M.R. Graham's Blog, page 25

Things other than vampires, failpires, and an introduction to Lenny.

Daniel was my first attempt at a vampire character, and I readily admit that he was really appalling when he first started out. Bear in mind that this was high school, and it wasn’t until much later that I discovered that the vampire-who-hates-being-a-vampire concept wasn’t exactly original. Fortunately, he’s gotten over much of his angst and settled nicely into moral ambiguity, where he can safely go on occasional binges of vigilante justice and use his nature as a convenient excuse for over-the-top brutality. No one really takes him seriously when he mopes about being a monster, because, well, y’know, he did just rip that guy’s rib cage out.

In my mind, though, he needed a foil – someone who isn’t human and is pretty much okay with that, except for a few inconvenient practical considerations.

There was a darn lot of research involved in this. I spent hours and days poring over the Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology, looking for something hugely badass and with the potential for either malevolence or beneficence (This character, of course, would be a good guy, because I like good guys and because I was already hip-deep in the moral ambiguity thing and wanted a change. I would tackle a bad guy later.) I scrolled through thousands of pages of internet. I dove into the library and didn’t come back out except for more caffeine. I even considered making something up, but ultimately decided that was a bad idea.

Of course, after a couple of weeks of this, I realized two things:

1) Badass would not serve my purposes. I started on this quest for the purpose of building a foil for Daniel, someone that plays off all of his key characteristics by being pretty much exactly the opposite. Daniel may be a cantankerous boffinpire, but he can also be pretty terrifying if he feels like it, and while he would object strenuously to the word “badass,” it does happen to describe him pretty well. (That is to say, in my head. Others may draw what conclusions they will.) Anyway, the point is that since Daniel got the brains and the brawn and a handful of cool supernatural advantages, the new guy’s strength had to come from inside. He had to be the one with heart. Arguably the worst superpower ever, if that kid from Captain Planet is any indication – the one who always ended up the hostage or the bait in the trap. But since I wasn’t going for badass anymore, I figured I may as well pull a total one-eighty and go for hostage instead.

2) Once I got past my fixation on power and buttkicking ability, I realized I already had exactly the character I wanted sitting quietly in the depths of my backstory, waiting for me to turn his heart-wrenching death scene into an unlikely escape so he could do interesting things.

Lenny started out as a random victim used to highlight just how bad one of my villains can be, and over the course of long role-playing, became my own personal Woobie. I ran him through the Mary Sue Litmus Test recently, and while he doesn’t have much going for him in the way of powers or romance or fun skills, his score skyrocketed when I got to the bad-stuff-happening section. The de-suifiers brought him back down, but still. Of course, I can’t speak for how everyone else will respond to him, but writing the poor guy occasionally makes me cringe, and sometimes I have to write terrible fluff (which will never see the light of day) to recover.

A sweet Lenny by JustLeftofCenter13

The problem was that turning Lenny into my new quasi-hero negated those weeks of research on fun creatures. He’s a vampire, too.

Only he’s not just a vampire.

And that sounds like an introduction to a recipe for disaster, doesn’t it? I’m aware of that, and I hate having to say it that way, because if there’s one paranormal fiction deathtrap I can’t stand, it’s the convoluted genetics that goes into a wolf-vampire-faerie-hobbit-oompaloompa-goddess-dragon-angel-phoenix-dolphin-capybara-archaeopteryx-Madonna hybrid. It burns.

I hope I’ve avoided that. I really do.

The thing is, Lenny is a vampire medium. He’s not the offspring of some forbidden love, or anything. He just happens to have a dual nature, and unfortunately, the two sides of that nature don’t work together very well. A medium is, by definition, both alive and dead, a bridge between this world and the next; he cannot influence the processes of life, which means he can’t take one intentionally. A vampire is, by definition, somewhere between alive and dead but not really either, and exists pretty much to suck the life out of everything it touches. Medium turns vampire, and suddenly, nothing works quite right any more.

Lenny is a failpire. Where Daniel hates himself and angsts endlessly about being a killing machine, Lenny just wishes he could be cool and scary like the vampires on late-night television, even though he knows he’d never use it. Being a vampire, he doesn’t get a whole lot of points for his mad physics skills or awesome knitting, and especially not for his ability to make friends. He can’t kill. He isn’t anywhere near as strong as the others his age. He can hypnotize people, but only about as effectively as a really boring infomercial. He can’t shapeshift or control weather or read minds, or any of that fun stuff. His worst sin of all, though, is being perfectly willing to sit quietly and be good, teach physics, love people, and act normal. He likes who he is.

Clearly, this cannot be allowed to continue. Read an excerpt of my current project, the story in which I destroy him: (Working Title) The Sparrow’s Fall

And don’t worry; he eventually learns how to put up a fight. That’ll have to wait for the next book, though.

As Away the Old Year Passes…

2012 was a good year. It’s always a good year when the world doesn’t end.

It was a good year for me, personally, though. I accomplished something that had been eight years in the works – publishing In the Shadow of the Mountains. And surprisingly, no one has yet called me out for being a goofy poser author, despite the undeniable facts that I am goofy and that I do a lot of posing. This is a good thing. I got my teeth into a Masters program, which is also a good thing.

It had its moments, of course – losing a loved one is never the best way to start a new year – but for all it started out low, it did get better. Maybe starting out low pushed me to make it a good year.

This will not be a long post. I’ve never been able to stick with a New Year’s Resolution, so I stopped making those long ago. I do have some goals, but writing them down will turn them into chores, so they’ll stay in my head, for now.

Instead, I’m going to air a habit I picked up from a friend, Lizzie: list all the little things that made me happy on this last day of 2012:

I wrote today, after a short dry spell that had almost gotten me worried.
My soap has peppermint oil in it, so I smell good and my skin is cool and tingly.
Scramble eggs with chopped garlic sauteed in bacon grease. It’s delicious.
I finally bought another cheapo bookshelf, which means there is now floor space in my room.
I filled an old journal and have started on a new one. I always love new journals.
I warmed up the last pierog from the fridge and ate it slowly. I savored it. It was good.
It was a cloudy day. It never did rain, but I’m hopeful for tomorrow.

See you next year, everyone.

New Year, New Stuff, New Lost Knowledge Site

Yeah, yeah, it’s not a new year just yet. I know this. I also know that if I wait until New Year’s and turn this stuff into a resolution, it’ll never get done, so I got some of it done early.

Firstly, the blog has a new look and a rather goofy header image that I made myself! I like browns better than blues, anyway, and though I love my mountain photos, they don’t have much to do with anything. The new one is all typewriter-y! It symbolizes… writing. Clever, no?

Secondly, Lost Knowledge has its own site, now. It’s still under construction, but I think it looks pretty decent thus far, and you can find it here. From this point forward, most of my Lost Knowledge stuff will be posted there instead of here. I’ll still cross-post important stuff, of course, but you’ll no longer have to deal with my ramblings. At least, no ramblings on that particular subject.

Also, the Lost Knowledge blog is snowing. I’m not sure I understand this.

Thirdly, Lost Knowledge is on Facebook. I’m so darn organized.

Fourthly, the DeviantART people have spoken, and they agree that while I work on the Third Book of Lost Knowledge, I should also be working on The Vigil, my space-fantasy. (Or rather, not that I should, but rather that I may as well, since I am completely incapable of focusing on one thing at a time.) Therefore, expect an increase in sci-fi ramblings and philosophical speculation on the differences between sci-fi and fantasy. Once I’ve gotten the outline re-done, I’ll be introducing some aliens. Hurrah!

And I’m certain there was a Fifthly, but I can’t remember it right now. Expect an update when it comes to me.

Review – A Prescription for Delirium (Noree Cosper)

A Prescription for Delirium

Noree Cosper

ASIN: B00AFL4JF6

From Amazon: “Ninety years ago, Gabriella di Luca promised to protect the family of her dying lover. She failed to keep that promise. She was too far away to stop the devil that murdered the eldest Van Helsing son. Years later, Gabby learns the devil has resurfaced. She arrives in Hampton, TX, determined to stop the devil before it can lay a bloody hand on the remaining three brothers.

However, madness is spreading through Hampton. She suspects the devil is using this madness to test a drug which has a side effect of demonic possession. Gabby rushes to end the source of the madness only to fall victim to it. For a woman cursed with eternal life, dying is no threat. However, Gabby must stop the devil’s plot or risk losing her most precious possession: her mind.”

The Premise:

Small-town Hampton, Texas is attracting demons. Fortunately for Hampton, it’s also attracting demon-hunters and Van Helsings, who are determined to prevent the town from being overrun by violent madmen and horrible, demonic creatures that may or may not once have been human. The three Van Helsing brothers are more accustomed to fighting vampires, though, and Gabriella di Luca, resident demon expert, has a few traits that trigger suspicion. There is much bickering, mouthing off, and mistrust in all directions, which makes working together to end the threat all the more difficult.

The Good:

The Good is pretty much everything. I loved the characters most, though. Prescription for Delirium is definitely a character-driven story, and everyone we come across is meaty and awesome. Gabby is a strong female protagonist with plenty of problems and a bucket and a half of insecurity, but her foibles are human and real, and they do not at all detract from the fact that she is a powerful, experienced woman. The Van Helsing siblings made me nervous, because it can be difficult to create fictional relatives who aren’t clones of each other, but these perfectly balanced family resemblance with distinct personalities. Honestly, I spend most of the book desperately wanting to give Tres and Esais a great big hug. Adrian is seriously asking for a cattle prod in the arse, but I’m scared of him, so I’ll pass. The villains are chilling.

Despite being character-driven, the plot does not at all fall by the wayside. I found it really original, and I love it when authors bring back Van Helsings in fun ways.

I also love fantasy set in Texas. The Lone Star State really doesn’t get enough love from fantasy authors, and I love Cosper’s depiction of small-town Texas. I could practically feel the grit blowing up from the dirt roads and smell the funnel cake from the county carnival. It’s also refreshing to see small-town Texans NOT depicted as toothless hicks in overalls, which seems to be the stereotype we get when we’re represented at all. Cosper’s Texans are realistic, welcoming, and a bit reactionary, and they cope pretty well with being attacked by Hell’s minions. Of course, I understand that Cosper herself is a resident of our noble State, so it makes sense that she would understand just how awesome we are.

The Bad:

There’s not much I would really call bad, only a few things I felt could be improved. The plot felt a little bit rushed, in places. I would have liked to see more of Gabriella’s preparations and interactions with the Van Helsing boys. There was a lot of running and driving and fighting, which is all very exciting, but it left very little time to figure out what just happened before diving headlong into the next piece of action.

One thing that did bother me (but is purely a matter of author prerogative, and as such cannot really be criticized, except as my own little peeve) was the apparent genealogy of the Van Helsings. Cosper’s Van Helsings seem to be an old Romanian family, and she has them speak to one another in Romanian several times through the course of the book. She never explains how they went from the Netherlands to Romania, if that was the case, or how they intermarried with Romanians or emigrated, or whatever happened, there. Considering how well everything else in the book was considered and researched, I seriously doubt that it was just an oversight, and I understand there are several more books in which this might be explained, but it puzzled my inner Stoker fan.

In Conclusion:

I’m really looking forward to the next volume. Cosper’s mythology is fascinating, and I can’t wait to explore it further.

Christmas Pierogi

Aren’t they pretty? This is my potato batch, and they’re not cooked, yet. I made about four dozen of these and about four dozen sauerkraut. It was a two-day event, because I am slow at pierogi-making. Anyway, they went over rather well at the end-of-semester, ostensibly-holiday-but-actually-just-food party I made them for. There were even leftovers, which was good, because that was an awful lot of work for one evening of snacking! Fortunately, I had some loving-family help for the potato batch, which is as it should be. Pierogi and tamales are family affairs. We have yet to make this year’s batch of Christmas Tamales, but it’s bound to be soon. It’s the holidays, after all, and the best expressions of human goodwill are Family and Food.

Yum.

Me and In the Shadow of the Mountains

Time for another dorky, self-congratulatory photopalooza. Obviously, I love ebooks, but paperbacks just smell better. I like the heft to them. Anyway, it’s totally tradition, now. So, once again, I present myself, a book, and a hat.

So first I was like “VANNA HANDS”…

And then I was like “That weird face-leaning pose that authors are supposed to do”…

(Note the elbow patches.)

And then I was like “…Dignity?”

The hat, by the way, belonged to my grandfather, and to his father before him. It is a heritage hat.

In the Shadow of the Mountains – Most Excellent.

Goodness, so… After eight years in the works, something like five massive rewrites, countless shouted arguments with my computer monitor, endless hours of roleplaying with these characters to get their personalities down straight, and no fewer than three (fortunately unsuccessful) attempts to throw in the towel, In the Shadow of the Mountains is now available on Kindle. I’m experimenting with Amazon’s Select program, so for ninety days or so, it will be available only on Kindle. (At least, as far as ebooks go. It ought to be out in print before Christmas, if nothing goes horribly wrong.)

In the twilight of the year 2003, a stranger arrives in the tiny town of Burns, Colorado. Whispers begin to fly as bodies appear, savagely mutilated, throughout the neighborhood, and the responsibility falls on two monstrously unprepared high school students to uncover the truth before the undead can destroy their hometown.

Chris Doyle is a slacker and a sci-fi geek, barely eking through his senior year of high school; Aaron Margolis is a child prodigy who could have graduated at age twelve if his parents had let him. They have never had anything in common until a woman is murdered and Aaron comes asking for Chris’s help – he is seeing Texans who cannot be real.

Then the high school’s English teacher disappears and is replaced by Daniel Leland, the sharp and reclusive newcomer, a man already convicted by public opinion. He says that he is a hunted man, and Aaron believes him, but Chris is not as sure. Doubts or no, Chris has no choice but to join up with the teacher when his best friend is kidnapped by superhuman forces, but this adventure is nothing like his comic books.

Again, these don’t have to be read in any particular order, but if you feel you must read the first book first, The Wailing is free on Amazon until midnight 5 December. That is, the midnight between 5 December and 6 December.

Bloody Christmas e-book Giveaway!

As any true fanged fan knows, vampires are always in season. Enter to win four paranormal sensations and put a splash of red into your holidays. Action, adventure, romance, and entirely new twists on the vampire genre.

One winner will receive all four e-books pictured here. Winner may substitute any of these titles for another by the same author within the same series.

> Cheer on Team Misfits in ReVamped as they take on rogue vampires in the once peaceful little town of Angel Creek.

> Journey to hoodoo influenced Southern Louisiana – an exile for reformed vampires in Amaranth.

> Answer the call of the wild in Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter where vampires are flocking towards the dark and cold.

> Take a trip into the future in Vaempires: Revolution where continents have collided and humans and vampires have learned to live in peace until vampires begin morphing into vaempires, superior beings whose mission is to dominate the planet.

Redefining what it means to be vampire – Stop by the authors’ sites and get to know them better - Ada, Rachael, Nikki, Tom

Wishing you a Scary Christmas!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Art!

In the Shadow of the Mountains will be out for Kindle shortly, but before that happens, I’ve got some stuff to show off!

Hugo and Liz, by elfdust

Chris and Liz, by lingering-lunacy

Aaron and his mom, Hannah, by my dear sweet JustLeftOfCenter13

Hugo and Liz, by JustLeftOfCenter13

Daniel and Hugo, by ashesto

Daniel and a scary casserole, by JustLeftofCenter13.

Happiness!

You can’t sue! You’re not even real!

I love it when I dream about my characters, really I do. I’ve gotten loads of fresh ideas that way, insight into their thought processes, plots for short stories, and better descriptions. I like being able to hear their voices.

But now it seems that they’re using my sleeping brain as a forum for airing grievances.

Last night, Daniel let me know, in no uncertain terms, that he has no idea how I got my hands on his memoirs, that I have absolutely no right to publish the contents of his journals, and that he will take legal action if I persist in this unconscionable invasion of his privacy – his words, not mine. Given that this is Daniel, I feel lucky that he didn’t just dispatch me quickly and be done with it.

Honestly, though, it does make sense. The poor man is an excessively private and painfully shy individual who hates people just because they exist. He must feel awfully exposed.

Unfortunately, he’ll just have to suck it up and deal with it.

Incidentally, I also had lengthy conversations with several other characters, but their complaints were all spoiler-laden and in places verged on Ozian. (Sebastian needs a heart, Lenny needs courage, Jadwiga needs a baseball bat, etc.) Sandie wants me to finish The Siren so she can finally get out of my head. I do owe her that. So much to do, so little time…