Welcome Guest Blogger: Wenona Hulsey

Today I'm glad to host the wonderfully talented author, Wenona Hulsey on the blog. Today she is talking about Blood Burden, her urban fantasy series. Enjoy! 
 

First of all, thank you so much for letting me guest post on your page!

I'm Wenona Hulsey, author of the Blood Burden series.  I'm also a mother of two wonderful children and an avid reader like most of you.  I have a weakness for men in kilts and if you combine that with super-human powers I become a swoony mess.

They, whoever "they" are, say write what you know.  Well, I've never met a person who could read minds, move across a room in the blink of an eye, shoot flames from their hands or erase every trace of themselves from your memory, so where does writing leave us dreamers?  With a blank page just begging to be covered with our own world!!

That's how the Blood Burden series began.  I love anything that isn't normal, everyday and complacent.  After all, isn't that why most of us read?--To escape the everyday monotony of our lives by seeing the world through someone else's eyes for just a little while.  That's what it was like writing Blood Awakening.  I became Nicole Keenan, the young woman who was trying to escape the pain in her life only to find that a power has been sleeping in her veins, waiting for the chance to rise and point her toward her destiny.

Okay I know what your first thought is, "Is she a vampire?" Let me jump into this with one word, NO.  Don't get me wrong, I love a good vamp romance with bite but I am a rebel.  There are no vampires or werewolves in my books!! (I'm saying that stomping my bunny slipper clad foot)  But there are lots of swoon worthy, power wielding warriors and bad a$$ fairies in this modern day story.  The Blood Burden series has been affectionately called a genre freak because it fits into paranormal romance, suspense and epic fantasy.  Personally I like the "Genre Freak" label because it means my books are unique in a sea of fantastic authors.

Here's the blurb for Blood Awakening:

Nicole, a small town Alabama girl, and her best friend Kat take a weekend trip to Panama City, Florida. Kat looking to have a good time and Nicole hoping to escape the pain of losing her mother for a little while. Little did Nicole know, the escape would awaken an ancient power that is hidden in her blood.  A power that evil wants for its own and will do whatever it takes to have it.

Then you'll want to jump right into the novel Burden of Blood:

Nicole Keenan is a police officer in a sleepy county tow, content in her denial. She can hide her secret for only so long before an ancient grudge and the power hidden inside her burst to life. Dance with fierce warriors and Gothic fairies as southern tradition collides with Irish folklore. Nicole learns about love, heartbreak and The Burden of Blood.

The final book in the series is coming this summer titled "Blood of Fire".  Look for them all on Amazon!

The Dome: Excerpt and Ebook Giveaway

I woke up to the sound of loud banging. Everyone was standing around where the sound was coming from. I was about to get up when Sam came over and put his hand on my shoulder.

“What’s happening?” I asked him. He didn’t answer me. He was starting to piss me off. I pushed past him and ran towards the crowd, pushing past everyone who was blocking my view. When I was close enough to see, I saw two men kicking on the door group two came out of.

“Calm down. We don’t know that yet!” A voice from inside the crowd said. The men ignored her and kept going. Another man ran up to one of them and tried to grab them away from the door but he was quickly pushed back and knocked onto his ass.

“What is going on? Don’t know what yet?” I asked a man who was standing next to me.

“They think we’ve been abducted by aliens. Another UFO nut, although I can’t say that I blame them. This whole thing just screams science fiction.”

It never once crossed my mind that we were on an alien space craft. Apparently I had missed a lot while I was sleeping. Somehow we went from concluding that we were being housed by the military to being abducted by aliens. “Does anyone have the time?” I asked, erasing my own thoughts. “5:27 am.” A woman said who was in front of me. I didn’t look up to see who it was. “Anyone from America have the time? Preferably from the west coast.”

“5:27” Brett said. He was standing next to me, sweating profusely. It wasn’t even hot in here. It wasn’t anything in here as a matter of fact. It almost felt like there was no temperature. Until I saw Brett, I hadn’t even realized the lack of anything in this room. It was starting to freak me out and so was Brett’s weird look in his eyes. I hated the way he looked at me. If he wasn’t married I’d swear he was trying to hit on me every time he’d ask me if I needed a ride to school. I hadn’t seen his wife around, not since this all happened. If she didn’t make it I’d expect Brett to be a lot more upset than he was. I started to walk back to my cot.

“You’re 18 now, aren’t you?” Brett asked me. I felt him inching closer. He was walking with me.

“Umm no. Not until a few months anyway. November baby.” I chuckled lightly, trying to hide the nervousness he always made me feel.

“Hm…too bad.”

            I couldn’t believe it. The world was ending, we were probably on some army or alien space craft, his wife was most likely dead, and he was trying to mack it to me inches away from Sam and my mom. This asshole had balls.

“Wait.” I stopped in my tracks and turned to him. “Did you say its 5:27?” I’d remembered Sam being obsessed with the time since we got to Crystal Peak. He’d kept asking Mark what time it was. I remembered because it annoyed me how he didn’t bother looking at his phone or ever considered buying a watch. I also remembered running through the woods and up the mountain listening to Sam scream at Mark to tell him the time. It couldn’t possibly be 5:27 in the morning still. Hours should have passed. I decided I needed answers and I needed them now.

“Sam.” I whispered so no one else could hear. “Why won’t you tell me what the fuck is going on here?” He looked up at me. He was lying down on his cot staring at his dirty work boots before I came over.

“Why won’t you call me Dad?

“Bullshit! I know you know something. All this seems a little too unsurprising to you. And while the rest of us are freaking out…you haven’t so much as blinked.”

“Emma. I know as much as the next guy. What would I possibly know? Nobody knows what’s going on and neither do I. This whole thing is beyond anything I can even fathom.”

“Okay. Can you at least explain to me why time has stopped?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Time, it’s stopped. Everyone, at least from our camp has the same time, 5:27am why is that?” I could tell I was finally getting to him. He lifted himself off the cot and looked at me. Before he could say anything, the lights turned off.

Everyone screamed. It was pitch black in the room. People must have been moving and trying to find their way around because I heard people falling over and cots sliding from side to side. The sound of everyone’s erratic breathing filled the room. I got down on my knees for absolutely no reason. It just seemed like a good idea. I automatically expected the worse and I guess I wanted to be out of sight when it started. We all heard a low humming sound and then the room became completely quiet. I grabbed onto Sam’s leg and trembled at his feet. A single blue light suddenly appeared on the ceiling and I could see my mom crouched down underneath her cot. The light grew brighter and brighter until it descended down in a thin beam.

For a few minutes it just stayed there. I got up off the floor and stood next to Sam. He grabbed me by my arms and called out to my mom. We heard the humming sound again. The blue light dimmed a little and then we heard a voice. The voice of a woman.

Syrion, from the planet SyriSyri that most closely simulates life on Earth. This will be your new home. Syri is dry and mountainous, similar to that of the Himalayan region of your Earth with a few flatland areas. Our planet is greatly divided by purpose. In our region, there is an entire section specifically utilized for residential purposes only, a separate zone for work which is also separated into units based on occupation, and a separate section for entertainment which includes goods purchasing, film centers and social centers. Our military area and Science/technology production center is appropriately placed far from civilization on the opposite side of our biggest mountain. Syri has two parts of the day. Because of our planet’s weak suns, our morning is equivalent to dusk on Earth, and night is exponentially darker than Earth‘s night. Seasons on Syri are similar to Earth but are more extreme. In winter it snow’s for 3 months. In summer, temperature’s reach an astounding 201 degrees. Spring means rain for us, but like winter, it rains the entire 3 months. Plant life on Syri is almost non-existent except for the many nocturnal 20ft shrubs on and around the mountains. Within these shrubs live poisonous snake-like creatures and large insects comparable to your spiders with a paralyzing bite. On the far side of the mountain, there are large, white, cat like creatures that prey on life source. In the case of humans; the heart. We may be different. But you are one of us now. Arrival time is approximately 30 minutes.

Transmission End.

Paranormal Wire is Giving Away Two Free Copies of the Dome
*The Contest will end on August 2nd 

To win you must (1) Follow Nova at her Blog over at: Nova Sparks Books

(2) Leave a comment with your e-mail included and answer the following question...

If aliens invaded planet Earth....would humans stand a chance? 

That's it! Good luck

Book Review: The Dome by Nova Sparks

I'll start out this next book review by confessing that this author is one of the best people I've encountered online. I adore and am inspired by her on an almost daily basis.  Now,  if you're convinced this review will be biased, please take a moment to get over it.  I'm a total professional here...

Moving right along, I really enjoyed reading this book. The plot is active, engaging and outside the realm of what is happening in the real work, which I always appreciate. My favorite part of The Dome is the opening, even though it is not actually, the best part of the novel. Why? Because the author engages the reader right from the beginning. I appreciated knowing that I'm not wasting my time right away. This is one of the books I received free from the author and brought a copy just because, I have a habit of buying books I like....

Well hell, Natasha...you only gave it four stars on Amazon... 

The Dome could have very well received five stars from me, and the only reason I didn't go there with this author is because more could have been done with the editing. The author needs to simply tighten up her writing as to not risk losing the reader, and five stars it will be.  At times, the writing was a tad confusing and I'd have to go back and re-read a passage to follow the story.

Brief synopsis time: The Dome is a science fiction/urban fantasy romance that tells the story of Sam Tucker, a character that starts getting visions of Earth's demise. He is then saved by aliens and naturally starts to question why.  Then there is Emma, who, when introduced to the reader was incredibly bored and in need of change at the time of her planet's demise.  Now she finds herself having to adjust her earth girl behavior. 

I highly recommend this book for any science fiction/urban fantasy junkie.


Nova Sparks will have a post featured every other Monday here at Paranormal Wire.

Author Blogs: Nova Sparks
Book Blogger Buzz

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

Interview With Fantasy Author: Alexander Hammond

I love Writers Face-the online networking website for writers because without that I wouldn't have ever had the pleasure of interviewing fantasy author Alexander Hammond about his newly released analogy of short stories.

I won't bore you with too much of my own commentary. I'll just say i asked Hammond about his background, other bodies of work, writing process and major influences.

On his background Hammond states that:

"I’m a Brit and located in both London and New York. I travel extensively internationally and when I’m not travelling, I’m in either of those two locations….though I prefer New York. Fabulous place.

I’ve been writing for about fifteen to twenty years (I’m nudging middle age). Initially I wrote advertising copy…lots of it…which prompts the necessity for disciplined writing and an economy of words. Nothing is wasted.


I then co wrote a cartoon strip for a number of years and again, I mention the history of this in my bio on that site so I won’t repeat myself. This type of writing requires even more discipline insomuch as the generally required standard for a three box strip in a newspaper is a maximum of twenty five words or less…plus its got to be funny! This was a wonderful experience.


So, my first book was The Zodiac Files. A compilation of the cartoon strips by the same name. Its now long out of print and as I co wrote it with my then wife (who conceived the idea entirely on her own), whilst it was my first book, it was hers as well. Credit where it’s due. We used pen names.


I continued to write, completing two humorous travelogues based on my business travelling. I tried for a long while to get them published but to no avail. This will change this year however as I’m currently discussing their publication with a publisher at present. This publishers interest came about as a result of them knowing about Tales from the Edge of Forever being published. Once one company has ‘taken the risk’ then it encourages other companies. Equally it’s the same with agents. I’ve had two approaches since this book became available.


Once the carton project died I continued to write. Firstly a screenplay which I thought was the best thing ever (it wasn’t!) and then a further movie screenplay entitled Perfect Disability which there is currently some interest in from various parties. The pitch is Notting Hill meets The Usual Suspects.

Two years ago, through a series of personal connections, a party who knew of my ability to write, commissioned me to ghost write a book on behalf of a third party. Sadly I cannot discuss this any more due to legal constraints. It did achieve a modest success…for the person for whom I wrote it."

That brings us to his third book Tales from the Edge of. Forever. Hammond states that this was his personal favorite...


"and very much the sort of thing that I like to read myself. Writing a cartoon strip aimed at a sophisticated adult audience made me sharpen my craft in creating the most impact in the briefest possible space, hence short stories based on my favourite subject (fantasy) seemed like a fun idea. The project was a true labour of love."

Q: What writer's have influenced your writing the most?

"I’ve always loved fantasy and science fiction. My god was Arthur C Clarke who I discovered when I was around eight years old. He took me to places I’d never been before or even thought existed in people’s minds. Philip K Dick was next. I read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep’ way before it was (brilliantly) filmed as Blade Runner and the same can be said of We can remember it for you Wholesale which was appallingly filmed as Total Recall.


First reading Frank Herbert’s Dune was a revelation of almost spiritual proportions insomuch as the originality of the storyline was breathtaking. And so it goes one. Asimov, Carl Sagan’s Contact’. William Harrison’s collection of short stories Rollerball, including the short story of the same name. Firstly brilliantly filmed by Norman Jewison in 1975 and then disgracefully remade in the train wreck that was the 2002 version.


In tandem with science fiction I also loved more spiritually based fiction such as the fantastic work of Richard Bach. Quite frankly, any of his titles are worth reading. A superb wordsmith.
So, that being the case, I wanted to try and create some stories that crossed both genres and this anthology is a result of those endeavours. I started each one with the thought process ‘What if?’ and went from there. Deity was an example of that. In some of the stories I had a very clear view of where I wanted to go. Stories such as Abracadabra, The Man who thought Hell was a breeze and My Special Guest Tonight are good examples of that.


With some however, I had no idea where I was going to go and they took on a life of their own. I would write a few hundred words a day and then cogitate for a day on where I could take the story, or just sometimes try an open myself up and let a direction come to me. It sounds all very whimsical and maybe it, is but creativity is a difficult thing to pin down as I’m sure you’ll know. Consequences, Ambition and The Button are examples of this.

Q: Where did you get your story ideas for this anthropology?


My ideas and where they come from are generated by a (probably) over active imagination and a reluctance to truly grow up. I’ve watched and read far too much science fiction and fantasy in my life. Comic books and graphic Novels are also a passion. Whether it be Invisibles, Halo Jones or, at the other end of the scale….the numbingly good and yet totally horrifying Preacher series.

Additionally I also read a lot of ‘Hard Science’ books. Hawking, Sagan, Fyneman etc etc, which also influenced some of the more exotic physics referenced in the story’s Ambition and An Astronauts Dream."

I concluded this interview by asking Hammond if he could provide any advise for aspiring fantasy writers.


"Well, I know its often said so my advice is not original but, read as much as you and write as much as you can. Persist persist and persist and be brutal with your own critique. Read and re read again and again what you’ve put on the  page and think ‘How can I make this read better’. It’s a true chore but definitely worth the effort."


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