Vampire Sociologist Bertena Varney /Halloween Giveaway

Happy Halloween!

I'm thrilled to welcome back Bertena Varney!  She will discuss a little of her experience as an author and Vampire Sociologist.  She's written a fascinating book on the legends, literature and culture of the vampire that includes helpful links to websites and reading lists.  I was excited when she asked me to contribute an article for the book, a portion of which you can read at my website

In addition, Bertena and I are co-hosting a Halloween giveaway!  There are two different prizes you can win.  Bertena will be giving away an ebook version of her book The Lure of the Vampire.  I'm also giving away a prize bundle of an ebook of My Fearful Symmetry, an "I Love New York Vampires" t-shirt with the Twilight of the Gods cover on it, a MFS pen and some other Halloween goodies.  To enter for Bertena's book, simply leave a comment that answers her question at the end of the post.  To enter for my prizes: You get one entry for commenting on Bertena's post and following this blog (mention in your comment) and another if you like my page on Facebook (Please leave a comment there as well to let me know you're entering.)  Become a member of my website and get yet another entry. 
Deadline to enter: November 1st, 2011 at 11:59 PM EST.  Winners will be chosen by random drawing and posted on November 2nd.  Please leave an email so you may be contacted. 

Good Luck!

*Ebook prizes are in the published PDF format that may be downloaded onto any computer or reader.

The Perception of Vampires in Society

by

Bertena Varney

While writing my book lure of the vampire, I received many questions and comments that I found shocking. 

First people assumed that if I was writing a vampire book then it had to be paranormal romance. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy some paranormal romance, but am more into the historical or mystery vampire fiction. Plus I am not a fiction writer. I love to read it, but I am not that creative.

When I mention that I write non fiction I get the question-- so you think you are a vampire? Uh no!


When I try the academic approach I get weird looks as well. People who haven't experienced a liberal arts program in soft science can't understand how this can be taught in college. They can't fathom that history isn't just American history but history, mythology and folklore of other cultures. Sociologically many people think that one can only teach sociology as it relates to business. In my classes I use a text titled Real World Sociology where we examine sociology on the real world- comic movies games books and monsters. It's a lot of fun, and the kids love it. They said that they couldn't imagine studying sociology could be so much fun.


They then ask what can you do with this study, and I tell them what I do... Teach, lecture tours, on line classes, write and review vampire books, movies and more.

I tell my students, like I tell everyone who has questioned what I do, if you could study, write, lecture and share what you love with people, wouldn't you?

This is the Halloween season, and my favorite time of year.  So here is my challenge... Read my book or any other reference book and find three types of vampires that you may not be familiar with and learn more about them. Look at how you have encountered vampires in pop culture in your everyday life.


Open your mind to all of the possibilities of vampires that you may not have encountered. Remember that there is a vampire for everyone.

So after doing this which is your favorite vampire? Traditional like Dracula? Romantic like Henry Fitzroy and Mick St. John? Brooding like Angel? Insane like Spike ? New age like Edward, Damon and Stefan?
So comment below and enter to win a free ebook from me!

You can follow Bertena at this links:

Facebook

http://searchforthelure.webs.com/

http://thesearchforthelureofvampires.blogspot.com/

http://mysticalevents.webs.com/

Excerpt from My Fearful Symmetry

I reached for the golden door to the ashram, only to crumple to my knees again swooning and dizzy. With the last of my strength, I inched my way on my belly across the open courtyard to my room. The sky above turned from black to purple to lavender. In another thirty minutes, the rays of the sun would cook my tattered flesh into Bolognese. It seemed like a good idea. I collapsed against the paving stones. Deep inside of me a voice called my name—only it wasn’t my name.


Shardul!


I lifted my aching head. The sacred spring lay between my room and me. The Goddess stood sentinel above the pool. Hers arms beckoned. The waters hastened healing. I pulled myself over and eased in, letting the water bathe my broken skin. It stung and burned, but at least I knew that I was still alive.


Kali’s black face looked down. Her long tongue stuck out as if to taunt me.


I clung with what strength remained to the pool’s stone edge. “Is this what you mean about the tyranny of the flesh?” But she didn’t answer. She remained silent and oblivious as death. “Bitch…” I lost my grasp on the lip of the pool and slipped below the surface, still gazing into her unseeing eyes.


I thrashed, but couldn’t pull myself to the surface. My body sank like a stone. Water filled my throat and nostrils. Consciousness dissipated into an explosion of dots, like colored pixels. My Mum’s voice floated in my head.


Hush a bye, don’t you cry


Go to sleep my little baby


When you wake, you shall have


All the pretty little horses…

The wavering image above me dissolved into golden skin and waves of dark hair. The Mother reached out two arms and pulled me from the water. The avatar’s supple, golden form suggested Parvati, consort of Lord Shiva. An aura of pulsating color surrounded her. I sputtered and coughed the liquid out of my lungs, collapsing into my benefactor’s arms. My head rested against a bosom soft and rounded, not hard and bony.


She lifted me as if I were a child, bearing me away to my room, and rolled me belly-down onto my bed. My head lay on its side. The hand stroking the wet hair away from my face felt warm. Lips full and red with blood kissed mine. Was this real, or was I hallucinating?


The Goddess anointed and bandaged my wounds. She pressed her own wrist to my lips restore me. Blood never tasted so sweet. Warm tears bathed my face as she kissed my mouth again, a sweep of silken hair brushing over my arm. As she drew back, my eyes focused, and her image became clear.


A pained hiss passed my cracked lips. “Sandhya?”

Prize winners and new Halloween Giveaway!

The winners for Jamie Magee's giveaway were Winnie and Nikki.  Nikki, we need your email!  Tomorrow, Bertena Varney will be talking about The Lure of the Vampire, her book on vampire legends, books and culture.  I contributed an article to this book, and we're going to co-host a giveaway.  She will be giving an e-copy of her book away, and I'll be giving an e-copy of My Fearful Symmetry.

Guest Jamie Magee/ Ebook Giveaway

Today, I welcome Jamie Magee to Immortyl Revolution!  Jamie is on the Romancing Your Darkside Tour and has graciously offered a copy of the ebook versions of Insight and Embody to one lucky commentor!  Winner will be chosen at random. Deadline to enter is Sunday 10/23/11 at 11:59 PM EST.  Please become a follower of this blog and leave an email address where you may be contacted.  In addition, any commentors on the RYDS tour are entered into a grand prize drawing for a new kindle.  Please follow the tour link above for details!

It is a pleasure to be here today on Immortyl Revolution as a part of the Romancing Your Dark Side tour! My name is Jamie Magee and I am the author of the YA ‘Insight’ series. My series incorporates elements that have always fascinated me as a person: zodiac, past lives, soul- mates, alternate dimensions, and of course the classic battle between good and evil. When looking at the diversity of these elements I realized that the world my characters would live in would have to be much different from the one we live in. Which leads me to the topic of today’s post – how do I build a ‘mythical’ world in my novels.

Across time authors have taken each of us into their imagination and led us to worlds that we may never see in our reality. Some authors have even chosen to create their story in the ‘real world’, even that aspect allows readers to see a town or area of the world from a fresh perspective. With my novels I wanted to have that touch of reality, but also step into an element or world that is not known to us.


One of the core elements in my story is alternate dimensions. When some hear the word dimension they may think of another dimension that is full of fairies or dinosaurs, others might think of another world that has another them doing something completely different. I mulled over what I thought an alternate dimension would look like for more time than I could recall ( the idea behind this is to this day fueling the Insight series). I remember thinking that it would be amazing to create creatures that have never existed before, but that aspect did not fit the love story I was creating.

So, I looked at the other point of view, another world with another me, and altered it ever so slightly. The only thing I changed was the ‘other you’. I simply used that idea for the world as whole (instead of the individual) meaning, that my dimensions were different from ours only because of the decisions that were made as whole. That idea could send anyone’s imagination running in a thousand directions. The dimension could be altered by the simplest change, like driving on a different side of the road, when we declare our children adults, how we use natural power for energy , or even something as complex as how we educate our children or how we commit to another for life.


Using this idea I was able to imagine dimensions that ‘made all the right choices’ that were full of peace and love, and then I imagined others that were full of darkness and a controlling leader. In between these two ideas of worlds there were others I imagined into life as well. Ones that have simple changes like never allowing children to be in public without an elder (grandparent). The idea behind these dimensions is that we create the world around us by the decisions we make. When you really mull over that thought, that we create our world as whole, you allow yourself to feel the power or impact you have over this world.

The idea of the different worlds led me to daydream into life elements that would dance on the side of fantasy. Like the string, a glowing passage of energy that is used to navigate to new worlds. Or even the power that my characters find in the Zodiac and the energy around them. Then there is a dream aspect that as we all know can take a story in any direction.

I guess if I were to explain how I created my mythical world I would simply say that I do not – the characters in that world create that place. Much like we create our world.


If you could change anything about the world – what would you change?

Jamie, thanks for joining me today!  You can follow Jamie at these links:

http://www.insightjamiemagee.com/
http://twitter.com/#!/insight117
http://facebook.com/Jamie.Magee.Author
Insight on Nook

Faith Van Horne on Establishing Mood

I'm pleased to welcome Faith Van Horne to the blog today.  She's written a very interesting piece on establishing mood.

Establishing Mood

A co-worker and I were walking past our library's paperback display (yes, I work at a public library, and it's fantastic) when she picked up a book. She tapped the cover and said, “This author's really good. She writes about Turkey, and it's like you're there. When a writer's really good, you can smell it.”

 My co-worker was stressing the importance of one of the writer's primary jobs: transporting the reader into the world of the story. While there are many aspects to this job, today I'd like to focus on establishing mood.


In Revision and Self-Editing, James Scott Bell states that a story's mood “is like the score of a movie—it plays in the background, deepening the feelings of the reader. Illuminating details operate to both set up and pay off emotional moments.”

Next time you're re-watching one of your favorite films, pay close attention to the background music. Chances are if it's played subtly, you've never noticed it before. How does the music coincide with what's happening on-screen? If a portion of the scene has no dialogue, try playing the film muted. How does this change your experience?

The background music serves as an “illuminating detail”, a small piece that by itself seems insignificant. But when it is woven into the film, it emotionally involves the viewer more deeply into the story. In fiction, illuminating details are bits of vivid description that, when properly highlighted, establish the feel of the story.

Setting the mood early on creates a promise to the reader. The writer is letting readers know what kind of story they are about to read. A lighthearted romance will focus on different details than a high-stakes suspense novel. Of course, this also creates a challenge for the writer. Starting the story off in the wrong direction can create a jarring dissonance for readers. They most likely won't even be able to tell you what they didn't like about the story, only that something felt “off” about it.

In my horror/P.I. novella All Hope Lost, I wanted to establish early on that my protagonist Dana Cay was just emerging from a dark place in her life. Her client, Warren Parker, is in the midst of his own personal hell. To demonstrate that pain in both characters, I chose to focus on Dana's reaction to seeing Warren's face:


I deduced the cause of the hollows beneath Warren Parker’s eyes and in his cheeks the instant he entered my office. They had marked my own face not long ago, and echoes of them remained. They were the caverns carved by the loss of someone close. Someone who shouldn’t have departed so soon, or so harshly.

Warren is not sunny or mischievous here. His eyes bear 'hollows', 'caverns' carved by 'loss'. If I've done my work well, you should be able to tell that you're about to read a dark story involving two grieving characters.


Who are some writers you find create an unforgettable mood in their novels? Any cases you've seen where the mood created early on didn't match the later feel of the book?

All Hope Lost

Two years ago, private investigator Dana Cay's brother committed suicide. For months she drove herself mad with grief, convinced a shadowy cult had fed from her brother's death. She's finally overcome her delusions, setting up shop in a new city and taking on low-stress cases.

Now Warren Parker darkens her door with his sister's story. She too leapt to her death, and he suspects the cult's involvement. Knowing Dana's history, he begs her to bring the faceless monsters to justice. Is the cult real after all? If so, can Dana stop its members before they kill again?

About the Author

 

Faith Van Horne is a writer of speculative fiction living in the American Midwest. Her horror/P.I. novella, All Hope Lost, is now available from Escape Collective Publishing. You can see what she's up to at her blog, faithvanhorne.blogspot.com.

 

A very big thanks to Faith for joining me today!  Below are links for her book:

Buy All Hope Lost on Amazon Kindle
Buy All Hope Lost on Nook



Author Sue Mydliak

Today I'm pleased to welcome Sue Mydliak to Immortyl Revolution!  If you ever wanted to know how vampires go about creating human servants, read on.  I'm sure you'll find this post very interesting.

Writing about a vampire is one thing, but to find something that will set your book apart from all these others is another thing. I wanted my book to be different in that it went a step further into the whole "vampire" genre, a little darker, more mysterious. So, I thought what better way than that of markings.


A master Vampire when he so wishes or desires can make a human his servant and the neat thing about this is that he doesn't need to be present to do so which makes it even more dark and chilling. The reason for making a human his servant is that it increases his power and when all marks are received this person are the ears, eyes, hands and voice of his master. He and the human become as one, very in tune with each other.


It's all very magical, the only time that the vampire ever needs to be present to make a mark is during the third mark where the Vampire takes blood from the human and shares his memories and vice a versa. By now they are more connected through their minds. Things are shared like emotions, memories, thoughts.


It isn't until the 4th mark that they become as one and like a wedding almost that he speaks..."blood of my blood, flesh of my flesh, two minds one body, two souls wedded together as one..." or something of that nature.
Sort of makes you tear a bit...no? If you like to read more about this in detail, I recommend you visit this site,

http://anitablake.wikia.com/wiki/Human_Servant
In my novel, Birthright, Candra Rosewood returns to Utica she's already missed her parent’s funeral and everything she thought about her family turns out to be a lie.

When Kane turns up unannounced on her doorstep, Candra, fights her strange need for him. Is he somehow involved in her parents’ death? Is the mysterious Mr. Bennet a friend or foe, and can she trust him when he says she's descended from powerful vampires.

Birthright is a novel that opens the door on family secrets. Both Kane and Candra are locked into a shared past neither of them can escape. Evil is everywhere waiting to pounce. Candra must decide who is a friend and find out what her birthright really is.

When everything in your life is lost, whom can you trust and who will be there to pick up the pieces and help you put them back together, family or a stranger.


You can purchase Birthright in eBook format or now in paperback at:


http://ebookundead.com/birthright-by-sue-midliak/

You can follow Sue at these links:

Sue's Blog: http://theunbeatenheart.blogspot.com/

Booktown

A very big thanks to Sue for joining me today!

Prize Winner

A. Jacob Sweeny has announced the winner of her contest for a Pulse of Heroes magnet.  Congratulations to Tich! Thanks to all who commented!

Contest Winner Betty Gordon

Betty Gordon was the winner of T. W. Fendley's Giveaway of Dreamspell Sci Fi volume 1.  Congratulations to Betty and thanks to everyone who commented!