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INTO THE BLACK

Turning She-Dog

4/30/2013

 
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My Mission: to breach the personal space of others and sniff.
  (Male or female, doesn’t matter).

Why? Because smell is one of the five senses with which writers are supposed to imbue their scenes, and I need to experience ‘scent’. Sound I get—onomatopoeia helps,  seeing I get; taste is easy—bitter, salt, sour, sweet, umani (savoury) and touch is fun—unless it’s painful. 

But smell? No, it rarely registers, so I need to sail forth, nostrils wide and eager. Also I’m a little tired of heroes smelling of ‘mint’ or ‘mountains’ or ‘musk’ (what the hell is that), and heroines who waft ‘roses’, ‘wild flowers’ or ‘summer meadows’.

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Zombie Mints - to disguise the heartiest of breathes.
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You can't beat the scent of a summer meadow - so what does it smell like?
 Frankly, I much prefer ‘the smell of his skin was all him’ or ‘he drowned in the scent of her’, because then I can exercise my own imagination as a reader, without being yanked out of the story to ponder what ‘musk’ smells like.

Anyway, to return to my mission. Following strangers around town and ‘accidently’ lunging at them for a good old olfactory inhale doesn’t appeal. One, I have no desire to get arrested, and two, crowds are not described affectionately as ‘the great unwashed’ without reason.

Then it hit me, I’m mother-of-the-groom at an up-coming wedding. The guests are his friends not mine, so I can sniff with impunity.  A graceful tilt forward (I can pretend I’m hard of hearing or tipsy even, that should impress) and…deep inhale. What could be more subtle?  
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Wouldn't mind saying 'hi' to this belly button...
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This is probably as sexy as any arm pit is likely to get.
Naturally I remain undaunted by my lack of stature and the very real likelihood that I’m likely to become well-acquainted with belly-buttons (God, I hope they are clean) and arm-pits (likewise). I see adventure on the horizon, new sensory experiences, and much fallen pride. Mine, and I hope you all appreciate it. I'm doing this for you and for my 'art', so that I might share my discoveries.  Mayhap, in future, heroes will take on a new fragrance, heroines too. Or, I may end up settling for good old sweat, which to be honest, I’ve never much minded—so long as it’s fresh, and not laced with that powerful hint of stale bacteria eg good old, ripe, body odour.  Who knows, tis a voyage of discovery.

Give me a fortnight and I will report back, hopefully with herbal
essence flowing from my pen. 

PS. Much as I enjoy using parenthesis to bracket my thoughts and
I’m not exactly immune to the em dash, you might notice an over-scattering of commas in this piece—fear not, they are simply
my way of referencing confetti.

You Can & Should Judge a Book by its Cover

4/26/2013

 
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A really terrific story that sucks a reader right in and spits them out the other side a changed person, doesn’t start on page 1. It starts with a stunning cover and pre-release tease, both of which should capture the essence of the tale, the personality of the characters and the sensuality of the journey upon which the writer is inviting the reader to embark. It’s called curb appeal—but for books.

And author Lindsay J Pryor is mistress of the art when it comes to getting curb appeal right.  She's also a master story teller, 'Blood Shadows', Book 1 in her acclaimed Blackthorn series proved that.

And here is how Lindsay is launching Book 2:-

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See what I mean? How could you not be tempted to check out 'Blood Roses'.   You've got character, you've got sensual, you've got a hint of menace and, already sold on the promise of an eventual happy-ever-after, you know damn well you've got an emotional adventure ahead of you.

Now mix in the blurb:

 "She was supposed to kill vampires, not save them. Those were the rules. That 
was the lore." A rare and powerful witch whose blood is lethal to vampires, 
Leila has always viewed her serryn abilities as a curse. After seeing her
mother  slaughtered as a child, Leila longs for a safe, quiet life. That wish is 
shattered by Caleb Dehain - a vampire with a dark past and a darker heart. The 
most feared serryn hunter of his generation, Caleb now needs the help of one of 
the witches he despises to save his dying brother. A serryn who has no reason
to help him. Except that he has her sister. Caleb and Leila are each other's
worst  nightmare - but the slow-burning spark of attraction between them is
undeniable.  Will Leila's blood be his damnation? Or could her kiss be his
salvation?"

And these endorsements:

'a shining, brilliant new talent in the paranormal genre.' CC MacKenzie
'Earns a place alongside Paranormal Romance's best writers' Michele Hauf 

...And suddenly you've got irrisistable. 

Ms Pryor, I applaud you for recognising 'the hook' doesn't come on Page 1, it needs to be dangled even before the spine on thebook gets a cracking.

Buy Blood Roses #2: Amazon UK / Amazon US / Barnes & Noble
 
Find out more about Blackthorn here: http://www.lindsayjpryor.com/



 

...Give me sunshine, lalala...

4/8/2013

 
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Me, sunny? I don’t think so. Overcast with the threat of violent storms would be more accurate.

So imagine my surprise (sunny moment) on being nominated not just once, but twice, for a Sunshine Award. Break out the bunting, candy floss and carousel rides for authors, Shehanne Moore and Lindsay J Pryor, by way of thank you. (Shey, you can be the Fortune Teller cos you spin a fine tale and Lindsay, you can run the bar. Bloody Marys on the house for your vamps.  Sorry, but I get to be in charge of the shooting gallery.)

So what’s a Sunshine Award? Tis a pretty e-flower. One, a fine blogger hands to another deemed to ‘positively and creatively inspire others in blogosphere’.  In return, by way of acceptance speech, the recipient

1.      Thanks the nominee(s)
2.      Completes a Q&A session (see below)
3.      Passes forward the baton to 10-12 fellow bloggers meriting recognition.      So here goes:

Favourite Colour?          
Black and white (not strictly colours so I get two)

Favourite Animal?         
Anything that doesn’t bite, scratch, poison, eat, kick, swim, slither, carry the plague, run up vet bills, escape…and break your heart by up and dying on you.  Not that I don't love animals, I truly do. Even opened my own zoo and have cages waiting for the following specimans whilst always on the hunt for more. (And yes, they do get to run around and enjoy their freedom...a lot.)

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Black's Zoo - taking care of those in need
Favourite Number?         
2 and because I like to double everything, 4. (2x2=4) I tap things 4 times for luck and only ever use cubical 2 or 4 when using a public loo. I'm not strange, just cautious.
 
Favourite Non-alcoholic Drink?
Handsdown Coke, ‘the real thing’, or Pimms (the cucumber, mint and fruit render it alcohol free and good for you. Trust me on this, been eating Pimms for years.

Facebook or Twitter?     
Pinterest (I never could follow rules or colour inside the lines)

Your Passion?
Apart from my Zoo, BANTER. Verbal or written, listening or participating, the more outrageous the better...Oh, and world peace :)

Giving or getting presents?
Giving, definitely giving. Receiving embarrasses me, although donations to Black's Zoo are always welcome.

Favourite Day?
Always today. (Not a fan of yesterdays, and who knows what the hell tomorrow will bring.)

Favourite Flowers?
Peonies for those rare moments of refinement and Anemonies for the down and dirty.
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Once again, thanks to the lovely, witty and talented, Shehanne Moore and Lindsay J Pryor and in return for the compliment, I nominate the following:
  Jessica Baker
  Meg McNulty
  JM Stewart
  Aurelia B Rowl 
 
  Louise Rose-Innes
Catherine Coles
Amalie Berlin
Eve Devon
Suzanne Ross Jones
Victoria James

Pretty Deadly

4/8/2013

 

Death without
Apology

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Mini Uzi
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Grenades
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Flame Thrower
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Crossbow
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Throwing Star
Research can be a tricky thing. You never know who's watching, collating a profile from your search criteria.  Anarchy, torture, asylums, weapons, terrorists--each has led me a not so merry dance especially on Pinterest, an image library to the human psyche.  Where else might you find pins of pain and death proudly displayed beside a board full of fireside recipes and pleasing crafts for your kids.  Weird, but it's all out there.

Images send a powerful message but can also be deceiving.  The blooms on the right may please the eye, the mistletoe raising a smile at thoughts of love and kissing but ingest the berries and you'll soon be in need of urgent medical attention. And those pretty antique rings? Don't swoon with envy just yet, they are poison rings much favoured by the Borgia's, Lucrezia --killer bitch without rival--in particular.
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Pear of Anguish
And doesn't the antique devise above look intriguing, beautiful even. Want to know its purpose? It was an instrument of torture used in the Middle Ages against those inducing miscarriage, liars, blasphemers and homosexuals.  It was inserted into one of 3 orifices, depending on the crime.  Not so pretty after all.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that beauty can hide a darkness ripe for exploration in a thriller. You may recoil from the images on the right, their purpose is fairly obvious, but it's the pretty that should raise alarm because little is more powerful than the lure of innocence with deception.






Pretty Deadly

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Pretty Foxglove
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Mistletoe Berry
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Poison Rings
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Deadly Nightshade
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Monkshood/ Wolfsbane

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