My Work in Progress--WHY CATS?

Cats are special. Having had dogs I didn't realize how unique and special they were until I had one. My dogs had to be rehomed after my husband's death as I could no longer walk them. It hurt. Any pet owner knows just how much it can hurt.

I have a very special cat. Her name is Sasha and this is her at 8 weeks.

She is three now and in the time I have had her, she has been there for me through my worst grieving. Always supportive and loyal she taught me just how special a special feline can be. 

A more recent photo. She has this intense way of looking at me sometimes. Like she knows all about me. It's like she wants to speak! Okay, I'm a writer and I am imagining that, but perhaps she does, in her own cat-like way. 

Any time I get upset or fall into the depths of sadness over my loss, I perk up just looking at cats. I watch videos of them, I share photos and I find I am feeling better. 

The book I'm writing is about a cat that is special, special in supernatural ways. And it saves people because of this talent! I will dedicate the book to Sasha because she saved me from the depths of sadness. If I look at her, I can see in her eyes that she knows every secret written in my soul. She knows the names of the people that helped me and those that didn't. 

She knows and understands and that, in itself, is comforting. 

Work in Progress Update!

It's coming! I know it's taking long, but when you've lost everything that you valued, it's a hard battle to get back to where you want to be. Still, I am making so much progress.

I love what I am writing, it's full of light and romance. It's fanciful and fun to write. The characters are getting more real every day to me, that is, they are really coming alive.

I am researching, which I love, finding out things that are amazing and interesting.

The story is from my heart. It's the deepest truth I have ever come to terms with, actually I still am coming to terms with.

Life is so multi-faceted, there are people you can love, like and trust and there are those that you most certainly cannot. It's all going to be there.

It's going to be a story that I could never have written if I hadn't lived through it. Even though I don't really believe in an after life, I feel I'm being guided, so who knows maybe I'm wrong.

How does anyone know for certain what lies around us? What revealations might there be!

All I ask, is for patience. I promise you something very different and fresh--a gift from the heart incorporating light and love and a little magic!

Book Update: Fantasy about cats!

Sasha at 8 weeks. 

My work in progress is really coming along. My publisher has been advised and is enthused. It's a departure from dark horror but of course those 8 books that are horror are out there and will remain on sale.

A little background first on the new work, the first in a series.

Sasha, my Maine Coon kitten came into my life shortly after my husband died. I was in quite a state. Both of our dogs had to be re-homed as I could no longer walk them. This kitten had a big job ahead of her. I was happy to just play with her and watch her. She offered a great deal more, though. I found such comfort and love from her and became so aware of a bond between us.

Now, Sasha at 18 months, is far from tiny! She is big and beautiful. She's mischievous, playful and clownish sometimes. Just what I need. Always at my side. A kind of furry leprechaun. Turn around and she's there and so is her love.

I have learned so much about cats, that I was hugely inspired to write about them. There was no way I could ignore the need to do this!

This fantasy I'm working on is about kittens and cats and other animals too but it's Sasha that is featured. She's the chief protagonist, a funny gutsy, clever girl--exactly what she's like!

The story is about other things too. Some of it's funny and some of it's poignant, like life, really!

I'll be giving periodic updates, I promise. Meanwhile, here's a short excerpt:

Sasha was a pensive and thoughtful cat, she pondered deeply about things, like her past. If she thought about it, and she did occasionally, she recalled a ship.

She was newborn when she was carried away from her dead mother and siblings. Where there had been comfort and food, there was now something awful and deadly and cold.

Kindness saved her. Even before her eyes opened, she knew this. When she was able to open her eyes, she saw her first human face. It belonged to the steward of a cargo ship, the man who had found the squealing, newborn kitten among her family. He had cried because he was an emotional man. 

SASHA NOW

Fiction for Lost Souls and Book News

Dark dreams, fantasies--hauntings, possessions. The darkside has a pull. Not for everyone but for some. If you are so drawn and know how addictive that other place is, then you are one of the lost souls. Not literally but in your mind, in the ideas you dare to have. You see, with those ideas, comes the need to explore!

And why not explore other worlds--other places where your imagination seeks to take you? Are dark dreams bad? Not at all! Often, they are an escape from reality and let's face it, reality sometimes is a place we'd like to leave for while. Distraction has its merits. So step forward. Come along and see what awaits!

I have begun another novel. It has a series of hauntings running through the straight, modern crime thriller that it really is.

Like my other fiction, it has darkness in it, but the protagonist is all too human. She is a murderess and there is this haunting you see...

Don't worry, I'll keep you posted!

Meanwhile, if you haven't read my work there are seven novels and a collection packed with my short stories, previously published in anthologies. This will lead you squarely into the darkside. Step easily, and do avoid the shadows if you can!

AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE

Meanwhile, let me just ask you to please vote, if you haven't yet--my latest release based on human monster, Countess Erzsbet Bathory, known in life as Countess Dracula has been nominated in the Critters' readers' poll:

NOMINATED PREDITORS & EDITORS READER'S POLL/HORROR!

Would love you to vote here:

http://critters.org/predpoll/novelh.shtml

I, Bathory, Queen of Blood

"5 stars - "A blood-soaked rendition of the 'Countess Dracula, her best yet!"

"Solid Gothic Horror from Gill"

THANKS!

Until next time! Here's looking at you!

UPDATE ON NEW BOOK ABOUT THE BLOOD COUNTESS!

The darkest published fiction I have written is my Blackstone Vampires Series. I have often said I don't know where all the darkness came from, but it just poured out of me. After I wrote Justine: Into the Blood (first novel in my new series) I thought, 'well, I'll go a little lighter now.' But then I started to write a novel about Erzsebat Bathory, The Blood Countess.

Why'd I do that? I'm still not sure. I always say, we write what is in us to write. I think that's true. With Bathory, I found her the most puzzling. How could a woman do what she is purported to have done? Hundreds of torture killings, bathing in blood--perhaps there is an exaggeration but let's face it, any country that prohibits the name of a noble personage being SPOKEN for a century after her death, has to have some reason for doing that. Really.

She had children, they stood by her, from what I read. A son-in-law pleaded for her. She had to have been very complex at the very least. I don't think she was ever unaware of what she was doing. Nothing I have read suggested that.

She just had the power to do what she wished. A sadistic sexual murderer with unlimited power! That was her story. As I have said she is the same Bathory in my telling, albeit one that is more aware and conflicted. But the horror is there.

I began to think about all my published longer fiction and I realized, it's all very dark. As for the first series, each novel in The Blackstone Vampires is darker than the preceding one. I guess--it was a given for me to go on to a novel about Bathory.

There is a great deal of eroticism in the story. Eroticism and horror easily go together. They are two elements of a whole. There are relationships that have both present.

Power may be central to the equation. Unlimited power and a loyal lover can help a monster do anything. Her rages continue in my novel, they fuel the violence. Regret cannot be permitted to take over because the rage is too strong. Her realization of that is her curse. It's all pretty complex.

The book's release has been delayed because of my husband's sudden death in September. However, I am going through it now and will be sending it on to editing and then it will go in Creativia's line up. I'm glad about that. My husband liked the book and, as always, encouraged me. 

So just hang on a little longer. Bathory and her madness will be worth waiting for! 

UPDATE ON MY WRITING: STAY TUNED!

Many of you know I am living through my own horror. It isn't easy and truthfully, the last thing I thought about doing were regular blog posts about my fiction. I did promote what my publisher had scheduled and I did that out of loyalty to him. So the question is, what about the future?

Inasmuch as I have a book that I finished before I left for that ill-fated vacation, I'm going to be getting that book over to my publisher. My husband read it and loved it. It's going to be dedicated to him.

It's about The Blood Countess, Erzsbet Bathory. It needs to be edited and will be in the Creativia line-up. It's something I can accomplish. It's baby stepping (as I've said before) back into writing. Writing is what I do. Heaven's sake, I'm not in it for the money, but I am in it for the love of writing. As writing is a discipline, I think it's going to be therapeutic for me to throw myself into it. I think it's the best activity I can pursue to avoid going crazy with grief. The grief is there it always will be. I understand about that. That's why I am going to work toward being positive and fill up my time as much as possible with something I enjoy doing.

So here goes. It's the first step back. Wish me luck, please!

About My Writing

This is a special post. Many of you know about the sudden death of my darling husband, John. I am grieving but I'm going to try so hard to get back to writing as soon as I can. I think it will be therapeutic. It will distract me a bit and fill up my time. The thing is, I get better bad days than other bad days. Today, Sunday isn't  a better bad one. But I'm posting this anyway.

I have a book that's finished so that will be a kind of baby stepping back into writing again. I have to go over it. Going over something is not as tough as creating a book. The book happens to be about The Blood Countess, Erzebat Bathory. Glad it's already written. John really liked it so I'm going to dedicate it to him. He did get quite a kick out of all the dark stuff I write. I wonder if my writing will change course a bit. It's too early to tell now. But I'd love to hear from you as to what you think.

If I really did what I wanted, I'd just sit and mourn forever. This is hard to post this, but I thought I should. Not absolutely certain, but I did it anyway.

I'd like to know if any writers that you know of changed course or were thinking of it after a personal tragedy. That would really be of interest to me.

Well, that's my update for now but I will be back in a few days with news of a Halloween special that my publisher scheduled ages ago. See you then!