REVIEW SUNDAY: Sara Brooke's THE MAD MONKEY KING


The fair is typically full of fun, exciting rides.
But you've never ridden anything like this.
It sits in silence and waits - its red eyes glowing in the darkness. It waits to offer riders the chance for redemption or a fate worse than death.
The Mad Monkey King is ready to take Gary Moore on a journey. He doesn't realize that he's about to enter a realm that defies everything that's real and logical.
Because once he enters the darkness, he may never find his way out.
The Mad Monkey King is a short story filled with horror, suspense and adventure.


I love carnivals and amusement parks, especially old ones that have a history (I pretty much love anything old with a history). I love stories and films based around them, from Tod Browning's 1932 film, Freaks to the 1962 film Carnival of Souls to 1981's Fun House to 2006's Dark Ride, there is something about setting a dark fiction story at a carnival. Even one of my favorite music acts, Midnight Syndicate released an album title "Carnival Arcane", based on the music and mystery surrounding the old, traveling fairs of yesteryear. So when Sara Brooke announced that her newest story would be taking place one, I was of course looking forward to reading it.
I love Sara Brooke's stories. Some I like more than others, but I always look forward to her putting out a new work. The Mad Monkey King is a short story, therefore reading it is not a huge commitment. Also because it is a short story, I don't want to say too much about it without giving it away, but I will say that as it typically is with this author's stories, you never really know what's coming up (kind of like a dark ride, huh?). Just when you think you know what's coming, you are steered in a completely different direction.
The story is told in first person (by the main character, Gary Moore), thus giving the reader a chance to really experience what the character is going through and his emotional journey. The author does a good job of painting the characters, from the main character to the more secondary ones.
For a while, The Kransen House was my favorite Sara Brooke story, but I think The Mad Monkey King has taken its place...or at least tied with it.

Check out The Mad Monkey King at Amazon and Smashwords:

The Mad Monkey King on Smashwords


While you're at it, check out The Kransen House as well:


The Kransen House on Smashwords


The History of Women in Comics

An interesting look at women in comic strips and books (the artists as well as the characters) throughout history. The first known female cartoonist in America was producing and selling in her work during the turn of the 20th century.

I thought this might be interesting since a good portion of Descent takes place during the 1930s, right on the cusp of the Roaring 20s and the Depression, and this article covers a nice portion of that era.

Women in Comics: The Platinum and the Golden Ages



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******

My stories, "The Cemetery by the Lake" and "Dusk to Dawn" are available at Smashwords and Barnes & Noble NOOK. More retailers will follow, but Smashwords is pretty compatible with most e-reader and PC formats.
and Amazon
"The Cemetery by the Lake" at Smashwords and Barnes & Noble NOOK
"Dusk to Dawn" at Smashwords
Tiffany on Goodreads
My music is also available at CDBaby
Support great authors and independent bookstores at Smashwords and Indiebound

REVIEW SUNDAY: Kimberly Bennett's TWISTED DELIGHTS: A THRILLING SHORT STORY ANTHOLOGY




Twisted Delights: A Thrilling Short Story Anthology is a strange collection of ten short stories which include a homicidal hairdresser, a doomed werewolf love tale & an unforgettable meeting with the devil.

I met Kimberly Bennett at a couple events held at local bookstores and finally got a chance to pick up two of her books (both anthologies), putting both on my Summer Reading List. Recently, I finished Twisted Delights. It's a pretty short read at only 102 pages long and - as the description says - includes ten short stories.
The premises for all the stories are very interesting and solid, and my two favorites, Aisling and Medusa Virus involve two well-known beings from mythology and are complete enough, yet leave things open for the reader. Not all the stories end happily, and you know what? I like it that way. Because sometimes in life, you don't always get what you want and events are seldom tied up neatly in packages. Though in a couple of the stories, I would have liked more of an explanation. For instance, I loved Nightmare. It was one of those stories that had me turning the pages and wondering what was going to happen next. Overall, I was satisfied with the ending, though would have liked maybe just a small hint at why the events were happening to the protagonist and her grandmother. Until Forever is also a good, though tragic tale and Gabriel is cool little story with a nice twist (pun not intended...sort of). There were also a couple stories that didn't quite do it for me, but I think that had more to do with my personal taste.
Overall, I did enjoy Twisted Delights and do recommend it for those looking for short read to settle in with for the evening.

You can check out Twisted Delights on Amazon, Smashwords, and Barnes & Noble.


Twisted Delights on Smashwords

Twisted Delights at Barnes & Noble

If you would like to join our community and receive content exclusive to email, join our little tribe and Subscribe to my Messages from the Labyrinth Mailing List.. We promise to never share your info or spam you. Ever.

You can also subscribe to my YouTube Channel for new vlogging updates.


******

My stories, "The Cemetery by the Lake" and "Dusk to Dawn" are available at Smashwords and Barnes & Noble NOOK. More retailers will follow, but Smashwords is pretty compatible with most e-reader and PC formats.
and Amazon
"The Cemetery by the Lake" at Smashwords and Barnes & Noble NOOK
"Dusk to Dawn" at Smashwords
Tiffany on Goodreads
My music is also available at CDBaby
Support great authors and independent bookstores at Smashwords and Indiebound


Accuracy in Historical Fiction: Is 100% Possible?

Hey all,

Sorry for the delays in posts over the passed couple weeks. Things got crazy with filming and trying to finally release Descent. Since it's getting close to when Descent (The Birthrite Series, #1) will be ready for release, I wanted to do a post on the historical fiction genre. While The Birthrite Series isn't exactly Historical Fiction as the genre is defined, there is much of it that does take place throughout some major events in history, like Roma Slavery the Great Depression.

Before I begin, here are some cool and informative links on the subject from the points of view of other writers/authors. Both of which stress authenticity over accuracy.

Stretching the Facts to Historical Fiction

How to Write Historical Fiction: 7 Tips on Accuracy and Authenticity 

So, as I stated in posts before, The Birthrite Series took me nearly four years to compile. After a lot of research and experimenting with different characters and scenarios, the story went from only being one book to five with a couple spin off novellettes/shorts. And it was about three years before I was happy with something I could even call a first draft. Part of this was due to the amount of research I did as I compiled that first draft. Once I had a direction (when I came up with the beginning concept of the four bloodline patriarchs: Nicolae, Jonathan, James, and Hector), a lot of historical research went into their four stories and I made myself crazy striving for accuracy. Not that this is a bad thing, but I also read reviews on various books in historical fiction and books of other genres that took place at certain times in history as my series does. And let me tell you...damn some people can be brutal at the slightest factual error! And sometimes not even that.

I will use one of my favorite movies as an example. Here is the trailer for the movie "Ever After" starring Drew Barrymore (and both songs featured in the trailer are also on the playlist for The Birthrite Series: "The Mummers Dance" by Loreena McKennitt and "Fable" by Robert Miles).


A couple weeks ago, I was looking at some comments regarding the film, and one person commented on how the values shown in the film were "too modern for its' time."  Now granted, this person did not elaborate beyond that, so I can't really say what parts of the film the person actually meant. However, my rebuttal for that is "Ever After" is a take on the Cinderella story. The "Cinderella" character, Danielle (Drew Barrymore) is a forward thinking woman living in Renaissance-era France. In fact, one of the main points of the story is that Danielle IS a forward thinking young woman, thanks to her father who encouraged her to read and grow intellectually before he passed away. This is what sets her apart. Also, wasn't the Renaissance era also the start of the so-called  "Enlightening"? Meaning many were embracing new ideals not considered acceptable during the Medieval era and altering their ways of thinking a little. So why should some of the values presented be THAT far-fetched? Is it because the characters didn't adhere to the rules still being pushed by the powers that be of that time?
It seems to be a trend in stories set in historical times that if the characters don't "follow all the rules" and express some form of rebellion, than you get the "WHAT??? They NEVER would have done that! This author/writer needs to do their research!" comments.
I've come to accept that there will always be purists, and no matter how much research is done, they will always find something to nitpick about. While I've come to accept it as being 'the nature of the beast,' some of this did cause me a lot of self doubt as I wrote Descent.

Here's the thing I've come to find about history (as well as the writers in the articles I linked to at the beginning of this post). Much of it is bias. Yes, there is truth in bias, but the recounting of that truth depends on who you are talking to or reading about. Not all the facts are there, and sometimes you do need to "fill in the blanks" with your own educated guesses (which will be different from the educated guesses of others). This is where the 'authenticity over accuracy' comes into play. Tone is important while writing about other eras as is language. And yes, language can be a BEAST and I found this out quickly while writing Descent.
In Descent, we begin in the mid 1800s with Nicolae Ganoush, Jonathan Blake, James Livingston, and Hector de Fuentes. Nicolae is a Roma (or "gypsy") slave in Romania. Therefore, he does not even speak English. Based on my research, the Roma have their own language based in ancient Sanskrit but are also likely to be able to communicate with those outside the Roma community out of necessity.
Then there is Jonathan, who does speak English, but with an Irish brogue.
James Livingston is from the aristocracy, so he would speak the VERY proper English of that time.
Then there is Hector, who lives in Mexico. While he may have learned some English, Spanish is his first language.
Then, the second half of the book takes place in the 1930s, which means a more modern tone than the 1800s, but still different from the 2010s.
So I had my work cut out for me.
Tone, atmosphere, and language ARE important in a historical setting, most definitely. And this is not as easy as it may seem. Obviously, I can't write in the exact words and languages of Nicolae and Hector, and even with Jonathan's accent, striving for 100% accuracy would have been impossible, not to mention make the book VERY unreadable to readers. Even with the slang in the half of the book taking place in the 1930s, I still had to pick and choose just enough to set the right tone while at the same time, not alienating readers who may not be familiar with such terms used at the time.
You want to create an authentic atmosphere, yes. But you also don't want your readers having to reach for a thesaurus every other sentence or throwing your book across the room in frustration because they don't know what the hell your characters are saying. But on the same note, the wrong tone can do that too. What helped me was reading books and watching films from the said eras and getting a feel for how they spoke and acted. From there, try to come to a happy medium.
With my non-English speaking characters and even for Jonathan with his brogue, I simply tried to maintain tone and mannerisms appropriate for the era they live in.

Now, many may look at this and say "well, that's why you should only write what you know." Really? While I will agree that this might be good advice for a new writer just starting out, I thought one of the main points of creating any kind of art was to challenge yourself and step outside the box. Plus, all the fun is in the research and seeing your characters come to life through it all.

As for the "they NEVER would have done that" comments, I propose this: Who the hell wants to read about people that do nothing but follow the rules? Maybe someone out there might disagree, but I like my stories to have tension and keep me on the edge of my seat. Oftentimes, this occurs because someone is doing something they ideally should not be doing. And isn't history full of rebels and people who made waves against what the powers that be pushed? If not, we would not have had any of the historical revolutions that took place. We would not have had suffrage movement or the Roaring 20s. We would not have had things like Woodstock. We would not have had the Renaissance (hence, "Ever After").
While I do agree that it is essential to take society's rules into consideration and be as accurate as you can there, what ABOUT those rules would drive the character to rebel? What events are taking place that affects that character's decision making. To a degree, everyone is a product of his or her environment whether that person is a rule follower or a rule bender/breaker.

The authenticity over accuracy rule does not mean you should just willy nilly write "whatever." You should always research and strive for as much accuracy as possible, but also accept that 100% accuracy is next to impossible and that there will always be "that guy" with something to say how 'wrong' you are. 



If you would like to join our community and receive content exclusive to email, join our little tribe and Subscribe to my Messages from the Labyrinth Mailing List.. We promise to never share your info or spam you. Ever.

You can also subscribe to my YouTube Channel for new vlogging updates.


******

My stories, "The Cemetery by the Lake" and "Dusk to Dawn" are available at Smashwords and Barnes & Noble NOOK. More retailers will follow, but Smashwords is pretty compatible with most e-reader and PC formats.
and Amazon
"The Cemetery by the Lake" at Smashwords and Barnes & Noble NOOK
"Dusk to Dawn" at Smashwords
Tiffany on Goodreads
My music is also available at CDBaby
Support great authors and independent bookstores at Smashwords and Indiebound


Interview with Author, Selah Janel

I had the awesome privilege of getting to interview Selah Janel as she promotes her newest work, Olde School. It's also cool when you read someone's interview answers and realize how alike you are! Read on and check out her really unique stories (yeah, I realize that "unique" tends to get overused, but it is very fitting to Ms. Janel and her works) :D


BIO & INTERVIEW

Selah Janel has been blessed with a giant imagination since she was little and convinced that fairies lived in the nearby state park or vampires hid in the abandoned barns outside of town. The many people around her that supported her love of reading and curiosity probably made it worse. Her e-books The Other Man, Holly and Ivy, and Mooner are published through Mocha Memoirs Press. Lost in the Shadows, a collection of short stories celebrating the edges of ideas and the spaces between genres was co-written with S.H. Roddey. Her work has also been included in The MacGuffin, The Realm Beyond, Stories for Children Magazine, The Big Bad: an Anthology of Evil, The Grotesquerie, and Thunder on the Battlefield. Olde School is the first book in her new series, The Kingdom City Chronicles, and is published through Seventh Star Press. She likes her music to rock, her vampires lethal, her fairies to play mind games, and her princesses to hold their own.


TA: First, introduce yourself to our lovely readers.

SJ: Hi there, lovely readers! I am Selah Janel and I tend to write all sorts of speculative fiction. I gravitate to fantasy, urban fantasy, and horror, though my new book, Olde School, is cross-genre. Really that means I can write every genre at once and wreck them all in one fell swoop. I also have worked professionally in theatre and entertainment for a while in costume design and construction. I am a lover of ideas and a reader of everything.

TA: As a writer myself, I'm always interested in hearing about the writing process of other writers. Would you care to discuss how you approach your writing?

SJ: For me it depends on the title. This newest one is a little bit of an anomaly for me, because it originally was supposed to be a short story and turned into a series. However, everything usually starts with a concept or basic idea. It usually involves me wondering about something or noticing a quirk about something I see or think about in my everyday life. There are so many cool things right in front of us all the time; it amazes me and drives me a little crazy that people aren’t in awe of the entire world around them! When I think of all the people I pass by daily and all the stories they’re currently living, or the little moments or things I pass by when I’m out and about...there are countless ideas and inspirations just waiting to be explored. It’s beautiful, a little bit of magic in the mundane all sitting right in front of our eyes.

 After I have a concept or basic idea, I usually start developing a loose plot and delving into the types of characters the story might have. Once I have a basic idea and the characters, I’ll usually know exactly what I want for the first few pages of a short or the first three to five chapters of a story. I usually have an ending in mind, or at least a direction. There may be a couple other plot points that I definitely want to have, but I leave the rest open to give the characters time to develop and give me more ideas. I find that the longer leash I give them, the more headspace I have to be inspired by their personalities and the possibilities they present. I’ve learned that at least for me it’s very rare that I can plot out a story point by point and have it work. In my writing I need wiggle room, I need that space for growth. I don’t like writing to specific genres so much as I do writing what the story or the idea calls for. For me, keeping that point of view helps me focus on details and characterizations that hopefully connect with readers rather than if I was going into things trying to write a “horror” story or a “fantasy tale about a different world.” I’ve also found that I will overwrite tremendously in the first few drafts and then once I get edits back I’ll do a lot of shaping and tightening on my own, especially with my book manuscripts.
It’s not uncommon for me to revamp whole sections or really dig in and finesse something or change something around later in the game if it’s not ringing true to me.



TA: As far back as you can recall, what was the first story you ever wrote?

SJ: As a little girl I definitely went through the phase of re-writing fairy tales and other stories I was familiar with in my own style, but I’m fortunate that I actually have some really early stories scrawled out on that large, grey/tan paper with those really wide red and blue lines, usually accompanied by some scribbled illustration. There was one about a witch trying to be nice, and another about a tooth not wanting to be brushed. The earliest, though...when I was little I was given this blue plastic typewriter. It was finicky on its best day and I wasn’t allowed to play with it very often because I would just go through paper like a madman, trying to get the keys to type perfectly. I slammed out weird little snippets, fairy tale re-vamps, all sorts of things. A few years ago I was going through a mountain of stuff my parents had saved and I actually found some of those stories! I’m going to wager that the earliest was this really short piece about an evil dragon named Jack who kidnapped a princess. I still have it, and I actually featured it (and other stories from my childhood) on my blog under the tag “the lost manuscripts.” I cringe and laugh so hard posting these! It just kills me how egotistical and shameless I was as a little girl. It’s just beautiful, especially reading this particular piece because I fully remember and acknowledge thinking one particular piece of dialogue was so brilliant and crafting the whole story just so I could use a particular line that I thought was just hilarious at the time! I also apparently had the idea that if I changed like a letter in a name that no one would EVER know I was referencing a Disney heroine or myself (I cannot tell you how many leading ladies my childhood stories had that was basically me with a very obvious name change. Self-insertion at its unapologetic finest)!

And yes. There is recording evidence of this story called, appropriately, “A Story of the Middle Ages.”

http://selahjanel.wordpress.com/2012/03/27/sj-the-lost-manuscripts-a-story-of-the-middle-ages/
Don’t judge me.

TA: What are some challenges you face as a writer and author?

SJ: My brain tends to move faster than my time constraints. I have so many ideas, and the past couple years have been a little rough trying to adapt my daily schedule to fitting in all the writing I want to do, plus all the promotion and business work I have to do. I’m still trying to find that balance, and it still drives me a little crazy, though I will readily admit it’s a worthwhile battle.

I tend to...I don’t know that putting myself down is an accurate term. I think I get overwhelmed sometimes because my ideas tend to be a little out of the box, so it’s hard to bounce concepts off people if they aren’t used to me. Sometimes that turns into me wondering if it’s a viable idea or if I’m doing anything remotely worthwhile. I eventually get out of that funk and carry on, because that’s what you need to do. I get impatient with myself – I’ve always said I’m my absolute hardest critic. It’s not necessarily that I want everything right NOW, but I can see how things could play nicely together later down the road, so I have to curb myself from trying to play in every idea at once or going ahead with something that just plain isn’t ready yet. Patience and balance are definitely things that I wrestle with every single day.

TA: Tell us about your newest works.

SJ: Olde School is the first book of the Kingdom City Chronicles and was released in March through Seventh Star Press. I’m so proud of this one. It’s been a lot of work and it’s turned into a combination of so many of my loves: fairy tales and folklore, urban fantasy, horror, silliness...I feel like it really turned into a book that is truly, definitely from me.

Kingdom City is a fairy/folktale based society that’s modernized. Trolls use laptops, there are just as many CEOs as royals, princesses use dating sites to attract suitors’ attentions. It’s not too much different from our world in that they view magic as fiction or old wives tales. Within this world, Paddlelump Stonemonger is a successful businesstroll, though many brush him off because he looks and acts too nice. Even his house maid starts to try to manipulate him, not to mention the fact that the city politicians are after his land!

And then he finds out that magic really is real, and it’s horrible. There’s a lot of fun characters in this book – feisty waitresses, talking animals, troll businessmen, goblin lawyers, an ogre sheriff. It’s a lot of fun and there are a lot of different layers to it. Even if you’re not familiar with some of the stories I draw from, you can appreciate it as a fun adventure. It’s one of those titles where I think there really is something for everyone, since it draws from so many different genres and blends them together in a unique way.




TA: What's coming up for you? Plug away!

SJ: I just re-released a short, historical vampire story through Mocha Memoirs Press. Mooner takes place in a late 1800’s lumber camp saloon and explores what happens when you put different personalities and moralities together in a small enclosure on one of the few evenings where a group of strong-personalities can cut loose. To add to it, the central character is fairly naïve, and then in comes a stranger with a terrible thirst who will do anything for a drink.

I’m also working on pieces for a couple of anthologies, as well as preparing some stories for an issue of Trail of Indiscretion dedicated to my fiction. I’m also polishing up two stand-alone novels and getting ready to shop those out. Then there’s always Kingdom City! I’m hoping to do a side collection of short stories based around the female characters of the first book, then move on to book two. There’s a lot I want to do, and I’m really excited for all of it! Thanks so much for having me on your blog so that I could talk about my projects!

More on Olde School by Selah Janel

Book One of the Kingdom City Chronicles



Available at:  Kindle       Amazon Paperback   Amazon UK    Nook    B&N Paperback     Kobo

Genres:
Cross-Genre: Fantasy, Fairy/Folktale, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, Horror
 

Kingdom City has moved into the modern era. Run by a lord mayor and city council (though still under the influence of the High King of The Land), it proudly embraces a blend of progress and tradition. Trolls, ogres, and other Folk walk the streets with humans, but are more likely to be entrepreneurs than cause trouble. Princesses still want to be rescued, but they now frequent online dating services to encourage lords, royals, and politicians to win their favor. The old stories are around, but everyone knows they’re just fodder for the next movie franchise. Everyone knows there’s no such thing as magic. It’s all old superstition and harmless tradition.

Bookish, timid, and more likely to carry a laptop than a weapon, Paddlelump Stonemonger is quickly coming to wish he’d never put a toll bridge over Crescent Ravine. While his success has brought him lots of gold, it’s also brought him unwanted attention from the Lord Mayor. Adding to his frustration, Padd’s oldest friends give him a hard time when his new maid seems inept at best and conniving at worst.

When a shepherd warns Paddlelump of strange noises coming from Thadd Forest, he doesn’t think much of it. Unfortunately for him, the history of his land goes back further than anyone can imagine. Before long he’ll realize that he should have paid attention to the old tales and carried a club.Darkness threatens to overwhelm not only Paddlelump, but the entire realm. With a little luck, a strange bird, a feisty waitress, and some sturdy friends, maybe, just maybe, Padd will survive to eat another meal at Trip Trap’s diner. It’s enough to make the troll want to crawl under his bridge, if he can manage to keep it out of the clutches of greedy politicians.


Selah’s Links:
Blog – http://www.selahjanel.wordpress.com
Facebook Author Page – http://www.facebook.com/authorSJ
Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/SelahJanel
Amazon Author Page - http://www.amazon.com/Selah-Janel/e/B0074DKC9K
Goodreads - http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5622096.Selah_Janel






If you would like to join our community and receive content exclusive to email, join our little tribe and Subscribe to my Messages from the Labyrinth Mailing List.. We promise to never share your info or spam you. Ever.

You can also subscribe to my YouTube Channel for new vlogging updates.


******

My stories, "The Cemetery by the Lake" and "Dusk to Dawn" are available at Smashwords and Barnes & Noble NOOK. More retailers will follow, but Smashwords is pretty compatible with most e-reader and PC formats.
and Amazon
"The Cemetery by the Lake" at Smashwords and Barnes & Noble NOOK
"Dusk to Dawn" at Smashwords
Tiffany on Goodreads
My music is also available at CDBaby
Support great authors and independent bookstores at Smashwords and Indiebound

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A Monsoon Concert...Thunder, Lightening, and Music, OH MY! And some Pyrates too!

    Well hey there! I'm back after a long hiatus from posting here! It's been an eventful year as I'm prepping for some cool thi...