Brian Patrick McKinley's Blog, page 18
February 6, 2014
Less Is More: Creating a Vampire World
Reblogged from Thinking Skull:
I just wrote a piece over on Vamped.org about my take on vampires. Here's a bit:
One issue I've noticed in a lot of paranormal fiction is scale: getting too big too fast.
All the vampires have a werewolf bodyguard, legions of angels are waiting behind every storm cloud, and the sewers are bursting with more vampires than rats.
In these kinds of stories, it’s almost a given that the protagonist will catch the eye of someone too big for them to handle, setting up a final confrontation with world-changing ramifications.
Kbatz: Buffy Season 2
Reblogged from horroraddicts.net:
Buffy Season 2 Ups the Ante
By Kristin Battestella
One can make the case that Buffy the Vampire Slayer actually begins in 1997 with its full-length Second season. Any growing pains from the quick debut season are corrected, and the Buffyverse hits the ground running here in fine paranormal form.
Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) begins another school year still trying to balance teendom with being the Vampire Slayer.
Interview with Karen Griffin aka Karen Plaisance
My series of interviews with the authors of Fresh Blood continues today with the talented (and very funny) Karen Griffin!
Tell us a little about yourself. How long have you been writing? My name is not Karen Plaisance. Karen Plaisance is the name I use to hide from the voices. I am a hack writer/blogger/massage therapist. I don’t do happy ending. If you ask, I’m legally allowed to kill you with my t-bar. I’ve been writing since I was five. To be fair, A is for Apal wasn’t the bestseller I thought it would be, but I’m hoping for better sales with the reprint. I think it’ll do well with today’s hipster market.
No happy ending! You have been warned.
Which story did you contribute to Fresh Blood and what made you want to write that story? The story “Ghosts and Houseguests” started out as an unpublished novel I wrote years ago that I shortened for the anthology. I got the idea for the character Dori before I came up with the plot. A child vampire seemingly dependent on her elders turns out to be the oldest known vampire in existence. She runs New Orleans and who knows what else? And she likes dumpster diving and can’t keep track of time to save her unlife. I loved the irony.
What other work have you done? I wrote a book a while back called Mercy Bound. A fated death oracle is accidentally blood bound to a vampire when a job interview goes horribly wrong. The leader of the New Orleans vamps wants to use her for her gift, a group of vampire hunters wants her on their side so they can destroy the New Orleans vamps, and her vegan/witch aunt just wants her home for dinner on time. Wacky hijinks ensue. I’m currently writing the sequel. It will be finished sometime before I die.
What is it about vampires that makes you want to write about them? Vampires are smokin’ hot. Not the sparkly ones. Never the sparkly ones. (Insert Cringe Here)
What other interests do you have and how do they influence your writing? I’m secretly obsessed with the 90’s. That was my era. I want my era back. I’ve been told this will probably not happen unless I build a time machine or start to age backwards or something. MB takes place a few days before Y2K. The main character has the ability to tell the most likely way a person might die, and I eventually plan to introduce a character that will be a die hard Saints fan. His most likely death day will be February 7, 2010 from a heart attack. He’ll have a smile on his face, though. Figure it out.
Give us some links where we can find your other work (if available):
For those of you who want to know the real me, call my mother. She accepts bribes. Be aware, I get a piece of that action. I can’t give out her phone number or address, so here’s my Facebook page instead. Yes, that’s my real name. And my real nose: https://www.facebook.com/karen.griffin.961
If it’s gripes and existential nonsense you’re looking for, my blog Doomtown is chock full of ranty goodness! Feel free to hit up the tip jar ‘cause ranting ain’t easy. If you like the site, please follow. The one follower I have is getting lonely: http://doomtown-doomtown.blogspot.com/
You can buy my book here: http://www.amazon.com/Mercy-Bound-Blood-Karen-Plaisance-ebook/dp/B008VLR864/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1390190673&sr=1-1&keywords=mercy+bound+karen+plaisance
Or here: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/304641
And of course, my short story “Ghosts and Houseguests” can be found in the VWSG’s anthology right here along with many fine authors who totally didn’t pay me to say how wonderful they are…(wink, wink): https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/366878
http://www.amazon.com/Fresh-Blood-Vampire-Writers-Anthology/dp/1492733814
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fresh-blood-dan-shaurette/1117186392?ean=9781492733812
No refunds.
Oh, and for those of you who were wondering what the hell a t-bar is: http://neuromuscularsolutions.com/products.html
You’re welcome.
Find Fresh Blood: Vampire Writers Support Group Anthology #1 on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Fresh-Blood-Vampire-Writers-Support-ebook/dp/B00FYEJDPA
February 4, 2014
Must the Male Vampire Always Be On Top in Paranormal Romance?
Reblogged from Thinking Skull:
I'm not saying this is bad - I'm just asking if this is how it has to be.
I am a male writer who tends to write strong female characters in paranormal horror. This isn't just my opinion (although it is my intent), but I am told by readers that I do. If a heroine is going to step up, I feel they should hold their own; they make the decisions and accept the consequences for their actions.
I think Ancient Blood is a good answer to this!
INTERVIEW WITH MAGEN McMINIMY, AUTHOR OF IMMORTAL CRAVING
Hello, L.M. David here. It’s Monday, again and this time I am interviewing Magen McMinimy, Author of Immortal Craving, which is the second book in her Immortal Heart series. This interview, like the others, was done last year. I, again, issue an apology to Magen for not posting this sooner and hope she can forgive me.
Welcome Magen. Let's get this interview started.
February 3, 2014
Interview with Matthew Banks
Hi there Brian, I have been a published author for over twenty seven years and I have written social commentaries, short supernatural fiction, poetry, reviews and research pieces on horror films, Kenneth Williams (film actor) – all sorts really, including a lot of promotional work for other ‘artistes’. A lot of my early work has been lost to history including many short stories and poetry. With the few pieces that I do have left, on retrospect I can see I have always had potential, but it wasn’t until I attended University that that potential was fine tune and the best has been brought out of me, in terms of my writing.
Which story did you contribute to Fresh Blood and what made you want to write that story?
I contributed Tear of Blood. It had languished in my archive for over thirty years. I brought it out, dusted it off, gave it an overhaul and it was published in a magazine in the UK called Reflections (issue 18). They have published about fifteen of my short stories to date.
As a writer I’m never truly satisfied with my work and it’s always evolving. I was re-drafting Tear of Blood again when Dan (Shaurette) put out the call for vampire stories. I contacted him and discussed the story and the rest, as they say, is history. The original story was written way back in 1983/84 for my English class and is one of the few remaining pieces from that time. If my memory serves me well, Jackson Heylt was originally based on Richard Lynch’s Vampire from the TV movie.
3. What other work have you done?
In 1984, I wrote, directed and starred in a play Mora the Vampire Meets an American Woman. It was basically a man dominated by a vampire, but through the love of a woman, the slave is able to kill the vampire. It was written as an exam piece and later re-written to be produced whilst I was at college. There are about 18 publicity photographs taken to promote the play and a poster drafted, but unfortunately the project fell through. Looking through my archive, I still have a copy of the original script, the poster I designed (where you can see the Lugosi influence) and one of the props!
I have written and published informal portraits of Bela Lugosi and Anne Rice. Anne Rice: Queen of the Damned was published in Flickers‘n’Frames magazine in 1995. Bela Lugosi: The Road to Dracula was published in Vampire News: The (Not So) End Times Vol2 and can be found here: www.crazyduckpress.com/#!vampire-news/c2kd
It was later tinkered with and published, fully illustrated in We Belong Dead issue 10.
I wrote a paper on Homosexuality and The Vampire Film and that was published in Jugular Magazine #3 1998. When I posted a copy of article on Facebook it got torn apart! The reason for this was that I dared to express an opinion that the early vampire films had a hidden sub-text of homosexuality running through them. My poem Dig is about Bela Lugosi (published in The Pendragon Writers Circle Poetry & Short Stories Anthology No3 A Ghostly Anthology.) The poem is about Lugosi’s drug addiction and the title is a reference to trying to find a decent vein in which to inject the drug.
I helped with publicity for a vampire book author writing reviews, sending out press releases and making a couple of promotional videos that were used throughout both our social media sites to promote his work. But that relationship soured – I can’t go into too much detail as I don’t really know why. The only possible reason that I can see was because I pointed out that a film that he was going to include in his sequel was not a vampire film per se and couldn’t be used as an example. He was that miffed with me about this that he went on a radio show and made a show and dance about it without referencing me and to be honest I found that really pathetic. Ironically he thanked me for all the hard work that I had done for him in his sequel! My argument is and was if you are going to write to an audience that know their subject matter, then you have to make sure that your research is absolutely correct – otherwise you’ll get someone like me who will pick up on any mistakes and question the validity of that research.
In early 2013 Reflections magazine published on completely re-vamped story, Tear of Blood. After its initial publication it was then given a complete overhaul and tightened up for Dan Shaurette and his anthology Fresh Blood which was published in October 2013.
4. What is it about vampires that makes you want to write about them?
When I was about seven, we moved and my father managed a hotel. Every Sunday he’d put a film on for the hotel guest children and on one of these occasions he put on a Bela Lugosi compilation film and it was the scene from Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein, where the Wolfman chases Dracula out onto a balcony and grabs Dracula as a bat and they both plunge into the sea below that got me hooked on Lugosi and vampires. To be fair the supernatural in all its manifestations interests me, not just vampires. I write about what I know, what I’ve seen and read or been told. Throughout all my fiction there is a grain of truth. As I live in Cornwall, which has a rich history of the ‘otherworldly’ I use a lot of that myth and legend as back story in my work. With regards to writing about vampires (in my fiction) I try to place myself into someone who has lived a long time, but lost all that they hold dear … and see where the pen leads me. I have just about wrapped up the sequel to Tear of Blood, titled A Matter of Life for Death, which features a different sort of vampirism, and deals … I can say no more on this point.
What other interests do you have and how do they influence your writing?
There are several influences to my writings, the first and foremost is the Father of the Modern Ghost Story, M R James. I have written several articles about him and his work. Stephen king has also been an influence as has Anne Rice. I was a big fan at one point and Tear of Blood owes a lot of debt to Interview with the Vampire. All my supernatural writings are linked and cross-referenced with each other – thus creating my own ‘haunted world,’ which like James, who uses academia as the back-bone to his characters, I have used ‘place’ as mine and in that respect the biggest influence here is J R R Tolkien. With my film research work, it is my knowledge of the genre that I love as well as the love of researching them that make it a pleasure to do. Literature and film both dominate my writings and continually inspire me. I’m currently working on a re-examination of Dracula’s Daughter and this will be followed by The Return of the Vampire – both for We Belong Dead. Homosexuality & the Vampire Film is scheduled to be re-written and I’m working on three short stories: A Matter of Life for Death, Ribbons (both vampire tales) and The Voice of the Victim.
Give us some links where we can find your other work (if available):
This is a link to my blog where you can find out all sorts about my writings and promotional videos I have made for various pieces that I have had published: http://thelastgodofgoth.blogspot.co.uk/
In my younger days I wrote and produced an album which is/was Goth/pop. This is a link to my some of my tunes and a couple of radio broadcasts of short stories: https://soundcloud.com/the-gods-of-goth
This is a link to a video to one song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5he1wFabxDs
This is a link to Vampire News: The (Not So) End Times Vol 2 which features by biography on Bela Lugosi: http://www.crazyduckpress.com/#!vampire-news/c2kd
Reflections Magazine regularly publishes my supernatural short stories and has done so since issue four. Here is the link to that page and from there there are links to all other issues that I have appeared in: http://exeterreflections.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/reflections-issue-4.html
And this link will inform as to where to obtain issues of We Belong Dead: http://www.classichorrorcampaign.com/?s=we+belong+dead&search=Search
Find Fresh Blood: Vampire Writers Support Group Anthology #1 on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Fresh-Blood-Vampire-Writers-Support-ebook/dp/B00FYEJDPA
February 2, 2014
Kbatz: Buffy Season 1
Reblogged from horroraddicts.net:
Buffy Season 1 Imperfect, but Lays the Foundation Nicely
By Kristin Battestella
It’s been a long time since I’ve watched Season 1 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. When the series first premiered in 1997, I didn’t care for this season and only returned to the beginning after seeing Seasons Three and Four in syndication. Though short and imperfect with typical storylines and high school clichés, Season 1 establishes the mythos of the Buffyverse in fine form.
More Memes!
Okay, they can’t all be laugh-out loud funny.
Interview with Donna Michelle Fernstrom
Hello, readers!
Today I present the first in a series of interviews with the talented authors of Vampire Writers Support Group’s first anthology, Fresh Blood! Today we have Donna Michelle Fernstrom
Tell us a little about yourself. How long have you been writing?
Rather odd – I used to write fiction for fun, including some fan fiction, when I was a teenager, but hadn’t written fiction for decades, when I began my novel. I did write a couple of non-fiction books, back in 2006. When I picked up fiction again, I wrote a couple of fiction short pieces, then launched right into the novel; something I NEVER thought I would do. I got halfway through it, over 50,000 words… and became blocked. I didn’t write another word of fiction for six years! I don’t know what happened at that point, but the urge to write returned, and I finished the novel… then another, and another, and several short pieces. I’m still working on the fourth. The underlying ideas, the worldbuilding and creatures in my books, those have been rolling around in my head since I was a teenager. Perhaps it was just time for them to be born.
Which story did you contribute to Fresh Blood and what made you want to write that story?
I contributed the short story titled ‘Revelation.’ It was actually one of the very first pieces of fiction I wrote in my book universe. It was one of the two I wrote before I began Sorrows. I chose it because it gives a lot away about the book universe itself, and the social dynamics in it. I think it’s a good representation of the Worldwalkers Universe. It’s a stand alone piece. These characters have not yet reappeared anywhere else… well, except for one of them who was mentioned in passing, but isn’t actually present in the story.
What other work have you done?
I’ve published the first book in the Rogue Saga, set in the Worldwalkers Universe. It’s titled ‘Sorrows.’ I have two non-fiction metaphysical books out: Beginning Psionics: A Psionics Training Manual, and An Energy-Workers’ Guide To Real Vampirism. Both non-fiction book are published under the pen name, Winged Wolf. The Rogue Saga will consist of four books. The second and third have been written, and the fourth is in progress. It’s looking as though it may be longer than the others. I have a novelette and several other spin-off short stories complete, as well as some that are in progress. I’m hoping to work on revising and editing book two of the Rogue Saga this year. It’s titled Shatter.
What is it about vampires that makes you want to write about them?
A complex series of things. The vampires I have created show the conflict between instinct and emotion, and rational behavior, and they’re also a way to demonstrate some very important underlying themes: The idea of symbiosis, for example. How people who have different strengths and weaknesses can compensate for and complete one another. Valuing diversity, rather than rejecting it, as human instinct so often seems to compel people to do. The potential for stories is nearly infinite.
What other interests do you have and how do they influence your writing?
I am involved in raising pet reptiles, and I’m also deeply involved in psychic development and paranormal studies. The latter appears prominently in my work, as I use what I know to describe the psychic abilities in my stories; however, I took some necessary liberties with reality, when I did so. I had to limit the range and potential of some abilities, enable better conflicts. Since these stories are all set in alternative universes, however, I don’t feel bad about doing.
Give us some links where we can find your other work (if available):
All of my work can be found through my author website at http://www.donnafernstrom.com . You can read an excerpt from Sorrows there, right on the site. Sorrows is available in epub format through Smashwords, in trade paperback and Kindle formats on Amazon.com, and in pdf and hardcover format through Lulu.com. It’s available worldwide through Amazon subsidiaries.
Find Fresh Blood: Vampire Writers Support Group Anthology #1 on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Fresh-Blood-Vampire-Writers-Support-ebook/dp/B00FYEJDPA
