Requiem Book 6 in Series Now Available!

Yes. It's finally out! I'm slowly getting the series out one by one. Have two more. But here is Requiem!

Bill is back, literally from the dead. Is he vampire? Human? Or something more? His objective is to find and protect the sibyl. But this may prove to be harder than ever since the demon Naamah has vowed vengeance against her and enlists the talents of a witch to help.

After the takeover, Tremayne is once again in power, calling Sabrina and Vasyl to his realm. His reasons for summoning the rival rogue vampire becomes apparent soon enough. Vasyl is asked to take over the eastern half of the U.S., while Tremayne goes to take on the western half, vacated by the vanquished (and very dead), Ilona.

Sabrina is uncertain of ramifications, and where this puts her in the hierarchy, but she knows her husband is now a very powerful and important vampire in Tremayne's realm. But she barely has time to get comfortable in this new position when she's attacked by Lief, who wants revenge for her having killed his mate. The V.I.U. (Vampire Investigation Unit), ignores the situation and lets Lief go. Showing whose side they're on.

More than ever, Sabrina has to become pregnant, Tremayne is adamant about it, and when it looks as though she's about to go through with it, her spilled blood causes Vasyl to vacate and abdicate his new realm before he is tempted beyond the point of no return.

A breach in security at Tremayne Towers causes Sabrina, and others to fight off some nasty demons, but she is injured and needs a quick infusion of vampire blood to save her life. New comer Stefan Capella comes in as a major player in the sibyl's life. The secret behind who he really is is revealed, and although he brings on the charm, Sabrina isn't crazy about where this will ultimately lead.

After Bill saves Sabrina's friends from vampire attack, he soon infiltrates the Towers, and eventuality finds Sabrina. His attempt at staying out of sight fails, but everything and everyone comes together as they attempt to route the witch from the Towers, but when a clever demon vanishes with her, Bill and Dante are the only ones who can follow, and she is suddenly in Naamah's clutches. Are they too late to save her? The adventure continues.

The Big Bad Werewolves

Even he who is pure of heart

And says his prayers by night

May become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms

And the moon is full and bright.

This poem is actually from the 1941 film "The Wolfman" invented by screenwriter Siodmak.

What the vampires were to Transylvania, the werewolves were to northern and western Europe. The werewolf legends may have sprung from myths of the Norse gods who were said to change into animal forms, such as the bear and wolf. But practically every nation has its were-creatures lore.

wax  reproduction of Henry Hull
as the wolfman

And, of course our wolfy friends have had their moments forever vilified in films, like Werewolf of London (1935), and The Wolfman (1941), and newer, modern versions, which became more graphic, such as The Howling (I-III) And my favorite so far has always been with Jack Nicholson and Michelle Pfeiffer in the 1994 film,Wolf  

I could spend the whole post talking about the films, but I won't. If you have interest in them, you can catch the links, or go find the DVD's. What really fascinates me--because my tastes go with the really bizarre--are the real-life cases, which usually turn out to be even more crazy than what they can put in a book or on film. Just like with the vampire lore, there are actual, real stories where the cases were quite strange, and may have helped feed the legends.

Take for instance the Beast of Gevaudan. From 1764 to 1767 and unknown monster terrorized shepherds and those who worked in the fields near the Auvergne Mountains in France. Known as the Beast of Gevaudan, the creature was said to have savagely attacked and killed at least 40 people--some were childre--and attacked many more. The locals claimed the creature was red, and covered with scales, and had a mouth the size of a lion's. Yeah... right. It could run at great speeds and evade any trap or hunter. I'd run like hell too! But, you know how a tall tail get even taller, once it's spread from mouth-to-mouth. Especially if there's a pint in the hand. Anyway, in 1767 a large wolf was killed and the attacks ceased. Go figure.

Another story of a man named Stubb, a brutish woodcutter who had been cornered in a forest ravine by a large hunting party with a pack of hounds. He was on all fours, they say, snapping and snarling like a beast, he had fought with inhuman strength until they overcame him.

There are dozens of documented cases of lycanthrope.

Petrus Gonsalvus
Wolfman of Munich

In some cases, werewolf stories may be founded on fact. Odd cases, fortunately are rare, but there have been people who believed they were animals and have killed, eaten raw flesh or blood. This condition is known as zoanthropic paranoia. Yeah, well, it just goes to show that you just don't know your neighbor all that well...

Another odd story is the "wolfman from the Canary Islands". Meet Petrus Gonsalvus(left), aka "The Wolfman from Munich" aka "the man of the woods". He was born in 1537 in Tenerife, and his life was pretty well chronicled, as he was, well, an oddity in life.

He went to Paris to refine his rough manners. As luck would have it, he married a pretty woman, but their children inherited his hairy traits. His condition is called "Hypertrichosis", or "the werewolf syndrome". At last account, the portrait of Gonsalvus is in Castle Ambras, otherwise known as the "Frankenstein Gallery", or the "Chamber of Art and Curiosities" It's filled with a few of the more grotesquely disfigured people, like the man with disabilities, or the one who had somehow lived with a lance that pierced his other eye. Ouch!

Gregor Baci who was healed after having
a lance pierce his right eye

Well, my pretties, I hope I've brought you some amount interesting visuals, as well as stories of the macabre in my post about "werewolfery".

Tomorrow, (if I have time), I'm going to wind this series up with my post about vampires... 

Hmmm, who do we all know that has been accused in many movies, books and such as a vampire?

Vlad The Impaler "Dracula"

Vampire Nocturne now Available!

I know that a lot of you have been waiting for this third installment--well, I have too! So here is the link for Vampire Nocturne.

Since I'm feeling under the weather, I'll have to leave you with this for today.

Double Teaser Tuesday ~ two teasers for the price of one

Hello, my very lovely pretties...

This beautiful sunset has nothing at all with my post today. I just wanted to lure you in... because I'm evil that way *smile*

First I would like to give you one of my favorite lines in Vampire's Trill. It's in chapter 13, page 146:

“Miss Strong!” Nathanial's voice made me stop and twirl as the white doors slid open for me. He had rushed up behind me, striding, with long legs.

“What?” I said, backing out into the office, wanting to make a clean get away from the inner office. I wasn't entirely sure Nicolas hadn't sent Nathanial to hold me captive until he got here.

Nathanial's gaze flashed off me and went to some point behind me. Oh, shit! My mind could almost see Nicolas standing right behind me and I felt a chill crawl up my spine. I swallowed, trying to remain calm. Vampires could tell by your heart rate if you've been up to something you shouldn't have been. And mine was hammering.

That was when the color washed out of Nathanial's face — what color there was, that is.

“You aren't bothering this lovely young lady, here, now are you?” the gravelly voice almost melted me knowing Hobart was there, and not Nicolas. I stood my ground, and flicked a casual glance back to the leather-clad Were.

“Who the hell are you?” Nathanial came back bravely, but I bet he'd nearly shit his pants upon seeing the Were standing there. Hobart looked like something that just walked out of the worst alley of Chicago. Even in his cleaned up state, he had a presence that took quite a bit to get used to.

“That's not important. What's important is I don’t like the way you're talkin' to my Alpha. Dig?” He clasped one hand over a fist and I heard some knuckle popping. Hobart threw off enough testosterone to knock any lesser man over. I could see that Nathanial wanted nothing of it.

“Never mind. Have a nice evening, Ms. Strong. Hope to catch up to you later.” He tried for a polite tone, but it was forced.

“Not likely. I'm leaving for the day.” I turned and strode away. Hobart stood waiting for me to pass before he moved a muscle, or took his eyes off Nathanial. Once I stepped past, he followed me out of the office. I could hear the leather of his pants and jacket creak and the buckles and chains all over clanging as he walked. I felt like a hardware store with balls was following me as I strolled to the elevator.

©2011 Lorelei Bell

Also, I've been monitoring my posts just like anyone else around blogspot, and you can see I have my most popular post to the left hand side.

There's one that is so popular I get a hand full of hits per day on it. Sometimes a dozen (depends upon if Germany is looking in on me--or Russia (*wave*)

But here's the thing--this particular post has had 369 pageview of all time--and it went up on Sept. 13 of THIS YEAR! It only has two comments on it, but this is the most popular post on my site. So, go check it out if you haven't already.

Its a very short teaser from Chapter 14 in Vampire's Trill. it is quite a teaser--if you get my drift.  Here is the link TEASER TUESDAY.

And if you've yet to join the Fan's of Vampire Ascending/Sabrina Strong Series on facebook yet, just hit my LINK.

Have a lovely day, my pretties!

PAPERBACK IS NOW AVAILABLE!

Hello, my prietties.

Yes! That's the news! The paperback is now available via the usual distributors, for those of you who would rather hold a book in your hands than some electronic device... and I don't blame you. I do too!

I've had quite a week driving later in the day into the night, and so I have had to adjust. And now, because of the long 1 hour long route (my usual bus route is only a half hour), my back is letting me know that I'm just not able to do this sort of thing much longer. So... please tell people about my books. If you have friends who enjoy vampire fiction, direct them to the series. They will thank you. I will thank you. And maybe some day I'll be able to get off this bus and not be in such pain I can't even make my bed ( my husband had to do it this morning... that's why I love him--among other things, of course (^;)

All for today. Have a very good day, and be careful driving around. People are not paying attention!

Teaser Tuesday ~ Vampire's Trill

I don't know about you, but I love vampire humor.

Well, kiddies, today is Teaser Tuesday and since I've got a novel poised to come out, barring hurricans, floods, and other natural desasters (oh, didn't you see yesterdays post about tornadoes???It was fantastic, and you should really check it out. The pictures alone will make you gasp!),  I don't see why it shouldn't be out this coming fall. . . ahem.

So, I opened up my docurment for Vampire's Trill, scrolled to some random page and viola!

Let's see what Sabrina is up to now!

Slinking off to the bathroom, I dressed. The jeans fit perfectly, so did the T-shirt, but I didn't use the bra, or the panties because that would be tacky, whether they fit me or not.

"Who's things are these?" I asked, coming out of the small bathroom.

"Those were Becky's."

"Becky?" I stood into the boots he had set on the floor. They were my size--lo and behold.

"Frank's womans' things," he added.

"Yeah. Hey, I'm sorry to hear about her--God." I stared down at the floor. I couldn't imagine how that must have been. She'd had blue eyes, and brown hair that she dyed blonde, and long fingernails that she went to get done weekly.  She was pretty, I thought. My inner eye was seeing her, mainly because I was wearing her clothes. F-ing great.

Okay my pretties! There you have it.

Also, a little celebration--I went over 80,000 words in my WIP, and I didn't even realize it. I was working on trying not to write all day. And darn it, the funniest thing happened. I wrote the damned scene I was trying to avoid. Doesn't that just beat all?

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!

 

Hello to my friends and fans . . . here are my updates:

It's been quite an up and down week--weather was up and down, definitely. Went from the 90's down to the 50's, had to drive in the most torrential rain I've ever driven in--along with lightning. Ah, the exciting moments of a bus driver. I had to apologise for not having towels, and welcomed them to Seattle as they got on rather soppy.

And my book's eBook sales went from the basement back up, and sort of hovered there for a few days, momentarily hitting an all-time high at # 31,940--for a brief few hours yesterday, and then dropped off. But that's expected. I just was a bit thrilled that a bunch of people are showing they are very interested in my book. If it gets to #1 I might just pass out, but it's a long ways from that.

As some of you may know, I've sent in my second book to my publisher. I got word back that they are aiming for a late summer release. I told him that's fine with me, but my fans wanted it last week.

Sorry. But you know, if it were one of your big house publishers, you'd all have to wait a full year for the hard-bound copy to come out, and then another year after that for the softbound. I'm guessing you won't mind to wait just a few more months to get your hands on an eBook of my next installment of Sabrina Strong's escapades with the vampires, werewolves and shape shifters.

I've been posting little tidbits to do with the next book, little hints, and helpful background into sibyls, and something called the Dagger of Delphi, over at Vampire Writer's Retreat and there's a bit on the mystic ring, which has something called the Seal of Solomon, and such on it. The above are coins with the Seal of Solomon on them. Sort of a little thing I thought I'd put up here today.

I'm, of course, working on the third book, so I'm only getting out once in a while to post and make comments. Any of the work I am doing on the third book can be viewed over at Lorelei's Writing Journal. I may have portions of chapters, or just notes on what I'm doing. This third book is going to be somewhat different, taking Sabrina into a different world almost right away. This is my "steampunk" novel with all the delicious hunks to drool over, and a couple of mysteries to solve, and danger. Plus, if you have an avad interest in Dracula, you'll be pleased to know I've got him in this as well. You'll want to see how I've done this, I'm sure.

I'm also happy, I want to say, for my longest friend here on blogspot, Heather McCorkle of Heather's Oddessey. She has made a tough, but I think, good decision, after much work, on her book, "Secret of Spruce Knoll" and at trying very, very hard to find an agent to take it, and having to come to a very tough decision over self-publishing, or going with a small publisher.

I have been a follower of Heather's for four years, now, and she mine, and we've been supportive of each other this whole while, and I wouldn't think of stopping my support of her. I think if there were a nice award for friendship, I would give it to her. But being blogging friends is enough. I wish her the best of luck!

Anti-Cruelty To Vampire Socitety

I am a member of the Anti-Cruelty To Vampire Society. I'm the first member, in fact, since as far as I know, I've just made it up.

So, what's it all about? Well, just as it says. I'm all for fair treatment of all vampires. I mean, really, we've been cruel to them in films and books down through the years. How can you not feel a little pity?

Well, Nosferatu was a pretty ugly vampire, I'll admit, but still. . .

When I think of all the films made, as well as books written where the vampires were staked, burned, be-headed, drowned and so forth, I simply felt sorry for the poor guy/gal. He seems to be saying "Hey, what's a vampire gotta do to get a good quick meal on the fly?"

I used to watch Bela Lugosi sweeping Lucy down to his crypt to hide her away from the men who were hunting him. Sort of a dumb idea, and if I were a vampire of Dracula's ilk, I would have found a better place to hide. He had to have known Van Helsing would know to look for him there.

Of course later on the movies which were made got a little more sophisticated, and the vampire seemed to have wised up a little more. And the old standard of the tails and tie sort of were dashed to smithereens when finally someone decided to make Dracula sexy. I mean when I saw Frank Langella do Dracula I said, "Now there's a hunk!"

The whole idea that Dracula was evil finally was shed in this 1979 Universal Pictures film version of Dracula, which was originally a Broadway play.

The books have also gone from making the vampire an evil creature to get rid of, and now perky women are making love to them. Go figure.

Seems we've gone from one extreme to the other. Although there are some books which do give better twists on the vampire lore and how we look at them, or treat them.

I'm all for giving the guys (and gals) who shun the sunlight and follow a strict liquid diet a little break. Allow them the intelligence to create their own societies under the noses of the world at large who have no idea that the person they might see getting on an elevator in a fancy hotel might be a vampire, or a werewolf, or a shape shifter.

So, I guess I'm asking if any of you wish to be a member of ACTVS? Maybe I need some sort of membership badge. What do you think?

All who want to see the vampire get the girl and live happily ever after, just let me know in comments. Or whatever you feel about vampires in general. Join up, if you feel as strongly as I do.