Thank you!

I was checking out my stats this morning and I noticed two exciting updates: 1) I recently hit 1500 views since I rebooted my blog four months ago and 2) there are some recurring visitors from all sorts of far away places. As a little blogger on the big, busy interwebs, I want to thank you for the interest and support!

Minions of Misery Award

I've been awarded again! This time not as a reflection of how precious and adorable I am, but in honour of my darker side. Thank you Angela.

Instructions: Share one dark book, one dark movie, and one dark secret. Hmmm...

Dark Book: The only one that keeps coming to mind is Stephen King's "It". It's the only book I couldn't read at night unless I didn't feel like sleeping. Otherwise, I would have to go with Neil Gaimen and Terry Pratchett's "Good Omens". Dark apocalyptic subject matter, hilarious execution.

Dark Movie: MUCH easier. "Sweeney Todd: the demon barber of Fleet Street." The Johnny Depp version, but I'm pretty sure I'd enjoy any of them. How can you not enjoy a music about cannibalism? When I went to see this in theatres, the person I went with was very disturbed by how cheerful I was when we left.

Dark Secret: I love mediaeval style clothing. If I had the money I would sport layered skirts and deep-hooded cloaks all the time. Anne Larochelle knows what she's doing. *le sigh* One day.



Now to honour someone else's darkness, I nominate:
Colin F. Barnes

Writing Update #3

It was a weekend for submissions! I did my first query blast and with luck the responses will come trickling in over the next few weeks.

I also posted a bit about my pending novel The Fenwith Trials, which you can check out on the Fenwith page.

Chapter 2 of my next urban fantasy got completed while waiting for someone at the mall today, and my Final Read-through of Playing with Fire starts this evening. All in all it's been a writing-focused, productive weekend!

Aaron J. Booth's Life Eternal - A Review

A Quick Review
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The warrior priest, Castus, embarks on a hunt for one of the deadliest creatures to ever walk the lands of Taal—a vampire by the name of Sallus. After a year of failure, Castus enlists the aid of Giento, a man who claims a special ability to sense the dread lords, but in fact is nothing more than a coward.

As the hunt intensifies, the duo find themselves facing not only Sallus, but the family the vampire has made for himself. With the hunt expanded to four of the deadly creatures, Castus plunges headlong into a chase that Giento fears will end in the worst of all possible fates.

Meanwhile, Sallus’ latest son-in-death, Conrad, encounters all the dangers of his new life as a vampire – a life where the warrior priest turns out to be the least of his problems.

Great. Another vampire story. Aren't there enough already?

If that's what you're thinking, then you need to stop thinking and trust my judgement instead. We've been so inundated with vampires  trying hard to be human lately, that it's about time someone reminded us what these creatures originally were - Blood. Drinking. Monsters.

As usual, the back cover hardly even scratches the surface of this novel's complexity. The story begins with Conrad, a newborn vampire, experiencing his new life for the first time, and from the very first paragraph I was swept up in the images and sensations that would carry me through the rest of the book.

There are no uninteresting characters in this story. My favourite character appears for one scene, fills it with awesomeness, and is never seen again. But with that brief glimpse, you know there's a whole other story behind him.

At times leaning towards the extremely gory (personal advice: some scenes should not be read near dinner time), the story is beautifully balanced with good humour, suspense, mystery and the pursuit of a beautiful woman.

In sum: if this is Aaron's debut novel, then I am certainly anticipating the next.

Interested in forming your own opinion? Order the book on Amazon here.

Tag, You're It!

So I've been tagged in the Blogger wars, thanks to Ms. Tammy E. A. Crosby, a fellow Canadian writer, who was so recently awarded the Seriously Cute Blogger Award (which she well deserves!)

Point of the tag: Talk about 5 films/TV/books you've read or watched in the last 12 months. Here goes...

1) Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (movie): Perfect melding of genres, excellent cast, subtle humour. I seriously cannot get enough of this film.

2) Game of Thrones (book/TV series): It's not often I get to say this, but HBO's GoT was a near-perfect adaptation of a near-perfect series. George RR Martin knows what to do with his fantasy, there is no doubt about that.

3) True Blood (TV series): Everything I love about vampires wrapped up into one deliciously addicting show. I will admit that at times the writing is laughable, and the acting occasionally bland, but on the whole it's very well put together..

4) The Blue Castle (book): Written by LM Montgomery, I would consider this novel one of the most overlooked classics. It always cheers me up and make me a little daring. Imagine the freedom to say whatever came to your mind...

aannnnnnd

5) The Mother Tongue (book): A history of the English language written by Bill Bryson. Oh my goodness gracious. If you want a linguistics lessons that will make you laugh till you pee, then this is the book for you.

Part two of this war is to tag other bloggers and get them to spill on their deepest, darkest...sources of television and literary taste.

1) Chelsea Gammon - new authoress in the making

3) Muffy Morrigan - a wonderful writer with a strange affinity for a certain Giant Spider

4) Aaron J. Booth - debut novelist with a powerful wit

5) Elle Fawker - a lady of many wonderful talents, who I would like to see writing again!

Have fun all! Can't wait to see your thoughts.