jrbeecreations

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How I picked my character names As an author, choosing character names is sometimes intuitive, other times it takes a little work. Other character names in the Ramblers include: Flix (shortened from Flixweed), Sage (like the herb), Redshanks (a type of bird), Silk (a reference to the spider silk the character harvested) And the main character is called Rein: a misspelling of rain, but also because I wanted to reference that he needed to grab the reins on his life. Amazon: https://mybook.to/TheRaindropRamblers Ebook available on KoFi: https://ko-fi.com/s/2991d886e7

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We're halfway through the year. Somehow. So this is my 6 month update on my reading challenge!

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4 Reasons why centipedes are scary cool. Centipedes! They’re actually kind of terrifying, but very cool! In this series I talk about the research I came across when writing my book, The Raindrop Ramblers — an action adventure story that’s a cross between A Bug's Life and The Borrowers (age 7+).

Ebook (Ko-Fi): https://ko-fi.com/shop/settings?src=sidemenu&productType=0 Paperback (amazon): https://mybook.to/TheRaindropRamblers

#wildlife #naturefacts #nature

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Well that turned out better than I hoped 😳

#snake #art

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baby dragons whose scales are much more shiny and iridescent in order to hide in their parents' hoards

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Leaving KDP

So I have stopped my action and bug-filled #ebook, The Raindrop Ramblers, from renewing on KDP. It will be available on KDP until the 11th of June. This is so I can start selling it on Ko-Fi to cater to those stepping away from Zon. (also, I should make more per sale) Edit:

Ok, I redact the above. Thanks to some advice from our resident superstar @purplequeenpub.bsky.social, I am no longer beholden to KDP. If any of you have downloaded it to read on KDP, you'll still be able to (not sure how long for)

https://mybook.to/TheRaindropRamblers #Books #KidLit 📚👀📚📢📚

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The First Vampire Story in All Its Gory

For this special Halloween month I took a deep dive into the first vampire stories, including The Vampyre and The Fragment, and uncovered many things! From the controversy in who actually created the story, to the oddities in its publishing, and finally to the author, Dr John William Polidori's, death.

Sources:

Polidori’s diary and letters https://www.gutenberg.org/files/55017/55017-h/55017-h.htm

In depth look at Polidori and the Vampyre with citations: https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/41127663.pdf Polidori’s death: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1970869/?page=1

Polidori Wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_William_Polidori

The Vampyre Wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vampyre

Burial practices of the 19th century https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/private-lives/death-dying/dying-and-death/burying/

Article from The University of Queensland Aus: https://stories.uq.edu.au/contact-magazine/2023/polidoris-the-vampyre/index.html

Fantasmagoriana: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasmagoriana

Polidori’s other works:

https://www.amazon.in/dp/1839675675 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fall_of_the_Angels

Frankenstine third editon: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=UQc52fOn3hUC&pg=PA7&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=1#v=onepage&q&f=false

Lord Byron’s Fragment: https://knarf.english.upenn.edu/Byron/fragment.html

The Vampyre: https://www.public.asu.edu/~cajsa/thevampyre1816/complete_text_vampyre.pdf

Polidori’s name, however, is not mentioned (in the book): https://sites.utexas.edu/ransomcentermagazine/2013/01/16/first-edition-of-the-vampyre-reveals-clues-about-history-of-book-and-its-popularity/

Mary Shelley’s quote about "Poor Pollidori” https://lithub.com/on-the-very-scary-rise-of-the-first-literary-vampire/

Pollidori’s life with Byron (no citations shown) https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/the-poet-the-physician-and-the-birth-of-the-modern-vampire/

Fragment of a ghost story https://www.simple-poetry.com/poems/fragment-of-a-ghost-story-45278234191

Adaptations: https://literature.fandom.com/wiki/The_Vampyre

First vampire stories: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2016/01/12/books-first-vampire-in-literature

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Still doing #Mutation March, even though it's nearly May. Really got into woodifying things - what we have here is a puffin and a Serval (which are really looooong bois)

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There was a time when Sir Arthur Conan Doyle decided to clear the name of a wronged man. This is that story! (It's part two, but you don't need to watch part 1 to get this) (also, Subtitles are NOT automated)

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I'm a reader AND a writer, but my visual imagination is ... not great. I don't have Aphantasia (inability to visualise at all), but what I do imagine is quite spotty. So reading, for me, is not the immersive experience others have If you want to find out more, I discuss this more in-depth here: https://youtu.be/R02dfIax4pE

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There is a cuckoo of the insect world, and it’s a butterfly

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I finally finished my big book stand! This means I can now properly prop my notebook up while I type my handwritten notes. But I forgot about the weight & used stuffing instead of fabric scraps — so one half is lighter than the other.