Zumaya Birthday Bash

Posted on July 22, 2011 by Linda Andrews

Join Elizabeth Burton and the authors of Zumaya Publications as they tour the blogosphere to celebrate their fifth year anniversary with a month long birthday bash! Zumaya Publications is a small press publishing house based in Austin, Texas, and has been the home of many wonderful and talented authors under the direction of the multi-talented publisher, Elizabeth Burton. Together they are celebrating five years of irresponsible reading with giveaways, chats and more at Pump Up Your Book!
About Zumaya Publications
WE SUPPORT IRRESPONSIBLE READING
Zumaya Publications was founded in British Columbia in 1999 by author Diana Kemp-Jones and artist/author Martine Jardin. Their goal was to develop a publishing company that combined the best of the old, traditional methods with the best of the new. For them, this meant developing an internet-based house that utilized print-on-demand technology.
In 2006, Zumaya moved to Austin TX as Zumaya Publications LLC, under the direction of Executive Editor Elizabeth Burton. Over the next three years, Zumaya branched into seven imprints—Arcane, Boundless, Embraces, Enigma, Otherworlds, Thresholds and Yesterdays. In 2009, Marianne and Joyanne Moul replaced Jardin as partners in the company. Plans to implement a graphic novel imprint, Zumaya Fabled Ink, are currently underway as well as a line of artist-designed illustrated classics.
To date, Zumaya has published more than 200 titles in all areas of fiction as well as some superb nonfiction, many of which have won awards. Gideon by Chester Aaron was selected the silver medal winner in the YA-Cultural/Historical category of the Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards, The Everdark Gate by Elizabeth Burton received the Dream Realm Award in Fantasy for speculative fiction in ebook format, and Busting Loose: Cancer Survivors Tell You What Your Doctor Won’t by Cheryl Swanson received the silver medal in the Living Now Book Awards.
Zumaya Publications is committed to two things: allowing undiscovered talent the opportunity to be heard and moving publishing into the 21st century by actively using and promoting new technologies and business models that have significantly less environmental impact than the traditional one. To accomplish the latter means developing new strategies for marketing and distribution, which are already being studied and implemented. The cost-effectiveness of inventory-free production, eliminating both the need for stocking large numbers of books and the subsequent need to dispose of unsold copies, allows the company to take risks with both new authors and content more often than is feasible for those using traditional methods.
Publishing 20-25 titles annually, Zumaya is one of a new breed of book publisher utilizing up-to-date technology in new ways.
Visit Zumaya Publications at http://www.zumayapublications.com.
Connect with Zumaya at Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Zumaya-Publications-LLC/202820034854!
About Elizabeth Burton
Elizabeth Burton has had four novels and three erotic romance ebook novellas published in the decade since she decided it was past time to pursue her long-postponed career as a
storyteller. After working as a journalist and newspaper editor, she took advantage of a job hiatus to work on fiction, publishing the first novel, Dreams of Darkness, as an ebook in 2000.
She also became a much-in-demand freelance book editor and reviewer, publishing the online review zine The Blue Iris Journal from 1999 to 2003. She was a finalist in the 1999 Writers of
the Future, and is a member of the Fandom Association of Central Texas (FACT) where she is on the board of directors and serves as board secretary, and is co-chair for ArmadilloCon 32,
Austin’s oldest literary SF/F convention.
In 2003, she became a partner in Zumaya Publications as executive editor, and in 2009 purchased the company in partnership with her niece while trying–again–to find time to write.
Her most recent novel, The Everdark Gate, was the winner of the 2008 Dream Realm Award for Fantasy.

Tuesday, July 26
Elizabeth Burton interviewed at Book Marketing Buzz
Chat with Elizabeth Burton and authors at Pump Up Your Book Live! Zumaya Birthday Bash Chat Party!

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Books to Build your Brand By

Posted on July 21, 2011 by Linda Andrews

Unless you are Stephen King, John Grisham or Nora Roberts, as a writer you will have to learn how to market your books. An important part of that is Brand building. Now if you’re like me, business classes are those credits offered while most of us took ethics classes ;-). Actually, they were the classes that made my head hurt and thus they needed to be avoided.
Which is fine for my day job in the laboratory.
But since most writers would like to have a well-padded wallet, we need to keep studying the business end of publishing and branding is part of it. Low and behold, on a day I was feeling adventurous and had lots of aspirin on had, a blurb came across one of my many loops mentioning a book on Brand Building. The book is Market or Die: Sensible Brand Building Advice for Writers by Jennifer Fusco.
Now maybe it’s just me but when the word Die is mentioned, I tend to take note. Clicking on my friend, amazon.com, I pulled up the book. Kindle was cheaper but I don’t have a kindle, so I opted for the print book.
And waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Until it finally shipped then arrived. My husband read it first as it was a small book. My husband is not really a reader of books, just magazines, newspapers and news stories on the internet. He said I had homework to do.
Hmmm. Homework? I usually only have that when my children are in school. But, I tucked the book into my bag and took it to work. I read it, thought I understood it, then read it again. Although written in plain English, my brain filtered it through the Businessese language first–looking for logic or sanity without really expecting to find any. Results will vary by reader.
On the second read through, I caught on to most of what she wrote about brand. Then she asked three simple questions. Being that I write horror, scifi/fantasy, and paranormal romance, this posed quite a challenge. Still I worked and worked at it until I arrived at something I thought described all my stories.
Then I tried it on a friend who’s read my work and is brutally honest.
Close, but not quite right.
She gave me a tip that might help you. Compile a list of words that fit those descriptions and then go to a thesaurus for more–somewhere will be the right one for you.
Market or Die is an excellent place to start for authors to understand what a brand is and how you go about creating one for your books. As for spreading your brand, it is sufficiently vague to give you an overview of marketing without getting bogged down in the nuts and bolts, that change pretty much daily as the internet sphere expands into the real world.

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Christmas in July

Posted on July 18, 2011 by Linda Andrews

Christmas is one of my favorite holidays. Maybe that’s why I like to celebrate it in July as well as December. Of course, I don’t haul out the decorations, because that would traumatized my children even more. But I do listen to Christmas carols and hum them and make cookies. So here are Ten reasons to celebrate in July.

1. Never under estimate the value of psychological warfare. When it’s 110+ degrees Fahrenheit, singing about snow and sleigh rides help to keep you cool (especially if your in the pool)

2. As the mercury rises, buttheaditis infects most drivers on the freeways. Knowing a lump (of coal or equivalent) awaits them helps not to activate lasers and blow them off the road. Bonus: not using the lasers Santa gave you keeps you off the naughty list, too.

3. You actually have time to enjoy those Christmas movies your always too busy to watch during December.

4. Family members are enjoyed from the safe distance of their own homes. And when they bring up that embarrassing story from the past your cell can ‘drop’ the call.

5. There are no huge bills waiting you next month, unless you count your cooling bill.

6. Family meals aren’t a big production, and store bought food isn’t frowned upon like you brought a putrid rat for dinner.

7. If you must have presents, you can make sure it is what you want by buying it yourself.

8. You don’t have to stress over the kids clothes or their manners, because only you will be around to notice the mud.

9. You’re not sick to death of Christmas carols or phony Christmas spirit vomited on you by hungry sales clerks.

10. And the very best reason…. Back to school is almost here. While most of the country doesn’t start until after Labor Day, my kids go back August 15th.

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Interview with Lynda K. Scott

Posted on July 16, 2011 by Linda Andrews

What prompted you to write that first book? Did you always want to be an
author?

I’ve always wanted to be an author. I think I was six when I wrote my first ‘book’, lol, maybe younger. My mother always said that I began writing as soon as I could hold a pencil and I believe she was right. And, of course, the yearning just got worse as I got older. I wrote my own fan-fiction for some of my favorite TV shows, and I wrote fantasy romance before there was any such thing.

How do you decide which story to write?

Most of my stories (both short and book length fiction) begin with an image. It might be a scene or an image of the hero or heroine. Or it might be an image of something significant to the story. Heartstone began with an image of Eric, a tall, dark haired, clean shaven fellow with dazzling silver gray eyes. I knew right then he was a shapeshifter and I knew this wasn’t because of a curse or magic. Altered Destiny was based on a scene of Devyn MacGregor battling a dragon with a force sword. I had to work a little harder to get the story that went with that scene, lol.

Can you tell us a little bit about your latest release?

Altered Destiny

Stranded on an alternate Earth, architect and Jill-of-all-trades, Liane Gautier-MacGregor must find her way back to her homeworld before she’s enslaved…or falls in love with a man who is the exact duplicate of her ex-husband.

Devyn MacGregor’s alter ego as the Reiver Lord is the only way he can fight the Qui’arel and their nefarious Bride Bounty, a tax paid with human females…until he meets the oddly familiar woman who claims he is her husband. And who sets in motion the rebellion that will either free his countrymen or destroy them.
Altered Destiny, available as an ebook at Barnes & Noble and at Amazon, is a cross-genre book with elements of science fiction, fantasy and time travel (of a sort) combined with romance. Mostly romance. In it, we see two Devyn MacGregors. One from this world who is selfish and arrogant and one from a world close to ours who is heroic and self sacrificing.

You’ve created such wonderful worlds in both Heartstone and Altered Destiny, can we expect a sequel to either one soon?

I would love to do sequel’s for both Heartstone and Altered Destiny. But new characters are always clamoring for my attention. They want their stories told and they want it NOW, lol.

Altered Destiny is available as an ebook on both Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Have you done anything different promoting an ebook versus your print book, Heartstone?

Altered Destiny just became available and I’m still experimenting with promo for it and for Heartstone too. Heartstone is available in print but it’s also available as an ebook for those with ereaders. One thing I do like to do is find some one unique thing in the story to talk about. In Heartstone, Keriam, the heroine, makes dakka soup for an injured Eric. So I created the recipe and offered it to the readers where I was doing a guest blog. And my alien kitten, Wookie, loves helping me with contests by choosing just the right person to win the giveaway.

Heartstone

Eric d’Ebrur is out of time. He must find the legendary Heartstone and fulfill the ancient Gar’Ja bond he shares with the Stonebearer. But when he finds her, he discovers that love can be more dangerous than the Gawan threat. Eric can defeat the mind-controlling Gawan but will it cost him the woman he loves?

After terrifying episodes of hypersensitivity, Keriam Norton thinks she’s losing her mind. When handsome shapeshifter Eric d’Ebrur saves her from the monstrous Gawan, she’s sure of it. But insane or not, she’ll find the Heartstone and, if she’s lucky, a love to last a lifetime.

Do you plot your stories out or do you just start writing?

I have a somewhat convoluted method, lol. I start with an image and either go forward or backward to arrive at the beginning of the story. This usually gies me an idea of what the story problem is and that tells me what the end needs to be. The journey from the beginning to the end, though, is shrouded in mist. Think of it as walking into a thick, swirling fog. You can’t see very far in front of you so events and characters sort of appear out of the mist a little at a time. I love fog and the mystery it releases bit by bit 😉

What was the funniest thing you learned about your hero/heroine from writing
their story?

In Altered Destiny, Liane the heroine is afraid of snakes, spiders and sharks then wonders if she’s really afraid of things that start with an S. I had to convince her that she was also afraid of earwigs even though they don’t start with an S.

Which of your characters is most like you and which is least like you?

Oh, that’s a tough one. I think all the characters I write have elements of myself in them in one way or another. Particularly the heroines, both Keriam of Heartstone and Liane of Altered Destiny have traits similar to ones I’d like to claim. I say like because I don’t think I’m as brave as either of them even though they also don’t consider themselves brave. As for which is least like me? The villain in Altered Destiny has a measure of cruelty and selfishness that I certainly hope is nothing like me, lol.

Can you describe your office or where you normally write?

My office is either a controlled disaster or the set for Warehouse 13, lol. I have a gazillion books stacked in various spots, books for research, review and for pleasure reading. Plus I have some of my collectibles, dragons, dinosaurs, unicorns, pegasi, Star Wars figurines, Star Trek figurines, an array of candles for refreshing my mind (I love the scents – hazelnut, chocolate, mint, jasmine). Oh, and I seem to be the Keeper of the Dead Printers. Got two dead ones lurking in here right now. Then there’s my attempt at being a ‘lady’. Notice the word ‘attempt’. The walls are a lovely lavendar and I have a beautiful Tiffany style lamp. I’m not sure who I’m trying to fool with that ‘lady’ attempt, lol. My office is also Wookie’s room. She has her food dish, bed and toys in here because, well, she has to keep an eye on me and that’s her job. She elected herself as my muse and does it fairly well.

Which came first the plot or the characters?

The characters, most definitely. Without the right character, I simply can’t write the story. I’ve tried. It just doesn’t work for me. The character has to have the right look, the right character traits, the right background. Not all at once, mind you, though that doesn’t hurt. But he or she has to jell in my mind before I can write the story.

Have you ever gotten stuck while writing a scene or chapter? How did you
overcome it?

Remember the candles I mentioned? I’ll burn one of them. Sometimes if I stare into the flames for a few minutes, my mind will relax and I’ll be able to see what needs to be done. If that doesn’t work, I’ll go wash dishes or vacuum. That usually kicks the creative juices in gear because who wants to do housework????

Did you do any research for you book and, if so, did you find any interesting information that you had to include in the story?

I do research for every book. Why? Because I love research, lol. For Heartstone, I researched terra forming and binary stars. For Altered Destiny, I spent hours – no, days – researching Scottish sayings and culture. I put what I felt to be appropriate auld Scots sayings at the front of each chapter as a kind of tease toward what might be in there.

Where can readers find out more about you?

Readers are always welcome to visit my website http://www.lyndakscott.com and to join my newsgroup. It’s a low volume list so won’t flood your email box.

Check out my contact page

http://www.lyndakscott.com/contact.html

for Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, Myspace and especially for my newsgroup. I’ve always got giveaway drawings (either my own or by guest authors on my blog) that readers are eligible to enter. Lots of cool books and other nifty stuff 😉

What’s your current book list and where can we buy them?

Heartstone, Mundania Press http://www.mundania.com/book.php?title=Heartstone

Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Heartstone-Lynda-K-Scott/dp/1606592335/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1307896585&sr=8-1

Heartstone is available in print and ebook format at both Mundania Press and at Amazon

Altered Destiny, Kindle, http://www.amazon.com/Altered-Destiny-ebook/dp/B00579FKFO/ref=sr_1_2e=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=books&qid=1308692836&sr=8-2

Nook http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Altered-Destiny/Lynda-K-Scott/e/2940012882417

I’m offering a giveaway of one ecopy of Altered Destiny to one lucky reader. Here’s how you can be that reader
1) Leave a comment here with
2) the answer to this question: What three things that start with an S is Liane afraid of?
3) Make sure to leave your email address so I can contact you
4) Do this within 2 days of the post going live and I’ll have my alien kitten, Wookie, select the winner.

Thanks for having me visit, Linda!

Thanks for being here, Lynda.

Bio: In her family of Kentucky ‘ridge runners’, oral tales were a tradition that even the children participated in. She spent many nights with her brother, cousins, and friends telling tall tales to spark their imaginations. Now, award winning Lynda K. Scott writes science fantasy romance to excite the imaginations of those who love romance and wait breathlessly for the Happy Ever After.

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When It’s Your Birthday

Posted on July 15, 2011 by Linda Andrews

I celebrated my birthday last Sunday and when asked how old I was I told the truth. The lady who asked was horrified. “Oh, no, dear. You’re supposed to say x and holding.”
Why?
Granted I am of an age where the majority of my sisters and brothers are tossing half-dollars in the fountain of youth, but I have earned every year I’ve spent on the planet.
And I’ve learned from those years. Go me!
So why am I mentioning this? The day after my birthday, I read that the first 150 year old had been born and that within a generation the next 1000 year old will have been born. The key is using stem cells to undo the damage of aging if not outright preventing the body from growing old.
My first thought–Whoa, we need definite population control measures enacted.
My second thought–So would a millineals need to be two hundred before they were considered adult?
And don’t get me started on maturity. That seems to be completely age independent.

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Technology in Transition

Posted on July 13, 2011 by Linda Andrews

Well, I did it. I finally took the plunge and bought a new writing system. Quite frankly, I didn’t want to spend the money on a new system but I was getting tried of copying and pasting i, u, o and p’s into the document until my pda keyboard decided to work. And that doesn’t even mention the tingles and callouses I have built up on my fingertips as II pound repeated on the keys to get a response.

So after looking at the tablets and netbooks, I decided to go with an iPad2. I’ve never had an Apple product before, so this will be a switch for me. Which is ironic since I’ve convinced my parents to buy an Apple and they’ve become diehard fans.

I based my decision upon three key things: value, flexibility, and experience.

Okay, to clear up any confusion, it is not my experience with Apple products but others who’ve had PCs and have made the switch. Those who have, love their Apples and don’t like going back to PCs at work. There is also the fact that Mac supports their products for long period of time, without requiring the user to purchase a new operating system every three years.

My brother has had his Apple laptop for 10 years! And you know what, the company still supports it. Wow! I’ve had my pda for three years, and it’s no longer supported. Sure, I might be left behind on some of the newest apps or not be able to cruise the internet at hyperspeeds, but since I’m not a gamer only plan to write on my new iPad that won’t really be a problem. And if I get 10 years out of it, well that’s value!

Flexibility was my major concern, but then I remembered this is for me and my writing, so all I need is a word processing program that can convert to word docs (for rtf doc, I know to save it as html, open in word then save as rtf to keep the formatting). According to the Apple store salesman I can even save the file as a pdf. Bonus!

And all my ebooks can be read on my iPad. Yay me! So I pumped to get my iPad. But since I’m ordering the 16Gig, WiFi+3G iPad, I ordered it online along with a wireless keyboard and sky blue cover. The cover was shipped first from Hong Kong and is due to arrive on the 18th. The keyboard shipped second and is due to arrive on the 19th. The ipad was supposed to arrive on the 21st but I just got an email this morning telling me it would be here on the 15th.

I’m happy dancing! Let’s hope I keep on doing so once I begin writing on it. Stayed tuned, I sense fodder for a future blog post.

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Oh no, Mr. Bear

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Linda Andrews

This is my dog, Bear. He’s the only one in the house who swims more than I. Which leads him to think that he owns the pool and no one is allowed into the pool without him nearby.
He also patrols the pool and doesn’t let anything in it without his permission. In short, he’s a skimmer with teeth. Chopping up stray leaves, bees and other floaty things.
He also believes if it is in the pool he should get to play with it. Which explains his affront at the floating chlorinator that has a dolphin on top. He has bitten it several times but quickly spits it out.
Lately, the kids have started taking blue raquetballs into the pool to throw against the block wall and catch. Mr. Bear either blocks the ball or catches it then dumps it into the dirt so the kids won’t get it. During the past week, he’s taken to hiding them, but too bad for him I found his stash and threw all six balls into the water.
He looked at them.
then looked at me.
then back to them.
I went inside. When I came back five were gone and the sixth was in his mouth.

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Interview with Cindy Speer

Posted on July 9, 2011 by Linda Andrews

What prompted you to write The Chocolatier’s Wife?

It was a strange combination, actually, of eating chocolate and thinking about an actor who I’d enjoyed watching. I wondered what kind of role he could get (he’s a kind of obscure actor) and it just all came together.

What kind of paranormal elements do you incorporate into the book and how does it complement the mystery?

Magic runs through this book…the main plot is driven by the idea that a spell chooses who you will marry and spend your life with. Magic also plays some role in trying to figure out what happened, but not so much that it becomes a Dues Ex Machina. One of the fun parts about writing this book was writing about Tasmin’s interactions with the wind sprites…how does a woman interact with a barbaric little tribe of intelligent beings who are invisible?

Have you ever had a paranormal experience?

I have a very over developed imagination, so I can’t really tell. I was convinced that my house was haunted, but the sounds…boots being scraped and the floor creaking as someone crossed it…faded when we restored the house and added on to it, so I don’t know if we scared the ghosts away or if we changed how the house shifted by making it larger and more stable.

Did you have to do a lot of research writing The Chocolatier’s Wife? And, if so, would you share some of your favorite research books/sources?

I read tons of chocolate history books…I read much more about chocolate and chocolate making than actually ended up in the book, because I wanted to understand thoroughly what William would end up doing in a day. What were the steps that would go into making chocolate? Was it a single day process, or something that he would have to tend to over several days? What would chocolate look like in the Regency (even though the story is set in a different world, I mentally based some of its feel in the Regency era.) I needed to know because I wanted to know how much freedom William had to go off and investigate while trying to rebuild his business. I also wanted to know what the shop itself would look like…there is always so much you need to know that, even if you don’t (and should never) relate the facts per se to the reader, you should be able to have all the information you need to create the look and feel for your readers.

Can you tell us a little bit about your latest release?

My newest release is the first book I ever wrote, titled Unbalanced and is a paranormal romance set in a world where an agency, Balanced, tries to keep the peace between mages, vampires, and werewolves. A woman is found murdered at a party, and Andromeda Pendragon, an agent of Balance who has just moved back into the area, has to figure out who killed her and why.

Do you plot your stories out or do you just start writing?

I tend to just start writing. Scenes come to me and I write them down so I don’t forget them…and if the main outline of the plot comes to me I write it down for the same reason. I am a bit by the seat of my pants.
In addition to The Chocolatier’s Wife, you also rewrote some fairy tales. What prompted you to change these classics and which is your favorite retelling?

I feel that stories can always be seen in a new light, especially the old stories. Fairy tales are rich and complicated but also very simple. We don’t always know the motivations or thoughts of the characters unless it directly relates to what happened. We don’t always know what these people were really like, or what happened after the “Happily ever after” line. One of my favorite retellings is my first, because it came to me so simply…it was a re-telling of Charles Perrault’s “The Fairies” where a girl is rewarded for her kindness by being bespelled so ever word that comes from her mouth is a pearl or a flower of a diamond. And immediately I thought, “That could really be unpleasant.”

Which of your characters is most like you and which is least like you?

This is a hard question to answer because I think they are all a little like me…like any parent, I can see what they inherited from me. A character that you’ve not heard of yet…Minerva Corvae…is the most like me because sometimes I feel like she’s me with the courage to say what she thinks. I have a feeling that, by the time she reaches publication, she will have come into her own self, and won’t be much like me at all. Sometimes my characters have traits that I would like to have…I wish I was as calm as Tasmin.

Which came first the plot or the characters?

It depends. Mostly the characters, and I wonder, “Why are you in my head? What should I do with you?” That’s how it happened with The Chocolatier’s Wife and Unbalanced. For Blue Moon, the plot came first.

Have you ever gotten stuck while writing a scene or chapter? How did you overcome it?

Patience. I really believe that every story is just sitting in the back of my mind, writing itself, composting all the things I see and read and do and mixing things up and pulling things out. If I get stuck, I do write something else, and eventually I will have a revelation as to where I went wrong…for example, for Unbalanced the revelation was that Andromeda wasn’t a vampire after all…and I’ll be off and going again. Or, sometimes, the next scene finally comes out of the quagmire that is my brain.

Where can readers find more about you and your books?

My webpage has links to my Facebook and excerpts. You can find my books on Amazon and pretty much everywhere books are sold online. http://www.apenandfire.com

BIO:

Cindy Lynn Speer is only half joking when she says she’s a swashbuckler.  Dividing her time between writing stories and learning historical sword fighting, she is secretly preparing for the pirate apocalypse.  Sometimes she manages to squeeze in some reading, gardening and sewing.


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Interview with Kathryn Meyer Griffith

Posted on July 8, 2011 by Linda Andrews

The Story of Vampire Blood

Author’s Revised Edition by Kathryn Meyer Griffith

A rerelease of my 1991 Zebra paperback romantic vampire novel

out from www.damnationbooks.com on July 1, 2011

In 1990 or so I’d just got done releasing my first three paperback novels with Leisure Books, a romantic historical (The Heart of the Rose 1985) and two romantic horror books (Evil Stalks the Night, 1984 and Blood Forge, 1989), and because I wasn’t making much money on them, was looking, as most so-called restless young authors were doing, to move up in the publishing industry.

So I wrote snail mail letters to three established authors of the day – Dean Koontz, Stephen King and Peter Straub – asking for a little advice and a little help. What do I do next? I want to be one of the big dogs running in the big races. I want to make the big bucks. Be famous like you. (Ha, ha. I was so naïve in those days!)

Well, Stephen King and Peter Straub never answered my letters but one rainy fall night I got a phone call from Gerda Koontz (Dean Koontz’s wife) and she said Dean had gotten my letter and wanted me to have a name of a brand new agent who I should call or write to and say I was recommended by him. If I thought it strange that Dean Koontz himself wasn’t actually talking to me I was told by Gerda that he was a shy man and had had a particularly hard couple of months because of family problems (I think it had something to do with his father in a nursing home or something, but can’t exactly recall now) and he’d asked her to call me. She often did that for him, as well as helping him with the business side of his writing career. He (through her…and I got the impression that he was actually nearby telling her what to say the whole time) said I had to have an agent (I didn’t have one) and then he gave me the name of an ambitious one, Lori Perkins, just starting out and his advice on what I should do to advance as a writer.

I do remember being incredibly touched that he, a famous busy novelist that I admired – I loved his Twilight Eyes – would take the time to talk to me, even through his wife. They were both so sweet and we talked for nearly an hour all about writing, books and everything.

I took their advice and contacted that agent and she agreed immediately to represent me on my fourth book, Vampire Blood, no doubt, because I said Dean Koontz had recommended her to me. Name dropper! But Vampire Blood was the reason I’d contacted those famous authors in the first place. I thought it was the best book I’d done so far and wanted it to go to (what I thought at the time) would be a better publisher than Leisure Books, which contracted and hog-tied their writers with a horrible ‘potboiler’ one-size-fits-all ten year contract with low advances and 4% royalties. Yes, I got a whole whopping 14 cents a book in those days, but, I must confess, they did print thousands of paperbacks each run and had a huge distribution area.  I thought I could do a lot better. Anyway, Lori Perkins wanted me to send her the book and she did like it and eventually sold it, and then three others zip-zip-zip right after, to Zebra Books (now known more as Kensington Publishing) at 6% royalties and double the advances I was used to getting. They slapped a sexy blond vampire with a low dress on the cover and a hazy theater behind her. Lovely colors. I thought it was an eye-catching cover. I was so happy. I thought I’d made it! Again, so naïve.

Vampire Blood. A little story about a family of vicious killing vampires who settle in a small Florida town called Summer Haven and end up buying and fixing up an old theater palace to run, and pluck their victims from, and a divorced, down-on-her-luck ex-novelist and her hard luck father, who along with friends, help thwart them.

Now to how and why I wrote it.

My husband and I lived in this small Illinois town, Cahokia, at the time and there was the neatest little hole-in-the-wall theater in a nearby shopping center we used to go to all the time…run by a family of a sweet man, Terry, and his wife, Ann, and sometimes their three children, two teenage boys and a girl named Irene.  Such a friendly, but odd couple. The run-down theater was their whole world it seemed. The kids helped take in the tickets, pop the popcorn and sell the candy snacks.

Now the minute Terry and Ann found out, in one of our earliest conversations, that I was a published novelist they were my greatest fans. Terry went right out and bought all three of my books and they all read them. Terry always thought they’d make great movies. Next time my husband and I went to the little theater Terry and Ann greeted us like old friends, so delighted to see us, and refused to take a dime from us for anything. We got in free whenever we went from then on. Now in those days my husband, my son, James, and I were pretty broke. I worked as a graphic designer at a big brokerage firm in downtownSt. Louis(across thePoplarBridgefrom ourIllinoistown) but my husband was in between jobs. We lived on a shoestring. Hard times. So I always was so tickled that we could get into the local movies for free. We went a lot, too, as we loved movies, especially science fiction and horror films.

One night I was watching Terry and Ann and their joy in running that little theater, with the kids bustling around doing their jobs, and I got the idea for Vampire Blood. Just like that! Use them and the theater as a backdrop for a vampire novel. Hey, wouldn’t it be neat, I off-handedly mentioned to Terry one night, if I wrote a book about a family of vampires that was trying to pass as a real human family, the man and woman wanting so badly to fit in and lead a normal life for a while, renovating and then running a theater together…but the kids are wild and, as kids always do, make trouble for them in the town…killing people? Terry loved the idea and I asked him if it’d be all right to use him and his family as a template for the vampires. He was thrilled to be part of anything to do with my books and said yes. So…I wrote this book about them (sort of), the theater (making it much grander than it was, of course), a small town terrorized by cruel, powerful vampires who can change into wolves at will….and a saddened lonely woman, her brother, and her ex-husband (who she still loves and ultimately ends up with again after he saves her life) who finds herself again, but loses a lot, as well, fighting these vampires. Vampires she doesn’t believe in at first.

I was very happy with the book when it was done and dedicated it to Terry and Ann when it came out in 1991. Terry and Ann were thrilled, too.

So Vampire Blood came out and did very well for me, second only to my Zebra 1993 Witches. As the years went by it went out of print and when, twenty years later, Kim Richards at Damnation Books contracted my 13th and 14th novels, BEFORE THE END: A Time of Demons and The Woman in Crimson, she asked if I’d like to rerelease (with new covers and rewritten, of course) my 7 out-of-print Leisure and Zebra paperbacks – and I said a resounding yes!

So…here it is…Vampire Blood…twenty years later, alive again and better, I believe,  than the original because my writing then was done on an electric typewriter, with gobs of White-Out and carbon paper (I couldn’t afford copies), using snail mail; all of which didn’t lend itself to much rewriting. And in those days, editors told an author what to change and then the writer only saw the manuscript once to final proof it. Who knew what those sneaky editors were slipping in inbetween and before the final book was in an author’s greedy little hands. Hey, and I was working full time, raising a son, living a life and caring for my big extended family in one way or another, too. Busy, exciting, loving, happy and sad times.

For this new version, Damnation Book’s cover artist Dawné Dominique made me an astonishingly intriguing cover of a lovely vampire (Irene the youngest vampire who turns out to be the most brutal and ancient in the end)…but, thank goodness, without the low sexy top. And my DB editor, April Duncan, helped me make it a better novel.

A lot has happened to me and my family in these twenty years, as well. Both my parents, and my beloved maternal grandmother, the storyteller of her generation, have since passed away. Many people we used to know have. Old boyfriends, old friends and relatives. I miss them all! I no longer have that agent; she went on to bigger advances and bigger writers.  I lost my good job at the brokerage firm, bumped around in lesser jobs for years, always writing in my spare time, and now, at long last, write full time while my husband works way too hard in a machine shop to support us.

Rewriting the book brought back so many good memories…and tears over those no longer here. The theater closed sixteen years ago, the owner believing it’d served its purpose and used up its time. Terry and Ann, heartbroken, were never the same. They had other jobs, none they truly cared about.  Ann is still with us, but Terry died a few years ago, I heard from someone. We lost contact once they stopped running the theater and we moved fromCahokiato a nicer town miles away.

But I’ll never forget those early days and the stories that came with them. Days of high hopes and far distance future dreams…some of which have come true and some which haven’t. I’ve never made the big bucks, never gotten truly famous, but now, at long last and to my great delight, all twelve of my older books, from Leisure, Zebra, and The Wild Rose Press are being rewritten and reissued from Damnation Books and Eternal Press between June 2010 and July 2012. Better than ever after I’d rewritten them. I have plans to write more books and short stories, too, when they’re done. Most importantly, I’m living a good life with a husband I adore and brothers and sisters I love. Writing the stories I was born to write and happy I am. I have my memories. All in all, I’m a lucky, lucky woman.

So, all you writers out there…never give up and never stop writing!

Thank you!

Vampire Blood-Author’s Revised Edition (originally a 1991 Zebra romantic horror/paranormal paperback) BLURB:

For years the vampire family lived in the shadows, hidden by
the night and people’s disbelief; feeding on animals or
throw away people who would never be missed. But as the
family moves into an old theater, and uses it to cover up
their crimes, the youngest of them are restless and
determined to live as they like. Recklessly. Killing and
feeding when and where they want. Feeding on who they want.
Only the parent vampires have managed to keep them in check.
But no longer.
Unaware of the night stalking menace, the townspeople of
Summer Haven, Florida, blithely go about their daily lives
until, one by one, they begin to disappear. Screams are
heard in the night. Fear grows. The lost are never
found…alive.
But Jenny Lacey and her father, who are hired to renovate
the old Grand Theater, can’t escape when they find
themselves caught up in the middle of the vampire’s war.
And, in the end, it’s up to Jenny, her brother, Joey, and
her ex-husband, Jeff (who she still loves and reconnects
with in this novel…happy ending there), to get rid of the
bloodthirsty fiends that are destroying their town…if they
can.***
***************************
EXCERPT:
Jenny ran to the phone and made the call then ran to
help Jeff drag Joey inside. They gently laid him on the
couch. He was a mess, cuts and bites over his hands, arms
and face. Blood everywhere.
He was hysterical, or so Jenny thought. He was
raving.
“Vampires, Jenny. Help me! Don’t let them get
me!” he groaned, curling up on the couch like a frightened
child, his expression one of dread.
“I saw them!” Her brother’s eyes were terrified.
“They … were… wolves!”
The sound of an ambulance’s siren droned louder and
louder as it traveled from across the city.
“Joey, it’s okay. I’m here.” Jenny leaned over
and hugged him.
Jeff had found a towel to help staunch the blood from
the nasty punctures on Joey’s hands. He held it tightly
over the wound as Joey thrashed about. “You’re safe
now.”
Joey’s eyes cleared and focused panic-stricken on
first Jenny then Jeff. He was obviously fighting to remain
conscious.
“No … not safe. None of us. You know the missing
people? They took them. Vampires.” He grabbed at her arm,
and yanked her down so he could whisper in her ear, “…
killed Dad, Albers … but he saved me.”
“Who saved you, Joey?” She was cradling him in her
arms. Before he could answer, he passed out.
“God, Jeff,” Jenny gasped. “What the hell was he
talking about, and why was someone trying to kill him?”
Jeff didn’t have time to respond, because the
ambulance arrived, and they were too busy watching the
attendants trying to save Joey’s life.

***

***

Kathryn Meyer Griffith has been writing for nearly forty years and has published 14 novels and 7 short stories since 1984 with Zebra Books, Leisure Books, Avalon Books, The Wild Rose Press, Damnation Books and Eternal Press in the horror, romantic paranormal, suspense and murder mystery genres… and all 12 of her old books, see below, (and two new ones) are being brought out again between June 2010 and July 2012 from DAMNATION BOOKS www.damnationbooks.com and ETERNAL PRESSwww.eternalpress.biz again in print – and all in  e-books for the first time ever! Learn more about her at www.myspace.com/kathrynmeyergriffith or www.bebo.com/kathrynmeyergriffith or  www.authorsden.com/kathrynmeyergriffith orwww.bebo.com/kathrynmeyergriffith and http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=1019954486 .

***

Here’s a list of all my published novels and short stories:

Evil Stalks the Night (Leisure,1984; Damnation Books, July 2012)

The Heart of the Rose (Leisure,1985)

Blood Forge (Leisure,1989; Damnation Books, February 2012)

Vampire Blood (Zebra, 1991; Damnation Books, July 2011)

The Last Vampire (Zebra, 1992; Damnation Books, October 2010)

Witches (Zebra, 1993; Damnation Books, April 2011)

The Nameless One (short story in 1993 Zebra Anthology Dark Seductions;

Damnation Books, February 2011)

The Calling (Zebra, 1994; Damnation Books, October 2011)

Scraps of Paper (Avalon Books Murder Mystery, 2003)

All Things Slip Away (Avalon Books Murder Mystery, 2006)

Egyptian Heart (The Wild Rose Press, 2007…out again from Eternal Press in

August 2011)

Winter’s Journey (The Wild Rose Press, 2008…out again from Eternal Press in

September 2011)

The Ice Bridge (The Wild Rose Press, 2008…out again from Eternal Press in November 2011)

Don’t Look Back short story (2008…out again from Eternal Press in 2011)

In This House (short story 2008…out again from Eternal Press in 2011)

BEFORE THE END: A Time of Demons (2010)

The Woman in Crimson (2010) ***

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Ogre Writing

Posted on July 6, 2011 by Linda Andrews

Like many writers, I find there are times when I just don’t want to write but I need to write. It’s not writer’s block but more of a writer’s ennui. During such times, I fall back on a method I call Ogre writing in order to get my page count or scene from my page to the paper.

I’m sure many of you have watched Shrek and remember how he’d compared ogres to onions because of their layers (And donkey’s rebuttal about being a parfait instead). Ogre writing is exactly that, writing in layers. The funny thing is that which layer you start or end with doesn’t matter, all that matters is that all of them get there eventually.

For me the process goes something like this:

1.) Dialogue–since I usually hear voices in my head, this is a great place for me to start. It also means that the words have to have multiple meanings so that more than just what’s being said is communicated. Of course, dialogue is an easy way to get pages written. So I’ll start with this:

“When will you know something?”
“A couple of minutes.”
“Oh.”
“I don’t think we should watch it.”
“What do you suggest?”
“Come with me.”

2.) Blocking–Where are the people when the conversation is taking place? And how can I use the description to add to the scene?

David stared at the computer screen on the diningroom table. The only light in the great room thanks to the power outage. “When will you know something?”
“A couple of minutes.” Mavis partially closed the laptop as crimson bled into the white glow of the screen.
“Oh”
“I don’t think we should watch it.”
“What do you suggest?”
“Come with me.” She held out her hand.

or

David stared at the little white stick on the marble countertop. “When will you know something?” HIs voice echoed around the immaculate bathroom.
“A couple of minutes.” Mavis washed the soap off her hands.
“Oh.”
She dried her hands. “I don’t think we should watch it.”
“What do you suggest?” He eyed the early pregnancy test.
She stepped closer, ran her fingers up his chest. “Come with me.”

Okay, so now we know where they are and a little about what’s going on but the reader still needs more.

3.) Body language and internal dialogue. While a bit of body language is included in blocking, a bit of tweaking will make it obvious what the hero/heroine is feeling and the internal dialogue will drive it home.

David stared at the little white stick on the marble countertop. The little window in the thing remained clear. Nothing. Yet. But that would change soon. And so would his life. For better or worse.
“When will you know something?” His voice bounced off the bathroom’s warm, beige walls and black designer towels. Carefully planned, like his life.
At least it had been until now.
Not taking his gaze off the EPT, he raked his hands through his short hair. What if the result wasn’t what he wanted? Hadn’t the box included two tests?
“A couple of minutes.” For the third time, Mavis washed the soap off her hands. Her smile did not reach her eyes. She sucked on her bottom lip before carefully turning off the tap.
David set his hand on the small of her back, relished the feel of her soft skin against his palm. They had talked about this. About what it would mean to him–to them.
She dried her hands on the towel before straightening it, returning it to the proper place as if she’d never been there. “I don’t think we should watch it.”
“What do you suggest?” He eyed stick. Was something happening? So much rode on a simple line.
She stepped close enough that the tips of her silk encased breasts brushed his bare chest. Her fingers danced lightly down his belly before hooking his briefs and tugging him back toward the bedroom. “Come with me.”
David smiled and allowed his wife to tug him out of the bathroom. What did it matter what the test said? They were having a hell of a time trying to conceive.

Of course, it still isn’t done. There’s parts that could be cut, and there needs to be a bit more reaction. But those tend to be a little more energy intensive and can wait until later, it’s enough that most of the scene is done.

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