All posts for the month October, 2013

Halloween Blog Tour Bash & Book Launch Party!

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Hey everyone!  It’s Halloween, which means it’s the last day of the Wicked, Weird and Whimsical Words Halloween Blog tour, and also the launch date for The Midnight Carnival: One Night Only!  If you’d like to win a copy of One Night Only plus a bunch of other cool prizes, be sure to comment to this or any other blog post on the tour!

Now, I love Halloween but my family didn’t technically celebrate it.  My dad passed out candy, but my mom was religious and didn’t believe in Halloween, so we never got to go trick-or-treating.  We got to pass out candy sometimes and see kids in cool costumes, and we got to eat the leftover candy and chips in the weeks after, but that was it. 

So, Halloween has never been much about getting treats for me.  It’s about seeing other people in costumes, and spooky stories and movies (which you couldn’t avoid), and black cat, pumpkin and bat decorations.  Sometimes it’s about giving treats, too (like I mentioned over on Justine’s blog, I utterly adore the new All Hallows Read tradition).

A couple of years ago the Halloween treat was launching Re-Vamp, which was a total thrill.  I’m still proud of that collection and our wonderful authors have given us permission to keep the book available for the foreseeable future.  This year’s treat is releasing One Night Only, and I hope people enjoy it as much as they’ve seemed to enjoy Re-Vamp.  Based on a shared world/RP, One Night Only explores the misadventures, mishaps, and mischief of a carnival full of monsters and stranger things.  If you’re a fan of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” or “Being Human” you’ll probably enjoy One Night Only, with its mix of horror, humor, and quirky characters.  It’s a very playful book,and we had a lot of fun writing it, which I think shows.

What Halloween treats are you looking forward to this year?

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by LC Hu on October 31, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by LC Hu on October 31, 2013

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Halloween Hypnotist: An Interview with Seth from “The Midnight Carnival”

#5 in a series of interviews with the wicked and wonderful folks from The Midnight Carnival.  Thanks to Liz Neering!

Hello, Seth!

Hello!

Hey, it’s interview with a vampire– ha ha.  Sorry, sorry.

No, no, I like that.  And I’m way hotter and more interesting than that guy.  I deserve an interview way more than he did.

So, you’re not only a vampire, you’re also a hypnotist.  Which came first?  How did you fall into both these, er, roles?

You know, that’s kind of hard to answer.  I want to say vampirism came first, but that’s just a guess.  I was always pretty convincing.  A charismatic kind of guy, they said.  So I never had a problem convincing people to do what I wanted or to see things my way.  How much of that was natural talent and how much might have actually been hypnosis, I couldn’t tell you.  I do know it got a lot stronger after I turned.  Where before I’d have to work a little at it, maybe even more than a little with some people, after that it was just… easy.  Just a little push and they fell right over.

You seem quite content to be a vampire.  Do you miss anything of your human life?

God, no.  Are you kidding?  Nothing about it to miss.  Paying taxes, going to work, going to jail for the smallest little stupid thing… I got the best deal anyone’s ever been offered.  Humans suck.

Even as a human, you were very interested in chaos theory.  Can you tell us a little about that?

Sure.  I always liked knocking down dominoes and looking at those patterns, and throwing things or shooting and seeing what happened with the ricochet.  Things like that always look chaotic, but they really aren’t.  There’s an order to all that.  That seemed so boring to me.  Predictability, especially when it looked like something more exciting.  That sucks, you know?  So I started looking into it.  Trying to find real chaos.  You know there were people talking about it in the 1800s?  That early.  And it just grew from there.

How did becoming a vampire influence your interest in this field?

Well as a vampire you’ve got so much more time, you know?  So what looks to a human lifespan like chaos can look like order, with a wider perspective, like we can have.  Too, we can influence so many people in so many different ways.  With this kind of power and longevity you can basically do anything, and be around long enough to see and test results, and do new experiments.  You can take your time with things, let them grow, instead of having to artificially push things along.  I could never have done this as a human.  I’d have been dead several times over before I got to see the end results of what I’d set in motion.

So what’s your real opinion on Halloween?  Love it, hate it?

Oh I love Halloween.  It’s fucking great.  The costumes, the pageantry, the movies, the drunks, it’s fantastic.

What was your best Halloween as a vampire? Best as a human?

I think my first Halloween after I’d turned.  Everything was still so new.  It was awesome, getting to strut around with my fangs out.  I went to this party and got so many compliments.  I had a couple of people tell me I wasn’t pale enough.  But they got drunk and we all had such a good time.  I only killed four of them!  I was so proud.  Also then I took their costumes and gave them to these kids at a local Ronald McDonald House.  My human Halloweens were boring.  Giving out candy to kids in stupid costumes, going to office parties… ugh.

Since it’s Halloween, tell us something scary!  What’s the most terrifying situation you’ve been in?  How did you get out?

I’ve never met a situation I couldn’t get out of.  There was one rough fight with my fledgeling, but that was nothing that shook me too long.  I guess the worst was when a werewolf tracked me for a while, through Washington state.  I was still young.  I didn’t know what it was, really.  I’d heard about them but I hadn’t seen any.  And the whole… supernatural thing, I guess, was still really new and weird.  My maker didn’t really tell me anything about anything other than vampires.  So when he cornered me in this park, he just about took my fucking leg off before I figured it out.  Then he wouldn’t listen to me, so I couldn’t take him over.  Luckily there were some campers out, so I got them to come bail me out.  A couple of axe handles later and the big bad wolf was no more.

Anything else?

Yes!  Everyone stop by the hypnotist’s tent when you come to the carnival.  Best show in the house!

The Midnight Carnival: One Night Only will be available on Oct 31st in print and ebook!
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by LC Hu on October 30, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by LC Hu on October 30, 2013

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Halloween Guest Blog: Justine Graykin

Guest author Justine Graykin

Guest author Justine Graykin

My earliest influences were October writers like Ray Bradbury, Shirley Jackson, and H.P. Lovecraft.  I read Harlan Ellison and collected horror anthologies.  I was into dark and dystopian, quoting Nietzsche and planning for the apocalypse.  How in blazes did I wind up the author of Archimedes Nesselrode, which has been described as an exquisite raspberry sorbet with which to cleanse the pallet in between weighty, heart-breaking, gut-wrenching, literary best-sellers and Oprah books?

Because I also grew up with Star Trek, and in the end, Star Trek won.

As a part of growing up we all need to deal with the dark side.  Halloween is a metaphor for that phase of our lives when we confront Death, try on masks as a way to figure out who we are, laugh uneasily at the shadows lurking around us as we watch summer chill into the season of hardship.

I lost my mother unpleasantly, to cancer, when I was twelve.  That’s when my Halloween came.  My way of dealing was to walk right into the shadows and plumb the depths.  Heavy metal music, drugs and nihilism, much to the consternation of my grieving father, who had no idea what to do with me.  Poor man.

But after a few years of rebellion, of punk and snark and pissing off authority, I got tired of wearing black.  Nihilism is fine for the young, whose instinctive sense of immortality keeps them just one defiant shout ahead of despair.  But nihilism is exhausting.  There had to be something beyond wearing masks, of every day being Halloween.

I went back and reread Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine and Something Wicked.  Like a spider web breaking across my face, invisible and delicate, I realized I was alive.  I realized what an amazing, ephemeral miracle that was.  Happy New Year.

So what began to interest me, almost obsessively, was understanding what it meant to be alive, particularly how to be alive in a world where there is death and suffering, stupidity and cruelty.  And that’s the direction my writing went.  Finding meaning in the darkness, the warm orange glow of the grinning jack o’lantern.

That’s why I write with humor, with optimism, with delight.  Not because I’m avoiding or ignoring the horrors of the world, but exactly because I acknowledge they are there.  I am staring the hag of despair in the face and disempowering her with laughter, with joy, with hugs and gentleness and compassion.

Come, smile with me, and believe in hope, in the goodness lurking in people’s hearts and the beauty that can be found in the world.  Come, have a bit of fun!

ANcoverLarrythumbJustine Graykin is a writer and free-lance philosopher sustained by her deep, abiding faith in Science, Humanity and the belief that humor is the best anti-gravity device. Author of Archimedes Nesselrode, a book written for adults who are weary of adult books, she is producer of the BroadPod podcast.   She lives, writes and putters around her home in rural New Hampshire, occasionally disappearing into the White Mountains with a backpack.  Find her on her website at JustineGraykin.com.

The Wicked, Weird and Whimsical Words Halloween Blog Tour runs every other day October 23-October 31.  Join us all five days for Halloween fun!  Be sure to say hello on any post to be entered in a giveaway at the end of the tour!

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by LC Hu on October 29, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by LC Hu on October 29, 2013

https://elsiewho.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/halloween-guest-blog-justine-graykin/

Howling at the Wolf: An Interview with Zain from “The Midnight Carnival”

#4 in a series of interviews with the wicked and wonderful folks from The Midnight Carnival.  Thanks to Cecil Evans!

Helllooooo, Zain!  Happy almost-Halloween.  So you’re a werewolf, and a stunt driver, hm?  That’s a pretty interesting combination!  Do you think your inner animal had anything to do with your choice in careers?

Hey! Happy almost Halloween to you too. Uh, my inner animal? Ha, maybe. I don’t know any wolves in the wild who ride motorcycles, though that’d be pretty sweet. Man, maybe I’m going at this the wrong way… There’s no thumbs though, so that’d be kinda difficult. Damn… Might have to engineer a way to do that. Wait, I’ve gotten side tracked, huh? Um, I think the biggest thing is the ability to heal myself has helped in my adrenaline junkie hobbies, but neither of my cousins have any interest, so I think I’m just the weirdo.

Have you ever “wolfed out” in the middle of performing a really tough stunt?  
What am I the Hulk now? Think the only time I’ve changed from being angry was when the pack was threatened.

What would you say is the best stunt you’ve ever performed?
Riding backward! It’s my favorite.

So, werewolves and Halloween: how do the two mix? Do you find Halloween silly, or fun?  Do you ever shift shape and terrorize the masses, or just go trick-or-treating in “the best costume ever”?
I love Halloween! It’s a giant mockery, but a lot of fun. My cousins and I like terrorizing our younger siblings. And yes, we have shifted just to freak out the kids in the neighborhood. We never hurt them, promise, just scared the shit out of them by jumping at them and barking or howling.
Can werewolves eat chocolate, or do they get sick like dogs do?  What’s a werewolf’s idea of a Halloween treat?  
*laughs* I can eat chocolate. Well, this werewolf likes candy corn… What’d you expect?

Anything else you’d like to say?

Okay, people ask me all the time how many times I’ve fallen. So, here’s the answer once and for all: So many times, I’ve lost count. I was self taught as a teenager and did a lot of dumb things. The worst injury is another frequent question from you morbid types. It was three broken ribs, one was cracked, and my fibula broke through the skin. It was awful and bloody. The bruises were cool though.

 

The Midnight Carnival: One Night Only will be available on Oct 31st in print and ebook!
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by LC Hu on October 28, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by LC Hu on October 28, 2013

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Halloween Guest Post: Were-Beasties by Vonnie Winslow Crist

Guest author Vonnie Winslow Crist

Guest author Vonnie Winslow Crist

Werewolves and other shape-changers are popular Halloween creatures. But why do these were-beasties appear in the folklore and legends of so many cultures?

Perhaps it’s because we like to be frightened! Shape-shifters often morph after the sun sets – the time of day when our ancestors had to walk home down lonely roads or through dark forests. Even today, we imagine the silent padding of a creature following us down a dim-lit path. A creature that was human moments before, and now views us as prey. In Thriller, Michael Jackson’s girlfriend flees from the singer in werewolf form, but by the end of the video, Michael appears normal except for his eyes. Likewise, in JK Rowling’s Harry Potter books, kind Professor Remus Lupin turns into a werewolf who would gladly devour Harry and friends if given a chance. The viewer/ reader knows the beast still lurks in the man.

Maybe that duality of human nature is the reason shape-shifters are such a powerful and wide-spread legend. One moment we’re friends with someone, and the next we’re so angry that, for a split second, we could kill them. Were-beasts can’t or don’t stop the killing urge. Their animal instincts control them and they act and react in violent ways. The character of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is an example of two natures, one human and one beast, contained in a single being.

The prefix wer comes from the Old English word for man. So whether a werewolf, were-bear, were-crocodile, were-hyena, were-jaguar, were-tiger, or a were-boar, the shape-changer is part human and part animal. Usually, the shape-shifter came by his or her ability through magic or sorcery: a curse or enchantment, being conceived on the night of the new moon, drinking from a pool of water where a wild beast drank, sleeping in the light of a full moon, being bitten or scratched by a were-beast, eating tainted meat, or wearing animal skins. (Fur-wearers beware!)

In Greek mythology, Zeus created the werewolf. In the 1500s in France, many people were executed after they were accused of being lycanthropes. Even Christian saints got mixed up in the were-beast mythology. With a fatal silver bullet or arrow being the usual way to gain release from weredom, were-beasts were told to pray to St. Hubert (656-727 A.D.) the patron saint of archers, dogs, hunters and hunting, forest-workers, and trappers. St. Hubert was called upon to cure rabies (and werewolves) up to the 1900s.

I included a race of were-cats in my Young Adult fantasy adventure novel, The Enchanted Skean. The Hunters are were-panthers, were-lions, and were-leopards who can control when they change into their human and big-cat forms. Enemies of dark magic, they help the protagonist, Beck, and his comrades fight an evil mage and his band of thugs. But in the book, Hunters can be killed when in human form by swords, and alas, some of these courageous warriors meet their end in battle.

So as Halloween approaches and shadows seem to follow even the bravest amongst us, beware the were-beasties that prowl alleyways, backyards, and forests. Let’s hope should you meet a shape-shifter, they can control their beastliness like my Hunters – or that you can out-run whichever were-creature is stalking you!

Skean front coverAbout the guest writer: Vonnie Winslow Crist is author of a YA fantasy novel, The Enchanted Skean, 2 speculative story collections, The Greener Forest and Owl Light, and other books. A firm believer that the world around us is filled with mystery, miracles, and magic, Vonnie celebrates the power of myth in her writing.

Read an excerpt of The Enchanted Skean

Learn more about Vonnie and her writing: http://vonniewinslowcrist.com  and http://vonniewinslowcrist.wordpress.com
Become her fan: http://facebook.com/WriterVonnieWinslowCrist  and http://goodreads.com/vonnie_winslow_crist
Follow her: http://twitter.com/VonnieWCrist
Purchase Vonnie’s books: http://tinyurl.com/Vonnie-Winslow-Crist-Amazon and http://tinyurl.com/Vonnie-Winslow-Crist-UK-Amazon

The Wicked, Weird and Whimsical Words Halloween Blog Tour runs every other day October 23-October 31.  Join us all five days for Halloween fun!  Be sure to say hello on any post to be entered in a giveaway at the end of the tour!

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by LC Hu on October 27, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by LC Hu on October 27, 2013

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Fae on Fire: An Interview with Eabha from “The Midnight Carnival”

#3 in a series of interviews with the wicked and wonderful folks from The Midnight Carnival.  Thanks to Jessica Hoffman for interpreting Eabha!

Hello Eabha!  Welcome to the hot seat–not that you’ll mind, being a fire elemental and all.  So what brings a pretty faery like you to a crazy carnival like this?
Well thank you for such a warm welcome! I know, I know, that was a terrible joke. You know, flattery gets you everywhere, my dear, remember that. I actually came here for a more welcoming environment—the faery troupe and human worlds are too restricting in their own ways, and I wanted something that struck a balance. I found that here, where I can walk the thin line between the human world I love and the faery world I belong in. People don’t judge you so harshly when they think your abilities are just clever tricks, you know, and I really hated knowing that choosing to live among humans otherwise would have meant having to nearly give up my talents entirely.

Faeries aren’t typically thought of as scary, at least not any more.  But what’s your take on that–are you more Tinkerbell, or takes-your-children-in-the-night?  Would you say you’ve ever been scary?

Faeries are quite scary, really! Tinkerbell. She’s cute, I suppose, but she isn’t really representative of us. Even we Seelie have been known to play many a cruel trick now and then, and trapping humans certainly isn’t something I could see that sugary little cartoon doing. Me, personally, now I think I’m somewhere between those two ends of the spectrum. I do love to steal a fat little baby here and there, but I do return them. Usually.

You’re a lady of fire–are faeries born with a primary element, or is that something they choose?  If so, are there rituals related to the choosing? 

Ooh, what a lovely question. No one really asks me this! Well, for starters, all fae are born with gifts like flight and shapeshifting. But the elements themselves are determined more by bloodline. My family is a long line of fire elementals, so there was really no doubt as to how I’d turn out. Sometimes you have a little freak thing born, a fire born into a line of ice or vice versa, but it  doesn’t happen very often. Ooh, I think if there were rituals to select one, though, there’d be a lot of fae choosing fire. (It’s the best one, of course.)

What’s your take on Halloween?  What makes you love or hate it?

Halloween! Well, we call it Samhain. I completely love it. It’s the one time a year when the division between the fae realm and the human world is very thin; humans can pass in and out as they like. They still tend to stay longer than they want; time doesn’t operate there as it does here. But making the journey lets people seek out their lost ones. I always loved being there to receive people into the realm, show them about. I never liked helping them find their way back out, though …

In “One Night Only,” there’s mention of a troupe, and that you’re no longer part of one.  What was your old troupe?  What made you leave it? 

My old troupe was actually my family, a couple friends, and some other fae we’d collected along the ages. My father, Aodhfin, wanted us children to get out and see the world, to learn more about it and the humans who lived in it. We traversed the whole United States but after awhile, I wanted to settle down; I liked living among the humans and had finally stopped aging; I was tired of hiding who I was and wanted some more relative stability. The carnival gave me that; it was the perfect balance of human life and faery wanderlust I’d been looking for.

Anything else?

Hm. I don’t know! I’m really excited to be involved in this book, though. I hope people enjoy it!

The Midnight Carnival: One Night Only will be available on Oct 31st in print and ebook!
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by LC Hu on October 26, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by LC Hu on October 26, 2013

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Halloween Guest Post: What Would You Do For Extra Time? by Trish Wooldridge

Guest author Trish Wooldridge

Guest author Trish Wooldridge

Hint: Don’t edit an anthology…

The search for extra time has always lent itself to the weird. Deals with the devil, infernal machines, djinn with their own agendas…

There is always a cost. Usually one that is more valuable than money. One most people are too scared to pay.

The irony that I’d joined forces with a long-time friend and writing colleague, Anthony Francis, to edit an anthology called Doorways to Extra Time–when neither of us had extra time to go through submissions, make choices, edit, proof layout, etc.–was never lost on me. It still isn’t as I try to find time to promote this anthology I paid a good deal of heart and soul for the time to make it happen. As did my co-editor.

We don’t regret that price, though.

An anthology always costs more than you think it will… in time, money, effort…sanity.

First, we had far more submissions than we thought we’d get. Yay our theme resonated with people! Crap…we have to read all these.

And we did read nearly all of them in full. Actually, I know for a fact Anthony did read Every. Single. Submission. In. Full. Even the ones with unintelligible grammar or that had nothing to do with the topic. He’s the nice editor.

On top of the large amount of submissions, we got a larger-than-normal amount of really good submissions! Yay!

Then we found out we had 20k fewer words than we’d hoped.

The really hard and scary part set in: We’d have to send rejections to stuff we loved. In a few cases, to people we considered close friends.

Doorway Stained GlassConsidering and weighing the stories and picking just the right mix made us later on our responses and eventually sent us into an editing frenzy against our deadline…something that would haunt us until the final release date and hoping the books made it to my hotel at Dragon*Con.

Oh… and another scary part? We both decided to have a budget to invite a few pros to play in our anthology. I asked two authors who I’ve known and loved for years, Walter H. Hunt and Jody Lynn Nye. They accepted! But…now we also had to edit these author icons!

But it was so worth it. Walter H. Hunt wrote a short story based on his upcoming novel, Elements of the Mind, and Jody Lynn Nye, who’s humor is inimitable and sent us one of the few truly happy interpretations of our theme.

The time–that infernal price–that it cost us was so worth it. Worth every stressed second. Because now these stories are out in the world…and they can touch others as they touched Anthony and me.

While it’s a given that anthologies are not generally “moneymakers” for most presses or most authors, they have value. They cost time, they cost money, but they often boost an author to bigger and better markets.  I got my start in anthologies, and I still submit to them regularly.

And to those who enjoy short fiction and its various themes, anthologies offer little escapes. Little adventures that take you to a whole new world. Give you a new thought. Introduce you to a new person, a new idea.

And those escapes don’t cost you a lot of extra time.

In fact, they just might show you a door to extra time. Without the hefty price tag. Or at least show you where to look.

Happy Halloween!

Doorways CoverDoorways To Extra Time, edited by Anthony Francis and Trisha Wooldridge, featuring twenty authors’ takes on finding extra time, is available as a trade paperback or ebook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and anywhere books are sold–ask your local bookstore about it!

The Wicked, Weird and Whimsical Words Halloween Blog Tour runs every other day October 23-October 31.  Join us all five days for Halloween fun!  Be sure to say hello on any post to be entered in a giveaway at the end of the tour!

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by LC Hu on October 25, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by LC Hu on October 25, 2013

https://elsiewho.wordpress.com/2013/10/25/halloween-guest-post-what-would-you-do-for-extra-time-by-trish-wooldridge/

Tea Time with Ghosts: An Interview with Liam from “The Midnight Carnival”

#2 in a series of interviews with the wicked and wonderful folks from The Midnight Carnival.  Thanks to Ashley Garst for this!

So, Liam.  You’re one of the carnival’s two resident ghosts.  What drew you to the carnival?  What made you stay here?  

Honestly, I don’t know why I’m here. Everyone asks me that question — they get up to the bloody board and just start harassing me. It’s all right, though. Forgive and forget, you know how it goes. And I stay here because…well, I can’t really go anywhere else.

I realize it may be a bit of a delicate question, so… ahem… how exactly did you die?  How long have you been a ghost?

I suppose if I put this out there once and for all, perhaps everyone will stop asking. A bar brawl was my undoing, though anyone who knew me back when I was still alive would tell you they might have expected worse. The end to many a poet, sadly, is the jealousy of others around them with little talent.

Also, the second question is just rude.

All right, all right.  Let’s change topics.  Halloween: as a ghost, do you love or hate it?  

I’d rather go without it. People don’t take you as seriously when the ghostly tricks are expected.

You seem a bit of a trickster–what’s the best Halloween trick you’ve played?

One of my first tricks was dropping a pot on one of my old rival’s heads. Made a very satisfying ‘smack’, and the best part was that he was so surprised that he ran into a wall on top of it all. Was out for a full day. I’ve never quite been able to manage that sort of thing again, sadly. The knockout, I mean, I’ve still got plenty of scares in me.

Back when you were alive, did you celebrate Samhain or All Hallow’s Eve or a comparable holiday?  Did you enjoy it then?  How exactly did you celebrate, if you did?

Oh we celebrated all the holidays the same. Booze. Booze, booze, booze. There’s nothing booze can’t fix. I miss it so much…

Anything else you’d like to tell us?  

Take a spin by Marco’s tent. Fortune and palm readings, talk to the dead (by that I mean me, obviously), and plenty more to entertain and amuse. This is where I’m supposed to, as you call it these days, ‘plug my show’, isn’t it?

The Midnight Carnival: One Night Only will be available on Oct 31st in print and ebook!

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by LC Hu on October 24, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by LC Hu on October 24, 2013

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Halloween Guest Blog: Elizabeth Black

In honor of Halloween I’m hosting four guest authors as part of the Wicked, Weird and Whimsical Words Halloween Blog Tour! Kicking off the tour is Elizabeth Black with a special sale/giveaway of her dark/fairy tale erotica.

Halloween Special Sale And Free Erotica

veil_mediumIn honor of Halloween, my favorite holiday, I, Elizabeth Black, am holding a special sale including FREE EROTICA!

From October 28 through November 3, when you buy my stories “Alicia” or “When The Veil Is Thin”, show me proof of purchase and you get one of my erotic fairy tales FOR FREE! They are “Climbing Her Tower” erotic Rapunzel) and “Trouble In Thigh High Boots” (erotic Puss In Boots). These two fairy tales are also marked down from $2.99 to 99 cents during that week. Don’t pass up this great opportunity to enjoy some good books.

“When The Veil Is Thin” is a fantasy tale about a woman who finds the man of her dreams in every sense of the words. He is in her dreams, when she sleeps at night. There is a rare planetary alignment that allows her to use magic to make him real. In order to make him flesh and blood and a living part of her world, she must follow the explicit instructions of spells cast within the three days of the alignment. How does she accomplish this, especially when it comes to her greatest fear? Read the story and find out!

Blurb for “When The Veil Is Thin”:

Angelica Preston is in for the ride of her life. With the help of a little magic, she meets the man of her dreams – literally. Antonio is the main character in her latest romance novel, but she makes passionate love to him in her dreams. He tells her she can make him a flesh-and-blood lover only if she follows explicit instructions. She has three days to achieve her goal. Does she do as she is told, or does she need to be punished for not following through? Time is running out. How will Angelica win Antonio in the end?

Amazon US: http://tinyurl.com/amazon-us-veil

Amazon UK: http://tinyurl.com/amazon-uk-veil

House Of Erotica (UK): http://tinyurl.com/hoe-veil

“When The Veil Is Thin” web site:

http://elizabethablack.blogspot.com/p/when-veil-is-thin.html

Alicia_72dpi“Alicia” is a story close to my heart, since I enjoy horror but I also enjoy writing romances. So I combined the two in “Alicia”.

Blurb for “Alicia”:

When the love of his life, Alicia, calls him in the middle of the night to report she had been raped, Eric drops everything to come to her rescue. She takes him on an eerie ride through turbulent hours he can’t quite comprehend. Alicia may need his help, but her situation is not what it seems.

Rape is a tough topic to tackle, so to add a horrific eerieness to the entire ordeal makes it even more confusing and frightening. Eric learns as much about himself as he does about Alicia as he helps her through her trauma. This book is available at the Mocha Memoirs Press web site as well as the regular ebook distributors.

Nook: http://tinyurl.com/nook-alicia

Amazon US: http://tinyurl.com/kindle-alicia

Mocha Memoirs Press: http://mochamemoirspress.com/alicia/

“Alicia” web site: http://eablack-writer.blogspot.com/p/mocha-memoirs-press.html

When you buy my stories “Alicia” or “When The Veil Is Thin”, show me proof of purchase and you get one of my self-published erotic fairy tales FOR FREE! You have your choice between the following stories:

Beautiful lady in the coniferous forestCLIMBING HER TOWER – erotic Rapunzel

This isn’t your mother’s Rapunzel.

This erotic version of Rapunzel, “Climbing Her Tower” depicts Rapunzel as a voracious woman who discovers the joys of kinky sex with a sexy prince with a few unusual kinks of his own. This story includes BDSM, M/F, M/F/F, virgin fantasy, and erotic shaving. You’ll get so hot you’ll want to let your hair down as well! Let Rapunzel and her prince take you on the sexual ride of a lifetime. Absolutely only for 18 years and over.

“”Climbing Her Tower” is an erotic twist to the fairy tale Rapunzel. I sure love a good fairy tale and this hot and steamy tale doesn’t disappoint.” — Beverly at Sizzling Hot Book Reviews

“Climbing Her Tower has all that and more. It is the story of Rapunzel told with a bit of a BDSM twist.” — Hitherandthee from Night Owl Reviews

WARNING: Rapunzel isn’t sweet and innocent. In this fairy tale erotica, she tires of being a virgin and craves the touch of Prince Richard’s hands all over her body. Although she begins naive, she blossoms with sexual excitement under the watchful eye of her prince, who introduces her to BDSM, erotic shaving, and deep penetration. He leaves her wanting more, and you will want more too!

Beautiful lady in the coniferous forestTROUBLE IN THIGH HIGH BOOTS – erotic Puss In Boots

This isn’t your mother’s Puss In Boots.

This erotic version of Puss In Boots, “Trouble In Thigh High Boots” is a story packed with hot, sexy, body humping adult fairy tale erotica.

“Trouble in Thigh High Boots is a delightfully creative retelling of the Puss in Boots tale. It is a tale that has been told myriad times, but never in such a wonderfully imaginative way. The characters are enchanting, and the story flows beautifully. The love scenes are sizzling.” — Hitherandthee of Night Owl Reviews

WARNING: Tita isn’t your run of the mill Puss In Boots. She’s a cat shapeshifter who turns into a mouth-wateringly sexy human woman with a sex drive to match. This story includes M/F, F/F, M/F/M/F, light bondage, and lactation. This erotic fairy tale will get you hot in all the right places. Definitely for only 18 years and over.

Don’t let this sale go by without taking advantage of it! Enjoy some hot erotica and a spooky tale just in time for Halloween.

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Here’s where to find me on the web. Friend me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, and check out my books! I’ve included my Amazon author pages for both of my pen names, so whether you’re into sexy or spooky, I have stories for you!

Elizabeth Black – Blog and Web Site

http://elizabethablack.blogspot.com/

Elizabeth Black – Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/elizabethablack

Elizabeth Black – Twitter

http://twitter.com/ElizabethABlack

Elizabeth Black – Amazon Author Page

https://www.amazon.com/author/elizabethblack

E. A. Black – Amazon Author Page

http://www.amazon.com/~/e/B00BBWHMFM

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The Wicked, Weird and Whimsical Words Halloween Blog Tour runs every other day October 23-October 31.  Join us all five days for Halloween fun!  Be sure to say hello on any post to be entered in a giveaway at the end of the tour!

2 Comments
by LC Hu on October 23, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in blog tour, guest post, nsfw, Uncategorized, writing
Tagged , , , , , ,

Posted by LC Hu on October 23, 2013

https://elsiewho.wordpress.com/2013/10/23/halloween-guest-blog-elizabeth-black/

Grilling the Psychic: An Interview with Marco from “The Midnight Carnival”

Halloween is coming… and with it, the release of The Midnight Carnival: One Night Only.  To get you ready for our treat, I’ll be hosting a series of character interviews, as well as joining the Halloween Reads Blog Tour. Here’s our first victi–er, volunteer!  Marco Vasquez! (Thanks to Ali W!)

Hey, Marco!  Why don’t you tell us a little about yourself?  Just a quick introduction for these good folks here. 

Oh, I guess people wouldn’t know that, would they? Alright then. Um, I’m Marco. I’m twenty-five, I work in a carnival, and the part that everyone remembers: I’m a psychic. No, I don’t see the future. No, I can’t read your mind. I see the dead, though. And the past. It’s really fucking annoying, and I can’t turn it off. If I don’t shake your hand, don’t take it personally, I just really don’t want to be in your memories.

So when did you first discover you had psychic powers?

When I was seventeen, after spending years in a mental hospital. My mother thought I was crazy. Schizophrenic, actually. Doctors did too. So I was crazy until proven psychic. Being psychic is better, but not by much.

What led you to join the Midnight Carnival?

Drugs are expensive, and I needed a job. I wish I had a better answer, but I don’t.

Did you work as a psychic anywhere else before you came to the carnival?

I did! A few little side-of-the-road psychic shops. I never worked with a real psychic in any of them, and the people I worked with either didn’t believe me, or were jealous of me. Either way, I had to wear these horrible costumes and this awful costume jewelry, and in one case a turban…

Halloween’s coming up.  Love the holiday?  Hate it?  What was your best/worst Halloween?

Honestly? I’m kind of indifferent. People say that the veil or whatever is thinner, but my abilities drive me nuts all the time, so I can’t tell the difference. And I haven’t dressed up since I was a kid, so… Yeah. Best I can give it is that I’m indifferent.

Anything else you’d like to say?

Yeah, why the fuck does everybody want to talk to famous dead people? Is it not impressive enough that we’re contacting dead people? How often do you talk to dead people on a regular basis that you need to come into my tent and ask me to channel JFK or Marilyn Monroe or Abe Lincoln? Guys. Calm the fuck down. A ghost is a ghost. Just enjoy the paranormal experience and leave me a damn tip.

The Midnight Carnival: One Night Only will be available on Oct 31st in print and ebook!

Leave a comment
by LC Hu on October 22, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in character interview, publications, Uncategorized, writing
Tagged , , ,

Posted by LC Hu on October 22, 2013

https://elsiewho.wordpress.com/2013/10/22/grilling-the-psychic-an-interview-with-marco-from-the-midnight-carnival/

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