you can see the full photo album here on my Facebook Author page, and here’s a video of our journey together–from first tweet to Happily Ever After!

What Worked and What Didn’t in the New Spider-Man Movie

[image error]Who doesn’t love a great superhero story? I’m a big fan, after all, the Forbidden Mind series, while a paranormal romance/thriller, can also be described as a super hero series with an X-Men flavor. So I was excited to see the new Spider-Man movie, and we made it a point to take our kids to it yesterday–the day after we got married!

If you’re looking for a good holiday or summer flick, The Amazing Spider-Man, directed by Marc Webb, is an excellent choice. For a remake, it had a few fresh takes on the classic Spider-man tale that I really enjoyed.

*spoiler alert*

[image error]For one, I’ve never been a big fan of the Mary Jane character, and I didn’t particularly like Kirsten Dunst in the role in the 2002 remake. Nothing against the actress, it’s probably more the character that I find mildly annoying and unlikable. She’s too passive and… blah… for my taste. So I was thrilled with the decision to go with a more interesting female lead who really filled the role of a protagonist in the movie. (If you’ve read any of my books, you probably already know I’m biased toward more active female leads.)

Emma Stone plays Gwen Stacy, a brilliant high school student who works as an intern with Dr. Curt Connors, a scientist who’s committed to discovering a way to use cross-species genetics to make the perfect human. He’s missing an arm, so the stakes are particularly high for him as he wants to regrow his own arm and lose the stigma of cripple in a society designed to reward the perfect.

Emma Stone is charming, smart and entirely adorable without being ridiculous. She’s a strong character and is a great match for Andrew Garfield, the new Peter Parker aka Spider-man.

Speaking of Garfield, I adore him in this role. He’s on the fringes and does get bullied at[image error] school, but he’s also not a pansy. He stands up for other students and has a quiet charm and strength, even before his transformation, that I really admire. Plus, he’s totally cute!

Garfiled also makes a somewhat awkward Spider-man, but in a perfect way. His ability to fly through the sky on his webs grows throughout the movie, and while he has impressive skill development early on, there’s still a sense that it’s new to him. It’s refreshing to see this learning curve throughout.

Stone’s character is pivotal in the plot in many ways, and she is a partner to her boyfriend early on. Parker reveals his identity to her, despite the fact that her father (Denis Leary–love!)  is the chief of police and is hunting Spider-man. Their budding romance is sweet, romantic and a bit clumsy without being painful to watch. Again, it’s the perfect blend of newness and comfortable. I particularly enjoyed their first kiss, but I’ll save that reveal for you to see yourself. What can I say? I’m a newlywed, so of course this is the part I focus on!

For all you action fans, there was a really powerful scene towards the end when he’s Spider-manning his way through New York to save the city, but for the most part the action could have been better. This is according to my husband (I get to call him my husband now! Squee!), who pointed out that director Marc Webb debuted with a romantic comedy and this is his first action movie to date. I honestly didn’t notice any lack in the action scenes, but again… I was more interested in the kissing. :p

[image error]This movie did have a lot more backstory that we both loved (and not in an info dump way at all, but in a way that set up the motivations for the characters and the movie as a whole). There was a personal motivation for Dr. Connors’ choices. He’s not a bad guy, but he’s also under pressure to start testing his new serum on humans, so he starts with himself and creates Spider-man’s antagonist. Rhys Ifans plays Dr. Connor and does a wonderful job as mentor/villain. Connors was partner with Peter Parker’s dad, before something spooked his secretive parents and they left a young Peter with his aunt (Sally Field) and uncle and fled. Nothing is revealed about what happened to his parents, but there is a set-up that makes me wonder about more films to come.

Also, the spider that sets this whole thing in motion is given its own itsy bitsy (get it? itsy bitsy spider? ) back story as well. It’s not just some random genetically modified spider, it’s placed in a lab that is working on the cross-species genetics, and it’s actually a really cool scene visually.

This film did an excellent job of setting up the motivations for all the characters involved, which I really enjoyed.

However, the film dropped the ball in one big way for me. At the beginning, when Parker first undergoes his transformation (a really funny scene, by the way. There’s a lot of humor in this version) he sees an opportunity to put the school bully in his place.

Chris Zylka plays Flash Thompson, a basketball star and total jerk to everyone at school (also, this actor was in The Circle, which I couldn’t figure out for the whole movie but knew he looked familiar). He ruthlessly beats Peter Parker (I’m talking kicking and punching and serious beating… right in the middle of school! Where the hell are the teachers??) after Peter tries to defend another kid Flash is abusing.

If anyone deserves payback, it’s this guy, and Peter uses his new powers to humiliate the kid on the basketball court. When he gets sent to the principal’s office, his uncle is called. Martin Sheen plays Uncle Ben, and can I just say I love this man? He’s brilliant in everything, and this movie is no exception.

And here we have the setup for what could have been an awesome opportunity to add real depth to a superhero movie without sacrificing the action. Uncle Ben talks to Peter about what he did, and challenges him to consider whether it was right to humiliate Flash, even if he did deserve it.

After a fight with Uncle Ben, Peter leaves and his uncle follows. Peter ends up at a small[image error] market, where he’s given a hard time by the store owner who’s admittedly a real jerk. As he leaves, the store is robbed and when the store owner asks Peter for help, he ignores him. After all, the store owner doesn’t deserve his help after treating him that way.

In the next scene, the robber, in his escape, comes face to face with Uncle Ben, who does try to do the right thing, and is shot and killed.

Peter sets on his path as Spider-man in order to find his uncle’s killer and take revenge. This could have been such an awesome character arc, but it really falls short. Instead of using this to build on something real, the other plot lines take over and this is forgotten.

Toward the beginning of the third Act, Peter does sorta drop his hunt for the killer in order to stop the giant lizard man that’s trying to kill people and destroy New York, but it’s not connected to this early set up in a way that’s emotionally satisfying. There’s no moment where Peter has an opportunity to make a different choice–for example, to do the right thing even if a person doesn’t deserve it. Sure, he realizes he wants to help people, but he never confronts his own need for revenge, he just stops looking, and he really only saves kids and people who haven’t done him wrong in some way. I was disappointed in this, as it could have been much stronger with very little work. Perhaps it’s a set up for another movie, but if so, it wasn’t handled well.

Despite this, I’m very impressed with this new remake. It has more depth then past versions, and still plenty of action and super hero/villain conflict. The casting was truly brilliant and each actor played their part well. If they’d taken just a little more time to complete the character arc they set up, I’d have been happier, but it didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the film.

Creating a Magic System with Real Magic! (Also, who wants $100?)

Please welcome Andy Gavin to my blog today! He’s a dear friend and amazing author of The Darkening Dream. He’s also the creator of the popular video games, Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Daxter. Today, he’s here to talk about how he used real magic and religion to create a magic system. Also, he’s giving away major prizes!

The Magic of The Darkening Dream

In constructing The Darkening Dream I wanted the meta-story to play off conventional tropes. Broadly, a cabal of ancient supernatural beings has sent one of their number to recover an artifact needed to destroy the world. And surprise, it turns out a group of teens are all that stands between them and Armageddon.

How much more Buffy can you get?

But that’s just the high level. I also wanted to ground this preposterous scenario in real history and legend. So as a methodology, in designing my array of supernatural beings and occult practitioners I turned to historic sources. Before our modern science and technology rendered magic quaint, it was the domain of religion and superstition. Of belief.

And each spiritual and magical system has its own framework. Proponents wrote out of certainty, out of faith. I merely dig up their writings and take them at their word.

Villains

Osiris as king in the west

What binds a group of ancient evil beings together? Not some grand principle of villainy. Evil is just extreme selfishness. But hatred can go a long way. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. So who from the ancient world has suffered the most?

Might it be the old gods? Or those who worship them? Who offers sacrifice anymore to Osiris? Who fears the shadow of Anubis as they step from this world into the next? Who believes the beetle god Khepri drags the sun across the sky behind him?

No one. And those that remember the glory days are pissed off.

So who’s been lurking around since the time of the pharaohs?

The comte at Versailles

The Comte de St. Germain has, or so he told everyone in the court of Louis XV. Apparently, at the very least, he is party to the secret magics of Osiris, Son of the Earth, King of the Dead. The elixir of Osiris is said to prevent death. And so the comte, which is but one of his many names, has been lurking about for some time. But the old magics are not what they once were. Their power has diminished with their gods. So he whispers in the ears of kings, pulling on what strings he can, seeking allies where he can find them.

And old gods may fade, but as long as a single soul still believes, they never die.

Even the ancient blood gods and their vampire acolytes. Born in ancient forests of the north where men offered midnight blood sacrifice. Of their king, their Ancient Master, raised from the dead a hundred centuries past, nothing remains but pure fury. Hatred for the burning sun, hatred for his mortal prey, hatred for the new world of foul brick and lifeless steel.

But in hatred, perhaps, there is common cause.

The Artifact

Observe the all important Ram in the Thicket (lower right)

Clearly, the physical goal of our baddies had to be something really big. Something useful to them in their plots. The fall of antiquity was not about barbarians at the gates of Rome. No. The rising tide of monotheism was what really swept away the old order.

So it is against God that our villains lash out.

And I found the perfect legend in the most unlikely of places. I was passing the time during Yom Kippur services by reading the story of Abraham offering Isaac for sacrifice (Genesis 22). This has always been a passage of particular interest to me, dealing as it does with the nature of the relationship between man and God and the meaning of ritual sacrifice. But it was in the commentary that I noticed something peculiar, a cryptic remark that “the Ram in the Thicket is but one of ten special things created by God on the eve of creation.”

How’s that for a magic seeker’s wet dream.

Back at home I dug into this and discovered that on the eve of the first Sabbath, before the creation of world, God created ten special things (which besides the Ram include the rainbow of Noah, the staff of Moses, and other goodies). These items are eternal, having existed before the universe, they have no temporal beginning or end. God, it seemed, placed the Ram into the trust of the Archangel Gabriel, who kept it in the Garden of Eden until Abraham needed it at Mount Moriah. Afterward, nothing of the Ram was wasted. Gabriel took the horns and brought one to Moses so that he could sound the arrival of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai. The other was kept by the archangel, hidden in the Garden, so that at the appointed time it might be brought to Elijah to sound the End of Days.

Gabriel and his trumpet

This notion of a horn blast sounding the end of the world is a highly persistent meme. It’s found not just in the Jewish traditions regarding the Messiah, but in the Revelations of John where seven angels (including presumably, Gabriel) sound the end of time and the Last Judgment. And also in diverse mythologies such as the Norse, where the Gjallarhorn shall announce the onset of Ragnar√∂k.

In the world of The Darkening Dream, all beliefs are simultaneously true, as brought forth and conceived by their believers. This means that anything as consistent as the horn legend is doubly true. Archetypal truth made manifest.

And what of Gabriel’s Horn? Eternity is a long time and the archangel flits hither and yon. Might not a busy seraph misplace such a thing… if only for a short time?

The Myriad Layers of the Esoteric World

How to properly envision a world in which vampires, the Archangel Gabriel, witchcraft, and Egyptian gods all exist? Many might just toss them together arbitrarily, but I wanted to find a framework consistent with traditional mysticism. Having read hundreds of religious and magical texts I have identified numerous consistencies in the thought patterns of the esoteric mind.

The Tree of Life

By way of example, let’s place ourselves in the mind of my protagonist Sarah’s father Joseph. As a Rabbi, scholar, and mystic Joseph draws his world view from the Zohar and other great texts of the Kabbalah. In this conceptualization, which can be summed up as “hidden and not revealed,” the world is a many layered thing, like an onion, with the portion we perceive merely the lowest of ten modalities, all simultaneously overlaid. The pure conceptualization of God pervades everything, and is the highest. Yet the human mind can not fully comprehend this level of divine and celestial purity. In between are various layers that express important truths like “Beauty” and “Wisdom.” In Joseph’s orthodox world, God is all powerful, so powerful that even the Archangel Gabriel is but a manifestation of His Strength. The angel is not an independent entity, but a protrusion of God’s will into these middle layers of reality. Joseph might actually see the angel, but in his mind, this is just his perception of an aspect of God leaking into the mortal layers. The human mind cannot comprehend the divine, so God softens the blow with the angelic form.

Sitting down to the witches Sabbath

As hard as this might be to get your head around, it seemed reasonable to extend this kind of framework to many forms of magic in the book. The villainous Puritan warlock, Pastor John Parris, works a school of traditional witchcraft, yet it too is based on layered perception of reality. For him, the magical realm is twisted into a less spacial form, with objects and people adjacent not just by physical proximity, but by the likeness of their form and nature. So, a person’s hair, separated as it might be from their body, provides magical access to the owner. Likewise, his religious conceptualization allows for the layering of hell dimensions, separated by flame. With the help of his succubus lover he is able to step through these fiery gateways and bend the rules of time and space.

While occasionally, as is the case with the Horn, the mythological drives the story, most often the structural needs of my plot demanded esoteric action. I therefore required interoperability between diverse magic systems in order to make the action work. For example, when Joseph wishes to protect his home from the intrusions of the evil Parris and the ancient vampire al-Nasir, he prays to invoke the archangels and align the physical rectangle of his house with the metaphysical form of King Solomon’s Temple. For him this is an act of faith drawing on protective aspects of God’s divinity.

But Parris too is able to perceive this change in the nature of reality, albeit in his own terms. His plans to gain entry requires the construction of an elaborate ritual analog. Like a voodoo doll for a building. Just as the limbs of the doll can be broken, the metaphysical walls of the temple may be breached.

Succubus from the source

Learning from the mouth of devils

For each of my supernatural beings I strove to draw upon classical source materials rather than rely on 20th century pop culture. My warlock, Pastor Parris, is a man of repressed passion based on serial killer profiles. His only emotional connection to the outside world has been through a series of dominating female figures. First his puritanical grandmother, then following her grisly demise, his succubus lover Betty. Like all magic in the world of The Darkening Dream, Betty is a conceptual product of her beholder. So I turned to The Malleus Maleficarum, the rantings of two 15th century clergymen, Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger. This book, which translates as the The Witch Hammer, was used by the Inquisition as a handbook for identifying and persecuting witches and demons.

Along with a five page essay on the mechanism by which Succubi and Incubi transfer semen, the Maleficarum has this to say about Succubi:

Devils have no lungs or tongue, though they can show the latter, as well as teeth and lips, artificially made according to the condition of their body; therefore they cannot truly and properly speak. But since they have understanding, and when they wish to express their meaning, then, by some disturbance of the air included in their assumed body, not of air breathed in and out as in the case of men, they produce, not voices, but sounds which have some likeness to voices, and send them articulately through the outside air to the ears of the hearer.

From this passage, we know that one of the means of identifying Succubi is that they do not move their lips when speaking, but manipulate the elements of fluid air near their mouths directly. Hence, in my novel, Betty does not open her mouth to speak, but the air in front of her shimmers as she does. In keeping with my fast paced action oriented novel, I never make an issue of this, but like thousands of other details in the book it is informed by the source. Clearly brothers Kramer and Sprenger knew what they were talking about, as they inspired thousands to burn at the stake.

Khepri and Osiris in the good old days

The Power of the Word

With each different school of magic I tried to extract the historic flavor and mindset of past occultists. The mysterious Khepri, another of my villains, practices an ancient Egyptian magic entirely different from Parris’ devilish thaumaturgy. The spirit of Egyptian magic often derives from the use of secret names and the spoken word ‚Äî nay command. The sorcerer/priest orders, by way of his secret magic, the very gods and demons to do his bidding. So it is that when Khepri invokes the miniature sun which is his weapon, he cries these words from The Egyptian Book of the Dead:

Re sits in his Abode of Millions of Years. The doors of the sky are opened for me, the doors of the earth are opened for me, the door-bolts of Geb are opened for me, the shutters of the sky-windows are thrown open for me. I know you, I know your names; Release him, loose him!

By sheer force of his sorcerous will he demands the sun yield to him. And so it does.

Truth is Stranger than Fiction

By writing a modern fantasy adventure, but by grounding the magic and supernatural in tradition, I wanted to prove that the old adage really is true: Truth is stranger than fiction. The twisted imaginations of our ancestors, devoid of the distractions of the current age, were often far more creative than the half-assed creations of Hollywood and the like.

A Big Giveaway for The Darkening Dream

This week, through June 29th, Author Andy Gavin is running a big giveaway to celebrate his 99 cent promo sale.

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About The Darkening Dream

As the modern world establishes itself and pushes the supernatural into the shadows, the supernatural fights back.

An ominous vision and the discovery of a gruesome corpse lead Sarah and her friends into a terrifying encounter with a fledgling vampire in 1913 Salem, Massachusetts. Eager to prove themselves, the young heroes set out to track the evil to its source, never guessing that they will take on a conspiracy involving not only a 900-year vampire but also a demon-loving Puritan warlock, disgruntled Egyptian gods, and an immortal sorcerer, all on a quest to recover the holy trumpet of the Archangel Gabriel. Relying on the wisdom of a Greek vampire hunter, Sarah’s rabbi father, and her own disturbing visions, Sarah must fight a millennia-old battle between unspeakable forces, where the ultimate prize might be Sarah herself.

The critics love it

“A vampire novel with actual bite.” ~The Kirkus Reviews

“A gorgeously creepy, strangely humorous, and sincerely terrifying tale.” ~Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

Read the first two sample chapters here.
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About the Author

Andy Gavin is an unstoppable storyteller who studied for his Ph.D. at M.I.T. and founded video game developer Naughty Dog, Inc. at the age of fifteen, serving as co-president for two decades. There he created, produced, and directed over a dozen video games, including the award winning and best selling Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Daxter franchises, selling over 40 million units worldwide. He sleeps little, reads novels and histories, watches media obsessively, travels, and of course, writes. Find out more here.