V.R. Cumming's Blog, page 6

The Vampire's Pet (e-bundle) is FREE this week only!

A few of y'all may have heard of Amazon's book subscription service, Kindle Unlimited, wherein for a small monthly fee, subscribers can access and borrow literally hundreds of thousands of books. When KU was first announced, I placed all of my titles in it as a way to gauge interest, sales/downloads/borrows, and so forth. I'm still a fairly new author. This kind of experimentation is critical to learning what does and doesn't work for me and the books I write under this pen name.

Anywho, turns out having The Vampire's Pet e-bundle in KU is not a good thing money-wise, so I'm taking it out on the 22nd. (Don't worry. The individual episodes will still be available to borrow, for a while anyway.) Before that period expires, however, I had five "free" days, i.e. days where Amazon allows me to make the book available as a free download. That period is going on right now and will end on December 19th my time (Eastern Standard Time).

Now, I have no idea what I'm going to do with already-published books next year as far as promotions and pricing goes, so I don't know if I'll ever set the bundle to free again. I might sometime after The Master Vampire is published or I might not depending on how the market reacts to the inevitable ebbs and flows of the economy, people's reading tastes, and so on. So, if you haven't already snagged a copy of The Vampire's Pet, either through the individual episodes or the bundle, and you're thinking about reading it, go ahead and get a copy FREE while you can.

Yes, this is me handing out free books. As of this writing, nearly 3,000 people have downloaded this bundle via Amazon.com alone. I'm ecstatic! Not only has this surge of downloads shot The Vampire's Pet into the top 100 free Kindle e-books on Amazon, it's done exactly what I expect anytime I set the price of a book to $0.00: It's gotten it into the hands of people who were sitting on the fence considering whether or not to splurge $3.99 for the bundle, and it's also made it available to people who, for whatever reason, simply don't have the money to spend on books.

Encouraging literacy is a high priority of mine. If the idea of doing so by making erotic dark fantasy freely available makes you laugh, well, go ahead. I'm laughing a little, too. Hey, it's kinda funny. 

Seriously, though. Pick up a copy on me, share it with your friends (or at least let them know it's available as a free download through Friday EST), and have fun.

Peace and much love, my fellow readers!

The Vampire's Pet is going on tour (plus a giveaway)

The Vampire's Pet is hopping around the Internet this week (8 - 14 December 2014) thanks to the fine, fine efforts of Kitty Kats Crazy About Books. I'll undoubtedly post more about this over the coming week, but for now, here's the important thing: During the tour, I'm giving away one $25 Amazon.com gift card. To enter the giveaway, go here, follow the instructions, and good luck to you all!

The Voices in My Head...

I'm not sure how other writers formulate characters and story lines. It does come up in conversation; most writers simply prefer flippant sarcasm (or misdirection) over serious discussion. Possibly, it's because writers don't always know where or how their inspiration will strike and some, like me, are afraid to peer too closely at the process in case inspiration decides to vamoose.

My first novel (ever; not under this pen name) was the result of a simple question that I then researched for about four years. From time to time, characters in that story universe pop into my head and start conversations, and sometimes that conversation leads to the character in question having his or her story written. (In fact, I'm about to release one such story.) Other times, a character will *ahem* be a little naughty. I'm on the tail end of writing a story driven by that, er, naughtiness. The character simply would not stop having sex in my head. I took the hint and now, he's quite happy with his lot. (Of course, he's getting a Happy Ever After, eventually, so that could have something to do with it.)

Normally, though, the characters that speak the loudest aren't from the World of the Vampyr universe. Sometimes that's good, especially when I have to focus on finishing other manuscripts. Sometimes it's bad, like when I'm on deadline and trying to finish an episode. Gianna in particular has been difficult to write; she and I will both be happy when I can turn my attention to Jason in January and begin working on The Vampire's Favorite (already partially plotted). 

I've already spoken some, here and there, about my plans for the World of the Vampyr. Next year, I hope to publish both TVF and The Master Vampire, which I figured would end the series and my involvement in that universe. I then planned to focus on a speculative fiction idea and an Urban Fantasy, both possibly written under another name.*

Er, no. 

Willow popped into my head a few nights ago and told me in no uncertain terms that I would be writing her story. Now, unlike some characters I could mention *cough* Jason *cough*, Willow is happy to wait until I'm ready to write her, which is a very good thing as there's another story I have to write before I can focus on her. 

That other story involves Darien, who's been hanging out mostly naked in my head for a couple of nights. (Yes, I'm enjoying the view. Hubba.) He's not been having sex, thank goodness, but he's been pretty insistent. This woman, he tells me, she's my mate. (No, it's not Willow. She's intended for someone else, so she tells me.) He's had kind of a hard life (long back story), so once TMV is finished, I might actually take a little time to focus on him, which will keep me in the World of the Vampyr for a while longer, especially if I decide to extend the story to Willow. The good part of that is that readers will be able to see the after effects of TMV, the consequences of what happens in that story rippling out to the larger supernatural world.

All of that is simply in the realm of possibility right now. While I've cut back on next year's writing schedule in general (four novels planned under another pen name and two under this one, all to be written in 2015), I'm trying to leave plenty of room for inspiration to strike and for my fingers to tap out stories set in a couple of other story universes, written under various pen names. 

It also leaves at least a little wiggle room for reader-initiated story lines. If there's a particular story or character you like, don't hesitate to contact me. I have been known to explore those ideas especially for readers. Hey, I'm just the one writing them. Without y'all, there'd be no reason to. So, don't be afraid to reach out and ask or suggest. I'm very open to that, though I have to warn you now that I might not be able to get to it and that the story may not take the form or direction you think it should. Alice and Gregory, for example. I would really love to write their story as a separate manuscript, but I don't see it happening. Alice is too close-mouthed, for one, and her regret and shame over her involvement in Gregory's past is...well, she's not ready to talk about it, though I'm pretty sure it's gonna come up in either the final episode of The New Vampire Series or the first part of TMV. (Eric, bless his heart, is forcing her to face her past; otherwise, she might not ever, her regret is so great.)

One thing I can say is that once the TNV series is completed, future stories will most likely be released as novels. I've mentioned this before (and also that I know at least a few readers will be disappointed), but it's for the good of the stories, I promise, or I wouldn't do it. Now, I'm not completely ruling out the episodic format; I'm simply leaning more toward releasing future stories as complete stories, or at least writing them that way which, of course, means that releases will be much farther apart.

Right now, I'm enjoying my foray into the World of the Vampyr. For a story that started out almost entirely as an experiment, it's blossomed into a world I care very much about. I'm not sure that even once I finish writing TMV that I'll be ready to leave Eric, in particular, behind. I know a few readers who will likely feel the same way, and I find that absolutely amazing. As a reader, the best part of a story is having a character I enjoy spending time with so much that I don't want to let him or her go. I have a couple of bookcases full of such stories, books I'll pull out again and again, just so I can revisit favorite characters. I hope readers find Eric, Jason, and Gianna as compelling. I hope these stories bring you years of enjoyment and that they find a home in your heart, the way they've found a home in mine. * I've written here about the UF before and actually already have it nearly fully plotted and two chapters written.

Now Available: The New Vampire, Episode 4

Episode 4 of The New Vampire Series is now available for purchase or borrow through Amazon.com! What Once Was Lost picks up near the end of Episode 3, after Gianna learns that Willow survived Selena's attack.

The description:

After learning of her daughter’s existence, Gianna Logan faces their first meeting with both hope and trepidation, hope for the future now that her family is finally complete, and trepidation that Willow will reject the love Gianna desperately longs to give her.

Gianna faces other obstacles as well. The shadows in her mind threaten the reformation of one, the unique bond she once shared with her husbands, Eric Logan and Jason Bellmont. And then there’s Nathaniel, a rare male vampire who has agreed to become Gianna’s pet, and Darien, the alpha werewolf whose pack has enjoyed a decades-long alliance with Elizabet, Gianna’s unnatural grandmother. Both men are eager to share Gianna’s blood. Both have the potential to strengthen her family or destroy it. 

Gianna welcomes their suits in spite of the possible threats Nathaniel and Darien pose, knowing that securing their friendship supports Eric’s attempts to win allies among the Vampyr. His efforts to  destroy their family’s enemies may backfire, however, especially when the most vulnerable among them is not Gianna, but the daughter she once thought lost to the shadows raging through her mind.

This is the next to last entry in The New Vampire Series. I hope to publish the final version around the end of this year, or possibly in January 2015. In the meantime, peace and happy reading!

Playlists for my books on YouTube

So, a while back, I started creating playlists for each segment in the World of the Vampyr Series and adding them to the main pages for those segments. The playlists are mostly complete now for three of the four segments and can be found on the right-hand sides of those pages. 

One of my friends went through all of these playlists adding new songs to his personal music collection and commented that it was too bad they couldn't be listened to consecutively instead of having to click through to each song from the segment's page. Well, thanks to my wonderful son, y'all now have that option. He helped me create continuous-play playlists on YouTube. Links are at the bottom of the playlists on this website and may also be found here: 

The Vampire's Pet The New Vampire The Master Vampire
I've just started a page for The Vampire's Favorite, Jason's story, but haven't added anything to it yet. I promise to keep y'all updated on that story and any extras as I know more. 

News and a mini-ramble about sex, conformity, and individualism

We have a cover for Episode 4! I'm working very, very hard to get this one out on time, but don't be surprised if there's a slight delay.

Kitty Kats Crazy About Books put up an awesome review of  The Vampire's Pet  on GoodReads and Amazon.com, giving it "4 Panty Wetting Blood Slave Stars." This isn't the first review the TVP bundle has received, but it's by far the most entertainingly frank one I've ever had on any of my books (and that's saying something). Thanks for reading and reviewing TVP, Kat!

I've had a couple of comments back on We All Fall Down that lead me to believe I was too subtle in the writing. My editor tells me that I'm either a sledgehammer or a drop of water. Apparently, this time I was a water molecule. Like nearly everything I write, there are multiple meanings and themes embedded in WAFD, plus some (probably sledgehammer-like) hints about where the overall story is headed. For those of you who dislike BDSM, rest assured, the chains on the front cover are a metaphor; there's a little rough sex, but nothing beyond what Jason, Eric, and Gianna had in previous segments of the story. For those of you who are disappointed by the lack of BDSM, well, my apologies. This series was never supposed to linger in that area. In fact, what BDSM there is isn't necessarily about dominance and submission, not in the way most BDSM practitioners and readers think of it. 

If you've been keeping up with the series, then you know that while Eric is by far the strongest of the three, he often allows Jason and Gianna to lead the way. (Don't think I've been too drop-of-water with that one.) The "dominant" individual shifts between them, according to the strength and will of each and the situation they find themselves in. This falls fairly closely in line with my own personal beliefs about how relationships should work, quite by accident, I promise. Why, for example, in a "traditional" male-female romantic pairing should the woman do the housework, simply because she's the woman? Perhaps the man is a better cook. Perhaps she's better at juggling the finances. Whatever. Is it really anyone else's business how they divide the work up between them? Is society really better off when people are forced to confine themselves to traditional or expected roles? Nope. Likewise, even though Eric is the de facto head of their little family, he's wise enough to know that he can't lead alone. He needs Gianna and Jason, and he understands exactly how stupid it would be for him to ignore their strengths and weaknesses, and how quickly doing so would tear their family apart.

Maaaaan, my libertarianism is showing. 

I actually had a whole conversation with a BDSM practitioner about this and came away baffled. There's more to sex than dominance and submission. Not all relationships boil down to that, and to force them to is to ignore the nuances of the relationships we form with others. I walked away from the convo feeling a bit sorrowful for the somewhat narrow view that person had of sex. One of the reasons I started this series was to stretch a few boundaries, within myself, with readers. My personal belief is that individuals should pursue a course that benefits them, and that when we encourage individuals to find their own happiness, society as a whole benefits just as much, if not more. Happy individuals produce a happy society. Perhaps that's a simplistic view of life, but it's a true one. By artificially forcing individuals into the constraints of "traditional" relationships. we're stifling their ability to make peace with themselves and the world around them, and we are, by extension, eroding their ability to become content, well-adjusted individuals; in other words, functioning members of society.

Think about this for a minute. How beneficial is it to society as a whole if we stop judging other people, good people who are harming no one, simply because they're taking a path that isn't inside the norm? Expanding this to other areas of life, how beneficial is it to everyone if we encourage people to step outside the narrow confines of conformity where they can innovate, create, produce, and share? Ask the men and women who were behind things like the cotton gin, the production line, the motorized engine, the computer, the internet, and the propulsion rocket. All of these people walked slightly apart from others, whether obviously or not, and all of them contributed enormously to our modern way of life, easing people's workload, providing technologies that feed the masses and extend the average lifespan, and technologies that will allow us to maintain a healthy environment and, God willing, one day reach the stars.

A lot of this begins, though, with tolerance for other people's actions, ideas, and lifestyles. Again, as long as no harm (in the case of BDSM practitioners: that isn't wanted) is being perpetrated on anyone and the relationships are between consenting adults, who are we to judge? I think Eric said it best in Episode 6 of The Vampire's Pet. To paraphrase, life is too short and too hard to deny love when you find it. 

I told you this was a ramble! :)

Peace and much love to you during the upcoming Thanksgiving (US) holiday. May it find you safe and whole and accepted, wherever you rest your head at night.

The Vampire's Pet is going on tour!

I've hired Kitty Kats Crazy About Books to send The Vampire's Pet on a whirlwind, week-long tour of the blogosphere from 8-14 December 2014. These are some awesome folks with a lot of reach and the promotional side of their business is still fairly new, so I wanted to show them a little love and support by using their services. If you have a book blog, no matter where it's hosted, please consider dropping by and signing up to host the beginning of Eric, Gianna, and Jason's story and helping Kitty Kats bring these three to a wider audience. Peace and happy reading!

Music for We All Fall Down

If you've spent any time at all poking around the playlists for The Vampire's Pet , The New Vampire , and The Master Vampire , then it probably comes as no surprise that I'm a Breaking Benjamin fan. 

While writing the episodes for The Vampire's Pet, I listened to one of their albums, Dear Agony , over and over again. It's pretty much the playlist for that segment of the overall story.

I've been listening to Dear Agony again as I ride back and forth between work and home (a whole five minute drive) and realized that, duh, one of the songs perfectly fits "We All Fall Down." Since it's a short story, I don't want to do a formal playlist, but I did want to share some of the inspiration behind the whole story.

Hope y'all enjoy this one!

The Vampire's Pet Print Edition Snafu

I'm re-reading The Vampire's Pet looking for excerpts for an upcoming blog tour and have discovered a somewhat puzzling error. In the first episode (and apparently only there), major portions of text that were supposed to be italicized aren't. I'm in the process of correcting this and will, as soon as I can, update the file so future purchasers of the print edition will be better able to understand the text. Please note that this problem occurs only within the print edition, not in the e-bundle nor in the original, stand-alone episode.

My apologies for the confusion!

Now Available: The New Vampire, Episode 3

The Games We Play , the third episode in The New Vampire Series, is now available for purchase through Amazon.com. 

Here, Gianna begins to come into her own as a vampire, in ways she doesn't yet realize, though the people around her are beginning to have a taste of who and what she'll become. 

Hope y'all enjoy this one!

Description:
On the cusp of her introduction into Vampyr society, Gianna Logan gathers her courage to face the new world she's entered. As the wife of a pet on the verge of turning, a pet whose strength already exceeds that of many full-fledged vampires, Gianna is highly sought after, for her blood, and for her connections to the vampires protecting her from those who would use her for their own ends.

The queen has taken a special interest in the lovely Gianna and her budding family. Though Gianna understands that it's Eric the queen courts, she fears what havoc the queen's attention could wreak on Eric's subtle bids for power, thus destroying the carefully constructed life Gianna, Eric, and Jason have built.

The night holds much more than fear. In the dark, Gianna discovers that just as some nightmares never fade, some dreams never die. The past, present, and future entwine, revealing glimpses of the key to Gianna's triumph over the shadows in her mind and the coming darkness from which no one can escape.