#Paranormal Wednesday-Modern Age Vampires

Photo courtesy of cgiraldez via morgueFile

I came across a show called MTV True Life recently. The show seems to cover a plethora of interesting topics but in this particular episode it was vampires. Specifically, vampires in Austin, Texas. Not the "rise from the dead" vampires or vamps that sparkle (thank gawd) but people who claim to be bona fide vampires. 

According to the the group, "a vampire is essentially an energy feeder or blood drinker that may display various levels of psychic ability."  They don't drink blood without permission and health screenings. They shun sunlight and tend to favor the night. They have a great respect for life and give back to their community. They have a Facebook Page, throw a yearly Austin Vampire Ball  and Twitter @VampireNews.
Oh, and they're global, folks. The Vampire Court of Austin is only one faction of their organization. 

Fascinating.

My intention is not to mock as I'm sure they get plenty of that day-to-day. I always try and be respectful in my blog. I do wonder about the immortality aspect. Perhaps an immortal spirit? I'm unsure. Much like the general public's belief and understanding of witches (flying on broomsticks and other silliness) my guess is that vampires are subject to general misunderstandings by the public as well. Perhaps even more so. Regardless, the program was an interesting one, albeit a bit dramatic. Such is MTV.
I encourage you to watch the episode if you're interested. 

Tangled Tuesday-Guest Author SS Hampton, Sr

Please welcome my guest this week, SS Hampton, Sr.

So, Why This Genre?

       I write in a variety of genres—horror, supernatural, military fiction, erotica, erotic romance, science fiction, fantasy, and even a bit of dabbling in Classical Greece and Rome, and the Old West.

       Now, as for horror or supernatural, that is a little difficult to explain. Deep down inside maybe we all like to be scared once in a while. Perhaps it is in our genes, a left-over from the prehistoric when our ancestors huddled around campfires telling stories to pass the time. And keep the surrounding predators at bay. The prehistoric was definitely a time when the world and its working was filled with mystery and spirits.

       That time is gone now except for some “uncivilized” areas of the world. Science has seen to that.

       But still, science doesn’t know everything.

       That being said, I love a good horror story or horror movie, or supernatural story or movie. Forget all of the slasher and torture and kill stories and movies. If I want to read or see that I will look at the news.

       Nope, good old horror or supernatural entertainment for me. I still enjoy a chill or a fright from time to time. Especially at night or when there is a full moon.

       Then too, true horror or supernatural can appear even in broad daylight. That might be the scariest of all. In our stereotypical, label-based world, such things are supposed to happen in darkness. Not in broad daylight. But what if you encounter a handsomely dressed man or enticingly dressed woman in broad daylight? What if you are drawn to them? And then, alone with such a person in broad daylight a sudden chill ripples through you? And you realize, you feel, that there is something “wrong” with the person in front of you? You realize there is a darkness within them that no one but you can sense. Your gut is screaming “run” and you want to—but where? It is bright and sunny out. Every move you make can be seen, anticipated, and reacted to.

       And worse, the darkness realizes that you can see it for what it truly is.

       Yes, it is bright and sunny out and something dark stands before you, close to you, and is beckoning you to join it. Or be consumed by it if you refuse.

       Science be damned—faced by a real darkness in front of you, what then?

“Dancing in Moonlight” 

Ed. Stephen Morgan. Musa Publishing, May 2012.

ISBN: 978-1-61937-264-1

BLURB: 

While on much-needed R&R leave from Iraq, Corporal Ronnie Edson enjoyed a night with a beautiful woman. He thought that would be the end of it, but on the flight back to Iraq he sees an impossible sight: the woman dancing on the wing of the plane. She’s come for him, and she won’t leave without him.

EXCERPT: 

       A yellowish glow flared in the living darkness like a newborn sun; the hiss and sputtering of the flickering glow sounded like the background static of the prehistoric universe.

       The soft footsteps of an enraptured, puzzled voyeur emerged from a darkness that pulsed with hidden life, desires, needs, and temptations.

       A nude woman sat on a silk-cushioned bench in front of a large, dark vanity table and ignored the silent voyeur. Her long blonde hair with purplish highlights fell to the small of her back. She looked into the central mirror and a pair of movable side mirrors that were shaped like Gothic cathedral windows. By each side mirror, a candelabra with a trio of tall scented candles bathed her pale flesh in their soft glow.

       She felt his eyes studying her as she applied, with slow measured strokes, black and red eye shadow to her upper eyelids, and under her eyes; at the outer corner of her eyes the eye shadow narrowed to a point, like Minoan or Egyptian eye decoration on wall paintings. Her blue, almond shaped eyes were brighter than a cloudless sky at high noon. Black eyeliner highlighted the brightness of her eyes while mascara deepened the blackness of her eyelashes.

       Her deep blue eyes blinked once as she looked into the Gothic mirrors and caught a glimpse of the silent man. She listened to the murmuring shadows in the mirrors, while an even deeper, sensual darkness, like a black satin ribbon, twisted around the unsuspecting man and flowed through him.

       A hint of a smile came to her face as she shifted on the silk cushion and lazily ran a red fingernail along a length of her dark thigh high stockings. She sensed his growing lust for her. Her hand trailed up her hip to a garter belt decorated with ruffled silk, then across a topless black and red velvet and lace corset. Her seductive smile deepened as she peered into the Gothic mirror at the man, now shrouded within the ghostly, satiny ribbon.

       She applied dark lip liner to her full lips, followed by blood red lipstick. The young woman paused and chose a brush that sparkled in the candlelight. She carefully applied gold glitter to her eyebrows...

Buy Link:

Musa Publishing

Stan Hampton, Sr. is a full-blood Choctaw of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, a divorced grandfather to 13 wonderful grandchildren, and a published photographer and photojournalist. He retired on 1 July 2013 from the Army National Guard with the rank of Sergeant First Class; he previously served in the active duty Army (1974-1985), the Army Individual Ready Reserve (1985-1995) (mobilized for the Persian Gulf War), and enlisted in the Nevada Army National Guard in October 2004, after which he was mobilized for Federal active duty for almost three years. Hampton is a veteran of Operations Noble Eagle (2004-2006) and Iraqi Freedom (2006-2007) with deployment to northern Kuwait and several convoy security missions into Iraq.

            

His writings have appeared as stand-alone stories and in anthologies from Dark Opus Press, Edge Science Fiction & Fantasy, Melange Books, Musa Publishing, MuseItUp Publishing, Ravenous Romance, and as stand-alone stories in Horror Bound Magazine, The Harrow, and River Walk Journal, among others.

            

In May 2014 he graduated from the College of Southern Nevada with an Associate of Applied Science Degree in Photography – Commercial Photography Emphasis. A future goal is to study for a degree in archaeology—hopefully to someday work in and photograph underwater archaeology (and also learning to paint).

            

After 13 years of brown desert in the Southwest and overseas, he misses the Rocky Mountains, yellow aspens in the fall, running rivers, and a warm fireplace during snowy winters.

            

As of April 2014, after being in a 2-year Veterans Administration program for Homeless Veterans, Hampton is officially no longer a homeless Iraq War veteran, though he is still struggling to get back on his feet.

Hampton can be found at:

Melange Books

Musa Publishing

MuseItUp Publishing

Amazon.com AuthorPage

Amazon.com. UK AuthorPage 

Goodreads Author Page

#MeatlessMonday-Spinach Garlic Gyoza #vegetarian #vegan

The gyozas are simple to make but require some assembly. If you aren't a fan of salty flavors, use a low sodium soy sauce or 1/2 the black bean sauce in the filling. When it comes to steaming the gyozas, there are many different ways to do that. I have a rice cooker but use whatever method you have.

Gyoza Dumplings

Photo courtesy of rhyn06 via photobucket

Spinach Garlic Filling

2 tsp. hot sesame oil
8 cups spinach greens, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup minced green onions
6 cloves garlic, minced (2 Tbs.)
2 Tbs. black bean sauce
1 Tbs. soy sauce
1 Tbs. honey
32 gyoza wrappers
Cornstarch for dusting

Heat oil in large wok or skillet over medium-high heat. Add spinach greens and cook until wilted. Stir in green onions, garlic, bean sauce, soy sauce and honey. Cook, stirring occasionally until no liquid remains.

Dust baking sheet with cornstarch. Arrange several gyoza wrappers on work surface. Put 1 Tbs. filling in center of each and brush water on half of edge. Bring edges together to form half-moon shape, and press to seal. Place dumplings on baking sheet and refrigerate while making the sauce.

Once you're ready to steam: For a rice cooker: use cooking spray on the metal steamer insert. Place several gyoza on insert and steam for about 8 minutes. Spray metal insert every time because they do stick! Serve with dipping sauce.

Sesame Dipping Sauce

¼ cup vegetable stock
2 Tbs. tahini
1 Tbs. peanut butter
1 Tbs. honey
1 Tbs. grated ginger
2 tsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. rice vinegar

Whisk all ingredients in small pan, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and whisk until thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Cool, and serve in small dipping bowls.

Frightening Friday-Friday the 13th

Happy Friday the 13th!

Did you know the superstition of Friday the 13th didn't occur until after the 20th century? The phobia is known as friggatriskaidekaphobia (there's a mouthful for you).
I've never had a reason to be superstitious about the date but I know many people are. Some people skip work, others won't go out, and many wouldn't think of scheduling an important event. My oldest daughter was born on the 13th, so I consider the date to be extremely lucky.

Here's a list of what "not" to do today:

Don't start a new job 

Don't travel 

Don't cut your hair 

Don't cut your fingernails

Don't cook

Don't start a new relationship

Don't go out to eat

Don't go outside barefoot

Don't give birth

That's a lot of "don'ts!" But much like breaking a mirror, spilling salt, or having a black cat cross your path, Friday the 13th has never been scientifically proven to bring bad luck or mishaps. So here's my challenge. Go enjoy your day. Go somewhere new and exciting. Get a new haircut, trim your nails and buy new outfit. Bake a cake, make a new friend and take them to lunch. Walk barefoot. And for heaven's sake, if you're in labor please don't wait until tomorrow to have that baby.

Enjoy your life.

Thoughtful Thursday-Useless Writing Advice

You've all read it, heard it...maybe even given it.

Forgive me. I'm feeling quite snarky today.







1) If you want to be a writer, just write.
Really? I have no idea why I didn't think of that.

2) Read. A lot.
If you write, I assume you read. Heck, you may even like reading. A lot.

3) Become a Social Media Junkie.
Yes...and no. Yes, it's nice to have a webpage and a place for readers to buy your books. No, you don't need to OD on social media to become a best-selling author. You need to write. And sometimes you don't even need to write well. Let's face it, 99% of having a best-seller is timing and luck. Sad but true.

4) Go Buy a Fancy Software and Editing Program 
I know authors who still write by hand and use a dictionary and thesaurus (gasp!). When they're done, they type it into Word and voila! A book is born. It happens.

5) Pay for (insert a plethora of services here)
There are tons of companies looking to make money off authors. They offer services, promotion opportunities and will even publish your work for you. They will also rip you off if you don't do your homework. Rule of thumb: money should flow into the author, not away.

6) Sign Up for a $$$ Workshop or Writer's Retreat
Sigh. See #5. Yes, it would be lovely to take a vacation and learn to become a better author.  Most of these workshops and retreats are given by other authors, which means you're funding their careers. Hmm...

Now that you've wasted your valuable time on this post--go write something. 

#Paranormal Wednesday-Dream Languages

One of my most useful writing "tools" are my dreams. I keep a pen beside my bed to write notes on my arms and legs (I've given up on the paper thing). Sometimes I find sentences the next morning that make no sense at all, simply because I don't remember writing them. Other times, the sentences themselves are indecipherable. Not because my handwriting is awful but because my dream people were speaking in a different language. Those dreams are more perplexing because I really can't explain why I have them.

In one particular dream a woman was speaking to me in Spanish, which is a language I don't know. I knew it was Spanish and I could tell she was very distressed but seriously, my dream needed subtitles.

Several years ago, I dreamed a man was sitting on my bed and speaking to me. It seemed important because he repeated himself several times, quite emphatically. I woke and phonetically wrote what he said down so I could make sense (or no sense) of it the next morning. After doing a search I figured out it was Gaelic. Even more perplexing was that the sentence actually made sense and ended up being very helpful in what I was writing at the time.

So why does this happen? It could be that I've heard the language before and it got stored in my brain. Or it could be that our brains are far more complex than we think.

My husband was watching a movie several months ago. I was in the kitchen and busy with something else. Half-listening, I heard and understood what was being said...until I realized they were speaking a different language and then, I didn't. It was like I had it for a split second and once my brain adjusted itself, it was gone. The movie was a Welsh Indie with subtitles. I asked my husband if the actors had switched to English at some point and he said they hadn't. Which left me with a big ??

So here's my idea: maybe our brains have the capacity to comprehend all sorts of languages, regardless if we've studied them or not. Maybe somewhere deep inside all the languages are there--like stubborn, inaccessible folders.

But again, maybe this is one of those unexplained things.

Tangled Tuesday-A Bit of Strangeness for Your Viewing Pleasure...

Busy week. Thought I'd share this video from Pomplamoose with you. I love the clothes and the concept.

Have a great day!