Julia Benally's Blog, page 16

A Cubonic Recipe

Today is Valentine's Day, and I thought of making a post on how to write romance or something, but I'm wholly incapable. So instead, I'm giving you a special recipe from my book "Pariahs."

How to make Cubon
You will need:
1 lb CulobbinA pot and pan you're either willing to throw away, or can be burnedBowlWaterSeasoning of your choiceCheesecloth
Go out to your kiderrin house and start digging through the beast's mounds of turd for the white enzyme Culobbin. Once you've collected a pound, start a pot of boiling water. Boil the Culobbin for twenty minutes, then strain it in the cheesecloth. Repeat ten to fifteen times, using new water each time, until the water runs clear. Add seasoning to taste, or none at all. Some people like it pure. Knead the Culobbin until it is soft and pliable. You may boil it again to turn it into pasty cream, or bake it in a brick oven to make it firm. If baked, cut into bite-sized cubes and store in a cool, dry place. Serve it up as a side dish, or even the main dish.
Perfect to turn your fur green, shrink certain organs, yellow your skin, destroy the shine in your hair, and disintegrate muscle mass and bone structure.
Warning: DO NOT GET ANY BLOOD ON THE CULOBBIN, OR CUBON, OR IT WILL EXPLODE.
Buy "Pariahs" today here on Amazon or here on Kobo.

An Experimentation in Donuts

Saturday. I had finished my 12th draft of my second book. I wanted to celebrate, but I was broke. So what should I do? Bake something I've never done before with what little resources I had! Very smart. I looked online for recipes that had the ingredients laying around in dusty heaps in my cupboard.

Donuts. Yummy, fat, little donuts made with cinnamon and nutmeg. It was beautiful. I didn't need a deep fryer or any kind of yeast. It even had a recipe to make a substitute for buttermilk.


Ah, lovely little donuts come to me! I dragged out all my cookware and bam, can you hear the music?

I passed them around to my family and only my sisters said they were perfect. Wouldn't you know it, they were the only ones who didn't get donuts full of mysterious cream. Now what?

Since everything cooks the rest of the way in the microwave whenever I screw up, I took the donuts and stuffed them in there for three minutes.

And then...


And here you see is rubber cement to choke baby birds with.

Writing Teenage Characters

I hate teenage characters. They're so annoying. They whine, they have issues that make no sense, they never speak up, and they consider all adults as their enemy. Why don't they just die? They can ruin movies and books with their very presence! Are these insufferable creatures from real life? I couldn't stand them when I was a teenager! I was insulted that people thought I was that way. I looked around at my friends and none of them were that way either. What idiot made up those buttheads?
Before you start ruining your story with some melodramatic punk that can't do anything but have sex and get high, take some time out of your day to hang out with a real teenager. You'll find them rather funny. Of course they have hormones going on, but don't we all?

Find their good points. Teenagers love to play, they love playing pranks, joking around, laughing, saying the most hilarious things, and doing the craziest things because lots of them don't think straight. You've got studious ones, serious ones, and mischievous ones. There are enough angry, whining ones represented.
If you need some sort of drama, don't put it on the shoulder of the teenage character. Do something different. Imagine how much better some books and movies would be if the teenage character wasn't one of the many four letter words running around out there? A lot of times, the teen is the open-minded one, the more understanding one, and always the more smiling one. And yes, the ones who listen to their parents and elders exist.

Like all people, they have their bad points, too, but everyone focuses on those. If you're hung up on the word "teenager" then don't think of them as such. Just think, "person."

Writing Updates!

I went into the blog and found that some of the links for the online stories went nowhere. I found out that those stories had gone into the archives of the magazine that they were published in. And so, I have updated the links, and you can reach them again.

If in the future, you wish to read them, and the links are gone, it's because the stories have been moved further back into the archives, but they're still there. I will update them as soon as I can, whenever they change.

The stories for The Horror Zine will get deleted one year after they come out, because the Horror Zine does a cleanse of old stories. So Robert will only be available to read in The Horror Zine until April, and Headlights until June or July. I hope to get those reprinted as soon as possible.


"Pariahs" is doing pretty well for a girl who doesn't know what she's doing. If you haven't bought a copy yet, click here and pick one up. And please leave me a review for it on Goodreads, or Amazon. Reviews help a book out a lot. Character reveal coming soon!

I'm currently working on the sequel to "Pariahs." It is officially a train wreck at the moment, but it's going to turn out real nice.


The Cowboy Cabin is getting reprinted for Women in Horror Month, so it will be out February 5. I will post it, with the link.

Thanks to all of you! You're a wonderful reading family!

A Little Berry

I had so much fun writing "Little Berry." Believe it or not, she was one of my very first characters that I ever made.

Back in grade school, I had nothing to give to my mom for her birthday, so I made a picture book for her, and Little Berry, who's name was Melly at the time, was the main character. She was trying to get a pot of honey for her little sister's birthday.


I had thought of publishing these little stories, but set it aside. So now, years later, I thought of Melly again, and decided to write a short story for her. Stretching something so tiny as getting a pot of honey for a birthday made me wonder if I should just make a whole new story altogether.

So I did, and Melly's name changed a few times until I decided on Little Berry. I moved my fairies into more of an American Indian garb. They live in a forest on the reservation and are called tree people. The big house in the story belongs to people living off of it, but right on the border.

I decided on this house being so secluded because one day I had to pick someone up and I took a wrong turn. I ended up driving along a dark dirt road for a while, and suddenly came upon this big house in the middle of nowhere. This house was close to the reservation line and looked similar to the one in the story.


Melly going after a pot of honey for a birthday became Little Berry going after medicine for her dad who had been wounded by a cat.

I think this story may be my favorite short story to date. You can click on ONLINE PUBLICATIONS to read "Little Berry" for free, or you can just click here.

Don't forget to buy a copy of my dark fantasy "Pariahs" here.

In a land of monsters and soulless creatures, there is a secluded compound terrorized by a fallen demon-killer, the Grand Apwor. He's claimed its youngest occupant Vijeren as his son. The Grand Apwor can’t be killed, he can’t be escaped, and his punishments are severe and horrific. Somehow, he knows where Vijeren is at all times. When a law enforcer named Zhin appears like a living flame, a family war that's been sizzling for decades finally ignites. It drags Vijeren in, revealing secrets of a long-forgotten past and a family torn asunder in recesses of lost memories. Only Zhin knows how to kill the Grand Apwor, but the answer rests on the love between a father and son--something that Vijeren doesn’t have...

Creating Native Characters

Minority characters, how many have I seen turned into dancing monkeys, stoic idiots who are all warrior, but no fight--ugh. I could go on for hours. They always end up as supporting characters, and there is nothing more frustrating than watching a movie, or reading a story that's supposed to be about Native Americans, and the main character is white. Raised by Natives, but white. Gatewood, oh sorry, it's called Geronimo, Last of the Mohicans (and they killed my favorite character), Dances With Wolves--and they're all depressing.

Do you want to see the most accurate depiction of Natives? Watch Maverick with Mel Gibson. Does the view of Natives go against all preconceived notions here? Good. Does it make fun of how Natives are depicted? Yes. And that's a good thing. Shanghai Noon is another good one.


When making Native characters, all you have to do is make them as human as yourself, and make sure they have a funny bone. That funny bone isn't being a dancing monkey. There's nothing more inaccurate than a stoic Native. Sure, most of us live in poverty on crime-infested reservations, but does that make us sad and frightened? No, we are not animals, and certainly not brainless puppy dogs. Enough of the condescension. Some bimbo on the news said she protects those who can't protect themselves, and in her case, she was talking about Native Americans. How insulting. We're helpless victims are we?

Are all of us into tradition? No. Do we all speak our Native tongue? No. Do we become outcasts for it? There are tensions concerning it, but it's not as rabid as most people want you to believe. Lots of us are mixed blood these days, and not all have a Thunderheart complex. In fact, most don't. Lots of us love all our sides. Guess who's crying about it, not us. And no, we don't run around in turquoise and beads 24/7. Yes, we have an accent. It's called being rezzed out.


Keep the BS about drugs, crime and alcohol in the background. Why? Because that doesn't define us. That mess is in every race, so don't say it's just with the Native Americans, or any minority for that matter. It says that other races are superior, which is utter bull crap.

Is it bad to write a Native American character if you're not Native American? I'll tell you when it's bad, when you can't write one as a human being. Enough of this "Natives are actually aliens" bull crap. How can you be Native if you're an alien? You're human. So go and write about a human.

Your minority character shouldn't be behind, or in front of you, but next to you.

Don't forget to pick up your copy of "Pariahs," a dark fantasy on a Native American world,
on amazon. Now available here.

In a land of monsters and soulless creatures, there is a secluded compound terrorized by a fallen demon-killer, the Grand Apwor. He's claimed its youngest occupant Vijeren as his son. The Grand Apwor can’t be killed, he can’t be escaped, and his punishments are severe and horrific. Somehow, he knows where Vijeren is at all times. When a law enforcer named Zhin appears like a living flame, a family war that's been sizzling for decades finally ignites. It drags Vijeren in, revealing secrets of a long-forgotten past and a family torn asunder in recesses of lost memories. Only Zhin knows how to kill the Grand Apwor, but the answer rests on the love between a father and son--something that Vijeren doesn’t have...

Paradise Creek

This is one of my most favorite places, and where I get so much inspiration for the stories I write, especially for the world of Ilo, and this is where my brain can relax when it's melted beyond recognition.





Don't forget to pick up a copy of "Pariahs" on amazon here.

What To Do With a Stinky Area Rug

Have a nasty rug and don't want to pay somebody to muck it out for you? Several years ago, I got a new rug. It was green, with beautiful leaves on it. Wow, it matched my room, and went with everything. And then it started smelling green.

I vacuumed it all the time, and it helped, but after a while, vacuuming did nothing. So I took a rug cleaner to it. Brand new!

But then it started getting disgusting again, especially after I kicked a cup of juice all over it, but that's another story. Anyway, the rug was gross. I took a rug cleaner to it again. I spent HOURS on that thing. Wouldn't you know, people decided to stand on it for fun. The rug ended up smelling worse than before I cleaned it. It was making my room smell like crap, feet and crap.

There was only one thing to do. I folded up that disgusting piece of green gunk and threw that thing out! Bam, and now you know what to do with your nasty carpet.

Don't forget to buy your copy of my new book "Pariahs" now available on amazon. Click here to buy it!

Talking Bears, Wild Horses and Daydreams

My story "Kittylyn" has finally come out! I've been waiting so long for this one! A lot of things happened to keep it in the dark, but it's finally come out. "Kittylyn" was actually a part of a different story that I had made, but there were too many elements in that other story, and so I broke off a part of that other story. The broken-off element became "Kittylyn."


When I was about three, I was playing in the backyard with my little brother. There was nothing but forest in front of the house at the time. I heard my uncles yelling in the front, and then everybody started yelling. I wanted to see what was going on, so I grabbed my brother's hand and took him to the back door so that we could go into the house and see what was going on. Then it was like thunder sounded on the side of the house, and a wild black stallion appeared at the corner of the house. It reared up on its hind legs, and it's eyes were wide and bloodshot. It stared at me and I stared back, and then it rushed through the yard and into the forest. I never forgot that horse.


When I was four, I had to go to Headstart. The place was a nightmare. I was an outcast, the teachers came from the devil, and the kids were goblins. One day, I was swinging all alone, because I was some sort of outcast, and I was staring at the mountains. I remembered that horse, and I imagined it running out of the mountains, putting me on its back, and taking off with me into the forest. I would never have to be in the Headstart again. I spent my recesses on its back in my head. Sometimes the horse trampled certain brats. I don't remember their names anymore.


Years later, I would drive by a house that looked like the one in the story, and I knew it belonged somewhere. It made its appearance in the original story that "Kittylyn" had belonged to, and so when "Kittylyn" broke off, the house came with it.


One day, in high school, my club visited the little kids in the orphanage for Christmas and gave them presents. Lots of them were in there because their parents weren't dead, but in jail, or drunk, and everything else. Their relatives wouldn't take them in, and it was miserable in there, hence Kittylyn's plight.


If only there was a creature like my horse to take them away to special places, something that could avenge them, something to give them a happy ending. And that was how the bear Hunter came to be.


Kittylyn's name was fun to make. People make up names on the reservation all the time, and since I couldn't find a name that really fit her, I decided to do something different. I had looked up baby names online and came across 'Kitty.' Cats are my favorite animals, so I decided Kitty was good, but it still didn't suit enough, and I added the 'lyn' at the end.

Purchase a copy of the magazine that Kittylyn is featured in here.

And don't forget to purchase a copy of my book "Pariahs" here, if you haven't already.

Boarding School, Soldier Fort, Home of Bad Memories and Ghosts

Some construction workers were hired to redo a part of the Theodore Roosevelt School. They were going to stay in a hotel, but were invited to stay in the school dormitories to save money. The construction workers readily agreed, and moved in.
Their boss went out to buy them dinner, and when he returned, the construction workers were standing outside of the building. They said they were not going to sleep in the dormitory. When asked why, they said they kept seeing kids, kids too little to be in the boarding school.
Located on the Fort Apache Reservation, there is an old soldier's fort equipped with a museum, the Officer's Row, ancient barracks, and of course the boarding school. From the outside, it's a historic gem.

This is General Crook's cabin. They found a man hanging in this room, so don't go here at night.


This is a monument in his yard. In 1881, there was an uprising with two different accounts. The Apaches say they won and the soldiers ran away, but the soldiers say that they won and it was the Apaches who ran away.


Ghosts peep at students around corners when it's dark, people hear the aborted baby of a student crying, and feet run across the second floor of some of the buildings when there is nobody up there. If you look up there, you may see something standing at the top. In the old dormitories, where nobody lives anymore, you can still see the faces of children looking out the windows. Whatever you do, don't make eye contact.


HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
Don't forget to order your copy of  the dark fantasy book "Pariahs" in paperback here and kindle here.