Black Holes and Ley Lines

Hello, my pretties. Well, as you may recall, I've been sick with the flu, these past few days and have not been able to do much but rest--which is what you should do when down with the flu. But today I'm able to sit at the computer--and my eyes aren't burning any more, thank goodness!--so I though I'd bring you a little something about this third book.

I liked the idea of using ley lines in my stories. "Leys is used to indicate ancient straight lines that connect natural points of power in the earth. They were discovered by Alfred Watkins (1855-1935) He believed that the leys indicated the course of subtle earth energies. Where two or more leys cross is a power point that has, in the past , naturally drawn people to assemble or build structers such as standing stones, barrows, tembles and churches." - The Witch Book.

I've had interest in this for years. I don't know how many other authors use ley lines but Kim Harrison uses ley lines for her Rachel Morgan series for her witch and demons to cross from one world to another.

When I began work on my Sabrina Strong Series, I felt that the ley line could be used to make things more interesting, give the main character strange new worlds to explore, and give greater depth in her fantasy world. I other words, she wouldn't always be stuck on Earth, or in the same place book after book.

In the second book, Vampire's Trill, Sabrina travels via ley line to Dark World--a not so nice place--filled with lots of strange creatures, demons and so forth. I don't remember when I decided that the third book, Vampire Nocturne, would mostly take place in a completely different world (BEyond the Black Veil), but it was early on. That was when I began looking into "black holes" and the theories surrounding them.

Carl Sagan (scientist), thought that black holes might be considered a "rapid-transit system" between galaxies. A network of black holes (small black circles within larger violet circles are connected by violet lines), might permit objects to travel through time and space. Scientist have been trying to unravel this, and find an explanation of the possible existence of UFOs--and thus explaining Micheal Jordan (who everyone knows is really an alien, right?)

According to Einstein's theory of relativity, time would pass more slowly for those on board a spacecraft if they were to travel at the speed of light--which is 186,000 miles per second. The idea of slowing down time interested me, and I wanted to show it through Sabrina's watch--which stops, or dies, and becomes useless to her the more she uses the ley lines.

(Spoiler alert!)

In Vampire Nocturne, Sabrina, more or less, learns quickly (out of desperation), how to tap a ley line in a scene where she has been taken to a room to await a visit by Drakulya. A visit whhich she wants no part of, and so she thinks about going home and eventually does. She finds her trips back and forth from one world to the other is becoming easier. In fact, she decides to make a visit to one of her favorite haunts, Tom's Tavern, where she meets up with Rick (leprchaun), Morkel (elf), and the quiet, bu7t psychic Tom the bar keeper, who always knows what you want to drink, and you never have to pay a dime. (Hey, it's my fantasy, deal).

The idea of a portal that opens up to take anyone and anything to this planet was another idea that I used, so that knowledge of our world exists in Beyond the Black Veil. I love to use portals in my fantasises as well. I tied this in with the ley lines and black hole idea to place Sabrina on Beyond the Black Veil--the world that is stuck in Victorian times, and is ruled by vampires who out-number humans ten to one.

When I write, I don't like to put restrictions and rules as to what I can and cannot put into my story. The wilder the better. If my urban fantasy has a little science fiction or fact in it, so be it. This one happens to be a bit of a steam punk, for those of you who like that sort of thing.

Well, until next time, happy reading. I'm just glad to be feeling better, have my appetite back, and hope to get back to work tomorrow.

Rick (the leprichaun) Talks about Book 3 in Sabrina Strong Series

Hi, everyone. I'm Rick. Better known as the leprechaun in the Sabrina Strong Series. If you've been keeping up, I'm introduced in the second book. But I'm here today to talk about the third book, coming out real soon. So, pay attention, 'coz I'm not going to repeat this for any losers out there. Got it? Good.

So—eh—let's see. In the second book we did a lot of stuff like released Mr. Tremayne from imprisonment, then we went to Dark World, kicked some demon butt there, and Tremayne lost favor with those devils there. But Sabrina got through that pretty unscathed, and got some experience in demon-ass kicking. She also solved a murder mystery—and if you read that book, you had to think she'd never get out of that old house alive. Right?

Also (spoiler alert!) Dante died at the end, which I guess a lot of you ladies sort of got upset about. Well, I promised not to give away too much, but you've gotta read this third one, because--(whispering) things really look up at the end of it where he's concerned. (Winks)

But this time she's trying to find her cousin, Lindee, who has gone missing. You think about it, a person could go missing for a lot of reasons—not just that maybe some foul play is involved. But admittedly this is foul play when you think about it.

Just so you know, Lindee had background and issues up the wazoo. Especially with her parents. And she was what we mildly call a bad girl. I say mildly because we've all had our bad times. Right? So some people just think she ran away. Sabrina, being a clairvoyant, knows better.

Sabrina finds out where Lindee was last seen. They got police and dogs scouring the place, but guess what? Lindee is no longer on terra firma. Nope. And when Sabrina slips through the portal that takes her to a world called Beyond the Black Veil, you can bet something really interesting is going to happen. 'Coz you see, that world is run by vampires, and I'm told they're sort of stuck in the mid-Victorian age.

Oh, and Sabrina actually meets Dracula himself—the real Vlad The Impaler, who is now a vampire. I swear to God! I nearly fell off my stool at Tom's Tavern when she told us.

And as if that ain't the worse part about it, she has to face these weird things called Dreadfuls who make humans sick and stick around until they die. But she figures out what she has to do to get rid of them permanently.

Oh, jeez. Did I say too much?

Well, the mystery as to where Lindee is is plenty to deal with, but you see the vampires on this world have donors for their needs. But one of these ladies whose blood is really, really popular was murdered, and has Sabrina a little distracted too. Along with all the good looking dudes in this as well. I mean, Sabrina is a good looking lady, and besides being a touch clairvoyant, she's also the sibyl, who has powers of her own. She's sort of discovering them in this book, and figuring out how to work her mojo. Dig?

Well, I think I've said enough here. If I say any more I'll say too much. I just wanted to get the word out. So, if you're in Batavia Illinois, look me up at Tom's Tavern. I'm buying. (laughs) See ya! (disappears)

Teaser Tuesday ~ Dead Woman In The Street

Hello, my pretties. Yes, it's Teaser Tuesday and I've chosen the beginning paragraph from Chapter Four, from my next novel, Vampire Nocturne. Hope you enjoy!

I stared at the woman lying on her back. She wore a beautiful red dress with black lace and fringe along the front, sleeves worn off the shoulders. A corset gave her an hour glass shape, allowing a view of cleavage. Her black hooded cape with white satin lining spread beneath her like angel's wings. The dress style, from my educated guess, might be something like women would have worn on our world in the late 18oo's. Her fancy hat with fluffy feathers was slightly askew but still pinned on her head. My Knowing told me she had been placed here. My Knowing also told me she worked in a tavern of some sort. Her auburn hair, pinned up off her neck cascaded off one side of her face. Coppery coils draped over her shoulder and across the cape. Glittering jewelery suggested she was a bit more than merely a saloon slut—possibly a real party girl, from the many flitting images coming to me of her with men. One man in particular was prominent in the many scenes that flitted through my mind.

Clumsily, I tried to gain my feet without touching the dead woman too much. This proved to be next to impossible since I was sprawled on top of her.

©2012 Lorelei Bell

Steam Punk Me

After a day driving around in the slush around NIU, and dealing with the whole Students Are BACK-AHHHH! thing I'm home, wondering if there's a piece of chocolate that's large enough to just make me feel better. Probably not. I need a bubble bath, but all out of that. Need champagne--ooo, got that. But waiting for a better ocassion.

So, the whole 7 hours of driving my #2 bus from campus, downtown and doing the complete circle it does 14 times a day, I"ve been thinking about my third book. Yeah. The reason being is that the minor characters are now introducing themselves to me. Not only that, because I write fantasy and can do just about anything I want
I'm seeing some potential here. My character, Sabrina Strong, has accepted (grudgingly) that she is a sibyl and has responsibilities--not all, but the part about ridding the earth of certain dangers is okay, as long as she doesn't get blood on her new coat.

So, she is able to go into other worlds. The thing is she has gone to this other world to find her cousin who has been sucked through a portal. That's the mystery part. The other part was that this world also has one certain historical character--he was both historical and fictitious. Okay, I'll tell you. I've put Dracula, the Impaler in this, and he is a vampire. I wanted to hold this world at a point where modern technology has not yet happened. But by my own logic, if people from Earth keep on disappearing and are sucked into this world, the knowledge could also be there. Thus, I'm considering doing a bit of Steam Punk with this one.

I do know that there is one book I'd like to check out at B&N, but I can't think of the title and I know it came out maybe over the summer, I don't know. I remember the book's cover, and it seemed there was a lot of blue, a couple of people on the front. I'll have to go back to check it out, I hope to at some point. But if anyone out there has any good Steam punk titles to throw at me, I wouldn't mind taking them into consideration.

I already know I'm going to have a character who is considered an inventor by his siblings. He's young adult and just this past week he has been coming into focus more and more. His name is Joha. He is one of Dracula's sons. I know that we, as writers, all have someone we pattern a character after, in looks or personality. It's fun to do this. Joha has been always sort of dower, quiet. At first he played the guitar, but now I'm seeing him in a new light. He is quite the inventor.

So, as I sit here trying to get my brain back into place--some day they may discover that bus driving causes minor concussions and brain damage results. I'll use it as my excuse, anyway.

Now that I'm busy, I'm not able to post as much. A lot of my focus will be on the WIP's. I won't get around to everyone that I'd like and I hope you'll all forgive me. I'll do a little more on the weekends.

Tomorrow I will be posting a new Sumiko REads. I think these might interest those of you out there who like these incredibly imaginative fantasies.

Next week I hope to put up an interview of someone I've come to know on another writer's site, and he is not yet published, but he works very hard at it.