Tag Archives: Elizabeth Morgan

Five get literary in Sandbach

16 Wednesday Nov 2016

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So, last weekend I was at the Sandbach Author Signing event (SASE). I may have mentioned this event a few times over the last few months, most recently here, because I was incredibly excited by it. Turns out I was excited for good reasons.

#SASE Sandbach Author Signing event at Sandbach town hall

Sandbach town hall (c) Nellie Simpson

SASE was the first event of its kind in the Sandbach area, though it followed a pattern similar to many other events (like the Manchester signing of August this year). A group of authors getting together in a location and a bunch of readers wandering around the tables looking to buy books and get them signed.

I travelled to Sandbach from Manchester in the company of Ninfa Hayes and Alex Campbell, two members of the Tea Society and Vampire Month posters. We weren’t the only members there either, there was also Dianna Hardy and Elizabeth Morgan (who was also the organiser of the event). We were only missing Alex James, Miriam Khan and Russell Smith but we did have leaflets from all of them so they did not miss out too much. We set up our tables in the lovely, modern interior of the Sandbach town hall (nicely contrasted with the older exterior of the building) and awaited the arrival of the public.

D.A Lascelles, Alex Campbell, NinfaHayes and Dianna Hardy

The Urban settings panel  (c) Nellie ZSimpson

There were also some panels throughout the day on a number of topics ranging from Women in Fantasy to Fangs and Fur (vampires and werewolves in fiction). I was asked to moderate two of these – ‘Fangs and Fur’ and one on settings in Urban fantasy. Turnout for these was low (a handful of people) but the audience was keen and the discussions were wide ranging and interesting. From talking to another blogger, it seems that panels are not a common thing in her experience of signing events so this idea is both a way of distinguishing this event from others and also something new that the attendees may not have been too sure of. Personally I feel Alex Campbell’s reminiscences of  the tales of Northumberland to be worth the entry fee to the event by itself. Catherine Green and Lucy Felthouse joined myself, Ninfa and Dianna for the discussion on Vampires and Werewolves and we tackled the age long issue of why vampire fiction never seems to die. In the urban fantasy location panel we explored the idea of the location as a character (something I touch on in Gods of the Deep), how some stories are location dependent while others are not and what locations in our stories were influenced by places in our real lives. There may have been some discussion about trying to set a Batman story in the countryside but I have no idea who came up with that mad idea. As moderator I also posed the question about overuse of location – are certain locations (London, Chicago, New York etc.) overused in contemporary fantasy fiction and should other sites be given a chance to shine. There were excellent arguments from both sides there, with an overall conclusion that the common sites are used for recognition purposes – more people know about London than they may know about Newcastle – and so are likely to remain popular. However, there is scope for stories set in other locations, especially ones with their own myths and legends – Alex Campbell’s use of the Northumberland Lambton worm story being a case in point.

Throughout the day there were visits by some journalists and the event made it into theSandbach Chronicle authors hold masterclass local papers (Sandbach Chronicle headline: Authors Hold Masterclass) and Elizabeth was interviewed by Stewart Green for Sandbach Soundbites. Click the link to listen to the interview in full. This all suggested that there was quite a bit of media buzz about this event which is the first of its kind in the town.

It is to be hoped that Sandbach will return bigger and better next year with more people risking attending the panels and getting involved in discussions. I know the organisers have big plans for next year and any success of this new event would be well deserved.

The photographs in this article were taken by Nellie Simpson.

D.A Lascelles is the author of Lurking Miscellany, Transitions (Mundania Press) and Gods of the Sea (Pulp Empires) and Gods of the Deep. He lives in Manchester UK. You can sometimes see him writing about Zombie porn on http://www.dalascelles.co.uk but he mostly blogs about books, vampires, science fiction and Terry Pratchett. He is inordinately proud of the fact that one of his Pratchett articles was referenced on the French version of the author’s Wikipedia page.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DaLascelles

Twitter: @areteus

Buy Lurking Miscellany (paperback)

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News (but not weather)

04 Friday Nov 2016

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 So, it has been a while since I did any updates. Apologies for that, it has been a busy month or so. So, here are a few things to keep you updated.D A Lascelles Gods of the Deep Kindle Fantasy Swashbuckling

First of all, those of you in the North West of UK are welcome to come along to the Sandbach Author Signing event tomorrow (5th November) at Sandbach town hall. It promises to be lots of fun and will include not only signings but panels too. I am talking on two of them – Fur and Fangs (all about vampires and werewolves) and Urban settings, the magic within city landscapes. Both look to be interesting discussions. There are other activities on the day too but to find out what they are you will have to come along. Tickets are very cheap – only £5 on the door. It is also worth pointing out that a lot of the UK based Vampire Month alumni will be there including Elizabeth Morgan, Dianna Hardy, AJ Campbell and Ninfa Hayes.

Secondly, if you cannot get to the above event, you can get copies of Gods of the Deep or any of my other books from Amazon. I have an online order form for signed copies too which you can find here – Online order form. You can arrange to pick up your book at one of the events listed (and this list will get updated periodically as I confirm events) or you can contact me via this page or my email address to arrange alternative arrangements such as postage.

Thirdly, this blog may be undergoing a change of appearance sometime soon. This has now become my main site so I am going to be using it more and more as such. This means a bit of a rejig and maybe a change in image and I will be putting things like my bio and book info onto the home page and relegate the blog to another page. Look out for those changes as they happen over the next month or so.

Finally, things are heating up in other areas of bloggage. The blog I am an occasional contributor too – News from the Spirit world –  is going to be getting more from me. In fact for the last week or so, my latest story has been the front page. There is also a secret project ongoing in the background of the blogosphere which I will talk more about when it hits.

So, that puts us up to date in terms of what is happening for me at the moment. Hope to catch you all soon.

[Review] Blood Secrets by Elizabeth Morgan

02 Sunday Oct 2016

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Followers of this blog will be familiar with Elizabeth’s work already as she was interviewed for Vampire month and has been in attendance with me on a number of signing events, most recently the Manchester Author Signing in August. At that event she was launching her latest book – Blood Secrets, the long awaited sequel to Cranberry Blood and the next in the Blood series of Vampire novels.Blood secrets by Elizabeth Morgan

Blood Secrets takes up the story more or less straight after the end of Cranberry Blood. Heather Ryan, our vampire slayer infected with vampire blood, is on the outskirts of Venice in Italy, on the trail of the ancient vampire her family has been trying to kill for centuries. But first she has to deal with local supernatural politics as she attempts to convince the local werewolf pack to allow her and the members of the UK pack she has an alliance with to enter Venice in search of both the vampires who live there and the kidnapped pack members who were snatched at the end of Cranberry Blood.

There follows an intense thrill ride of a plot where Heather and her love interest Werewolf, Brendan, explore Venice looking for vampires and the captured members of the pack.

This is a far heftier tome than Cranberry Blood, verging on 100,000 words and covering a lot more scope. It also brings in two new Point of View characters in addition to Heather and Brendan.  One is Eve, the daughter of the UK Pack leader, who is a Loup – a woman born to a werewolf but who does not have the shapechanging abilities. The other is Galen, the immortalised teenager, who is the Bloodling (or childe) of the Vampire Heather is chasing. In less skilled hands, this approach may have come across as clumsy or amateurish (and it does seem to be a popular style following GRR Martin’s use of it in A Song of Ice and Fire) but Morgan manages to make each voice different and every scene is relevant as seen through the eyes of the PoV character. The Brendan/Heather scenes are pretty much as written in Cranberry Blood – entertainingly alternating their views on each other and their relationship while the action happens around them. The Eve scenes allow us to see her fate in the Vampire run research facility she ends up in and the Galen scenes offer a fascinating insight into the mind of the enemy and the complicated stratagems in play from their side.

The story also pulls no punches. As the title suggests, there are a lot of secrets revealed in this instalment and Heather has her worldview shattered on a number of occasions. Her faith in her family is sorely tested and her relationship with the werewolves changes massively through the events in this book.

If there is a flaw it is that the end goes on a little too long. Stuff happens which to me feels it may have been better suited to the opening chapters of the third and final instalment. Closing the curtain a few scenes earlier may have been more effective in inciting interest in book three. However, this is only a minor issue and the events of the final few scenes are still relevant and interesting. The big reveals in this book do lead me to wonder if there is anything left secret at all in this series. Are there more reveals in book three? If so, what on earth could be left to find out that hasn’t already been spilled here?

In all, a very solid and entertaining second book in a trilogy that expands on the world building, develops the characters and leads us nicely into what promises to be an epic finale in book three.

#MAEG2016 – the Manchester author signing event and gig.

14 Sunday Aug 2016

Posted by in Musings, Publicity

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So, yesterday was an event I had been planning and preparing for since quite early in the year – the Manchester Author signing event and gig, officially shortened to #MAEG2016 for the benefit of Twitter users.IMG_4759

It was an early start. I was up at 6 so that I could be at the train station to meet Elizabeth Morgan in time for us both to travel to the site of the event – which was a mining museum near Astley on the outskirts of the city. Things were not helped by the fact I had been persuaded by Samantha Harrington the night before to go to a hotel near the site to meet some of the attendees and have a drink… *. Regardless of that, the meet up at the station went without a hitch and we quickly made our way to the venue, learning on the way exactly how much more expensive train station taxis are compared to pre booked ones.

The event organiser, who writes under the name Scarlett Flame, had spent a lot of the week building up to the event setting up a marquee, a beer tent and Portaloo toilets in the grounds of the museum. By the time Elizabeth and I arrived the place was bustling with people setting up their stalls. We claimed a table and started getting everything ready for the day ahead.

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The Mining Museum

We had lots of conversations with people who came by the stall. Many were interested in what the ‘Tea Society’ was and what it meant. Many of the attendees there were acting as an individual – all the books on their stall had been written by them – however we were there representing not only our own work but those of the other members of the group too which did seem to cause some confusion. I do sometimes wonder if they believe the ‘other authors’ are actually our pseudonyms.** There was a lot of interest in various of the books on the table and many of the bookmarks and cards were taken. We gave out almost all of the swag packs that Elizabeth had prepared and made a couple of sales between us. All in all, about as successful as many similar events I have attended with the promise that future ones will be even better. There was a solid group of people involved in this, both the organisers and the attendees, and a lot of good camaraderie and mutual support going on throughout the day.

 

We were asked to sign a variety of weird and wonderful things. Many of the authors there

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One of the other authors gets video interviewed

seemed to have an autograph book that got passed around by various of the assistants for us to sign and some asked us to sign things like blank canvases,  T-shirts and canvas tote bags. One or two of these items ended up as prizes in one of the many raffles that were going on but many seemed to have them mainly as a memento of the day. We also ended up on video twice over the course of the afternoon. Once by a blogger who was looking to collect footage of authors promoting their books (my contribution was horribly garbled, I hate being on video) and later by Samantha Harrington who was doing a live feed from Facebook of her walking around the site. We get about 5 seconds of fame in that – a brief hello and a wave after she got distracted by corsetry. I will check permissions and share both of these when they are available.

 

IMG_4836.jpgThe signing bit of the day ended at 5 and once we had packed up all our stock and cleared the marquee of tables, we went and got some food from the BBQ while the stage was set up for the gig. Unfortunately, due to the vagaries of public transport meaning we had to leave before 9 we only managed to catch one of the acts that were lined up to perform but did enjoy that a lot – she had a good singing voice and played well.

By the time I got home it was late and I was exhausted from pulling the suitcase full of books but I had a sense of having had a good and productive day.

 

*Which led to a great night out and the chance to meet some of the readers who were there to get books signed. Fun was had discussing everything from Wales to the current economic situation, but did mean I did not get to bed until near 1am.

**Something which will be easily disproved at the upcoming Sandbach Author event in November as that is looking like an event pretty much all the Tea Society is going to so we can all be seen in the same room at the same time with no need to slip off to the toilets to put wigs and false moustaches on – the Ninfa wig really itches too. Only one who cannot make it is R.A Smith. Having trouble finding an actor skilled enough to play him :).

Blood Secrets by Elizabeth Morgan

06 Friday May 2016

Posted by in Musings, Vampire Month

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Those who follow this blog will know I am unashamedly a huge fan of Elizabeth’s writing. I reviewed the first novel in the Blood series, she is a Vampire month alumni and I had the pleasure of going with her to a number of events, including the Yorkshire comic con. Where she met Gambit…

Therefore I have absolutely no qualms about recommending Blood Secrets which is the second book in the series that begins with Cranberry Blood… I hope to be able to read and review this myself sometime soon. Until then please read this extract…

gambit2

Gambit meets Elizabeth Morgan

Blood Secrets
Blood Series: Book Two

Blurb:

When your life is messed up to begin with, how much worse can it really get?

Heather Ryan’s life has never been simple. The latest in a long line of descendants who have made it their mission to hunt down and slay the Ancient Vampire, Marko Pavel, she is also the first born Infected. Up until recently, the biggest downside to living with the Vampyrric Virus was simply that she craved blood, but after receiving a DVD from her deceased Grandmother Sofia and being kidnapped with friend and so called guardian Werewolf, Brendan Daniels, she quickly discovers that she is also the inspiration behind the Vampires’ attempt to create a whole new breed of super monsters—Hybrids.

12799081_1023635497696916_1922083712313817560_nThe truth comes at a cost, but how much does one have to sacrifice to gain success?

Following the breadcrumbs left by her psychic Grandmother, Heather and Brendan find themselves in new territory. Venice is where Heather hopes to find Marie, the second Bloodling of Marko, along with Brendan’s three taken Pack members. But an old Peace Pact between the Italian Pack and the Colony means they are left hunting blind, and due to the Italian Alpha’s reluctance to believe their story of kidnap and experimentation on Loup-Garous, time is running out. So when help comes from an unlikely source, they have no choice but to accept.

All families have secrets, but blood can’t lie.

Caught up in an intricate and complicated scheme spun by the one she trusts the most and the friend of her enemy, Heather soon discovers that she is the pawn in a plan she would never have been able to conceive. But how many of her new allies were in on the game, to begin with?

This title contains explicit language, violence, and some scenes of a sexual nature.

Length: 127,000 words | Content: Urban Fantasy| Publisher: Elizabeth Morgan

** Download your copy of Blood Secrets (Blood Series: Book Two) at the celebratory release price $3.49. Thereafter it will　revert to the price of $4.49. **

Buy Links:
Smashwords: http://bit.ly/1VwXVL0
ARe: http://bit.ly/1W9We4s
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1Wb8S3b
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1MDoLxP
iTunes: Coming Soon
Kobo: Coming Soon
Barnes&Noble: Coming Soon

Blood Secrets will also be available in print from Amazon and Barnes&Noble in the next few weeks.

~ * ~

 

[Vampire Month] Blood Secrets cover reveal

12 Saturday Mar 2016

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You may remember Elizabeth Morgan from a previous Vampire Month… Well, she has (finally*) managed to get round to finishing the sequel to the excellent Cranberry Blood… And this weekend she has revealed the cover! So here it is…12799081_1023635497696916_1922083712313817560_n* Still not as bad as R.A Smith who is still working on Winter Storm and he is not as bad as G.R.R Martin who I am sure is only delaying his latest novel to troll the universe…

Creak by Elizabeth Morgan

13 Sunday Sep 2015

Posted by in Giveaway, Guest posts

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Today we have a guest post by long time Tea Society member and Vampire Month regular, Elizabeth Morgan. She is here to present to us her latest release – erotic suspense novel Creak. I’ll leave her to tell you all about it.10723079_929879940405806_557017422_n

“What happens in Silver Creek…stays in Silver Creek.”

After spending the summer as a recluse due to a bad break-up, Nicole Saunders agrees to go to The Heat Wave Festival with her best friends, Kacey and Tyler.

Along with three other friends, they plan to take a shortcut through the small town of Silver Creek. The last thing any of them expect is to become lost and end up pulling into a motel for the night.

The Creek Motel is isolated and the last place Nicole wants to be, especially after meeting the glacial owner. But her discomfort is soon forgotten as she finally gives in to her feelings and asks Kacey and Tyler to spend the night with her.

This should be bliss, but it quickly turns into a nightmare when she discovers that one of their friends has mysteriously disappeared from her locked room in the middle of the night.

Worried, Nicole presumes the worst, but she will soon discover that isolation can be the perfect stage for those who have something to hide…and that Jayne’s disappearance is more disturbing than any of them could have guessed.

This title contains explicit language and scenes of a sexual and/or violent nature which some readers may find disturbing.

Buy Links:
Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/Creak-Elizabeth-Morgan-ebook/dp/B014LZJV3G/ref=sr_1_16?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1440865613&sr=1-16&keywords=Elizabeth+Morgan
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Creak-Elizabeth-Morgan-ebook/dp/B014LZJV3G/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1440865472&sr=1-1&keywords=Elizabeth+Morgan
ARe: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-creak-1876668-356.html
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/572894
Barnes&Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/creak-elizabeth-morgan/1114301340?ean=2940152122718
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/creak/id1035056199?mt=11
~ * ~

11259833_929880420405758_1520929928_oExcerpt:
I pressed my head to the wood, mentally preparing myself for the hard stare of a nosey redhead, but when I turned round, I found an empty bed.
“Jayne?”
No reply.
I walked over to the bathroom and pushed the door open only to find the small room empty. My unease began to twist further as I looked round the room. The dishevelled covers and pillows confirmed that I wasn’t going crazy and that she had been in bed, but her case appeared to be missing. I pulled the door to the built-in wardrobe open, hoping like hell she was playing a childish prank to get back at me for my absence, but found it empty, and strangely cold.
A knock on the door caused my heart to flutter. “Who is it?”
“It’s Shauna.”
I walked over and unlocked the door, pulling it wide. “Is Jayne with you?”
Her brow furrowed. “Er, no. I actually came to see her.”
“She’s not here.”
“Well, where is she?”
“I don’t know.” Guilt stabbed at me. “I, er—I kinda couldn’t sleep so I went and had a few drinks and then crashed with Kacey and Tyler last night.”
Shauna arched a perfectly plucked eyebrow. “You guys got wasted last night? You should have told us. We were so bored.”
I shrugged. “We thought you two would want some ‘alone time’.”
She snorted. “Oh, heck, Craig’s good, but he’s not that good. Trust me. Getting wasted would have been a nice break.”
I looked round the room. “I locked the door behind me, so how did she get out?”
Unease began to rapidly turn in my stomach.
“Maybe she climbed out of the window?” Shauna walked over to the window and pulled the curtains open—a single panel of glass had been welded to the frame. “Okay, maybe not.”
My gut twisted. “Oh, God, what if something’s happened to her? What if someone broke in and—”
“Nikki, be serious. You would know if someone had broken in. The window would be smashed, or the lock on the door would have been broken.” She walked over to the bathroom doorway and glanced inside. “And your bathroom window is as small as ours is. So, no one got in.”
“What if the lock was picked? What if—”
“Are you seriously suggesting that someone picked the lock, kidnapped Jayne, and then locked the door behind them? That’s insane. Plus, ten minutes with her and they would have brought her straight back.”
I wanted to find this ridiculous. I wanted to believe that Jayne had somehow gotten out and was playing a trick on me as payback, but my gut wasn’t buying it. Something was very wrong.
“Jayne was locked inside this room. Tell me how the hell she got out?”
“I have no idea, but I’m sure there is a logical explanation.”
She looked doubtful, and the sight made me all the more sick.
“Something’s happened to her. I don’t know what, but—” The steady humming of wheels caught my attention. I turned and looked at the window, watching as Sarah’s shadow moved across the closed curtains. “I saw someone outside Kay and Ty’s window last night. I don’t know who it was. One of the other guests, or maybe the owners…and they have spare keys, don’t they? Technically, they would be the only other people able to get into this room—”
Shauna appeared in front of me. She grabbed my arms and looked me dead in the eyes. “Nikki, you’re talking crazy, and it’s starting to freak me out. I don’t know what happened, but let’s not jump to conclusions. There has to be a reasonable explanation for this.”
She let go of my arms and glanced round the room once more as if there was some corner I had forgot to check. “Just get ready and go get Tyler and Kacey.” A faint smile fluttered on her lips as she looked back at me. “Craig and I will go check at reception and ask the owners if they’ve seen her. Okay?”
I nodded. “Yeah, all right.”
“Just relax. She could have gone for a walk or something,” she stated before disappearing from sight.
Perhaps, but that still didn’t explain how she got out of a locked room.

~ * ~
About the Author:

Elizabeth Morgan is a multi-published author of urban fantasy, paranormal, erotic horror, f/f, and contemporary; all with a degree of romance, a dose of action and a hit of sarcasm, sizzle or blood, but you can be sure that no matter what the genre, Elizabeth always manages to give a unique and often humorous spin to her stories.
Like her tagline says; A pick ‘n’ mix genre author. “I’m not greedy. I just like variety.”
And that she does, so look out for more information on her upcoming releases at her website: http://www.e-morgan.com
Away from the computer, Elizabeth can be found in the garden trying hard not to kill her plants, dancing around her little cottage with the radio on while she cleans, watching movies or good television programmes – Dr Who? Atlantis? The Musketeers? Poldark? American Horror Story? Heck, yes! – Or curled up with her two cats reading a book.

Where to find Elizabeth Online:
Website: http://www.e-morgan.com
Blog: http://www.xxxxmyworldxxxx.blogspot.co.uk
Twitter: @EMorgan2010
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/ElizabethMorgan
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/elizabeth.morgan.944
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/elizabethm2012/boards/
TSU: https://www.tsu.co/ElizabethMorgan
Zazzle: http://www.zazzle.co.uk/elizabeth_morgan
~ * ~
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Not so secret society

27 Monday Jul 2015

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I guess over the last few months an insidious and influential group has slowly been showing its hand. You may not have been aware of them, at first. They are an organisation who were cloaked in shadow. However, you may have met some of them, maybe at an author event, maybe passed them in the street. They have guided civilisation from the earliest days, raised kings and toppled princes, manipulated the stock market and contributed to the success of numerous creative artists. They have agents everywhere. Well, mainly in the UK. Actually, mainly in Manchester really with a couple elsewhere. To be honest, not all that many even in Manchester… but, so great are these agents they don’t need many to fulfil their schemes.tea society badge2

The name of this epic organisation? Why, it is none other than the Tea Society.

And if you are at this point thinking ‘Who?’ then that is testament to our ability to so totally blend into the background.

The origins of the Tea Society go back a number of years when a handful of writers who lived in Manchester started having sort of not very regular meetings to talk about writing. The name was a joke that rose out of the fact that we could not think of a name and all we seemed to do at the meetings was drink tea and in the end it sort of stuck.

Later, after some discussions around a shared trade table at a steampunk market, we came to the conclusion that it was really difficult sharing a table as we tended to do and maintaining a solid identity for customers to recognise. So, Elizabeth Morgan arranged for there to be a banner and Rachel Bostwick (Queen of trailers and other graphic design goodness) was hired to give us some brand identity with our official logo.

The banner debuted at the Yorkshire Cosplay con earlier this year and was also seen briefly at the World Book Night event at the Fab Café. It will next emerge this weekend at the Literally Literary event at Leeds Central Library and then at the MancsterCon in Salford on August 29th.

stallSo, now that we are out in the open, you may be able to guess some of our members… they include R.A Smith, Ninfa Hayes, Miriam Khan and of course myself. But there are others such as Pat Keheller, Erica Hayes and Alex Campbell (whose book is out soon, you should totally check it out).

If you see any of us at an event, especially if we have the banner up, feel free to come over and have a chat about books in general or our books in particular (and maybe even buy some). I am also currently pondering a special deal where if you promise to do some publicity – take some leaflets to be delivered to local businesses, tweet or share on Facebook, or otherwise spread the word – you may qualify for a special limited edition Tea Society badge. I’ll get out more details of this once I work them out properly.

Hope to see you all at an event soon!

A day of Yorkshire cosplay

11 Saturday Apr 2015

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Security by Skaro Extermination services

Security by Skaro Extermination services

After a very polite (and totally out of the blue) invite from the organisers I trotted ‘oop norf’ to Sheffield for a day at the Yorkshire Cosplay convention at the Magna conference centre. I was accompanied on this trip by Elizabeth Morgan, who you may remember from Vampire Month. Our stated goals were to promote and sell books. Our actual goals included such things as seeing lots of cool Cosplayers and maybe buy some comics.

Luckily, the organisers had guessed our secret agenda and therefore placed us facing the food area where a lot of the Cosplayers were hanging out and right next to a comic stall, the owner of which quickly picked up on Elizabeth’s fangirl thing for Gambit…

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You can see the temptation of the Comic stall right next to us…

Regular readers will be aware of my dilemma about dressing for public appearances. For Steampunk it is usually a waistcoat and cravat, for more mundane events a t-shirt and jeans. As this was a Cosplay con, I thought I’d go the whole hog and regency-up in a full tailcoat ensemble and play a character from one of my favourite books – Mr Johnathon Strange from Susanna Clarke’s novel Johnathon Strange and Mr Norrell. I even completed the ensemble with an appropriately titled book of magic (from the list of titles found in the Library at Hurtfew and created by Anachronalia) to make sure everyone was aware of exactly who I was Cosplaying. Not that anyone asked. But then why would they be interested in an unassuming, polite Regency magician when Darth Vader was stalking around with a squad of Stormtroopers, Loki was doing interviews, the Terminator was hamming up a bad Austrian accent, Bumblebee was posing for photos with fans and a great big AT AT was stomping around…

loki interview

Loki does a piece to the camera for his TV show

ATAT

This was one of the most impressive costumes I saw. And yes, it is a costume not a model

darth

Vader making an appearance

stormtrooper

One of Vader’s honour guard

Oh and Elizabeth got her dream and met her hero…

Gambit meets Elizabeth Morgan

Gambit meets Elizabeth Morgan

One advantage of my Cosplaying was I got to go into the dressing room and see the real Cosplayers getting ready. This was an experience. The amount of effort and detail that goes into what even the amateur Cosplayers do is phenomenal and these guys were Pros. A lot of elaborate costume, all home made, along with complicated electronics and props all gave the impression of the dressing room for an actual film set rather than a convention in Yorkshire.

The day included a number of interesting discussions with various people who visited the stall. Conversation veered from women in gaming (Gamergate reared its ugly head a little) to women in fiction and LRP. If nothing else I may have managed to steer one young lady who lives in Cornwall towards contacting my old friends in the Blood Red Roses LRP group. During quiet times we tried to keep a count of the number of different versions of the same characters. There were many Catwomen, several Harley Quinns, a couple of Black Widows but only one Black Cat (amazing how much variety a simple black catsuit can give a female Cosplayer). There is a probably a discussion to be had at some point about the lack of female role models leading to many having to dress as the same few characters but that can wait for a later day. Disappointingly we only saw a few versions of the Doctor (why does no one Cosplay William Hartnell? Has to surely be an option for the older Cosplayer) but did see an excellently well done gender switched 10th Doctor and of course there were a number of Daleks and a TARDIS. There was also an Amy Pond in ‘strippergram police uniform’ and a few Poison Ivy’s. In all some excellent costumes.

It was also International Hug A Wookie day. Maybe...

It was also International Hug A Wookie day. Maybe…

Elizabeth’s stock of badges with quotes from her books went

The 11th Doctor finds time for some comic shopping

The 11th Doctor finds time for some comic shopping

quickly with the common refrain being ‘are you sure they are free?’ and a number of swagpacks and postcards were taken up. I claimed one of the more popular badge choices before they all went.

The planned panel discussion with some of the authors who were present unfortunately had to be cancelled due to lack of interest. Maybe next time we can draw a few more into the panel room…

In all it was a very entertaining if tiring day. Next event for me is the World Book Night at the Fab Café on 23rd April. After that I am in Salford for the Mancster con… more on those in a later post.

D.A Lascelles is the author of Lurking Miscellany, Transitions (Mundania Press) and Gods of the Sea (Pulp Empires). He lives in Manchester UK. You can sometimes see him writing about Zombie porn on https://lurkingmusings.wordpress.com/ but he mostly blogs about books, vampires, science fiction and Terry Pratchett. He is inordinately proud of the fact that one of his Pratchett articles was referenced on the French version of the author’s Wikipedia page.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DaLascelles

Twitter: @areteus

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[Vampire Month] Review of Cranberry Blood by Elizabeth Morgan

15 Sunday Mar 2015

Posted by in Musings, Reviews, Vampire Month

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As we have just had a week of Elizabeth Morgan, it seemed appropriate to post my review of Cranberry Blood. A review that has also gone to Goodreads and Amazon.

Cranberry Blood by Elizabeth Morgan

Available from www.e-morgan.com

Heather Ryan is a Slayer, the latest in a long line of family members dedicated to the lifelong quest of killing a particular very old vampire – Marko Pavel. If that is not complicated enough, she was also born infected with Vampire blood, a condition she manages with the help of a concoction of Cranberry juice and animal blood (hence the title).Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000038_00064]

One day her life is saved by a werewolf called Brendan who claims to have been sent by her recently dead grandmother.  It seems grannie had seen the need for them to be together in one of her visions, which are usually scarily accurate. Though Heather always respected her grandmother’s abilities as a seer, she finds it hard to come to terms with why she now has to put up with the irritating Brendan – what danger is he supposed to protect her from?

Morgan quickly establishes a dynamic between her two main characters, one of sniping and arguments. The over protective alpha male with the snarky alpha female rebelling against his attempts to ‘save her’ is a common trope in urban fantasy but one which is presented very well here and will appeal to fans of this genre. This relationship is threaded throughout the plot, which revolves around Heather’s attempts to track down her ancient nemesis and his attempts to use her for his own ends, and adds an appropriate level of zip to an already fast paced story. In my reading of this, there was no thoughts of ‘will they/won’t they’ because it is clear from the first page Brendan appears that they will. The question is more when and how many buildings will be destroyed in the aftermath.

Cranberry Blood is a very British Urban Fantasy novel. Heather is an Irish girl living in London, Brendan is described as having a northern accent and it turns out his pack live in Scotland. The action moves from inner city London to the wilds of Scotland giving this more a Being Human/Dog Soldiers vibe than most US based UF. This is a refreshing change and reminds readers that the Vampire and Werewolf myths that most UF take from originate in Europe. This is played upon in the characterisation of some of the characters – the Vampires are very Eurotrash in their attitude, for example. It certainly makes for a more familiar setting to those who live in the UK than the often unreal skyscapes of New York or Chicago. This may alienate US audiences but then again it may not as there are many Anglophiles on the other side of the pond who may also be looking for something that is different to standard UF.

If I have one issue with Cranberry Blood it is the concept of a Slayer. Now, I am happy with the idea of a family dedicated through many generations to killing a specific Vampire menace. It makes sense – you have to play the long game when dealing with immortal bloodsuckers and I really like the thought that has gone into this. However, I am not sure I would have gone so far as to have made that into a proper noun. Not only is there an issue of Joss Whedon potentially considering it a challenge to his IP (though not a huge one as the similarities basically end with the name and the fact this particular one is female) but I am not convinced that it really deserves that capital letter. That implies there is some official title involved when really it is a private, internal family thing. Had there been a secret underground organisation that trained multiple people to fight vampires (such as the Church order detailed in Skyla Dawn Cameron’s novel Hunter) and that organisation granted graduates of their training programme some form of official title then I’d be happy that they could be called Slayers. Using it in a family seems wrong to me. However, this is only a very minor gripe in what is basically a very well written and fascinating novel.

Overall, Cranberry Blood is a novel worth taking a look at. A very fun romp through a very British urban fantasy landscape. I’d like to see more UF set in this country.