Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

I heard Jessie J sing this on The Voice and just fell in love with it.

 

Happy Monday! What’s your Music Monday Pick?

 

Se

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”- The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupéry

Love this song.

Hope You Enjoy.

 

Se

I Do Stuff!

Hi, all! And thank you to Selena for the opportunity to take part in this fun blog marathon.

I decided to write about sidekicks, mostly because they’re some of my favorite secondaries to develop. Yes, villains are meaty and dangerous, and without a protagonist, there’s no hope for the world. But sidekicks… Ah, sidekicks bring great balance to a story because they can be the heart, humor, and a breath of welcome relief between all the moments of conflict and intensity.

Consider what the movie Aliens would have been without Hudson, the wisecracking, rude, panicky marine who falls under the command of Ripley. On one hand, we have those aliens—perfect killers—screeching around killing everyone. On the other, we’ve got a perfect heroine—a mainly straight-to-business placeholder for the audience as she uses brain and brawn to battle the enemy. Hudson straddles the middle of this movie, making the viewers laugh when we need to the most, and actually even acting just like most of us would if we were to find ourselves in the same horrific situation: slightly hysterical and flailing in utter disbelief. (“Why don’t you put HER in charge?”) Even though Ripley saves the world, Hudson is the one who saves the audience’s sanity and soothes their nerves with his outbursts and comic asides.
Now, I write an urban fantasy series called Vampire Babylon, and I have my own sidekicks who serve just as much of a purpose as Hudson did. During the course of six books, one novella, and most recently, a short story (see below for details), my sidekicks have not only helped my heroine, Dawn Madison, save the world—they’ve helped to save her sanity in a variety of ways.

First, there’s Breisi Montoya. We meet her in Night Rising (book one) as a lab nerd—a kick-ass one at that. She’s the logistical brains behind the vampire hunting team that sets out to conquer a Hollywood underground lair. She’s a woman of few words, but when she says them, they have some impact on Dawn, who’s been in sore need of a female mentor ever since her mother, a silver-screen legend, suffered a brutal and very public death years ago. Breisi is a soulful sidekick—an Obi-Wan Kenobi of sorts. Instead of humor, she cuts the tension by placing Dawn firmly back in reality just as she’s about to go off the edge.

Then there’s Kiko Daniels, the team’s psychic and resident cut-up. As a “little person” thespian, he tends to “ACT!” quite a bit during the underground hunts. However, Kiko is no mere comic relief. The guy can use a revolver and any number of vampire-hunting weapons, and he can interview a suspect like no one’s business. And as for his “ACTING!”? He’s pretty good at using that skill, too, when it’s time to thrown a suspect mentally off balance. In many ways, Kiko is the younger brother Dawn never had, and the two of them have a deep, easy, goofy relationship that Dawn has never found outside of this vamp hunting circle.

All in all, while finding tragedy in life, Dawn actually finds a family in this group, and that’s an important point about sidekicks, I think. We love them for what they contribute to our heroes (or villains)–we love them because they add something our bigger stars are missing.

But, most of all, we love them because, in all the craziness, they make us, the readers, feel better, as well.

March release: A Vampire Babylon short story in the horror anthology Those Who Fight Monsters. Chris’s entry is entitled “Soul Stains” and it takes place after the events of Deep in the Woods, Vampire Babylon, Book Six.
Dawn Madison, ex vampire hunter, has been lured out of retirement by the sighting of an old, presumed-dead Hollywood starlet in a decrepit Vegas showroom. But is this entity merely a ghost? Or is it one of the escaped, mortalized Hollywood Underground vampires Dawn vowed to wipe off the face of the earth, even at the threat of returning her own soul to darkness?

Author’s bio: Chris Marie Green is the author of the Vampire Babylon series, which includes Night Rising and A Drop of Red. In 2011, Ace will publish her new post-apocalyptic urban fantasy western noir Bloodlands series under the name Christine Cody. You can check in with her on Twitter (http://twitter.com/ChrisMarieGreen ), Facebook(http://www.facebook.com/people/Chris-Marie-Green/1051327765 ), MySpace (myspace.com/vampirebabylon), or her blog (http://crystal-green.blogspot.com/ ).

She also has a newsletter (http://www.vampirebabylon.com/lists/?p=subscribe ) and a web site at www.chrismariegreen.com .

 

Contest: Comment to be entered to win a signed copy of Book 6, Deep in the Woods in the Vampire Babylon series. Good Luck!

Romancing historical details

When I first researched for my historical romance A Soldier?s Vow, I discovered so many interesting facts about the French country during one of the most terrifying periods in their long history. The German army had easily invaded the Northern part of France and often bombarded Paris but never succeeded in penetrating the city?s walls. Nonetheless, the city had been hit in other different and equally devastating ways.

Blackouts, food shortages and influenza affected everyone. Through my research, I discovered many families could no longer afford to keep their children fed, therefore they sent the weakest members of their family to their relatives in the country or other safer places. In A Soldier?s Vow, I wanted to show how the heroine Winnie Douglas saw and lived what everyone?went through between 1914 and 1918 Paris. I also show how the war affected the women who stayed behind and waited for their husband, brother, cousin who joined the war effort.

The war also changed the soldiers who fought and saw firsthand the horrors and victories of war. Henry Whitfield, the hero in A Soldier?s Vow, had no idea what he would see and experience when he left his Canadian hometown. Many countries including Canada sent their strongest and bravest men overseas and fight an unknown enemy. They trained hard and fought even harder. Yet what waited for them in the trenches became their worst enemy. Rats, lice and other diseases caused the most terrible living conditions for every soldier on both sides.

Using such details in my book not only creates a setting but also brings the reader back to a time of turmoil, courage and undying love.

Get Jackie M. Smith?s book at XoXo Publishing: http://xoxopublishing.com/shop-online/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=17&products_id=53

Jackie?s links:

http://jackiemsmith.weebly.com/

http://jmsmithromanceauthor.blogspot.com/

http://www.dailymotion.com/JackieMSmith

http://www.scribd.com/jackie_mallet

http://twitter.com/JackieM_Smith

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jackiemsmithromanceauthor/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Montreal-QC/Jackie-M-Smith-Romance-author/234050636079

Mistress Cynnara Tregarth here! I’m taking over Selena’s blog this week to talk about BDSM. Okay, granted that Selena practically begged me to do a week about BDSM and I agreed…*looks at Selena* What? *sigh* Okay, basically, Selena is going away to AAD (Authors After Dark) conference and has lovingly left her blog in my care- on the condition we talk BDSM. Read the rest of this entry »

http://www.allromanceebooks.com/storeSearch.html?searchBy=author&qString=Selena+Illyria

Happy Shopping!

Se

Hi Everyone!

I hope to announce some contract news soon. *Grin*

As for NaNoWriMo, I managed to get 46k in word count, so I’m pretty happy about that. I made a lot of headway with two of my WIPs. One of them is close to being 60k, the most I’ve ever written. I’ll be deleting the NaNoWriMo page since it’s over. I hope if you’re an aspiring author or published author that you made the word count you wanted.

And now, here’s your first peek at some new promo that I just got:

These are mini tote bags. I hope to get more soon, I’m also trying to figure out a contest involving my book series. *Grin*

What do you think? Remember there is a poll still up for this subject on promo:

Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.

Also, I’ve registered for the Authors After Dark Convention which takes place in Sept. the 16th-19th in Secauscus, New Jersey. Will you be going?

Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.

I’m also trying to figure out a good contest for this month. I know it will involve chocolate.

Have a great week everyone!

Se

I still have that Drumming song playing in my head. LOL.

Over the weekend, instead of doing NaNo to up my word count I did revisions on what was formally called Blood Claim: Bound. I finished up the revisions and sent it in to my editor. *fingers crossed* Once everything is approved, I’ll let you know the new name for the book.

I have plans to up my word count this week. I really hope I can get back on the ball and do at least 20,000 words this week.

I’d like to thank everyone who’s voted so far in the promo poll. Please keep doing so, I need as many ideas as possible. I’m planning my bag for next years Author’s After Dark. Yeah, I know it’s not until next year but I want to be prepared.

You can find the poll in this post:

http://selenaillyria.com/2009/11/nano-is-stealing-my-brain-cells/

If you have any other options for promo, please comment.

I’m also thinking of what to do for a Christmas Contest? A DVD giveaway of my fav series? For my birthday I gave away a copy of the first season of Chuck, maybe this year I should do Supernatural? What do you think? Or maybe Battlestar Galatica the update. So many ideas and only a month to think about it.

Now for some news or rather an update. If you’ve tried to click on the buy link ?for either Trapped or Blood Claim: Prelude you may have encountered problems. Loose-Id is currently working on the problem. I have updated the links and hopefully the links will be working properly soon.

I just want to say a big?Thank You for your patience and support. It means a great deal to me that you buy and read my work. Thank You!

Se