[Vampire Month] The sun rises

31 Friday Mar 2017

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Musings, Vampire Month

Tags

Ann Rice, Gods of the Deep, Photography, Rachel Caine, Transitions, Vampire

Gods of the DeepWell, it has been a more erratic Vampire month than usual this year, scheduling hiccups and my time being eaten up by that vampire that is work. However, despite all that we managed to pull it off and release a limited Vampire month line up on time. I hope you enjoyed this year’s offerings and come back next year to see what we have in store for you then.

As a photographer I have obviously been exploring vampires quite a bit recently and I intend to keep up that interest. There is also the possibility that I might be thinking about looking at Vampires in fiction. If I get a good idea for a story involving vampires I may delve into it and see what comes out. I do feel that Helen, my hero from Transitions and Transformations, is overdue an encounter with a blood sucking fiend of the night. After all, she has bested the ghost of a Roman soldier and been almost seduced by a shapeshifting Fey so how will she cope with a charming older being? Or maybe Everyn from Gods of the Deep might meet one… I will be sure to keep you all informed of any developments.

In the meantime, if you know someone who should be featured in Vampire month, feel free to let me know. We welcome any and all applicants. Just be aware, Ann Rice and Rachel Caine get first dibs…

See you all next year!

[Vampire Month] Vampire Photography: part One

19 Sunday Mar 2017

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Vampire Month

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Annabella Victoria Stanyer, D.A Lascelles, DSLR, Horror photoshoot, J C Baxter, Jack Cutler, Otto Criek, Photography, Photos, Pratchett, Sephirayne, Vampire Month, Vampire photographer, Vampires and mirrors

gothic vampire blood

What is one thing we all know about Vampires? Well, that in the majority of cases they do not show up in mirrors. The reasons for this are never really well defined – some say it is because of some supernatural reason, others try to define it terms of scientific terms. There are even some that say that vampires do not like mirrors because they contain silver (a general ward against evil influences) or because, rather than not showing the vampire at all, they actually show what the vampire really looks like behind their hypnotic glamour.

I am not sure about oriental Vampires (their place in myth is more of a demonic nature than those in the West and they have different rules) but the mirror thing is often universal in western based Vampires, I suspect mostly stemming from the use of it in Dracula. What does differ is their reaction to photography. Do they show up on film or digital media? I suppose it depends on your camera – modern DSLRs usually use a mirror to reflect the image onto the sensor but older cameras, such as box brownies, don’t and so may well be used to capture the image of a vampire. And, of course, if your camera is based on the principle of a tiny imp with a paint box who can paint really quickly, such as Vampire photographer, Otto Criek, uses in the Discworld series you have no issues with vampire models. Just be sure to be careful how you use the flash as Otto’s main job related hazard seems to be his tendency to turn to dust whenever he uses it.

ghost sister vampire

Of course, photographing people dressed as vampires is an entirely different thing. They certainly show up on the image and it is images of people dressed as Vampires we have for you today.

kinky PVC nurse vampireblood asylum patient

These shots were all taken and edited by me as part of a themed Horror shoot in an old factory above a nightclub in Manchester city centre over the summer of 2016. We covered a lot of different ideas on that day but did end up with two entirely different vampires. One a tragic, gothic horror version played by Jack Cutler with his RL sister Em (who models as Sephirayne) as the ghost of the sister he murdered. The other a more modern, PVC clad kinky nurse and her hapless patient played by Annabella Victoria Stanyer and J C Baxter. I hope you enjoy what we have created for you.

New Year post (belated)

04 Wednesday Jan 2017

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Musings

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

brexit, carrie fisher, celebrity deaths, donald trump, Gods of the Deep, Happy New Year, Photography, writing

warriorprincess

I’d like to say that this first post of the new year is late because I have only just finished partying. That would, however, be a lie. It is late because I have just been so busy doing other things.

No, that is also a lie.

I have simply not been sure what to write.

Which is odd for me because I am not usually that bad at thinking of things to write about. The main reason this blog gets neglected is usually because of one of the other two things mentioned above. OK, I admit, mostly the second one – I get too busy with other things, my days of constant partying are I feel in the past :). However, the nature of 2016 has been such that I am overall not sure what to think about it and I do not feel I am alone in this.

It was the year of celebrity deaths. A year in which when we thought George Michael might be the last of the shocks*, it hits us with the sad passing of Carrie Fisher and then William Christopher (of M.A.S.H fame). Though, it is worth pointing out that the Wikipedia page on celebrity deaths does have Robert Taussat (French historian and author) listed last for December 2016. However, I am not sure if this means he was the last one to go or if the list is in no real order.

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

The Urban settings panel at Sandbach

On the subject of Carrie Fisher, I did spend a lot of time browsing through this site of tributes by artists. I was first of all amused by the fact it is actually a hell of a lot more than 10 tributes (last I looked it was over 100) and also by the many different views artists have of her. There are ones here that play on her famous quote (“No matter how I go, I want it reported that I drowned in moonlight, strangled by my own bra.” which was her response to George Lucas’s quite sexist remark about there being no underwear in space because of some nonsense about pressure), ones that show her love for her dog and ones that show her as she was before she died – i.e. not just focussing on her as she was in her best known role. I am not linking or showing any of the art here as I wish to respect the copyright of the artists but I do encourage you to go check out that page and wallow in all the bittersweet.

This was also the year of politics gone wrong with Brexit and Trump throwing the UK, US and a chunk of the rest of the world in to shock. We are now facing a year in which we have to deal with the consequences of those decisions, good or bad. There are naturally concerns about the rise of the right in both cases and I am not sure that those who voted for either will actually get what they were expecting to get.

On a more personal note, this was a mixed year for me. In terms of my real world job I lost one not very secure position that I was hoping to make more permanent by December but very quickly gained one that is, while technically less secure, still seems to have more promise of permanence in the near future. So, overall not too bad, if a little uncertain on the career front. D A Lascelles Gods of the Deep Kindle Fantasy Swashbuckling

In terms of creative stuff, I have been really ramping up the photography in the past year and feel I am improving massively in both taking photos and editing them. This has been partly down to some epic mentorship from Ste Manns of Quattrofoto on the ins and outs of photoshop and partly down to the efforts of the JW Creative network – a group of photographers, models and make up artists who collaborate on some crazy projects. They have given me the chance to practise shooting with experienced models and photographers in an open and friendly environment where I can get helpful advice and support. I have posted one of my favourite shots from these gatherings here and you can see the rest on my Flickr account…

Finally, in terms of writing this has been a good year. I completed Gods of the Deep (finally… its only taken 6 years from conception to birth…) and attended a number of events including EasterCon, the Manchester Author signing and the Sandbach author signing. All of these I considered successful events in terms of my personal goals and I am looking forward to more of the same next year. Not only that, but I have had at least two people tell me how much they enjoyed reading Gods of the Deep which was a real boost to my ego.

I guess the one downside to my creative year was not doing what I promised to do and revamp this website… I’ll get round to that soon, I promise…

So, I am not usually one for resolutions but I am going to make myself a promise for the coming year. That is to do more creative things – try to advance at least one creative project, even if only by a little, each day. Whether it is take a photo, edit a photo, write more of a story or edit more of a story. At the moment, in terms of writing projects, I am currently skating on the edge of the void that is about to become ‘The Silver Tower’ – a SF tale set in Manchester which is looking like it may well be aimed at a YA audience. I’ll keep you all posted on that and hopefully this one won’t take six years to write…

*In what is possibly the most ironic timing of all time – the artist famous for ‘Last Christmas’ dies on Christmas day… even in death the man had a talent.

Slayers LRP Photoshoot

25 Friday Jul 2014

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Musings

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, creative genius, Demons, photographer, Photography, Professional shoots, Quattrofoto, Slayers LRP, Vampires, Werewolves

Two Slayers…

Those who follow this blog will be aware that I occasionally collaborate with Quattrofoto on photoshoots in roles varying from creative genius* to lightstand/dogsbody/maker of tea. In fact, some of my previous blog posts on these shoots have been among the most popular on this blog along with the UK Avengers concept I posted once as a joke. I can only assume that lots of genuine photographers have been searching for useful tips on how to do complicated lighting set ups or edit fantasy scenes into the backdrops using photoshop and are instead finding my rather less then technical witterings.

Those who are looking at these posts in the hope of such technical stuff, I can only apologise and suggest you ask any questions in a comment (I will pass on such questions to Ste the photographer) or visit his Flickr site where he occasionally posts technical details on shots.

Note that yet again, like previous posts on this, the photos shown here are my efforts not those of the professional photographer. You can see his on his Flickr account. In addition, most of these were taken using my mobile phone rather than my DSLR Mainly because the light conditions were not right for my DSLR to play ball.

This shoot was one that deviated from our previous theme, which had been variations on a theme of fantasy – trying to show standard stereotypes in a new light. For this shoot the aim was more modern. There is a new LRP game being planned called Slayers LRP which riffs off Buffy the Vampire Slayer. So our aim for this shoot was to get lots of photos of female vampire hunters, vicious looking vampires, demons and stuffy old Watchers.

We convened at the photographer’s house where he had managed to set up a makeshift studio in one of the larger rooms. The space here was noticeably less than we were used to in the studio, which meant we were limited in scope – mostly shots of single figures and we were told most likely only upper body. This was why we actually failed to consider appropriate shoes or boots for many of the characters we were taking shots of, we genuinely did not think they would be seen on camera! This is why you may see some shots of a tweed clad Watcher wearing a pair of sandals (though personally I am claiming eccentricity for why I was wearing those as that character).

There were other concerns. Would the backdrop placed over the window be enough to sufficiently block out all the light? Would there be enough room for models, photographer and light rig? Would there be enough food for all the models we had dragged from far distant parts of the country?

The answers to those questions were Yes, Yes and definitely Yes. Seriously, we had a proper Green room style hospitality area set up, far better than anything we ever had at the studio (or the woodland, where the refreshments were coffee and all the acorns we could eat 🙂 )

Our werewolves are feistier and cuter than Oz ever was

We progressed through the day very quickly, getting through several very intense sessions with different models in different costumes. This was our fourth go at this sort of thing and using more or less the same team of models and support people that had been used on previous shoots – including the talented make up skills of Jessica Newey. This meant that we were much better organised and were able to prep one model while another was being shot, allowing for a much more efficient

The studio set up showing improvised wind effects

turnaround. We were also more au fait with what was and was not likely to be possible meaning that the ideas people spent less time frothing about things that could not possibly ever work and more time considering practical solutions to problems and ideas that would work.

We got through a Van Helsing style Vampire Hunter, a goth Vampire, two different styles of Slayer (though there was some debate as which one was the ‘evil’ Faith style Slayer and which was the ‘nice’ Buffy style, the consensus was neither), two different varieties of Watcher (modern with a tablet computer and traditional in tweed with an old book), a sinister ‘Man in Black’, two styles of witch (a good and an evil one) and two very different styles of Demon (a serious, scary demon with horns and a more ‘slacker surf dude’ style who seemed to be doing a modelling shoot for Cheese flavoured corn snacks) and a werewolf. These shots are already appearing on the Flickr account and will continue to be updated for at least a few weeks ahead.

It was another tiring day but definitely a fun one with a lot achieved. The shots that have already been produced are awesome and there are many more to come…

*Ok, maybe not creative genius. More ‘person who comes up with wildly impossible ideas that sound cool in my head but are actually bloody hard to set up in a practical sense’. It is a complicated brief… I am usually better at holding lightstands (or on this shoot, reflective dishes that shine in the face of pretty girls to better highlight her features – something called the Clamshell technique) or making tea. I am really good at making tea…

[Vampire Month] Interview with Isabella Favilli

08 Saturday Mar 2014

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Musings, Vampire Month

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Ann Rice, Bites, Dracula, Fine art, graphic designer, Graphic Novel, guest posts, Interviews, Isabella Favilli, Last of the Blood, Lestat, Ninfa Hayes, Photography, Vampire Month, Vampires

Here we have an interview with Isabella Favilli, a former graphic designer turned fine artist turned photography editor turned graphic novel artist…

1) What is the first thing you remember drawing or painting?
A horse, I was four and everyone was kinda impressed, my mom still has it.
2) When did you first think you might be able to make a living as an artist?
When I was choosing my high school at fourteen, the idea was to become a graphic designer but after graduating after 5 years I realized that it was not the kind of art I loved the most; Fine Art was more what I loved and althought I was not quite sure I could make a living out of it, I still loved to paint and draw, but it stayed as a hobby for a long time, there was not much work to be found back in Italy.

3) What would you consider to be your greatest strength as an artist? What about your greatest weakness? How do you overcome this weakness?
My greatest strength is something I have been told more than realized myself.
People often tell me that the people (fantasy or real) that I make a portrait of have eyes with a soul, they can communicate real emotions, which I think it is a good thing.
My weakness? I sometimes think I might not be anything special to stand out.
As for how I overcome my weakness, I try to listen to my heart and how it feels when I look at my art work, and I also listen to what other people feel about my work, see if they receive the message I was trying to put into it; sometimes we are our worse critic, but what’s more important to me is that my work makes someone feel something, even if it isn’t what I was trying to say, any interpretation is as valid.

Figurative Art is a bit like music, it can take people to their personal place and it does not matter if it is not the same as the one that inspired the artist, once it is out, it’s for everyone to see in it what they like. It’s not good to be stuck to your own interpretation.

Petrov

4) Tell us about the places where you have lived. Have you ever derived any inspiration from your home or from anywhere you have visited?
I was born in Rome, Italy and lived there till i was twenty six, when I moved in Manchester, and after I had my daughter in 2009, I moved in Yorkshire.
I have visited many regions in Italy, Tuscany is one of my favourite and I spent a very long time in it, I found Prague very inspiring and Paris. I particularly enjoyed seeing The Impressionists in Jeux De Paume in Paris, because together with Caravaggio they are my favourite painters.
Being born in Rome has surely given me an input when it comes to the variety of Art I got to see live, but my favourite subjects are people more than places; I have however painted a scene which was inspired by ancient roman ruins, it is still one of my favourite paintings and my best friend has proudly hanged it in her living room, when I look at it I can almost smell the air of my home town.

5) What would you consider to be your greatest influence and inspiration?
I find my heart’s darkest places to be the greatest influence, pouring that darkness out has often helped me overcome the toughest times of my life.

6) What appeals to you about Vampires?
The are beautiful, immortal and merciless but some humanity still lingers in them. I like that battle behind their eyes: between their hunger and their feelings.

7) What do you think is the attraction for Vampires? Why are they such a popular topic?
I think there is something very erotic in them, and that battle I was talking about is often present in us humans. The instinct of our nature often battles against our feelings or our society conventions. I see my own struggles in them sometimes, I am sure many others do to.
And just imagine, being immortal and powerful, with great power of seduction, I think there is a lot to be attracted to.

8) In a fight between all the greatest Vampires of fiction, who do you think would come out on top?
Lestat: no one has killed him yet. He has been burnt, switched body, taken to Hell, taken to Heaven, loved, killed… he is around, as glorious as he has ever been.

9) What about in some other contest such as sexiness or dress sense? Who would win that one?
Dracula, from the movie Dracula 2000 by Wes Craven. I
have never seen a sexier vampire than the Dracula that walks in the Virgin
Store in Dracula 2000. Gerard Butler totally got the sexiness of his character, even the Scottish accent suits him! Ok, I do have bias in this case tho…
Gary Oldman also did an amazing job as Dracula, the moment in the movie that he introduces himself to Mina is a total swoon, it is also my favourite Dracula movie, I have seen it more times that I can count and know it by heart.

10) How well do you think one of your characters would fare against the winner(s) of the above?
I am afraid my characters would not stand a chance between the most powerful and the most ancient vampire, but then again they would probably be willing victims. I think my characters secretly dream to be Lestat or Dracula’s eternal companion.

11) Tell us about your latest work.
It’s a vampire kiss, only the mouths are visible, are they gonna bite? Are they gonna kiss? There is a suspension there, open to everyone’s fantasy.

I also drew the characters from a novel called The Last Of The Blood, they don’t look particularly vampirish, but they are none the less vampires. I liked the story, written by Ninfa Hayes, and felt inspired.

[Vampire Month] A blast from the past

02 Sunday Mar 2014

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Vampire Month

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Andy Mason, Fantasy photoshoot, graphic designer, IIsabella Favilli, Jess Newey, Photography, Vampire Month

On Tuesday I will be kicking off Vampire Month properly with an interview with graphic designer Isabella Favilli but one thing you may not be aware of is that if you have been paying attention to this blog you will have already seen some of her work. In fact, there have been quite a few photographs on this blog which have been edited by her Photoshop skills.

For example, this one:

can you spot the difference between these two images?

And this one:

Sparkles!

This is because Isabella is also one half of professional photography company, Quattrofoto who we worked with on the fantasy photoshoots. In fact, you will have seen her in the background of some of my own photos of those days.

Just a little piece of trivia about one of our Vampire Month contributors and an excuse to show some awesome photos again.

[AW Blog Chain] Thirteen

11 Friday Jan 2013

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Musings

≈ 29 Comments

Tags

Absolute Write, action roleplay, Agatha Christie, aliens, Babylon 5, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, classical cultures, Doctor Who, Farscape, Featherstone Castle, Jane Austen, Joss Whedon, Masquerades and Massacres, Mayan Prophesy, Odyssey LRP, Photography, Predator, Roleplaying games, roman priest, Serenity LRP, Star Trek, Stargate, Steampunk, Strange and Norrell, Temeraire, Thirteen, Victoriana LRP, Waypoint LRP

With the year we are just starting having a ’13’ in it it is probably of no surprise that January’s Blog chain topic would link to this rather maligned number. It occured to me that every single article in the chain will mention Triskaidekaphobia so I thought I would get that out of the way now and not mention it again. There would also likely be many many discussions on bad luck, evil spirits and maybe even a Mayan prophesy or two (apparently, this is also the 13th Baktun which contributed to the recent ‘end of Mayan calandar means end of the world’ debacle). With this in mind, I decided not to go with the obvious topics.

Instead, I would like to celebrate the number 13 by posting here 13 photographs of something I love… Live Action Roleplay. Some of these are photos I have taken, others are taken by other more talented people. Full credit will be given where needed.

First up is this shot I took at a Mythic Age LRP game called Odyssey in summer 2012. The concept behind that game is that there are a number of classical cultures (Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, Persians and Carthiginians initially but there is another one now) who coexist and in order to maintain peace on earth, the gods have restored the sunken city of Atlantis to act as a place where territory disputes can be settled in an arena rather than on the battlefield. Before each contest, the priests of each nation perform a blessing, dedicating the fight to one of their gods. Here we have the wonderful Lizy Townsend as a Roman priest sacrficing herself as she screams out a dying curse on the enemy.

From the same system, here we have two Romans fighting side by side against some Carthiginians and finally for Odyssey we have a photo that gives you some indication of how large some of the arena battles can be.

Another system I played this year was called Masquerades and Massacres or M&M (or, fairly often, Jane Austen and Aliens). This game is set in the Regency period (1820’s to be precise) and incorporates elements of Jane Austen, Strange and Norrell, Naomi Novak’s Temeraire stories, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Alien/Predator universe among others (seriously, there was a character who was an industrialist arms manufacturer by the name of Sir Anthony Stark, recently escaped from a Turkish prison…). It is a bizarre mix but it strangely seems to work and allows a lot of ballgowning… Here are some photographs from several events taken by the inestimable Oliver Facey

Waypoint was a LRP game I ran for a good few years, up until 2008 when I stopped because I needed time for other things. It was a Sci Fi system which largely riffed off a lot of things like Star Trek, Babylon 5, Farscape and similar and also inserted some elements of Doctor Who and Stargate.

The top photo shows some sci fi post apocalyptic gangsters apeing the Reservoir Dogs walk. The middle one show some techie types trying to repair a hyperspatial gate while defending themselves from attakc and the bottom one shows an assassination attempt on one of the characters…

Another game I am involed in is called Victoriana LRP which is, predictably enough, set in a Steampunk world. Here are two photos from that game:

This shows the aftermath of a fight with various injured characters being patched up with bandages.

This next one shows a scientist demonstrating a steampunk weapon….

The patch of dust on the ground is actually not the remains of someone who has been shot by the big gun. That was there for an entirely different purpose.

The next two photos are from a system based on Joss Whedon’s Firefly universe – Serenity LRP. These are all taken by the talented Ali Hancock, who was able to take them because she was playing a journalist in the game. All done in glorious black and white.

This first one is me helping to perform surgery. The second shows some players stalking through the woods looking for trouble.

Finally, a few years ago we went to a 1930’s themed event called An Uncommon Affair. There was intrigue, Egyptian Archeology, an Agatha Christie style murder (which we had to cover up for the good of the crown) and Nazis (who had the audacity to disturb dinner). There was also a photographer with a modern digital camera subtly hidden inside the body of a box brownie. This is their portrait of my character from that game…

Of course, for this game it was possible to take our dog along. He even had a character. He was a dog. It was a bit of a stretch for his thespian talents to play this character. The location, by the way, is a Youth Hostel called Featherstone Castle which is a gorgeous building set in the wonderful wilds of Northumberland.

So, there you have it. Thirteen photographs of Live Action Roleplay to celebrate the thirteen in this year… And at no point did i mention bad luck or the day Friday… Feel free to check out the sites I have showcased above as there are more photographs to be seen on all of them…

The usual rules of the blog chain are in force. So, you have to go check out the other members of the chain or else I will send copies of those photographs we discussed on the phone last week to you know who… you do not want anyone to find out about *that* do you?

Review of the Year

30 Sunday Dec 2012

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Musings

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

#amwriting, Absolute Write, BBW Romance writers, behaviour management, books, Judy Bagshaw, Ninfa Hayes, Photography, Photoshoot, Publication, Realm Fantasy Wargame, Rebeka Harrington, Skyla Dawn Cameron, spirit world, Vampires, writing

As Christmas ends and the New Year looms, everyone inevitably begins to think about things like resolutions and reviews of past deeds. My intention in this post is to look at this blog and consider what has been successful in the past year.

The Ten Most popular posts

[News From the Spirit World] Vampires		488
[AW Blog Chain] Zompocalypse		385
The Avengers UK: Crossover universes		198
A day in the life of a Fantasy Photostudio		155
About		130
Teaching: Behaviour management on BBC Breakfast		108
[AW blog chain] Otherworldly		97
Photoshoot II: Attack of the texting Zombies (with Romans)		91
[AW Blog chain] Rainy Days		85
Weird Worlds [AW Blog chain for June]		82

This table shows the most popular posts for the year. I have excluded the most popular post (at over 2,800 views) because that was ‘homepage/archive’ which basically means that someone viewed the first page. It is interesting that the most popular post this year was one I did as a link to News From the Spirit World for an article I wrote on Vampires. I am guessing that this is due to the overall popularity of Vampires in general. Many of the Absolute Write blog chain posts are also trending in this list which implies that the link from the other blogs in the chain is achieving something. Finally, the Avengers Crossover post and the various Photoshoot posts are perennial favourites that seem to pop up every now and again even months after being posted. Oh, and my ego feels quite pleased that people feel it necessary to view my about page…

Ten Most popular keywords

vampires	280
zombie	98
vampirler	29
avengers meme	17
writer	13
weird worlds	12
zombie lady	12
behaviour management	9
the chosen book review	9
vampire	9

There have been a number of weird and wonderful keywords used over the time this blog has been active. This table shows the most popular ones used. I am sure no one is at all surprised that Vampires come up top, especially given the result of ‘most popular post’. There are also a few variants on that – vampires and vampirler showing up a few times. Zombie is also a search term which again shows up frequently with a couple of variants – zombie lady being the one shown here. Finally, it is probably no surprise given the popularity of that franchise that the Avengers shows up as the most popular after Vampires and Zombies in this table. The numbers here are obviously less than those for the most popular post because search terms are by their nature more variable.

This table does not show some of the weirdest search terms used to find this blog because most of those were one offs… ‘Cute Zombie Girl’ and ‘Hot Sexy Zombie’ both came up 3 times (with other variants in there as well), ‘Ninfa Goddess’ another 3 times (though I am not convinced it was not Ninfa herself doing this search out of ego…) and ‘discipline suit’ came up twice. No idea what a ‘discipline suit’ is but I am assuming that search led them to my tirade about behaviour management… There was also a weird one ‘benedict cumberbatch as lascelles’ which I assume must have been someone searching for information about the upcoming Strange and Norrell adaptation in which I think Mr Cumberbatch would indeed make a great Lascelles though I have no idea if he has been cast or not (or if anyone has been cast in this particular adaptation…).If anyone hears about any casting news for Strange and Norrell, please feel free to let me know.

Top Ten Countries Viewing the Blog

United Kingdom	1,971
United States	1,968
Canada	308
Australia	228
India	91
Philippines	73
Germany	68
Puerto Rico	52
France	51
Indonesia	49

Naturally, UK and US dominate this chart in the top two positions here with my fans in both countries vying for top spot and ending with a very close call (only three views in it in the end). This obviously comes from me being British and my books being largely published in the US. I also have a good mix of people from both countries on my facebook and twitter accounts (both of which get links to here posted) and a lot of US people come to me through the Absolute Write forums. Australia and Canada are on here for similar reasons – Australia due to the many fans of Rebekah Harrington and Canada due to Skyla Dawn Cameron and Judy Bagshaw’s occasional posts on this blog. It is also nice to see other countries on here to give the place a proper international feel with places such as the Philippines and Indonesia showing up there.

So, that is a brief overview of the state of this blog as the year comes to a close. I’ve found some interesting trends here and hope to find many more in 2013 when I repeat this process again. Of course, this year has been good for a few other things. In this year I managed to get involved in the creation of an entire world background for a fantasy wargame called Realm (today is your last chance to enter the competition to win some miniatures…) and also to finally release Transitions onto an unsuspecting public after many many years in ‘publication hell’. I’ve also managed to organise two successful photoshoots by bringing different people with different exceptional talents together then sitting back and watching them work magic.

In 2013 I have other plans afoot and hope to be able to announce other fun things very soon…

Location, Location, Location… Part Two: The University of Birmingham

27 Thursday Dec 2012

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Musings

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

#amwriting, BBW Romance writers, Birmingham, Birmingham UK, books, Isengard, J.R.R Tolkien, mundania press, Ninfa Hayes, Orthanc, paranormal romance, Photography, Publication, Sarehole Mill, Selly Oak, The Bristol Pear, The Curse, Transitions, University of Birmingham, writing

A few days ago, I posted about Marsden Beach and Arbeia Roman fort. Now it is time for part two of my blog posts about locations I used in Transitions.

The university is where the contemporary action of the story happens. It also happens

: The blue plaque at Sarehole Mill

to be one of the (several) universities I attended and worked at in my time as a scientist. I needed a university for my characters to be attending and it seemed a convenient one to use because I knew it so well. There were other advantages too.

One was the association with J.R.R Tolkien. As pointed out in the story, Tolkien did live for some time in the West Midlands (Kings Heath, now a suburb of Birmingham), spent a lot of time visiting places like Clent and Lickey Hills (both places we used to walk our dog) and attended school at King Edward’s school. Said school is right next to the university and does indeed have a good view of the iconic tower which was potentially the inspiration for the tower of Orthanc in Isengard (Sarehole mill being another inspiration, not to mention the dark smoke of the nearby black country). This provided a wonderful opportunity for two of the characters to be pedantic geeks.

The clock tower of the University of Birmingham

The tower itself was also a great location to use for the above scene because it looks so awesome – a huge, red brick clock tower in the middle of a courtyard made from similar red brick university buildings. Ever since I arrived in Birmingham this tower, which is visible from quite a distance away, always struck me as an ideal place for an epic battle between two powerful beings.

Of course… I use it in Transitions for a fight between two students, one drunk the other possessed. It’s hardly epic, more comedic as the drunken student is hardly competent in combat and the possessed one does not care and it ends with a piece of pedantry (like all the best arguments). However, one day I will use the tower again and this time it will be even more epic…

In the university I namecheck a number of lecturers. None of these are based on lecturers I know, though some have traits which some lecturers I have had may have shared. The names of the lecturers are, however, those of friends of mine. Professor Abigail Bath is named after two friends, one a costume maker (who also took my profile photo on this site) and the other a Doctor of History (who is also acknowledged in The Curse due to her expertise in Witchcraft). Professor Hayes is also named from a friend of mine. Not, as you may think, Ninfa Hayes (who is a friend but one I hadn’t met when I was writing Transitions) but the man she married. Finally, Dr. Gallop is named after my father in law. I do feel I have to apologise to at least two of the people namechecked here as both of the lecturers they name are not shown as the best of the breed.

The final scenes of the book centre on Selly Oak which is a place with a lot of student accomodation just outside the university. Specifically, a pub called the Bristol Pear

The Bristol Pear Pub, Selly Oak

which was for a while the home of the University Goth Society’s infamous ‘Friday Night Goth Shite’ nights (or FNGS for short). I tried to portray one of these nights as accurately as possible, including the description of one of the DJs. Unfortunately, FNGS (which was later joined by SNGS, no prizes for guessing what that means) is no longer based at the Pear but when I left Birmingham it was still going strong at a cocktail bar closer to the city centre. It may still be going somewhere. I like to think that someone in Birmingham can still wander into a small pub or cocktail bar somewhere and still find a goth night run by a student society.

So, there is a short tour of some of the Birmingham locations used in Transitions. Next up will be Aqua Sulis.

Note, unlike the previous article, none of the photographs here were taken by me. All credit for them belongs with the original artists who took them.

A traditional Christmas Dog…

25 Tuesday Dec 2012

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Musings

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

beast of nightmare aspect, Bullet-time, Christmas, dogs, Photography, snow, snow cat, Snow dog, Snowballs, The Matrix

It is that time of year again, that time when I post a picture of a dog to celebrate some festival or other such as [please insert appropriate midwinter religious feast name here]. This is a time honoured tradition having been done for all of, oh, a couple of years now. That is serious tradition in terms of the internet.

So here is Eddie enjoying the pleasures of the snow that hit us early in the year and playing catch with snowballs using bullet-time in a very Matrix style manner… And in the background you can also see the snow dog/cat/Teddy Bear/whatever strange beast of nightmare aspect that we attempted to build in the garden.

And because it is [insert appropriate festival] I am feeling generous so here is another from the same day…

Of course, typically for Manchester at this time of the year, we have a wonderful example of rain, rain and possibly more rain later. Chances of snow this year incredibly minimal…

There, have a Merry [insert festival] and a Happy New Year and I will see you all when the madness of this insane period of the year is over with and we can all get back to being our usual selves…

Lurking Musings

~ Musings of a newly published writer

Tag Archives: Photography

[Vampire Month] The sun rises

[Vampire Month] Vampire Photography: part One

New Year post (belated)

Slayers LRP Photoshoot

[Vampire Month] Interview with Isabella Favilli

[Vampire Month] A blast from the past

[AW Blog Chain] Thirteen

Review of the Year

Location, Location, Location… Part Two: The University of Birmingham

A traditional Christmas Dog…