Happy Halloween!

(who vows to help Sophie break into Blogger before her post next month)

*** Contest is over and the winner is: Jolene Alcock and Family ***

Oooh, Scary

How many of you are like me right now? Full of excitement and awe during this time of year? I don’t think there is any better time to be an avid paranormal writer/reader/film goer!

This is the time of year when it’s expected to let ourselves wander strange and creepy paths. Not only can we dress up as our favorite paranormal creature (cough … dragon), we can put tombstones in our yards, get our fill of creepy movies, listen to spooky music on the radio, and wear t-shirts with skulls on the front and not get a funny look! Right now I have two ghosts hanging from trees in front of my house, casting eerie shadows through the stained glass of my front door. LOVE!

I can promise the weekend will not pass without at least three horror movies. As far as reading goes, several books wait on my bedside table to satisfy my Halloween spirit. Vampire novels mostly, maybe even a zombie book or two.

The Prize

So what about you? What are your Halloween plans? And what do you think is the best paranormal creature to dress up as? I’m still all for the dragon. Just plop on a red wig, a pair of wings, play with your make-up and wamo! You have Jacinda!

In the spirit of Halloween, here’s a TREAT:

One commenter will win a signed copy of my paranormal YA debut, FIRELIGHT. Be sure to check back and see if you’ve won.

Again, Happy Halloween!
All best,
Sophie Jordan

Cover story

One of the most exciting and anticipated events in a writer's life is also one that requires almost no effort on her part. It's when her editor sends her that email with the following subject line: "Cover art attached."

In my case, the minimal effort required was when I provided a few suggestions, months ago, on the direction the artist (the wonderfully excellent Chris McGrath) might take for Children of Scarabaeus, the sequel to my debut novel, due out April 2011. In the first book, my protagonist Edie is a sheltered young woman who finds herself out of her depth. She is protected by - and in turn protects - an ex-con named Finn.

In book 2, Edie finds her footing. I suggested that she should be in a more "assertive" pose for this cover. More importantly, surely, I suggested that Finn should have a bigger gun. Voilà!

(He has two guns!)

Book covers on the shelves these days just get better and better, it seems to me. I would call many of them works of art. Thank the marketing departments of publishing houses for that, and of course the talented artists involved.

What are your favorite recent covers? How about old classics? Ever thought the book was going to be one thing because of the cover, and it turned out to be something else entirely? Or where the characters depicted were nothing like you imagined them after reading the book?

Reality Check: the Vampyre Subculture

     
The winner of the signed copy of Sacrifice is rachel445! Contact me via my website so I can get your mailing information.

So sorry to be late posting the winner of the giveaway! I had a computer crash and I'm still recovering.
                                              
It's hard to dodge the influence of vampires on pop culture today, with Twilight, Vampire Diaries, True Blood, and a plethora (always wanted to use that word) of vampire books on the market. All of these focus on supernatural vampires, creatures I'll assume don't actually exist. (Aw ...) I'd like to talk about lifestyle vampires, humans who model themselves after supernatural vampires because it fulfills some need of theirs. Many in this subculture call themselves vampyres to distinguish themselves from the supernatural variety.

Vampyres don't just belong to clubs that meet every Saturday night to discuss the latest True Blood episode. They incorporate their chosen lifestyle into everything they do, including forming extended "families"--clans-- that may come to mean more to them than their real families, who don't understand their urges. It isn't play. It's serious business. Generally vampyres look at the dark side of life, like Goths, and share other characteristics of Gothic appearance: black-lined eyes, blood-red lips, Victorian-style clothing, black fingernails, and frequently white-as-chalk faces, implying their need for blood and deep familiarity with the night. As I understand it, the Goths don't like their appearance being co-opted by vampyres, but there's little they can do beyond make an occasional fuss.

In addition to shared needs to belong (are the clans really a variant of gangs?), the vampyres believe they have things in common with the supernatural vampires, such as the need to draw life energy from others in the form of blood, sexual energy, or psychic energy. Also, those who have some form of minor or major mental illness, ranging from lack of lack of ability to deal with other people to schizophrenia sometimes feel these aren't flaws at all, but due entirely to their vampyrism. It's easy to see why this lifestyle can draw people who are uncertain about their own identities. There are thought to be about 10,000 vampyres in the U.S., ranging from those with a mild interest who like the costumes to those who sleep in coffins.

A clan meeting involves secret rituals that may or may not include drinking blood, but the odds are much higher with sanguinarians, or sangs, defined by their thirst for blood. Sangs don't do the whole Goth dress-up and usually try to disassociate themselves from vampyres. They feel their need for blood is a part of their physical makeup, and don't like publicity or the current popular emphasis on vampires. They don't use fangs; they draw blood with a razor blade and suck it down, almost always from a willing donor. Being practical about it, they test their donors for blood-borne diseases.

Vampyrism can turn deadly. In the Rod Ferrell case, the sixteen-year-old Florida clan leader killed the parents of one of the members of his clan.

Props

(Image removed. Apparently I mistook a sex toy for a custom-molded vampire mouth accessory. My bad.)

Fake vampire teeth are available, from cheap plastic ones used at Halloween to fancier custom-molded, full mouth designs that are similar to movie effects. Some vampyres have their teeth ground to sharp points, or have fang-like caps placed over their incisors, but this can be awkward at the day job.

Bottled fake blood can be bought or homemade. Here's a recipe for edible blood, just in time for Halloween or your next clan meeting.  Yum!

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup Warm Water
• 4-5 Tablespoons Light (clear) Corn Syrup
• 5-10 Drops of Red Food Coloring
• 1 Drop of Blue Food Coloring
• 3 Tablespoons of cocoa powder

1. In a mixing bowl, combine the warm water and cocoa powder, until entirely dissolved. It should look like hot chocolate. Avoid adding whipped cream and marshmallows.
2. Mix in the light corn syrup until entirely dissolved. Continue adding tablespoon by tablespoon, until a syrupy consistency is reached.
3. Mix in food coloring. If too thick, thin with warm water. If too thin, add a small amount of sifted flour. (Recipe from http://uvkitty.com/.) 

What do you think of the vampyric culture? Know any? Are you one?


I'm giving away a signed copy of my latest release, Sacrifice: Mortal Path Book 2. To enter, sign up for the "Put Yourself in the next Mortal Path book!" drawing on my blog. Click on the badge to the right for details. Then leave a comment here. This giveaway ends at midnight on Halloween and the winner will be posted at the top of this blog entry on Monday, November 1st. Check back to see if you're the signed copy winner!

Bringing Sexy Back

All right, ladies, let's keep this short and sweet, shall we?

(Gentlemen, pull up a chair and add your assent, won't you? I think the ladies will appreciate it.)

I have, on and off for the past ten years or so, worked at a Halloween store. Not this year, but I do go in now and again to lend a hand and the mancandy likes to dress up at any given opportunity and go hang out to drive sales. So! I have experience, y'all. I know what I'm talking about. For this brief moment in time, I am The Expert.

And the Expert is telling you ladies to quit waiting for Halloween to bring the sexy on.

Are you listening?

Here's how this goes: Every year, I saw beautiful women—and I'm talking, like, normal, everyday women who just so happen to be beautiful because they're like you—come rushing into the store and ogle the sexy costumes. And every year, I'd watch the Leg Avenue costumes fly off the shelves.

Okay, I know some of them are totally skankalicious, but there are some gorgeous Leg Avenues out there. Their pirate collection is especially lovely.

But I always think: Halloween. Ghoulish, ghostie delights. It's the one time a year you can dress up really scary and weird and fantastical (unless you're a con professional or, you know, actually a zombie). It's the day and night when no one will think twice if you're covered in blood, growling around and threatening to eviscerate children (Trust me, I know...)

So why do all these ladies keep going for the sexy time costumes?

Look. I'm not trying to tell you how to do your business, but I have a proposition for you. Are you listening? Here, have some tea. Okay, here's the deal:

There are 364 other days (probably not including the days you attend Church or something, so use your own judgment here) when you can dress as sexy as you like. It might not be as in-your-face as a Leg Avenue costume, but there is a sexy that is not just encouraged in public, but just drop-dead-gorgeous. There are 364 days to be confident, gorgeous, show a little leg or flash a red-lipped smile. To let your hair down. To wear a skirt and a wedge heel or a pair of jeans and a sweater that hugs just so, and make every eye in the room turn to you with a silent, Wow.

But only one when you cover yourself in blood and stagger through the streets.

At least without psychiatric evaluation to follow.

So come on, ladies. Join me in this: I think we should bring sexy back, every day. Or at least every day we bother to leave the house. It takes work to look as good as we do, after all—we should get the occasional day off. (Says the oh, so glamorous author sitting in her robe and slippers...)

And on Halloween, we should go all out: blood, gore, fangs, flesh, whatever. And you know what? If you want to be sexy on Halloween too, I'm all for it. Let's just add a little supernatural flair—fangs, bloody aprons, meat cleavers. The Black Widow who temps her loves and devours them in her web, I can get behind that.

But let's embrace the spirit of Halloween, which isn't to dress up in a way you could every day (sexy, ladies, you know it), but as someone or something you're not.

And every lady is sexy. You just have to tap into it, is all.

So who's with me? Who wants to being sexy back?

A Life-Changing Event...or Not

And the winner is--drum roll--- BJ!!!! Congratulations! Please contact me at kerrelyn@earthlink.net to give me a mailing address. My thanks to everyone for stopping by!

To my lovely and brilliant Love at Stake readers (and if you're not one-- hello? Give me a try!):
You deserve a big hug and many thanks from me. The latest book in the series, Eat Prey Love, is now enjoying its third week on the Borders Romance, USAToday, and New York Times bestseller lists. Hitting the lists is considered a big deal in the publishing world, and it makes my publisher very happy, which in turn makes me very happy (and relieved). But as I struggle to begin a new book, I'm left wondering if anything in my life has actually changed. So here is my list of ten things that SHOULD happen when an author's book becomes a bestseller--

1. I would lose twenty pounds overnight. (Hmm, make that thirty).
2. Writing would become easy and effortless.
3. Time would supernaturally stretch for me so that I would always have plenty of time to finish books by deadline.
   
4. My house would become magically self-cleaning.
5. The publisher would send me a secretary to type my books for me while I dictate them and eat bonbons.
6. I would never gain a pound from eating those bonbons. Just exercising my brain would burn off 500 calories an hour.
7. The weeds in the flowerbeds would all die. And never come back.
   
8. Chef Gordon Ramsey would send a top Master Chef over every night to cook supper.
9. Chef Gordon Ramsey would wash the dishes.
10. The Love at Stake series would be made into a television show like Glee with singing and dancing vampires and shape shifters.
    

Twirling vampire capes and tap-dancing werewolves? Well, maybe it's for the best that my list didn't come true. If you could wish for something, what would it be? If you're wishing for a signed copy of Eat Prey Love, this could be your lucky day! One of the commenters will be chosen at random to win. Good luck!

Growing Up...

When I was growing up, we didn’t have the huge selection of Young Adult books that kids have today. Sure, we had our Nancy Drew and some Babysitter’s Club, but neither of those really captured my interest. So, instead, I pretty much went from reading Charlotte’s Web (or pretty much anything by E.B. White) and The Boxcar Children, to reading the books my mom had lying around the house. Fortunately for me, she was into these really great ghost stories by John Saul (remember Punish the Sinners, Suffer the Children, and When the Wind Blows?), and even scarier books by Stephen King (who didn’t read Carrie, The Shining, or Salem’s Lot???).

Basically, I was indoctrinated into horror by the time I was twelve, which is what I like to call "great parenting"! But, oh my god, I LOVED IT!!!

So it was no surprise that my first attempt at writing was a full-on adult horror novel, called ONE OF THEM. There was some hardcore gore and death and steamy sex in it. (Again, thanks a lot, mom!) Unfortunately the story was ridiculously convoluted and the writing was so-so (at best). Meaning, ONE OF THEM made really great practice.

It wasn’t until years (and many revisions and submissions) later, when a friend of mine introduced me to the burgeoning world of YA. She was screening books for her teen daughter and she would pass them along to me saying, “Trust me, you are going to love this!”

And of course she was right…I did love them! And I also decided it was time for me to give up on that poor, beaten-to-death horror novel I’d written so many years earlier. ONE OF THEM was officially retired.

When I decided to write a new book, I didn’t actually set out to write YA, it just kind of happened that my main character was a teen and that my backdrop was high school. And pretty soon I realized that I was writing exactly the kind of book that I wished I’d had when I was a teen. Creepy and suspenseful and romantic!

I’ve always been a very eclectic reader, but I’ll never forget those lazy summer days when I first made that leap from children’s to grown-up books (and those same summer nights when I checked—and double-checked—my windows to make sure they were locked!).

I’m curious about what books were your first adult reads. How old were you? Did you like ‘em sweet or scary? Mysteries or romances??? And was it all your mom’s fault?

Need a list of recommendations.

All righty, Supernatural Undergrounders, I need your help. I need you all to tell me your favourite paranormal romance and your favourite urban fantasy. If you can’t separate the two in your favourite book, tell me that also and why.

This is all in the name of research. You see, here in the wonderful old land of Oz we have a series of writer’s centres. Each state has one, and some of the regions have their own as well.

You pay to join a writer’s centre and for that you get – a monthly newsletter (contained with all sorts of great information); discounts on dozens of workshops and access to the staff, who know all sorts of stuff about publishing.

Some of the writers centres do other things as well. The Queensland Writers Centre, for example, is the home of the annual publication The Australian Writer’s Marketplace, which lists pretty much every publisher (large and small, book and magazine/newspaper), agent, editor and association that you need to carve out your writing career.

My local, the ACT Writer’s Centre, has actually opened up its own small press to publish authors work (it’s set up as a vanity but the important thing is that it doesn’t pretend it’s not – they’re upfront about the fact they’re helping you to physically publish the book but distribution, promotion and so on – that’s your problem, baby).

Anyhoo, I’m doing an article for the November ACT Writer’s Centre newsletter, the theme of which is the romance genre. Hence my question – I’m writing about paranormal romance and urban fantasy and want to provide a list of recommended reading.

As a reward/thank you, I’m providing you with something that I hope you find as ridiculously wonderful as I do. Early this year, it was my fortieth birthday and I decided the party theme would be a kid’s party, with games. I wanted to adult-ise some of them, however.

One of my favourite party games is Pin the Tail on the Donkey, but a donkey is so five-year-old. So I took the cover of an infamous romance novel, blew it up to poster size (the people at the printing place were laughing for days after) and then cut out portions of the male model’s chest, which had to be put back into place by blind-folded (and tipsy) party guests.

So here, my friends, is the result of the very first game of Pin the Man-boobs on Fabio!

Please, don’t be so overcome with laughter that you forget the very important question – favourite paranormal romance, favourite urban fantasy or if your favourite book can be separated into the genres, what is it and why? YA is fine but let me know if it is YA. I want to make a list of recommendations.