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retvenkos · 3 years

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Grishaverse Deep Dive: The Darkling is a Character that lives in a Society.

((spoilers for ALL of the grishaverse))

Ah, yes, Shadow and Bone season 2 is gearing up, the birds are singing, I have a cup of earl grey tea before me - it is finally time to sit down to talk about the Darkling, and explain his tenuous relationship with the Grishaverse.

The Darkling is a character greatly contested. When simply looking at his motivations, we see a rift in the fandom. Add in his backstory and it fractures even more. When you pepper in the third ingredient of his relationship with Alina, you get an entire war. The Darkling is a divisive character. He gets under our skin and lingers for days afterwards.

I am going to take you on a deep dive of the Darklings character, and try to tease apart the problems that lie within the creation of his character. Why were so many fans betrayed by his ending? How did he muddle the messages of Shadow and Bone, and why is his ending so complicated that it satisfies very few? Today, we’re going to look at The Problem of the Darking: An Essay in Six Parts.

A little history lesson;

So first, allow me to take you back in time, to 2012, when Shadow and Bone was first released.

Two years prior, The Hunger Games Trilogy had finished coming out and, in a rather stunning turn of events, shifted the popular Y.A. category from the genre of the paranormal romance (thank you, Stephanie Meyer) to the dystopian society.

Now, this is not to say that there weren’t dystopian stories prior to The Hunger Games, or that there weren’t paranormal romances in the Y.A. genre afterward. Both have survived, but the boom of dystopian stories and the whimper of paranormal romance was definitely felt.

So 2012 hits. In comes Shadow and Bone, in a time where we have some interesting precedents that our Y.A. forefathers created:

Firstly, let’s talk about themes.

Carried over from both genres, is this idea of duality. There is light and there is dark, and whether or not there is a middle ground is up to the author. As the Y.A. target audience is quite large, there’s a lot to be said for how nuanced this idea can be. In many stories, it’s a nail on the head. In others, the lines are a little more blurred. In most stories, you get some semblance of Good = Light, Bad = Shadow. In the end, the ultimate goal is to embrace one or the other. At the end of the series, we’re either in the midday sun or the midnight darkness. The peak of the story leaves very little middle ground.

Then, brought over from the dystopian genre, we have the idea that The Current Regime is Bad for insidious reasons, and it needs to be torn down and built anew. This is often the main focus of dystopian stories, and our main characters are revolutionaries that see the world in a new, free light.

Finally, a trap of the Y.A. category is it’s simplistic idea of good and bad. Again, we hark back to the vast target age range, and you can see why this would be so prevalent. There is very little by way of morally grey, in the Y.A. category, and if there is moral greyness, it almost always falls into two categories: (1) it is held by the main character alone, and that is why we root for them, or (2) it is martyred and killed. Moral greyness is either the Ushering of a New Era, or The Ideal that Could Not Be. If greyness is to survive, it must exist in the main character who, readers hope, will usher in a new dawn of peace (and light moral greyness) either through their small acts of love (the angel loving the demon) or in large displays of change (the morally grey character rising to be ruler).

These are all themes we expect to be present in Shadow and Bone. And for the most part, they are!

But now let’s talk about character tropes.

Carried over from the paranormal romance, we have the introduction of the “Othered” love interest. This character has a condition that sets him apart from others, and (whether it be vampire, demon, werewolf, etc.) is so prevalent that he cannot fit in. And because of his differences, he has been shunned by Society. This character, notably, is not the “light” or “pure” paranormal figure - he is not the angel - but rather, the demon. The angel would be able to slip into society (presumably because his goodness grants him some kind of godly camouflage). The demon cannot. He doesn’t fit in, and he never can. This creates tension in him, and so he shuns others just as hard as they shun him - he has done so for a very long time until he meets our main character, who gets close to him and breaks down his walls. This character is often the eventual love interest, for reasons that will become apparent later.

Sometimes carried over from the paranormal romance is the idea that the main character is secretly an “other in hiding” (an angel without her wings, etc.). This creates a bond between the “Othered” love interest and the main character - a bond that can’t be deteriorated once it’s been made, because the main character can’t be un-Othered. They can’t take back the forbidden knowledge they’ve obtained. If this character pops up, the “Othered” love interest is almost always chosen, if he exists.

The dystopian genre has a branching version of this trope, as there is almost always a healthy amount of othering. The main character usually comes from a group of people that is Othered from Society, but our main character is even more unique/different from their “Othered group.” This “specially Othered” character is superpowered in that they can navigate both “Othered” Society and “normal” Society. They can be the go-between.

Sometimes found in the paranormal romance is the “normal” or stereotypical character. This is the average human - the character that doesn’t understand the “Othered” love interest, and wants the main character to go back to the way things were before. This character can sometimes make up the other leg of the love triangle and become a love interest. Other times, it’s a family member or a friend or even an abstract ideal. The point of this character, however, is to show the main character that they can’t go back to the way things were. Too much has happened. Too much has been discovered.

All of this is to say that when Shadow and Bone came out, audiences had expectations with long standing. It is safe and fair to say that the Darkling was set up as a character to be viewed in a certain light, and then the rug was pulled out beneath fans, who had already invested so much in his character.

Shadow and Bone: The characters that Don’t Fit;

So now let’s look at Shadow and Bone in the scope of history and audience expectation. Let’s look at the characters as well as the Grishaverse, in broad terms.

The Darkling is, in the first half of Shadow and Bone, the stereotypical “Othered” love interest. He can summon shadows, which is remarkably different from the other powers of Grisha, and his “forefathers” have done terrible things with this power, making him not only an other in talent but an other in animosity and fear.

In comes Alina, and she is a perfect fit for the main character being an “other in hiding” as well as a “specially Othered” character. She was otkazat’sya before she realized she was Grisha, and she is seen as the go-between for these two different worlds - she can bring them together. Furthermore, she is stronger than your average Grisha - distinct from all others, excepting the Darkling.

Alina is understood by the Darkling. She is discovering parts of herself that she didn’t know she had. This is all decidedly Good, and the romance that is forming is living up to reader expectation.

We also have an interesting occurence of duality. Alina, with her light, is the equal and opposite to the Darkling and his shadow. Together, they have limitless power, a common goal, and perhaps a purifying dynamic as Alina can “save” the Darkling. Her light can banish his shadows.

History is leading us to believe they are the endgame ship.

This is only inculcated when you have Mal, who is the “normal” character. Through the framing of the story (not seeing Mal, holding on to him only causing Alina to not reach her full potential), we see that the love story with Mal is the Romance That Cannot Be. They are fated to be apart due to the tropes that readers know and understand.

But then the second half of the book kicks in, The Darkling is proven to have been manipulating Alina, things go South, and readers are left unaware of what’s coming next. In this moment, the theme of The Current Regime is Bad slaps readers across the face.

So let’s take a second to look at The Current Regime is Bad, because how the Darkling and his motives exist in that tempest is thought provoking, to say the least.

The Darkling is, decidedly, a part of The Current Regime. He is a general and close to the King, after all. He is a part of this life... and yet he is not. Remember that The Darkling is our “Othered” character. He cannot be a part of The Current Regime because he is shunned by it. And yet, he is tied to it like a prisoner.

The reader thinks: is the Darkling bad? He is shown to be a part of Society. He wants the war to continue - he doesn’t want to tear down the Fold.

As the reader is grappling with this revelation, we are told (in the same book!) that the Darkling is actually not a part of The Current Regime (which is Bad), but rather, had been working against it.

Okay.

So now the reader thinks that since Society is Bad, and the Darkling is against it, he and Alina do have a common goal, and his status as a love interest can be saved. He can be redeemed as a character because Alina can purify his methods, then together they can get rid of the current regime, and they can be Others together.

It’s a solid thought process. After all, the “Othered” characters have been consistently good at heart, and Alina can redeem him. We still have a bad guy to take down - and it’s not the Darkling.

But...

Leigh Bardugo decides that is not the story she wants to tell, and she has to pull out some literary gymnastics to give us an explanation. The idea is, no, the Darkling is Bad and his “Othered” status is not relevant because it doesn’t justify his actions. He is a part of a radical portion of The Current Regime and is just as Bad.

Enter Nikolai Lantsov, who can take over The Current Regime, because as the reader is constantly reminded, Alina no longer wants novelty - she wants normalcy (which is represented by none other than Malyen Oretsev).

So, what does all of this mean? The Darkling decidedly Doesn’t Fit into any of the currently accepted (and expected) tropes of the Y.A. genre. This, on its own, is not inherently Bad or Wrong, but you can see how readers were thrown and consistently, ideas were stretched to fit the simplistic ideas of good and bad that run rampant through the Y.A. category.

The Darkling: What We Left Behind;

We have all heard the critique that the most frustrating thing about the Shadow and Bone Trilogy is how the treatment of Grisha is never fixed. It’s mentioned, but it’s never addressed.

To play the Devil’s Advocate, I am going to tell you all that this problem was never fixed because it was never part of Alina’s Narrative. As I will now attempt to point out, The Darkling is an ill suited antagonist for Alina’s story.

As I like to joke with my friends, the Darkling is an Adult Fantasy character inside of a Y.A. Fantasy story. He cannot be properly served because the story does not fit him, and it doesn’t really try.

Y.A. stories are incredibly focused. There is usually a lot going on in the wider story, but the reader is confined to one point of view and one narrative. This is why the main character is always leading rebellions and fighting in the thick of things. In order to address the problems of the wider narrative, the main character needs to be pretty front and center with the problems.

Alina is at the center of an inner conflict of power vs. normalcy. She is not at the center of the Grisha’s problems.

Time and again, we see that Alina largely doesn’t care about how terribly Grisha are treated, as a whole. She has moments of clarity where she is angry (notably the scene in Ruin and Rising where the nations’ treatment of Grisha is described in detail), but her remorse doesn’t really extend past sympathy. In the end, she still does nothing to save Grisha.

Alina is a terrible hero when matched to the problems the Darkling is trying to solve. She doesn’t understand their full breadth, having not grown up with them, and she doesn’t want to fix them.

The Problem of The Darkling is that he is a character with problems and motivations that get shrinked and discarded because they do not fit into the Alina Narrative.

Alina’s story is about three things: (1) learning that a lust for power is bad and only corrupts; (2) tearing down the Fold, which is the representation of lusty power; and (3) returning to normalcy. (If you’re wondering why Mal is a rough™ character, it’s because he’s supposed to be the ideal of normalcy, that Alina both wants but can’t have as long as she seeks the amplifiers.) The Grisha don’t factor into that equation.

Alina doesn’t have a solution for giving the Grisha a safe existence where they won’t be sold into slavery, won’t be persecuted by the world, and won’t be forever Othered. She stumbles upon the vague promise of fixing the last of those problems when she runs into Nikolai (purely by chance, or, if you want to stretch it, The Darklings machinations). Furthermore, she doesn’t want to do any of that - she wants normalcy, remember? Her story isn’t going to be saving the Grisha - that’s not what it’s about.

The Darklings entire character motivations focus on all of the plot points that Alina doesn’t hit. He wan’t to make a safe existence for Grisha, he wants Grisha to no longer be persecuted and Othered. How is he going to do it? By ugly means, yes, but he’s going to achieve it nonetheless.

The Darkling has motivations that are not addressed in the Shadow and Bone Trilogy. They aren’t what the story is about, or what the story chooses to focus on. His story is a braided narrative that is too complicated for the simplistic, black and white story that the Shadow and Bone Trilogy is.

So here’s the problem: the story insists the Darkling is the bad guy, but he can’t possibly be the bad guy if his intentions are Good, and there is no other way. Until Alina finds another way, he is a martyr - he is the Starless Saint. The Saint who was misguided, sure, but the only Saint who tried to solve things.

The Darkling is not fit for Shadow and Bone. His story and what he advocated for isn’t resolved by the end of the trilogy. So when he dies, it feels unearned. It’s tragic - and perhaps there is some beauty in that tragedy, or some lesson to be learned about how you cannot justify evil means for a good end - but it feels undeserved. His problems aren’t addressed. He is defeated, but his cause and his essence aren’t put to sleep.

King of Scars: A Cause Without Its Martyr;

Which leads us to the Nikolai duology.

Like I said - The Darklings’ problems are forgotten in Alina’s narrative. So what happens when we break out of that point of view? After a brief (and iconic) interim with the Crows, we are back in Ravka and the Grisha are still struggling with the problems that Shadow and Bone failed to address. Ravka is still dying, but now that we have gotten rid of a reluctant cast of characters and have made distance from the trope-heavy Shadow and Bone, we are better equipped to save her.

But here’s a question - can we ignore the man who pioneered these problems in favor of a more palatable cast? Can we not address the Darkling while picking up the sword he used?

Leigh Bardugo needs to reclaim the Grisha Problem by stealing it from the Darkling’s grasp. That proves to be difficult, given that we’ve killed him and have given him a tragically beautiful death. Absence has made the heart grow fonder, and in his final moments, the Darkling was not the evil Shadow Summoner but rather Alexander Morozova - the boy within. Readers (even those who didn’t like the Darkling) might be more endeared to him now that everything is said and done.

We need to separate the Darkling from his cause.

Enter the Cult of the Starless Saint and the Condemnation of the Starless.

To remind readers that the Darkling is bad, Leigh Bardugo does a few things. Firstly, she has her characters repeatedly condemn the Darkling. On one hand, it makes sense and feels genuine. On the other hand, it can be a little excessive. Sometimes, the vehemence reads like what it is - Leigh Bardugo is giving us reasons to hate the Darkling again. Add on the fact that Nikolai’s monster is Bad and one of few remnants of the Darkling still surviving, and you get a lot of hate.

Except, ah! The more we talk about the Darkling, the more we are reminded of what he stood for!

So we have to strip him of that - we have to take his legacy and drag it through the mud. Thus, we create The Cult of the Starless Saint. They represent the Darklings legacy and status in history - were his intentions Good Enough to grant him mercy? To give him Sainthood?

Spoiler alert: They are not. Not as portrayed by the Cult of the Starless Saint.

The Cult is a laughing stock. They don’t have a stance of the Grisha, they’re worship of the Darkling is meant to be seen as mocking Alina’s sacrifice, and the main priest readers interact with is the receiving end of a slew of jokes. They don’t care about anything the Darkling cared for, and they don’t really want to help Grisha. This is done to muddy the waters - if the people who emulate the Darkling are selfish and without cause, well... the Darkling clearly wasn’t Good. They just think his shadow powers were cool and want him to be a Saint. They exist to slander the Darkling.

So now we have separated the Darkling from his cause, and the story continues. The Darkling is Bad. He doesn’t have a legacy. His cause is passed on to others.

But (because we’re Delta airlines and life is a f*cking nightmare) it doesn’t end there. We bring the Darkling back from the dead.

*long sigh*

Resurrection? The Curse of a Second Life;

I have wracked my brain for many an evening, trying to give reason as to why we brought the Darkling back. The obvious answer is for his role at the end of Rule of Wolves - we need him to hold the rift of the Making at the Heart of the World together. However, when Leigh Bardugo introduces real Saints, he’s not needed. Suddenly, we have a slew of characters who could do the same. Furthermore, part of why this rift exists is because the Darkling was brought back. If he is both the cause and the solution, the conflict didn’t need to be there in the first place - especially considering how inconsequential it was to the narrative.

If I had to pin a reason as to why we brought the Darkling back, it was simply to further push the Darkling from his original motivation. He comes back and... doesn’t do much. He doesn’t seem to have the same care for Grisha, he has watered down character traits, and he largely does nothing. The Darkling in the Nikolai Duology is Not The Darkling because he’s a shell of the character he used to be.

Bringing him back from the dead was unsatisfying, and it weakens his original ending. As I have mentioned in other posts, the Darkling coming back cheapens whatever meaning readers gleaned from his ending. The Darkling is resurrected and he doesn’t truly seem to care about anything - which is the direct opposite of what the Darkling has been shown to be.

The Darkling has been bastardized in any appearance he’s made after The Demon in the Wood, and ultimately, it leads to a rather anticlimactic end for such a distinctive, hallmark character.

But let’s really quick establish why the sacrifice the Darkling makes at the end of this book is unfulfilling.

Because, in the final moments of Rule of Wolves, the Darkling gets his moment of penance and sacrifice - he chooses to hold the rift. It’s said he will have to hold it for eternity. You would thing that this would leave an impact!

However, as is, this ending leaves much to be desired for a few reasons:

The Darkling has been so far removed from his character, that when he states, “Everything I did, I did for Ravka,” it feels... incorrect? It sounds like the hollow, misguided claims of a tyrant king, because for an entire Duology, the Darkling has been bastardized and has been the cause of a blight that is killing Ravka. His presence is actively killing the country he claims to serve, and as for actions, he has done very little for Ravka, and nothing for the Grisha. The last time he did anything of substance was before Six of Crows!

None of the characters present for his sacrifice have any sympathy for the Darkling. The Darkling chooses to sacrifice himself, and we get no emotional closure. Alina isn’t there to whisper his name and mourn him, and while Zoya gets the glimmer of weak pity, we have much reason to believe that Zoya mostly feels disenchanted because he will be praised as a martyr and not hated as the evil man she knew him to be (more on that here). There isn’t sympathy so much as there is bitterness and the semblance of the remnants of tattered respect shining in the dim light.

The final chapter of Rule of Wolves tells us that it’s all going to be made inconsequential in the coming books, when they are going to replace the Darkling with something else. The Darkling won’t even get his full sacrifice, because he is undeserving of a redemptive act of selflessness.

So now, where do we leave the Darkling? For two books, we have separated him from his initial cause, watered down his character and motivations, and given him ends that are largely unsatisfying.

We’ve actually started to fix the Grisha problem, and there’s something interesting to be said in that it’s fixed by Zoya Nazyalensky, who goes up through the chain of command in a very similar fashion as to how the Darkling planned. She was a General, and then she became Queen of Ravka - the acting monarch, no less - with a beloved public figure on her arm (which, in the Darkling’s case, would have been Alina).

So I am left to wonder - was the lesson, then, indeed, that you cannot justify evil means for a good end? Was the moral of the Darkling all along about how you must be good throughout - with good acts and good intentions - in order to make change and be revered for it? If so, why did Leigh Bardugo slander the Darkling retroactively, the way she did?

If the problem was his actions and not his intentions, why insist that his intentions were devoid of meaning, as well?

Aleksander Morozova: What We Buried;

Now, you all knew I was going to get here eventually, and if you’ve made it, congrats. We are now talking about the emotion behind the deed, the man behind the monster, the boy swallowed by the shadows.

I believe it is pivotal to understand that Leigh Bardugo has always wanted us to struggle with our feelings over the Darkling. She wanted a character that you could sympathize with, she wanted a character with humanity, and she wanted a reason for his villainy. I think that Shadow and Bone, for all of its failings, gave us that. There’s a reason why there is such a big divide over the Darkling in the original trilogy. He was a compelling character! Somewhere along the way, Leigh Bardugo lost that nuance of her own character. At some point, she resorted to stripping him of his meaning and slandering his image.

Perhaps I am playing the Devil’s Advocate again, but I believe this was intentionally done.

Because one has to ask - why slander the Darkling? A large portion of the fanbase already hates him, so cheapening his character is doing nothing for them other than giving them sweet vindication, which is unnecessary and only disenchants the other half of your audience. There has to be some deeper reasoning. Leigh Bardugo wanted this character to be sympathetic, so why, now, does she want him to be two-dimensional?

Once more, I am asking you to think back to the original trilogy. What was the main moral? That power, no matter how good-intentioned the pursuit of it is, corrupts. What is the Darklings purpose of coming back again if not to simply have power? He certainly shows no other motive than lusty greed, after being resurrected.

And even if we ignore his lust for power, as he so willingly gives it up to Zoya Nazyalensky in the end of Rule of Wolves, we have two other corrupting forces that could account for the degradation of his character - time, and death.

We know the Darkling to have lived for eons, and he would have continued to live on for an eternity more. There is nothing like time to truly corrupt a character’s vision, and there is nothing like death and resurrection to husk a character.

In fact, if Mal’s character did anything of importance when it comes to effecting the Darkling, it lies in the epilogue of Ruin and Rising, where it is stated that “the boy and the girl had both known loss.” Mal’s loss is equated to Alina being stripped of her power - that is the power of having died, and being forcefully brought back to life. That is a vague basis for which we readers can compare what it must have been like for the Darkling to come back - even if he is so desensitized to feeling, that he doesn’t remark on it himself.

But let’s keep chugging on.

When we first met the Darkling in 2012 Shadow and Bone, he was unfeeling. He was cold and harsh. There was something beneath the surface, yes, but there were thick sheets of ice in the way. You had to mine for it. Time had already warped the actions of his intentions. It’s expected that time would continue to do its damage, and when he is revived in King of Scars, his intentions are warped as well. He is nothing of the person he used to be other than memories and power. That is why, at the end of Rule of Wolves, when he states that he did everything for Ravka, it feels hollow - that was once true, but the Darkling has even lost that. He has the vague impression of it, but nothing you can sink your teeth into.

I think, had this idea been looked at in deeper depth, it would have been a far more compelling story. Had Rule of Wolves really dedicated itself to showing the Darkling’s conflict of his current apathy, and the knowledge that there was once a time he possessed meaning, we could have found the marrow of his arc. If the book had made an allusion to this concept, his character would have been more satisfying. But as it stands, the Darkling is just degraded in the later books, and unless you really search for meaning, there isn’t any.

And perhaps, if the Darkling had been a different character - a character who, at his core, was more unfeeling - the way we left him would feel okay.

But while The Darkling was harsh and cruel, Aleksander Morozova wasn’t, and that’s what has us all hung up on his character.

If you haven’t read The Demon in the Wood for whatever reason, do yourself a favor and read that instead of revisiting the show’s version of his villain origin story. The show made the Darkling far less compelling by showing him as the grief stricken Black Heretic, rather than the boy within. When we meet Aleksander, he is a boy who is afraid of the world, who has never belonged in it or with others, and who is, ultimately, afraid of himself. With his mother, Baghra, he has taken on a thousand names and traveled a thousand places, and all the while, he is afraid of getting too close to others because he is an amplifier and he knows that if any Grisha were to find out, they would kill him for his power.

Thus, there is so much nuance to his relationship with the Grisha. He is one of them, but he is not. To hark back to our history lesson, he is the exact opposite of the “specially Othered” character that is so often given to protagonists. Instead of acting as a go-between, he is the one person that everyone - Grisha and otkazat’sya - can come together to kill.

And as a little boy, he knows that. He knows he has to stay in the shadows, and yet, he is deathly afraid of the dark - afraid of that which sets him apart, and that which he cannot escape.

This is poignant because at the root of every great character is a singular, vulnerable emotion, and for the Darkling, it is fear. And most importantly, fear of the shadows.

When he meets Alina, we truly see the strength of their duality. We truly see why he was so drawn to Alina - why he could so easily fall in love with her, despite the years and despite the tide, and despite his fear of letting others in. She is his equal and opposite - with her, there are no shadows. There is no fear. The fact that he lets Alina use him as an amplifier is so telling of his deep feelings for Alina.

Where each reader draws the line between their dynamic - either him truly loving Alina, or him simply loving and obsessing over the idea of her - is for the individual to decide. The wonderful thing about the Darkling in his current state in the original Shadow and Bone Trilogy is that he still has good intentions within him, no matter how corrupted by his evil actions. Whether or not they truly could have been is up to each person because the question over whether or not Alina could “purify” the Darkling was never deeply explored. We will never know if she could save him, or if it would have destroyed her in the end. Whether or not you want her to try is personal preference.

Again, Alina didn’t want to fully commit to that act, and so we readers will never truly know. Luckily, fanfiction exists.

But, I didn’t name this section “what we buried” for nothing, and I think it’s important to note that even in the beginning of The Demon in the Wood, the Darkling was already on his way toward a darker, harsher existence.

Baghra, from presumably the moment he was born, groomed the Darkling to be a certain way - the same way as her, a survivor with little hope, living for the sake of living and fighting for the sake of a meal. She had no plans to save the world - it was only after the Darkling had a run in with the possibility of death that he unearthed a deep desire within him - the desire to save the Grisha. Before that, it was buried.

Before that, the Darklings' desires were buried beneath his mother’s words and buried beneath the dirt that settled over his heart like a shallow grave, because his connection to others was buried as well. Baghra did that, and whether or not she was misguided or if she was the smarter of the two is an essay better tackled by looking at her, specifically, which we won’t do here.

As we’re reaching the end, I feel like I have earned the right to be cliche and quote the Darkling’s thoughts from when he was still a boy, but already a shadow. In The Demon in the Wood, he thinks:

“My father is dust. You all are.”

At such a young age, the Darkling has already lost his grip. Already, he knew he would outlive and outlast anyone, and this heavy knowledge was already piling up, and he was slowly being buried alive in his own infinence.

It was only ever inevitable that his story would end like this - with a detached man who was once a hopeful boy, but could no longer recall what such confidence tasted like - so perhaps the tragic beauty in the end of Ruin and Rising was not that he died, it was that he wasn’t given an end.

— Special kudos to @onceupon-a-decembr who let me scream about this with her, and another kudos to @musicallisto who introduced me to a book series that I will never stop screaming about. Ever.

— tagging: @maybanksslut, @musicallisto, @catsbooksandmusic, @thefifthweasley, @thegirlwhocriedwerewolf, @amirahiddleston, @lachichapequena, @mrs-brekker15, @amortensie // add yourself to the taglist here!

#grishaverse #grishaverse meta #shadow and bone #shadow and bone meta #meta #meta analysis #writing #the darkling #aleksander morozova #the darkling meta #i am once again ranting about the grishaverse #if miss leigh bardugo wants me to stop analyzing her characters and (kind of drag her) she better put me in the writers room.#or put me in the show her choice #and there's more i could have added to this smh #but i feel like people stop reading after 5.6k words.

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Insidious: Is The Further Real?

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“The Further is a world far beyond our own, yet it’s all around us, a place without time as we know it,” Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye) explains in the 2011 occult horror film Insidious. “It’s a dark realm filled with the tortured souls of the dead, a place not meant for the living.” Director James Wan saw the astral world through the eyes of fear. It was how he was able to evoke the most terror from the nether regions of soul and thought.

Horror films have made a spiritual ghetto out of the universe which lies between dream, sleep and death. They focus on the malevolent realm of incubi, succubae and the Red-Lipstick-Face Demon. The map to the Further is not limited to shadowy studies. Many mystical practices are divided into black and white magic out of fear and superstition, but there can be room for both.

Insidious starts off like a fairly typical haunted house movie. It opens shortly after Renai (Rose Byrne) and Josh Lambert (Patrick Wilson) move into a spooky new house with their three children. When the property progresses from ominous to hazardous, the family move into an even spookier house, fire their real estate broker, and contact an astral travel agent. The psychically gifted supernatural expert, Shaye’s Elise, explains the hauntings are not a feature of the multiple houses, but the results of a family member embarking on nocturnal astral projection missions which he believes are dreams.

The concept that the soul can leave the body during dream states is ancient. But for all the purported cosmic intelligence culled from out-of-body incidents, practitioners have found no way to scientifically measure if a spirit leaves or enters a body. It is a concept rejected by scientists but beloved by filmmakers and other artists.

In the film, the first person to put the notes together is Renai, the mother of young Dalton (Ty Simpkins), who falls into a mysterious coma early in the first act. Renai, who is a songwriter, experiences two initial contacts. The first comes in a box of missing sheet music. Musicians have always been pioneers when it comes to gray areas of society and spirituality, and rockers chose to embrace the Further. George Harrison melodically rhapsodizes about the extracorporeal aspects of certain Hindu practices in the Beatles’ song “The Inner Light.” The Moody Blues harmonize on the idea that “Thinking is the best way to travel” on their 1968 album In Search of the Lost Chord, itself a musical blueprint for transcendental journeying. Through sonics, these artists ventured happily into the transformative aspects of the Further. Among true believers, “the Further” is also called Liṅga Śarīra, Akasha, and prana. But it’s probably best known as the astral plane, a shallow tag in itself.

“The term ‘astral plane’ is a poetic description, at best, or more accurately a misnomer,” says Zeena, a Tibetan tantric Buddhist yogini, and iconic occult authority and artist. “When our consciousness pierces the veil of our ordinary, everyday scope of perception, there are infinite other realities one might experience, not just one ‘astral plane.’”

In Insidious, the paranormal hunting psychic Elise explains that Dalton is a “traveler,” who was born with the ability to pierce that veil.

“Everybody possesses the potential for astral projection,” Zeena says. “It’s a natural part of being human, just as many other metaphysical or paranormal experiences can naturally occur. But the ability to actualize it is relatively rare, and the effects from the occurrences vary greatly depending on many factors.”

Rebecca Halladay, an occult writer, scholar, and lifelong practitioner and witch, describes astral projection as “working on the Inner Planes of consciousness. In terms of ‘dimensions,’ this would be considered [fifth-dimensional] or above. Journeying is work within the physical, Earthly realm, which is [three-dimensional].”

Certain practices are believed to bridge these dimensions.

“Astral projection during deep states of unconsciousness like sleeping, fainting, or coma, could be achieved by a master of such techniques,” Zeena says. “For one who’s trained most of their life in the esoteric method of willed astral projection, and has become highly skilled in the ability to focus the mind under all circumstances, then deep states of unconsciousness wouldn’t impede their ability.”

The cinematic spiritualist doesn’t believe Dalton fell into a coma because he slipped off a ladder in a creepy attic. Elise believes the boy, being only a child, couldn’t tell the astral projection from a dream and had no fear about going too far.

“The Further looks like your surroundings, but a different lighting shade of it,” says Emi Rose, a psychotherapist and founder of Paragon Solstice. “You can see yourself.”

Rose finds that “Insidious depicts the astral plane in similar levels. It is similar in respect to the idea of a ‘physical’ mirror image of your waking life. Your surroundings around you as you sleep are remarkably similar. The difference is the state of consciousness you are now in can shape and change that experience that exists out of time and space.”

Because of the familiarity and relative comfort of these projected surroundings, Dalton gets lost in his adventures, leaving only a lifeless body behind. Elise, a veteran soul-traveler herself in the movie, is ever mindful of the dangers.

It all amounts to a very literal translation of eastern philosophical contemplations. The Buddhist meditation practice Maraṇasati is constant remembering that death can strike at any time. Thukdam is a Buddhist phenomenon in which a realized master’s consciousness remains in the body despite physical death. While this isn’t what is happening with the young Dalton, he is plugged into medical sensors which, during at least one frightening pop-up, flatline.

Practitioners and researchers are divided on whether it is possible to slip away and die during astral travel.

“There is a risk that could happen if done incorrectly,” Zeena tells us. Kristna Saikia, who is a metaphysics and meditation teacher and filmmaker, as well as a fellow astral travel facilitator, disagrees.

“No one dies in Astral travel,” Saikia says “There is a silver cord which is always connected with our etheric body. When you astral travel, you are always aware of what is happening in the earthly dimension with your body. It’s an intentional out-of-body experience. You can come back to your physical body whenever you decide.”

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In Wan’s film, tormented souls vie against demonic forces for the chance to possess Dalton. Possession is a horror film mainstay, and Insidious offers an interesting alternative arc to the usual spectral evictions enforced by Hollywood. But is it possible for an entity to take over a body during an astral trip?

“If done incorrectly, yes,” Zeena tells us. It is also something which can be done with intent. “In ceremonial magic, this is the entire purpose of entering the Inner Planes,” says Halladay. “During the Rite of Isis, the Priestess goes into the Inner Planes to invoke the Goddess Isis to bring her into the Earthly realm. Now can an entity ‘possess’ a physical being while on the planes? I would have to say it is absolutely possible.”

It turns out Dalton isn’t the only traveler in the Insidious family. He gets it from his father, who was terrorized by the spirit of an old woman during his childhood. Josh suppressed the memory, but Elise opens old wounds and new ones for the patriarch. She hypnotizes Josh, triggering his long-resting phantasmal dislocation, and sends him into the Further to find his son and bring him back.

Zeena confirms people can be guided through the experience, but insists “it’s a very delicate process requiring a qualified teacher from reputable metaphysical lineages that specialize in that. And even then, astral projection, or directing one’s consciousness, is not the main goal, but rather a way to gauge preparedness for more advanced training on the path toward spiritual enlightenment. When done improperly, the results of attempting astral projection simply for experimentation, entertainment, or curiosity can be disastrous.”

The film presents a cinematically dark alternative to the physical plane, a netherworld of unlocked doors and an overarching feeling of dread. Insidious doesn’t imply the Further is Hell, but it does look like one of the many highways AC/DC bypassed.

“They gave the darker energies too much power in the movie,” says Emi Rose. “In the astral plane, we always have a balanced choice to engage on a subconscious or conscious level. On a conscious level you can power your will, create scenarios.”

Josh’s first encounter in the Further is with the Crying Woman, not the most inviting of hosts. Citizens in Insidious’ cinematic spectral realm include the spirits of a family doomed to relive their violent deaths on a spectral loop; a long-haired, leather jacketed ghoul with a sex-fiend tongue; and a mischievous little boy. At its center is the Lipstick-Face Demon. It is tall with horns, pointed ears, snake-eyes, spidery fingers, and hooves for feet. Its skin is black as the night sky, its eyes are blacker holes.

“When one has a mind-expanding experience through any number of means, whether astral projection, meditation, or psychedelics, one encounters infinite types of beings,” Zeena says. “Recently deceased beings; beings we knew in a former incarnation but recognize in their new reincarnated state; celestial beings; demons and hell beings; mythological or magical beings; Buddhas and Bodhisattvas; Gods and demigods.” They’re all among the usual suspects.

But what you encounter is also contingent on who you call. “It all depends on the law of polarity,” Saikia says. “If you project fear, you will encounter energy vampires and evil entities.”

Halladay agrees that there are other entities in the astral planes, but says “I have never personally met other travelers, only those I have astralled with.”

The Red-Faced Demon never speaks in the film. It has, however, spoken with Josh’s mother, Lorraine (Barbara Hershey), in her dreams, which also appear to be of a special class: lucid dreaming.

“Astral traveling is a combination of Insidious and Inception,” quips Emi Rose. Inception is technically about lucid dreaming, Leonardo DiCaprio’s character Dom is technically-aided to enter dreams to steal information or implant ideas. It is often mistaken for astral travel, but not usually weaponized in the way that film presents it. Reddit’s rogue “Astral Army” community claims they combine astral travel and remote viewing to post out-of-body surveillance reports on popular conspiracy theory obsessions like Area 51.

The different practices are often mistakenly considered interchangeable, but are quite different.

“With astral projection, one is sending one’s consciousness–either in part or fully–away from their body to a designated place or realm, in this world or others, for a particular purpose,” Zeena explains. “Remote viewing is when consciousness remains in the body but one can view anywhere else from afar. These two phenomena are also different from the involuntary experience colloquially known as OBE (out of body experiences), which usually spontaneously occurs in conjunction with trauma, near death experiences, or extreme stressors or ecstasy.”

In the overall arc of the Insidious franchise, the Further is much vaster than originally imagined, and the source and tool of mystical workings.

“There is a difference between Occultist practices and some, though not all, Esoteric Traditions,” says Halladay. “Occultists, past and present, generally accept astral projection as a regular part of their practice. Eurocentric pagan traditions do not make it a part of their regular practice.”

Though a fan of the film, Rose thought “Insidious focused too much on the shadow side of the astral plane. The movie portrayed the astral world as a scary dark place with only negative entities waiting to take over your body. So many more things occur in our dream world that we can conceive beyond bad scenarios. It is where we can conduct unfinished business, live out fantasies, replay or create scenarios, and travel to places we cannot do in our waking life.”

Late 18th century occult orders Golden Dawn and the Theosophists believed they could journey to other worlds, heavens and hells, and astrological spheres through etheric travel. In the 1999 book, Astral Dynamics, Robert Bruce calls it the “Real Time Zone,” and says it is the non-physical dimension-level closest to the physical. The New Age movement actively promotes the brighter, more enlightening aspects of the Further, to the point where the practice is on the precipice of mainstream thought.

Insidious isn’t the first film to venture beyond physical realms, but its ongoing franchise is proof the inner universe is expanding.

Insidious is streaming on Netflix now.

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spookyscullies · 6 years

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welcome to iowa

tagging: @viceversawrites @softnow

for the 50 States of Sex challenge. i hope you like it !

Scully set her bag down on the bed and unzipped it, rifling to find her shower necessities. After a day in the sweltering summer heat of Iowa investigating, well, shit, to put it frankly, what she needed was a nice, refreshing shower. The sun had begun to affect her mood hours ago, and she knew Mulder could tell. She didn’t mean to be so stiff and harsh, but sometimes she couldn’t help it. It was irritating enough to be placed on an assignment as low as domestic terrorism and have to fulfill her duties as an FBI agent scoping out mostly farmers who’d ordered vast quantities of fertilizer.

They’d done the same exact thing for weeks, traveling from state to state, going from farm to farm. The only break they’d had from these routine check-ups was a few weeks prior when they’d gone to Idaho, only to stumble upon an X-File. It had been a glorious reprieve from the mind-numbing work they performed on a regular basis now, and even though she’d immediately dismissed it, she’d allowed Mulder to persuade her into going rogue. Although she hated to admit it, she’d enjoyed getting back in the swing of the paranormal. But now, it was background checks and long hours of traveling for little reward.

Mulder closed the door to the motel room behind him and tossed his bag aside.

“I’m taking a shower,” Scully informed him, to which he nodded. He didn’t want to press her, seeing as she was already annoyed.

Scully treaded over the cheap carpeting to the cramped bathroom, beginning to peel her clothes away from her body. Her blazer came off easily, but she had more trouble with her shirt and pants, still sticky from the sweat and heat of the afternoon. Finally naked, she turned on the faucet in the shower, expecting a stream of water to come flooding from the shower head. Instead, it whined pathetically as water coursed through the old pipes, producing a weak trickle of water, dripping uselessly to the floor of the tub. Great. It was broken.

Scully groaned angrily, shut off the water, and stormed out of the bathroom. Mulder was lying on the bed, eyeing Scully with more than a little curiosity as she strode naked toward him and flopped down next to him, shoving her bag off the bed.

“Shower doesn’t work. That was the one thing I was looking forward to,” Scully grumbled, heaving out an irate sigh.

Mulder scooted closer, placing a kiss on her temple.

“Well, I’m not sure about you, but there was something I was looking forward to that would make you feel better. Forget the shower.” Mulder pecked her cheek. “Something that might make all the tension ease away.” Another kiss on the corner of her lips, his hands beginning to search her body.

“Mulder.” Scully pursed her lips and tried to remain stoic, tried to keep herself from melting under his touch, tried to will her body to stop sending jolts of arousal to her nether regions as she laid there, waiting for what he might do next.

“Scully,” Mulder replied, snaking down her torso, planting scorching kisses across every inch of her exposed skin, her eyes fluttering as his lips enclosed softly around a perked nipple and gently suckled.

Scully let a sigh escape and hummed contentedly as he kneaded with his tongue, circling and sucking diligently at the sensitive peak while toying with the other with his quick fingers. Okay, so maybe she was giving in a little. Who could resist Fox Mulder tugging at her breasts like they were his salvation, like he worshipped them?

A pang of arousal shot through her again at the very notion of that description. She could feel the slick wetness seeping between her thighs, heating her up. God, what was she thinking? Of course this was better than a hot shower. The heat radiating off of them alone could cleanse and make her whole again. She was all in.

At last, Mulder released her breasts and ripped his shirt from his body, Scully making quick work of unclasping his belt and pants. She palmed large bulge protruding from Mulder’s boxer briefs, smirking in delight at the quiet groan that reached her ears at the ministration. She squeezed suddenly, her fingertips curling around his member, and stroked slowly through the cottony material. She heard him mutter an almost indistinguishable stream of obscenities and glanced up to study his face. His jaw hung slightly ajar, eyes unimaginably dark but sparkling as he held her gaze. Scully bunched the hem of his underwear under her fingers and pulled them down, Mulder rising to his feet to let his pants and boxers fall all at once to the ground.

“Fuck.” Scully couldn’t help but let the word tumble from her lips as she watched Mulder approach her, cock bobbing against his hardened and muscled stomach with every step he took. He grinned smugly, raising an eyebrow.

“Like what ya see, Scully?” Mulder questioned, to which Scully just whined in reply. He climbed on the bed and hovered over his partner, his warm palms gripping her waist snugly, while his dick loomed dangerously close to her center. She could feel her clit throbbing in want, having been neglected by herself and Mulder so far in their endeavor.

Scully began to swirl her fingers around the aching bundle of nerves, gasping at the sensation of her wetness slipping around her digits. Mulder seized her lips ferociously, biting at the pink flesh of her lower lip, his erection pressing ever so slightly into her entrance. She groaned shamelessly as she felt the tip of him ease inside.

“God fucking damn it, Scully, you’re so fucking wet,” Mulder hissed against her lips. She continued to grind her fingers against her clit feverishly.

“Mulder, come on,” Scully whimpered. He was just barely inside her. She needed more than this. God, she needed more of this now.

Mulder retracted himself from her, much to her disappointment.

“Please, for Christ’s sake—” Scully was cut off mid-sentence, Mulder roughly flipping her, her ass now pressed against his cock as he rutted himself against her. Punctuated moans spilled from her lips at the sharp hits of pleasure rippling through her.

“This how you want it? Huh, Scully? You want it like this?” Mulder’s breath was hot against Scully’s ear, pressing his chest against her back, his hands clutching firmly at the softness of her breasts as he plunged into her. Scully grunted deafeningly and gutturally as Mulder slammed thick and deep into her abruptly, the sound permeating the thin walls of the cheap motel room.

Mulder withdrew and drove savagely into her again, knocking her forward with the force. Another ear-piercingly loud cry of gratification ripped from Scully’s throat despite it being faintly muffled by the blanket half her face was being pushed into.

“Yeah, you like that?” Mulder pulled out and took hold of himself, spreading her arousal around her already dripping cunt with the head of his cock, rubbing it steadily against her clit for a few seconds, then up her slit to her perineum and back down again. Mulder buried himself in her, biting at the warmed skin of where her neck met her back.

“You like me fucking you from behind, Scully? You like it when I fuck you hard?” Mulder goaded, aggressively pumping into her one last time before setting up an even and deep-fucking pace, enjoying the gasps and wails that were pouring from Scully as she met each thrust with a push of her ass against him.

“Yes, fuckkk,” Scully ground out, the hard ending of the word clicking against her teeth. God, yes. This was exactly what she needed. Mulder fucking her thoroughly and fully, roughly. Scully felt the sting of a hand being slapped on her ass. The tingly feeling reverberated through her, her pussy pulsing territorially once around Mulder’s dick.

“Jesus fucking christ,” Mulder exhaled through clenched teeth. “You know how fucking hot you are, Scully? How fucking hot you look like this? Pressing your ass up against me like that, wanting your pussy to be fucked so badly? You feel so fucking good, you know that? So fucking hot and tight around me it’s so fucking—”

Scully clenched fiercely around Mulder, her orgasm crashing down onto her, a crescendoing shriek in the shape of Mulder’s name filling their room and bouncing off the walls. Mulder continued to hammer into her at a faster speed as she rode out the waves that were overwhelming her body, exhausting her and taking her for all she was worth.

Mulder surged forward one final time, spilling into her with a groan, gripping Scully’s waist in a way he knew would leave finger-shaped bruises for several days. They collapsed on their backs, heaving breathlessly, a sheen of sweat coating their bodies. Scully grinned at Mulder, then broke into a laugh.

“Please, Mulder, please fuck me like that more often.”

“With pleasure,” Mulder answered, Scully pulling him in, her lips pressing against his, tongue sliding past his defenses.

A knock sounded at the door, causing the two of them to jump away from each other. Neither of them responded immediately, and the knocking repeated. Scully slapped Mulder on the arm and pointed at the door.

“Uh, who is it?” Mulder called out, hastily seizing his underwear as Scully dove under the covers.

“Motel manager,” was the gruff reply from outside the door.

“Just a second!” Mulder slipped his boxers over his hips and cracked the door open, only revealing his face. “How can I help you?” He offered politely.

“I got a noise complaint from the two rooms on either side of you, so I just came by to tell you to keep it down.” The manager said boredly, his face dull and uninterested.

“Oh.” Mulder threw a look at Scully, who had begun to chuckle. “Sorry, it won’t happen again.”

The manager turned to go, but Mulder stopped him.

“Hey, you know your shower in here is broken.”

“Yep. Can’t do nothin’ about it. We’re currently without a plumber.”

“Oh, well, do you think maybe we could switch rooms or—”

“Nope.”

Mulder narrowed his eyes and shut the door behind him.

“Looks like we’re out of luck with that shower, Scully,” Mulder sighed, plopping down on the bed next to her.

“S’okay. We found something better to do anyway,” Scully informed in post-coital bliss.

Maybe this damn domestic terrorism assignment wasn’t all bad.

#msr smut #msr #msr fan fiction #txf #txf fan fiction #mulder #scully #fox mulder #dana scully

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thelcstsister · 6 years

Text

random story time kiddies !!

so, a number of years ago, this dumb ass mun decided to drop by a haunted ass location (asylum, if you will), with a few friends to scope out the place bc we were what you’d call, thrill seeking morons. although I was very sensitive and hella terrified of the paranormal, I have this adrenaline junkie streak in me so obvs I was like, HELL YEAH! let’s do the thing! Until we got there and even before we got to the gate of this place, I felt some really bad vibes from it. And i mean B-A-D. It affected me pretty physically but hella emotionally and it all really manifested in straight fear, which I’m usually pretty good about overcoming with logic but this fear was all I could feel the whole time (mind you, i was seeing things in the windows and shadows and shit... a would be fun experience IF I wasn’t so physically affected at the time). After walking around the building perimeter for a bit, we come across a broken window. Great stuff, I’m sure you can see where this is going. Maybe not. Anyway, my leader friend suggested we take pieces from this broken ass window. And we were like, hell yeah!! because souvenirs.. but also, it’s glass. Which ass you know, could basically become a portal to the other dimensions. Glass is probably the WORST thing we could’ve nicked form this place. But at the time, it was the coolest thing. My friend and I both had wonky experiences after this, no shit right? But for the most part, it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary (as my house is full of pretty chill spirits that don’t get violent. Ever). But flash forward to a rather recent time - some months ago when I found this glass that I’d put away and forgot about for awhile. I found it, took it out (yes with my bare hands because once again, I’m a little bit of a dumbass sometimes) and I showed my sister who wanted to visit haunted locations herself. Anywho, later that night when I was trying to sleep, in the pitch dark alone, as it were, I felt this really intense, really painful burning sensation on my arm. And i mean BURNING. ike someone was holding hot wire to my forearm and dragging it. I got up immediately and turned on the light to find three HUGE red marks (scratches, if you will) on my arm. Needless to say, I was FREAKED out to hell. I woke up my sister to show her the red marks to have a witness and I messaged my friend with pictures of the scratches. Granted this is several years later so I’m a bit braver (or at least, desensitized to most of my old fears) and I did end up falling back asleep that night. I guess what brings me to telling this story is because it was brought up again and I brought out the box that I keep this glass in again for the first time after that incident. And I gotta say, even holding the box...looking at the piece of glass without even touching it, really gives me the creeps. Like physically, it gives me a sense of dread and cold, straight fear in my chest. I’m not afraid of it..i’m not even scared of that incident or whatever it was that scratched me, which I’m pretty sure is some demonic presence (three scratches on my body - three is the magic number for demons as they mock the Holy Trinity) - but honestly, it gives me the heebie jeebies as fuck. my hands are clammy and i have that feeling from before. I have to get rid of this thing. Just not really sure how. I don’t want to release anything but I definitely don’t want this shit in my room anymore. I think it’s mostly bc I don’t want this entity to harm the other harmless entities in my house. I’m more scared for them than myself. I genuinely love the ghost that chills in my room and we co-exist rather peacefully, even when he’s hiding and moving my shit. I know this all sounds super crazy. And there’s not much flow or format to this story bc it’s literally just me rambling but yeah.. Idk. I’m feeling uneasy about this so I guess I just needed to share this experience.

Don’t ever take shit from any location you believe is haunted or any that are confirmed haunted. If you feel bad juju - there’s a reason for it. Taking even the smallest item from it is like opening a door and welcoming it into your home. Don’t fucking do it. It’ll screw you in the end, I promise you that.

TL;DR :: I took a piece of glass from a haunted abandoned asylu once and a demon followed my ass home - scratched the shit out of my arm and I’m trying to get rid of said glass bc honestly, it gives me the heebie jeebies just holding the box that it’s in. So long story short, don’t mess with paranormal stuff if you’re not ready to experience it all and don’t take souvenirs from those places. You’ll regret it. Thanks for reading <3

#don't let things follow you home #they're not always friendly #everything i touch turns to trash ;; ooc

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uldren-sov · 6 years

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Let me hear abt your lt ❤️! K1, K2, K7, K8, H1, H9, G4, D2, A4 L1, L5, L7 for you!!

No art! Too poor to comm people for her but SOON.Also I’m doing this alphabetically and then numerically bc i had a moment

tytyyyyyy for the ask!

A4. Are they a pessimist or an optimist?

Pessimist, definitely and becoming more of one by the day. There’s really no getting “better” at the end, there’s just making the best out of an increasingly bad situation. This, in her case, results having to get into even worse scenarios to find some way through a problem rather than triumph over it.

It’s rough, buddy, especially when there’s no hope that there’s any happy ending left for you.

And maybe there never was.

D2. Do they believe in an afterlife?

No but if she did she’d imagine it wouldn’t be too different from this.

G4. What kind of childhood did your OC have?

She, surprise, didn’t actually grow up in England or anywhere near London itself, but rather in a small village outside of Belfast. Grew up around horses in a little farm with a big apple orchard. Idyllic, but she started growing bored and rebellious, wanting to be a part of the city rather than anything else; no matter the case. So when a wandering troupe wandered past their little village, she ran away with them.

Never looked back and when she desperately wanted to, she no longer could.

H1. What is your OC’s orientation, romantic and/or sexual? Has it ever been a source of stress for them? Have they always been pretty sure of their orientation?

Ideally I don’t want to look too much of the real life politics of gender identity strife and sexuality during the Victorian era of actual Ireland and England. So excluding all of that, and in my limited scope of romantic vs sexual orientation: she’s bi in both ways. She fell in bitter, crushing, young love that made it hard for her to fall in love again - and whether she ever will again will remain to be seen - but she’s always been into all manner of person and it’s never really been an issue for her.

H9What are some things that your OC finds to be an instant turn-off in potential partners?

Predictability.

K1. Does your OC have to keep their paranormal aspect (PA) a secret from general society? If so, how? I.e., they can’t discuss their abilities, they have to hide a tail, they have an alter-ego, et cetera. What would happen if society found out about it?

Everyone else is pretty fucked up too, so generally speaking all of the weird parts are known even if they’re not particularly talked about. But it’s more who she associates herself with, that’s strange and scandalous.

Outwardly, she’s a former military officer and a guest lecturer at the University who has enough money to run in some prestigious circles of society for some reason; which means the nice things she has and the people she knows, are not due to any respectable means but she’s good enough to not get caught by the constables - so best get on her good side. Especially when she’s gaining a reputation for her soirees which generally center around cards and quite a lot of money.

The part she hides is that she’s working intimately with the Devils - literally devils from hell - of the Neath and sticking her nose into mysteries that she probably shouldn’t be; more than that, she’s trying to think of ways to make a profit off of it. The soirees are a respectable, if a little notorious, front to a small string of gambling dens she started in the less well-off places in London. Beyond that she’s a prolific thief (its how she got her start and her real passion), a engages in knife-and-candle duels that are pretty strictly outlawed (also a version of fight club that includes fencers, monsters, colonels, and one (1) prince with a full on lance and horse, all whom try to actually kill each other). And, oh yeah, super duper thief - no bueno.

Ideally, if said mystery goes right, then society won’t remember finding out about it in the first place.

K2. Are there others in their universe with the same or a similar PA as your OC? I.e., others from different dimensions, others of their same species. Do they know about it?

Yeah pretty much everyone has some level of messed up to them, some strange aspect that has manifested due to their menace and appear far stranger than her. Her friend, for instance, has eyes - sclera and all - swimming with the dark black-blue color of monsters that live deep in the sea that he happens to hunt.

But better example *spoilers*: one of the most infamous noble NPCs, the Duchess, just so happen to not be a crusty old white woman as she presents himself to be and instead might be some immortal ancient egyptian whose lover is essentially a walking talking mass of venom which is one of the only types of poisons to permanently kill the denizens of the Neath who she, btw, milks the flesh of to get this venom in the first place.

So there are way more sinister and weird things going on beyond just a loveless master thief. But, then again, she’s just really getting started.

K7. Does your OC’s PA affect their dietary habits so that they are unusual or problematic by their society’s standards?

She had nearly been compelled into cannibalism so that was a THING. But she got over that pretty quick. Beyond that she’s partial to a Devilish brew of sherry which is definitely noticeable but beyond that she just tends to favor the men’s after dinner choices of cigars and whiskey in society rather than be with the women so it might be seen as “odd.”

K8. What are some routines, if any, of self-care that your OC must engage in that are not typical of their society? I.e., having to file their teeth,

A lot of laundering and baths to get out blood, a lot of laudanum bottles to get rid of for aches and pains and all the nightmares. Ice baths take the edge off all of the so much aches and pains of her violent extracurricular activities.

If she starts getting nubs for horns she’ll have to start filing those down or start wearing shades to hide her sometimes-glinting brass eyes, both courtesy of her affiliation with the Devils.

#ask meme answers #long post #the indiscernible lieutenant #oc: saoirse #but i'm thinking of getting her away from the devils to be more of a spy with this mystery thing #its super fun #esp as she grows just more and more evil #fallen london oc #spoilers for the university

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prawnlegs · 7 years

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WEBCOMICS

I think I broke my links page with too many links, so it’s about time I made a rec post for some of my favorite webcomics! MAYBE YOU’LL FIND SOMETHING NEW TO LOVE.

This will always and forever be an incomplete list as I am always finding/looking for more stuff to read. I’ll probably reblog it every so often when I add more.

COMPLETE: Lady of the Shard by Gigi D.G. - I still haven’t gotten to Cucumber Quest but you had better believe I read this the day it came out. Follows a temple acolyte who is in love with the goddess she serves, and all the complicated turns of events that come out of this. Drawn in a loose, experimental pixel art style that makes it all the more immersive to read. The Less than Epic Adventures of TJ and Amal by E.K. Weaver - Eisner-nominated gay roadtrip romance you’ve probably already heard of. Some of the best character acting I’ve ever seen. The Muse Mentor by Amy King - Artistic muses (and one vague notion) try to find their purpose on the astral plane, which happens to look sort of like a cute fantasy version of San Francisco. A sincere and kind-spirited read, highly recommended if you struggle with feeling adrift and inadequate. Also, many drawings of delicious-looking food. Power Ballad by Molly Brooks - I just started this but it’s really fun and funny. A masked vigilante/pop star’s personal assistant develops a crush on her boss. It’s gay, it’s got superheroes, and it’s complete! IN PROGRESS: Agents of the Realm by Mildred Louis - I had a couple false starts getting into this one, not having grown up on Sailor Moon, but then I picked up the first volume at a con and I’m really enjoying it. The unclear, complicated intentions of the mentor figure(s) are intriguing, and I love how the artist draws faces, especially funny reaction faces. Alice and the Nightmare by Misha Krivanek - A magical uni/boarding school piece with super cute art, compelling mysteries, and a Lewis-Carroll-inspired world that’s fresh and fun I.E. not another Hot Topic rehash. FINALLY. Away to Nowhere by Ezra Shape - Monsters and magical beings adapting to life in our world (or a world like ours)--currently just scratching the surface of what seems like some really cool worldbuilding. Features Zio, my nonbinary dragon grandma. Balderdash by Victoria Grace Elliott - Cute coming-of-age witch adventures. Beautiful colors and a richly-textured world. FOOD. So much good food. Banquet by A. Szabla - [coming soon]

Beauty by Eric J. Lee and Rhiannon Rasmussen - From the about page: “Bugpunk Beauty and the Beast” and honestly WHAT MORE DO YOU NEED TO KNOW. Okay I’ll tell you some more: There’s a baroque alien bug civilization rendered in incredible detail. It’s gorgeous. Blackwater by Jeanette A. and Ren Graham - Episodic supernatural comic set in the small fictional town of Blackwater, Maine. Just started, but the art is extremely polished, expressive, and atmospheric, and the characters are cute. Also it’s queer and full of monsters. Sold.

Brainchild by Suzanne Geary - Paranormal mysteries on a college campus with supremely cool monster designs and great art. The monsters: So cool. I also really like the attention to fashion details on the characters--you can tell a lot about each of them by how they present themselves. Demon Street by Aliza Layne - All-ages fantasy adventure starring queer kids with magic powers! Great use of vivid, saturated color to set otherworldly scenes. Excellent queerification of folkloric tropes.

False Edge by M. R. Shaw - Just started, but a long-awaited comics debut with fantastic art. Features adorable big-cat shapeshifters. Warning, it’s supposed to get nasty (there’s an advisory page with specifics when you start). Feast for a King by Kosmicdream - I just started this (”just started” = 300+ pages in) but HOLY CROW it’s one of the most bizarrely creative comics I’ve seen. Warning for like, unrelenting gore/body horror (and eventually monster sex I think?) Gotta admire the scope of this one. Galanthus by Ashanti Fortson - [coming soon] Goodbye to Halos by Valerie Halla - Fantasy/action-adventure with an all queer-and-trans cast! Huge-scale, trans-dimensional cosmic plot stuff. The art is supremely cute and the color design is fantastic. Harlowe Vanished by Amy King - A lonely teenage girl accidentally finds herself in some kind of oceanic fantasy world! Scary military stuff is going down! BEAUTIFUL scenic art and a colorful cast that we’re currently just getting to know. The latest from Amy, who did The Muse Mentor, rec’d above. Heirs of the Veil by Phineas Kaldinski and Jassy Klier - Urban fantasy with lots of cool magic, a queer cast, and amazingly detailed environments that feel lived-in and full of history. Can’t wait to see where it’s going. Hilga from Below by Val Wise - This just started but that means I’m COMPLETELY CAUGHT UP on the archive and so far I can tell that it has: Excellent colors, a cute dog person, a fallen angel or alien or something, and some really unsettling stuff lurking under the surface. How to be a Werewolf by Shawn Lenore - Another one I just started, but really enjoying it so far. After twenty years of isolated lycanthropy, an urban werewolf is mentored by the first of her kind she’s ever met, amidst a mysterious lurking threat to their kind. Kidd Commander by Aria Bell - This is the most fun I’ve had reading a webcomic in a long time. Kidd Commander is an epic shonen-style adventure with an immensely likable cast. Seriously, I love every last one of the characters, and their perils and triumphs and misunderstandings hit me right in the emotions like a ton of bricks. I’m probably gonna cry at some point in this comic. I KNOW I’m gonna cry at some point in this comic. But it’s also hilarious, with really well-timed comedy beats and expertly deployed reaction faces. The world also feels HUGE and full of interesting lore. This is just one of those ones where you can tell it’s an absolute labor of love and the creator enjoys every minute of making it. I could gush about KC forever. But I won’t. This time. I’M DONE. Kids These Days by Noora Heikkilä - Fresh webcomic from the creator of Judecca and Letters for Lucardo, which, if you’ve read either YOU’RE FREAKING OUT TOO, RIGHT. It’s about a group of young adults in the eighteenth-century-flavored city of Osk, refusing to fit the molds society has created for them. And it’s already great. Killjoys by Woods - Criminal mayhem set in a squishy cartoon circus toyland. Had me at “Fluffy hot-tempered clown bunny with they pronouns, in a suit.” Something about this one speaks directly to my id. Kill Six Billion Demons by Tom Parkinson-Morgan - SPRAWLINGLY EPIC action-adventure in hell with vast-scale environments that will make you fall to your knees weeping. Also, like everyone in it is super hot and also a monster or some kind of divine construct. Violence. Lots of that. Larkspur by Grace Mulcahy - Post-apocalyptic action/crime/comedy piece centering on girl gang rivalries. Everyone is some kind of really cool-looking post-radiation mutant. Lush, vibrant colors set against dark comedy. Warning for some sex trafficking stuff at the start (not explicit) and general CRIME/VIOLENCE. Log Date by H. Kasof - [coming soon]

Monster’s Garden by Ash G. - Urban sci-fantasy about a misunderstood prizefighter (who happens to be a lizard-man) who just wants to be left in peace--but is suddenly faced with the challenge of caring about others and having them care about him. Full of cute and sympathetic characters. Monster Pop! by Maya Kern- Light and fun college dramedy with a cast of colorful monsters (and some humans), including a cyclops, gorgon, and witch. The art is super cute. Queer and trans characters! Never Satisfied by Taylor Robin - A group of flawed, complicated teens compete for a prestigious role that is basically something like State Wizard. The characters are SO GOOD, sympathetic across the board even when they’re being misguided jerks, and the comedy highs and dramatic lows are equally prime. The main character is nonbinary and they are my sweet, emotionally stunted child. Oglaf by Trudy Cooper and Doug Bayne - Everyone’s favorite bizarro-comedy-porn medieval fantasy comic. NSFW, as if I had to tell ya. Parhelion by R. Smith - Sci-fi adventure featuring a huge and hugely-gender-various (and queer) cast with a lot of choice trope subversions. The writing is super witty and I find myself laughing out loud a lot. Puu by Ashkay B. Varaham - An own-voices slice-of-life webcomic about gay/trans roommates and the people connected to them, set in India. Look, I am a huge goopy romantic and this comic has EVERYTHING that feeds my soul. The Sea in You by Jessi Sheron - Lonely, environmentally-conscious goth girl with a jerk boyfriend makes the acquaintance of a MUCH BETTER (girl?)friend in the shape of a mermaid. Another one with very cute art and an interesting, creative mermaid design. Everything teen me ever wanted in a comic. Warning for the boyfriend being an emotionally abusive jerk. String Theory by Dirk Grundy- Probably the comic I’ve been reading the longest. Sci-fi/post-apocalyptic/alternate history/crime stuff centering around morally sketchy characters on their path(s) to super villainy. The art is frigging phenomenal and the comic has been going for like, ten years so if you wanna see some art evolution, check it out. Laurence is my fave. Superpose by Kieran and Han - [coming soon] Unconvent by Emil N. Tót - Romantic historical fiction about queer nuns in eighteenth century Brazil! I like how simple and straightforward this comic is. We are promised happy endings. (Update: Unconvent is now on indefinite hiatus but the author has started a new comic, Dead Scholars’ Whispers) That’s it for now! Let me know if I screwed up any of the links or attributions.

#webcomics #queer webcomics #webcomic recs #stuff i read

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drjacquescoulardeau · 8 years

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ANNE RICE – PRINCE LESTAT AND THE REALMS OF ATLANTIS – 2016

Since I have read all the volumes of The Vampire Chronicles from the very start a long, long time ago, plus all the book about the witches and the one volume in which witches and vampires cross, plus the more recent volumes on werewolves without forgetting the volumes on Jesus Christ and the volumes on the angels who can travel in time to solve dramas and prevent crimes. In short we have read it all, including the various erotic novels under various pen names.

We also know that the cinema has not followed because Anne Rice, when she sold the adaptation rights of the very first trilogy was not careful enough not to sell the character Lestat and by doing that mistake all the volumes have been blocked for the cinema by someone who bought the exclusive right to use Lestat. That opened the gates to other approaches, particularly on television, approaches that are narrow-minded and exclusively centered on the blood thirst and the blood hunt. But Anne Rice came back to Lestat de Lioncourt and made him the Prince by his acceptation to host the spirit Amel so far only hosted by one of the two red-haired witches Maharet and Mekare, after he was ousted from Akasha, the Queen of the Damned, when she is executed by the other vampires led by Lestat because she had the project of enslaving g the human species and making them the blood-providing chattel vampires need to survive, in Akasha’s vision.

But Anne Rice does not want to lock the vampires up in their own tribe. From the very start they were one tribe among others with the Talamasca that studied all paranormal groups. The others were ghosts of various types, werewolves in the distance, witches of course and humans (who are just as much paranormal as any other group). In one volume the witches and the vampires cross but that had no real future. In this volume Anne Rice makes the newly reorganized or rather the presently reorganizing vampire tribe into some kind of democratic kingdom based on the authority of the Prince, Lestat himself, who was elected by the community, and of Marius who uses his Roman origin and culture to bring some legal thinking and organization to this community, even speaking of a constitution.

That’s where we had stopped in the previous volume, Prince Lestat, but in this volume we start with a rather long chapter about some rogue but very ancient and very powerful vampires that live in Budapest and detain a non-human and non-vampire individual, have detained him for many years. He is a strange character. Very emotional and of a different species since he can be drained of all his blood and yet he won’t die, he will regenerate. He can even be brutalized in any way: his body will regenerate too. He is thus a permanent blood source and a toy you can break in all possible ways since he will be whole again some short time later. That’s the starting point. I do not intend to tell or follow the story. I am going to make a few remarks that will be more general.

This being is Derek and he is an artificial being, a Replimoid, devised by an extra-terrestrial species evolved from birds, along with three others and that had been sent to Earth by these extra-terrestrials to punish a certain Amel they had sent there before, destroy the civilization he had built (the city and civilization of Atalantaya, in our mythical culture Atlantis) along with the whole mammalian species that had evolved on earth as the dominant species. These extra-terrestrials are called the Parents and they want to bring Earth back to the beginning so that the mammals would not evolve as the dominant species, leaving free evolutionary scope to birds, reptiles and even insects.

This avian superior species is controlling the world, the universe, maybe the cosmos. They have super powers and super intelligence. They have developed a very advanced civilization that enables them to conceive, design and build these Replimoids that/who are their soldiers against Amel. But Amel is not a Replimoid per se because he is in fact a human who was abducted by the Parents and turned into what he is, a super brain that has imagination and science at the tip of his fingers and was sent back on Earth to destroy once again the mammalian species, as if it were an obsession on the parents’ side. He did not fulfill the Parents’ plan but his own which implies bringing his knowledge and know-how to these humans to make them evolve. He defends the mammalian concept of “fairness” and tries to build a model society that would attract all humans and make them change from some kind of bloody and barbaric monsters to some sweet, soft and cultivated genus. So he builds Atalantaya and is extremely successful, though the Wilderness remains the barbaric Wilderness, and yet the Replimoids started their journey there in the Wilderness and had some very good experience.

His main contribution to the humans, to Earth and to the universe is a new substance known as luracastria. It is some kind of metal or plastic or some other man-made synthetic substance that is in fact a living geological substance. It is more or less explained that the Replimoids are made with this substance and that Amel was turned into what he has become by being injected with this substance. Amel’s objective is to pacify the human species. But that does not satisfy the Parents who have had many mini-cameras installed on Earth to observe the human beings’ behavior and then to constantly broadcast the scenes of violence, suffering, cruelty, bloodletting and other sacrifices and tortures on vast TV walls because they nurture their own existence with such gross films. Amel was not sent to destroy the human species but to guarantee it would remain violent, cruel and barbaric. He does the reverse.

The four next Replimoids, one female Kapetria, and three males, Garekyn, Derek and Welf, are sent to attract Amel outside the protective dome he has built over Atalantaya in order to capture him and thus destroy his project that aims at bringing peace to Earth. The Parents want to keep their brutal entertainment. But the Replimoids are fascinated by what they see, including among the “savages” that live in the Wilderness outside Atalantaya, but particularly by what Amel has achieved.

The Parents and their star Bravenna have the last word since the star explodes, falls on Earth and destroy Atalantaya and brings a very dark period in which the light of the sun hardly reaches the Earth that is condemned to get into the last Ice Age. This is of course a myth trying to explain the “flood” and the “sinking of Atlantis” as the result of some cataclysmic event that triggered the last or latest ice age. This is of course illogical since the Ice Age brought the level of oceans down 120 meters (one hundred and twenty meters. The flood, if flood there was came only after the Ice Age, hence when the temperature went back up (maybe after the cataclysmic darkness comes to an end, though we know so little about these climactic elements, apart from the level of the sea). The truth here does not matter because it is a nice story. Amel’s body is destroyed? His soul survives and becomes errant. It will be in contact with Mekare and Maharet in ancient Egypt and it will plunge into Akasha, thus creating the first vampire.

The Replimoids want to recuperate Amel; to liberate him from Lestat and instate him in a Replimoid body. That intention could mean war between the vampires and the Replimoids. In the meantime, and by accident the Replimoids discover that any part of their body when cut off will evolve in a few hours into a full Replimoid that will be slightly more advanced than the Replimoid they come from. This reproduction by scissiparity, so to say, or self-restoring and self-developing amputation, is another danger that could menace the vampires. But Lestat decides to trust the Replimoids and to trust Amel in him and thus to let Kapetria release Amel from his body and invest him into a Replimoid body.

But what is the meaning of this book?

Atalantaya is a utopia of the future world that is being produced by humanity. Luracastria is also a utopia about a universal substance, material or chemical that could produce with no work at all absolutely anything and make humanity, not so much idle and lazy, but highly creative: too bad of the proponents of the Singularity of Ray Kurzweil. The two metaphors are thus emphasizing this idea that the future is brilliant provided we respect basic principles like the freedom of repression and the freedom of imagination and inspiration. But peace is the very first condition that must be fulfilled. Lestat imposes peace between the vampires and the Replimoids. On this basis something brilliant becomes possible.

Anne Rice rejects the theory of the plot from some Extra-terrestrials who try to control the universe with their blood lust, maintaining the universe in barbarism and barbarity to just satisfy their perverse desires. So humanity is by definition and by default good, fair and generous. This is of course some simpleminded optimism. Humanity is both sublimely good and perversely bad. There is no escape from this duality. Along that line Anne Rice forgets her Catholicism and the Catholic Church’s cult of the crucifixion which is in no way an act of liberation but an extreme act against the peaceful and friendly side of humanity by making them cultivate the adoration of suffering and blood: this is my blood and this is my flesh, hence the symbolical practice of blood drinking, or vampirism, and cannibalism.

“The major religion of the Western world taught that suffering is good and suffering has value! . . . People speaking of ‘offering up their suffering’ to a God who valued it. . . A God who sent himself in human form to the planet to die a horrific death through crucifixion to appease himself with His Own Incarnate suffering. . . The God Incarnate religion that holds that God Himself works through pain and suffering to ‘redeem’ His creatures from His own wrath. . . The concept of eternal damnation. . . A place of eternal unspeakable conscious agony for all human beings who are not redeemed through acceptance of the horrific execution of this God Himself as His Own Son in the flesh. . . To consecrate the suffering of God Incarnate on His fabled cross as an act of love!” (page 305)

And Anne Rice even generalizes this first discourse into what follows:

“What the Maker has always wanted – penance, and self-abnegation, and self-denial. . . The inherent value of denying oneself, starving oneself, disciplining oneself. . . Someday the Maker will bring him and the offspring of his pride and greed to ruin!” (p.312-313)

And the accusation against the Parents can then follow:

“A way to harvest souls. . . Use those souls as a concentrated form of energy, a concentrated expression of energy, enhanced and deepened and perfected by suffering so that those souls are like ripe and perfect fruit to the Bravennians and maybe even to others in the “Realm of Worlds’? . . . Suffering itself helps to generate the soul. . . the energy given off by suffering. . . some other intangible ingredient, perhaps such as an overview, an attitude, a perspective on life, that too might help the formation of a soul.” (p. 316)

When you know the concept of “soul” is central in the Christian religion, this accusation is extremely serious. The only religion that does not refer and even rejects this concept of “soul” or the approaching concept of “self” is Buddhism for which due to the constant changing of every single thing and being, no one can state a person of any sort has a self of any permanence or stability, hence the concept of soul is rejected as vain and unrealistic. But Anne Rice seems to target the Christian religion as the main religion of the West whereas some older religious traditions in full swing today, like Islam (emerging from the Zealots of Judaism), Judaism itself, Hinduism and of course the Tibetan branch of Buddhism state exactly the same thing with Hinduism casting this suffering in their caste system that makes suffering part of the very divine definition of the majority of the people, and first of all the Dalits who are not even seen as human: up to very recently it was not a crime to beat, violate, manhandle or impose whatever torturing or violence to the Dalits, the Untouchables, who could be deprived of food, water and even life by any member of the other castes. And even if today it seems to have been promoted to the status of crime, such behavior goes still unpunished, particularly if the victims are Dalit women, thus bearing two inferior statuses.

Of course that would completely erase the plot from some superior power, extra-terrestrial or not, except God himself, the Maker himself. You should just read the Book of the Dead of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition to see how far suffering can be pushed as a normal state of affairs for any human being, for the immense majority of them with an extremely small minority that can be redeemed through nirvana.

But, beyond this rather shallow plot theory attached to a Maker or a God that is definitely Christian, the most important force of this book is the belief that Love is the fundamental force that will bring about some evolution towards a better future. And it is clear that love has nothing to do with satisfying some hormonal drive. Love is the only possibility for any being to respect and appreciate any other being. The book is founded on the love between Lestat and his own son in the Blood, Louis, and with even more intensity between Lestat and Amel, as long as Amel is inside Lestat, and then between Lestat the Vampire and Amel the Replimoid as soon as Amel is outside Lestat. But let’s listen to Lestat final words (the only first person speaking in the book because all other characters including Amel are third person:

“To love any one person or thing truly is the beginning of the wisdom to love all things. This has to be so. It has to be. I believe it and I don’t really believe anything else.” (p. 440)

So, rush to that book and read it compulsively with the widest empathy possible and accept to fall in love with the characters. It is your love that is going to give them live and force and virtue. And just wait till the next volume comes. Soon I hope.

Dr. Jacques COULARDEAU

#vampires #extraterrestrials #replimoids #Amel #Lestat de Lioncourt #Auvergne #Baron de Combrelles #Saint Germain des Prés

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bookgasms-bookboyfriends-blog · 7 years

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BIO

Ethan Radcliff has been writing stories since he was a kid. He loves creating and tried his hand at art, but felt he wasn’t good enough. Through high school he wrote erotic stories,

kept them in a notebook and let a few of his girlfriends read them. He then began writing poetry, which he kept to himself, because most of his poems were based on erotica. His brain never stopped. He became serious about writing erotic romance stories a few years ago and wondered how hard it would be to break through the barrier as a male erotic romance writer.

He delved into the world of BDSM and took a personal journey through the lifestyle, which aided in his writing.

He’d been a face book user for years. He never saw anything interesting until he began to see all the writers and then some poets posting their erotic prose. Men who were writing erotic romance began to crop up. He watched and then began to post a few poems here and there. The response was good and then better. He was being noticed.

He can see a picture and write a poem. He can see an attractive women and conger up a sexy scenario. The jiggle of a full ass or heavy breasts can get him going. His mind is always on an attractive face or body.

His thanks go out to Bitten Press LLC and the two lovely women who run it, for goading him on, telling him to go for it and he did.

His first short story is The Taming of Molly Jenkins. It’s hot. Is it based on personal experience? All he can answer is, perhaps. The next short story is The Wait, Britt’s Undoing. There will be more. He has a paranormal erotic romance series, Desires of Blood which at the moment is four books strong with three more already planned. Stay tuned for some historical, contemporary and fantasy erotica from him. Yes, and he will continue with some great stories including some BDSM adventures. He has three books of erotic poetry published; they have been an amazing success.

Follow Ethan Radcliff as he continues to entertain you. He can write any genre and intends to broaden his scope as an author in 2017.

His thanks go out to all his readers. Without them he’d still be writing notes in his composition notebook, waiting for that right moment. You made it happen for him.

Social Media Links

Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/EthanRadcliffauthor

Amazon Author Page:

http://www.amazon.com/Ethan-Radcliff/e/B00KYP7P8G

Blog: http://ethanradcliffauthor.blogspot.com

Website: http://author–sometime-poet-ethan-radcliff.mozello.com/home/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/EthanRadcliff40

Fan Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/394481600717192/

Licks and Kisses Poet and Friends

https://www.facebook.com/Licks-and-Kisses-Poet-and-friends-560306560809431/

Tumblr: http://ethanradcliff40.tumblr.com/

Instagram

http://instagram.com/eradcliff40

Poetry/Pinterest:

BUY LINKS

Amazon Universal

http://author.to/EthanRadcliff

BN~ http://bit.ly/2cQ8Pc6

THE WAIT

Mack Hargrove never waited for anything. He was an impatient man. When he met Britt England he wasn’t sure what to make of the pretty blonde. She came across as too self-assured and confident. Mack liked his women needy, submissive, and well trained sexually.

It was rumored that the twenty eight year old was an untried virgin. That piqued Mack’s curiosity and burned at his brain; he hadn’t had a challenge in years when it came to women.

He turned on the charm and sought out Britt only to find she’d make him play the waiting game. He’d turn the tables; he’d take what he wanted and walk away. He thought he’d won.

The wait had begun for Mack Hargrove. For the first time in his life he couldn’t have what he wanted.

THE TAMING OF MOLLY JENKINS

Russell Bennett hadn’t met the right woman yet. He’d been with more women than he could count. He considered himself sexually uninhibited and well versed in BDSM as a Dom. He could never consider himself a submissive. That was until he met Molly Jenkins a sophisticated Mistress and trained Domme.

Their attraction is instant and he joins her at her private dungeon. There he experiences what an amazing Mistress she is. He’ll submit once and then make it his business to tame the beautiful Molly Jenkins.

He believes every woman will submit to one man. He’ll prove that to the head strong Domme.

THE COLLARING OF MOLLY JENKINS

Russell Bennett believes every woman will submit to one man.

That was until he met Molly Jenkins a sophisticated Mistress and trained Domme.

Love they say conquers all, even a strong dominate like Molly, or had it?

Would Molly ever wear his collar? Russell’s theory was crumbling around him. Would he lose the love of a lifetime because of his need to be her Master?

THE MAGICIAN

Ricardo Hanley loved his job as a male escort. He had a very special talent. He could bring any woman to orgasm. He wasn’t called ‘The Magician’ without merit. Some said he was pure magic.

DOM

In the world of pain and pleasure, Charles Damien Macavoy reigned. He was a man apart, one who required more than most. He was a Master of BDSM.

He’d been asked by another Dom a good friend to train the Dom’s current sub and love interest. Charles had trained many, but found himself attracted to his new trainee.

He was aware that the fascination would wear off, it always did, and he’d return the trainee to her Master willing and ready to submit.

Lurking in the shadows of a world few are accustomed to is evil. Sometimes a thing of beauty has hidden thorns. Sometimes the hunter becomes the hunted.

VAMPIRE, DESIRES OF BLOOD 1

Royce Bellamy is over one thousand years old. He’s a vampire. He’s also part of an elite force with the New York City Police Department and he’s faced with a dilemma. His current lover is pushing him to turn her, she’s one of the cities’ top ADA’s.

Royce already has three vampire beauties running around the world, who owe their immortality to him, did he need another?

His current human lover, Beth Ann has taken hold of him in a way he never expected. Vampires weren’t supposed to fall in love. But was it love? He’d find out soon enough.

Meet Lucinda, Magenta and Dahlia his three children. Royce has released them; it is after all the twenty-first century. One will fall in love with a warlock, one a jackal and one with a shape-shifter. Will any of them find redemption? Or will their desire always be of blood?

WARLOCK, DESIRES OF BLOOD 2

Jared Anderson is down on his luck once again. He has survived much in his long life, disease, gang wars, and famine, and now he is up against an even bigger predator, the black market and the Mafia.

He had a passion for expensive toys and women until he met his match: Lucinda, an incredibly beautiful and rich woman who harbors a deadly dark secret.

They’re both witches and command the dark side of the arts. Their magic is no sleight of hand or an illusion, but a product of Lucifer himself. However, there is more to her: she is immortal, a vampire, and her lure impossible to resist.

Beautiful, cold, and deadly: a rare combination for love. Nonetheless, they shared a love so profound they would kill whoever got in their way, to protect that love.

JACKAL, DESIRES OF BLOOD 3

Jackal is the third book in the series, Desires of Blood. Clifford Dunn is a Hell hound, one who asked to be set free of his bonds of Hell. Alone and despondent, he’s dragged into an alley by a beautiful vampire, he’s dinner. But she wants more after seeing what most humans don’t, his blond beauty and incredibly perfect male form. She’ll slake her needs with him, deny his pleas for death and leave him to roam earth alone and forsaken.

But Karma will interfere draw them together in heated passion, the Hell hound and beautiful fallen angel, now an immortal searching for love, will set the pages on fire. Meet them all, her sisters and the man who calls himself their maker, their father Royce, one hell of a vampire.

SHAPESHIFTER: SCORPION, DESIRES OF BLOOD 4

Magenta is a child of blood. Her giver of life, Royce Bellamy, is a vampire. She’s never felt comfortable in the twenty first century. She decides to hone her witchcraft and play with the timeline. Big mistake.

Hugo Mendez is the top matador in eighteenth century Madrid, Spain. He hides a dark foreboding secret. He sees the beautiful Magenta and is drawn to her, sensing there’s more to the perfect beauty than most can see.

The beast within him haunts him night and day. Will he be able to capture the beauty’s heart?

Scorpion is book four in the series Desires of Blood: A Legend of Love and Desire.

SIMONE, DESIRES OF BLOOD 5

Beautiful, deadly and deceitful Simone has re-entered Royce Bellamy’s life. She’s his maker, the vampire who turned him. With her comes her lover of the moment, Grayson a deadly vampire-shifter. Simone’s got a date with the devil, she’s promised to help him.

Meet Lucian, the devil, who every few thousand years, tries to gain entrance to the world above. This time, he’s hoping to rule what he’s been forbidden. But Simone gets bored far too easily and Grayson’s not taking the bone Lucian’s thrown him.

Enter Cross, a vampire hunter who encounters Simone as she’s fleeing hell. She oozes sex and takes the vampire hunter to her bed. He’ll never be the same.

Begin the journey. Read the series, Desires of Blood: Vampire, Warlock, Jackal, and Shapeshifter.

A SOMETIME POET

I have amassed hundreds of poems over the years and since I have begun this journey as a writer, I have written hundreds. I have numerous muses who haunt me day and night and one of my muses thinks in prose, he drives me crazy.

There is no other way to thank all of you for your support and friendship. So here is over sixty poems that are erotic in nature. It’s how I think. Yes, Licks…even though some may be offended, it’s become a term of genuine affection. These poems maybe a one handed reading experience. Hehe.

Thank you, Ethan Radcliff

LICKS and KISSES POETRY

LICKS and KISSES is Ethan Radcliff’s second book of poetry. Here again he’s presenting his fans with erotic poetry,BDSM poetry, romantic poetry and heart felt prose. Take another journey with him. He never disappoints. Thank you for reading what is in his head and heart.

MAN OF HONOR

Meet Dominic Esposito, US Marshal, profiler and a hard as nails sort of guy with dark disturbing tastes. He tracks down the deadliest escaped criminals. He’s man of honor devoted and to his job, upholding the law at all costs.

Pretty redheaded Shauna Maloney, a high profile fashion model is being stalked. But her stalker is an escaped madman. She’s worth millions and her life is at stake. She’s not one of Esposito’s favorite people, she represents everything he holds unholy, overindulgences, wealth and fame.

They say hate is the closest emotion to love. Will the fiery redhead win over the U.S. Marshal and submit to his darkest desires? Or will her deep sexual cravings surprise even him.

TARNISHED

Joe Murphy had it all. Money, fame, and a heavyweight title within his reach. He played the game but was beginning to lose his footing. One night, he makes a move that will change his life forever, but will the woman he wants want him?

That silver lining is starting to wear thin and tarnish like the rest of Joe’s life. Can one woman pave the road to his way back?

TARNISHED II

Some men never learn..will Joe? Joe Murphy has it all. He’s a rising star destined to be the next heavy weight champion of the world. He has a woman he loves and her little boy whom he adores. Joe has a habit of sabotaging himself. Will he risk it all one night when he makes a foolish decision?

PLEASE (Death Riders Book 1)

Conrad Peters was an outcast and handsome in a rugged sort of way. He’d given up on society yet women wanted him at every turn. Motorcycle bound, he lived from place to place and dollar to dollar, taking love where he could find.

Beauty is often used and abused. He’d find that out after meeting the woman he’d love. Saving himself was a daily chore, but could he save her as well?

BAD (Death Riders Book 2)

Danny’s a hard man; large and brawny with desires most would shy away from. Not Xavier. She embraces his needs. Danny had all but given up on women. He sought professionals whenever he could. Xavier’s acceptance of him surprised him. He never expected her to relish a BDSM lifestyle.

As they travel together toward California, they’re dodging a tail that’s been put on them by Xavier’s sister’s husband. They’ve already helped her sister and Conrad, Danny’s best friend, leave Georgia, and they are now heading toward Canada.

On his friend’s recommendation, Danny plans to join the California chapter of the motor cycle club, Death Riders… a club that prides itself on staying below the radar and the police. But will Danny’s decision destroy his newly formed bond with Xavier? Or will they both find what they are looking for.

The series continues…

Chaz (Death Riders Book 3)

Chaz Barros is committed to helping Conrad Peters, a brother biker, who is on the run from the mob.

Motorcycles.

Hard, hot women who never say no.

Hard men who never take no for an answer.

All of the above make up most motorcycle clubs.

Chaz Barros is no exception. He’d served his time, committed his. crimes, and is president of the San Bernardino California chapter of the motorcycle club Death Riders. Meet Torri MacClare, the woman

in his life. Like most biker chicks, she’s untamed and tough.

The series Death Riders continues.

GENTLEMEN’S AGREEMENT

Chad Henderson and Jon Lasiter were best friends. Their taste in women always caused a problem. They always went after the same woman. Cleo Davenport was older and sophisticated with a bevy of men at her fingertips. She was a high-priced Madame. Chad rejected the lifestyle and Jon embraced it. Both wanted the beautiful older woman in their bed. Could they reach an agreement that would suit all their needs?

GA SOUNDCLOUD

https://soundcloud.com/user-503590951/welcome-to-my-take-over-for-ga

New short by Ethan

Check out this audio version of the first 2 chapters of Ethan Radcliff’s upcoming new release, Gentlemen’s Agreement.

Knightly Pleasures – Erotica for Women by The Grey Knight

https://itun.es/us/aMuh_.c

Down & Dirty Prose

Once again Ethan Radcliff delights us with another poetry book. It’s chock full of naughtiness, spice, and romantic poetry. Let him fill your mind with his words.There will be many personal favorites in this first volume. Yes, this is the first volume, there will be another in 2017.

Thank you.

Amazon Universal

http://author.to/EthanRadcliff

Author Spotlight: Ethan Radcliff BIO Ethan Radcliff has been writing stories since he was a kid. He loves creating and tried his hand at art, but felt he wasn't good enough.

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mamamermaidreads · 7 years

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#Book Tour and Giveaway for the Blood Bound Series by J.L. Meyers

What Lies Inside

Blood Bound Series #1

by J.L. Meyers

Genre: Paranormal Romance

A page-turning paranormal series for fans of Twilight and A Shade of Vampire.

Amelia never asked to unleash her inner vampire…she never even knew it existed.

Amelia is sucked into a nightmare and killed at the hungry fangs of a monster…but then she wakes up and everything has changed. Her whole life has been a lie. What she thought she was—human—is nothing but a disguise, one she never even knew she was wearing.

Amelia is a vampire and she always has been.

Her family and even best friend Kendrick have known the truth all along, a lie they claim they kept to protect her. Sixteen going-on-forever, Amelia’s violent hunger could quiet a classroom in seconds. It could expose them and lead to her death. Killing for blood is forbidden—but vampires aren’t the only ones enforcing the rules.

Another race exists that is more than willing to keep the toll down by any means they see fit.

With her life spiraling, Amelia lives in fear of the day she finally loses control. The day she finally kills in cold blood. But then she meets Ty, a guy who is strangely familiar and hides a dark and dangerous secret of his own, and everything changes. Amelia senses Ty’s unnatural strength and, even more than that, for the first time she feels safe from herself.

But lies and secrets won’t stay buried forever as her telling dreams turn into warnings. Amelia is unaware of the superior power she possesses and the danger she is in. Not everyone is who they claim to be. Not even Ty. Falling for him will be impossible not to do, but staying alive after that?

Falling in love may just cost Amelia everything: her friends, her family…even her life.

Warning - This book contains some language and sexual situations.

Coming of age/ Vampire/ Paranormal Romance

Goodreads * Amazon

“Calm down? Calm down!” My breathing was fast and ragged. The room was beginning to spin. Whatever was happening to me was their fault. It had to be. My lungs began to ache. I couldn’t breathe. I needed air. Even more than that, I needed to get out of here. I needed to be far away from them with their expressions of pitying fear. “You made me a monster. I hate you for this!” I launched from the marble counter, shot through to the entryway and escaped out the front door. The cool night air hit me as my feet pounded the gravel driveway. A spray of white snow kicked up behind me. I could feel my muscles lengthening and retracting like tightly coiled springs, pushing me forward at an inhuman speed. Houses flew past in a monochrome blur. My eyes focused only in front of me. Freezing wind whipped past my face and into my eyes. In the T-shirt and jeans I had on, the wind chill should have bit into my skin. Should have, but didn’t. I wasn’t even cold. These changes inside me further confirmed my fears. They were telling the truth. I was a…vampire. I shook the unbelievable word from my mind and focused on the pavement as the balls of my feet hit harder and faster. I knew my intended destination. The night club my best friend, Kendrick, visited every Friday when he wasn’t off snowboarding. Right now I needed his support, and hoped for his undying loyalty. Seething fear surged adrenaline through my body and gripped me from within. What if he thought I was a monster too? Imagining his reaction terrified me. How could he accept this…this living nightmare I was becoming? The passing houses fell behind me, replaced by commercial strips. I pushed myself faster still, keeping to the shadows and somehow passing with ease the moving cars on the streets. I pulled to an abrupt halt after taking a shortcut through an unlit alley. To the right was the club’s entrance, with a bright flashing neon sign above the doorway. Pulse. A solid-built bouncer manning the door caught sight of me as I neared. “ID?” It was clear from his smirk that he knew I was underage. I gulped, shrugging my shoulders. “Please, I just need to find my friend.” The bouncer’s smirk thinned into a humorless line. “No ID, no entry.” Like an irritating itch you can’t quite reach, his radiating aura of authority angered me. I squared my shoulders and clenched my jaw, staring him down. “Let me in.” The bouncer’s superior expression faltered. He blinked once, then slowly pulled back the velvet robe and stood aside. I darted through the entry, so relieved to be inside that I didn’t stop to question his split-second change in attitude. The pulsing music hit me first, sending shockwave vibrations through my body and painfully through my ears. The smell, like walking straight into a brick wall, hit me second. Salt, body odor, alcohol, and a scent I’d never experienced before tonight: blood. My mouth watered while the other scents made me want to gag. Trying to ignore the draw of that new scent, I pushed myself away from the gyrating bodies on the strobe-lit dance floor and over to the bar. The scents dulled as my distance grew. With a ragged breath, I slid onto one of the barstools, scanning the busy crowd for Kendrick. Please be here. A guy’s strong cologne hit me even before he spoke. But it wasn’t Kendrick. It was Joel Nickel, a senior and, as star quarterback, the king of our school. “Hey, hot stuff,” he began with slurred speech, and then paused. “Hey, I know you. You’re a sophomore, Amily or something?” He smiled and winked. “Fake ID huh? Planning to get messy and have some fun tonight?” Part of me was thrilled that the superstar of our school was even acknowledging my existence. The other part just wanted him to leave so I could scope out Kendrick. “Amelia,” I said, and turned to the bar, hoping he’d get a clue and leave me the hell alone. He didn’t. Instead, he took a step closer. “Come on babe, how’s about a drink?” He was too close, standing only an inch from me. I could smell his blood under the astringent cologne, and worse than that, I could hear his quickening pulse. “No!” I snapped, muscles twitching, aching with thirst. “Go away.” Joel chuckled, amused. “Playing hard to get?” He inclined his lips to graze my ear. “I like a challenge.” His alcohol-drenched breath beat against my neck, sending a ripple down my spine. I could hear the blood pumping faster and louder through his body. Too close. Too freaking close! That already-too-familiar tingle danced across my gums. My mouth salivated. I went to move, to force myself away from him before I became the monster from my favorite Skillet song. His hand caught my shoulder, and it was more than I could take. His scent was now stronger, moving with arousal through his veins. No longer in control—no longer even myself—I spun on the spot and whispered, “Dark and secluded...” A victorious smile tugged at Joel’s lips. He curled an arm around my waist, pulling me from the bar. We passed the partygoers and slipped out the back door and into the dark alley. Urine and the wafting smell of garbage from a nearby dumpster coupled the scent of his blood. Joel turned to face me. But I was faster. My hands shot up to his shoulders, nails digging in as I drove him back against the brick wall. He chuckled, amused. “A fiery one... I knew it.” His complete lack of awareness to the threat before him angered and excited me. The option to stop, to walk away, was long gone. The thirst had taken over. His hands found my waist and traveled up, forcing their way beneath the fabric of my T-shirt. Disgusted by his touch, I jerked his back off the wall then slammed him back against the bricks. “Don’t move!” Joel’s hands dropped obediently and he smiled. “You’re the boss.” His words evoked a broad smile across my face. Too broad, I realized, as his own smile fell. His eyes widened in shocked disbelief. “What the fuck?” Moving at lightning speed, I clamped a hand over his mouth and forced his face to the side. I pressed my other hand against his chest, pinning him to the wall. His arms flailed, but it was no use. I was stronger. My eyes zeroed in on a fat vein pulsing along his neck. Then instinct took over. My teeth plunged into his flesh. The warm, metallic taste of his blood filled my mouth. It was an entrancing flavor coupled by the sound of his racing pulse. A moan of pleasure escaped his lips and his muscles relaxed. His resistance had ceased. That’s when I noticed it. His heart was slowing. The blood loss… I’m killing him. Part of me cried out to release him, to not be the monster my uncle and mom had claimed me to be. But I couldn’t stop. I didn’t want to. When his body slumped against me, my strength somehow kept him pinned. Death was close. Still, I couldn’t stop. Not now. Not yet. Not when something buried so deep within me was awakening. The smells of the alley soared, muddling together in their intensity to become indiscernible. And I could hear…everything: stray drops of rain hitting puddles, rats gnawing on discarded rubbish. Then something else reached my ears, something quieter. Footsteps? A blur shot from the shadows. Something as hard as concrete connected with my arm, ripping me from my victim. Then I was flying backward through the air as Joel crumpled to the ground. I connected with a thud against the adjacent wall before falling in a heap on the uneven asphalt. Instantly, the spell of Joel’s blood was broken. The reality of what I had just done spun like a maelstrom through my mind. I'd killed him! Tears plagued my eyes, spilling down my face and tinting my sight rose-colored. I swiped at them, but stalled. Blood was smeared across the back of my hands. Crying blood? I barely had time to wonder how that was possible when the intruder’s towering shadow closed in on me. He clutched something in his hand that glinted silver with the escaping moonlight. A weapon? I blinked up through tear-filled eyes, knowing my life was about to end. With heavy clouds blocking the moonlight again, and through my distorted vision, I could barely make out his dark features. “Kill me,” I sniffed, letting my bloody tears stream down my face like a waterfall. “I’m a fucking monster!” The boy with hair black as night faltered, pausing right before me. The hand holding the weapon stalled. “You want to die?”

Made By Design

Blood Bound Series #2

Hunted and anything but normal...even for a vampire.

Amelia Lamont’s return to normal vampire life is threatened with a horrific vision, while new dynamics about her link to The Sight drive her to keep her growing and intrusive power a secret. And then there’s Ty—her sexy werewolf boyfriend—but can he truly accept Amelia’s connection and deepening bond with Kendrick? Although she’s escaped with her life for now, Amelia knows Caius is watching and waiting, preparing for the right moment to take back possession of his experiment—her. As she searches for the truth behind her creation, the fabric of the past is torn away, leaving her questioning whom she can truly trust…the deeper she digs, the darker her past becomes. Amelia’s outlawed romance with her race’s mortal enemy will be put to the ultimate test when her increasingly debilitating dreams turn catastrophic. For in the end, the truth always finds a way to come out, and vampire law is as unforgiving as it is fatal. Will Amelia’s forbidden love for Ty save them…or guarantee their death? Warning - This book contains some language and sexual situations. Coming of age/ Vampire/ Paranormal Romance. Goodreads * Amazon When the group resumed their course, following the now rocky path back into the depths of the forest, I ambled up to the same spot Ty and Troy had been standing. I pulled my earbuds from my ears, peering out into the plunging valley. Splashes of green, gold and deep-russet covered the treetops with the progression of fall. Above, a single Falcon soared through the air. Its repetitive call was like a fire alarm on overdrive as it dipped and dived beneath a cloudless, pastel-blue sky. The air around me was crisp and perfectly clear. Time to move on. I craned my head. The other students were making ground down the path. Ty was tailing a few feet behind. I was about to take after them when I stalled. The fiery and sweet smell of blood, his blood, reached me. Before I could speak or move, Troy appeared before me. His expression was dark and his scent wrapped around me. “Don’t even think about it.” Had he seen me looking at Ty? Folding barricading arms over my chest, I took a much-needed step back. “Think about what?” “Trying your luck with Ty,” he practically snarled. His hand hovered over the pocket of his jacket as if about to pull something free. I stole a glance down the long pathway, but it was empty. The group and Ty were already gone. “It’s not like he actually likes you,” Troy went on, hatred poisoning his words. “Anything nice he says to you is purely pity. You’re a freak of nature. He regrets not having dealt with you when he had the chance.” Freak of nature? Dealt with me? Irritated confusion brought fire to my face. And the smell of him so close had my fangs peeking through the top of my gums. Sick of this guy’s cryptic bullshit, I unfolded my arms and clenched my hands. “Look, you steroid-jacked jerk. I don’t know what your problem is or what the hell you’re talking about...” “I’m warning you,” he grated, stepping close enough to poke me in the chest. My fangs broke free and I darted back, knowing I’d lunge and bite him if I didn’t. Wrong choice. My Vans slipped on the loose stones at the edge of the cliff. Then my back hit the ‘caution’ tape, snapping it on impact. Instantly my mind and body came alive. Everything was happening in slow motion. A good thirty feet down was a small outcropping. Not enough to kill a vampire, but a human? Definitely. I could leap forward, clearing Troy and saving my skin. But at what cost? My cover would be blown. No, the only human option was to fall.

Web of Lies Blood Bound Series #3

The love of Amelia’s life is dead…but is Ty really gone forever?

After Ty bled out in Amelia’s arms, the disappearance of his body sparked an unlikely union between mortal enemies to uncover what happened and if the lycan-hybrid is still alive—even though alive no longer has the same definition. The Royal Vampire Council will take all necessary measures to protect Amelia, their vampire Oracle. The blooded daughter of a traitor, she is forced into seclusion from the human world to the Armaya—the vampires’ hidden Alaskan complex where even those in power have a hierarchy to answer to. The threat of the damned is escalating, and no royal is safe from the growing danger. With her loyal best friend, Kendrick, at her side, Amelia will commit any act to uncover the story behind Ty’s disappearance. The only chance Amelia has to save her lost love is by learning to control her secret abilities—abilities gained through the engineered blood in Amelia's veins. But as her chances of finding Ty alive dwindle, her feelings for Kendrick begin to grow.

Powers, obligation, budding love, and lost love. There are battles to be won, but is the life Amelia’s fighting for already six-feet under?

Goodreads * Amazon

Minutes after leaving the restaurant, we were out of the city and leaving its warm lights behind. Ty turned his turbo-charged WRX onto a pitch-black gravel road shrouded with overhanging trees. I squinted and held my breath, trying to glimpse what lay ahead. My stomach clenched with nerves. Where on earth was Ty taking me? After a few long seconds, the gravel road gave way to an open clearing, a lookout. Ty rolled up alongside a log railing. I shot through the passenger door, folding over the barrier to suck in fresh mouthfuls of air. A steady breeze blew, clearing his scent and filling my lungs. Now able to think again, my eyes roamed. Below the hillside the city sparkled, alive with nightlife. Everything was awash with the warm glow of streetlamps, from the moving cars to the illuminated advertisements. The sight was a stark comparison to where I stood, with black shadows carved by billowing oaks. When warmth settled behind my back, I turned and almost jumped out of my skin. Ty was standing right behind me. A perplexed expression encompassed his symmetrical features. I hadn’t even heard him exit the car. I glanced down at his black hunting boots. How had I not heard those crossing the gravel? He towered over me, at least six-foot-one to my five-six. His warm-honey eyes watched me. The breeze suddenly died down. The heat of his body so close swelled his fragrant blood through the minimal space between us. Fear of my fangs extending had my hands curling into fists, nails digging into my palms. The rest of my body became suddenly rigid. Oblivious to my strain, Ty reached up to touch my cheek with heated fingers. Then he brushed the hair back from my face. His hand lingered there, his fingers just grazing my neck. Goosebumps rose like a rippling wave over my skin. His face was barely inches from mine. Too close. My pulse elevated. Move away, my mind screamed. My body ignored me, remaining frozen stiff. Then before I could grasp what was actually happening, Ty dipped his head and pressed his full lips gently to mine. My eyes snapped shut as my fangs broke from their sheaths. But something more than wanting to bite into Ty was terribly wrong. Against my colder than human flesh, Ty’s lips were hot, far hotter than any human’s should be. Blistering compared to a vampire’s. With my lips still locked to his, my eyelids flung open. His intense gold eyes were staring into mine. Without thinking, I jerked away, forcing my hands into his chest. I backed up until I hit the railing, raising a hand to my still-burning lips. A loud thumping echoed through my ears. It was my heart, I realized, drumming faster than I imagined was even possible. Ty’s face held a mixture of confusion and hurt, but something was different about him. I knew I wasn’t imagining it this time. His still glowing eyes shone with brilliance under his hurt expression. They looked like golden jewels, somehow catching the light of the glittering stars above. Ty shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to, I just…I thought you wanted me to kiss you.” The shock of what had just happened retracted my fangs. With my heart drumming beneath my ribs, I took a hesitant step forward. Did I want Ty to kiss me? Before it had happened, I would have said with total conviction, no. But now…I wasn’t so sure. “It’s just, your lips.” I could feel my cheeks warming at the memory, hot on cold, skin on skin. My first ever kiss. “They were on fire. And your eyes…” I trailed off, needing a moment to decide. No, after all the strange things I’d seen, head-on was the best course of action to figuring Ty out. “They changed color!” Ty immediately spun away from me, blocking his face from view. With caution, I closed the space between us to rest a shaking hand along his shoulder. “Ty, what are you hiding?” Ty turned around almost reluctantly, blinking. His eyes were back to their usual warm-honey and iridescent green coloring. But he wouldn’t look at me. “Ty,” I said, reaching out to touch his arm. “You can trust me.” “Can I?” Ty’s calculating eyes rose, searching mine for a brief moment before his expression hardened. “Sometimes they change color, depending on my mood.” He took a step back and shrugged. “That’s all.” His warmth faded as he moved back to his car. I couldn’t help feeling loss at his distance. There was a tiny part of me that wanted to back down, to let this interrogation go. Yet there was no doubt in my mind that there was more to Ty’s unusual eye color than he was letting on. I had never seen eyes of that vibrant shade in my life. Well, at least not on a human, I thought. During our transition at the cabin I had hunted packs of gray wolves. Many had golden eyes, though none had been as luminous as his. Everything fed my suspicions and a growing hope that I was right. But I wanted proof. On top of that, Ty had brought me here for a reason. It had to be more than just wanting to kiss me. With a surge of agitation at his closed-off attitude, I planted my hands on my hips. “I’m not buying it.” Ty spun back so fast he blurred, his jaw clenched and his open hands were stiff at his sides. “Well then, why don’t you tell me what happened.” His aggravated words hissed through clenched teeth, burned like hot coals against my flesh. Hurt, I dropped my eyes to the gravel. “I don’t know,” I whispered. “But I do know there’s something different about you.” Peering up slowly I saw that Ty was still glaring at me. “You’re imagining things,” he spat through tight lips. Fresh agitation swirled within my chest, and my hands curled into fists. I knew I should let the subject lie, but my mouth refused to obey. “I saw you before you won the race, and I know you saw me too. You can’t convince me that that didn’t happen as well.” Ty shook his head but didn’t respond. My voice lowered. “You’re not human, are you?” Ty staggered as though my words had literally hit him. He closed his eyes and shook his head. “I am human. At least in all the ways that count…” His lips snapped shut with a start, and he turned back to his car. He arched his head up to the night sky. It was lit by a full moon and surrounded by a galaxy of glittering stars. His jaw clenched again as he yanked the driver’s side door open. “I’m taking you home.” I slumped into the passenger seat. Ty dropped into the driver’s side, firing up the engine. His jaw remained tense as he curled tight fingers around the steering wheel. The strain caused his knuckles to whiten. A moment later, he flexed his fingers with a deep sigh. His hardened eyes shifted to me then back to the windshield as he planted his foot. A spray of gravel shot out from all four wheels. The WRX came to life, peeling away from the lookout. In seconds we had cleared the dark gravel road. I sat in silence with my hair whipping from the fresh air pouring through the open window. My mind was spinning. Ty had inadvertently admitted to being something more than human. His chameleon eye color, ridiculous speed, over-developed muscle build and inhumanly heated flesh were proof enough. All of this filled my head with questions but gave me no definitive answers. The saltiness of ocean swells filled the air as Ty veered onto Ocean Boulevard. He cleared his throat and glanced in my direction. “There’s a party next Saturday. Come with me.” I stared at him, stunned. Was he actually asking me out again? After all the friction of tonight, the request wasn’t just crazy, it was absurd. Use it, a little voice in my head spoke simply as an idea came to mind. “Fine, I’ll go with you if you answer me one question.” A curious smile, etched with mischief, pulled at his lips. “And what might that be?” Certain he wouldn’t reveal why or how he was different, I settled on what I hoped would be a simpler question. “Why is your skin so warm?” Ty’s smile hardened but his tone remained relatively light, almost goading. “Well, you’re not so normal yourself. Are you?” A lump began to rise up my throat. If Ty didn’t know of the monster I struggled to hold at bay, he was damn good at messing with me. With a painful gulp I forced the lump back down. “No answer, no party.” Ty shrugged. “If you say so.” “I do.” “Then why don’t we just agree,” Ty suggested, tone level and controlled. “That we’re both different compared to most people, and leave it at that for now.” Different? A graphic image of Ty’s horrified face at discovering the kind of monster I really was flooded my mind. In spite of my curiosity, I decided to let it go. Any line of questioning would no doubt lead to returned questions, questions I absolutely wasn’t in any position to answer. I couldn't let him know the real me. No one ever would. “Fine,” I said. “I can live with that, for now.” Ty turned off Ocean Boulevard and through the stone-hedged gates of my driveway to pull up behind the Cabriolet. Normally the car would be stored in one of the four lockable garage spaces. Safe from the elements, as Dorian liked to say. Except now it wasn’t. He’d left it parked in the exact same position it had been when Ty had picked me up. Which meant Dorian was still suspicious and covering all tracks. When I sighed, dreading a suspected onslaught of questions from my brother, Ty leaned across the center console. My eyes snapped shut and I clutched my sides with force. After what had happened at the lookout, I knew I couldn’t control my lust for Ty’s blood if his flesh connected with mine again. Please don’t kiss me. Click. A strong flow a cool air brushed over me and my eyes fluttered open. Ty was repositioned in his seat and watching me with one arched brow. The passenger door stood wide open. I mentally slapped myself. He wants me to get out so he can leave and get away from me. And I just sat there like a moron. I clambered out of the car with shaky legs and forged a weak smile. “Thanks, I guess. Tonight was, um…different.” When Ty remained silent, his curious eyes watching me, I swung the door shut. Feeling like a total idiot, I went toward the house. Ty called out through the open window and I stalled. “See you at school.” With that, the window rose and the car reversed. It rumbled from the driveway, leaving me alone and standing in a band of porch light.

Born To Die Blood Bound Series #4

Amelia will do anything to save her best friend's life…even when he's already dead.

After Amelia’s twin Marcus snapped her best friend’s neck, a letter lets her hope his death may not be his ultimate end. Now hidden among his damned minions, Marcus claims to know the steps to take, but won’t reveal them without getting what he wants—Amelia damned and ruling by his side. With the damned threat escalating, the vampires and werewolves will have to work together if they hope to survive—but old habits and hates die hard. With Marcus always one step ahead and Amelia now in full transition to become damned, she will have to control her own violent urges, watch her back, and keep the peace. To pull off the impossible, Amelia needs Ty—and his blood—to tame her murderous side and hide what she’s becoming. But as they fight to save her best friend and stop her twin, it all starts to fall apart. Even Ty's hybrid blood can't keep Amelia’s dangerous impulses in check—and Amelia can't keep hiding her feelings for the guy she never stopped loving.

Vampires, werewolves, the dead, and the undead…who will win the final showdown?

Goodreads * Amazon We leaped from the hot tub simultaneously and raced back through the shadowy cave toward the source of the screaming. To my surprise as I ran—not restraining my vampire speed—Ty kept pace. We burst from the cave’s entrance. My eyes darted across the now empty pool, finding the cause of the commotion. I sucked in my breath. Dorian stood head to head with Troy, who towered over him. The same intoxicated girl who had clearly known Ty, cried, “It didn’t mean anything!” The leather cubes around the cane table had been vacated. Being barely six feet from the challenging guys, it was no surprise. The drunken group now took up refuge behind the bar, all watching wide-eyed and pale-faced. It was clear none of them wanted to break up this volatile standoff. Body-jarring music no longer pumped from the dance floor across the courtyard. All that remained was a deafeningly silent array of flashing lights. The dance crowd was still, edging forward with mirrored gape-jawed stares. Waves of tension rolled from Dorian and Troy as they stood locked in a death stare. It was so thick I had to force back the urge to gag in horror. Damn Dorian! What the hell was going on? Troy’s face burned red as he broke the stare, clenching his fists. “You were taking a body shot from my girlfriend’s cleavage!” He rushed forward to shove Dorian with unrestrained force. Dorian staggered back. His hands shot up in defense. His eyes narrowed as he hissed through gritted teeth. “I didn’t know she was anyone’s girlfriend.” Troy remained still, nostrils flared and chest rising with fuming breath. Dorian shrugged and began to turn away. Troy instantly launched forward, hands wrapping around my brother’s neck. “BULLSHIT!” Gasps escaped the lips of onlookers, including my own. Looking scared out of being drunk, the girl jumped at Troy, clutching his shoulder. “Stop, please stop!” Troy flung her off and she stumbled back, slamming into the bar. The force would have floored most people. Yet somehow she remained standing. With the distraction, Dorian pushed against Troy’s chest, breaking the vice-grip hold around his neck. Angry welts were left painted across his skin. “Back off!” Dorian turned to leave again, but Troy kicked out at his ankles. Astonishment contorted my brother’s face. He fell, barely catching himself before his face collected the pavement. He rolled instantly, but Troy was already lunging. In a split second he had my brother pinned to the ground. Dorian thrashed under Troy’s weight, unable to free himself. Who the hell was this guy? Troy’s strength and speed seemed to outdo Dorian’s. What in this world could be as strong and as fast as a vampire? I knew the answer. I had known it all along…Ty. Now Dorian would, too. I couldn’t explain away what was happening. I couldn’t excuse it with rational-sounding lies. Everything was about to come crashing down. Still pinning Dorian to the ground with his knees, Troy delivered a vicious blow to the face. A crack sounded and a spray of scarlet spurted from Dorian’s lip. “Stop!” the hysterical girl screamed. “You’ll kill him!” Dorian spat red, face hardening with fury. “You are beginning to piss–me–off.” With a grunt he forced his back off the pavement, swinging a violent blow to Troy’s face. Shock sealed the other guy’s features as Dorian threw another punch before kicking him off. Both guys scrambled to their feet, facing each other in ready stances. “This has gone on long enough,” Ty murmured. The fight was already way out of hand. There were too many spectators, witnesses. This needed to be dealt with, and fast. With a nod of agreement, Ty and I dove into the pool. Aware that he was swimming as fast as humanly acceptable, I kept pace. My eyes jumped from Ty and back to the guys as we neared. Troy lunged forward again, landing a left to Dorian’s cheek. Then he countered instantly with a right to his stomach. The movement had been so fast it had almost blurred. Caught off guard, Dorian doubled over, wincing as he stumbled to the ground. His eyes blazed as though suddenly alive with flames. Plump drops of fresh blood dripped from his lip. “You shouldn’t have done that.” A threatening smile split his lips, revealing extended fangs. Panic rose from my gut. His back faced the crowd by the bar, but it would only take a slight turn of his head for the still gap-jawed kids to catch sight. Shit! Dorian leaped from the pavement and the two collided, while the panic-stricken girl—who seemed oblivious to Dorian’s fangs with tear-filled eyes—screamed for them to stop. Her desperate pleas fell on deaf ears while sledgehammer punches continued to fly. Finally out of the water, I flew at Dorian as Ty closed in on Troy. I knew I was only wearing my bikini before an entire audience, which horrified me. But I had no choice. In this second, the two had broken from their struggle. Troy stepped forward to deliver another pain-inflicting punch. Just before they connected, Ty intervened. He grasped Troy’s arm with brutal force and wrenched it down behind Troy’s back. Ty’s free arm slammed tight over the other guy’s chest. Dorian went to move forward, ready to continue the onslaught. I leaped in front of him, shoving him hard. “Retract your freaking fangs,” I hissed. Dorian’s mouth dropped open. “I didn’t mean to. I…” Agitation had built up inside of me and was preparing to explode. I shoved him back and kept on shoving, pausing just long enough to swipe my clothes from the pavement before I pushed him through a door marked as a bathroom on the side of the house. A quick glance over my shoulder showed Ty forcing Troy back. With his face hard up against Troy’s, it was hidden from the gaping crowd. But I could see him clearly. His jaw was set, lips curling back with ferocity and eyes blazing. A flash of sharpened canines appeared as he snarled into Troy’s ear, “Back down, Beta.”

Chloe Michaels What inspired you to write this book series? My inspiration to write a novel came after the birth of my first child. I suffered postnatal depression and at the time I thought I needed an escape. Now I realize that I needed a platform, an outlet to work through all the emotions I didn’t understand, to put myself down on paper and realize that I wasn’t alone, that I wasn’t bad because of how I felt at times, and that things would get better. The Blood Bound Series started as one book that I never fully intended to put out into the world, but when I was done with it, I knew I had created something that had not only helped me through one of the toughest times of my life, but that could also entertain and even help others. So many ideas flourished as I wrote the first book that I was powerless to refuse writing another three books to complete my little idea that turned into an epic journey. And, as I have always loved anything and everything supernatural, vampires were an easy choice to write about. Coupled with threads of love and dangers that could ruin the world as we know it, and this series truly became so much more than I had ever intended. What can we expect from you in the future? Many, many more books with strong and flawed characters, amazing heroines who will fight to protect and save all they hold dear, complicated heroes who are not always or even mostly what we expect, villains you hate but who are so much more than black and white characters with pasts that drive their actions, and plots that are so twisted you won’t know up from down or dark from light…at least that’s my aim. How you all receive what I write is entirely your journey! Do you have any “side stories” about the characters? Absolutely! After the new angel series I’m working on is done, I have a plan to write out probably 4 more books that continue from some of the key players in the Blood Bound Series. You’ll see Kendrick, Vanessa, Dorian, Raven, and even have the Amelia and Ty return along with a surprise character! These guys have been through Hell and back, they’ve had their own battles and wins, and all that they’ve survived has changed them too. Those ripples are set to explode in these new spin-offs with new dangers and villains, new personal battles to overcome, and romance that is put to the test and survives only when it is true. Who is your hero and why? My main character is Amelia. Throughout the entire series, she is the hero. Though flawed by what she is becoming, she always strives to do what is right. Her moral compass is so deeply engrained and her fear of being a monster drives her on to do unimaginable things in the name of saving not only everyone she loves or cares about, but also in forgiving the unforgiveable and endangering herself in the name of saving the innocent. She is strong and determined, even though she doesn’t quite see herself that way, and her drive to protect is second to none. There are other heroes in the series too. Amelia’s love interest and her best friend are always by her side. They risk themselves for her and her beliefs and they would die for her—but she’ll never let that happen…at least not permanently. What book do you think everyone should read? Hands down, Game of Thrones. It is simple an epic masterpiece. What kind of world ruler would you be? Absolutely Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones. She is strong willed and powerful, honest, a fighter who has survived more than any person should, and above all she rules with a strong moral compass…though I must admit, now that I am watching the new season of Thrones, I am not so sure my support for her is as iron strong as it used to be. I guess only time will tell! Mythical Books Can you tell us a little bit about the characters in the Blood Bound Series? The Blood Bound series is about a world of supernatural creatures that exist among us humans. They live in secret without us knowing and have their own communities that are hidden from our knowledge. The first book, What Lies Inside, starts Amelia’s journey in this supernatural world—a world she never even knew exited. For her whole life, she had been ordinary, a human…until a vivid nightmare and a sudden killer craving force her family to reveal the truth. Amelia is a vampire and she always has been. The series follows Amelia and those who are close to her in a sequence of events that drag her deeper and deeper in the supernatural world of monsters. Vampires are not the only creatures out there, and as clues reveal more about how Amelia came to be what she is, the lies of the past are washed away revealing a fate that was decided for her even before she was born. Powers and obligations arise and with new threats growing by the day, Amelia is trapped in a world where she must fight to discover the whole truth and to protect the guy she loves, her best friend, her family, and her entire race. Ty is the guy Amelia’s heart beats for. But he has dark secrets of his own, ones that could endanger her and tear them apart forever. And Kendrick, her best friend, has known the truth about Amelia since the beginning. A truth he kept to himself for her protection—and because he’s in love with her. Both guys are strong-willed and vital to the story. Their actions push Amelia in different directions and have the power to tear her whole world apart. Their devotion and refusal to give up when it comes to Amelia may be the only thing that can save her in the end. Do the characters all come to you at the same time or do some of them come to you as you write? My main characters are usually pretty real to be by the time I start to write. With plotting out my stories, I need to know who they are and what motives them. Secondary characters may only exist in a role or action they must achieve before the writing begins. These characters may change names, gender, whether they are goodies or baddies, and they can even become obsolete or meshed with other characters by the time I get through my revision. What kind of research do you do before you begin writing a book? To be honest, I try not to do too much research. If I am writing about a certain time or era, I like to know what things looked like and how people lived. With fantasy and paranormal genres, there is much more room to create without needing a whole lot of backstory or history, though that said, once you create a world and the creatures that dwell within it you have be sure of how everything works and what rules your world operates by. A little off course on the question here, but breaking rules that you’ve established your world by is a big no-no. Describe yourself in 5 words or less! Imperfect perfectionist How did you come up with the concept and characters for the book? I wanted to write a love story, a story where the characters face unbeatable odds and survive. Loving all things supernatural, the beings in this series were an easy pick. Vampires are my favourite of all supernatural creatures. The others came to me as I wrote. Amelia developed as the story did, and who she now is compared to the original draft is vastly different. I love her inability to give up and the depth that she can love. She truly is a heroine worth fighting for. Ty came to me easily, a strong guy with all the intrigue and pure intentions I needed him to have. He’s not perfect, but he’ll never fail in what he believes in and he’ll never fail Amelia. Kendrick, the next most important character, actually came to life when my hubby suggested I add him to the story. He became so much more than that once I got started, and became a living, breathing life all of his own that I needed to have by Amelia’s side. He’s her lifeline, her reminder of right and wrong, and her rock—everything a fearless heroine needs. What did you enjoy most about writing this book series? I loved that every book in this series became even bigger and better than the last. The stakes were raised and the cost of failure grew exponentially. Every book has new twists, turns, characters to love and characters to hate, and evolving creatures that are ready to turn the good guys’ world upside down. There is death, love, and destruction, but in the end, if you hold on to love it can never die—and that’s what these characters and this series proved to me. I loved every moment of living in their world! Do you have any advice to give aspiring writers? Giving up is the only way to fail. Have a go and you may even surprise yourself! Readeropolis Describe your writing style. I am an absolute plotter. I must admit, with my first novel I did begin by sitting down with an idea in the back of my mind, which I then just continued to write as ideas came to me. Now I like to know who my characters are, what they want most, and how each story will end. I take time now to create the skeleton of each of my stories, starting with my rough ideas and characters which I then mold into a scene-by-scene setup with a rough layout for who appears in each scene, what actions they will take, and then what the conclusion will be to lead me on to what happens next. What makes a good story? Staying away from cardboard cutouts and giving your readers characters they can like, love, hate, and even loathe, and who they can related to on a human level, even if the characters themselves are far from human. Having real characters is only part of the equation. Moving each character through a story in a meaningful way that is both riveting and powerful is the next step. There must be conflict, triumph, actions, reactions, and, above all, consequences for every move along the way. What are you passionate about these days? Writing, of course! But more specifically, fallen angels. The new series I am working on, that will be coming out in 2018, delves into the beginning of time when Archangels oversaw the events of the world. Lucifer was the brightest of them all, but his love for another archangel is fated to start the beginning of the end. Angels aren’t free feel. They are not free to love. They are meant to be subservient and pure. But Lucifer can’t stop what has already started, the way the beautiful female Gabriel makes his heart pound, they way nothing on Earth matters when he’s beside her, and the way she sees hope for him despite all he does in his plight to have what God has forbidden between them. His fall from grace starts with love and disgrace that turns into acts of revenge that create havoc on Earth. But in the end, his love may be the one thing that can save them all—including Gabriel. What do you do to unwind and relax? With a glass of moscato I like to park it on the couch and kick my feet up to read or watch anything and everything paranormal, fantasy or thriller. If I’m not catching up on The Vampire Diaries (yes, I know it’s finished. I am so behind in watching hours!), re-watching Game of Thrones, then I’m burying my nose in a good book (nowadays my smart phone with the Kindle app). How to find time to write as a parent? I’ll admit it’s not easy to find time to write when you are a parent. Between school runs, washing, cooking, cleaning, and entertaining a 3 year old, I do somehow manage to find time. Early morning is quieter at home, and afternoon sleeps are a good time, and if I set myself daily goals I usually find that I can achieve them. What made you want to become an author and do you feel it was the right decision? I have always loved reading and books. In school I started writing dark short stories and poems to pass the time in classes, though my real need to write flourished when I first became a parent. Suffering postnatal depression, I rediscovered my love for reading and books, but I felt like I needed more than to read someone else’s words and live in their created landscapes. I needed a purpose and something that defined me. And many of you many not understand this, (especially with a beautiful new baby that I truly loved from the moment he arrived), but I needed an escape, a way to get out of my head and the emotions that seemed to have a hold of me. Writing was my way to finding myself, to working through my own demons, past and present, and to becoming a better person and parent. Many women feel that they lose themselves when they become mothers, and for me, writing was my way to rediscovering who I was and who I wanted to be. All that said, yes, becoming an author was the right decision for me, and I hope you will all agree when you get to know me and my characters! A day in the life of the author? I know you all probably expect the life of an author to be some glamorous lifestyle of sitting in a picturesque setting while whittling away the hours with endless magic flowing from your fingertips to your keyboard. Well, sorry to burst your bubble, yes writing and being an author is wonderful, but if you are like me and live in the real world, unfortunately family and normal life play a huge part in your day too. So, without further rambling, here is a day in my life in a nutshell J Wake up. Check emails. Get eldest child ready for school and do school run. Feed youngest and dress. Do washing and tidy up. Thank God for cartoon and get some writing done (either on sofa or bed). Break for playtime with 3 year old. Hang out washing. Answer a few emails or check social media for actions needed. Have lunch. Grab a short writing break. Break for outside playtime. Get ready for 3 year old’s sleep (this seriously takes longer than you might think!), write like the wind for the next 2 hours, have break when eldest child comes home and assist where needed, do any research, marketing, correspondence, check to do list and make sure I didn’t miss anything. Advice they would give new authors? Keep at it and you will succeed. Writing is only half the journey, finding your audience is at least half the battle. Make sure you spend time creating your stories but don't forget to put yourself out there and interact with your current and potential readers. If you don't go looking, they might not find you! What are they currently reading? I am currently reading Redeemed, the third book in the Marked Series by T.L. McDonald, a fellow indie author who is worth a look at if you haven’t heard of her. How long have you been writing? Officially, I have been writing for 9 years, though my first book wasn’t published until 2013. What is your writing process? For instance do you do an outline first? Do you do the chapters first? My writing process starts with my ideas for the plot and characters. Then I do an outline, detailing a single sentence for what happens in each scene from start to finish. This is not a definitive setup, and more often than not new ideas and twist and turns take shape as I write. I will even have whole new scenes come to light that are crucial to the telling of my story. I try not to get too perfectionistic (but hard as I’m a perfectionist!) with my first draft, as after that I have a step-by-step process for revision of the full book. My revision usually takes me as long as the first draft did, and sometimes even twice as long or more. First draft is for me to have fun and get my ideas out, the revision process is for all of you, so that I am making sure that what I have written and what I later publish is worthy of your reading eyes and delivers a compelling and interesting story that, at the least, entertains you, but that hopefully leaves you with something so much more.

Jessica L Myers' vivid imagination and quiet demeanor as a child led her to the imaginary worlds of books. Even at a young age, her love for the supernatural was prevalent, with her first loved books being R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps series. Following that she took an interest in other non-fantasy fiction, including Virginia C. Andrews series Flowers in the Attic. In her teen years, Jessica spent many school hours writing poetry and dark short stories and took up sketching some of the terrifying things that came from the graphic night terrors she’d grown up with. As an adult and after meeting the love of her life, Jessica got married and started a small construction business with her husband. With the birth of her son, Jessica suffered PPD and found escape in her books and their fantasy landscapes. It was at this time that her need to write flourished. In 2009 the decision was made and the first words to her New Adult Paranormal Romance novel What Lies Inside were written. When Jessica isn’t immersed in writing about extraordinary characters with dangerous abilities and deadly obstacles to overcome, she likes to spend time with her two kids and husband, curl up with a good book, or watch anything and everything supernatural.

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October 2017 Fantasy New Release Round-Up

A peregrine sailor returns to his home port of Venice in search of a famed emerald.

On an Earth permanently hidden from ours by the sun, a young agent travels to the fabled city of Samaris in search for his missing colleagues.

A Swedish mercenary must smuggle a holy relic out of Constantinople before the Fourth Crusade sacks the heart of the Byzantine Empire.

In the heyday of pulp, a police officer dons the one-way glass globe and black cape of the Moon Man, stealing back fortunes taken by criminals beyond the reach of the law.

These adventures and more await in this month’s Fantasy and Adventure New Release Roundup.

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A Place Called Hope (Z-Day #2) – Daniel Humphreys

The survivors built a community and called it Hope. After eight years, they allowed themselves to think that the zombie scourge was ending; the hordes fading away in the face of time.

But the enemy they thought extinct was evolving – growing faster, stronger, and more cunning. The timely return of the much-depleted 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, US Marine Corps helped turn the tide of one battle. The prospect of renewed war against a different type of enemy will require sterner stuff and serious firepower.

Now, they must go far beyond the overgrown wastes they call the wild in a desperate attempt to recover vital military equipment that will determine whether the future of mankind is one for the living – or for the dead.

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Adventure Capital (Delvers LLC #3) – Blaise Corvin

By working together, Henry Sato and Jason Booth have managed to survive their unwanted trip to Ludus, an experiment planet. However, Delvers LLC has made some enemies…if monsters, bandits, mages, criminals, bounty hunters, and even dark cults can be called, “some enemies.”

After their latest battle, the two have been separated and must adapt or die. Henry in particular faces a trial by fire—perhaps literally—that may be impossible for him to overcome.

The two American men will face their greatest challenges yet while working as conscripted Berber Intelligence agents. But even while outnumbered, and most likely outgunned, the former veteran EMT and resilient IT programmer will be armed with modern Earth know-how.

Unknown horrors are descending on Ludus, but Delvers LLC won’t go down without a fight.

Blood Circus (Junkyard Druid Novellas #2) – M. D. Massey

Best-selling urban fantasy author M. D. Massey welcomes readers back to the world of the Junkyard Druid in a brand-new short story collection! This 38,000 word volume features characters from the Colin McCool series, starring in three separate novelette-length stories:

Carnival of Blood: When Colin investigates the disappearance of a young teen at a carnival infested with creepy clowns, he discovers that not all clowns are friendly… and some can be downright deadly.

Serpent’s Daughter: As someone who hunts and kills paranormal creatures for a living, Belladonna Becerra isn’t easily intimidated. But when it comes to standing up to the ancient fae witch who rules her family with an iron fist, she has her reservations. Can Belladonna complete a task for the Anjana that will ensure her freedom… and her future with Colin?

The Vigil: Hemi always said his mother was a force of nature. As Colin discovers on meeting her, his best friend is a master of understatement. Now, the Maori warrior’s mother has assigned the druid a unique task… one that could cost him his life.

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Fable of Venice (Corto Maltese #6) – Hugo Pratt

In this affectionate tribute to his home town, Hugo Pratt offers a complex mystery thriller involving Freemasons, occultists, and esotericists set during the rise of Fascism in 1921. Corto Maltese’s return to Venice is ostensibly a search for an emerald known as the Clavicle of Solomon, but by the end he is left questioning whether the object of his quest will open the hidden doors of magic and unravel the nature of time and space in this city of secrets…or if it’s merely “the stuff that dreams are made of,” as was the black bird of Dashiell Hammett’s novel featuring another Maltese.

Series winner of the Harvey Award for Best American Edition of Foreign Material.

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Halls of Shadow (Kingdoms of Sand #5) – Daniel Arenson

The world reels from a shocking assassination. The Aelarian Empire is cracking. From the ashes of a burnt world, warlords, barbarians, and rebels emerge to claim the remains.

Outside the walls of Aelar, different factions converge. Tribal warriors prepare to shatter the gates. Valentina, a senator’s daughter, seeks to enter the city and rebuild the Republic. Prince Seneca, the last scion of a mighty house, battles his rivals to the throne and strives to hold the Empire together. Meanwhile, within the walls, dark magic and conspiracies brew.

In the distant desert, the kingdom of Zohar crumbles. The Empire musters to grind Zohar’s cities into dust. Epher, King of Zohar, and his sister Maya, a powerful magic-user, fight desperately to defeat the Empire’s legions. Yet their greatest enemy might be the mysterious, shadowy figure that roams their ancient land.

In smoldering battlefields, crows feast and humans squabble for the last shreds of power. Yet can the splendor of past glory ever shine again, or will the final victors rule from halls of shadow?

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Helen’s Daimones (Dyscrasia Fiction #2) – S. E. Lindberg

Helen’s Daimones – the gateway novella for Dyscrasia Fiction. Helen and Sharon are orphans haunted by supernatural diseases, insects, and storms. They are your tour guides in this entry-way novella into Dyscrasia Fiction which explores the choices humans and their gods make as a disease corrupts their souls, shared blood and creative energies. In Helen’s Daimones, guardian angels are among the demons chasing the girls. When all appear grotesquely inhuman, which ones should they trust to save them?

Dyscrasia Fiction explores the choices humans and their gods make as a disease corrupts their souls, shared blood and creative energies. Historically, dyscrasia referred to any imbalance of the four medicinal humors professed by the ancient Greeks to sustain life (phlegm, blood, black and yellow bile). Artisans, anatomists, and chemists of the Renaissance expressed shared interest in the humors; accordingly, the scope of humorism evolved to include aspects of the four alchemical elements (water, air, earth and fire) and psychological temperaments (phlegmatic, sanguine, melancholic and choleric). In short, the humors are mystical media of color, energy, and emotion; Dyscrasia Fiction presents them as spiritual muses for artisans, sources of magical power, and contagions of a deadly disease.

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Kingdom Come (Price of Power #1) – Blake Biscotti

When an unlikely mix of races joins together to create a thriving civilization, the nations of southern Herridon find that the peace they had known for over a hundred years is suddenly in jeopardy. For some, the thralls of war might create opportunity, but for others it could lead to a precipitous fall from power. The winds of change are passing through the lands giving way to heroic acts of valor and honor, but also to plots of deceit and destruction.

The three cities by the South Sea are in the middle of the fray, which leads a bold Captain, Victus Antonel, to take matters into his own hands. He raises an army with the intentions of eradicating the threat posed by the upstart nation. With the help of an unscrupulous ally, the Captain and the cities are immersed into the chaos of war and the enemy may not be quite what, or who, it had seemed to be.

Life for all who reside in southern Herridon will be forever changed; however whether it will be for better or for worse hangs in the balance.

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Over Our Heads (Valens Legacy #3) – Jan Stryvant

Sean’s still up to his neck in trouble, but at least he’s finally found an example of his father’s work, along with all of his notes. Now all Sean has to do is figure out not only how to reproduce his father’s greatest achievement, but to solve the one problem his father wasn’t able to. Holed up in a cold war era bomb shelter, all Sean wants to do now is keep his head down and his family safe, while he untangles this latest problem.

Like it or not however, Sean has set events in motion that will change the future for all of the mages and supernatural beings involved, should he prove successful. While many may welcome these changes and the freedom it will bring them, some of the more powerful councils will most definitely not.

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Samaris (The Obscure Cities #1) – Benoit Peeters and Francois Schuiten

Against the urging of his friends and his lover, Franz, a young officer in the Xhystos government, is sent on a mission to the remote and elusive city of Samaris to investigate the disappearance of several of his colleagues.

After weeks of travel, Franz reaches Samaris, to find a practically deserted city of enveloping and deceptive architecture. He is immediately bewitched by a mysterious young woman, drawing the suspicion of the other residents. Can Franz escape the impending doom of this sprawling metropolis?

The first in the Obscure Cities series, The Great Walls of Samaris was originally published in Europe in 1983 and in the US in 1987 by NBM. The story has been slightly altered to include characters who appear later in the canon, and reveal Peeters’ Kafkaesque storytelling prowess. Schuiten’s art in this edition has been reworked to be much truer to the originally intended color palette, and includes 32 additional pages of early Obscure Cities stories, comprising the Mysteries of Pâhry, never before published in English.

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Skysworn (Cradle #4) – Will Wight

With his duel fast approaching, Lindon is locked away in prison.

As a Blackflame, he is too dangerous to remain free. The Skysworn, protectors of the Empire, have imprisoned him to keep him under control until the day of his promised fight arrives.

When it does, he will face Jai Long.

But a new danger approaches the Empire, closer every day. Only the Skysworn stand between the people of the land and total annihilation.

And Lindon may be forced to join them.

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The Complete Adventures of the Moon Man: Volume 6, 1935-1936 – Frederick C. Davis

From 1933–37 pulpsmith extraordinaire Frederick C. Davis chronicled the adventures of the classic pulp hero the Moon Man in the pages of Ten Detective Aces. One of the most unique and compelling characters in the history of the genre, the Moon Man was the Robin Hood of the pulps: He stole from those who profited from the misery of the Depression to help those in need, to balance the scales of justice.

And justice was close to the Moon Man’s heart. For the Moon Man was actually police detective Stephen Thatcher—a dedicated law officer all too familiar with the cracks in the system criminals used to avoid retribution. Donning a black robe and a globe of Argus glass, Thatcher became the Moon Man, a thief who stole from criminals the law could not touch.

Now the Moon Man is hunted by his best friend and partner, reviled by his father and fiancé who all want to see the masked thief pay the ultimate price for his crimes. Stephen Thatcher must walk the razor’s edge of his double life where, every minute, the threat of exposure could shatter his fragile world.

Volume 6 collects the next four stories from this series: “Homicide Dividends,” “Robe of Blood,” “The Whispering Death” and “Corpse’s Plunder.” And it includes an all-new introduction by Moon Man expert Andrew Salmon.

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The Slayer – James Alderdice

Warships of the Fourth Crusade surround Constantinople threatening murder, rapine and worse.

The only option left the impotent Emperor to avoid the sacking of the great city, is to secretly give away a sacred relic.

Enter Tyr, a red-handed Swedish mercenary and Wolfram von Eschenbach, the Templar poet, together charged with retrieving the holy artifact and escaping the city.

What they don’t know is that arcane forces, old as myth, are marshalled against their mission. The old gods of multiple nations war with the New.

And Ragnarok is coming to Greece.

Plus three more short sword and sorcery tales of Tyr: “Dogs of War”, “Hel Awaits”, and “Sailing to Valhalla”.

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Wrath of the Dragon Czar (Aegis of Merlin #5) – James E. Wisher

A bodyguard… really?

Sentinel city is quickly recovering from the events of the month earlier. Conryu Koda, the world’s only male wizard, and, many would say, savior of the city, is enjoying the last few days of his summer vacation. His enjoyment comes to a screeching halt when he gets a call from Orin Kane, the chief of the city’s Department of Magic.

Conryu arrives at the Department and is introduced to the stunning Anya Kazakov. She has information the Department wants and he’s the price. Conryu agrees to protect her, not realizing what he’s getting into.

Wrath of the Dragon Czar is a world spanning adventure that’ll take Conryu from the relative safety of the academy to the middle of a war between monsters on the other side of the planet.

October 2017 Fantasy New Release Round-Up published first on http://ift.tt/2zdiasi

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