Welcome Guest Blogger: Erin O'Riordan

“Season of the Witch”

Guest Post by Erin O’Riordan

If you’re a Charlaine Harris/Southern Vampire series addict like I am, and you also enjoy the televised version of Sookie Stackhouse’s paranormal adventures, you’re anxiously waiting Season 4 of True Blood. Season 3 introduced some witches to Bon Temps, and from the previews it appears the witches will be an essential part of the upcoming season. The coven may even have the ability to raise the dead.

In Charlaine Harris’ fictional town of Bon Temps, Louisiana, being a witch is no big deal--you’re sharing the town with telepaths, vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters and the occasional Maenad. Even set in a more ordinary world, fictional witches are a lot of fun to write. Magic can be portrayed in big, bombastic displays of power, like the wizard duels in Harry Potter’s world. Magic can also be a more subtle force.

In the Pagan Spirits novel series, I portray the magic practiced by twin witches Allie and Zen Van Zandt in a subtle way. The sisters brew potions and cast spells the way real-world witches do. Zen does have a special power; she feels what other people around her are feeling. In the first two books, Beltane and Midsummer Night, Allie doesn’t seem to have a supernatural ability. She’ll start to discover her innate gift in the series’ third novel. As the series continues, the sisters’ magical powers will grow.

True Blood introduced viewers to the witches slowly. At first, the new Merlotte’s waitress and Lafayette’s new boyfriend were subtly witchy. Over a few episodes, evidence of their hinky powers began to emerge. The new season promises to kick the magic up another notch. This reflects the experience of real people who practice The Craft: the more experience a witch gets, the more confidence she has in magic, and the added bit of faith makes the magic stronger. A witch’s powers naturally increase over time, with experience, wisdom and practice.

I’ve been a devoted paranormal fiction reader for about six years now, and a writer in the genre for almost as long. I can’t get enough of the stuff, whether it’s the latest Black Dagger Brotherhood novel, the new season of True Blood or the next movie in the Twilight saga. I love giving back by putting my own witches, werewolves and vampires out there for the world to see. The give and take of storytelling makes the real world a much more magical place…and it’s a pretty magical place already.

The following excerpt is from a short story I wrote called “Handsome and Regretful,” a spin on the classic European fairy tale of Hansel & Gretel. In my novels, I like to firmly ground my witches in reality as well as magic. In this stand-alone short, I had fun writing about scary, fairy tale witches:

“They fed him blueberry pie, peppermint ice cream, chocolate milkshakes, peanut butter fudge, and devil’s food cake. They boy ate until he was stuffed and sleepy. The sisters led him to their bed, a bed which they seemed to share. This didn’t seem right, but by then he was too full and sleepy to protest.

“This is the part, he said to himself, where the dream becomes a nightmare. The boy lay on the soft pink blanket of the big bed. The sisters lay beside him, one on either side. They began stroking his hair and kissing his chubby cheeks. Now the boy was confused. He wanted to stay, but everything inside him was telling him that he should go.

“As if they were reading his mind, the sisters said to him, ‘Don’t be afraid, boy. Lie back and relax. Stay here with us tonight. We won’t hurt you.’

“The boy did relax a little. The sisters took turns kissing his mouth. Then they kissed him both at once. Their lips moved down his chin, down his throat. They unbuttoned his shirt and kissed his chest. Their fingers reached down and played with his plump little belly as their tongues and lips sucked and licked at his chest. All of his fear of these two strangers disappeared in a haze of satisfaction.”

The boy is an 18-year-old high school graduate, and he should have trusted his instincts, because horrors lay in store for him. Like the fairy tale, though, it has a happy ending. “Handsome and Regretful” is published in a multi-author anthology called Revealing All Your Dirty Little Secrets (http://www.amazon.com/Revealing-Little-Secrets-paperback-interior/dp/B004J8LKVM).

Readers can find the Pagan Spirits series, and my other writing, at www.aeess.com. My book blog is also called Pagan Spirits, and you can find it at http://www.erinoriordan.blogspot.com. 

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

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 Krystal McLaughlin

I met Krystal McLaughlin, a very talented writer, a few months ago on Book Blogs. I read, loved and reviewed her novel Witch's Lottery and invited her to guest blog about her newest release: A Dragon Forsaken.  Enjoy!


I am really excited to be doing this guest blog today, because it is giving me the opportunity to introduce you all to the magical world I've created. The Enchanted Island Series is about friendship and family, love and sacrifice. It's about inner strength and finding out who you are in a world full of mystery, secrets, and magic. Each book in the series is unique, each one coming from a different character's perspective. In The Witches Lottery, you follow Sophia on a journey of awakening and self discovery as she figures out where she fits in to the new world she has been thrown into. In A Dragon Forsaken, Daphne's journey is a little darker, filled with a little more action and adventure as you journey with her to search through a tangled web of secrets and lies, where she is ultimately faced with a decision that could change her life forever.

I got the idea for the series because I liked the concept of a 'lottery of magical abilities.' In a world that is only slightly different than the one we live in, it's intriguing for me to have such a wide variety of powers that work to enhance the characters in ways that aren't always expected. Until you 'awaken', not only do you not know about the magical world's existence, you also have no idea what ability will manifest inside of you.


Today, I'd like to share with you an excerpt of A Dragon Forsaken. I hope that you enjoy it and are just as intrigued by Daphne as I was.


I could hear my prey running. His footsteps splashed through the puddles as he ran as fast as he could from my pursuit. With my heightened senses, I could even hear the rapid beating of his heart from his exertion. As for me, I could have been a shadow, a ghost; I was that silent and when I saw him stop ahead of me on the darkened street to catch a breath, I knew I was that fast too.

There was no one else around. Typical of the type of neighborhood I had hunted him through. No matter who you thought your friends were, when you lived your life in the slums of society, people tended to leave you behind when their lives were in jeopardy, even if it cost you yours. Plus this was the type of place where people tended to look the other way instead of inviting trouble on themselves.

I watched him spin around in circles trying to locate me, but I was hidden, completely invisible as the night swallowed me up. I smiled when he straightened and a smirk appeared on his face. He thought he had lost me. How naive of him. How human.



The man before me closed his eyes and began to cry. Massive sobs wracked his body as he held up his arms trying to protect himself. "Please," he cried. "I don't want to die."

Die? I thought and then laughed cruelly. There was a time when I would have chosen that. I wasn't convinced it wouldn't come again, but for now, I had Sophia's conscience keeping my temper in check and the stink of death would not cloud the night tonight. At least not by me.

When the first lick of fire spilled from my lips, though, I thought, Doesn't mean I can't scare him. His screams echoed through the streets while I showed him what a dragon could do.


The Witches Lottery and A Dragon Forsaken are both available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords. For more information on the series or any other upcoming releases, please visit http://krystalmclaughlin.blogspot.com