Monday, October 24, 2011

91 Odd socks... Inspiring...

I was introduced to this blog by someone very close to me, who suffers from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and at this time is battling through a relapse.
This blog is written by a young girl who suffers from a chronic illness, I have a feeling it is the same one.
When people ask what inspired the Chronicles of Caleath, they are often surprised to realise Caleath's adventures stemmed from watching a young adult watch their life change dramatically and irrevocably because of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
So I am sharing the link to 91 Odd Socks...
An inspiring blog that gives us an insight into the courage and strength needed to face life with a chronic illness.
Well worth a visit.

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Kat Holmes talks about Heart of the Queen



Welcome  to my blog Kat. Thanks for being here today. You are celebrating the release of the next book in your ‘hot’ Gods at Work series. "Heart of the Queen". Congratulations. Can you give us a quick overview of the series. 

It is my pleasure to be here today. My Gods series means a lot to me. I have such a love and obsession with Greek mythology. Ever since I read my first Greek myth I have been hooked.

The series itself came about because of the banking crisis. People were losing their jobs left and right and had less money to spend on luxuries. I started to ask myself, what if this had a cascade effect on the Gods. What if, because people were broke, they no longer left great gifts for the Gods and they were broke? How would they react to being broke and being forced to come down here to earth and work? Thus the series was born.

What a great idea for a series. Wouldn't we love to see how the gods would cope with working for a living. Love it already.
Other than ‘author’ what are three words you would use to describe yourself?
Interesting question. :)  I suppose I’d say daughter, dreamer and reader.

Do they influence you as a writer? Or the genre you write?
I think everything influences me as a writer. Much of me, much of my life is in my books. I don’t think we authors of fiction are able to avoid putting much of ourselves into our characters and their dilemmas.

What is it about your chosen genre/s that fires up your muse?
I don’t really have a chosen genre. I flit from many. Paranormal, fantasy, contemporary, you name it. My muse has a mind of her own and she decides what she’s gonna do. I’m just along for the ride.

Do you have a regime when writing? A special place, time, mood or do you snatch opportunities to pen ideas or write a few lines? 
Not really. When I’m writing I do prefer to do it early when I’m fresh, but I write when my muse makes me write. There are times late at night when I’m sleeping my muse will force me to wake up and write.

Does your Muse follow rules and plot lines or does she offer ideas on a whim?
Oh whim without a doubt. Even if I think I know where a story is going, she’ll make a 180 degree turn on me and surprise me. And quite often her turns are right and just what the story needed.

What are the most dramatic changes you have made to a story you have written? What prompted the change?
I had to change a title because it was published elsewhere.

Has there been one event in your life that changed/inspired your writing career? For example, meeting an author, finding a publisher, joining a critique group?
I met N.J. Walters, an extremely talented author who became a good friend. She encouraged me to try submitting my own work. I credit being published at all to her encouragement.

Would you like to tell us about the main character of this latest book and/or the villain? Or would you like to share an excerpt? Either or both… we are keen to learn more about the story and see what the gods get up to....
This story is definitely for adults. It’s an erotica story dealing with a ménage. My main characters are Hera, queen of the gods and two human men named James and Noah. The title is Heart Of The Queen and it is out now.

Who is publishing your story?
Muse It Up Publishing’s hotter side, Muse It Hot.

Where can we get this book? 

How can we follow your career?
I’m on twitter and facebook under my own name. And I have a blog, a website and a Blog Talk Radio show.

Kat, Thanks for participating.
Thank you so much for having me Rosalie. I loved being here. :)

Friday, October 21, 2011

Rock Crazy... talking to Rochelle Weber...

Welcome to my blog Rochelle. Thanks for being here today. Rock Crazy has been released through Museitup Publishing. This is the tag line. Abandoned, pregnant and bi-polar, Katie McGowan’s going crazy on that God-forsaken rock, the Moon! Now that’s a tag line you can’t ignore.
I have come across the heartache being bi polar can cause. Seen how some have dealt with it, shared the tragedy. I look forward to reading Rock Crazy to see how Katie handles her situation.

Right, this is about you, Rochelle and your career as a writer, rather than Katie’s adventure. So, other than ‘author’ what are three words you would use to describe yourself? 
RW:  Grandma, bi-polar and recently, thin!

Great words, Rochelle. Congartulations on the THIN one.. I wish I could claim that too. Grandma.. I cherish that title too. Sort of glad I skip the middle one! Do these words  influence you as a writer? Or the genre you write?
RW:  Obviously, being bi-polar had a large influence on Rock Crazy, as the dedication to the psychiatric professionals indicates.  Everyone tells us to, “Write what you know.”  I asked one of my professors how you do that and still write fiction and he said, “Write it the way you wish it was.”  So, I guess I could say my heroines are me the way I wish I’d been when I was younger and my heroes are the kind of men I wish I’d had in my life.

What is it about your Science fiction that fires up your muse?
RW:  I turned my nose up at Sci-Fi when I was younger.  I didn’t think it was “real writing” like romance.  Then my husband, who was a submarine sailor, brought home a sci-fi book he insisted I’d like.  It was really goods I looked for more books by Robert A. Heinlein and found Stranger in a Strange Land.  I was hooked.  There was such a thing as very well-written sci-fi.  If you read a genre enough, that’s what you end up writing, although there were many years that I avoided writing sci-fi because most of the sci-if authors I admire were scientists who wrote and I’m a writer whose geometry teacher suggested I take sewing.  Since math is the language of science, I never progressed much farther in either.  I would probably have worked harder in geometry if someone had explained that to me.  By the way...like my suit?  I sewed it myself.

What inspired your story?
RW:  In college the book I worked on was a romance in which I worked out the angst of my divorce.  The first three years of my marriage we lived in Hawaii (which is where I got out of the Navy), five thousand miles from home.   

While we were there I had both of my children and buried both of my parents.  It was at best a nine-hour flight with an hour stopover on the west coast and a four or five hour time difference depending on the time of year.  And my husband was at sea more than he was home. 

  Even when he wasn’t on six-month long Western Pacific cruises, he was on weekly operations, leaving on Monday, coming home on Friday and then having duty on Saturday or Sunday half the time.  I called it “that God-forsaken rock,” and kissed the ground when I got back to the Mainland.  
 Much of my life I’ve felt isolated and when my marriage ended, my ex was working outages at nuclear power plants around the country.  He dumped in a town I’d never heard of 750 miles from home because he couldn’t take my mood swings anymore.  I wasn’t diagnosed yet.  I gave up custody of my children because I threw horrible tantrums and I was afraid of hurting them.

Eventually I was diagnosed and went on meds.  I was fine until menopause.  Then my hormones got scrambled, my meds stopped working, I got more and more violent, and I ended up on the locked ward at the Veteran’s Hospital.  I dusted off that old manuscript from college, made Katie bi-polar and pregnant and moved it from upstate New York to the Moon where she could get a chip implanted in her head and cure her disease.  I also changed the hormone imbalance from menopause to pregnancy.

Do you have a regime when writing? A special place, time, mood or do you snatch opportunities to pen ideas or write a few lines?
RW:  I live with my daughter and my room started life as an attached garage, became a family room in the seventies, and a sick room for the landlord’s mother in the eighties.  I’ve divided my bed area from my living/work area with bookcases.  I have my computer on a desk and that’s pretty much where I work.  I usually look at e-mail for about an hour, but I’m trying change that and write first, so I don’t get “sucked into the [internet] vortex,” as I call it.  I usually try to spend a couple of hours on a WIP, then write a book review if I’m behind on those, and then read—unless my granddaughter gets home from school and needs a ride somewhere.  Pretty much once I leave the house I’m done.  I never quite make it back to work.

Does your Muse follow rules and plot lines or does she offer ideas on a whim?
RW:  I’m a pantser.  I usually have an idea of a tag line so I have a beginning and an end, but the middle is fairly non-existent until it comes out of my fingers.

Me too...that's exactly how my muse works too.

What are the most dramatic changes you have made to a story you have written? What prompted the change?
RW:  I guess I mostly answered that above.  Although, I decided to write a paragraph or two of back-story about some of the first-wavers on the Moon and they kind of took over and became a whole other book which I published first.  That book is Rock Bound.

Has there been one event in your life that changed/inspired your writing career? For example, meeting an author, finding a publisher, joining a critique group?
RW:  I’ve been writing pretty much my whole life, but I never thought of it as a career.  I wanted to be a nurse, but I didn’t make it through nursing school.  They said I was too immature.  I left school the day before my eighteenth birthday. 
It took me two more years of menial jobs to climb out of my hole and join the Navy in hopes that by using the GI Bill I’d be able to go back to nursing school someday.  After two years of being the klutz on the ward, I realized I really was not the best fit for nursing and anyway, I didn’t want to be up to my elbows in bodily fluids, nor did I want to work rotating shifts. 
I thought working in a doctor’s office would be a good idea.  Unfortunately, they didn’t care that I could suction out a tracheotomy, insert a naso-gastric tube, catheterize a patient or assist with an IV cut-down (minor surgery).  They wanted to know how fast I typed, and if I knew bookkeeping.  So I went to secretarial.

Coming out of secretarial school, the docs’ offices all wanted to know if I had experience with insurance forms.  I was extremely frustrated when the school called and asked if I wanted to interview for a job at a radio station.  So…I ended up working at National Public Radio affiliate in Charleston, South Carolina the first year of the Spoleto Festival.  And I had a press pass!  No one worked much the week after the Festival and I was writing a letter to my mother-in-law which I showed to Marcia Byars-Warnock, one of our producers.  I wanted to be sure I had my facts straight.
  She read it and said, “Rochelle!  You can write!  I feel like I’m there!”  Marcia became my mentor, encouraging me to write scripts and press releases for the station.  She published a newspaper for stamp collectors and encouraged me to write for her.  I took over a local newspaper column for our church and started college with an eye toward either journalism or writing.

Would you like to tell us about Katie and her problems? Would share an excerpt? Either or both… we are keen to learn more about the story.
RW:  Sure.  Here’s the back-cover blurb and an excerpt.
Katie McGowan is bi-polar, and she’s run the gamut of medications, but nothing works anymore.  Everyone says her she should have a microchip implanted in her brain that can regulate her mood swings.  But Katie doesn’t want to be a robot.  In a tough love move, her husband, Scott takes her to the Moon—and dumps her. Katie’s stuck on that God-forsaken “rock,” and thinks she’s space sick. But she’s wrong; she’s pregnant. Now the surgery’s too dangerous and she has to go off her meds until the baby’s born.

Scott’s elated that he’s going to be a father and assumes Katie will take him back.  He has no clue how badly he’s hurt her, how thoroughly he’s broken her trust—or that he may not get her back at all.

EXCERPT:
Excerpt 2  The Break-Up
Rockton, Inside Mt. Aragaeus 19° N 29° E, the Moon
February, 2066
She rarely ventured out of their small apartment. Rockton was the first colony on the Moon, and it was settled by convicts. Oh, Katie knew that most of the first wave were political prisoners of the Freezeland administration, but how could she know there weren’t murderers and rapists there, too? Of course Rockton had a low crime rate.  But Katie wondered how accurate that was.  After all, the people keeping track of the crimes were criminals themselves.  She wanted nothing to do with them.
The day before her period she had an F-5. [Note:  Katie rates her tantrums on the same scale as tornadoes.] Their credit statement arrived. Even Katie couldn’t believe how much money she’d spent traveling before they left Earth.  Scott came home and checked the terminal for mail.
“What the hell is this?” he asked.
“What?”
“The credit statement, that’s what.”
“I said good-bye to a few friends before we left.”
“Said goodbye to a few friends! These’re flight charges!”
“Well, I had to see everybody one last time.”
“You could have seen them on holo.”
“I needed hugs.”
“Thousand-credit hugs? In the space of a month you spent more than I make a quarter!”
“I didn’t ask to come up here!”  Katie’s voice was rising.
“I couldn’t leave you Earthside!”
“No, not without a baby-sitter!  I’m a grown woman!  I can take care of myself!  And if you’d just leave me alone…”
Katie lost it.  She started screaming, and she tried to pummel Scott. And this time when they ended up on the floor she landed on top of him and managed to connect with his face.
“I knew you’d kill ‘im,” her mother said.
“Leave me alone!” Katie screamed.
This is really not good, Katie. The Voice chimed in. You’re going to hurt Scott.
“F*** you!”
You’ll end up in jail.  No one in our family ever acted this way, her mother said.
“Get the hell out of my sight, you f***ing bitch!”
Katie didn’t know how long it went on.
* * * *
Scott managed to grab her hands and they rolled over.  He pinned her as best he could in the light gravity.  His face was swollen and there was pounding on the door, which finally dilated.  The manager stood there in shock, and two men in uniforms pulled her him off of her.
“What’s going on here?” the first officer asked.  He was average height and weight, and didn’t look as though he could subdue anyone, but Rockton cops wore belts with weights—which gave them an advantage in the low gravity.
“My wife’s bi-polar,” Scott explained, as Katie burst into tears.
“I’m sorrrrreeeee!” she wailed.
“Oh! Came up for the surgery, did you?” the other officer asked.
“No!…I d-don’t wanna b-be a z-zombie,” Katie said, as she managed to hiccup between sobs.
The officers looked at them.  Katie had bruises forming on her arms, Scott could feel blood running down his face from a gash near his left eye, which was jut about swollen shut.
“D’ya wanna press charges, Mr…”
“McGowan,” Scott answered.  “Scott McGowan.”
Katie sat on the bed crying, and he glanced at her, then shook his head.
“No.  It’s over, now.  She’s not dangerous anymore.”
“Well, she better get some kind of help,” the first cop warned.  “We don’t tolerate violence up here.” He turned toward Katie.  “We’ll give ya a warning this time, but next time we’ll have to take you in.”
“Let’s get you down to the hospital, Mr. McGowan,” the second cop suggested.  You don’t wanna lose sight in that eye.”
“We’ll get someone in here to keep an eye on your wife.”
“No,” Scott said.  He sighed, then looked at her, still sobbing on the bed. “She has a sedative for times like these.”
He got the sedative out and injected it, then the officers helped him settle Katie back into the bed. She was still crying, and wailed one more fading “I’m sorrrrreeeee!” as she fell asleep. The cops led Scott out.
“How long will that keep her out?” the cop asked.
“She’ll sleep at least a day, maybe two or three.”
* * * *
Katie awoke the next day.  Scott sat at the table with his duffle bag.  He wore an eye-patch, and he looked grim.
“What’re ya doing?” she asked.
“We’ve been evicted,” he said.
“What?  Why?”
“Why d’ya think?  Because of you.”
His voice was flat, mechanical.  Katie was almost more afraid of his lack of anger, than she would have been if he’d actually yelled at her.  But then, maybe he felt they’d done enough yelling for one day.
“Did you pack my stuff?” Katie was sitting up now and she noticed he only had one bag by his feet.
“You have a week to find another place,” he replied.
“What d’ya mean I have a week? You’ve found us a place to live, haven’t you?”
“I’m moving into the men’s barracks.  It’s in my contract that they have to give me a place to stay while I’m working up here.”  He didn’t look at her when he said this.
“So that’s it?  We’re over?”
“I can’t take it anymore, Katie.  And yes, thank you very much for asking—I have not lost the sight in my left eye.  It’ll heal eventually.”
“Scott, I’m sorry…”
“But not sorry enough to have the surgery, are you?”
“I don’t wanna be a zombie, Scott.  There was a woman in the hospital last time I was there… Or was it two times ago?  Anyway, she’d had the chip implanted, but something went wrong and she’ll be in the hospital the rest of her life.  She can’t even feed herself.  They were getting ready to move her to a nursing home.”
She started crying again.
“Scott, I love you!  Please don’t leave me!  What’ll I do without you?”
“Our contract says I have to give you thirty days’ notice.  Well, this is it.  I’ll support you for thirty days.  Then you’re on your own.”


Who is publishing your story?
MuseItUp Publishing, Inc.
Where can we get this book? http://tinyurl.com/museituprockcrazy
How can we follow your career?

Rochelle, thanks for participating.
Thank you for hosting me, Lady Rosalie!  I’ve greatly appreciated it.

Thanks for being here Rochelle,please make yourself at home. We have plenty of gluten, sugar and dairy free nibbles, cucumber sandwiches on gluten free bread, comfy chairs and hot coffee, tea or something stronger. 

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

A confession from the author of Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator.

KARINA FABIAN: I have a confession to make.  I am not a big fan of zombies.
Yes, I did write Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator, and I do sport t-shirts that say "Napalm sticks to zombies" and "I (grenade) zombies."  But that's about the extent of my fandom.
So what possessed me to write a zombie novel?  Simple, I was asked.  I actually put it off for awhile, too, but a couple of lovely friends kept at me--first to write a zombie story for The Zombie Cookbook, then to write a zombie novel for Damnation Books.

  Both turned out to be great fun and are doing well, plus I learned a few things that have helped me in writing other books.  Overall, it's been a great experience, even if I still don't much care for zombies.  I definitely recommend to authors that if someone challenges you to venture into a topic you're not especially fond of, keep an open mind and try it out.  You might surprise yourself.
I don't much care for zombie stories or movies because it's pretty much about the hack-and-slash, which isn't especially interesting to me.  Or the book takes another angle and makes zombies the new "misunderstood" species, like sparkly vampires.  Not my style, unless I'm going to parody, as I did in "My Big, Fat Zombie Wedding." (The Zombie Cookbook:  http://amzn.to/qfdtiK)  So I wanted to keep the zombies the usual shambling undead while doing something that would entertain me.
"Wokking Dead" really was intended to be a pun fest involving zombies.  I had a cynical exterminator taking out an infestation of zombies in a Korean restaurant.  However, Neeta stole the show with her wit and style and chainsaw, so the publisher asked me to write a book.
Piers Anthony has already done the novel-sized pun fest, so I needed to develop the world and give Neeta a more interesting challenge than just hacking off heads.  So I thought hard about how the world would react to a real zombie threat.  First off, we wouldn't run around like ninnies.
We'd fight, and not just with shotguns.  Napalm sticks to zombies.  We'd also find a way to stop the contagion, or prevent the zombies from digging their way out.
Spine severing laws cover that for my world.  And, since America loves nothing more than an underdog, unless it's entertainment, there would be zombie rights groups and television shows.  Toss in some academia and politics, and I had a terrific playground for Neeta's stories.
Do I still dislike zombies?  Of themselves, they aren't especially interesting to me, though I did finally watch Zombieland and thought it good for a few chuckles.  However, I found a way to work something I didn't enjoy into other things that I did--satire, irony, political commentary, and some terrific characters who are doing a horrific job.  As long as I like that, I'll keep writing zombie books.

Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator
The Zombie Apocalypse Meets Reality TV!


By the 2040s, the shambling dead have become and international problem.
While governments and special interest groups vie for the most environmentally-friendly way to rid the world of zombies, a new breed of exterminator has risen: The Zombie Exterminator.

When zombie exterminator Neeta Lyffe gets sued because a zombie she set afire stumbles onto a lawyer's back porch, she needs money, fast. 
So she agrees to train apprentice exterminators in a reality TV show that makes Survivor look like a game of tag.
But that's nothing compared to having to deal with crazy directors, bickering contestants and paparazzi.
Can she keep her ratings up, her bills paid and her apprentices alive and still keep her sanity?


Video Trailer Embed code:
Video Trailer YouTube link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8798Iyubocw
Sale links:
From Amazon:  KINDLE:
Print:

Byline: The Zombie Apocalypse Meets Reality TV!



Excerpt:

The workout room had a weights set and an elliptical in one corner, but Neeta ignored them. She needed more vigorous exercise than that if she wanted to burn off her emotional funk.
None of the plebes had done the routine she'd just set for herself. It didn't really reflect the reality of zombie movements, either. Although the crew had designed the targets to look much like actual undead, they moved too quickly, changed direction too suddenly, lunged and retreated in ways zombies couldn't imitate. They zigged and zaggged, dropped from the ceiling to zoom back up, flung themselves from the ground to trip the unwary. For once, this wasn't about training. 
Neeta steeled herself, found an opening and dove in with a roar. She swung high, tagging the first zombie with the edge of her blade just as it got within her reach.
This was about reflexes,
She jumped over the arm that sprung up in front of her, doing the splits as she brought down her chainsaw to slice the hand off at the wrist.
 …about burning aggression,
She spun a full circle, moving the saw in a sine wave. She took one target out at the knees, sliced another sideways across the chest, beheaded a third.
 …about moving beyond thought and planning and negotiations with writers and directors and people who cared more for ratings than lives,
She lunged, spun, kicked and swung, her battle cries a perfect accompaniment to the pounding music. 
A buzzer sounded, and the lights brightened and steadied. The targets stopped their frenetic motions and presented themselves for her to examine. She dropped the saw where she stood and braced her hands against her knees to catch her breath. Her arms felt like lead. A good feeling. She moved among the grimacing targets, noting the strikes that would have severed limbs, the ones that would have beheaded... 

When she came to the long-haired one with the pot belly, she gave a feral grin.
She's landed the blade in perfect position to slice Dave's manic smile right off his face.

Author Bio: From zombie exterminators to dragon detectives to nuns in space, Karina Fabian's universes make readers laugh, cry and think. Winner of the 2007 EPPIE Award for best sci-fi and the 2010 INDIE Award for best fantasy, she lets her characters take her where they will and is never disappointed. Karina Fabian is married to Colonel Robert Fabian. They and their four kids call home wherever the Air Force sends them. Learn more at www.fabianspace.com

Tour Schedule
17-Oct


info
17-Oct


Interview for Frightliner & Neeta Lyffe
18-Oct

http://rryalsrussell.com/blog/

guest post
18-Oct


Why I wrote a Zombie Book when I Don’t Like Zombies
19-Oct


guest post
20-Oct


how to put on zombie make-up
21-Oct


review
24-Oct

www.fabianspace.com

roscoe's workout
26-Oct


interview
26-Oct


guest post
29-Oct


podcast
30-Oct


review, guest post
31-Oct


reviews

Reviewer comments:
"At long last, a zombie book with some life in it!" humorist Walt Staples

From zombie exterminators to dragon detectives to nuns in space, Karina Fabian likes to create stories that make readers laugh, cry and think. 
She enjoys her more mundane adventures as wife to Col. 
Rob Fabian, USAF and mother of four.


Title: Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator
Author: Karina Fabian
Category: horror, humor, science fiction
ISBN-13: 978-1-61572-273-0 (print) 978-1-61572-272-3 (e-book)
Format: Trade paperback, e-book
Publication Date: December 1, 2010
Pages: 246
Price: $19.00 US/Canada, $14.38 EUR, $12.18 GBP (print) $5.95 (e-book)
Available from: Damnation Books, www.damnationbooks.com
More Info: www.fabianspace.com



Order the Zombie Cookbook directly from Baker & Taylor, Ingram, or the publisher, Damnation Books, P.O. Box 3931, Santa Rosa, CA 95402-9998; or via the Internet at http://www.damnationbooks.com. Also on www.amazon.com and www.fictionwise.com.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Frightliners... if you dare.

FRIGHTLINER & Other Tales of the Undead
By Colleen Drippe and Karina Fabian


Horror on the Highway
When Jay Carlson has a run in with a strange, dark truck on a lonely road, his life goes south.
He sees things that others don't see. He learns things he wishes he could forget, and he is drawn into an ancient battle he wouldn't have believed in even a day in the past.
This time, even country music and the open road can't save him. Join authors Colleen Drippe' and Karina Fabian as they take you to the darkest places on the road. 
Also includes two extra stories and an excerpt from the novel Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator by Karina Fabian, 
 available from DAMNATION BOOKS.



Frightliner: And Other Tales of the Undead
By Colleen Drippe and Karina Fabian
Tag line:  Evil sits behind the wheel.

Short Synopsis :  A truck-driving vampire terrorizes Interstate 10 in New Mexico and Texas. When he targets trucker Jay Carlson, Jay finds himself unwillingly teaming up with an illegal alien and a tough-talking custodian--both of whom claim to be vampire hunters.  However, they are injured in the fight, and Jay will have to conquer his disbelief and destroy the vampire himself before it kills them all.

Marketing Synopsis: All Jay Carlson wants is to get his load delivered on-time, and the mysterious murder on a lone stretch of I-10 is just a slow-down.  Things get freaky as a stranger suggests the murderer is a truck driver—and Jay has seen the truck.  Thus starts a game of cat and mouse as the mysterious truck stalks him on his route.  No one else seems to see his phantom pursuer except for two unlikely allies:  a custodian claiming to be a vampire hunter, and an illegal alien who trusts his faith to defeat the monster.  When the truck-driving vampire traps them in an abandoned church and his only defenders are injured in the fight, Jay must swallow his own disbelief and destroy the vampire himself before he kills them all.


Bios:
* Karina Fabian:  Karina Fabian writes fantasy and science fiction, with the occasional foray into the world of horror.  Her first novel, Magic, Mensa and Mayhem, the 2010 INDIE Award for best fantasy.   Her latest book, the comedic horror, Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator, was a top ten in the Preditor and Editor reader’s polls and winner of the Global E-Book Award for best horror.  Learn more about her works at http://fabianspace.com.










* Colleen Drippe:  Colleen Drippe has been writing since age 6 and has had a lot of science fiction, a moderate amount of horror and fantasy, and assorted nonfiction scattered throughout the small press and online.  She also writes for children and has had three children's books published so far (The Little Blue House, Christmas at the Little Blue House, and Mystery at Miners’ Creek) and another one (Growing with the Little Blue House) due out any day.  She has had one sf book published (Godcountry) and another (Gelen!) coming out this year.  She is the former editor of Hereditas (of happy memory but dried up funding) and is currently working on another sf book along with various other projects.

Excerpt:
Of course that was why he had not come out to check on her, she thought with a surge of relief. He probably thought it was an abandoned car. But now--she stepped out onto the gravel, hearing for the first time how loud the crickets sang. She smelled the strong scent of the cooling air. Too early for snow. Too warm, still anyway, though she cursed herself for not thinking to put on jeans before making her big exit. She peered at the cab, but nothing moved.
“Hello!” she called, moving closer. She could not make out a logo on the truck. It was dark, dark paint. She had an impression that the shape was--not wrong exactly, but not usual. It was an older model, she decided. An old truck.
She had reached the door.
“Anyone there?” she called, hesitating to step up and look inside. What if something had happened to the driver? What if he were dead? What if she opened the door and a body spilled out onto the road?
But that was silly. He had just pulled up. Probably he was rummaging around in his berth for some tools.
But what if he was dead? What if she took hold of the door and--and what if he was right there, watching her?
She had almost decided to go back to her own car. But the thought of the semi parked behind her, silently cutting its chunk from the sky, was in some strange way even more frightening than opening the door. She reached up for the handle and pulled herself up level with the window.
The handle turned in her hand.
It was then she knew she had done the wrong thing. If only someone else had come--she prayed for someone else. A cop. Even a car full of good old boys. Anyone.
The crickets fairly screamed their shrill and mindless song, the scent of the Russian knapweed was overpowering. But it wasn’t strong enough to hide another smell, a dark earthy smell. A smell of death mellowed by long usage.     
The door opened.
Reba froze, clutching the handle, balancing there with the driver’s seat in front of her. She tried to speak, to call, but nothing would come out. She hung there, thinking of death, while the night passed and the stars moved and the moon looked in over her shoulder. Finally, she climbed into the truck.
“Daniel,” she whimpered. She was ready to forgive the new pickup, but it was too late. Something moved in the back and she turned in the driver’s seat and saw a pale face, caught in the moonlight, eyes gleaming. She had an impression of lank hair, grizzled beard. And then two hands reached up to take her shoulders and she saw the mouth open.

Video trailer link: http://youtu.be/pEi6y0IuOlI
Video trailer code: 
Amazon link:  http://amzn.to/lJDL9b
Tour Schedule:
01-Oct


about collaboration
01-Oct


info
03-Oct

www.fabianspace.com

info
05-Oct


Colleen Drippe' interview
10-Oct

www.fabianspace.com

inspiration and song
11-Oct


back to basics
14-Oct


information
15-Oct


reviews
16-Oct


review
17-Oct


Interview for FRIGHTLINER & Neeta Lyffe
29-Oct


podcast






Review by Walt Staples:

There are touches reminiscent of some of Stephen King's better efforts without actual aping his style. 
The protagonist is everyman, the people he meets are everyone, his allies are mortal, and the Evil is ancient. 
"The Lobby," by Colleen Drippe', is an understated and elegant little tale of a night at the movies.
The unnamed protagonist comes across as having a touch of prissiness like that of H.P. Lovecraft the person, rather than the writer. Yet, in Drippe's hands, it becomes endearing…
In Fabian's "Accidental Undeath," the question comes down to whether eternal life (with the possibility of eternal damnation) is a proper substitute for accident scene emergency medical treatment.
This is horror in three courses--well done.


Title: FRIGHTLINER & Other Tales of the Undead
Author: Colleen Drippe and Karina Fabian
Category: Horror
ASIN: B00506U7WA
Format: Electronic
Publication Date: May 9, 2011
Price: $2.99 US
Available from: Crossroads Press, http://store.crossroadpress.com/
Available in Kindle and other electronic formats
For More Info: http://fabianspace.com

First Review for Exiled: Winter's Curse from Edith Parzefall

Check out Edith's blog here..   Edith Parzefall

Review: Rosalie Skinner – Exiled: Winter’s Curse

The second book in Caleath’s Chronicles is out now. I devoured it in no time. The story continues where Autumn’s Peril left off. Rosalie Skinner skillfully weaves in back story to fill in new readers and remind ‘old’ ones of what happened before while the new adventure unfolds–without a moment of boredom.

Her witty sense of irony brightens the dark cold atmosphere of this wintery challenge. While Caleath gets side-tracked and burdened with followers who depend on him, the danger of giant ants destroying the world he’s been stranded in keeps growing. New characters add conflict, tension, humor and charm. I’m still fascinated with the combination of of science fiction and an archaic world of mages, dragons, and semi-divine Vergöttern.

Find out more about Caleath’s Cronicles at Rosalie Skinner’s website or Wendy Laharnar’s Blog. She once again hosted the release party.


Thank you Edith!!!