For your childish nostalgia and fellow fans of creepy-fun movies, books, and more, I present an amusing story regarding my one-and-a-half year old...
In preparation for the upcoming Halloween-through-Christmas seasonal festivities, my husband and I showed our wee angel-imp of a daughter The Nightmare Before Christmas. As anticipated, the music, the genre, and our own infectious enjoyment of it compelled it to be a hit for her.
However, while she is known to duplicate dances and heavily-musical scenes in things she's watched (like Pooh Bear's entire Up, Down, Touch the Ground routine from The Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh, the seemingly random performance of which is how she tells us she wants to watch it, btw, lol), her choice of mimicry for The Nightmare Before Christmas may be, by far, the most amusing.
Inspired by and in imitation of Jack's Lament, our precocious angel-imp of a daughter has valiantly tried, not just once, but twice so far, to take off her daddy's head. Her daddy was, at first, quite confused as to what her tugs on his head were for until she added the "To recite Shakespearean quotations" gesture with much flourish and gusto despite the failure of daddy's-head-removal.
Get your $0.99 copy ofBeatific now because the price will go up, up, up until its Kindle Countdown Deal ends and it's back to full price on September 3rd.
That's right, folks! For those of you who need a taste of the Blood Kin Vampires series before you take the big bite with Beatific, you can now get All Wallows' Eve for free. However, unlike Beatific's Kindle Countdown Deal, All Wallows' Eve is PERMA-FREE until I decide otherwise. So, tell all your friends, neighbors, co-workers, and even every passerby on the street because the longer it stays high in the ranks and the more great reviews it gets, the longer I'll keep it so!
A year and a half ago, I topped off an already unruly NYC based life with some adorable—and sometimes frustrating—chaos in the form of my first wee angel-imp (pictured below and right). To accommodate, writing tripped gracelessly low on my to-do list. However, I am now armed with a toddler-whisper babysitter/assistant so my fingers are once again dashing across the computer keyboard. And as such, I have issued myself a Burning Challenge!
Dun, dun, dunnnnnnnnnn!
The Release Goals
(to be completed before Christmas 2014)
~ Slippery When Dead (BKV Book Bite following All Wallows' Eve)
~ Ozcock's Clarety (BKV Book Bite featuring Leon)
~ Then She Forgot / Food For Thought (BKV Book Bite featuring Rue)
~ Insouciant—Part One(beginning the second arc of the BKV Truth & Peace Saga, following Beatific)
Wee Angel-Imp with attitude to spare at a mere 15 mos.
Believe it or not, the first three in that list have been almost done since before the arrival of the nefarious and utterly cuddly wee angel-imp.
It's about time I get them out!
So, to give me some added kicks in the booty in achieving these lofty release goals, get out there, spread the word about All Wallows' Eve and Beatific, and keep those reviews coming!
And don't be stingy with your reviews of others. Help everyone find the perfect stories by reviewing every book you read!
Meet Song Aristeia. She is the reason behind the delays in my posts and the release of the next Blood Kin Vampires books, some of which (including the print edition of Beatific) have been so close to being ready that I am itchy with anticipation. However, I do not want to let my first-time-mom scatterbrainism to cause any embarrassing mistakes on my upcoming books so I am holding off until such time as I can ensure quality products.
In the meantime, I will enjoy this precious time with my bundle of drooling, giggling, babbling, scooting diapered joy and I hope you all enjoy other indie books out there. There are lots of gems out there. Just gotta be willing to do a little mining. Perhaps, in a later post, I will list some of my favorites.
As of this posting, it has reached #35 in Contemporary Fantasy and #1,089 in Kindle Store (free lists). Wee!
Challenge: Can it break #20 (Contemporary Fantasy) and/or #500 (Kindle Store) before the end of this promotion?
~ ~ ~
In other news, we learned the gender of our first Wee Wriggler. It's a girl! Yays! Now we're just trying to keep the baby aficionados in the family from drowning us in pink! Trying to steer them towards purple (the non-pastel varieties) instead.
First, some news. Followers of my little corner of the internet universe here may have already heard about this, but just in case there are a few stragglers, I'll say it now.
I'm pregnant! It's our first child. We are very, very excited. Though, sadly, the child will have one strike against him or her by the time he or she is born: A Christmas birthday! Poor kid. But, to make up for it, he or she does get me and my decadent husband as parents, so that has to make up for it. Tee Hee. ~_~ooo
Next, I'd like to share a curious little video and article my decadent husband pointed out to me as research assistance for the Blood Kin Vampires series—as it involves an interesting effect on blood, particularly that of blood clotting, it would certainly be of interest to the biomedical corporation (Blood Conscience) at the root of Connie's beginnings with the Blood Kin.
Beatific has had a nice start on Kindle. It could do better, but I believe that too big a start would probably freak me out. I'm content with putting my head down and working on the next releases. Currently, that means the print version of Beatific. If all goes well, I'll be ordering my first proof of it today. Wish me luck.
It also means that—when I'm not at my day job or a prenatal appointment or scoring quality time with daddy-to-be or catching up on the sleep that the wee wriggler seems to impress upon me—I have been writing on several book projects.
In priority order, these are:
SWD — Blood Kin Vampires Book Bite #2 — Connie's strange official induction into Psylas' Niche within the Blood Kin.
D —Blood Kin Vampires Novel Book #2 — Continues right where Beatific wraps and "Found" the sneak peak prelude kicks off.
S or WW (title undecided) —Blood Kin Vampires Book Bite #? — Connie & Huijghe's cross country trek, staying one step ahead of Weaver and one step closer to having to fall back on the Porters' stilted generosity.
I've also got some other projects unrelated to the Blood Kin Vampires kicking around. Some of them already have extensive beginnings just waiting for me to finally finish. Three of them have been simmering in the background of my thoughts a lot lately, sometimes even taking over the forefront...al (hehe, aren't I witty? ~_~000) space.
So, that's about it for now. As always, your readership is appreciated.
It's finally published! "B," now known in full as Beatific (A Blood Kin Vampires Novel) is available for Kindle on Amazon.
I,
Constance Ferrer, ached to be more than just a novice vampire—a mere
underling and fodder to the elite of the Blood Kin, an ancient,
powerful, and cunning horde. I thrilled when Psylas, my maker,
appointed me to a simple, routine assignment that yanked me well beyond
my ordinary reach, finally granting me a chance to elevate in the
ranks. But when that feat thrust me to the forefront of an unraveling
prophecy, I found myself pitted between vicious factions vying for the
possession of the cherished Truth and Peace. Suspicious of the prophecy
itself, yet trapped within the sanctuary of its protectors, my
previously bleak and mundane existence blooms into a frightening
adventure.
How does a weak and inexperienced vampire such as
myself successfully sift through increasingly elusive schemes? How does
she sort out a sudden influx of supposed allies and enemies? How does
she determine who or what to fight or trust? And when presented with
convenient comforts—Cyriel, an epicurean, share-the-fun vampire; his
lavish and libertine accommodations; and Huijghe, his strangely enamored
and seriously decadent human—should she dare indulge, if even just for a
brief reprieve?
I was about to find out.
Amidst a miasma
of confusion, fear, and exhilaration, of betrayers and opportunists, of
gleaming depravity and fierce splendor, I stumble over that which makes
all the dangers worth braving.
Armed with little more than the
vampiric gift to preserve a consciousness during a turning, I fumble
toward a nightmarish ecstasy.
Being a nobody compelled to greatness isn’t easy… It’s Beatific.
~ ~ ~
Beatific is the first novel in the Blood Kin Vampires series. It does not need to be read after All Wallows' Eve (Blood Kin Vampires Book Bite), which is a small, focused tale revealing Connie's strange induction into life as a vampire, one of the Blood Kin.
The novel, however, is a dense and complex emotional and adventurous
roller-coaster. So, settle in, hang on and… Enjoy the ride.
(Please note that this eBook is over 170,000 words, the equivalent to approximately 500 standard paperback pages.)
~ ~ ~
Reviews welcome. (Please post them on Amazon so others will be informed!)
I've been remiss in my lack of posting here the last couple of months. I have lots of excuses (4 am wake up calls for work still kicking my sore booty), but none are good enough, especially since I still haven't released "B" yet, nor any of its other related short stories, such as the in-progress "SWD."
Sadly, the only update I have right now is that I have increased the price on All Wallows' Eve from $0.99 to $1.49 on all e-retailers:
Smashwords (Note that price change may not be in effect yet.)
I'm not having an ego-trip nor am I price-gouging. "B" is a big story, even for a novel, and to honor the time and energies and efforts (not to mention the wish to use profits to help pay for the degree that supposedly gave me the chops to produce it), I plan to start its price at $4.99. Because of that, I don't want the short story pricing to be misleading in these (hopefully) last weeks prior to the release of "B."
I harbor no ill-feelings towards those who prefer ebooks under $3 nor for those who are content at pricing below $3 (whether for short stories or complete novels), but some readers view these as bargain books, nay, even as cheap reads, as in 'not of quality production.' While I myself do enjoy a good bargain, even on an ebook, I also want ebook authors (especially those who work hard to produce a highly professional product) to earn a living so that they may be able to produce more books at a faster rate for a very long to come so that I may enjoy them more rapidly and more often and for the duration. So, I am going to try to follow this theme for myself.
I may do periods of discounts, I may someday go higher or lower for a long-term arrangement. Who knows? It's still a trial-and-error industry for indies with regards to finding what works best for their personal needs as well as the preferences of their readers. This is especially true for a newbie like me, one who is so lacking in the comfort-zone of self-promotion.
So, that's that. I've jumped out of the easy-entry-level-complacency (for me) of the ninety-nine cent barrel.
Okay, I've half-way crawled out of it to see if the air is going to freeze outside the warmth of the cozy, tepid, under-a-buck water. ~_~ooo