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[Vampire Month] Vampire Fiction in the 21st Century by Zoe Adams

27 Thursday Mar 2014

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Our last Vampire Month guest post for this year is from Zoe Adams. Here she talks about Vampires in the 21st Century.

I’ve read a few vampire books over the years. I essentially got hooked on them when I started secondary school, finding a group of friends who didn’t think I was weird because I read fantasy books. It was through these friends I found a love of rock music and found some lyrics Gothic, connecting to vampires – mainly during those teenage years it was Aiden, Marilyn Manson and My Chemical Romance.FacebookHomescreenImage

Listening to those bands now makes me want to write vampire fiction. Sadly, I’ve never got round to it, but it hasn’t stopped me dreaming or throwing imaginary barriers up against myself.

The main barrier in writing about vampires is the angle on which to approach them.

Young Adult vampire fiction very much follows a love triangle. Usually, the novel follows a female protagonist who meets a strange and alluring young man, who reveals that he is a vampire. Of course, this is forbidden love and we root for them to be together. Occasionally, a new breed of creature is thrown in, expanding the paranormal world entirely, and these type of books end up as a trilogy or a long lasting series.

Another take on it, is that our heroine, aware of the existing world of supernatural beings, falls in love with the vampire, and then has to choose between him and another supernatural, or the occasional human. Blood taking is usually involved and by the end of the series, love has won out. A cure has been found and they are happily human, or they are living together, forever youthful.

This is a common style of plot in the Young Adult paranormal fiction market, but it brings its problems with it. Mainly that these vampires are not real at all. The common debate is what self-respecting vampire would choose to spend time back at school, masquerading as a sulky teenage boy or girl? How does he or she manage the time at school – surely they must have to go into sunlight? What do they feed upon?

The Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyer made young adult vampires her own, giving them sparkling skin in sunlight, and moving into a town that is nine times out of ten, gloomy, dull, dark and wet. This allows these shining beautiful creatures to walk in the daytime and interact with humans. The night still gives them the cover they need to chase animals, to drink their blood to sustain them.

Whether it’s my age, but I seem to be straying away from Young Adult vampires. I’m finding the plots predictable and the heroines dull and lifeless. The vampires aren’t even attractive to me anymore.

All these thoughts, opinions and impressions make me doubt my ability to write a new and stunning vampire novel, for young adults.

My other option would be to write an adult novel.

Whilst we have similar plot lines, the vampires are an entirely new breed. They are hunky, well built, dark, brooding creatures who have no qualms about drinking from a live human source. The vampires have been around for centuries and have learnt tricks of the trade – mainly that if they drink blood, they are able to flood it to a certain part of the body for pleasurable acts. More often than not, these carnal acts of love and lust are with humans, who find the act themselves sensual and a little bit scary.

jrw-cover-lav-big    J. R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood vampires are these kinds. They are a society, brothers in arms as they defend their race against soulless creatures which threaten their existence. They use weapons – swords, guns, anything they can lay their hands on. They drive fast cars with reckless abandon. You can see the human side of these vampires and at the same time appreciate that Ward keeps them on track. Whilst stories and characters overlap in the series’, these vampires hunt and live for the night. They are damaged by the sun’s light, forcing them to have tinted cars and metal blinds in their homes. They drink blood from humans when they need to and often the Brothers drink from the loves of their lives, who are not always human, not always vampire.

The vampires connect to basic human emotions – struggling with addiction, their own inner psychological issues and finding a true place in the world.

Either way we look at the argument, vampires are still heavily popular. Books like the Twilight series and the Black Dagger Brotherhood connect and bring readers together from all over the world, from all walks of life. Readers emphasise with characters, find their own desires and learn things about themselves that they have never learnt before. For example, in Anne Rice’s novel, Interview with the Vampire, readers see a side to bonds of friendship and love. It is often insinuated that the time that Louis and Lestat spent together, they became lovers. In further novels, Lestat is unabashed in this belief. The bond they shared went deeper than the connection of creator and subservient, and this represents the belief that homosexuality is not a curse.

Bloggers and reporters alike will argue about these books places in society, but what they have to remember is that vampire fiction has been around for years, and will continue to sell years later, as the young and old alike continue to read them.

Bestselling Author Zoe Adams
 
Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing
Hot Ink Press
Vamptasy Publishing
 
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[Guest Post] Paige Dearth – write what you know.

18 Sunday Aug 2013

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Making Connections Paige Dearth

Today we focus on the work of Paige Dearth, author of Believe Like a Child and When Smiles Fade.

In her debut novel, Believe like a Child, the main character Alessa is the victim of child abuse from her uncle. The story is one of redemption and of a woman taking control of her own life.

In When Smiles Fade, her latest novel released this year, the main character Emma is also abused as a child as you can see from this synopsis:

Emma was unloved from the moment she was born. Her earliest memory is being severely beaten by her father, Pepper Murphy, when she was just eight-yearsold. Seething with resentment over the sacrifice of his dreams for a woman he cares little about and children he never wanted, Pepper chooses to blame his older daughter. Her mother, Valerie, makes matters worse with her verbal abuse, leaving Emma isolated with a man that had no boundaries in punishing his daughter, taking his abuse to unimaginable levels. Emma’s father’s coldblooded beatings and the ultimate abuse to which he subjects her, lays the foundation of the person she becomes. As she matures into a resourceful teenager, she is unwilling and unable to stifle her desire for revenge. Reaching her breaking point she can no longer control the impulse to fight back and finally takes matters into her own hands. Having learned the art of hatred from her father and the mastery of manipulation from her mother, young Emma now sets out to make a better life for herself, leaving the memory of the abused child she had once been behind her. Hardened by the heartless brutality she encounters and the dangerous situations she must overcome in the course of her journey, she faces every challenge that comes her way in her quest for a normal life for herself and for those she loves. Finally a person emerges from within that guides her toward a better life until she learns of a secret that sets her on the path of ultimate redemption.

Both stories contain inspiration taken from Paige’s own life. She herself was a victim of child abuse at an early age and spent her childhood not believing that she had the potential to much in the way of ambition. When she finally went to college at the age of 29, she did not even believe that she was capable of passing the college level courses and yet she finally left college with an MBA 8 years later and a feeling that she had conquered her fear of learning. There followed a successful career in corporate America and finally a writing career that has seen her earn a finalist place in the thriller category of the National Indie Excellence Book Awards. Paige’s own life is an example of someone seeking to improve their lot.

So, both novels mirror events in Paige’s life, she has used her real life to inspire her writing. This ties in with the common author’s adage of ‘write what you know’. This saying is often mocked, especially in fantasy and SF, because you cannot ‘know’ what it is like to be a Dragon or an Orc or a wizard. However, this is applying an ad absurdum argument because there are still elements of a person’s life which will apply to any fictional character. Likewise in a suspense thriller, there are almost certainly going to be things in there that an author has not experienced but the trick is to take the things that have happened to you and apply them. Writing what you know is all about adding a level of emotional veracity to the writing that is conveyed to the reader. The use of the term ‘what you know’ is actually a misnomer as it really is not about knowledge at all. Knowledge is what you get from books and, these days, from the internet – whether by looking something up on Google or (as commonly happens) asking a question on a forum populated by experts in that area. Instead it is all about the experience – the emotional and physical impact that this has on you as an individual. I believe that this level of veracity is important. You don’t need to necessarily add emotional context to every event in your story but it does help if you have some personal life experiences you can call upon if needed. They may not be as traumatic as those described here, I would not wish such things on anyone if it could be at all avoided, but any life event can be useful – the tastes of food, the smell of the inside of a car, what it feels like to spend all day in a library reading ancient books. An author should be prepared to reflect upon their experiences and consider what they can learn from them and what they can use to improve their writing.

You can find out more about Paige on her website: www.paigedearth.com.

You can buy her books on the following links:

Believe Like a Child (US)

Believe Like a Child (UK)

When Smiles Fade (US)

When Smiles Fade (UK)

Later this year she also plans to release her third novel so please keep an eye out for that.

Tennis and Football stars from Newcastle by Dr. Jo Bath

04 Thursday Jul 2013

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Today’s guest post is by Dr. Jo Bath, co-author of The Newcastle Book of Days, which is a collection of ‘On this Day’ style anecdotes and historical snippets centred around the city of Newcastle Upon Tyne. Being as how it is a city close to my heart, being close to where I was born, my interest is especially piqued by this book. I even remember some of the events described, including the building of the Metro described below. Here she talks about some of the stories she came across when writing the book, including one that is very relevant in Wimbledon season…

Muriel Robb

One of the best things about writing a Book of Days has been the freedom to explore more or less any aspect of local history that caught my eye. Of course, some things were always going to be included in one form or another. You can’t cover Newcastle’s history without referring to, for instance, the Great Fire which devastated the Quayside on October 6th 1854, the development of Grainger Town or the birth of the Metro (the largest urban transport project of twentieth-century Britain). But what really excited me were the nooks and crannies of the city’s history, the almost-forgotten figures and stories which have all, in their way, made the place what it is today.

I’m sitting in my office listening to the tennis, and that reminds me that Newcastle has a Wimbledon champion all of its own in 23-year-old Jesmond-based Muriel Robb. Admittedly her victory was on July 2nd 1902, so the contest was very different from the modern game. Wimbledon merely hosted the English National Championships (though participants did come from further afield – Robb had already won the Irish, Scottish and Welsh Championships). At the time, the women’s game was quite sedate, with underarm serves delivered by refined ladies in floor-length dresses and straw hats. But Robb was a blast of fresh air. Despite the handicap of corsetry, she was a relatively speedy mover and probably the first woman to serve overarm. Contemporary Arthur Myers said that “her command of the ball was so striking, her forehand drives so deadly, and her overhead service so effective, while her self-possession was so apparent,” that her opponents were often placed at a disadvantage.
Remarkably, due to a strange decision Robb’s Wimbledon final, against defending champion Charlotte Sterry, was the longest women’s Wimbledon final in history. The match was drawn at a set each when rain stopped play. Rather than playing a deciding set the next day, the committee decided to wipe the scoreboard and start from scratch! This time, Robb won comfortably – after playing a total of 53 games. Despite her powerful play, her health was never that robust, and she retired later the same year. She died less than five years later, of unknown causes – the youngest Wimbledon champion ever to die.

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Armstrong Munitionettes

Speaking of female sports players, Newcastle’s ladies (as you might expect) were also pioneers on the football field. The British Ladies’ Football Club played at St James’ Park on April 20th, 1895, only a month after they formed, and a crowd of 8,000 gathered to watch the “spectacle”. The reporter for the Sporting Man was obviously confused by the whole thing, and spent all his time describing the women’s attire. He concluded that “the young women presented a pretty appearance on the field, and this was in great measure due to the nice assortment of colours, as well as the dainty way the women set them off”! The quality of football played on this occasion is unclear, but certainly twenty years later a new generation of teenage girls embraced the sport with enthusiasm. The Munitionettes League was formed in 1917, made up of teams from the women workers of the factories of the north-east, and was the first ever league for women’s football. Made obsolete by the end of the war, the League lasted less than three years, but St James’ Park, host to the cup final, saw some remarkable young women in action. Mary Brown, playing for Palmer’s of Jarrow, not only played in the 1919 final (March 22nd) but at 14 was the youngest-ever footballer, of either gender, to play for England!

Interview with Neelima Vinod

09 Sunday Jun 2013

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Today we are back with Neelima Vinod, author of the recently released novella, Unsettled. Neelima was originally supposed to be contributing this interview to Vampire month but circumstances conspired and instead she sent us a piece of fiction. I promised her the chance to answer the Vampire month questions when her book finally came out and so here are her answers…70112929-019 copy

1) What is the earliest memory you have of writing? What did you write about?

I remember writing  letters to my grandparents on blue envelopes that doubled as writing paper. I wrote to them at great length about the things that I did and the books I was reading. I wrote poems a great deal as well. When did you decide to become a professional writer? Why did you take this step? After my sons were born. It’s been seven years since I made that decision. I had always chosen to do jobs that had a lot to do with language like editing, and literature, like teaching. But  it was not enough. I needed to write more. So I wrote for magazines and blogs. I worked on writing fiction and poetry that I would like.  I searched a long time for my voice. When I was presented with an opportunity to write a novella last year, it happened easily.

2) What would you consider to be your greatest strength as a writer? What about your greatest weakness? How do you overcome this weakness?

My strength has to be my love for poetry- that gives me a sense of rhythm when I write. The amazing part of the digital age is the immense access you have to poetry. Although poetry books are not flying off the shelves, there are archives and archives of good poems and readings. This ability to read almost any poem out there has opened my world.  My weakness is that I keep editing what I write. That slows my pace. What I try to do now is write continuously without being overburdened by the possibility of change. Yet I keep faltering….

3) Tell us about the place where you live. Have you ever derived any inspiration from your home or from anywhere you have visited?

Well my ebook ‘Unsettled’ is straight out of the place where my ancestors lived. The same hundred roomed house, no ghosts though! I’m romantically attached to Kerala in southern India,  especially my mother’s ancestral homeland. I visit Kerala often and  the images of the sunny green palm studded landscape seem to have seeped into my heart and mind.

4unsettled-200x300) Which book, if any, would you consider to be your greatest influence and inspiration?

Wuthering Heights is a book that I love- it’s the first book about haunted love that held my undivided attention.  The Victorian writers set the stage for the paranormal excesses that we see today.

5) What drove you to write about Vampires?

The story ‘Unsettled’ has a vampire seductress- what is called a yakshi in subcontinental literature. I grew up listening to stories about yakshis- my mother and grandmother are good story tellers. As they spoke about their lives, I lived those lives too and the idea of a yakshi appealed to me a great deal.  A yakshi is normally pictured as insensitive in stories and movies, though she is also worshipped in some parts. The female stereotype irked me a great deal- the idea seemed absurd that a beautiful woman would hang on a tree and devour innocent men who could not help being tempted by their delicious floral scent. The yakshi will make a night of it and then devour the innocent man and leave his nails and hair like trophies for all to see. Why is she so angry? I often wondered. So I decided that my yakshi would be less woman, though she is terribly attractive, and more human.

6) What do you think is the attraction for Vampire fiction? Why is it such a popular topic?

There are so many people in one person- a part of each of us is fascinated by negativity as it is as much a part of life as all things bright and beautiful. People read vampire fiction for thrills- it makes you feel terribly alive when you read it.

7) In a fight between all the greatest Vampires of fiction, who do you think would come out on top?

You can’t beat Count Dracula….he’s a precursor of all the fanged blood suckers that come after.

8) What about in some other contest such as sexiness or dress sense? Who would win that one?

I’m hoping Thathri, my yakshi would win that one Her kohl drenched eyes and lustrous hair give her a slight advantage.

9) How well do you think one of your characters would fare against the winner(s) of the above?

Well the Count may just get smitten by the yakshi…she’s far too seductive to ignore.

10) Tell us the basic premise behind your latest novel.

The story is about a search for love. When a couple who fall out of love go in search of the scrolls of love, they come face to face with a paranormal reality. A yakshi guards the scrolls at the hundred roomed house- she has been haunting the Big House for centuries. Although the book is about an outward search, it is a psychological drama of a seductress who is angry at the deck of cards called life she’s been given. The story goes back and forth in time- there is the present disillusioned Indian couple and there is a story that happened five centuries ago.  We all search for love but suppose our search is the very basis of the existence of someone else’s memory? What then? That’s what I wanted to talk about.

Unsettled: A summary by Neelima Vinod

05 Wednesday Jun 2013

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You may remember Neelima from her appearance in Vampire Month in March this year. When Vampire Month was going live, she was on the verge of releasing her new novella – Unsettled – but did not really have much to tell us about it. This has now been rectified. Unsettled is out now and here Neelima tells us all about it…70112929-019 copy

Unsettled: A summary

The e-novella ‘Unsettled’ is about a search. We all go out in search of something, don’t we? Life is that. This story is set in the subcontinent- a young couple, Divya and Raghav,  have fallen out of love. They meet Dr. Ray with his unconventional methods. He zeroes in on the primary problem in their marriage. The only thing that can fix it is a search for the Scrolls of Love. Anyone who gets their hands on these scrolls will fall in love again, so goes the myth.

There’s a story behind the Scrolls of Love as well- I go back in time, five centuries ago in fact, to tell you the story of these scrolls of love, actually poems written by a court poet who was banished into Cherakad, a snake-infested forest land. Once a court poet, now a homeless man, the court poet walks into a house with one hundred rooms.

The unhappy couple walk into the same house centuries later. There they meet a femme fatale Yakshi spirit, drowned in centuries of loneliness. She’s a vampire seductress who refuses to bury memories and has a taste(a serious hunger) for young men. She knows what the couple are looking for and she is not the sort who will part with what Divya wants most.

unsettled-200x300Where does the search take them? That is what ‘Unsettled’ is all about.

Here’s a link to the book page: http://indireads.com/unsettled

Here’s a link to my author profile at Indireads: http://www.indireads.com/ir_author/neelima/

Bio: Neelima writes fiction and blogs poetry @ neelthemuse.wordpress.com. She’s written a book with a paranormal twist which will be coming out soon.

[Vampire Month] Lynda Bester Interview

08 Friday Mar 2013

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Today’s victim for the Vampire Month interrogation chair is Lynda Bester. She lives in Florida, South Africa and is the author of Total Surrender and apparently has a lot of other books in the pipeline covering a range of genres. Check out her webpage on lyndabester.co.za.lyndabestercropped

1) What is the earliest memory you have of writing? What did you write about?

I was no spring chicken. I was in grade 12, so 17or so and lamenting the fact that I always did so badly in English. Then one day it occurred to me that considering how many books I read that surely I should be able to write. And as they say, the rest is history.

2) When did you decide to become a professional writer? Why did you take this step?

Total Surrender was my first book, and it was published September 2012, so last year.

3) What would you consider to be your greatest strength as a writer? What about your greatest weakness? How do you overcome this weakness?

I think my greatest strength is I write with humour. No matter how hard I try to make my characters serious, I don’t always
succeed. Although let me add, the one time I set out to right a really humorous book, my character was so, so serious that I didn’t know what to do with him.

My greatest weakness…mmm….well, I have been told I must show instead of tell, and as soon as I figure out how THAT works, I will attempt to correct it.

4) Tell us about the place where you live. Have you ever derived any inspiration from your home or from anywhere you have visited?

I live in South Africa, on the West Rand in Florida – yes there is one in South Africa as well! –  South Africa is really beautiful, but so far I have not incorporated it into any of my books. I am planning to write an ‘end of the world book’ that will hinge nearly completely on my neighbourhood and surrounding areas.

image0025) Which book, if any, would you consider to be your greatest influence and inspiration?

I love books. Ever since my teacher in primary school (grade 5 or so) advised me to read more because it would improve my spelling (I still cannot spell to save my life!) I began to devour books. I actually don’t remember much about my high school and would probably walk right past someone who sat next to me in class and not remember them because my head was always in a book. But it was when I read Christine Feehan’s Dark Prince that I was exposed to a world that totally captivated me.

6) What drove you to write about Vampires?

Well as I said, I was totally inspired and set out to read as many vampire books as I could. But there came a day – at the time a very sad day – when I had nothing to read (sacrilege!), so I decided, why not write my own vampire book. And there you have it. The H’lix and Gorr vampires were born.

7) What do you think is the attraction for Vampire fiction? Why is it such a popular topic?
I think it is all the possibilities that it offers. There is the hot sexy men. The beautiful sultry women. Eternal life and
the selling point for me? Not having to cook or go grocery shopping again. (I am talking about the blood only vamps. Oooh, maybe I can come up with a name for them? You know, like vegetarians have? Or is there already a name for that, besides vampire I mean? What about haemotarian? Or Haemovore? Is that already taken? If not I call COPYWRITE!) Sorry, sometimes I ramble on. (Oh! Just
thought of another one! Bloody guts! Or should that be bloody gutses? Huh? Huh? What do you think? Yes? No? You can vote on it!)

8) In a fight between all the greatest Vampires of fiction, who do you think would come out on top?

Dracula. Cause he is the original (I think) so he has all the moves. Unless Jackie Chang had to be turned, then all bets are off. OR Chuck Norris. Wait, he won’t even have to be turned.

9) What about in some other contest such as sexiness or dress sense? Who would win that one?

Well my vamps are quite hot. But um let’s see…I think J R Wards

Vamps are quite sizzling in the dress department and out of it if you know what I mean. But then again, there is a lot to be said for the elegance of the vampires of old. I like leather and exposed flesh and sweaty…so either one I suppose. But I think the Black Dagger Brotherhood.2Mermaid's Cove book cover

10) How well do you think one of your characters would fare against the winner(s) of the above?
I think Devlin would stomp anyone of them if they threatened Sable. But other than that he would just smirk at them and walk
away.

11) Tell us the basic premise behind your latest novel.

If my mean my latest, latest novel, well then that is about mermaids. It should be on Amazon as we speak. Mermaid’s Cove. Sorry vampire fans!! But I do have a number of vampire books in the pipeline, including the really serious vamp one and book 2 and 3 and 4 etc of the Surrender Series. Dark Surrender should be out by June 2013. But to get back to my latest novel, it hinges around a piece of land that the mer-people desperately need to keep safe, so to ‘protect’ it from the greedy humans, they have drawn up a contract with the land owners, that basically states that the land can never be sold etc. but the current land owner, knows nothing about the contract because his parents were killed before he could be told.

[Giveaway] Remember the Stars by Natalie-Nicole Bates

07 Thursday Mar 2013

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Remember%20the%20Stars%20cover

Today we take a break from Vampire Month to consider some Paranormal Romance. Natalie-Nicole Bates is here to tell us all about Remember the Stars and has a giveaway for us to enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Click the link above to enter the competition to win a $10 Amazon Gift voucher which could be used to buy a copy of Remember the Stars (or, if you already own that, my book 🙂 ). Full details of Remember the Stars are included below along with how you can contact Natalie-Nicole Bates to learn more about her work.

Blurb:

Waking up in the gutter, for Leah Rhodes, life as she knows it has just changed forever. In the dark surroundings of her distant past, a familiar man stands out in the confusion. But Remy Moreland has been dead for years.

It soon becomes apparent to Leah that both she and Remy are trapped in a hell of their own making. Can one night together not only lead to the way out, but to love as well?

Buy Remember the Stars from Amazon

Buy Remember the Stars direct from the Publisher

Excerpt from Remember the Stars:

Barefoot, she crossed the dark street and began making her way in the direction of the police station. If she remembered correctly, it was three blocks away. A chill rose on her skin as she tried to remain focused. She concentrated on taking one agonizing footstep in front of the other.

When she crossed over the first street, she stopped to rest beneath a street light. Leaning up against the side of a brick house, she took notice of how eerily quiet her surroundings were. The only sound was her own breathing. There simply was nothing, and no one. Was she truly alone? She wondered.

She shook off the intrusive thought. Of course she wasn’t alone. Remy Moreland was real. Well, the late Remy Moreland was sort of real. Maybe surreal was a better word.

He had spun some tale of purgatory, of languishing between life and death. Then a thought struck her like a blow from above.

What if he was telling the truth?

Social Media Links for Natalie-Nicole Bates:

[Vampire Month] The Rewards of Horror by Aaron Smith

06 Wednesday Mar 2013

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I’ve written stories in quite a lot of different genres. Mentioning any particular type of fiction gets a certain reaction, especially if the person you’re talking to is not specifically a fan of that genre. They might smile politely, they might ask if your work is comparable to a well-known book, character, or franchise in the same genre (usually Star Wars or Star Trek if you mention science fiction, Harry Potter if you talk about fantasy), or they might ask a silly question. But one genre is likely to get the strongest and strangest reactions of all. That would be horror. (To be fair, I’ve heard that erotica gets some weird reactions too, but since I haven’t written anything in that category, I can’t speak from experience, but horror has to be at least a close second.) DSC00358

Some people get excited by the revelation that I sometimes write horror. You find fans of dark literature in the most unexpected places sometimes. That’s always a pleasant surprise. But you get the opposite a lot too. Some people tilt their heads and give you a look like you just started speaking in tongues or confessed to a five-year-long murder spree that stretched across seventeen states. The most common reaction that comes from those who find it surprising that I write horror is a simple question: Why?

Most people who know me, whether they happen to be relatives, friends, coworkers, or just casual acquaintances, seem to think I’m a nice person. I try to be nice. I’m polite, have never intentionally hurt another person, and try not to offend anyone unless it happens in the process of some sort of debate (in which case I will state my opinion and speak honestly about any topic). So I can understand why some people, especially those who don’t often read horror and might have some erroneous notions about the genre, would wonder how I could want to put myself through the process of taking the darkest and most gruesome thoughts in my mind and putting them into words and eventually casting them out into the world where others can read them. Why would I go down that road?

The answer is that writing horror, and reading it too, can be a very rewarding experience. Here are some of the reasons why.

Horror brings out the best of its characters. At the core of all fiction is the responsibility of the writer to put their characters 320_7303743through hell. It’s essential in telling a story to make your characters go through tough experiences. Otherwise, what’s the point? Without struggles or difficulty or high stakes, a story is boring. In horror, the stakes are highest, lives are at risk, and the danger is turned up to maximum volume. I find that the events at the heart of my horror stories tend to break the chains of the characters’ lives, setting them free from the mundane or dull elements of life and throwing them headfirst into the unknown, which is not necessarily a bad thing to have happen to someone.

In my novel, 100,000 Midnights, the lead character, Eric, leads as boring a life as you can imagine, never really fitting in, until he gets pulled into a world he never knew existed, a world populated by vampires and other creatures of the night. He goes through a month of gruesome, dangerous, life-threatening experiences but it makes him stronger, gives him a fuller life to live, and even shows him what love truly feels like. Without the horror, where’s the story?

In my other horror novel, Chicago Fell First, which is due out around Halloween of this year, a group of strangers are brought together by a series of very horrific events and tested as hard as anyone ever is, but those who survive are, perhaps, better for having been through it.

If I’m going to bring characters to life, I might as well have them face the worst of things. If they make it to the end of the story, what they’ve learned on the way there can be looked at as having truly been earned.

A second reason that makes horror worth writing is purely selfish on the part of the writer. It provides a release, gives us a 179269709method by which to take all our darkest thoughts and most disgusting ideas and put them to good use. As we write horror, that blank page on the screen and the keyboard at our fingertips dare us to go there, dare us to not hold back, to push all our darkness out into words and lay it out there for the world to see. I’ve written scenes that have made me nauseous, and I see that as a success! I can wake up in a cold sweat after a terrible nightmare…and make something out if for which people will send me money. I think that’s a pretty good reason to write horror.

And third, and maybe this is the most important driving force behind horror writing: I hope it sometimes serves as medicine for the reader.

What I mean is that life can be pretty frightening sometimes. Turn on the news and you’ll see war, disease, crime, debates over gun control, incompetent politicians, religious fanatics, and an assortment of other awful things either happening or on the verge of happening. And that’s just the worldwide, publicized stuff. I have no idea what’s going on in the personal lives of anyone reading my books. They might be facing illnesses, worrying about money, going through a hard ending to a relationship, or struggling through any of a number of types of hardships. Just as hearing a happy song can make a broken heart ache even more, but a sad one can make you feel like somebody somewhere understands just how you feel, I hope getting lost, even for a short time, in a world filled with monsters can dull the pain of real life just a bit. Scared of life’s terrors? Maybe the best medicine can be reading about somebody else having a worse time. Maybe the exaggerated, dramatic experiences of the teenagers fleeing the homicidal maniac or the victim about to be bled dry by the vampire or the citizens of Chicago on the run from hordes of zombies can do for the frightened reader what the deepest blues music does for the brokenhearted lover. I hope that’s the case.

So for anyone who’s mystified about why a seemingly nice guy would want to write about some of the worst things imaginable, there are a few good reasons. I hope that answers the question.

***

Aaron Smith can’t stand to go a day without writing. He’s the author of more than twenty-five published stories in genres including mystery, horror, science fiction, and fantasy. He has written stories featuring well-known characters such as Sherlock Holmes and Allan Quatermain. His novels include Gods and Galaxies, Season of Madness, and, most recently, 100,000 Midnights.

Information about his work can be found on his blog, Gods and Galaxies,  or his Amazon page.

 

[Vampire Month] Introduction

01 Friday Mar 2013

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So, another year, another Vampire month. Last year’s offerings were epic and I think this year’s will take that level of epicness and redefine it. And, as everyone knows, one way to make something epic is to have Christopher Lee involved in it somewhere. So, here is a photo of him to create the illusion that he is involved.Vampire

The Vampire has been a presence in literature for quite some time and has mutated into many different forms over the years. In fact, I believe that this mutability is what keeps the Vampire genre in such good shape. Had writers stuck to the concepts popularised by Stoker it was likely that the Vampire would have become staid and dull. Instead, like any immortal must do to survive, the Vampire has changed with the times in a number of different ways.

Whether you are talking about Stoker’s Dracula, Hammer’s Dracula, The Lost Boys, Underworld, Twilight, White Wolf’s Storyteller game, Night Watch, Being Human, Doctor Who’s Haemovores or some of the weird stuff you see in Manga you will see a different interpretation of what is essentially the same mythological creature. Vampires have dressed in Victorian garb, Regency velvets, PVC catsuits, 80’s New Romantic frills, shellsuits, police uniforms and Crusader armour. They’ve been lords, ladies, punks, assassins and homeless. Some of them stalk, some of them fly through windows in a floaty way, others hop. They have been obsessed with counting rice and lost socks but they all have that same, all consuming addiction to blood. There is a lot of choice in there. Which makes sense when you consider that your pool for recruiting new blood is the entirity of humanity over the whole of history.

So, this month we intend to celebrate the diversity of the Vampire in all its many forms with a host of writers who all have an interest in the genre.

This year sees a slight change to the format of last year’s Vampire Month. Last year we had four writers with a week each. This year we have six writers who have sent in articles. So, there will be three posts a week – Monday, Wednesday and Friday – throughout the month.

If you are interested in taking part in next year’s Vampire month event or know someone who might be, please feel free to contact me on dalascelles-writing@yahoo.co.uk I am, by the way, still waiting for Ann Rice or Rachel Caine to get in touch…

So, without further ado, I hereby declare this, the second Vampire Month, officially open!

[Guest Post] Being Different by W. Charlene Ammons

06 Wednesday Feb 2013

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Today, W. Charlene Ammons, author of The Plan, is here to talk about how how her upbringing in one of the Southern States of America has affected her writing.

She is in the middle of a blog tour and has a giveaway in progress. Click this link to find out more.

Before I begin, I would like to thank you D.A. for allowing me to be a guest blogger onW. Charlene Ammons your page. It is a great honor for me to share with you my thoughts and feelings.

I’d like to talk on the topic of being “different” and how it relates to being a writer. Specifically for me, one of the ways I am segregated by some people is because I am a Southerner (Northwest Florida).

I wear it like a badge of honor. I shall not hide it. I polish it everyday for the world to see. It is the badge of being a Southern Lady. I am proud of my raising. I grew up poor. I wasn’t raised on a plantation like Scarlett O’ Hara but I didn’t freeze every winter in a little shanty on a railroad track. I didn’t marry my cousin. I don’t chew tobacco. And for the love of all that is sacred, I am not ignorant! Maybe those people are ignorant for thinking that way. Maybe it’s my job to open their minds up a little…

In a society where we are encouraged to be tolerant of others and their unique features, I still get fake Southern accents thrown my way every time I talk. It sickens me. They slather it on as thick as mayo on a hamburger at a fast food joint. I don’t know if they think they are being witty, or just trying to break the ice, but I really wish they would stop.

I’m on my high horse as I write this, opening a floodgate of emotion through my written words. I refuse to drop the slur that naturally rolls off my tongue just to please others. To do that is to deny all that makes me who I am.

It is with this lack of understanding by others that I write about the South and all there is to love about it… People flock to our Gulf Coast to eat our seafood and have their portraits made on our sugar sand beaches. They buy up our rolling farm lands. They try to re-create our rich desserts in their upscale kitchens. They tour in awe at our architectural genius. They grind up against the one they lust after while listening to the beats of blues or rock and roll. They hang on the descriptive words of Truman Capote, Harper Lee, and Tennessee Williams.

I use what the Good Lord gave me (a talent to communicate and my life experiences being an outsider) to tell stories that EVERYONE can relate to. There comes a point in every persons life when they feel like they are the “black sheep”, although they may not openly admit to it.

There’s nothing wrong with being different. A person who stands out in a crowd is in a better position to see a situation differently… to think outside of the box. As a writer, it is vital to be an originator; to be creative.

So, as long as the majestic Magnolia blooms forth its large, fragrant flowers, I’ll keep fighting the good fight. I’ll keep putting my armor on,wear that badge, and deal with the blows from the sharp edged tongues of the those “insiders” who think we all must be cookie cutter versions of each other. When I fight back, they will know that there is more to this Southern Belle than a big smile and sweet drawl. I am a Southern Lady…hear me roar!

About the Author

W. Charlene Ammons was born and raised in Northwest Florida. As the daughter of the local chief of police, she was exposed to the law enforcement community early on in her life. She later received her degree from Florida State University and entered the field of law enforcement, where she has served as a field training officer, a traffic enforcement officer, and an investigator.
In her spare time, she enjoys gardening, playing guitar, and collecting all things related to The Beatles. She currently resides in the Florida Panhandle with her husband Brian.

Mrs. Ammons has penned two books: The Plan, the first book in The Honeysuckle Chronicles. The second book in the series, The Lesson, was released on Feb. 15, 2012. The third book, The Bloodline will be released in the spring of 2013.

Find out more on her webpage and her Facebook author page

The PlanThe Plan  by W. Charlene Ammons

Paperback: 320 pages ISBN-10: 1434851206 ISBN-13: 978-1434851208

 Omega, Alabama in 1941 was a place that only storytellers could dream of. Times were hard and faith was wandering; until Mode Lee entered the picture. The handsome preacher brought what appeared to be miracle after miracle to the tight knit community. However, evil things lurked in the wake of the arrival of this “Man of God”. It would take a frightened, mentally unstable child; the mother of the county sheriff; and a wild natured redhead to bring the truth to light. Everyone claims to have a plan. Only One is The Plan.

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