So it’s October, and you might have noticed I have a thing for the gothic and classic monsters, and it’s perfect weather for reading edgy stories, and so I have a new book to share with you today.
It’s about vampires. /toothy grin/Blood Mercy: Thicker Than Water
So this is fun — Con Job is now an audiobook! So if you’re pulling a long drive, or trying to ignore the stitch in your side during your run, or picking up clutter in your living space, or wherever you listen to audiobooks, now you can do it with Jacob and his geeky friends.
Of course, you have to be prepared for a little murder along the way.CON JOB is now an audiobook!
Today’s guest post is about Sirens, the next Magical Menageries anthology edited by Rhonda Parrish, and is by Eliza Chan.
Sirens. That was Rhonda Parrish’s call for submissions for the latest World Weaver Press anthology. The alarm bells started going, well, the connotations of sirens with the emergency services, wailing noise and flashing lights. How interesting that minor creatures from Greek mythology have become a word for warning, the noise of life or death scenarios. It made me think, why are mythological sirens portrayed as malevolent whereas mermaids fill the Disney store and waterpark shows? What makes a siren a siren rather than a mermaid, a nymph or another water creature? Or are these all one and the same?Sirens: the Femme Fatales of Folklore
I’m excited to announce that my young adult action and adventure novel, The Gladiator and the Guard, is now available for purchase! This is the second book in the Krillonian Chronicles, sequel to The Collar and the Cavvarach.
Bensin, a teenage slave and martial artist, is desperate to see his little sister freed. But only victory in the Krillonian Empire’s most prestigious tournament will allow him to secretly arrange for Ellie’s escape. Dangerous people are closing in on her, however, and Bensin is running out of time. With his one hope fading quickly away, how can Bensin save Ellie from a life of slavery and abuse?
Guest Post: Annie Douglass Lima & The Collar and the Cavvarch
I’m not a huge Hiyao Miyazaki fan — okay, I haven’t even seen all the standards! — but I really like some of what he says here about story in general and about stories for children. And what he says about stories of fantasy and monsters requiring the… Miyazaki & Story
Today is my turn again to host in the Giftmas Blog Tour, and I’m happy to introduce you to author Jay Wilburn. Please don’t forget to enter the contest for free books and stuff! You’ll find the entry below the post. Catch the whole tour here. Thanks, and Happy New Year!
by Jay Wilburn
I always felt a little darker around the New Year than I did around Christmas. I think it had a lot to do with being a teacher for so many years. The dread of knowing I was going to be dusting myself off and getting back to work was hanging over me on the first of the month.Making Something of the New Year
Today is my turn to host in the Giftmas Blog Tour, and I bring you author and editor Rhonda Parrish. Rhonda has written and edited a bunch of things, but readers of this blog will know her as the editor of Fae, Corvidae, and Scarecrow. Please don’t forget to enter the contest for free books and stuff! You’ll find the entry below the post. Catch the whole tour here. Thanks, and in case I don’t catch you tomorrow, Merry Christmas!
Growing up my family had holiday traditions, traditions that I carried on even after I moved away from home. Then, when I moved in with my husband fourteen (!!) years ago he had his own holiday traditions and we (my husband Jo, daughter Danica and myself) had to find a way to try and mesh our traditions together into something that worked for us. One of Jo’s traditions which I was super happy to adopt was advent.Guest Post: Counting Down to Giftmas
Yes, /waves Jedi hand/ you see what I did there.
I’m not gonna lie, I had a very hard time getting excited about the new Star Wars movie. I’d been very excited about a new Star Wars movie before, and that backfired hard. Ever since Jar Jar and the disregard of established canon, I’ve had trust issues.
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But as I hate spoilers, I bought an opening night ticket in self-defense, and I sat tense in my seat through the ads and trailers, wearing my Mara Jade costume*, waiting. Daring, just a little, to hope.The Force Awakens: A New Hope for the Star Wars Franchise
So Monday night I attended for the first time our local library’s book club. It may also have been my last.
The club was discussing Something Wicked This Way Comes, the creepy seasonal novel by Ray Bradbury. I’ve always felt vaguely guilty about not liking this novel quite as much as it probably deserves, but after listening to everyone else give their impressions, I felt like a positive fangirl. Oh, sure, a few enjoyed it, but at least half the group hadn’t even finished the book.
That’s not what got me into trouble, though. No, this particular session of book club offered dinner and a movie, and we watched the film adaptation for further discussion.
I realized I was both dominating the conversation and sounding rather negative, both of which I figured were bad for a first-timer, so I squelched myself a bit. And thus a blog post was born! But the comparison really does offer a really spectacular example of what removing the stakes and changing motivations can do for a story.Something Wicked, or How I Got Kicked Out of Book Club
To celebrate the recent release of Fae, an anthology of fairy tales like you haven’t seen them, some of the anthology authors are taking turns interviewing one another. Today I have the pleasuring of sharing a virtual chat with Shannon Phillips, author of “The Fairy Midwife.”The Fairy Midwife – a FAE interview
