What Makes A Heroine?

Well, last week I wanted to find out what makes a hunk for you ladies. I was surprised what the answer was and still, it was a great way to find out what women find attractive in a man. If it means he does the laundry or dishes, while looking good doing it, why not?

But today I'm going to answer my own question: What Makes a Heroine?

No one likes a dim-witted woman. I don't like seeing a woman walk out alone at night, unless, of course they're Buffy Summers, of course, and I know she can whip anybody's ass.

Buffy fighting Angel in season 2

When I created my Sabrina Strong, I needed her to have some realistic issues--like money issues--so that it made perfectly good sense that when offered to work for vampires, she couldn't turn it down. I mean, her biggest problem is keeping or even gaining employment. It would you too, if you were a touch clairvoyant and anything you touched, or came in contact would put you into a coma for a week.

While I enjoy other books in my genre, Sookie Stackhouse comes to mind. She has virtually the same problem as she is a telapath, and every man she might try to date she can hear their very thoughts. Sort of kills the moment when you know exactly what a guy is thinking about you.

I like Buffy because she did have a couple of falts, like falling in love with a vampire. Well, who wouldn't fall for Angel? And then she had to kill him because he became evil. That was a thrilling show, let me tell you. The build up of how they fell in love, had a few fights along the way, she had to fight and kill him. I got all tied up in the overwhelming grief over the fact she had to kill her boyfriend. And, of course, save the world, at the same time. That Josh Whedon, gotta love how he can blend humor with  horror, and know exactly how to hit the emotional bar juuuust right.

Sookie Stackhouse Books:

With Charlaine Harris's character, Sookie, we find a young woman who never has gone on a date, let alone had sex, and is introduced to both through Bill, the vampire. Their on/off relationship is steamy, wild, and at times she's fed up with it because she just winds up in the hospital, or gets beat up, or is staked. I think her first novels, Sookie is black and blue and bleeding all over the place. Sookie eventually goes from Bill to Eric, and then she's in and out of relationships with a werewolf, a tiger-were, and then back to Eric. NOTE: I have not read the last book, so do NOT tell me what happens, please!

Sabrina Strong Series:

My heroine of this series had to be strong willed enough to resist the vampires the best she could. In the first book Vampire Ascending, she certainly meets up with some handsome vampire dudes (Vasyl, Tremayne and Nicolas), and one shapeshifter dude (Dante Badheart). Who wins her heart in the end? Well, she falls for Dante. Resisting and later on rejecting Nicolas for the things he has done, or was part of abducting her best friend, Jeanie, who almost dies, and she asks the vampires to save Jeanie by turning her.

Sabrina is hired to find out who has killed Tremayne's life-time mate, in the first book. In the second book, she's involved in learning more about Vasyl, who has been seeking her--the sybil--for centuries. He saves her from a car wreck, takes a bullet out of her and proceeds to tell her all about why he has been waiting for her. And, because Dante has distance himself from her (because Tremayne has forbidden him from being intimate with her any more), she naturally becomes infatuated with Vasyl.

Her mission in this second book, Vampire's Trill, is to rescue Tremayne from imprisonment, and get him to his trial on Dark World. Easy? Not really. While there she makes a few enemies. Well, she sort of kills a designer pet and cuts the tails off a demon (he grows them back, but he's pissed). But they all return to Earth okay. But she is later abducted and tortured because Jeanie's mother wants to know where her daughter is. Jeanie's brother just wants to cut her up. Sabrina winds up in the hospital at the end of this book, and the two Mrs. Woodbine and son, Mark, are put in jail.

Meanwhile, Sabrina's guy troubles have mounted. New guy across the road, Bill, Gannon, wants to date her. Vasyl proposes, and Dante has died.

The third book, Vampire Nocturne, continues with Sabrina becoming Vasyl's bride, and then because she is still mourning her loss over Dante (who she still loved), he gives her time to grieve. But she learns that her cousin, Lindee, has disappeared, and when she goes to investigate, Sabrina winds up on a totally different world where vampires rule, in fact, Drakuyla (Vlad Teppes), is king and a number of other men want to become her lover, or taste her blood. I enjoyed witing this one where I place Sabrina into a world stuck in the Victorian age.

In each book I've manage to put Sabrina up against some nasty vampires who want to do her in, or taste her blood. I've always wanted to put the real Dracula into a story and Vampire Nocturne has him in there as the unlikely hero in the end, and my little surprise ending cures readers curiosity as to what is going on with Dante and that stone he gave her.

More adventures for my heroine is in store, so either check out those you've missed, or stay tuned for updates on the next book in the Sabrina Strong Series.

Curently, Lorelei is working on
fourth book in the series.

Spell of the Black Unicorn & A Little Help from Friends

Back in the day, as a writer I had very little help, absolutely no feedback, except for when I was in a writer's critique circle-which was way long ago. Now, with the Internet, I'm connecting with other writers all over, and other people who can do things I simply cannot. You've got your beta readers, people who can do covers, and also someone to format the manuscript.

There's no way I could have gotten Spell of the Black Unicorn ready to put out as an ebook without my friends, and I'll name them here and give them all a shout out and have some links where you can find them.

Shelly Arkon is my awesome beta reader. I don't know how I could get a better one. I don't believe I could. I'm not sure if she rolled her eyes at my use of the word "peer" so many times in the manuscript, but yeah, it was one of my "crush" words. She often said something encouraging, telling me I was an awesome story teller. You can find this talented author here at Secondhand Shoes (also the name of her own book)

Since my novel was origninally published as a paperback in 2008, it sort of went by the wayside. I wanted to allow the story to see new light, because a lot of people bought and said nice things about it. It also needed a new cover. Something that looked interesting and that might give it the look of something trendy, with the fantasy undertones it needed, without looking too much like a children's book (or YA), which it is not. Well, answering the call for creating a great cover was my good friend Jeremy Hawkins. You can find Mr. Retro-Zombie at this site. Here is the cover, in case you've missed it.


Isn't that a nice cover? It really caught me by surprise. I didn't know what Jeremy would have in mind when he said he could do this for me. We had to work on the lettering, a little to make it brigher, but it's perfect!

Now I don't know how many of you out there can format, or know what you're doing, but I've got no idea about it. Although I did format the original book for the publishers to put it out as a paperback, I had very good instructions (and still had to pay $400 for them to get it printed). So, I needed a formatter. I have a friend in Carole Gill, and she offered her husband, John's help in this area. His services are called White Rose Ebook Formatting. His service is straight forward and he's excellent. I highly recommend him. He also does book covers, and has helped me with a few of my short story covers. I had pictures, and he put in the lettering, got the correct size of the cover/picture and so forth. He was also able to up-load one for me, as I had trouble doing it. So, he's very reliable and flexible in what he can do for anyone in need of formatting and covers and so forth.
This weekend I will be getting the ebook to Amazon. Wish me luck. I was unable to get the high speed Internet service. It's too complicated to explain here. Suffice it to say I'm still on dial up. Yes. I'm as patient as a fool, I guess. I had a feeling I this was not going to work for me.

Hopefully the next post I will write will be where you can get your hands on the ebook copy of Spell of the Black Unicorn. Untill then, my friends!

Wicked Wednesday

The weather is trying to turn around and give us hope here in northern Illinois. I think the state should be renamed to Annoying, actually. I'd like to move away someday, but that might be a while off.

But good news reached me today. Two of the four ladies who played the little game to win a copy of Vampire Nocturne just receved them today. Dora DeGostino, and Nina D'Arcangela--both in New York State--notified me that their copies came. Dora stated on Twitter that she got her "Easter present! Vampire Nocturne (3rd install Sabrina Strong series) is now in my hot little hands. luv the cover!"

For Dora, this is the second book she's won. She's a great fan who has written great reviews on all my books. Funnily enough, she claims she is not a fan of vampire fiction. I get that from other people too. You need not really like vampire fiction to enjoy my books.

Vampire Nocturne is nearly a stand-alone book, in that many of the main characters who Sabrina will be interacting with are in another world. Plus it is a steampunk, or has steampunk themes, since this world she goes to is in the Victorian era.

I'm looking forward to some reactions/reviews on this book.

Meanwhile, I'm puzzled about one silly thing. And it is silly of me to even worry about it. You see I've been pinning up my business cards up in a local grocery store for the past few years. It usually will remain pinned up for weeks. Eventually someone takes it. My new ones are sort of cool. It says "Got Vampire" in a creepy font, and I've got all my info down below on eye-catching neon orange. If the card is gone, then I know someone might really be interested in the books--I hope. But lately, I think the last 4 weeks, I've put my card up and almost the next day it's gone. I'd put up another and in a day or two it would be gone again. Last week I put up two--together--and they were there for a few days. I came back to work and saw both cards were gone over the weekend. So I put up another card. This morning it was gone.

The reason I'm wondering about this is because people can be nasty and take something down they think is--oh, let's just say against their moral judgement? Having said that and with Easter coming up, I've decided to not re-pin my card again for a while. I'm hoping whoever it is taking my cards and probably throwing them away will quit coming in and taking them. I'm certain that there aren't that many people grabbing my card because they're going to buy my books. I really have never seen my cards just fly off the bulletin board like this before.

Well, before I leave I wanted to direct some of you to my Sabrina Strong Fan facebook page. If you are not already a "fan" or a member of this, you may request I add you. I would love to see some new "blood", if you will.

If you ARE a member I would love to hear from you more often. As a matter of fact I've got a little questionnair up. The question is how many books do you read in a year? I'll leave this up for about a week and see what sort of responses I get. I'll then post a new question. I'd love to hear from you, so don't be shy. it's just a simple question.

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter.

Tuesday Teaser ~ Jeanie Woodbine

This week's tribute to the women of my book is Jeanie Woodbine, Sabrina's best friend-turned vampire (in the first book). This is a selection from when they go shopping together.

We agreed to meet at Macy's, so as I walked into the store and surveyed the clothing areas, I hoped that Heath and Jeanie were already here. Within a few steps of the front door, I spied Heath right away checking out a mannequin dressed in a stunning, flamingo-pink halter-top and jeans. If he stood still he might be mistaken for a mannequin himself, dressed down in jeans and a black shirt that read, 'I love humans ... they're yummy!' in gold with a vampire happy-face with red fangs below it. A good thing he had a worn a brown corduroy jacket over it, someone might get the wrong idea. As I strode in, I watched as a woman pulled up a few feet from him and took secret glances at him. I hoped Jeanie hadn't seen it. She wasn't a jealous woman as a human, but I didn't know what she was like as a vampire.

I nearly chuckled with the knowledge that most humans couldn't resist a vampire, whether or not he was trying to enthrall them.

“How's this one?” Jeanie's voice brought my attention around to see the devastating blond in a beautiful red dress, displaying it for Heath to see. Against her paper-white skin, with her dark red lipstick, and the red, open-toed, hurt-me heels showing off her crimson-painted toenails - the contrast was startling. If I'd been a guy, I think I would have drooled.

“Nice.” Gaze flicking up at me he turned and thrust a hand toward me. “Here's the blushing bride now.”

Jeanie twirled to face me, that huge smile of hers more brilliant than ever. She padded toward me. “Look! I've found the perfect dress to wear at your wedding!” She twirled for me.

I was a little shocked with the words. Wedding. Bride. Panic. Now.

“Me. Right?” Jeanie grasped the dress in her fingers and stuck one red-heel-clad foot out. “The shoes are on sale, and they match!”

“Nice,” I said, easing within a few feet of the both of them. If Jeanie were human, I would have hugged her. Her being a vampire meant the touchy-feely thing had to remain as part of our history.

And tomorrow I will be doing a dedication to Jonathan Frid, who died last week, on my shared blog with Carole Gill. I will throw the link up in here and share it all over for anyone who are Dark Shadow fans.

You Ever Google Yourself?

I was Googling an author just this morning to find her on line and at facebook, this morning and thought "I wonder what I'd find on myself" So, I went ahead and put my name into Google. You know how many Lorelei Bell's there are out there. Thank God! I don't want people to know exactly where I live, they'd have to know where I live to find me.

Anyway, yes. I'm there. Lorelei's Muse is there, and I'm on Smashwords, FrogenYozurt, which is my publisher's site (and you will see that he has used the top portion of my second book for his banner--which is really cool) Amazon, facebook... I read my bio in Smashwords. Sounds a little lame to me. I found my interview on "Bloody Bookish" which was done back last October. And a certain someone had left some odd comment, which I hadn't seen before (I'm not saying who--*Jimmy*--he knows who he is).

I went to the second page, and even more places that I've been featured on appeared (Such as Carol Gill's interview as well as James Garcia Jr.'s Kink River's Life spotlight on Indi authors.

I found my first book over on a site "Top Mystery Novels" which I don't even remember seeing. I think it was placed there in 2011-probably by my publisher.

The third page gives you my facebook page, and my second novel's release of "Vampire's Trill".

And this one on Zimbio was a little surprising. this is some sort of Hollywood site. My first book's release is here
http://www.zimbio.com/search?q=Loreli+Bell+Vampire+Ascending&type=all  Plus my second book's release announcement is here

Sort of interesting to find myself out there, and how a publisher is helpful in placing my book's releases onto interesting sites like the last one. Hmmm, I need to tweet these and then I've got to get ready to leave for a day out at a local state park for a picnic and fun hikes in the white pine forest.

Have a good day!

Guest Host: Sabrina Strong ~ Being a Were-Creature Really Sucks!

Hi, there everyone! Sabrina Strong in for Lorelei Bell who has just gone on vacation, and I'm so jealous. I haven't had a vacation in almost a year. But, I'm in here today to fill in for Lorelei. Just for today. Lorelei will be back at the helm soon.

Meanwhile, I was just wondering what I would post about today, instead of nasty old vampires.

Well, there's all sorts of supernatural creatures out there. And doggone it if I didn't run smack dab into one one night and it bit me!

You remember? I was bitten by a werewolf. You were probably wondering Will Sabrina turn into a werewolf? So, I'm here to tell you, I didn't turn into a werewolf totally. I became a were-creature. Half-human and half—the other thing.

You see, we didn't know if Nicolas had gotten all the werewolf venom out of me, or was in time getting to me after chasing off the werewolf that bit me. Well, turns out, I had to go through the transformation. Believe me, waking up in the middle of a corn field naked on a November morning is not my idea of fun. You can just about have this werewolf business! But my vision and olfactory senses are about 10 percent better than they were before. I'm also more aware of pheromones, auras, and the like. I can't see auras, I can just detect them better than before I was bitten. I feel them, sort of like you feel humidity, or the lack of it. I feel a strong aura when I meet up with one, and it either attracts me, or makes me wary. It's a good thing to know when you're in the presences of someone who is supernatural.

Of course, there are still those I don't get a read from. Being a touch clairvoyant, I'm able to know things about people who are around me. Also, places. I know exactly the lay out of a house or building before I even step into it. Sort of cool, I think. But the knowing things about people sometimes gets me into trouble. And also, it helps me find out things that I need to know to help others. So, it's sort of a double edged sword where the knowing kicks in without my even inviting it and I sometimes go into a trance and won't come out for a while. It tends to scare people who aren't prepared for it.

I'm unable to tell you too much about this, but I can tell you that Dante, the Native American shift-changer, was with me to protect me. But afterwards I met up with some more werewolves. It was a little touch and go, I can tell you that much. They were all waiting for me up at my house. Fortunately, Dante was with me—as I said—and so were the twins.

If you forgot who the twins are, they are Heath and Lief Sufferden from Liverpool, England, and both were turned into vampires in 1969. If you don't know this, then you didn't read the first book, Vampire Ascending. So, if you don't want to get lost, you'd better just go and buy a copy, or the eBook, because the second book is due to come out soon. Lorelei hasn't got a publishing date as yet, but it might be in a month or so. And you sure as heck don't' want to be left behind. I was just speaking to her last night, and she tells me she is finished with a 1st draft of the third book and is working on a first draft of the fourth. Trying to keep up with me, you see? I keep her sort of busy with all my many adventures with the vampires, werewolves, demons, new worlds, elves, and leprechauns and so forth.

Well, guess that's all I can think of saying to keep you all up to date. Oh, and there is a couple of first chapters, I believe here for the next book Vampire's Trill. I believe there are other chapters and excerpts from her next books as well. So, enjoy! I'll be hanging around, just in case Lorelei needs me. Happy weekend everyone!

 

Another Guest Blog & Contest!

Hello to all my friends, which includes my favorite stalkers and lurkers, of course!

Come on by to Patricia's Vampire Notes today and you will have a chance to win either an eBook, or a soft-bound copy. Your choice, there will be two winners—one will win the eBook and another person will win the softbound book, so if you don't care which, say you'd like either one in your comments, we will just pick winners, and I'll decide which one you'll get.

When you get done with that, I'd like you to swing by and take a look at what I've been working on: VAMPIRE ASCENDING~The Book. This is my book's blog. I had begun it when the book first came out and couldn't figure out how to promote it. Some of you don't know about it, and maybe that's my fault, mainly because I just got too busy to promote it.

But I'm prepping it now for a summer event. What's the event? I'm not ready to tell you, since summer is not quite here yet. And it has something to do with the next book's release, and I'm trying to tie it in with my birthday. This will very much depend upon followers who join, so if you have not joined yet, go there now. I am going to have a contest at some point this summer. YOU MUST BE A FOLLOWER TO WIN!

Kindle - Review - Interview

My Book is on KINDLE!

Wow, did I sound justlike Oprah, or what?

And while you're at Amazon another review is up by “Sandpiper”. Here is a portion of what he had to say, and then you can go ahead and take a look for yourself.

“Let me say up front that I do NOT read vampire novels. . . My wife has read and enjoyed Stephanie Myer's “Twilight” series and even “forced” me to watch the movies with her. Still, I do not read vampire novels. . .

“However. . .I (reluctantly) agreed to review Lorelei Bell's “Vampire Ascending” and now you can call me “converted”. Maybe it was Bells' captivating writing style that drew me in more and more into the story, which made it difficult for me to put the book aside. Bell's greatest talent is writing like she speaks while still maintaining a high level style, which contributes to an enjoyable and fluent reading.” read more here.
Sandpiper gave me 5 stars. Very generous. I don't know. I'm modest about my writing abilities. Some days I feel more like a monkey in sweats mindlessly hitting the keys, checking facebook and my blogs, etc.

My other news is there is another interview up on me, and book with J.L. Jackson at her blog today. You can go to see this here.