I will be guest blogging on April 19th on Lisa Pietsch's blog if you care to come over and join in her month of guest bloggers. The link to her site is http://lisapietsch.com/
I also am going to have some guest bloggers of my own (interested in joining? Email me! My email addy is available on my webpage http://virginianelson.webs.com.
So far I have a few authors lined up and am really excited to have them over to my house to play :)
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Odd Stuff, Where we like our vampires medium rare...
For those of you who have asked what Odd Stuff is about, here is a blog dedicated to what it was about:
My recent release, Odd Stuff, is all about what happens when you take your normal cast of paranormal favorite characters and mix them with a character who lacks the ease and perfection they all seem to have. Janie Smith, newly divorced single mother, moves back to the sleepy little town that she grew up in. Upon arrival, she is tossed into a murder investigation that has caused her best friend, a witch named Mia, to go into hiding, leaving Janie to try to pick up the pieces.
Janie must solve the murder to get her best friend back but she has a secret, too. Janie is not as normal as she has pretended to be. Janie has spent her whole life trying not to be "one of the monsters" and live a normal life and if things don't calm down she may end up munching neurons rather than nachos... something that would put herself and her child at risk.
Further complicating things is her budding feelings for the vampire, Vance, who looks like a rock star and is shrouded by hair that looks like liquid darkness. He is helping to solve the murders, but how do you prove you haven't murdered someone who has no pulse?
On top of that is Chance, the mysterious stranger, that no one knows well and who claims a part of Janie that she denies... but makes her feel more alive than she ever has been before.
Here is an excerpt:
Pushing the door closed, I hit something.
Or someone, as it turned out.
The man stood, looking like he had died last week. His eyes sunk into his face and were surrounded by shadows so deep they looked like bruises. And they glowed. Shit you not, they glowed. An eerie blue shone out from the waxy, white skin. His face seemed dried out somehow, pulling the skin tight, and his lips seemed shrunken because of this, showing teeth that had horribly distended canines. His hair hung nearly to his waist in a knotted black mass that had dust and God knows what tangled in it. His clothes had either mud or dried blood on them and both seemed equally possible.
And he stunk. Like death. Like dog shit. Like dead dog shit.
All of this took less than a second to imprint on my mind as I shrieked and fell gracelessly to my ass. I scrambled in a crab walk as far as I could, against the far wall.
And now, two seconds into my encounter with whatever was rummaging in the refrigerator-It hissed at me. It seemed wrong, somehow, to think of this creature as a him. It wasn't a him. It was a nightmare.
I shrieked again in terror. Not that screaming had done much good the first time, but just because that seemed to be the only thing I could think to do right then.
It came at me. I dove for the butcher block full of knives, but the Thing was faster. I found myself pinned to the counter, then before I could think, It had whirled me around and had me pinned to the wall, facing It.
Dear God, I was going to die.
I concentrated on breathing as the monster's cold, slim fingers moved at my waist, fumbling at my jeans. I pinched my eyes closed, and I breathed in the stink of the monster. The fingers slid a bit down my thigh, and I wondered if I was going to get raped before It ate me. Monsters never raped first then ate the victim in the movies. My mind tried to work its way around this, and I didn't even notice that the hand had found my key ring and attempted to remove it.
I shrieked for the third time, and the Thing spoke.
"Open your bloody eyes."
Huh. The monster spoke. I tried to open my eyes. Nope, couldn't do it. When I was a little girl, I had been sure that as long as my eyes were closed and every part of my body was under the blanket, no air even getting in, the monsters couldn't get me. Some part of this had come back now. So long as I did not open my eyes, this wasn't happening.
"Open your eyes, dammit."
The voice was like rusty air. Hardly any sound at all. Just a raspy air sound that barely formed words. I shivered at the lack of humanity in the sound and the fear that choked me.
"I can't." I finally managed to say and was happy that I had a voice at all. My voice, when I spoke, was hardly louder than the creature's.
"Why the hell not? I can't get it off. Take it off."
Take it off. Oh God, I was going to get raped before It ate me.
"Girl! Do you hear me? Take it off before, ohhh."
The last part came out a sigh.
"Type O positive."
Huh?
Lips nuzzled at my neck. The reek worsened and the nasty cloud of hair tickled my face. I choked on the rank musty smell of him.
I whimpered weakly.
The door leading downstairs opened, and I finally managed to pry apart my eyelids. Sven barged into the room. "O-mi-God, Vance!"
The creature murmured into my neck. I wondered why Sven was calling for Mia's friend when we had a situation, here.
I flapped my arm at Sven. "Sven! Help! Run away! Get Vickie and run away! Help!"
I wasn't sure what I wanted. Sven caught the monster by the shoulder, and pulled him back like he weighed nothing. Then again, to Sven, maybe the monster didn't.
"Dude! Everyone thought you died!" Sven hugged the monster thing.
Okay, I fell asleep because the store was so slow, and I am having a dream. A very weird dream.
"Can't you smell her?" The thing asked, trying to get to me. I jumped on the counter top and backed up to the cupboard doors, one foot sliding into the sink.
"What?" Sven reached up and grabbed the key ring off the belt loop of my jeans. He pulled the Thing to the fridge and unlocked the drawer that held all of the blood.
"Dude, why didn't you just rip the friggin' drawer out?"
The Thing dug its teeth into the bag, gulping frantically.
When the bag was emptied, the Thing threw it in the garbage and gracefully wiped his face on his arm. "I did not want to ruin Mia's pretty kitchen. Gimme another bag."
I stared at the creature. Was it just me or was It looking more human? Yes, the face was fuller, and a rosy color tinged the monster's skin. Even Its hair glistened more. The monster's lips had filled out into sensual curves. Long, curling lashes framed heavily-lidded eyes and enhanced a graceful brow. The Thing in the kitchen had transformed in less than five minutes from dead looking monster to Greek god.
Somehow the transformation made the Thing more terrifying and less real all at once, which somehow worked out as a mood changer for me. I found myself making a transformation of my own-from terrified blubbering idiot to pissed off-in less time than it took the Thing to finish the second bag.
I jumped off the counter. With a butcher knife in one hand and a steak knife in the other, I lunged at the Thing.
You can find Odd Stuff http://www.sapphirebluepublishing.com/catalog
Thanks for reading!!
Virginia Nelson
Odd Stuff, where we like our vampires medium rare.
My recent release, Odd Stuff, is all about what happens when you take your normal cast of paranormal favorite characters and mix them with a character who lacks the ease and perfection they all seem to have. Janie Smith, newly divorced single mother, moves back to the sleepy little town that she grew up in. Upon arrival, she is tossed into a murder investigation that has caused her best friend, a witch named Mia, to go into hiding, leaving Janie to try to pick up the pieces.
Janie must solve the murder to get her best friend back but she has a secret, too. Janie is not as normal as she has pretended to be. Janie has spent her whole life trying not to be "one of the monsters" and live a normal life and if things don't calm down she may end up munching neurons rather than nachos... something that would put herself and her child at risk.
Further complicating things is her budding feelings for the vampire, Vance, who looks like a rock star and is shrouded by hair that looks like liquid darkness. He is helping to solve the murders, but how do you prove you haven't murdered someone who has no pulse?
On top of that is Chance, the mysterious stranger, that no one knows well and who claims a part of Janie that she denies... but makes her feel more alive than she ever has been before.
Here is an excerpt:
Pushing the door closed, I hit something.
Or someone, as it turned out.
The man stood, looking like he had died last week. His eyes sunk into his face and were surrounded by shadows so deep they looked like bruises. And they glowed. Shit you not, they glowed. An eerie blue shone out from the waxy, white skin. His face seemed dried out somehow, pulling the skin tight, and his lips seemed shrunken because of this, showing teeth that had horribly distended canines. His hair hung nearly to his waist in a knotted black mass that had dust and God knows what tangled in it. His clothes had either mud or dried blood on them and both seemed equally possible.
And he stunk. Like death. Like dog shit. Like dead dog shit.
All of this took less than a second to imprint on my mind as I shrieked and fell gracelessly to my ass. I scrambled in a crab walk as far as I could, against the far wall.
And now, two seconds into my encounter with whatever was rummaging in the refrigerator-It hissed at me. It seemed wrong, somehow, to think of this creature as a him. It wasn't a him. It was a nightmare.
I shrieked again in terror. Not that screaming had done much good the first time, but just because that seemed to be the only thing I could think to do right then.
It came at me. I dove for the butcher block full of knives, but the Thing was faster. I found myself pinned to the counter, then before I could think, It had whirled me around and had me pinned to the wall, facing It.
Dear God, I was going to die.
I concentrated on breathing as the monster's cold, slim fingers moved at my waist, fumbling at my jeans. I pinched my eyes closed, and I breathed in the stink of the monster. The fingers slid a bit down my thigh, and I wondered if I was going to get raped before It ate me. Monsters never raped first then ate the victim in the movies. My mind tried to work its way around this, and I didn't even notice that the hand had found my key ring and attempted to remove it.
I shrieked for the third time, and the Thing spoke.
"Open your bloody eyes."
Huh. The monster spoke. I tried to open my eyes. Nope, couldn't do it. When I was a little girl, I had been sure that as long as my eyes were closed and every part of my body was under the blanket, no air even getting in, the monsters couldn't get me. Some part of this had come back now. So long as I did not open my eyes, this wasn't happening.
"Open your eyes, dammit."
The voice was like rusty air. Hardly any sound at all. Just a raspy air sound that barely formed words. I shivered at the lack of humanity in the sound and the fear that choked me.
"I can't." I finally managed to say and was happy that I had a voice at all. My voice, when I spoke, was hardly louder than the creature's.
"Why the hell not? I can't get it off. Take it off."
Take it off. Oh God, I was going to get raped before It ate me.
"Girl! Do you hear me? Take it off before, ohhh."
The last part came out a sigh.
"Type O positive."
Huh?
Lips nuzzled at my neck. The reek worsened and the nasty cloud of hair tickled my face. I choked on the rank musty smell of him.
I whimpered weakly.
The door leading downstairs opened, and I finally managed to pry apart my eyelids. Sven barged into the room. "O-mi-God, Vance!"
The creature murmured into my neck. I wondered why Sven was calling for Mia's friend when we had a situation, here.
I flapped my arm at Sven. "Sven! Help! Run away! Get Vickie and run away! Help!"
I wasn't sure what I wanted. Sven caught the monster by the shoulder, and pulled him back like he weighed nothing. Then again, to Sven, maybe the monster didn't.
"Dude! Everyone thought you died!" Sven hugged the monster thing.
Okay, I fell asleep because the store was so slow, and I am having a dream. A very weird dream.
"Can't you smell her?" The thing asked, trying to get to me. I jumped on the counter top and backed up to the cupboard doors, one foot sliding into the sink.
"What?" Sven reached up and grabbed the key ring off the belt loop of my jeans. He pulled the Thing to the fridge and unlocked the drawer that held all of the blood.
"Dude, why didn't you just rip the friggin' drawer out?"
The Thing dug its teeth into the bag, gulping frantically.
When the bag was emptied, the Thing threw it in the garbage and gracefully wiped his face on his arm. "I did not want to ruin Mia's pretty kitchen. Gimme another bag."
I stared at the creature. Was it just me or was It looking more human? Yes, the face was fuller, and a rosy color tinged the monster's skin. Even Its hair glistened more. The monster's lips had filled out into sensual curves. Long, curling lashes framed heavily-lidded eyes and enhanced a graceful brow. The Thing in the kitchen had transformed in less than five minutes from dead looking monster to Greek god.
Somehow the transformation made the Thing more terrifying and less real all at once, which somehow worked out as a mood changer for me. I found myself making a transformation of my own-from terrified blubbering idiot to pissed off-in less time than it took the Thing to finish the second bag.
I jumped off the counter. With a butcher knife in one hand and a steak knife in the other, I lunged at the Thing.
You can find Odd Stuff http://www.sapphirebluepublishing.com/catalog
Thanks for reading!!
Virginia Nelson
Odd Stuff, where we like our vampires medium rare.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Real life
There are days that I want to rewrite my day.
Yesterday, I forgot my cell phone. I also forgot my Kindle and my mp3 player so I was not happy with the hour long drive to work. My radio does not work. Sooo very quiet drive. Too quiet. I hummed. I sipped coffee. I ranted at my self for my abject stupidity. A day without a phone is not a terrible thing. I mean, if I broke down or had a car wreck on the way to work, doubtless someone would have a cell phone and stop to help.
Not that I was thinking dark thoughts like that. I also comforted myself that I had purchased a year worth of life insurance. And car insurance. So really, my death would not go unwarranted. The kids would probably get way more money if I died in a burning car than if I stayed unmolested.
I got to work and had sort of an off day. Dumb things, little things that I never mess up. No one noticed but perfectionist me. Things like not putting an agents phone into aftercall and having another call come in on the line while I was on a supervisor call... And messing up my punches by punching into the phones rather than out to lunch... Dumb little things that I never do.
I think it was because I was pretty sure that, since I did not have the phone, a crisis had arisen and I had no idea what it was and no one could reach me. So my over-imaginative brain was cooking up all sorts of crisis and how I was pivotal in fixing them and wasn't just because that phone was an hour away on my bedside table.
Also, I just became a mod for Coffee Time and could not check my emails. And Siren's Song is still off at the publishers waiting for a decision. I would not know. None of it. Not till I got off work...
So I get to the babysitters finally to get the kids...
And MJ was telling me how their day went and at the end said finally, "Well, you know about Ash."
I blinked at her. Actually, I didn't know about Ash.
Ash was suspended from school. Yeah, after all the hullabaloo last month regarding Ash and then they suspended him.
Insubordination again. This time he was, and I quote the princiPAL here, "Clucking like a chicken so loudly that he disrupted the whole school."
Mother clucker.
He must cluck really loud to disrupt an entire SCHOOL. And that school is big. Super Clucker!
I shall buy him a cape and we shall watch as he clucks his way to herodom.
Really?
I mean, I am punishing him. I am not happy. Clucking is not what you are supposed to do at school and disruptive and disobedient but...
Really?
I mean, they SUSPENDED HIM FOR CLUCKING.
He is eight.
Clucking?
Did he hit anyone? Did he bring a gun to school? Spit on someone? Cut someone's hair?
No. He clucked. But he was clucking really loud.
Ahem.
Really?
So, I got to call off work and mess with my schedule adherance and lose money which I need as a single mother all because he CLUCKED... lets not forget, "Very loudly."
The kid has an IEP. If the school cannot handle the situation, get an aide. You have the ability to do so. If you cannot handle one eight year old boy...
What on earth did you people go to school for? Can I see your transcripts? Supposedly you are a building full of educators, trained and degrees awarded, and one eight year old boy is kicking your butts?
What are you going to do if he does something really wrong?
Well, we have already tossed the suspension card. And Ash figured out if he is just annoying he can hang out at home, his ultimate objective anyway. Thank you so much, oh wise educators, for showing him that being annoying can get him home with me, which, by the way, is where he would rather be anyway.
This will not improve his behavior. You have taught him how to get what he wants.
This situation is going to escalate and there is nothing I, just a mom who knows her kid wants to stay home from school anyway, can do.
I could scream.
But that would not be efficient.
Instead I shall go raise some hell.
Off to single-handedly take on a school district.
Ta!
Yesterday, I forgot my cell phone. I also forgot my Kindle and my mp3 player so I was not happy with the hour long drive to work. My radio does not work. Sooo very quiet drive. Too quiet. I hummed. I sipped coffee. I ranted at my self for my abject stupidity. A day without a phone is not a terrible thing. I mean, if I broke down or had a car wreck on the way to work, doubtless someone would have a cell phone and stop to help.
Not that I was thinking dark thoughts like that. I also comforted myself that I had purchased a year worth of life insurance. And car insurance. So really, my death would not go unwarranted. The kids would probably get way more money if I died in a burning car than if I stayed unmolested.
I got to work and had sort of an off day. Dumb things, little things that I never mess up. No one noticed but perfectionist me. Things like not putting an agents phone into aftercall and having another call come in on the line while I was on a supervisor call... And messing up my punches by punching into the phones rather than out to lunch... Dumb little things that I never do.
I think it was because I was pretty sure that, since I did not have the phone, a crisis had arisen and I had no idea what it was and no one could reach me. So my over-imaginative brain was cooking up all sorts of crisis and how I was pivotal in fixing them and wasn't just because that phone was an hour away on my bedside table.
Also, I just became a mod for Coffee Time and could not check my emails. And Siren's Song is still off at the publishers waiting for a decision. I would not know. None of it. Not till I got off work...
So I get to the babysitters finally to get the kids...
And MJ was telling me how their day went and at the end said finally, "Well, you know about Ash."
I blinked at her. Actually, I didn't know about Ash.
Ash was suspended from school. Yeah, after all the hullabaloo last month regarding Ash and then they suspended him.
Insubordination again. This time he was, and I quote the princiPAL here, "Clucking like a chicken so loudly that he disrupted the whole school."
Mother clucker.
He must cluck really loud to disrupt an entire SCHOOL. And that school is big. Super Clucker!
I shall buy him a cape and we shall watch as he clucks his way to herodom.
Really?
I mean, I am punishing him. I am not happy. Clucking is not what you are supposed to do at school and disruptive and disobedient but...
Really?
I mean, they SUSPENDED HIM FOR CLUCKING.
He is eight.
Clucking?
Did he hit anyone? Did he bring a gun to school? Spit on someone? Cut someone's hair?
No. He clucked. But he was clucking really loud.
Ahem.
Really?
So, I got to call off work and mess with my schedule adherance and lose money which I need as a single mother all because he CLUCKED... lets not forget, "Very loudly."
The kid has an IEP. If the school cannot handle the situation, get an aide. You have the ability to do so. If you cannot handle one eight year old boy...
What on earth did you people go to school for? Can I see your transcripts? Supposedly you are a building full of educators, trained and degrees awarded, and one eight year old boy is kicking your butts?
What are you going to do if he does something really wrong?
Well, we have already tossed the suspension card. And Ash figured out if he is just annoying he can hang out at home, his ultimate objective anyway. Thank you so much, oh wise educators, for showing him that being annoying can get him home with me, which, by the way, is where he would rather be anyway.
This will not improve his behavior. You have taught him how to get what he wants.
This situation is going to escalate and there is nothing I, just a mom who knows her kid wants to stay home from school anyway, can do.
I could scream.
But that would not be efficient.
Instead I shall go raise some hell.
Off to single-handedly take on a school district.
Ta!
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Contest!!
Contest!!
I am throwing a contest to celebrate the release of Odd Stuff, my paranormal romance. To win you just have to answer the question I provided. No purchase is needed as you can find the answer in the excerpt provided on any of the sites that are selling Odd Stuff (Amazon, Sapphire Blue Publishing, ARe All Romance Ebooks and Mobipocket ebook). However if you win, well, you could buy the book for free as the prize is a $25.00 Amazon.com giftcard. Just in time for Valentine's Day, win a little romance and get yourself some books to curl up with for the holiday.
The question?
What did the vampire, Vance, want from Janie in the kitchen?
Not what you are thinking... Email your answer to virg_nelson@yahoo.com and I will email back the winner when the contest closes on Valentine's Day, Sunday the 14th.
So take a shot and good luck to all!!
I am throwing a contest to celebrate the release of Odd Stuff, my paranormal romance. To win you just have to answer the question I provided. No purchase is needed as you can find the answer in the excerpt provided on any of the sites that are selling Odd Stuff (Amazon, Sapphire Blue Publishing, ARe All Romance Ebooks and Mobipocket ebook). However if you win, well, you could buy the book for free as the prize is a $25.00 Amazon.com giftcard. Just in time for Valentine's Day, win a little romance and get yourself some books to curl up with for the holiday.
The question?
What did the vampire, Vance, want from Janie in the kitchen?
Not what you are thinking... Email your answer to virg_nelson@yahoo.com and I will email back the winner when the contest closes on Valentine's Day, Sunday the 14th.
So take a shot and good luck to all!!
Odd Stuff: The making of a book trailer
So, I had this book trailer. Then I decided I wanted a better one. I created this :
Then music is being added and the whole thing getting tweaked. I will post the finished product when it is done.
This is step two...
Then music is being added and the whole thing getting tweaked. I will post the finished product when it is done.
This is step two...
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Funny ha ha not funny strange...
I think everyone should go read this blog...
Too flipping funny.
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=9678596&blogId=528305948
Too flipping funny.
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=9678596&blogId=528305948
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Kindle the fire...
So I am impatiently awaiting the shipment of my Kindle...
By impatient I mean to say I am dancing eagerly by the door like a puppy who has been left alone all day and thinks it has been a lifetime since it has seen another living being.
I have been impulsively ordering books for the thing. I mean, I know. I can read them on here. But I don't have the time.
Yeah. No.
I have been working overtime at work and with book stuff I have been busy. Not to mention, you know, the whole three kids who have issues thing.
Um. Time consuming.
And I have to sleep sometimes.
But the Kindle will read to me. While I drive. All the books I do not have time to read because I am working. Or driving. Or writing.
I wonder if I can write and read at the same time?
Probably not but it would be super cool if I could.
Probably that would take too many brain functions. Probably bad since I still haven't mastered the walk/chew bubblegum thing.
But I can drive and eat and give fantastic commentary. My steering wheel is fascinated.
Have a readerific day.
By impatient I mean to say I am dancing eagerly by the door like a puppy who has been left alone all day and thinks it has been a lifetime since it has seen another living being.
I have been impulsively ordering books for the thing. I mean, I know. I can read them on here. But I don't have the time.
Yeah. No.
I have been working overtime at work and with book stuff I have been busy. Not to mention, you know, the whole three kids who have issues thing.
Um. Time consuming.
And I have to sleep sometimes.
But the Kindle will read to me. While I drive. All the books I do not have time to read because I am working. Or driving. Or writing.
I wonder if I can write and read at the same time?
Probably not but it would be super cool if I could.
Probably that would take too many brain functions. Probably bad since I still haven't mastered the walk/chew bubblegum thing.
But I can drive and eat and give fantastic commentary. My steering wheel is fascinated.
Have a readerific day.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
A clubbed catfish
Okay... I was watching a movie that used the line, "Don't just stand there like a clubbed catfish."
I love that line. Stupification was never so prettily said as that. I picture a fish, flopping, desperatly trying to get air that then is clubbed.
PETA don't come after me. The only catfish I eat is from restaurants. Generally it involves breading. No clubs. But still, that is a very graphic line.
And a cowboy said it. They have some of the better euphemisms anyway.
That was not what I came to blog about. I sort of went off track. Realigning.
Okay, I posted a blog today of far more merit and class at the Sapphire Blue Publishing blogger.
Link here: http://sapphirebluepublishing.blogspot.com
That blog was about why we need romance. Aside from it making us have an excuse to eat chocolate. It has occurred to me that romance of the real variety is a great chocolate enterprise.
Get ready to follow my logic:
You fall in love. The other person buys you chocolate. For Valentine's Day, Sweetest Day, when they make you mad... it is a chocolate haven.
But then things go bad. You break up. You console yourself. With what?
That is right, my love. Chocolate.
So, things are fine and you are single for awhile. No longer do you need comfort food. But then those same holidays come creeping around.
Not only are they a bit of a bummer if you are single because there is no one to buy you chocolate (okay, and take you out on dates and what not, but we are talking about chocolate here. Stay on my Godiva chain of thinking here. Lindor. Lindt... mmm) but they are a bummer because everyone feels the need to point out to you that you should be bummed.
On the upside, there are post holiday clearance sales... on what? Chocolate. So you buy yourself some. Because you can. The logic you use? You would have eaten it in a relationship so you can rationalize away some truffles in a wave of cocoa bliss.
It is a vicious dark velvety sweet chain of events.
I think I will have some chocolate.
I have a big chocolate ganache covered peanut butter cheesecake. I will share.
Want some?
Hope you all eat a piece of lovely, melt on your tongue chocolate. And when you start to feel guilty about it... blame it on my blog. It is not your fault. I so totally planted the thought in your mind.
:)
*I won't tell that you wanted it anyway*
Oh, by the way... this blog has no calories. Totally fat free.
Unlike my butt.
:)