March Is Mad, Mad, Mad

Finally have time to breath a little bit.

I've sent my publisher the fifth book in Sabrina Strong series, and I've gotten the proofs back, and I'll get to read it some day. Plan on it tomorrow as it will be raining, and I've got all of next week off from work (NIU has Spring Break). So, m'dears, the fifth book is on its way. Just hang in there!

I noticed I've got over one hundred thousand views on this blog. YAY!

And my husband is getting ready to return to his park job come April 1st. He has officially quit the bus driving job. It just made him crazy. I don't blame him. I want to quit too, but need the money.

I enjoy getting messages from fans, and even future fans--or their mothers--on facebook, etc. I got such a message today, and the woman said her daughter was named Lorelei Bell ! How crazy is that??? I've never had someone with both names contact me before. I've heard my first name, a few times, but never this. What's the chance?

Anyway, the lady asked what age would I recommend for my vampire novels. Her daughter is nine. Yeah. I said that my novels shouldn't be read by anyone under 16, at least. There's too much sex and violence. I would think that that age (in this day and age), that they've seen and heard it all by then. So, any way, that was a nice surprise. But I also added by the time she hits 16, I should have all 8 books out by then. Her response was it would make a great "sweet sixteen" gift for her. I LIKE that woman's thinking!

And work continues on my mystery novel--although I've been a little busy lately to work on it. But the verve is still there. I've gotta do this other thing for publisher first. Get that next book out. I can't wait to see the cover. He said he had the same artist for 8 books, so, we'll see how this turns out. Great, I'm sure!

And today, since it was perfect out, and out yard was a MESS from winter with a lot of big, medium and small limbs, branches etc. down, we had to get out there and get this spruced up some. We didn't want to over work ourselves. We've got a large yard, and a lot of trees, so, we got the front first and worked toward the back, and we called it quits at one.

Tonight is turn your clocks ahead an hour, by the way. Our trick is, we don't do anything differently. However, we don't turn our bedroom clock ahead or back until morning. That way, if we wake up at our normal time (which for us might be 4:30, it will be 5:30, so we won't feel bad about sleeping in, or whatever. It won't be a shock to the system.

Lastly, I've put the first chapter up on Murder on the Mississippi, for reading, if you'd like to check it out and like it if you do.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

JB Fletcher, Mystery Writer, Solving the mystery of what Lorelei is up to

Hello, you know me as the mystery writer, Jessica Fletcher. I've dropped in on Lorelei's blog here to help solve a mystery.

Oh, my no. There's been no murder, but if there were, you know I'd solve it in a jiffy.

I'm here on behalf of my very good friend, Lorelei to help solve the mystery of what's going on around here. Oh, I know our genres are so completely different, but that makes no difference where friendship matters. And, while I am busy working on my next novel, Lorelei has been, well, on hiatus, as of late. But she's been busy looking into another--dare I spill the beans?

Yes, I dare.

Lorelei has signed on with another publisher. As you know, she had to suddenly go Indie because of that bonehead--uh, well, let's just say her last publisher up and left her and she had to pick up where he left off. She wasn't really happy with the way things went on her last book, as most of you know. What a mess that was. (chuckles)

Doing this work on her own was not turning out very well at all. She found it hard to get covers done, do the edits herself, and so forth.

So, another friend of hers told her about Creativia. She checked them out, and found that it was exactly what she was looking for. Today, she gave the go ahead on a simple contract with her first book in series, "Vampire Ascending".

From what I understand is there will be a new cover, and eventually, they will do the entire series, and then some. I think that's exciting news, don't you? Especially since she's been so very frustrated as of late. Oh, of course, none of you could have seen it, but I did. I keep in touch with her, after all.

Now, I must return to my writing. Hmmm, where did I put that hammer... or was it the screwdriver that I was thinking of using... Well, a murder has been committed, I don't want you all to think I've gone off a twist or something. Just trying to figure it all out, you know.

Ta ta for now,
Jessica Fletcher

VAMPIRE ASCENDING Not a cookie-cutter paranormal romance

You've seen them, lining bookshelves in the fantasy/horror section of your local bookstore, or on Amazon. Paranormal Romances all have the same look to the cover (half-naked man and woman--hint, one is usually a vampire--going at one another). Who is surprised at the end? No one.

Vampire Ascending is not another cookie-cutter  paranormal romance. 
It is darker and more realistic than Twilight, and I've heard people say they were very happy about that--needing to stay away from the sparkly vampires, don't you know?




Many who have read this one, have gone on to read the second book, Vampire's Trill, 

and then on to read Vampire Nocturne.

These Urban Fantasy books all have a blend of mystery, romance, horror, action and adventure. Sabrina doesn't fall for just one man, but many, and has many suitors. She does her best not to be bitten by a vampire. But there's no guarantee in this, since she works for a powerful master, seven foot tall Bjorn Tremayne.

Vampire Nocturne is my only Steampunk, which follows touch clairvoyant, Sabrina Strong into another world where she has to find her cousin before Drakulya does.

Great eBooks for those who want a vampire read with bite!

Sweet dreams....

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!

Coffee Klatch Monday ~ M is for Mystery

Yeah, this says GOOD MORNING in a lion-y way!

I've been working on my mystery these past few days, just in case anyone wonders why I've been rather reclusive.  I've never written a straight murder mystery before. And especially a detective novel where I've got to show them at a crime scene.

You all know I have fun placing a mystery within my vampire novels, and I love to have Sabrina Strong solve them. She would be my sleuth if I were to write a cozy. But this isn't a cozy. It's called a procedural. And if I were to have a new challenge for 2012, this is it.

Jansen Crosse is my detective. His wife was murdered in a home invasion (I'm still working on when exactly) at some point in the past. And here is the part where you go Ahhh! Oooo! His wife has come back as a ghost. No. No one sees her, but her ghost happens to be a poltergeist. I think if I were murdered I'd be angry and want to come back as a poltergeist, too. Anyway, he and his teenage daughter, Faith, still live at the same house. Thus things go bump at any given moment. Lately, it's been happening in Faith's room, and it's very upsetting. However, Jansen is going to find out that his ghost-wife is rather good at helping him out on his cases.

So, I've been doing some research on related things. I found some interesting blogs, and some not so interesting. Most are blogs by mystery authors, but are not all very informative. I did find a great blog post on guns, however, and later on this week I'll post about it and give you the link, if you have questions about guns, this blog post will help. If anything, a writer (who doesn't know anything about guns), who tries to write about guns in any capacity in their novels and makes a mistake--it will be noticed by someone who knows guns and they will want to throw your novel away if you put a safety on a Glock or a Sig Saur. These guns do not have safeties according to what I've found out. And never have a cop holding a gun up, or their finger on the trigger. Bad, bad bad!

I will post more about this later on this week, and have a link to this very informative page. I'll bet Heather would know something about guns?

What have you been working on this past week? Anything interesting?

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!