Elizabeth Earle's Blog, page 12

Deals for my readers!

To celebrate the release of The Girl With Ten Claws, TARTARUS is now FREE to download :)

Click the link here for UK readers!

Click the link here for U.S readers!

Tartarus
Hate is a strong word. But you’ve never met Diane Stillman. 
After Britain’s war in 1996 between the Humans and the “Freaks”, a damaged Diane Stillman is left with the rubble of what was her life. Living above a putrid world where she knows her sister’s killer hides, her existence revolves around retribution. Tartarus- the Underground City of the Vampires- the freaks- a place with their own rules and regulations. 
With Government becoming deaf and dumb to her pleas for help, and constant Night Terrors of a figure she calls, “The Man”, Diane moves to the decaying world below to track her sister’s executioner herself. 
But eyes follow her in choking black ink of Tartarus and something is determined to find her first. Unknowingly hunted for being last of the mysterious Stillman bloodline, and finding herself auctioned off as a blood-whore to a possessive Vampire Lord, Diane finds herself starting to evolve into the very thing she’s afraid of. 
A monster…


Fancy catching up of The Nine Lives books? Grab the box set!

The Girl With Nine Lives Fondness of rum? Check. Job heading nowhere? Check. Mastermind criminal boss discovering you have unravelled their plot? Check. Talking cat with an addiction to catnip deciding to take control of the situation? Check. Welcome to the lives and adventures of the ginger moggy Ben and his human, Ellie. 
Ellena Blackwell is your average woman- desperate to make the best of her Degree and failing miserably. Falling into such a hole of self-pity, even her cat, Ben, is sick of her and tells her to snap out of it. 
And that's when Ellena realises she has a talking cat, and he's not going to go away anytime soon. 
Having a devious crime boss as Principal to the college she works at, Ellena discovers a dangerous secret that the Head Office would very much rather that she didn't know. Deciding to take control of her life, Ellena enlists the help of Ben to investigate as soon as her friend goes missing. But Detective Calloway is determined to get involved, and Ellena soon learns that Ben isn't the only one who thinks he has nine lives. 
The Girl Who Bit Back Ellena and Ben return in this sequel. Corruption, greed and an attempted murderer stand in their way, and soon Ellena finds that she and Benedict have to bite back to survive... 
The Girl With Ten Claws  A lot has changed for Ellena Blackwell. Becoming business partners with Surf Master Brynn O’Connell over Craggy’s and discovering her childhood cat can talk are just a couple of things. When a body washes up to shore, the entire village of Craggy’s Peak is in shock, bringing back painful memories for Brynn. With a killer on the loose and a talking cat determined to interfere with every aspect of her life, Ellena’s nine lives appear almost up…


For UK readers click here!For U.S readers click here!
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Release of The Girl With Ten Claws!

Hey guys!
Sooo much has happened and I want to kick off May by releasing the new book in the series of The Adventures of Benedict and Blackwell- The Girl With Ten Claws!

A lot has changed for Ellena Blackwell. Becoming business partners with Surf Master Brynn O’Connell over Craggy’s and discovering her childhood cat can talk are just a couple of things. When a body washes up to shore, the entire village of Craggy’s Peak is in shock, bringing back painful memories for Brynn. Escaping to London to escape his past, Brynn leaves Ellena with Benedict who decides it’s high time for another adventure. Following him to the capital, Ellena discovers a secret Brynn would rather she had never found out. Receiving a package from beyond the grave, Ellena and Brynn must stand united against the forces that threaten their very survival. But Ellena’s past is catching up with her, and when Brynn becomes entangled in the danger of her life, Ellena is forced to recognise that Brynn may mean more to her than she realised. With a killer on the loose and a talking cat determined to interfere with every aspect of her life, Ellena’s nine lives appear almost up… 

Grab your copy here!
The Girl With Ten Claws on Amazon!

Tartarus is FREE to Download TODAY!

So, I wanted to treat you all and let you know that you can now download Tartarus free today.


Hate is a strong word. But you’ve never met Diane Stillman. 
After Britain’s war in 1996 between the Humans and the “Freaks”, a damaged Diane Stillman is left with the rubble of what was her life. Living above a putrid world where she knows her sister’s killer hides, her existence revolves around retribution. Tartarus- the Underground City of the Vampires- the freaks- a place with their own rules and regulations. With Government becoming deaf and dumb to her pleas for help, and constant Night Terrors of a figure she calls, “The Man”, Diane moves to the decaying world below to track her sister’s executioner herself. But eyes follow her in choking black ink of Tartarus and something is determined to find her first. Unknowingly hunted for being last of the mysterious Stillman bloodline, and finding herself auctioned off as a blood-whore to a possessive Vampire Lord, Diane finds herself starting to evolve into the very thing she’s afraid of. A monster…

GIVEAWAY! Tartarus is FREE to download on Kindle now!
U.S
http://www.amazon.com/Tartarus-Hell-H...

U.K

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tartarus-Hell...

THE LETTER "E".

Someone I miss.

I have never had the same connection with anyone else. I miss her. I miss the time we had together. I remember the first night we had together. We blew our entire wage packet on that one night. We took ages getting ready. I had nothing to style my hair because I found the thought of using heated appliances on my hair as obscnene.

We danced, laughed and for a while, I felt completely happy.

We had a chemistry that worked together like no other, working alongside each other being so much fun that it didn't even seem like work. She was hilarious and beautiful.

Sometimes I wish I could go back and relieve it all, just to do it again and take more note on what we talked about, made wiser decisions, did the things that I said we were going to do.

We were going to go to a Spanish Island. Go diving. Become barmaids. Live an incredible dream. Have those experiences together whilst our white skin became bronze under the sun.

We were going to do it all. Our romances entwined, our tears wept together, our angered and raises voices smashing against each other like waves.

I left. Years later, a message.

And I miss her all over again.

I want to go back. Grab back onto that friendship. But is it too late? She is happy and content, whereas I am not. I cling on to those happy times and memories like blankets in the cold. She is who I think about when I write my scenes of friendship, our drunken conversations spilling out onto the pages, our words forever immortalised on crisp white paper and luminous plastic screens.

When the song comes on, screaming out your name, I dance and find there is no one to explain why I love that song, simply because they will not understand, not appreciate, not laugh, not cry, not do anything.

Maybe one day we'll go to that Spanish Island.

GOALS FOR 2014

2014 has been pretty incredible so far. I have done absolutely nothing and no, I am not even out of my dressing gown yet.

So this is what I want to do this year.


Go on holidayManage to write 1000 words a dayGo to as many museums as possibleGet out of my overdraftTry to manage without eating meat for a week (purely because I want to see if I can do it)Get to a point in health where I feel "fit"Be able to wear a skimpy bikini (or get to a point in confidence where I feel I can own it)Be happySpend time with familyMake some good friendshipsStart hosting dinner partiesHigh five Jenna Marbles (whether in reality or in dreams it's ok)Give bloodWhat are your goals this year?
Help me achieve one of my goals this year and connect with me on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/E_Earle
Love you all.

The Girl With Nine Lives- a little taste.

Chapter One


 
It started with a meow. Then a hiss. And then the unbelievable happened. I watched in horror as his tail twitched and went poker straight.
“Ben!”
“I swear if you’re in here, Blackwell, I’m going to rip your pretty little head off!” Sabrina limped in, sweating, pale and furious, another one of her unpractical cream suits ruined by body fluid.
Horror clutched my heart as she saw Ben. An insane and murderous look lit up in her eyes, momentarily paralyzing her.
But it was all he needed. That official letter from the Royal Family, saying that they were visiting our new Campus in Oldbury, wonderfully immortalised in beautiful script and paper of the highest quality was in the perfect spot.
And then it happened. My mouth fell open as Ben he did the biggest dump I have ever seen on the PR woman’s desk.
A second went by filled with nothing but his purring and the distinct smell of Whiskers.
Without thinking, I grabbed him as Sabrina threw herself across the desk and ran out of the office, her screams bouncing off the walls.
If you’re lost by now, I’m talking about my cat.
“It’s strange bringing a cat to the office,” I know you’re saying, but hey- I didn’t bring him. Ben does what he likes, whenever he likes, wherever he likes- especially if it disrupts my life.
“I’m going to kill you!” I snarled in his ear, but I knew he was too smug with himself to care about my scolding. “Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!”
He yawned, breathing cat breath into my face. “I think I improved her office,” he meowed.
Ok, ok, I know what you’re thinking. Talking cat? I’m going to have to go back to the beginning, aren’t I?
My name is Ellie Blackwell. I’m twenty-four and I am officially stuck in my life. By the way- I own a cat that can talk, although he would probably tell you he owned me.
I had moved into a new flat in the town centre, my parents had flown to start their new lives in Australia and my sister was expecting a baby. I was trying my best to make things work, but sometimes things just don’t stay where you want them.
 
I opened my eyes, squinting at the light coming in from the curtains. I groaned and then held my breath, sure I was going to throw up.
“Oh, God,” I moaned. I looked at my watch. 7:48am. Unusually, whenever I woke from a hangover, I always did super early for work. I knew I shouldn’t have gone out on a Sunday night, but I am very easily swayed.
I unsteadily got to my feet and shuffled to the shower. I would be lying to say I wasn’t sick in there between shampooing and conditioning.
Maybe I haven’t gone back far enough?
I used to live in Tamworth with my sister and mother. Our dad had gone off a long time ago. I couldn’t remember one Christmas or birthday with him- and that wasn’t because I had a bad memory- my memory about events, times and places was uncanny. We lived in a semi-detached house, with a cat called Ben. He was a skinny pale ginger cat, who always got into fights. His ears were always crusted with blood and he was constantly snotty. Well, near the end I suppose anyway. I feel guilty even now remembering the state of him. We should have taken him to the vets. But as a child, I always thought that he was just a bit of a fighter- and maybe he was. But looking back now, I think maybe we could have done more.
I loved that cat. He used to follow me to primary school and wait for me to come back, sitting in the garage with me when it rained and my mum had forgotten to hide the back door key for me. He would even share his food with me- yes, I ate cat biscuits, and they were delicious.
We took him to the move with us to Nuneaton, and I think that was where his health started to go downhill. He was very old by that point.- eighteen years my mum had told me. I remembered when we gave him his first bath in the new house. He was starting to get pretty filthy and couldn’t clean himself. He was so scared he wet himself. We went on holiday, and mum gave him to a woman with four other cats to look after. When we came back, mum said he was happy there and we should leave him.
I didn’t want to leave him, but he didn’t have much of a life in our house. He was only allowed to stay in the kitchen. I think he was always a reminder to mum of our biological dad. Barry had brought him home one day as a kitten. Mum hated anything Barry brought home, but even she had to admit it was different from the cars and motorbikes he kept dragging back.
I saw Ben as much as I could after school and throughout the holidays. He was getting skinnier and skinnier. One day I came over to the woman’s house- I can’t remember her name now, and she said that Ben hadn’t been home all day
“He was sitting on the windowsill yesterday looking out the window for you,” she said, her charms and bracelets rattling as she made me some orange juice.
Looking back, maybe it was cruel of her to say that he was looking for me out the window, because I always felt guilty afterwards. I felt as though I had let him down. That one day I hadn’t come to see him, was the day he ran away.
I searched for him in tears with my older cousin, Craig, who found it hilarious. We went into people’s back gardens, searching for him. We came across a pond and Craig said, “Maybe he fell in there and drowned.”
I was furious and inconsolable. I returned to my auntie’s house where my family was, burying myself into a hug from my mum.
“Sometimes, Ellena, cats go away when it’s time for them to pass on,” she said.
More tears followed, more searches, until days passed on and he didn’t return. I wondered whether my mum had taken him to the vet to be put down, but she always denied it. I had to accept the fact that Ben was gone. I had dreams about him sometimes. I would promise him I would give him a better life. Treat him like a king. I was older now, wiser too (though my family may have said otherwise) and I realised that maybe we hadn’t given him the life he had deserved.
Thirteen years passed. I left school, went to college, went to university, back to college, and finally came back to Nuneaton. Life moved so quickly, and I already felt I had lived a number of different lives.
My love life was non-existent, my friends were not exactly plentiful and my job was stuck.
I worked as a Teaching Assistant at the U.C.W (University College of Warwickshire) where I had built my own hopes and dreams, only to return there to assure other dreamers they could make it in a world of concrete and One Direction.
I was returning home from work, thoroughly depressed after having my hours slashed in half. The Student Support Team always reassured us that there were loads of hours to be had, and then hired a bunch of more staff, to cut down on hours saying that there wasn’t enough. I had been there nearly a year, and still hadn’t nabbed the contract I desperately craved. I needed stability; I was turning twenty-five that year for God’s sake! I wanted to get on the property ladder, get a better car than my crappy KA that my uncle was insisting he was still getting around to fixing, and I desperately wanted someone to share it all with.
Little did I know I was going to get that someone sooner than I had thought.
I fumbled in my bag for my keys, my hands freezing from my fingerless gloves. It took an age as usual because my bag is full of crap. I pulled them out, wondering about how I was going to pay my rent next month. My flat was like any other flat. Average. I had only been in there a few months, previously living with my parents. But when they said they were moving to Australia, I saw it as good sense to get out of the house so they could prepare to sell. More fool I, because my sister moved straight in with her husband and huge bump.
The flat was second floor on a set of terrace houses that aside from a patch of gated grass at the front, was straight on the main road. It cost a fortune in gas, mainly because I refuse to be cold at any time, and a fortune in maltesers- mainly because that’s what I eat when I’m depressed.
I shivered and struggled to find the right key out of my collection. That’s when I saw him.
A pale ginger cat was sitting at my front door, wet and miserable looking in the drizzle that fell. His eyes stared at me, pale orange, blood at his ears from fighting, two small bald patches on his temples.
My lungs didn’t even pull in a breath at that moment.
He was a spitting image of Ben.
I stared back at him and without thinking knelt down. “Hello,” I said in my best cat voice (we all have one). The cat came immediately, running his wet back under my hands. Grit came away with some fur and I wrinkled my nose in distaste He was filthy. I stood up, the Ben-look-a-like rubbing himself on my legs. I put the key into the door and as soon as I opened it, he shot in.
I swore under my breath, but I knew I would have let him in sooner or later. It was miserable outside and I was a sucker for cats. I walked in, dropping my bag by the door and taking off my wet coat. The cat was sniffing his way around my flat, rubbing against my furniture and shaking himself free from the rain.
Throwing off my gloves, I rushed into the kitchen to turn on the heating before I dealt with the cat. I turned around to find him sitting on the floor in front of me, staring at me expectantly.
He meowed.
God he looked like Ben.
“You hungry?” I said.
He meowed again.
I bit my lip, thinking. I pulled out a small dish and started rooting through my cupboards. I found a tin of tuna and quickly emptied its contents. I didn’t even like tuna, so I had no idea why it was in my cupboard. I set it on the floor for him to leap to his banquet. Watching him wolf it down, I set down another saucer of watered down milk.
I watched him eat, memories of Tamworth surfacing at the sight of this cat. It was obvious it couldn’t be Ben. I was eleven when he went walkabouts and that was fourteen years ago. The cat would have to be thirty-two years old for it to Ben. I knelt down next to him and scratched behind his ear.
“But you do look like Ben,” I cooed to him.
He stopped eating and shoved his head into my hand, purring. It was nice until he wiped his snotty nose on me.
“Eugh.”
I cleaned up the blood from him as best as I could with paper towels and wiped his wet nose. I even gave him a brush through and wiped his coat free from oil and grit. Soon he was looking presentable.
I sat down on the sofa for him to jump into my lap. He was still a bit smelly, but I carried on stroking him. I did play with the thought of calling the RSPCA but I couldn’t bring myself to reach for the phone.
I put on the TV, and wrapped a blanket around us both. Soon Ben was stretched out, purring and licking my hand. I realised with a jerk that I had named him Ben without even knowing it.
“Would you like that?” I said to him, tickling his chin. “Would you like to be called Ben?”
His purring sounded snotty, so I cuddled him even more.
And it was decided. He had chosen me. And if you think he chose me as an owner, you would be very much mistaken. I was the owned human.


Enjoyed the sample? Find more on:
UK- http://www.amazon.co.uk/Girl-Lives-Adventures-Benedict-Blackwell-ebook/dp/B00DACVG2G/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2

US- http://www.amazon.com/Girl-Lives-Adventures-Benedict-Blackwell-ebook/dp/B00DACVG2G/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2
 

FAREWELL 2013.

So, this is a little update for you all.

I can't tell you all straight up what has jut happened because the dust hasn't settled yet- but I can tell you that it has happened for all the better.

I didn't look at a career in full time writing for another few years yet, but events have propelled me to look more closely at my life. Why spend your life doing something you're not happy doing?

I watched an incredible video with Alan Watts saying, what do you desire? Why go to a job you're unhappy in, just to work for the money to return the next day and do what you don't enjoy just to carry on and on and on repeating?



Why not step away from the money and really think about what you enjoy?

I've been forced to step back and look at my life. It has been really tough over the past couple of months, Christmas being really difficult. If you've been following my blog, then you will know how close my family and I are. Family is everything. Well, after losing the head of the family, and my parents being away in Australia and everything else that was going on in my life, Christmas was difficult to take- to see the empty seats that should have been taken. It was strange that a comment about my nephew's hair was enough to propel me to put on my coat and escape the house that I grew up in.

I walked down the lane, freezing air sucking the warmth from my hot face as my steps urged me to take myself out of view. I didn't want to be followed, I didn't want company. I wanted nothing. I wanted that day to evaporate. I didn't want it to be special. All of a sudden, it was a day that I simply found difficult to take any joy in. I stared over the hills at the landscape all of my family have at one point gazed over- the now not present head of the family.

I wanted to find a ditch to sink into, maybe find a warren of rabbits to curl up with and sleep until Christmas Day was over. I remember looking at my phone and thinking, "There is no one I can call. There is no one." And that thought upset me most of all. I didn't want to ruin anyone's Christmas with my thoughts and feelings. So I walked through the woods, praying that the ferns and uprooted trees would suck out the negativity from my core.

It worked, to an extent. I love those woods. I spent my entire childhood running through them, creating new fairytales to escape to, building dens, finding Victorian pottery with my sister and climbing trees. It was hard to feel sad whilst walking through them. There had been a storm, forcing the trees from their beds, their twisted roots pointing out of the ground like huge headstones. It felt representative of how I was feeling- of the storm that had recently raged through my life, leaving behind a mass of debris.

But it didn't have to be like that.

Now, knowing that 2013 is almost over, my gut is coming to terms with what has happened and I'm actually beginning to feel excited about the future.

It took time I suppose. I had to give myself a break and decide to cut myself away from the negativity that was choking me.

My writing is everything I have to keep me going- it is my focus, my drive, my ambition. It creates worlds I can escape into, creates people I can talk to. So why not dedicate my time to it?

Tartarus is being relaunched and I am extremely excited. It has regrown a new skin, become honed in its presentation and is ready for the sequel to be crafted.

America
http://www.amazon.com/Tartarus-Hell-Huntress-E-EARLE-ebook/dp/B008TAFIKK/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1388438380&sr=1-4

United Kingdom
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tartarus-Hell-Huntress-E-EARLE-ebook/dp/B008TAFIKK/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1388438380&sr=1-4

I'm going to conclude by showing you the new look of Tartarus.

Screw you 2013. 2014 is the year for me.

Looking After Yourself.

When I first got The Girl With Nine Lives published, I never thought I would get to where I am now with it. It is now a bestseller in three categories on Amazon, with its sequel also a bestseller. Now I am writing the third, the inspiration of the first book has crept back.
                I put a lot of myself into that book and spoke about quite a taboo subject- depression. In that book I put my frustration, pain and anguish at my predicament and I created a saviour in Ben to drag Ellena the main character out of the shadows.
                In a way he saved me as well.
                I don’t know whether it’s factors from what’s happening right now in my life or not, but I can feel the frustration start creeping back. I learnt that we all have to put ourselves first at work- because if you get to the point where cracks start to show, who is going to look after you?
                The workplace will be there in the morning still standing and where will you be?
                I want people going through this to put themselves first for once. It’s so easy to put everyone else’s needs first at work.
                “I don’t want to let them down.”
                “I don’t want my boss to be mad at me.”
                “I don’t want to lose my job.”
                “I don’t want to be a failure.”
                These are the thoughts that commonly go through our heads when we’re pushed at breaking point at work.
                They were definitely my thoughts when I was going through the same thing.
                You need to stop and ask for help. Go to the doctors. Talk to someone. Anyone. You need to look after yourself.
                The Girl With Nine Lives was my therapy when I was overcoming depression- and it saved me. Now I recognise the signs after going through the hell I did last winter. It is so important to recognise the signs of depression and stress and to take the time out to help ourselves. http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Depression/pages/introduction.aspx 
   http://www.amazon.com/Girl-Nine-Lives-Who-Back-ebook/dp/B00GLBJADK/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1385475794&sr=1-3http://www.amazon.co.uk/Girl-Nine-Lives-Who-Back-ebook/dp/B00GLBJADK/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1385475794&sr=1-3

The Happy Feet Fundraiser for Courtney (At The Railway Tavern Nuneaton)

A brilliant review!

Lovely review from Jessica in America about The Girl With Nine Lives!

 

"I had read The Girl With Nine Lives a few months ago and absolutely loved it.
Benedict is one of my favorite characters, a talking cat to be sure, but done in
a way that does not seem silly or childish, and Ellena Blackwell is endearing.
The Girl Who Bit Back is the second in the series, and is every bit as good as
the first. I sincerely hope this series continues to develop for a long time to
come.

When she gets the news that her biological father has passed and
left some property in Devon to her, she and Benedict head to Devon to find they
are the new owners of a run down, four story pub and flop house. The
accountant’s verdict is grim, and Ellena has to join forces with the staff
(which includes a dark eyed, tanned and buff manager named Brynn O’Connell) to
turn deeply indebted business around. Of course the ginger cat becomes an
instant celebrity at the pub, though he does not appreciate the bacon ban that
is instituted after he gets a bit pudgy. Things seem to be looking up, until an
unexpected call from her old flame Detective Calloway brings the past back to
the present. The man she helped send to prison for murder, fraud, and a whole
list of other charges, the one who shot her and nearly lit her friend on fire,
has escaped prison. Calloway wants her with him, her mother wants her with her,
and Brynn wants her to stay at Craggy’s Point. In the end it’s Benedict’s advice
to bite back and mark their territory that she heeds.

Great writing,
engaging story, and characters that you can’t help but liking!"

 

Grab your copy here- available in paperback and kindle:

http://www.amazon.com/Girl-Adventures-Benedict-Blackwell-ebook/dp/B00EORP3F2/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-1&qid=1377527722

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Girl-Adventures-Benedict-Blackwell-ebook/dp/B00EORP3F2/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-1&qid=1377527722