My stake in Buffy: The Vampire Slayer Comics

Natasha Larry liked my first guest post so much (Thanks Tasha!) I've decided to do another :) I'll try to make this a weekly thing, though anything could come up (like I'm going to be in an amateur movie where I play a Star Fleet officer and help people speak Klingon :-).

Shameless plug: My book The Newfoundland Vampire will be on in April 2012 and Tasha’s books (the second one I’ve read and highly recommend) are out now.

Enough promotion though. So like lots of people I am a huge fan of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer. It is one of the only things I liked Sarah Michelle Gellar in (aside from a couple of movies, I haven't seen the newer show she did) and one of Joss Whedon’s best (and most successful) TV shows. Also like most people I was sad to see it end and delighted when Joss began doing Buffy: Season 8 in comic book format.

I thought the concept of a teen-age/adult vampire slayer was a clever one and of course her having a thing for vampires is a great twist.

The neat thing about the comics is Joss (or whomever does the writing) can do anything they want. There’s no worry about getting the actors, money, special effects or any of the other traditional show/movie constraints.

To be honest I haven’t read all the comics, I only just finished Volume 4 but I think I’ve read enough to comment on them.

Volume 1: excellent story. Great to have the whole gang back, super-sized Dawn was a nice twist. Xander is funny as always.

Volume 2: Very interesting story. I always loved the Faith character, a flawed slayer who screwed up but still has the powers. Giles recruits her to do the kind of work Buffy won’t.

Volume 3: My favorite (so far). How can you not love Xander being buddies with Dracula? Even though the Count doesn’t have a soul he sure has style! (and unique powers). Like any vampire fan I've always been a huge fan of the Count (he's in my book in a rather unique way =) and I was happy to see that Buffy hadn't really killed him during the show. To top this volume off it off Dawn gets in a fight with a super-sized robot version of herself, in Japan! A hilarious tribute to the Godzilla movies and a treat for any Buffy/anime/Godzilla fan.

Volume 4: Very good story. I have always admired Joss’ ability to make up new languages for a story (he did a great job of this for an episode of “Dollhouse” and of course everyone in “Firefly” had a unique way of speaking.) The future slayer time bubble twist was cool and I liked how we all got to travel back with Buffy to her high school days in the final dream chapter.

I’ve heard rumors of this series getting crappy but it hasn’t happened yet. I’m along for the ride Joss, someday I’ll have to catch up with Angel and Firefly comics as well.

Talk to you all next week and feel free to check out my own blog where I do lots of movie/book reviews.

Welcome Guest Blogger Glynis Smy: Online Friendship and Promotion

Finding friends on the Internet with the same interests as yourself is rewarding. I met Jan Harper (Louie Jerome) about four years ago while writing poetry for a website. She came from the UK and with me being a Brit we found our humour matched. We gained a reputation on the writing site for being supportive and fair in our critique. Gradually we were known as the Two Ladies. Every day we made contact and had fun. My husband found it incredible how we got along so well but had never met. We planned to meet on my next visit to the UK in 2011. Jan published one of her books and asked if I would help her promote it. I did so willingly. She read a short story of mine and said it was the start of a novel and I should write one. I did so...warily. She mentored me all the way. Cajoling and pushing me to have faith in myself.

We then joined forces to promote other authors and that is how New Book Blogger came about. We never promoted the blog and just added a few books here and there for friends.

Jan felt ill in May 2010 and by August of the same year had sadly passed away. She did not know she had a body riddled with cancer and a brain tumour. She also did not know that I had written The End on my novel the day she died! I was devastated. Her family contacted me and told me how much I had meant to Jan. I was humbled. I knew how much she meant to me, but never realised my value in our friendship.

New Book Blogger sat there untouched until one day I decided to pick it up and promote it in her memory. I changed the look and the way in which I could assist writers to promote their books for free. Slowly the word got around and one day I woke up to six submissions, then ten and so on.

Now the blog thrives. I have gone from promoting one a week/fortnight to promote two authors a week (Sunday to Sunday), and am now ready to accept requests for 2012. It is Tweeted and Facebooked around the world by the followers it is now collecting, and by myself.

I made the decision not to review the books on the site. It is too time consuming and I have my own writing to deal with. I receive all the information sent to me (side bar on blog explains all required), and I layout the post. I am in the process of laying out pages for easy selection for readers. Several authors have emailed me to say they had noticed a small rise in their sales since I had promoted for them. I do hope that will be the case for all who share their work.

It delights me to think a small venture by  The Two Ladies has taken off and I know Jan would have been thrilled.

Please take a look at the blog. There are many interesting books to choose from.  I would love for you to follow the blog and keep  yourselves updated with what is newly showcased. Free advertising support for authors of all genres is the aim of New Book Blogger. 

 ***

The long hours of nursing finished in 2005 when I left my home shores of England and emigrated to Cyprus, along with my husband, our dog and a container of belongings.  I spend my days writing in the sun. My articles have been published  in magazines in the UK and Cyprus. I have completed two novels and am hoping to see them published in the near future.

A Poet’s Word and Glynis Smy –Writer are my personal blogs.

New Book Blogger is a blog I run to promote books free of charge for writers.

Welcome Guest Blogger: Author Wren Emerson

First off, I’d like to thank Natasha for having me on her blog today. It feels like such an honor to wreak havoc on someone else’s blog.
 
I’ve been asked about where I came up with the characters in my debut novel, I Wish… That seems like a fun topic so that’s what I’m going to write about.
 
For those who haven’t read I Wish… it’s about a 17 year old girl named Thistle Nettlebottom who grew up traveling the country in an RV with her mother and crazy overbearing grandmother who is a best selling novelist. She’s been trained in all sorts of interesting skills over the years by people her grandmother hires for research for her books.
 
One day they get a call to return back home to a town named Desire. A town that Thistle has never heard anyone mention. She soon finds out that there’s a lot about herself and her family she never knew, the most shocking is that they and everyone else in the town of Desire, are witches and that Thistle has a magic ability that allows her to wish things into existence (or out of it). As she comes to terms with this revelation she also has to figure out who is trying to kill her in a town full of people who’d all love to see her dead.
 
Desire has a woman dominated society because only the women have magical powers. In a reversal of the typical “trophy wife” scenario, it’s the men in Desire who are chosen to be married based on how powerful their Family bloodlines are.
 
The idea isn’t a new one. I first started playing around with it a couple of years ago. I imagined a town where all the women had a magic talent that was almost like a superpower. In fact, one of my favorite characters, Olivia, was based on my interest in Rogue from the XMen comics. I’ve always thought Rogue has one of the most tragic stories I’ve ever read. Imagine never being able to touch someone you love. So I took pity on Olivia and gave her a grandmother who she could touch without killing. And so I created Elizabeth Fletcher and her super regeneration.
 
Thistle is based on me if I were about a thousand times cooler. I was careful not to get too carried away and make her perfect. She still makes stupid mistakes and has unrequited crushes on cute boys the way any teenaged girl does, but she maintains inner strength through the story and faces her problems with humor. I really enjoyed writing about such a strange town through her eyes.
 
Ramona is based a lot on my own grandma. Grandma was a huge influence when I was growing up. She always did things that were typically “guy” things like fishing and camping and bowling. She was truly the matriarch of our family. Every holiday revolved around the plans she made for everyone. She was also a little emotionally distant and didn’t often show a lot of physical affection, but I have no doubt that she loves me in her way. She’s a character, but I’m grateful to have had her in my life. She taught me not to blindly accept typical gender roles, something that’s served me well since all my minions are boys.
 
And then there are the two sexy boys that make up the love triangle. I adore love triangles. Until the main character picks the wrong boy, of course, LOL. Evan is the perfect boy for Thistle in her new life, he comes from a powerful Family, he’s sweet, and ridiculously good looking. Then there’s Ben. He’s an outsider and he’s hard to read… sometimes he’s distant and other times he stops fighting his feelings for Thistle and they have amazing chemistry. They represent two entirely different ways of thinking and as the story progresses you see her attraction grow stronger for each of them.
 
The sequel should be out at some point this summer and I’m really looking forward to some of the minor characters getting more screen time. We find out a lot more about Ben’s history and how the Coven works. I’m really excited about it and I hope everyone enjoys what I have planned.
 
I keep a blog that focuses on indie publishing and offers glimpses into my everyday life at http://wrenemerson.wordpress.com. I’m also extremely active on twitter as @wrenem.  Thanks again, Natasha, for inviting me to share with your readers today. 


*Wren Emerson was born on the mean streets of small town Kansas 30*mumble* years ago. She first put pen to paper at the tender age of 12 and wrote an epicly awful story. She then became publisher and editor in chief of a family newspaper which included articles written by indentured servants/siblings. It got rave reviews from all 8 members of her family.

Now in adulthood, Wren still enjoys bossing people around so she became overlord to a small army of minions; her true love, kids, a cat, and a dog. When she's not plotting to form a dictatorship she writes. When she's not writing, she plays video games, reads books, practices her iphoneography skills, and spends way too much time hanging out in #pubwrite on Twitter.

Welcome Guest Blogger Jennifer Rainey

This is a great guest blog from Jennifer Rainy. author of These Hellish Happenings. Enjoy!

INSPIRATION SPRINGS ETERNAL

For me, inspiration is like a ninja wearing an invisibility cloak.

You never know when it's going to hit, and when it does, it hits hard and usually from behind. Bam! Pow! And just like that, you've got to write or your brain is going to explode.

Inspiration for my first novel, These Hellish Happenings, hit me four years ago in a grocery store. That's right, as I was trying to figure out what kind of soup I wanted for dinner, that ninja came up and knocked me over the head real good. Once I recovered for the initial shock, I realized what I had just, for whatever reason, been inspired to write: the comic story of a vampire who works at the registration desk of Hell.

Maybe that was some particularly devilish minestrone I was looking at.

To be honest, I can't really tell you exactly what inspired me. Like many writers, my ideas just kind of show up. Others, though, can always pinpoint the exact experience, image or emotion that drives them to write a story. Each source of inspiration, each writing experience, each publishing experience is unique. Even our goals are different. Some want to make a living, some don't think about the money at all. Some use writing as a means to connect with others and some use it as a means purely to express themselves.

After no success with querying, I independently published These Hellish Happenings in November of 2010, and I was pleased to see that there was an incredibly supportive community of other indie writers online. I always thought that all other writers were douchebags, if you'll pardon the phrase, but the people of Goodreads and Kindleboards really proved me wrong.

There's an incredible sense of indie solidarity; I suppose you could say we're not competitors, but rather teammates. But at the heart of it all, we are very, very different. Each one of us is writing different books, celebrating different successes, mourning over different failures and all around having different experiences. This balance of individuality and solidarity are what have made the indie publishing experience a wonderful one for me.

To me, the greatest thing you can do as an indie in order to market your books is to get involved with your peers. Everything I've learned, I've learned from people who are in exactly the same boat as I am. Get involved on Goodreads, on Twitter, on forums. Talk to people and see what has worked for them and what hasn't. Everyone is coming from a different situation, and so, everyone will have different advice for you.

But don't just take advice, give it, and keep up that sense of solidarity that is so unique. I've been on the internet since George Washington got his first Macbook, it feels like, and I can tell you that I have never been a part of an online community that was so united. This patchwork quilt of people who are always ready to help each other out despite any differences are a big reason why I'm happy and proud to say that I'm an indie writer. Just as our inspiration all comes from somewhere different, our writing careers all take us somewhere different, and yet we stick together.

For the record, the inspiration for my second novel, the sequel to These Hellish Happenings, came from a song by my favorite band, Muse. Not as strange as soup, but we'll see where the next inspirational ninja strikes. Perhaps the idea for my third book will be conjured by a visit to the dentist or something someone says on the bus or even by an oddly shaped potato. One can never say.

Jennifer Rainey was raised by wolves who later sold her to gypsies. She then joined the circus at the age of ten. There, she was the flower girl in the famed Bearded Bride of Beverly Hills show until the act was discontinued (it was discovered that the bearded lady was actually a man).  From there, she wandered around the country selling novelty trucker hats with vaguely amusing sayings printed on front. Somehow, she made enough money to go to The Ohio State University for a major in English.

Independent Paranormal

Guest Blogger Thomas Amo: The Reality of Fiction

I want to begin by thanking Natasha Larry for inviting me to guest blog on Paranormal Wire. I’m very fond of this site and very honored to be asked to write for it. My blog today is talking about the reality of what we fiction writers believe or pray isn’t true.

Attention all indie fiction authors in the room, if you would please raise your hands so we can take this very small moment to recognize you’re here. Sorry I can’t see all of you as there are some mainstream writer’s sitting in front of you blocking my view. Raise your hands a little higher if you wouldn’t mind. Oh yes hello Mr. Five Kindle sales for the month of March. How are sales going for April Mr. Five? Oh nothing so far? Wow that’s not good. Oh Mr. Five I meant to ask you where is your best friend Mr. Three? You were sitting next to each other at last month’s meeting. You’re not friends anymore? Why is that? He’s now Mr. seventy-five? How do you think that happened? Is it because he’s a better writer? He has more friends on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, and a book cover with a hot babe on it? Is he better looking than you are? Whatever it is, it just isn’t fair.

Okay so how many of us fall into this trap of self-abuse? Do you imagine everyone is selling more books than you are? Living a far more interesting life than you. What’s their secret? Are they just popular people to begin with? Because only good things happen to the pretty people, right? Wrong! I know, their book sales are sky rocketing because they did a deal with devil.

There is no rhyme or reason why some books with lousy covers make huge sales over books with gorgeous covers. Then you have some books that loaded with bad grammar and offend the English language so much you can barely get through it, but they sell books like mad. It doesn’t make sense in fact for some of us it tortures us. You will drive yourself crazy if you think there is a magic formula for becoming the next super author.

It’s kind of like being in a casino. How often have you spent hours at a slot machine and everywhere around you, the sounds of slot machine bells keep going off. People are winning all over the place, but not you. You tell yourself if I keep chasing the bells this has to pay off eventually. You run from this machine to that machine until you’re out of money and you go home angry and hurt you spent it all trying to get something for nothing. If you do win you’re not really winning you’re usually just getting back what you put in earlier.  So how is this like writing? Because we all judge winning differently. Some of us are really excited about the process of slowly building a following and seeing our sales increase gradually. So getting five sales this month is five more than I had last month. Others view it as a personal insult and become beaten down so quickly they give up too soon.
All of us would love to do this for a living and get movie deals and hang out with Johnny Depp, but how many of us are truly willing to fight for it and not give up. That’s why there is only a tiny percent of huge movie stars, NY Times Bestsellers. Because they didn’t give up when they were Mr. Five sales. I have had my share of rejection letters. Hang on to those babies. They are your medals for the battles you’ve gone through.

You want me to read your book? You want me to know your name? Then you need to find out if I read books you write. Don’t send me something about sports, or how to be a vegan. I’m not interested in those subjects. I like ghost stories, true crime, and really good scary stories. I’m kinda worn out on the whole vampire/werewolf thing, so stick with a good serial killer.

Basically what I’m saying gang is make sure you’re preaching to the right choir and be professional always. No matter how much someone else pisses you off, let it go, be nice, we live in a time where your career can end based on as little as 140 characters and you want to do this for the rest of your life, so remember when your mom said, if you don’t have something nice to say don’t say it at all. Big mouths and offenders usually end up ruining their own careers, they don’t need your help.

If sales are slumping, ask yourself what more could I be doing to improve this instead of feeling defeated and saying, no one wants my book. Network; pay it forward, because this is a gamble worth waiting for the jackpot.

Welcome Guest Blogger Nova Sparks

Hello Everyone!

My name is Nova Sparks and this is my first guest post and I’m so excited! I have published my first novel, the DOME on April 30^th 2011 and I’m super excited about that, too and hope you guys get a chance to check it out. Here is a synopsis below:

What if you knew the exact date and time the world will end, what would you do? Sam Tucker was faced with that dilema when he began getting visions of the Earth's demise. Luckily for him, he was able to save his family and as many people as he could before the tragic event occured, and he did so with the help of unknown visitors. With Earth now destroyed, Sam, his family and thousands of other lucky survivors must live the rest of their lives on a faraway planet in a Dome that simulates life on Earth. But Sam's mind can't seem to rest as a few questions arise. Why did the aliens save them? How did they know about Earth's sure fate? And exactly what are they hiding?

Emma Tucker begged for an escape from her boring life but never in a million years did she think it would come at the destruction of Earth. Living on a new planet and finding it difficult to get rid of her rebellious habits, Emma finds herself making friends with a member of the alien race and it soon develops into an unexplainable love; a love that is more dangerous than she could ever imagine. While her father is searching for his own truths, she has no idea that she is stumbling on a truth of her own.

Told from the point of view of both Sam and Emma, author Nova Sparks takes readers on a journey to discover love, fate, faith, truth and the mystery of the DOME!

So  how/why did this all got started?

About sometime in 2009 or 2010, I was writing a series of TV show/movie treatments because I was so adamant on becoming a screenwriter. I wrote about 6 in total. I’ve always been writing before and everyone in my life always told me that I should write books. At one point I wanted to, but I never liked doing what other people expected of me so I just took a whole different route. After I wrote a few TV/movie treatments I started my hunt on getting them picked up. Obviously that never happened. I got a little discouraged and began thinking I wasn’t good enough. One of the treatments that I wrote was called the DOME and I wrote it specifically for HBO. At the time I wrote it, they didn’t have any paranormal or sci-fi urban fantasy shows on the air and I figured they would jump for joy at the thought of satisfying a starving market of people who are craving for it. I wanted the DOME to be on HBO because 1) I love that network and 2) they don’t censor and I like to watch real television shows with profanity, sex, violence and drugs because THAT’S LIFE!  

Then TRUE BLOOD came out on HBO and I thought it was a sign! They were starting to understand that there was a market of people that needed their paranormal fix! Then not too long after that, Vampire Diaries came on the CW 11. Then I started seeing everything vampire left and right. When that started happening, I got discouraged again. Why would anyone watch a television show about humans and aliens when the whole world was going Vampire crazy? Here goes the bug in my ear again: Why not write a book? I said no!

After a few weeks of mopping around, I thought to myself: What is it that makes this story different from other human/alien concept stories? If I can figure that out, maybe I can have a shot at HBO.

It took me sometime to figure it out but eventually I did. Many of the human/alien concepts that I’ve read or seen all have to do with a single alien abduction, aliens invading the earth, a single alien befriending a single human, UFO sightings and aliens saving humans.

I don’t think I’ve seen or read a concept where aliens take humans to their planet and they have to live there with no choice of ever returning. Of course there’s more to it, but if I told you there would be no reason to read book 1 or the other 2 books in the series.

Not to say that there has never been a concept where humans had to live on an alien planet (ie;  AVATAR, Ghosts of Mars, etc…) but I just feel that the concept of this book is slightly different, at least different enough for HBO to like it.

But still…no HBO…no response…no nothing!

That was the final straw! I sucked up my pride and made the DOME into a book (which didn’t take long because the whole concept, characters and story was written down already). And I have never been HAPPIER! I should’ve done this a long time ago! Writing the DOME as book allowed me to do what I would’ve never been able to do as a screenwriter. I got a chance to get in touch with the actual emotions of the characters and I was able to really develop a back story that I’m very proud of. I’m happy HBO didn’t pick this up. I don’t think I would’ve been able to let the DOME go out of my hands and into the hands of strangers without having full control over where the story goes.

As a book, my mind went a totally different direction.

I began to think: What makes us human? What is the only difference between humans and every other species on the planet? Is the one thing that makes us different the one thing that is destroying us? The meat and potatoes of this story is all about ripping humans from their comfort zone, forcing them to make it work without a “get out of jail free card”, reconstructing what it means to be human and finding out if it’s all worth fighting for.  

That was the easy part…actually self-publishing the book is a whole other story!

Signed, Sealed and Delivered by,

Nova Sparks

Welcome Guest Blogger: Author Kevin Osondu

Title: Fast Forward: Into The Future
Author: Kelvin O'Ralph
Genre: Sci-fi/Romance/YA
Blurb:
Before Lucas turned eighteen, he had four goals:
Finish his novel
Publish his novel
Sell his novel and,
Get the girl of his dreams

It sounded pretty easy at the time

Now the girl is leaving
His book hasn't reached the desk of a publisher
and he has the gift of time travelling, which affects his social life.

Will Lucas use his gift to create his dream life, or will he watch his dreams fade?

Links to buy book:
Amazon: http://amzn.to/emLOqD
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/f08wXm
Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/gg1pwT
Smashword: http://bit.ly/gHNTc5

Any giveaway? If so, please give details:

There are two signed copy of Fast Forward to be won. Entries must be residents of either USA, UK, Europe or Canada.
Timemline: 20th April 2011 - 20th May 2011
Link: http://icire.blogspot.com/p/giveaways.html

Author Bio:
Kelvin O'Ralph is currently studying at the University of Wolverhampton, UK. He is an avid writer who loves to write Fantasy/Romance books. When Kelvin is not writing or going to university, you can find him in  his room reading or watching American TV series. He is a huge admirer of  Emma Watson, and hopes one day she gets to act as one of his characters. This is his first official release, and he has many more future projects coming soon. Stick with him while he takes you on a fairy tale you'd wish could be yours.

Questions:

What inspired you to become a writer?
Sincerely, it was boredom. However, after writing my very first short story I showed it to friends and family, and they loved it. So this inspired me t carry on bigger projects; novella, and then novel. Also, I've always admired J.K Rowling.

Why should people read your book?
Any time I write, I write with passion, not thinking of becoming a best-seller but thinking of my readers and if they'd like the story and characters. For example, the story line in Fast forward is really compelling. I guarantee that when the reader finishes the book, he will close it with a smiley face.

Can you relate to any of the characters and why?
Hmm, I can relate to the main character, Lucas Taylor. He's an aspiring author like myself, and knows how to treat ladies.

Tell your readers something personal about you?
As it says in my bio, I admire Emma Watson, more than any lady in the world. Except my mum of course :)


How can one contact you?
 
Thanks to technology, you can reach me via my blog, goodreads, Facebook and twitter.
Blog: http://icire.blogspot.com
goodreads: http://bit.ly/gVK7zX
Facebook: http://on.fb.me/f953Nv
twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/KelvinO_Ralph

Welcome Guest Blogger Jamie Magee: Author of the Insight Series

I met Jamie Magee through Book Blogs and she requested a review of her book, which I am VERY excited to read. I asked for her to be a guest here at Paranormal Wire and she was awesome enough to indulge me. 

Jamie:  
It is an honor for me to be here today! I’m quite sure that Insight had the most silent book launch in the history of publication. It isn’t that I have a lack ambition( at times I’m sure I have too much!), honestly I was just shy. Insight is not only my debut novel; it is my debut to writing as a whole. The only way I found the courage to open a word document in the first place was by promising myself over and over again that no one would ever read it – so it didn’t matter if it was good or bad. Once my first draft was finished I had to force myself to take the next step and let my close friends read my story.  Their response was overwhelmingly positive, and they encouraged me to let others see my work.

I made a decision to take the steps to present Insight in more professional manner. At times it seemed like a dream, that something would happen, or someone would say the words that would stop me from displaying Insight for the world to see. That moment never came and before I knew it, Insight was being read by not only people outside of my home state, but my country. It was clear to me at that point that I had jumped off a figurative cliff and I could either fall silently to ground, or learn to fly. Thankfully I have found amazing bloggers like Natasha to help me reach out to the vast sea of dynamically beautiful readers like you in this world. (Thank you Natasha!)

When I first began writing, I was told that if you chose to write in first person your story must reflect an element that you have a true fascination, or passion for – if you do not do this your story will never flow they way it should. That was one of the most powerful pieces of advice I have received in my career as a writer, and I took it to heart. I have several fascinations so my problem then was to choose which ones to weave into my plot.

One of the elements I chose was the Zodiac. Let me be clear, my characters do not aimlessly read their horoscopes looking for direction from the heavens above. They believe (just like me) that the zodiac simply outlines characteristics of our personality – that in the end our fate lies in our choices, not a path that has already been decided.

When I was researching the Zodiac I found myself falling deeper in love with science. I read in one book that at the time and place( latitude & longitude) of our birth the planets are aligned in a pattern. This pattern is not repeated for over four million years – that because the universe moves with each moment even twins do not have the same pattern. This notion takes the idea that we are all unique to a whole new level!

Most of us know our sun sign – the sign that you read when you look up your horoscope, which is fascinating in its own merit. I discovered that Pisces are peaceful poets, that usually have sensitive feet (odd I know), that when Aquarius listen to music they hear the instruments long before they hear the lyrics (complete opposite of myself), that Taurus’s are known for their beautiful voice, and that Scorpios are known for their striking gaze, and often display a calm demeanor even though on the inside their emotions and thoughts are dancing in every direction. I could go on and on just on the topic of our sun signs but I’ll stop myself here.

Beyond the sun signs I looked into the moon signs. The moon sign reflects how we feel on the inside – how you react before you even realize what you’re doing. The combinations of the sun and moon signs helped me develop the insights of the main characters Willow and Landen. Willow’s sun sign is Scorpio and her moon sign is Leo. This combination gives her the ability to perceive emotions easily. Landen’s sun is in Pisces, his moon is in Virgo – this gives him the ability to see truth, meaning it is impossible to lie to him. I’m sure each of you have met someone in your life that seems to have these abilities – as an author I simply enhanced what was given to them naturally, giving them the tools they needed to face each adversity in their path.

Without a doubt the one thing that fascinates me more than any science is love. As human beings we have a capacity to love without reason it can not only create life – it can destroy it. I realize that the idea of soul mates can be far fetched to some. It is also easy for me to understand the point of view that only being complete when you find your soul mate robs you of your individualism.

My intent in when I created this love story was convey how we are all strong on our own, but when we find that person that understands us so clearly that we never have to explain our actions we are not only strong we are indefinably fearless. Begin fearless allows you to trust when there is no reason to. It gives you the capacity to see what is not clear, and step into the darkness with your head held high.  

The element of soul mates at first glance may give you the idea that this story will have a fairy tale ending that every piece will fall into place and somewhere in time Willow and Landen are living their happily ever after. I will confess today that it is not entirely true. Insight is the first book in a series that is planned to stretch across ten books. At this point in time three are complete and the forth is underway. The path before my characters twists and turns, yet finds away to weave together the elements I love so dearly – the idea of soul mates, and the Zodiac.

It truly has been a joy sharing Insight with my readers. I can only cross my fingers and hope that each of you fall in love with Willow and Landen as passionately as I have.

Until we meet again ~ Jamie Magee

Check out this awesome writer's website at: Jamie Magee for more info on this series, and come back here for a review of the first book!

Guest Blogger Toby Tate On How To Be Horrifying

How To Create a Supernatural Horror Scene

“When he got close enough to see what it was, he froze, holding the beam steady, mesmerized by the sight. There were two things pushing sand out of the way now, and something else rising up in the midst of them. A cloud of silt spread out around the thing, partially obscuring it from

Dan‘s view.

“Suddenly it broke free of the ocean floor and rose up like a nightmarish monolith, the cloud of dirt swirling in the lamplight like smoke from the fires of Hell.

“Dan‘s last thought before utter panic set in was that the thing standing before him should not, could not, be alive.”

Those paragraphs are an excerpt from the prologue of my supernatural thriller, DIABLERO, a tale about a demon-possessed Blackbeard the pirate who is brought back from the dead after three hundred years to reestablish the reign of the Great Old Ones on the earth.

I’ve been asked to blog about creating a scene for a supernatural horror novel and thought my own book would be a good reference. I’ve only published one novel in the horror genre so far, but I have done quite a bit of writing about writing for Web sites like eHow.com and Suite 101, so I figured I’d give it a shot.

In the scene above, a diver on a routine archeological dive discovers something extraordinary and soon realizes that “something” was not what he thought it was. It’s beyond his experience, outside the realm of what he considers everyday reality. In other words, the impossible has become possible, and terrifyingly so. Dead things aren’t supposed to come to life, especially when you’re three hundred feet below the surface of the Atlantic, alone in the suffocating darkness with only a voice on a radio for company.

Good horror takes our mundane existence and shakes it up by suggesting things that we wouldn’t normally consider possible, like demon-possessed pirates coming back to life or doorways to other dimensions populated with ancient, monstrous beings of evil intent. Creating scenes within this context becomes fairly easy as the story progresses because you’re more or less building on what you’ve already started, putting your characters in extraordinary circumstances and seeing what they’ll do next.

 Look at the writings of authors like Edgar Allen Poe or H.P. Lovecraft for a good example of taking ordinary, everyday life and turning it upside down. Poe’s “Telltale Heart” puts a normally docile man in the same house with an old man who has the “evil eye.” Eventually, the old man’s milky-white eye drives the antagonist to become unhinged and do things he wouldn’t normally do—like murder.

My favorite scene in “Telltale Heart” is when, after murdering the old man, the police come to investigate and the murderer becomes overconfident about getting away with the crime. Soon, the heartbeat of the dead old man becomes louder and louder until finally, the young man confesses to the crime. But only he could hear the heartbeat—the police officer heard nothing.

H.P. Lovecraft was a master of creating the dark, sinister atmosphere that other horror and dark fantasy writers frequently imitate. “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” takes an ordinary small town in America and turns it into a breeding ground for evil. In one scene, the main character rides through the town on a bus and notices that the people there look something like a mix between frogs and fish, with small, unblinking eyes and slimy skin. Eventually, the man begins to change into one of these beings himself.

I think all good stories put everyday people in unusual circumstances, so horror stories are no different. The only difference is the circumstances are usually darker and more, well… horrifying. There are different degrees of this and authors like Stephen King, Bentley Little and Clive Barker have built upon the foundation laid by people like Poe and Lovecraft.

I use a lot of dark elements in my short stories and will be using them in my next book, as well. CREATURE, as I’m calling my second novel, will be something of a hybrid between technothriller and horror, so it should be pretty exciting. My current novel, DIABLERO, is available from Amazon and the Nightbird Publishing site as well as from select independent book stores. It will be available as an e-book sometime in April or May.

I’d like to thank Natasha for giving me the opportunity to talk about my favorite subject—writing! For more info and links to my writing, check out my Web site at http://www.tobytatestories.com.