February 22, 2015

Sunday Book Review: The Monster's Corner

  Great Morning my loyal readers! I was hoping to wake up to find that, miraculously! Spring had broken this spell of extreme cold and snow drifts that we're stuck in, but alas. No go. Dammit.
  Alright, I'll stop bitching about the weather. Instead, let's focus on this collection of short stories that I finished a few minutes ago. If you're an Instagram follower (@kellyrwrites) you saw that I put the cover up a few days ago.
Monster's Corner is a collection of short stories from a list of great authors, including Kelley Armstrong, David Liss, Gary A. Braunbeck, and Sarah Pinborough. 
  I've never been much of a short story reader, I usually avoid them. I'm not sure why, I think I read some boring collection back in the day and it turned me off. This one had such a disturbing cover that I gave it a shot. I mean, come on, how could anyone not peek inside of something that looks like that? 
  This collection was awesome and just disturbing enough. The very first story, "The Awkward Age", by David Liss, peeked my interest, as it danced on the line between what's appropriate and taboo in a "friendship" between a married man and an underage girl. Yeah. That's what I was thinking too. Don't worry, it ends super gory and the age difference is thrown to the side in light of the disgusting habits of the main character. 
   There are all sorts of bizarre twists in this collection, and many a bloody, dissected body part gets gnawed on. Creatures from your childhood horror stories are given new life and their true origins are explained better than you've ever read. 
  I don't even know if I have a favorite, as so many of the stories were so amazing and original and well-written. There was so much gore and blood, and demented children, and bad people that it made my head spin. It was awesome! 
  Go and get your copy today. As you can see, I borrowed this one from my local library, but I suspect I will have to buy a copy and add it to my personal library. It's just so juicy and gross. 
  K 

February 15, 2015

Muddle Writing

  This has been a lazy weekend. The weather is shit, with sub zero temps and plenty of snow. You know, the kind of weather that makes you want to curl up in bed and not leave it for three more months. Good ole upstate NY. 
  The lover and I went outside very briefly to brush the snow off our cars and to shovel a path from our back door to the front. (Even though it's unlikely that we will ever need a second escape route, I feel better if we are able to exit through the back. Just in case.) And holy shit, it was nasty out there.I wish it was a bit warmer out, because I would have totally made an awesome snow fort. 
   However, with the shit weather outside, it should make for great writing weather. I expected to have a great writing day, but I've been muddling through it. I have finished the first couple of scenes that already were played out in my head, so now I'm trying to figure out the next bunch of scenes.
   I'm going to go take a break and make a salad. 
 K 

February 13, 2015

Friday Morning .....

....Is like the day after a long, hard battle. There are the casualties of the week all around you- dishes & dirty clothes piled up, the litter box needs emptying, my mind needs emptying.....and just a few more hours of struggle before the weekend begins & you can clean things up. 
  Ok, a bit of an exaggeration. My house doesn't get that dirty. But it feels like it gets super disorganized and messy. 
  I love the weekends. After so many years of not having the whole weekend, every weekend for leisure it's still a novelty. 
  This week was killer. Both personal and work-wise. But it's almost over 😎 and it will be spring....eventually. 
Hope your Friday goes Fabulously! 
  Live & Light, 
  

February 10, 2015

Let Me Tell You A Story....

Getting this new book cover made me think back over as to how I first came up with the idea for this book. 
  I know I've touched on this in previous entries, but the first vampire-thing-a bit before that Twilight crap- that got my engines revving was the first Underworld movie.
  There. The seed planted. 
The next thing was a memory that surfaced of the pre-teen series The Animorphs. Remember that series? The kids that could transform into a certain animal? 
And the final bit that slid into place: the trilogy The Golden Compass. I LOVED that goddamned series! That was an awesome escape as a kid. 

Calissa and Kaellina Dorr are twin sisters who are at odds from day 1. They are Morgins, born to human parents. Meaning, that Calissa came out with a peregrin falcon chic, and Kaellina came out with a black panther cub. Yeah, that's right-Came out with. Morgins have a long history, and only show up when chaos is about to kick off. Morgins usually only come one person at a time....what do you think twins signify?
 They both get mixed up with some bad ass vampires shortly after their 19th birthday, and yadda yadda, there's going to be a second book.
How do you like that?
 Pick up your copy of Broken Bloodlines, Book 1: The Awakening here.
K