The Book Thief, Poignant and Profound

I don't generally review films. I am making an exception today. I just saw The Book Thief. It was profound beyond words. What really got me was the depiction of Death as a character. Why you may ask. Well I depicted Death in a couple of my novels and today realised that this film blew my depictions out of the water. Really. I am honest enough to know when I meet my betters.

Death, looking down upon the horror that was Nazi Germany is in a unique position to impart great knowledge to us. We see his compassion as he goes about his business, always with the feeling that he is perhaps just doing what must be done. He feels for the people he takes. And really, who better to narrate a story about World War Two than Death?

The Book Thief of the title is a young girl who is taught to read by her adoptive father. Her adoptive parents are kindly people who not only take her in but hide a young Jewish man in their cellar. During an air raid when the village is being bombed, the young man breaks free from his protective prison to admire a starlit sky. I found that so moving as Death describes the moment in beautifully evocative words.

The acting, direction and story are well done. This is a film to savor--an unforgettable film about one of the worst times in history. We see the sorrow Death feels for all the innocents. This compassion made him heroic. It is something I cannot stop thinking about.

The author is Markus Zusak. I just bought the book I am happy to say.

Natasha Ewendt, Author on Her Paranormal Horror Book This Freshest Hell

Bio:
Hi to Carole’s fans! I’m a fellow vamper, as Carole so brilliantly puts it; that means I write about vampires. I write in the realms of dark fiction rather than paranormal romance. I like vampires with bite, so I wrote a book about vampires with bite. No sparkly vamps here.

This Freshest Hell was published in 2013 by Sydney publisher Lacuna and I’m now working on the sequel, and a third book. I’m not sure yet if the series will stretch beyond there – we’ll have to wait and see whether my vampires get up to any new antics.

When I started writing the book, I wasn’t aiming to write a vampire book or a horror novel. I was just writing about two psychic misfits Lily and Maggie, their high school antics and their disenchanted adulthoods, and the paranormal and horror aspects developed along with the story. It’s a story about the girls, their friendship and their battles with personal demons to begin with and then becomes about their fight for survival, real battles, and real demons.

As a result some horror fans get impatient through the first half of the book because there are no gross bits, just supernatural bits. But if you’re happy to go on a paranormal journey with two misfits and see how the horror develops into quite the crescendo in the second half, and you don’t need limbs flying and blood spattering from the first page, you’ll like This Freshest Hell.

TFH is loosely based on a book I started writing seventeen years ago, about a girl who becomes a vampire on her wedding night and takes to vampire life a little too well, dishing all kinds of colourful revenge and retribution and becoming embroiled in the crime world as an assassin. I was a teenager at the time so that book was quite violent and ‘out there’, but I never got to finish it or even develop it properly, so I took aspects from that and put them into TFH. I had Lily turned on her wedding day, but I split the characterisation so that Maggie revels in vampire life while Lily struggles with her conscience, though for a time both enjoy dishing out some bloody justice. Then I threw in some hot vampires along with some demons, werewolves (not the cute fluffy kind) and all-new freaky monsters to make a heady horror concoction.

So, with TFH I didn’t set out to write a horror novel, but I’m not surprised it turned out that way as I’ve been a horror fan for as long as I can remember. I was reading Virginia Andrews and Stephen King when my peers were still reading Babysitters Club and Thomas the Tank Engine, so you could say my perspective was always a little twisted! And if there’s anything I like more than a horror novel, it’s a horror movie or TV show. Against my better judgement, on the advice of friends who were rabid fans of the show I started watching The Walking Dead. I was addicted from the first episode, even though zombies give me nightmares! Give me demons and vampires any day …

I’ve found the horror community to be very supportive and through Women in Horror Month I’ve met some fabulous female horror writers who share my slightly, awesomely twisted perspective. It’s been great to see female writers getting the recognition they deserve this month. I find dark fiction by women tends to have great characterisation, depth and emotional substance, so if you want to read something powerful, read a horror book written by a woman.

Happy reading,

Natasha Ewendt

More info:

This Freshest Hell is available at all online stores and apps, some bookstores or by order from your local bookstore.
Get it on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/This-Freshest-Hell-Natasha-Ewendt/dp/1922198064

Or for a list of stockists with links see Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17901427-this-freshest-hell

Or the publisher’s website: http://www.lacunapublishing.com/index.php/authors/ewendt-natasha/this-freshest-hell

Blurb:  
Dark secrets shared …
Dark spells invoked …
Death desired and death defied …
Goth Maggie and misfit Lily unite against school, family, society, normality and life itself. But can they fight the darkness within?

When Maggie saves Lily from schoolyard bullies on her first day at a new school in Tasmania, the girls discover they share psychic abilities — and the same dark secret. Their high school rebellion culminates in a dalliance with the dark arts that could have eternal consequences. Those consequences come to bear a decade later when they are plunged into the demon world. Suddenly the darkness within and blood lust become literal matters of life and death. A new world of darkness and an epic battle force them to question what they really value — including each other, and life itself.

~*~

Thank you, Natasha Ewendt!

Necromantic Aristocrats from Unholy Testament Full Circle!

18 and over please!

More confessions from Eco's journal:


One of the things I found most shocking was Lord Avery's love of necromancy. He said he excelled at it. I didn’t believe him but he insisted on proving it to me.

“I learned it from a sorcerer in France. Now,” he said, gesturing wildly as we stood in his library, “that is a country that knows how to appreciate Satanism! They are remarkable.”

I nodded for I recalled Gilles de Rais. I expected he might ask me about him but he didn’t.

“I can show you the rites. Would you like to see them?”

I said I would as I was a bit curious. I hadn’t seen much necromancy in my time, just the odd rite here and there. 

Suddenly, he whirled around, his face excited and his eyes blazing. He looked like a madman.

“I have the most wonderful idea,” he exclaimed. “Should you like to see the fruits of my efforts? I have someone I have raised up! A most beautiful creature that is so perfectly embalmed, she is—well, how shall I put it—still able to be enjoyed?

He didn’t give me a chance to answer. Instead, he hurried out of the library. “Come, you must see this, Eco! Truly you must!”

He led me up the main staircase but then instead of walking along the lushly appointed corridor, he turned and began walking toward an opulent mural. It looked to be early Renaissance, no doubt of Italian origin.

Just when I began to admire it, he did something, and the painting receded into the wall! Yes, this was no ordinary wall for it led to a stairway.

“They’re a bit old and rickety, so do try to hang on.”

I did and managed to step down upon the landing.

“Just along here,” he said. He led me into a damp, dusty smelling corridor that seemed to go on endlessly.

Just as I was beginning to think he was leading me on a merry chase, he stopped before a door. Rooms sat on both sides of the corridor but this was the one he had chosen.

“Voila!” he said and opened it. There was little light for the windows had been boarded up. He raised his torch then. “I want you to see something.”

At last I was able to make out the room and the contents. A woman lay upon a canopied bed.
“Her name was Elena. Her father was a Spanish merchant…quite successful. He couldn’t bear the death of his eighteen-year-old daughter, especially the thought of her slowly rotting away, becoming food for worms and nothing else, so he had her embalmed. I understand Egyptians did it. Quite a good job, wouldn’t you say?”

He insisted I come closer. When I was just next to him, he shone the torch over the girl.
It was remarkable for the girl looked to be asleep. I was incredulous. “How long has she been dead?”

“She died five years ago! She should be well-rotted by now, don’t you think?”

I nodded for I knew the stench of rot and decomposition should be prevalent. Yet I did not detect anything of the kind.

“Look!” He held the torch directly over her now.
I gasped because she was beautiful, perfect in every way. It seemed as though a noise could wake her at any moment.

“I have feelings for her,” he said. “Far more than I ever had for my wife.”
He nodded. “Yes, I have been with her many times—the first time being when I raised her up. I took her right there beside her grave! ‘Forgive me, beautiful angel,’ I cried as all of my passion burst forth from me.”

He then proceeded to tell me all the horrific details of that occurrence.
“Of course she felt different than she would have were she truly alive. She felt sort of leathery …” He paused for he sensed my horror."

UNHOLY TESTAMENT - FULL CIRCLE, THE BLACKSTONE VAMPIRES SERIES

(END OF EXCERPT)

Purchase Unholy Testament - Full Circle  $2.99

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or ENTIRE SERIES ALL FOUR NOVELS FOR $3.99

2014 - Amazon Bestseller in Dark Fantasy - THE BLACKSTONE VAMPIRES OMNIBUS

2015 - Amazon Bestseller in Vampire Horror - THE BLACKSTONE VAMPIRES OMNIBUS

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Julie Ramsey, Author and Book Reviewer on Her New Book!

Bio:

Hello my fellow readers, reviewers and authors. My name is Julie Ramsey. My 1st Novella was just released on Feb 13th 2014. 

The Wild Bone: The White Alpha of Monroe is something I had always wanted to do. I have been a reviewer for years and run a successful review site called Julies Book Review (juliesbookreview.blogspot.com).  

As a reviewer I love books of almost every genre. My soft spot has always been paranormal romance. Some of the authors that have influenced me over the years, Christine Feehan, JR Ward, Suzanne Wright, Carrie Ann Ryan, and Katie MacAlister just to name a few.

I am currently back in school working toward my BA. It was in a creative writing class that Sally and the Monroe pack came to me. I couldn't use the piece for class but I set it aside and came back to it. The paper then became The Wild Bone: The White Alpha of Monroe. 

I have had lots of good reviews so far and I am excited about the possibilities this book brings. For the future I am working on book 2. I am hoping to have it out with in the next couple of months. Also I have 2 kids books that should be out this year as well under the name J.J. Ramsey. So please let people know about The Wild Bone: The White Alpha of Monroe. I hope you enjoy the book as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Thanks

Julie Ramsey

More info:

It is on sale at Amazon for .99 cents.     

Blurb:   

When Sally's mother dies, she is left with no family. Her two best friends Hector and Cathy decide to take her out to the new bar in town, The Wild Bone, to get her out of the house. The night doesn't turn out how they imagine. Sally's mother kept a secret that is about to come to light. The secret holds the trio's future. 2 men both werewolves are about to change Sally's life forever. One will be her future and bring out what has been hidden from her. One wants to steal her future to gain the power of the Monroe pack. Will Sally and her friends survive the turmoil to come? 

TRAILER:
buy Link:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Wild-Bone-White-Monroe-ebook/dp/B00IFD8O3E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393121404&sr=8-1&keywords=the+wild+bone+by+julie+ramsey

How Do You Write a Short Story?

Monsters in My Head

Well, this 52 story/year is a challenge but it's taught me some amazing things. It's taught me how to work at my most efficient--in other words, goof off at your own peril. Rule of thumb: BE ON THE INTERNET AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE :)  Meaning, social networks like Facebook can really waste valuable time.

As for the writing, generally I know what story will work and what won't. I have to feel something about the idea I have. Sometimes an idea just comes. Actually on second thought it has to always come to you. You can't search for it, at least I can't.

I want to write a profoundly fantastic story about ... that won't work for me. What does work is an idea. Like vampire dolls, or a family that isn't a real family. Think lunatics r us!

If you write horror, you have resident maniacs living in your brain. They are waiting for you to tap into them. They are your natural resource. Does this conflict with what I said about not being able to search for an idea? Not really. You have your own monsters. I have my little lunatic world of horror that I respect because it is kind to me even though it makes me work. No fiction delivered to me on silver platters. No way. Still, I have ideas.

An idea equals a story, right? Nooo! An idea can equal a story. Think of a situation: two lunatics with meat cleavers in a confined space! Seriously, most situations I find that are fraught with the possibility of violence is a good start.

I'm just up to story number 9 (week 9) and I had an idea today, not yesterday--today. I had another idea which I worked on last week in between dying from a chest infection and barely surviving. Actually, I think the glimpse into my own tenuous mortality gave me the meatier idea!

Btw, you know you can work on a few things at one time. I do. Just keep organized. Keep stories in folders. I'm no genius but it does help me. I have finished a great many projects that way.

Remember that advice to write what you know? Well, I find the best part of writing what you know is to write what you feel. To use the emotion of some heartfelt experience of thought to fashion into a story with characters you can believe in. If you can't, no one else will.

I thought I'd write this now--no time to write anything else, I have to go back to my novel. Later, when I take a break I will work on story number 9. I'm happy with it so far, but I have a week to go! So who knows?!

Anyway, happy writing!

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Katrina Van Tassel's Shocking Confession!

     In light of True Review's recommendation of Firbolg's ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK: DARK MUSES, SPOKEN SILENCES ANTHOLOGY, I am reblogging this about how I came to write my story.

TRUE REVIEW

I can't think of a story I enjoyed writing more than this one!

I was delighted to be a part ofFirbolg's Enter at Your Own Risk, Dark Muses, Spoken Silences.

I was to reimagine the character, Katrina Van Tassel (The Legend of Sleepy Hollow). Wow! I thought. I'll get into her skin and become Katrina.

I enjoy writing first person because (and I've said this before in posts) I studied acting many years ago. I was taught Method Acting--wherein you become the part you are playing. I do that with my writing.

I have some short stories that are third person, but my longer fiction is always first. It works best for me.
It also works for Anne Rice. Here's what she had to say about first person:

'First-person narrators is the way I know how to write a book with the greatest power and chance of artistic success.'— Anne Rice

First person gives me the story. I get it through my character's eyes. Katrina's Confessionis what I came up with. She explains exactly what happened to Icabod Crane and reveals a few more things besides. I wrote it in the style of Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

This is a unique anthology. I'm in exceptional company. Each writer has put a spin on a classic gothic story! The writers are:
B.E. Scully, Timothy Hurley, Blaze McRob, T. Fox Dunham, Gregory Norris, Mike Chinn, Jon Michael Kelley.

Alex Scully (Editor), Gary Braunbeck (Introduction)

From their blurb:

"In Firbolg Publishing’s third volume in the Enter at Your Own Risk series, ten modern storytellers reimagine the mysterious characters lurking within four classics of Gothic literature.

As you read the original stories, a sinister whisper drifts in on a cold chill. But there are other voices beneath the whisper. You can hear them crawling out of the growing darkness. Then the whispers become a scream...!"
Some of the most enduring masterpieces of Gothic fiction are as intriguing for the stories they don’t tell as for those they do.

The voices hidden in the wall of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat;” the secrets buried beneath the earth of Sleepy Hollow in Washington Irving’s legendary Headless Horseman tale; the dreams of a monster and an ancient book with a life of its own in H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Call of Cthulhu;” and stories that reveal Polidori’s hypnotic, archetypal Vampyre as far more than what he first appears to be.

In Firbolg Publishing’s third volume in the Enter at Your Own Risk series, ten modern storytellers reimagine the mysterious characters lurking within four classics of Gothic literature.

As you read the original stories, a sinister whisper drifts in on a cold chill. But there are other voices beneath the whisper. You can hear them crawling out of the growing darkness. Then the whispers become a scream...
With an introduction from acclaimed author Gary Braunbeck, Dark Muses, Spoken Silences invites you into the hidden shadows of four of the most famous dark fiction tales ever told.

Are you brave enough to enter?" 

AMAZON

Dracula and the Child He Cursed

Excerpt: Unholy Testament - Full Circle, Book 3
THE BLACKSTONE VAMPIRES SERIES
Dracula is introduced in this book. The mother of a young child he has cursed is dying, attacked by vampires. She pleads for Rose to take her child:

“Do you understand, Rose?” 

I supposed I did, and I told her so. Suddenly, a knock sounded on the door. I feared it might be Eco but it wasn’t. 

It was Death, holding a woman in his arms. A very young child stood nearby, no older than two. Clearly, she had just learned to walk and she tottered on her feet. 

The woman stared at both Lilith and myself. 

Death spoke for her. “This is her child. She is two years old. She needs a woman to care for her for she must come with me. There is no choice.” 

There is no choice, meaning the woman was dying. I could see the pale skin and tell-tale bite marks on her throat—the vampires had been at her. 

I picked the child up and the woman began to sob. Death nodded. “She is a gypsy and she knows what you are.” Death motioned me to come toward her. “She wants to look into your eyes.” 

I approached her so that she could. She only uttered one word: “Vampire…” 

I nodded. “I am, but I do no one harm. I never have nor will I!” 

She seemed to understand; her eyes glistened with tears and her lips trembled. I felt certain she approved of me. “Take care of her please, I beg you…” 

I grasped her hand and promised that I would. 

“He has bewitched my child. He has whispered death and abomination into her ears…my own babe!” 

I asked her what she meant, but she was slipping in and out of consciousness. 
“Please, Death,” I asked. “Who is it she speaks of?” 

“It is he who is called Dracula. He did this. If you take this child, you must remember her words. Do not ever forget.” 

Death said that so ardently, I realized he was not a demon and never had been. He was what he has always been—an accursed angel ministering to those who never wish to see him. That was a kind of damnation, surely. 

“I will remember your warning,” I said. I then held the little girl up so that her mother might gaze once more upon her before Death took her away. 

Before the woman died, she told me the child’s name. “She is called Dia,” she said."   

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99 cents on offer!

Dia is featured in The Fourth Bride (of Dracula) Book 4

$2.99

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Each book in The Blackstone Vampires Series is sold singly for $2.99

Buy all four novels in the award-winning series for $3.99

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Reviews

eFestival of Words 2014: Best Villain, Eco/ Best Horror, The House on Blackstone Moor
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"92 Horror authors you need to read right now"

Carole Gill -- the Blackstone Vampires series

~Charlotte Books - EXAMINER

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"In the attempt to find the just measure of horror and terror, I came upon the writing of Carole Gill whose work revealed a whole new dimension to me. The figure of the gothic child was there. Stoker's horror was there. Along with the romance! At the heart of her writing one stumbles upon a genuine search for that darkness we lost with the loss of Stoker." DR. MARGARITA GEORGIEVA ~ Gothic Readings in The Dark

Unholy Testament - Full Circle

"Is full of dark, gory, evil and heinous twist and turns which keeps your adrenaline going. Unholy Testament - Full Circle with all of the horrific things that goes on in it is just right up my alley. And believe me you definitely get plenty of evil in Unholy Testament - Full Circle. The ending left me with my mouth hanging open it was so surprising. I never expected it but I loved it."

NANCY ALLAN - Avid Reader

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