Ellie Potts's Blog, page 42
August 24, 2014
Sunday Snippet!
Island of the Zombie King (Hopefully to be released in October)
“Guys we have a problem,” Tony said looking down at the floor.
They all looked at the trail of blood leading out of the room into the room holding the compacter. “The room ain’t that big,” Carlos said.
“We can’t go back,” Donner said.
“We have to do it. The place is going to explode any second,” Kiley said. She had her metal stick in one hand and the other on the door. “Back me up guys.” She turned the knob and pushed open the door.
She looked into the dark room. She held her breath reaching inside with her free hand feeling for the light switch, finding it she flipped it on. The room already smelt of garbage, but there was another smell in there. The smell of death. Her eyes darted around seeing nothing then looked down at the blood trail on the floor.
She followed after it slowly, one foot at a time. The guys had their guns pointed all around.
The trail ended in the back of the room. What she saw made her almost drop the metal stick, as her stomach heaved. Dark blood and gore ran down the walls with a large puddle on the ground. In the middle of the puddle lay the torn torso of one of the new janitors. His head had been half ripped from his body, and lay on its side looking up at her, its mouth wide open in a silent scream.
She turned disappearing behind what they called the grease pit, the metal compartment they and the other stores dumped their grease in, and threw up. Donner didn’t follow, but stayed by the side of the grease pit.
“We have to go,” he said voice gentle. He didn’t dare look at the mess at the back of the room.
She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “Okay,” she said. “I’m okay.” She came around to meet him.
Carlos was standing by the door, far away from whatever was back there. He didn’t want to even know what it could be, and just wanted to get the hell out of there. He didn’t notice the blood soaked hands until they grabbed his chubby neck. He let out a deafening scream, and it echoed through the metal walled room. The corpse had him good, he struggled, but its hold on him wouldn’t budge from his position. He had no real fighting ground. He screamed again as he felt the human teeth sink into the flesh of his shoulder, and then numbness.
August 23, 2014
Genre
I don’t have one certain genre I have pegged down to. I am still fiddling around with them. I like to mesh it up and combine genres. I really am not sure where a story is going until I finalize it. Like I have an idea for a romance story and made my hubby laugh when I told him that it was straight vanilla. Because now you have many sub-genres of romance as well as other genres. So why do we have to be considered just one genre? I mean years back you had fiction, horror, sci-fi, fantasy, romance, non-fiction. I worked in a bookstore if you come in looking for a non-fiction book we would just stare at you because even non-fiction has sub-genres and those sub-genres have sub-genres. Right not I am working a bit more dark erotic fantasy, but I have my fingers in some splatterpunk, steampunk, romance, fantasy, just to name off a few. Why should I be chained down when I have so much to play with?
So good readers if any happen to be writers what do you normally write? And why?
August 22, 2014
Bucket List…
I am going to share with you my top ten of my bucket list of things to do before I turn 40!
1. Walk along the beach in the moonlight.
2. Go whale watching.
3. Ride in a hot air balloon.
4. Piece a quilt.
5. Go on another cruise.
6. Write a rock opera.
7. Swim with a dolphin
8. Go on another train ride.
9. Visit as many museums I can.
1 Spend the night in a cabin
What is on your bucket list?
August 21, 2014
Brainstorming…
After I come up with the idea and before I sit down to create the book bible for the story I plan on working on I have to brainstorm. Brainstorming can make it or break it for me. I can come up with a million ideas, but if I can’t work out a good enough plot for it I will put it on the back burner. I need the main characters as I brainstorm because I need to know who I am working with. I want a bad guy or gal or group of them of course, not all stories have the big baddies but I like to have one standing by. I think of many different what ifs and think of what would happen if I have the characters pull it off. Notes after notes I can work my way to anger and sometimes confusion. I have frustrated myself so much because the idea was awesome I just keep tweaking the plot until it gets away from the original idea. When I do that I do put it down and come back to it later on with a fresh perspective. That is about it. I then go into my book bible.
How and what do you do to brainstorm?
August 20, 2014
Outlining yay or nay?
I guess I outline in my own way. I do it at work, out and about or just sitting around. I have my book bible with me most of the time and when I can’t bring it out I use scrap paper. Advice for you do NOT use scrap paper unless you enter it down ASAP. I end up waiting and have to sort out the ideas. And I have tons of ideas just for one scene. So yay I outline. How do you outline? Or do you?
August 19, 2014
First writing bit…
I have always made up stories. I have an overactive brain. I love to daydream always have. I have to think when I started really writing I started writing Newsie FanFiction with my best friend Jamie. LOL. Newsies is a musical based on the New York City newsboy strike of 1899. When young newspaper sellers are exploited beyond reason by their bosses they set out to enact change and are met by the ruthlessness of big business. This Disney movie featured one known star Christian Bale as one Jack Kelley. He sang and danced with a group of other young men.
So Tell me for those writers out there what is your first memory of writing?
August 18, 2014
Writing, better then therapy.
Sometimes when I am down and out I can escape into my thoughts and dreams. Sometimes more often then others. But when I am there doing the writing bit it helps me feel better. I will be the first to admit that I am not going to be a bestseller. But I don’t do this because I want to be a bestseller. I never really thought of myself as an author. I write because I like it. I like to make up stories. I do have the hardest time to get what is in my head to come out of my fingers when I type. And I do have lots of ideas, some are crap but others are, to me, quite entertaining. I love taking my characters and putting them in times and places I would never be able to go. I live through them, feel through them, love through them. Writing is a high I would think better then drugs, because it is a drug. And it is free therapy.
Casper, Town of Needles
Casper, the town of dreams. The town of nightmares. The town of a thousand dreamy nightmares. All who stalk the town with hatchets and sledgehammers, thanks to dingy dope filled needles.
Casper, the town of psycho clowns, and the tiny midgets who beat them. The incorporated town with one streetlight by the post office. One gas station, four bars, and three liquor stores.
Casper, the home of crackheads who don’t give a damn. The town of a million children running around the dirt roads with bare feet, runny noses and head lice. The schools filled with teachers who would like to give a damn, but they don’t live in Casper.
Casper, where no one dares to stop. The cops don’t even wink an eye or turn to look. The town where everything runs illegal, and the oldest sibling of six is trying to buy her baby brother some diapers with twenty food stamps.
Casper, the town of forgotten dreams. The dream, when I grow up, leaves you when you turn ten. The cruel streets are harsh to play on. The drugs are real. The threat is real, but the psycho clowns are only in their heads as the dingy dope filled needles play along their skin.
August 15, 2014
The Day the Words Went Away by Christina Escamilla Blog Tour!
Title: The Day the Words Went Away
Author: Christina Escamilla
Series: Stand Alone
Genre: Humorous Fiction
Publisher: Christina Escamilla Publishing
Release Date: June 27 2014
Edition/Formats Available In: eBook & Print
Blurb/Synopsis:
Have you ever wondered why popular books keep giving us the same tired plot lines over and over again?
Peter sure does.
He has a theory that there are simply no more original ideas left in the world. To prove his hunch right, he makes a bet with his best friend, Andy. Together, along with the girl of his dreams and his best friend’s wife, they set out on a zany adventure that includes escaping the clutches of an illegal street racing crew, a terrorist attempt, one creepy morgue attendant, and a near death experience at the wheel of a well-known celebrity.
Will Peter find out why all of the words went away or will this unlikely foursome just prove he is a terrible writer?
Giveaway!
RAFFLECOPTER LINK
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/54e9c425138/
Book Links
Author InformationChristina Escamilla is an author, illustrator, and lover of all things books. When she doesn’t have her nose stuck in one, she can be found watching a documentary about theoretical science or exploring the vast reaches of the internet. Currently, she lives in Houston, Texas with her bow-tie wearing dog, Murphy.
Author Links
Excerpts
“You could never bore me…,” I say dreamily, still in somewhat of a daze.
Don’t be creepy.
Don’t be creepy.
“’Cause I love science,” I add quickly.
August 14, 2014
Rogue by Chelsie Shock Blog Tour!
Title: Rogue
Author: Chelsie Shock
Series: The Novi Orders (Book 1)
Genre: Science Fiction/Dystopian
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: June 27 2014
Edition/Formats Available In: eBook (Kindle & Nook)
Blurb/Synopsis:
In the future the New World has suffered bombings, world wars, the tectonic plates have shifted, the population has seen sicknesses, radiation spills, genetically modified animals and humans, and the population has dwindled into two classes: The elites and everyone else. The Novi Orders have been enacted by the capital city and control everyone completely, except those who have hidden or rebelled, the rogues. Will is one of the survivors who has lived the quiet life of a sailor and fisherman living on what was once the Washington state coastline. When he meets an old man who used to work as a scientist for the elites, they sail to places he never imagined he’d see… the islands where the elite’s live. He meets a beautiful woman who is part of the high society by marriage, and he is thrust into plans for an uprising, a revolution, murder, war, oppression, survival and entangled in a forbidden love he can’t fully comprehend.
Short Blurb/Synopsis:
Rogue is an adventure with murder, mystery, technological advances, and romance with memorable characters struggling to fight against the power. The new world has become a bleak, dark place in the not so distant future where the government has taken over every aspect of life.
The book conjures images of a future that is extreme but urges the reader to consider where our society is moving towards today, leaving a disturbing imprint on the mind, and a hope for those brave enough to fight against it.
Book Links
Author InformationChelsie Shock was born and raised in rural South Texas on a ranch near the border. As a child she spent her days imagining her own world while she explored nature and tried to avoid cactus and mesquite thorns. Since she could scribble, she wrote stories.
She lives in Florida with her husband and their very needy dog who follows her around all day. She has a certificate of Holistic Nutrition Consulting from the American College of Healthcare Sciences.
She can be found writing, reading anything by Ray Bradbury, cooking or traveling. She loves cultural foods. One of her favorite vacations was when she hiked Scotland with her husband, and still misses it. She’s lived in Texas, Louisiana, and Florida, and she can be found in Michigan a few times a year. She writes science fiction, some fantasy, loves when seasons change, and is interested in anything extraordinary.
Author Links
Excerpts
He let his body float upwards, his face staring at the endless sky. His mind immediately wandered. The red and oranges seared his eyes with curiosity, the planets hanging in perfect view. He didn’t feel his body anymore. His eyes moved across each planet, the moon, Eros, Mars, Runa. Eros hung low in the sky, the red hues of the planet beautiful and bright. He wondered what the mega-elites were doing on Eros at that exact moment, selfishly and carelessly. He gazed at the place the elites lived as if he were on one side of a glass that could never be broken. He imagined the elegant dresses dancing without faces, like ghosts wearing jewelry. The rich never had faces, their hollow skins draped in untouchable extravagance. Their appetites insatiable wolves. He closed his eyes. His lungs took in the smells of the salt water.
He suddenly saw himself as a little boy again, with scared eyes, laying on Everett’s rooftops staring up at the sky and wondering if he had a place in the universe. His hands were helplessly small and dirty, hungering for a scrap of food.
August 11, 2014
Playing With Magic- Tease
Chapter 1! (unedited)
Chapter 1
Autumn ran around in the darkness, her heart thumping hard in chest with worry.
Stop, she told herself, where are you?
She stopped looking around, straining her eyes in the dark. She could see nothing but thick blackness surrounding her.
Don’t look with your eyes, her head told her.
She closed her eyes and reached out with her magic. She sensed she was not outside, and knew she was in something, but what? She reached out further searching for earth life.
“It’s all long dead,” a voice said behind her.
“If only we listened to their warning,” another voice said beside her. It sounded familiar. “It was your choice, and death would have been better.”
She heard silent weeping lost in the darkness. “I should have listened.” Autumn held her breath, and felt her heart shrink into her stomach. She knew that voice. The weeping continued, and she wanted the voice to speak again. Her ears must have been playing tricks, because it can’t be. She wanted herself to be wrong.
“It is my fault,” the voice said through the darkness.
Her voice, older, sadder.
Her hand went to her mouth. “No.” Her own voice muffled by her hand. Her knees felt weak underneath her.
“Yes,” a voice replied so close to her ear that she could feel warm breath on her neck. Rot swelled her senses, and her stomach heaved. “You killed us, and locked the rest of us in a prison.”
She knew this voice too, and shook her head. “You’re okay,” she said weakly as something slimy grabbed her arm tightly. The touch of the rotting skin against hers made her want to scream but she didn’t want to see who the hand belonged to.
Slowly her head turned. She wanted to close her eyes, but they wouldn’t listen to her. At first she couldn’t understand what she was seeing, and then the figure came into focus. Dingy black hair and dead brown eyes, not cold, but dead. The face she had been so used to seeing every morning since they’ve been together. She shook her head stepping back.
“No, No,” she repeated over and over again and took another step back. She walked into something fleshy.
She turned her head and the corpse smiled. His teeth broken and black, she had seen those teeth before in a dream. “You did this,” River said.
“You did this to us all.” Rowan raised his black rot filled hand and moved it close to her so she could see better. “Look what we’ve become because of you.”
Laughter filled her head, it wasn’t Rowan’s, but a cold laughter she had heard once before. Light lit the darkness, and she saw she was standing in a cave. The people who belonged to the voices were gone, but zombie Rowan and River stood still watching with their dead eyes.
“It’s not you, this is a dream,” she whispered close to tears trying to will herself to wake up.
“Are you so sure?” Arawen asked, his voice low and sensual, as he walked out of the shadows.
“Go away!” She yelled at him.
“You speak so to your king?” He walked to her, and reached out touching her hair, petting her, as if she were a dog. “Your God, your only hope at living.” His silver eyes penetrated hers, and she could feel the stirring of magic.
Calmness filled her as he continued. “You are not my god,” she said placidly.
“I will be my element of Earth. You will help me live.” He wrapped his hand in her hair and tugged gently.
She called for her energy and as he tightened his grip. “This is not real!”
“But it is, or will be.” Arawen bent towards her neck. She knew as soon as his lips touched her whatever magic he was using would seal a spell. “You should give in my pet, and help me freely.”
She released her energy, the living pulse of green light flared brightly. Her magic pushed Arawen away with such force, he took a handful of her hair as he hit against the cavern wall.
“No!” She ran into the darkness. Darkness was better than being in the light with the zombie Rowan, River and the King of the Underworld.
His voice followed her laughing. “You will.”
****
With Arawen’s vision over he knew Earth had awakened from her dream. “My, My. It seems my little witch is getting more powerful each day.”
He sat with his bare leg draped over one of the throne arms staring off into space. His thoughts troubled him. I have to get to them, but how? He thought of the witch’s friends, and an evil smile lit his handsome face.
“Orran!” He called as he scooted to sit normal.
The short red hunter tunic moved with him as if it was part of him, barely flashing anything hidden underneath. The little creature of his bidding ran up to him, and bowed his head to the floor. Orran, his best slave, stood three feet tall. He looked at its clothes with disgust. If you can call them that, they looked more like rags. Filthy dirt colored rags that barely hid any of his body.
“Yes master,” Orran said in a thick slithering voice as he dropped to his knees in front of the throne.
“Call the Hounds.”
Fear from the other slaves ran through the room lighting his body on fire. He fed off it. He liked his lips. The feeling almost made him dizzy, like having some good mead. How he missed the pleasures of the real world. When he takes over the earth he would drink, eat meat, release himself in a harem of unwilling flesh, and makes bodies bleed.
“B-but sir.” He paused eyes dropping to the floor. “The hounds have not been called since the days of old.”
His mood shifted, and he glared down at the fairy. All the other slaves in the room felt the change and slunk into the shadows. “Did I ask for a history lesson?”
Orran smashed himself to the cavern floor. “No master, sorry, sorry. I call hounds!”
Arawen waited a few seconds. “What are you waiting for?”
Orran jumped to his little hairy feet. He turned and let out a high pitch whistle that the King could not hear, but the other fairies did. His smile came back as he watched them wince and squirm as they looked around waiting to see where the hounds would enter.
There came loud howling as the doors to his entrance room busted open and four giant white dogs bounded in. They paused sniffing the air, growling, as huge pools of drool puddled at their feet. They advanced towards the fairies making them all shrink into the walls.
“Welcome my friends,” Arawen said loudly greeting the dogs. The head dog walked up to the god, growling, it stopped, and looked up at him. He reached down, and pet its red ears.
“I have a job for you. Regretfully, it is work for only one, but I will let you all out to play when the ones task is done.” He bent over whispering into the dog’s ear. The dog howled loudly showing it understood, and ran to the large oak door. Arawen laughed watching the dog leave. “Orran, let my dogs play. They will need a handful of evil souls to chase, and when the other comes back I want to know.” His eyes rolled up to the ceiling. “It will be fun to hunt on the surface once more.”
****
Stefan sat up in bed covered in sweat. “What a dream,” he said out loud. He looked around his room, waiting for something spooky to jump out at him.
Fuck this, he thought.
Tomorrow he was going to ask Autumn for a nightmare cure. He lay back, and tried remembering his dream. He felt hungry.
