Ally Shields's Blog, page 95

Murder Most Otherworldly

Join me at Creatures 'N' Crooks: Buried Under Books where I'm talking about the murder mystery side of my urban fantasy - and about the book it was supposed to be!
Here's the link: http://www.cncbooks.com/blog/2012/10/28/murder-most-otherworldly/

WIP Blog Hop

I was tagged by Dani-Lynn Alexander at http://www.danilynalexander.com/

Here are the rules:
* Give credit to the person/blog that tagged you
* Post the rules for this hop
* Answer these ten questions about your current WIP (Work In Progress) on your blog
* Tag five other writers/bloggers and add their links so we can hop over and meet them.

1. What is the working title of your book?
    Stirring the Flames

2. What genre does the book fall under?
    Urban Fantasy/Paranormal romance

3. Which actors would you choose to play your characters for the movie rendition?
    Ari would be played by a blonde Angelina Jolie. Andreas by a younger version of Rufus Sewell.


4. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
    Sworn to serve and protect, Ari might have to throw it all away to rescue just one.

5. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
    I hope it will be published by Etopia Press that has the rest of the series.

6. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
    It's not drafted yet. I have a rough outline, but the story will be written during NaNoWriMo this November. It will take me two or three months after that to rewrite, revise and polish for submission

7. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
     I think it's difficult for an author to make that comparison, because we see all the differences. If I have to pick one, I would say Tanya Huff.

8. Who or what inspired you to write this book?
    This book is just the natural progression in a series. This is book five. Book one came out in September and book two is scheduled for December 2012. I started out to write the first book as a regular mystery, but my main character insisted on being a witch! The law enforcement element was inspired by the police officers I met in my former career and the setting by the beauty of the Mississippi River.

9. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest? I think it's biggest draw is the paranormal aspect, but there is also a strong romantic element.
 
10. Who will you pick to tag?

Tag, you’re it!

I ’tagged’ the following authors:

Catherine Cavendish

Rhonda Laurel

Courtney Farrell

Terri Herman-Ponce

Jerrie Alexander

_

The Truth About Black Cats

There couldn't be a better time than Halloween to talk about the most mysterious feline on earth.

Have you seen someone make the sign of the cross when they see a black cat? Or cross to the other side of the street to avoid one? There are not uncommon reactions.

Few animals have generated  as many legends and superstitions as the black cat. Most of us living in the United States have heard all the dire warnings.    **Don't let a black cat cross your path or something bad will happen.

    **If a black cat crosses the street in front of a funeral procession, another family member will die.

     **A gambler who sees a black cat will lose every bet that day.

What might surprise you is that in some places, an all black feline is considered a favorable omen, a bringer of good luck, such as in Ireland and Japan. And did you know that crossing your path is only a bad thing if the cat is going the wrong way? Left is bad, right is good; coming toward you is also good, walking away is bad.

The stories I found the most intriguing and most closely associated with Halloween began in the Middle Ages. Probably due to the cats' nocturnal nature and their ability to blend with the dark, causing them to suddenly "appear," they became associated with the emerging beliefs in witches. Some said they were witches; others believed they were the familiars or companions of witches and helped them conjure their evil spells. Once the black cats were given supernatural powers, other allegations naturally followed: couriers of the devil, reincarnated dead, harbingers of death. Cats were hunted and burned or simply killed.

In some form many of those old beliefs have survived through spoken or written folklore and more recently in the movies. The black cat has retained his mysterious powers and become firmly ingrained in Halloween. He still has a tenuous association with death or evil doings and has been sacrificed in satanic or pseudo-satanic rituals. Such practices have resulted in community warnings for pet owners to keep their black cats confined, especially around Halloween. 
In response to all this bad publicity, in 2011 and again in 2012, August 17 was declared Black Cat Appreciation Day and even has its own Facebook page which you can find HERE. The goal is to promote the popularity and the adoption of black cats from shelters.

I've owned three black cats. While the behavior of one of them might indicate some questionable associations (he hissed and yowled at dark corners), the other two were perfectly lovable, even if inscrutable companions.

So, what do you think? Are black cats a misunderstood group of innocent felines . . .





             or creatures with supernatural powers

                                                            and dubious inclinations?






                                                                  HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Five Heart Review!

Since this is my first "professional" review, I had to share it! And on Monday, the 29th, between 5 and 7, I'll be asking you to vote for me to win a free week of advertising as the featured book on their website!

I've linked the review to their button, so just click on it!

If you haven't read the book yet, there's still time to enter in the drawing to win a free copy. Just scroll to the next post!

Win a free copy of Awakening the Fire!

I'm excited about my first giveaway! And it's easy! All  you have to do is go to the Promo at Romance Lives Forever, read the rules, (Hint! The answer to the question can be found here -- on my blog under character posts) and email me your response at allyshields@q.com. I'll draw a winner from the correct answers on Friday morning and email you a copy for Kindle, Nook or a pdf that you can read on your computer. (If you don't have a reader, Amazon and Barnes & Noble have free ones you can download.) Hope you'll give my book a try, since its FREE! :-)

Good luck!

October Halloween Polls

Halloween Costumes are very popular in the US.
Do you plan to wear one anywhere this Halloween? * Yes! Not on your life! Thinking about it. Care to explain your answer? * If you said yes or are thinking about it, what is it? * traditional Halloween other scary creature cartoon or movie based political character other, please comment Choose One * live in US live outside the US Submit Thanks for participating! Polls will remain open until midnight CDT Oct. 22. I'll post results on Oct. 23.

Where you can find me visiting other blogs

Grader Gal Books' interview was great fun! You can read our lively conversation - even a silly poem! (click on the link)

At Nocturnal Nights I'm blogging about Haunted Caverns. Spooky! (My post is PG, so don't worry about the site cautions.)

Interview with Author Diane Major

Diane Major lives in Houghton le Spring, England. She was born in Horden, a coal mining village, secured her professional qualification and Degree (Hons), and managed teams in Youth Work, Community Development and Adult Education. She has two prior published novels.

I want to give Diane a warm US welcome and thank her for reaching so far across the pond!

Q. I know you write fantasy adventure stories. How did you become interested in that area of writing?

Diane: I have worked with people all my life, and I think they need to escape from reality now and then.

Q: I'm sure you also read fantasy. Who are your favorite authors?

Diane: There are too many to mention. I like the famous author, George R. R. Martin's first book in The Game of Thrones series, and I also really like Indie author, James Nicholas Adams, Chronicles of Myriad, but that's a snapshot.

Q: Let's talk about your latest book: Enmitus--The Transformation.

Diane: When spaceships leave a dying Earth, it is not until centuries and galaxies later that survivors reach planets that will support human life. A community from one of the ships builds a life underground on a barren and ominous planet named Serenitus. Princess Corinna lives a contented life under the surface of Serenitus with her father Great Lord Corin, completely oblivious to the deceit surrounding her and her people. This is until...powerful lords from neighboring planets arrive, the destinies of Corinna and those about her are about to change--forever. Corinna's strength and ability to survive are tested to extraordinary lengths when she is forced to marry a cruel and evil man who is already devoted to a dangerous and despicable woman. Her own heart breaks as she realizes her love for another.
A story of danger, love, hate, cruelty, deceit and revenge. My book is available at most major online book stores as an ebook or in paperback.

Q: Sounds like an exciting story. Is there a sequel? What is your next project?

Diane: My friends laugh and say they think I might have some type of ADHD. I have, in fact, already published two books. Children of Fury was my first novel and took the longest to write, then I published I am Nine and this year Enmitus--The Transformation. I have now completed the sequel to Enmitus, and also have a ghost story almost ready to be published. (At this point I must thank author and artist L J Bush for kindly designed the cover and Nancy Sewell for proofreading.) I have another two manuscripts on the shelf that I am thinking about. I have also been asked to co-write some educational work for toddlers, which I am considering, and have a modern fairy tale floating around in my head. I retired in 2011 and am still working at the same pace as I did when I was employed. Love it!

Q: Do you read books in other genres or are you strictly a fantasy reader?

Diane: It varies a lot, Dean Koontz, Jean Plaidy, Stephanie Meyer, etc. What I read is more about the book than the genre.

Q: I know you're busy, but do you have hobbies? What things interest you?

Diane: I fundraise for a local voluntary organization, walk dogs, do some gardening, read, go on the odd weekend break (usually to Edinburgh) and enjoy the odd holiday in the sun. I might have said writing, however, it has turned out to be more than a job with all the social media involved!

Q: I think every writer has his or her own writing habits. What are yours?

Diane: I write every day at no set time. My laptop is in the kitchen so that I have easy access to lots of coffee. I write constantly and only set deadlines as I near publication, which enables me to stay on track. I do outline at the beginning of a book, but as soon as I have written two or three pages, I find the story takes me where I am going. In other words, the outline goes out the window. For example, one particular book which I have not published and is based in Philadelphia (mentioned the city just in case I do publish and you read it, then you might say, she finally published that book). Well, I outlined for that book. It started with a young boy in a hospital, but by the time I had written two pages, it was a man who work up on an alien spaceship! I still outline, and the stories continue to go completely off track. You have to smile!

Q: What's the best writing advice you ever received?

Diane: When I wrote Children of Fury, I lacked confidence. I let far too many people influence the story and the proof reading. It was read so many times by people around me I think we couldn't see the woods for the trees. I would say write your book, and when you are finished, ask someone you trust (I mean trust to be honest) to read it and comment. Find someone (whether you can afford to pay or like me ask the best person you know) to proof read and/or edit it. Then, you must be brave!


Diane may be contacted through the following:

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Diane Major Books
Twitter:  http://twitter.com/dianemajor1
Website:  http://www.dianemajorauthor.co.uk
Email:  author@dianemajorauthor.co.uk

          Diane's books can be purchased form:

          Amazon UK
          Amazon US
 
While I haven't read this particular book of Diane's, I read Children of Fury, a fascinating tale, and I'm sure this one won't disappoint!! If you have any questions for Diane, please leave them in the comment section. Thanks, Diane! I enjoyed having you visit!

Halloween Traditions: Trick or Treat . . . Or Not

October Magic is in the air! I love this time of year, but it's a little different than it used to be.

Halloween in the Midwest when I grew up was tied to the fall harvest. The blowing leaves, the scent of smoke in the air, the crisp breeze and pumpkins in the market, on porch steps and occasionally smashed on the sidewalk.  There were corn mazes and haunted houses to visits for weeks ahead.

As Beggars' Night drew close, kids were excited about their costumes and parents were busy with buying or more often making those Halloween treats: popcorn balls, candied apples, fudge, and lots of cookies. Windows and doors were decorated with dried cornstalks, more pumpkins and string spider webs.

Then Halloween lost part of its magic when reality entered the holiday in the form of a few demented people who sabotaged treats and human predators began to stalk the night. We no longer felt the delicious chill of scary make-believe monsters, but real monsters who lived among us. It was a sad and scary development.

But humans are an adaptive race. We found ways to put part of the magic back. In my neighborhood, children still go trick or treating--with their parents. And treats are now bought at the store and safety wrapped. It's different, but each fairy princess' face or Spiderman mask that appears at my door says it's still a good time.

Some communities have elected to do away with Beggars' Night, and they have community parties with treats and drinks and games. The kids go home with bags of candy, and they seem to have a great time.

And yet, I can't help but wish for another whiff of  autumn leaves burning and sticking our marshmallows in the fire. Or the excitement of wondering what treat I'd get in exchange for my joke at the next house. AS

What are your Halloween traditions? Have they changed over time?

The Last Vampire by Kathryn Meyer Griffith

I'm thrilled to welcome horror, suspense and romance writer Kathryn Meyer Griffith to talk with us about the backstory of one of her 16 books--The Last Vampire. It's an interesting tale, and if you read all the way to the end, you find a nice surprise! (Shh! It's a chance for a free book!) Without further introduction, I'm going to let Kathryn tell you about herself and the history of the The Last Vampire. About the Author:

Since childhood I've always been an artist and worked as a graphic designer in the corporate world and for newspapers for twenty-three years before I quit to write full time. I began writing novels at 21, over forty years now, and have had sixteen novels (eleven romantic horror, three other romances and two murder mysteries) and eight short stories published.
I've been married to Russell for thirty-four years; have a son, James, and two grandchildren, Joshua and Caitlyn, and I live in a small quaint town in Illinois called Columbia, which is right across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, MO. We have three quirky cats: ghost cat Sasha, live cats Cleo and Sasha (Too), and the five of us live happily in an old house in the heart of town. Though I've been an artist, and a folk singer in my youth with my brother Jim, writing has always been my greatest passion, my butterfly state, and I'll probably write stories until the day I die...or until my memory goes.

The Story of The Last Vampire (Author's Revised Edition)

The story of how I came to write, publish and re-release my end-of-the-world vampire love story twenty-years after its initial release is a long strange tale. What's new about that, though? Looking back over my forty-year writing career, most of the origins and journeys of my published novels are all pretty strange. Ask any author who published in the 1980's to now and you'd get a lot of the same bizarre accounts. Publishing back then--and now--was not for the faint of heart.

In the beginning, as all authors had to do before the ebook publishers and the internet, I dealt with the old legacy (traditional publishers), the slow-frustrating-time-consuming old-fashioned way through snail mail, editors, and agents. Between the writing, scouring for a publisher, getting a contract with that publisher, getting the manuscript ready to go on the book shelves and what you had to put up with during and afterwards, it all took so long. So tedious and soul-killing at times. Oh, the stories I could tell. Well, but not here. This is the story of one book.

I started writing The Last Vampire, oh, I guess, around 1990 or so. With the help of Dean Koontz (I'd sent him a letter asking for advice on how to get a better publishing company, and he and his wife answered by telephoning me one rainy night), I'd gotten my first agent in 1990. She'd already sold my fourth book, Vampire Blood and I had begun to work on my fifth novel, The Last Vampire. I know, I know. Another vampire novel?

As I began writing it, I realized it wasn't going to be just another vampire novel. This book would be a saga about the end of the world, about personal courage, the destruction and fall of society, and about what humans--and vampires--would have to do to survive in the new merciless world after earthquakes and anarchy had taken their tolls. I wanted to transcend the vampire novel genre. Or, at least, try to.

I even threw in a little inside joke on the other top horror writers of the day by using their names for the bloodsuckers in the ruthless vampire gang my main character goes to war against. Stephen. Dean. Anne. Chelsea. Peter. And so on. Hmm, though, no one ever got the joke...or never told me if they did. Oh, well.

I'll admit it now because it's so many years later, I'd also used the book as a sort of therapy to deal with an increasingly frustrating situation I was experiencing in my real life at work. Age discrimination. My new art director thought I was too old--forty-two at the time--to be a senior graphic artist, didn't have but a two year college degree (but I'd been on the job 13 years!), and had been making my life on the job miserable. I spent half my day doing copying duties and being a gofer. One of the other artists was openly condescending. I guess I got even by writing about it and killing off the art director in the book; then, for good measure, destroying the whole city of St. Louis (where I worked), the Arch, splitting the Mississippi River and decimating the Poplar Street Bridge as well. What fun I had! It was great therapy.

Well, between working full time as a graphic designer, raising a son, keeping a husband happy, and being there for my large family, I struggled to finish writing The Last Vampire. Got it done, and Zebra paperbacks brought it out in 1992 with little fanfare. I'd had the usual over-worked disinterested editor. I had to fight hard for the integrity of every word. And I hated the cover. A kneeling woman (supposedly my main character vampiress) in a blindingly white snowy background. So bland.

I thought it was the best thing I'd ever written. I truly believed in it and its story. It was my baby and I hopefully shoved it out into the world and...nothing.

It was long before the Internet, emails, blogs, web review sites, and editing on the computer. I didn't know how to promote, was way to busy living my life, and left that up to my publisher. That's what an author did in those days. Apparently, they didn't know how to either. I never got one review that I knew of and never any feedback besides the dismal royalty statements...which never made any sense to me anyway. What the heck were those huge amounts taken out for returns anyway? The book didn't sell well, they said. Too bad. So sad. Go on and write another one.

Which I did. Witches. Came out in 1993 and did very well.

Over the next twenty years I went on to write and publish more books, short stories and a novella. The seven oldest went out of print. Then in 2010 Kim Richards at Damnation Books/Eternal Press contracted two of my newest horror novels and asked if she could reprint, with new covers and all in ebooks for the first time ever, revised editions of all my older novels. I said a resounding yes! and now all of them are out again for a new generation to read and hopefully enjoy.

And The Last Vampire-Revised Author's Editor? It's finally come into its own after all these long years. Most of the reviews have been glowing. People seem to get it, love it, and it was even a Finalist for a 2012 Epic Ebook Award in the horror category. I didn't win the final award, but being nominated one of the top three was honor enough for me. I'm humbled, vindicated, thrilled.

And so plays out the roller-coaster life of a writer. Never lose hope. Never give up. And never stop writing.

All Of Kathryn Meyer Griffith's Books available at Amazon.com are here: http://amzn.to/ONyD49 or at Damnation Press.
See The Last Vampire book trailer at You Tube.

Her most recent release is Dinosaur Lake found here: Amazon

Connect with Kathryn through the following:
My Space (book trailers with original music by her brother JS Meyer)
Facebook
Goodreads

Email Kathryn at rdgriff@htc.net  She loves to hear from her readers!

FREE EBOOK
Kathryn would like to offer a free ebook of her book to a random commenter. Get your entries in the comment section with an email address before midnight CDT on Oct. 13, and she'll select one! Good luck!