Monday, April 29, 2013

Seeing Ghosts Cover Reveal



Hello, my pretties. Look at this cover, will you? I remember when I saw this cover, when I learned Jimmy (James Garcia Jr.) had a cover reveal for his next new book, and this was jaw-dropping gorgeous. I simply couldn't wait till the day I could present it. And here is another version, the actualy front cover, but I thought this picture with the old house was simply wonderful and had to paste it up on top. Okay, ready?

This is a real departure from Jimmy's usual horror genre, as he tells us it is paranormal romance. And I'm certain this story will wow you. Sounds too good to pass up. The following is the description of the book:

Paul Herrera finds himself bequeathed a mysterious old house near the California central coast by a deceased aunt he never knew. The woman who shows it to him is the spitting image of his wife, taken from him three years before in a senseless car accident which also took his unborn son. While he deals with the ghosts of a past he cannot let go, there are new ghosts Paul must deal with - alone for the week in the expansive two-story house that he will soon didscover holds many secrets. Eventually, he will see that he is surrounded by ghosts as he struggles to hold onto the only thing that he has left in this world - his sanity.

Pretty spooky and intriguing. I want to know if Paul can deal with his "ghosts".

And the facebook event link is  https://www.facebook.com/events/424796797616236/

Seeing Ghosts is scheduled for release on June 5th.
And if you'd like to visit his blog, I suggest you do to keep up-dated for this and all his other books, my goodness, he has two others already out and more on the way. This man is one busy dude!

Dance on Fire blog: http://jamesgarciajr.blogspot.com/2013/04/seeing-ghosts-cover-reveal.html?showComment=1367270709374#c7277036031073589570

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Meeting Other Authors

Photo: Good morning, my darlings! This is enough to scare you awake, I would think? Or scare you AWAY... ya-ha-ha!
Good morning, my pretties. Sorry I've been neglecting you all, but things have gotten into the Spring-cleaning mode around here, inside and out. Yes, winter has finally gone away and I took the plastic off my windows (finally!). We'll be right into the summer temps soon, and I'm happy as a tick on a dog... or Dracula after a nice feed. Same difference.

So, as many of you know, I went to a little (book signing) thing the other night. I only sold one book, but the other people didn't show and I had to leave early, as my stomach was growling and I'm not a happy camper when that happens. Plus, my husband was home waiting for my return.

I had a good time and I met a wonderful author, Andrea Jones. Possibly some of you have heard of her, or more likely you've seen the cover of her book, "Hook & Jill"?



I was seated next to this lovely woman with the longest, thickest hair I think I've seen in ages. She sat at her table, covered in delightful things, like antique book holders to hold her tomes--her second book Other Oceans is in excess of 500 pages (hardbound, of course). She had T-shirts with the covers on them, and some posters. Oh, yes and some jewelry that she said her daughter had made that went with the book. She said that it was a good idea to have various things in order to make even a little sale. How I know that.

I was like a poor relation sitting next to her. I had no table cloth, no extra doo-dads to pull people to my table. I don't do these things often--not at all, really. But I had no expectations, and I really wasn't all that exited about being there because I only had a few books, and these things never really pan out for me.

The wonderful thing about going, however, is I got out of it was meeting other authors.

Andrea and I hit it off. I found out that she grew up in rual/small town settings too. Now she lives in Chicago, but is originally from Rock Island. So, she's very local.


Tuesday, April 23, 2013

A Night @ The Ellwood House & Celebration of a Milestone ('Spell of the Black Unicorn' turns 5 years old!)

I've been keeping this under my hat for a while. Mainly because it's an event that not only features me, but 3 other authors, plus a slew of gifted performers and sounds like there will be a fashion show, and who knows what all.

It's in DeKalb at the visitor center (below), at the historical Ellwood House in DeKalb, Ill.
Cover Photo

Description:
On Friday April 26th, from 4-7 pm event series "Borders Nith Out" returns for its 3rd show at the Ellwood House visitors center! Written and directed by the former employees and regulars of Borders Books DeKalb, the series was relaunched in Sept of 2012. Managed by Jessica Arriaga.

Special guest hosted by fashion modeling superstar: Sabrina DiGiovanni of Beauty Look Magazine.
$5.00 at the door. All ages.

Four themed fashion walks set to the music of Fleewood Mack by the Ladies of Borders Nite Out. Featuring Lola DeLo, Sarah Henneke, Ashley Lucero and many others.

Meet published authors-
Deanna Francis who will be signing her new book 'Taking Chances' She was recently featuring in the A&E section of the Daily Chronicle.
Jo Fredell Higgins with her books 'DeKalb' and 'Aurora' from Arcadia Publishing's Images of America series. This is her 4th Borders Nithg Out appearance.

Anderea Jones with her books Hook & Jill and Other Oceans. Andrea has appeared in several Borders Nith Out events over the years and is always a guiding light in the shows.

Lorelei Bell celebrating the 5th anniversary of her first novel, "Spell of the Black Unicorn" Lorelei was in the very first Borders Nite Out in Dec. of 2008 and her she is in the brand new one!

Handmade jewelry for sale and display by Ashley Ney. Jewelry and ViSalus display by Rachel & Adam Muller (of Borders Nite Out)
Live music by Amanda and Andrew, Mitch Munns with Rachel Cozzola, Mark w/Mia Lynell, Danielle Pivonka, and other musical guests!

Well, you get the picture. Yes, I'm celebrating my very first, self-published work Spell of the Black Unicorn, which I self-published almost 5 years ago. I am now working on putting it up as an ebook. I hope to get it finished by the end of this month, and have it out as an ebook by May.

When Daniel Sherrill told me about how these events had really taken off, I thought, why not go to the next one. Of course this means (gak) I have to go out in public (I'm part turtle, and hide my head a lot). Also (gak) find something that fits me and looks nice--gained too much weight over the winter and I just can't loose it no matter how much I try.

I'm hopeful there will be so much going on--well everyone will be looking at the ladies on the catwalk and listening to the music--I won't have to feel like I'm in the spotlight. Especially when there's going to be 3 other authors. Hmm. I've invited friends and hope they come out for this one.

So, that's what I'll be doing this Friday night. Wish me luck... in finding something that fits me.

Sunday, April 14, 2013

The End of Sookie... Beginning of Sabrina

The Final book in the series coming out in May 2013.
I recall when I first laid my eyes on a Sookie Stackhouse novel. There were about four or five out at the time. I had to wonder how the hell I never found them before? I'd been looking for exactly this sort of read, back then (in 2006).
I bought the first one in the series, "Dead Until Dark". The cover had me chuckling. Oh, this was exactly what I was looking for. Something both dark and funny, and about VAMPIRES!
I've been reading a few of these over for a second time, now that I've got books up to "Dead Reconing". I'm a little behind, but that's okay. I'll be able to read the rest of them (two, I think?), and the last one is due out in May, and I might just buy the hard cover for once.

When I read--somewhere--that the series was coming to an end, I was sad. I'll miss Sookie's adventures.

And I want to thank Ms. Harris for having the guts to create this series (going against her agent's thoughts that it wouldn't sell), because I was inspired to create my own series...

Sure, I was influenced by Harris' Sookie books--a "southern vampire" series, but I've created a "northern" vampire series and it's definitely my own creation with Sabrina Strong, a strong lead character who happens to be a touch clairvoyant and goes to work for vampires, only because she can't get any other employment, so takes a job as a clairvoyant for Bjorn Tremayne, a vampire magnate over half the United States.
Vampire Ascending begins this exciting, page-turning series: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0976511673?ie=UTF8&tag=coppemedia-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=0976511673

Vampire's Trill http://www.amazon.com/Vampires-Trill-ebook/dp/B006GSS29Q/ref=tmm_kin_title_0 continues it;

And my latest with steampunk themes - Vampire Nocturne http://www.amazon.com/Vampire-Nocturne-Sabrina-Strong-ebook/dp/B00BD75KE0/ref=sr_1_17?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1361635152&sr=1-17&keywords=Vampire+Nocturne  is the third instalment.

My fourth book Vampire Caprice will be out in December of 2013, and I can hardly wait to unleash it.

Book Cover ImageBook Cover ImageBook Cover Image

Friday, April 12, 2013

Sabrina is Not a Happy Camper

Okay, I've just been on another world, and you'd think I'd be happy to get back, but damn it! Men. They're all the same. You're damned if you do, damned if you don't. Love them, that is.

What? You mean you didn't know I was even gone? Well, I was. It was not something I could get around, being sucked into a portal is not too much fun and then trying to find my cousin and on another world where vampires rule. You try taking on the king of vampires and see if you come back at all without being impaled!

Why am I so grouchy? I'll tell you. I'll tell you... Vasyl is leaving me alone. He realized I hadn't gotten over Dante (you remember, the shiftchanger I was seeing and then we quit seeing one another because of his master--that damned Bjorn Tremayne--told him to keep his hands off me. Screw him! Bastard!) I happened to be in love with him (Dante), and then everything went too fast when Vasyl asked me to marry him. At the time, I didn't know Dante was so sick he would die. I figured if he wasn't interested in me, I'd marry someone who was!

But now Vasyl is letting me mend my broken heart, even though we're married. I'm so messed up, angry, I just want to spit.

And now things have happened in a way that might screw everything up.
Oh, crap, I can't tell you much, if you haven't read the book,Vampire Nocturne http://www.amazon.com/Vampire-Nocturne-Sabrina-Strong-ebook/dp/B00BD75KE0/ref=sr_1_17?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1361635152&sr=1-17&keywords=Vampire+Nocturne

*****SPOILER ALERT****
You see, when Dante died (in Vampire's Trill http://www.amazon.com/Vampires-Trill-ebook/dp/B006GSS29Q/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_1) he came to me in his astral shell, and gave me a stone that I keep with me always. I wore it while on Beyond the Black Veil. Then, while I killed the Dreadfuls, it collected their essence. Very creepy. And then at a moment when things looked really bad for me, he appeared. Well, Dante was a bear first, and fought off a couple of vampires while I was tied to a chair and they were draining me. God. I hated that place! Then he appeared to me, and killed someone who was all part of the plot to kill me.

So, yeah. Dante is back. I'm in two minds what to do. He's not exactly human, though. He's still, like sort of... well all the way dead, but more than a ghost. I haven't figured out what he is, and he's staying away as well. So, yeah. Dante is back in my world. And with Vasyl staying away it's making me crazy--we haven't even consumated our marriage yet!!

Thanksgiving is coming up (book #4 Vampire Caprice due out in December 2013), and Bill Gannon is still staying across the street in Mrs. Bench's house pretending to be her grandson. I know he's the off-spring of Nephilim (a few generations), and what he wants with me... well, I'm not going to go into that right now. It's like what the vampires all want from me, since I'm the sibyl and there's this prophesy that says I'm supposed to bring the dhampire into the world. I'm not willing to let them have their way with me. I'm just not in a mothering sort of mood right now.

So, I'm just trying to stay sane. Maybe I can have a normal, very human Thanksgiving? You see, I can't tell my brother and his wife about my troubles. They don't even know I'm married, let alone married to a vampire. Oh, that would be fun to blurt out in front of my brother and all my relatives--especially my grandma. No, wait. Maybe bring Vasyl to Thanksgiving dinner? No... I couldn't. I just couldn't do that.  Could I?

Thursday, April 11, 2013

NO VACANCY & WIP(s)


My brain is chock full. Really. If I were a scientist I'd be dangerous. I'd have long ago split the atom, and figured out how to use ley lines to, I don't know, suck one of those pesky countries with tyrants into oblivion. (hey, don't laugh. Ever hear of the Bermuda Triangle? Huh? It's supposed that these black holes are connected to these lines and this is how UFO's travel from one galaxy to the next. And what do you think happen to Atlantis? Huh?) But I'm not a scientist, I only play one in the movies—snort!
Okay, so, yeah. No vacancy sign is up. Why? Because if my brain could hold any more, I'd do the above. Really. Right now I have so many WIPs!
#1: Working on fourth book in the Sabrina Strong series so that you all won't want to shoot me when it isn't out, like tomorrow or the day after because you can't stand to wait a minute more to know what happens to her next. Right? (I love my fans... all five or six of them—double snort.)
#2: Working on the ebook of “Spell of the Black Unicorn”, a very delightful, much enjoyed by those who read it (again, all six of you), in my own brand of paranormal/mystery/romance. (more to come on that soon).
#3: Working on 7th novel—rrrrrt! Wait a minute dawlink. Really?
Yep. The seventh one is upstairs in a dark room—just under the stairs that goes to the attic. I like to think of my brain like a house with many rooms. Sort of like the one I live in. The rooms upstairs have things in it I store. And let me see... yup. There's the 5th book, the 6th book, and the 7th book, all up there, each in their own little rooms waiting.
The fourth one is downstairs, as is my Black Unicorn book. Up in the attic is a bunch of little things I might get to someday but not right now. No. Not until I have sun-up to sun-down to work on my writing.
Every now and then a bit of dialogue seeps through the cracks from upstairs and even though I told brain “Look, I'm not writing another one until I've got something done downstairs here.”
Brain just looks at me snidely and thumbs nose at me.
Stupid brain.
So, I've gotta write the dialogue—sometimes its a snippit to a whole scene—or some bit of idea to throw into the works.
Looks like I'll be doing the note card thing again. You ever hear of it? It works if you have all these unrelated scenes, and you aren't sure where they're going to go. But at some point you will have to make sense of it and need to put it all into order. Somehow. (I found this tip in a Writer's Digest, or one of those writer's magazines that promised you'd be published THIS YEAR!)
This helps only when you  have a lot of  dis-jointed scenes—as you've got them written out somewhere (up in that one dark room). You write down  some brief description on the note card. Like: STEFAN COMES INTO THE HOSPTIAL ROOM AND GIVES SABRINA FAST FOOD.
You make all these little cards up and you can rearrange them to decide where this scene goes and that scene...
And by using a plot guide you know that something has to happen in the first chapter that keeps everyone on the edge of their seat, and that's what I call a mini-climax. At this stage of the game (for #7) I'm only allowing scenes to come to me and I write them down, no plotting at all. Sort of the free will or seat of the pants writing. But it will come. Believe me. And the ideas will come like gang busters and I won't be able to hold back that thing up in the dark room, it will come clattering down those stairs and demand attention like a deformed beast.
So, yeah. No Vacancy. I've had to shut it down until I have time for it. But, like this blog post, which came to me last night as I got into bed, I had to write it or go nuts.
And then I took a sleeping pill so I could sleep. Zzzzz.....

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Wicked Wednesday ~ Interview & Spring Feaver

Hello, my pretties. Yes, you are my little pretties, and so I'm going to share where I'm at today, over on Write Stuff with Meratheth Houston http://meradethhouston.blogspot.com/2013/04/interview-with-lorelei-bell-author-of.html

Meradeth has asked me five questions, so it's not a very long interview. At the end I was asked if I were to meet my favorite author what would my first question be. I had to think about that one, and really I couldn't come up with a question, but I did have an answer.

You may know that I drive a transit bus around a college and have plenty of time to work on ideas for my WIP's. I was thinking about another matter the other day and I was wondering if any of you think it has merit--not that I could do something like this, but I think someone with money and backing and was more of a brainiack than me (and time) could do this and why not? Unless, of course someone has already done this, but I've never heard of it.

The idea: A coffee place where people could either buy copie of Indie author's books--no traditional books at all. If they wanted that, they can go to B&N. But you could call it something like Indie Book Nook & Coffee Bar. It would look like any small independant bookstore. Maybe you'd have to sell a few "traditional" novels, but the focus would be on Indies, so that their work could be found/seen by readers.

What do you think? I wish I had the money, I'd put one right in where Carraboo moved out, just a thousand feet away from Barnes and Nobel. Then, you'd be able to have Indie authors have their book signings, and not have to be all snooty like the other guys (telling you that everyone has to pre-order and pre-pay or no deal).

Today was simply gorgeous out, and the wind was nearly calm. The temps were in the 40's, or close to 50. And I just had to go take a nice walk in our Afton Forest Preserve (we're the managers), right outside our door. A bit of snow/ice is still clinging to the deeper shadows. I had fun crunching down on the edges of the ice--something I've loved to do since a kid. I have not grown up yet, boys and girls! I made a promise to myself a long, long time ago that I would not stop doing certain silly things that I've always done as a kid. One was simply enjoy the outdoors, and the bird song and doing silling things like cruching ice (you know when it's melted below the top and it's hollow... I love that sound! CRUNCH!)

Oh, and the croakers were up down at the little pond, and they were croaking and clicking and droning like mad. Behind me, as I approached the pond very, very slowly, the flicker began hammering on a dead tree. Then above an airplane flew over head. Ah, the sounds I have not heard all winter long! Yep. I've got Spring Feaver bad. Can't wait to smell fresh mowed grass--which is what my husband will be doing as soon as the grass begins to grow in the park, and he can eventually get off the bus for the summer.

Hope your week is going well. Go check out the interview and leave a comment. I thank you!

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Teaser Tuesday: Hey, What the Heck Happened To Dante?

As you may recall at the end of the second book, Vampire's Trill, Dante Badheart (the good-looking Native American shift-changer/telepath who was seeing Sabrina in first book, and then was ordered to stop seeing her from his vampire master) died. At the end of the second book Dante comes in his spirit form to Sabrina as she lie in a hospital bed recovering from injuries sustained from her dealings with the Woobines. He promised her he would find a way to come back to her. Remember? He admits that he loved her and never told her (the swine). He swore that if he ever found a way to physically be with her again he would do it. How romantic. Right?

Dante gave Sabrina a black stone with a little quartz running through it. She would wear it in the third novel Vampire Nocturne, as a way to remember him by. But during a moment while killing the Dreadfuls on Beyond the Black Viel, Sabrina realizes that the stone is doing something very strange whenever she kills a Dreadful.

Here is an excerpt from one of those odd moments.


Joha and Drachen stood on the either side of the doorway, I faced it dead-on.
I'm going in alone. The both of you stay out here with Ali,” I warned them. I didn't need them to get in the way. They knew I was pretty handy with my dagger from what I'd done before dinner. I had the straps off my dagger in case we came across a Dreadful. The tally on my kills stood at three. I had a feeling it was about to go up by at least one notch.
I reached for the beaver-tail style door latch, feeling my heart rate accelerate. I'd confirmed that Dreadfuls had never touched or attacked anyone. No one knew how many there were, since they all looked alike. So far, Aljehambra was the only one who had seen one in her room out of the three.
Without stepping inside, I pushed the door open. The Dagger of Delphi didn't hesitate. It flew out of its sheath. Aljehambra and Joha made noisy intakes of air. The room, and what it contained, was backlit by the fireplace deep within the room. The dark, and very familiar shape, stood near the bed. The arms of the cloak flew up like the shredded wings of a huge bat when the dagger thunked into it. Then, the Dreadful collapsed and withered to the rug, looking like an overly large prune.
Behind me, Aljehambra made a sudden shriek and Joha comforted her. From the muffling of her voice, I knew she had probably ducked into the folds of his arms, hiding her face from the whole scene.
Drachen had moved to the other side of the doorway, next to me. He stood motionless while I checked over my shoulder. His long hair swayed slightly in some errant breeze. His aura felt like a warm inviting cloak; his scent exotic, like some funky incense and it was all I could do not to put my nose into his hair and indulge in it.
And then I would eat him whole.
His large, expressive eyes gazed into the room. Sudden desire skittered through me and I had to wonder if he was attempting to put a thrall on me. Or was it me being horny? I voted for the latter, since Drachen wasn't a fully developed vampire,yet. And I was unable to change into my alter ego—Weregirl—and so felt frustrated.
Silvery light beamed back to me, and caught me off guard. The essence from the creature was absorbed by Dante's Stone, like before. This time it hit me more forcefully, and I jerked with a little surprised gasp. Drachen noticed, but said nothing. The stone felt heavier suddenly; more dense. It was like carrying a gold nugget around my neck. The dagger returned and I snatched it out of the air, twirled it, and secured it. This earned an impressed look from Drachen.
It's gone,” I said. I wasn't able to say the word kill in regard to these things, because I knew they weren't flesh and blood, but they had an essence. One the stone could absorb, and this gave me no small measure of dread. Why was the stone—the one Dante's ectoplasmic double had disappeared into—sucking in these creatures' essence? I hadn't really had a chance to think on this very deeply. But now, after it happened every time, I had the feeling that the stone was taking on energy for some later manifestation. Call me psychic. But I wondered what would the end result be. That was the scary question.
© 2012 Lorelei Bell

AUDIO BOOK NOW AVAILABLE!

Hi, everyone, I have some great news! My first Sabrina Strong book, Ascension, is now in an audio book format.  NOW THAT I HAVE YOUR ATTE...