Paranormal Celebration

It’s officially my favorite time of year. The oppressive and humid heat of the great state of Louisiana is finally relenting. Mums are on every porch and fall wreaths adorn front doors. Even though this season is technically bringing the end of a year to a close, fall always feels like a new beginning to me. It’s also the time of year that hosts my favorite holiday—Halloween!

I’m not exactly sure why I so look forward to Halloween. There are no days off work and I have no more courage to watch a scary movie than I did when I was a kid. I still have memories of visiting a haunted house when I was 6 years old with my Dad and his friend. Much to the friend’s surprise, while climbing down some “haunted” stairs, I somehow managed to scale his long leather jacket and latch onto his back. I still remember being pried off of him in the parking lot. Despite my inability to handle scary events, there is just something super fun about this day. For one thing, very little wasted money and/or ill-spent personal time is involved. There are no expensive shopping trips or long drives in a car to see family members. Nope, I get to stay at home, make wassail and cookies for my friends, and open the front door to cute kids dressed up to be even cuter, and some way-too-old to be Trick or Treating (and scary in that they are bigger than me) teenagers.

I’ve never really bothered to find out why we celebrate Halloween. I’ve been happy to simply join society in the eating candy free-for-all that is October 31st. As you can imagine, when I typed “Origins of Halloween” into the search engine, there was no shortage of information. From Halloween dedicated sites to National Geographic articles, much of the information I saw told a consistent story; therefore, I decided it was to be trusted.

In summary, Halloween originates from a Celtic festival known as Samhain. The belief was that on this night, spirits walked the earth and caused havoc for the living. It was also believed that paranormal creatures, such as fairies, were out and about. On this night, the Celtics often wore costumes to ward off any such scariness. During the 1600’s, Samhain eventually morphed into a Christian holiday and became known as “All Saints Day” or “All Hallow’s Day”. According to a National Geographic article, the earliest Halloween celebration in America may have taken place in Anoka, Minnesota (1920) in an attempt to occupy the community and prevent troublesome pranks.

Today’s Halloween continues to be celebrated by children, adults, and pets. If it sounds silly to dress up an animal for Halloween, then you’ve not been lucky enough yet to see a miniature Rat Terrier dressed as a pumpkin. That was just a little piece of wonderful. Popular adult costumes continue to be witches, vampires, nurses, and fairies. Children’s costumes seem to always adhere to princesses for girls and some type of superhero for boys. My favorite childhood Halloween costume had an inflated lime colored bug that sat on the top of my head and came with green face paint. I’ve never looked more ridiculous, but at the time, I thought I looked awesome and trusted my parent’s judgment completely.

This Halloween will be pretty tame for me. My critique group thinks they are coming over to talk about our stories, but I’m planning to distract them with pumpkin shaped brownies and one of my favorite movies for this time of year: A Nightmare Before Christmas. I may even try and talk them into watching the Ghost Hunters live filming at the Buffalo Central Terminal.

As this blog is dedicated to those who love all things paranormal in nature, I’m sure I’m not the only one who thinks this holiday rocks. I would love to hear from some of you about how you plan to spend the evening, whether it’s trick or treating with your kids, watching freaky movies, carefully dipping punch around chunks of dry ice, or simply relaxing with a bowl of candy on your lap. Happy Halloween!

Argentina Gnome - Creepy Reality? Or Just a Hoax?

Ghosts get all the press.  Every paranormal show on Discovery Channel is poltergeist this, and haunted that.

We like to read about vampires, werewolves, and witches.  Some of us even like to pretend that they're real.  So when evidence of non-ghostly supernatural folklore appears in the media, it catches my attention.

In 2008, the small town of Guemes, Argentina gained notoriety when The Sun (UK) reported that a gnome had been captured on film. According to The Sun, locals had been plagued by this little gnome for some time.  The boys who captured this video were minding their own business when they heard a sound, as if someone where throwing rocks.  When Jose Alvarez, who had been playing around with his phone camera, saw a movement in the grass, he pointed it towards the sound.  And that's when he captured the gnome:



Now The Sun is not always known for its reliable reporting.  It's sort of a mix between an American celebrity tabloid and a real newspaper, focusing on real news and politics, alongside gossip.  It is also the 10th highest circulated paper in the world.  This makes it, as a source, somewhat questionable... but also potentially reliable. So I did a little more digging.

You might be wondering why they believe in gnomes, traditionally a Norse myth, halfway across the world in Argentina.  Well they don't believe in gnomes exactly -- that's The Sun's choice of translation.  Their word for fairy or goblin is "duende", which combines Mayan, Portuguese,

Have fun!

Happy Halloween, everyone. I hope your weekend is a fun time. I'm kinda busy at the moment so I thought I'd just tell everyone to be safe and have fun. Don't eat too much candy, and if you have kids don't raid their candy too hard. Till next week. See ya later!

HP Mallory Interviews Toni LoTempio

HP: Hello to everyone and welcome to this month's author interview! Today we have with us Toni LoTempio, author of the new release, No Rest for the Wicca. Now, Toni and I go way back because we both used to have the same agent. Sigh...LOL So, welcome Toni!

Toni: Hey, HP. Thanks for having me! Who'd have ever thought we'd be "indies" together :)

HP: Okay, for your first question, tell us about the title of No Rest. I love that title and I know you've had lots of people who have loved it. How did you come up with it?

Toni: I took it from a phrase I heard my mother say a lot: "There's no rest for the wicked." Since Morgan in the story is a half-Wiccan, witch, I thought it was cute.

HP: Now, tell us about the book. What is the book about?

Toni: Morgan Hawkes is a paranormal investigator who's a half-wiccan witch. She's got the ability to connect with ghosts, but her father was a voodoo bokor, so she's got that bit of dark knowledge deep within her, and it scares her, particularly after what happened in her past. When she's approached by an undercover agency to help them regarding a rash of murdering witches that appear to have a voodoo slant, she's a bit reluctant at first - until she meets the lead on the case, Cole St. John, a dashing Inheritor Vampire. (cue romantic music). So you get the idea :) sort of a "Moonlighting meets Dark Shadows" deal.

HP: So, you know I have to ask you about our agent. Without mentioning names, can you give us a little info as to how you ended up with her and your story about becoming an indie?

Toni: Aha, I knew you were going to ask this (big grin). Well, I like yourself, had Agent Z for almost two years. My book (not this current one) went on submission, and almost got picked up by NAL - it went all the way to the acquisition board, but got turned down because someone else had something similar coming out first (timing is everything, make no mistake about it!). Said Agent Z seemed to lose interest after that, would not return phonecalls, emails, the book never went out on another round, so...eventually I had to part ways with Agent Z. then I started shopping a rewrite of that book around - a few nibbles, but no real interest. The market had tanked by that point. I decided to take a little break from writing, and you, my dear friend, HP Mallory, came up with the brilliant suggestion to me - GO INDIE. Most publishing houses change your original book anyway so you can barely recognize it, so I did. :)

HP: As you know, Halloween is around the corner. Any fun traditions you do on Halloween?

Toni: I used to give an annual Halloween party - it's my favorite holiday after Christmas - and I love to dress up! Unfortunately, the economy has curtailed my party giving efforts, so...I'll probably just dress the cats up instead. (grin)

HP: Do you believe in ghosts? If so, ever seen one?

Toni: I do, most emphatically, believe in ghosts, or angels. I've had too many close calls (particularly while driving) not to. I believe definitely that there is something - don’t know just what - but there is something after death. And honestly, I'm not in a hurry to find out :)

HP: So, is No Rest your first book? Is it a series? If it is a series, when will the next one be out?

Toni: NO REST FOR THE WICCA is my first indie, but definitely not my first book. I had originally planned a sequel, even have the outline written, so maybe when I get time after all my other projects I'll sit down and write it.

HP: Of all your books you've written, which of your male characters do you think is the hunkiest and why?

Toni: I'm assuming you mean of the books that are published? Or unpublished? Of published, I'd say definitely Cole St. John in Wicca, although one editor called him "flat and one dimensional". I beg to differ. The guy is hot! Of the unpublished works, I'd say Logan Slade, my other vampiric detective. Hopefully someday the world will know him (grins)

HP: What is your favorite supernatural creature?

Toni: Hm...that's a toughie. Probably a vampire. I know they're overdone as hell, but...they're all HOT! And when I was young(er) I had a terrific crush on Barnabas Collins from the soap, DARK SHADOWS. I even went down to the studio and met Jonathan Frid! I cannot wait for the Johnny Depp remake of that!

HP: Where can we find out more about you and your books? What about links to where we can purchase your books?

Toni: You can find most of my books at Barnes and Noble, the Whiskey Creek site, Echelon Press, Amazon. Some are available in paperback as well as e-books. You can get info from my website, www.freewebs.com/toni1953
I also do a blog over at Fallout Entertainment: http://tclotempio.falloutentertainmentgroup.com/?p=86

Here are some purchase Links:
Whiskey Creek Press: http://www.whiskeycreekpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=96&zenid=ec9fb959dfaa32e1b91cc0b71b0bc3aa

Barnes and Noble:
http://productsearch.barnesandnoble.com/search/results.aspx?WRD=lotempio

Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/NO-REST-WICCA-ebook/dp/B00427ZIIG/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1287572071&sr=1-3


HP: What are your most favorite urban fantasy/ paranormal romance books?

Toni: I like Caitlin Kittredge's Night Life series. Her Black London, not so much. And I like Charlaine Harris Sookie Stackhouse series, Kimberley Raye's Dead End Dating Series, and Victoria Laurie's two series. Also the earlier works of Stephen King. I like a lot, actually :) I also am fond of the Maggie O'Dell series by Alex Kava, although that's not paranormal.

HP: What are you reading now?

Toni: Oddly, something that's not paranormal (grin) My other passion is writing thrillers, and right now I'm reading the Rizzoli and Isles series by Tess Gerritsen. Excellent! If you havne't read them, I strongly advise you do!

HP: Thanks so much for chatting with me today, Toni. We all wish you much success with your book! Until next time, this is HP signing off! Happy Halloween!

Toni: And you too, HP, and all your readers!

Indy publishing and you.

Writing today is the easiest thing to get into. A lot of people write, but think they would never have a chance at getting published. Most people confine themselves to just being published traditionally. I admit, when I first started writing seriously several tears ago, I heard the story about how it was near impossible to break into this business. I heard the horror stories about self publishing, and how it costs thousands of dollars to get your book in print, and there's almost no chance to sell more than a few copies to friends and family.

That may have been true five or maybe six years ago. It was darn near impossible to do anything without getting a publishing contract. Today, with the advent of E-readers, as well as Amazon opening their doors to Indies, those days have all but gone away. Barnes and Noble as well as other book stores are now opening their doors to independent authors in the form of ebooks. Create-a-space and a few other smaller POD publishers are now quite affordable if you want your book to be in more than just ebook format.

I'd have to say that ebooks, however, are the wave of the future. Millions of people are picking up Kindles and Nooks to mention a couple, and finding the almost limitless libraries of books out there. Ebooks are usually way cheaper than traditional paper books, not to mention, you don't have to kill trees to print all those millions of books. Today, it's never been easier to be self published and actually have a chance to find readers who you may never have met before.

I think this will also help those people that are still looking for traditional publishing contracts as well. As more and more successful authors start to publish themselves, more spots are going to open up for newer authors. I'm not saying it's happening yet, but it could. Why should someone like Stephen King settle for 18% royalty, when he already has a name and following for himself? Why shouldn’t he self publish and get 70+%? Sooner or later, top authors are going to realize this. Why wouldn't they? Don't be surprised when they do. And personally I think it will be soon. So if you're thinking about publishing those vampire romances, or maybe that zombie story, now is one of the best times ever to do it.

The Magical Effect of a Writer’s Favorite Author

Lots of people like to read. They read newspapers, fashion magazines, video game manuals, and self-help books. Some will read fiction, and a smaller group reaches for genre fiction. There is a big difference, however, between how the average Jane reads and how someone destined to be an author chooses their stories. A pre-destined author doesn’t just haul a few books in a bag when they go on vacation or suddenly pick up reading as a hobby when they lose interest in television. No, a person born to be an author knows from an early age that stories are one of the best things on this Earth. They were the kid who found themselves spending Saturdays at the public library, exhausting the shelves of its inventory, then starting over again. They have memories of chastisements received in school for reading during class time, or for daydreaming about that new book during P.E. Someone born to be an author can recall in an instant the scent of a book’s pages.

I am only beginning my writer’s journey, but it feels like something I’ve prepared for my entire life. Although I have friends who like to read, the writers are not only the most passionate about their favorite stories, but they can always vividly articulate what their favorite authors mean to them. They can recall the details of the settings, the author’s particular use of language, and even where they were sitting the first time they read a favorite scene.

There is something special about the feeling we get when we melt into the world of another’s imagination. After a marathon of critiquing two of my writer friends’ work, I soon discovered that their worlds were swirling in my head. This made me think of the most essential goal of an author—to successfully transplant their created world into the imaginations of their readers. Grabbing and maintaining their interest is certainly essential, but the ultimate goal is to stay with them long after the book is finished. What is it exactly that these authors have mastered? What skills can both new and seasoned writers learn to exemplify?

There are many authors with a special place on my bookshelf, but there are only two that are truly favored. C.S. Lewis and Jeffrey Overstreet created characters and worlds that remain clearly in my imagination almost as strong as the day I read about them. From C.S. Lewis’ Magician’s Nephew, I can still see the narrow attic walkway that Polly and Digory traveled. In Jeffrey Overstreet’s Cyndere’s Midnight, I can still feel the anguish I felt for Cyndere when her best friend and husband was killed and she was left to grieve in a world that couldn’t keep up with her advanced nature.

Both authors have touched my spirit and mind in different ways. Lewis has a way of taking the reader on a magical journey that is as palpable as it is fanciful. His settings are the most grounding for me. He must have been familiar with even the scents of his world as he wrote. Overstreet creates characters that are so well-rounded, you become immersed in their struggles and care about their happiness from the very beginning. The worlds these authors create contain rich culture, diverse people, and stories that stay in the reader’s heart for years to come.

What is it about your favorite author that has you returning again and again? What is it about him/her that is different, even from other authors you admire? As a writer, this is so important because it tells us about who we are and may be a literary roadmap to who we are going to become not only as a story teller, but as a person.

What Men Can Learn From Romantic Fiction (link post)

I don't talk about my book much here, because my book isn't urban fantasy. But my book was just released about a week and a half ago, and I'm doing a month long blog tour and having lots of people at my blog guest posting.

Which is not an excuse, but it does explain why I keep forgetting to post my post here. The good news is, in a fortnight, it'll all be over, and I'll have to find another reason; no, I will do better, or I'll be replaced as a guest blogger.

Anyway, this week I thought I'd bring you something different, from a different blogger. I'm going to link to it in a bit, but first I thought I'd tell you about my friend David. David is the best writer I've ever known. His short stories are fantastic, but sadly he has no interest in writing novels.

He's also the first person to read everything I write, and he is (hopefully) going to guest post on my blog this month.

This was a post he wrote about ten years ago, but it hasn't dated, and if you write or read paranormal romance you'll probably get a kick out of this. I did...

What men can learn from Romantic Fiction...

At the end of his post, he asks for comments, but the post has been moved from its original home, and as far as I can tell, the new location doesn't accept comments. Feel free to post them here.

Urban Fantasy is the New Folktale

by Luna Lindsey

Folktales in the past did not always begin "Once upon a time, in a land far away". When medieval German mothers told their children tales, they often began, "Just down the road by the old church, there lives a witch", or "When I was as old as you, I met a dwarf in the woods."

The tales were told about the surrounding region, and often involved people you knew. Your church might have been built by a giant, who made a deal with a Saint, who had to guess the giant's name or be taken to hell. The weird child that lived at the neighbor's farm might be a changeling. Your own father might have seen his cows milk run dry because he hadn't shown proper hospitality to the "Good People".

It's only been in the times of skepticism, the days of science and technology, when everything demands an explanation, that the fairytales have become about bygone eras. And fantasy, which inherited the tradition of the fairytale, has become about bygone days on distant worlds or in alternate universes, where the horse is the most common mode of transportation, and people never ask the question, "How does it work?"

Urban fantasy puts the magic back into familiar settings -- but this time, those settings are familiar to us, here in 2010, not to the farmers and weavers of hundreds of years ago. It puts the dwarf in the parking garage, the elf in the sewer, the werewolf in the mall.

It lets us ask the questions (hopefully all in good fun), is that guy a vampire? Is there a troll in that dumpster? Can I become a witch?

This genre puts a new spin on an ancient tradition. The message is: there are horrors and wonders all around us, in spite of technology (or maybe because of it). In spite of the fact that science tells us it cannot be so.

And the authors have to work hard (and usually do a good job) of making us suspend disbelief, of explaining the unexplainable, just enough that we buy it. Just enough that we never ask, "But... how does it work?"

Just like 200 years ago, we might have believed a story that the magic beans Jack traded for a miserable cow had grown into a beanstalk, without asking the same question.

Luna Lindsey 

Contest: Become a character in H.P. Mallory's next book!

So, who hasn't wished to be in a romantic novel? Well, here's your chance! I want to write you into my next book, Toil and Trouble which is due to release on Jan 1, 2011!

I'm about 2/3 finished with Toil and Trouble, the follow up book to Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble, the first book in the Jolie Wilkins series.

And, I got this crazy idea...what if I hold a contest on my blog whereby the winner becomes a character in my book? Pretty fun, right? So, I'm doing it!

Here are the contest parameters:

Enter to be written as a character in my book, Toil and Trouble. I'll create your character using your name, description and personality (I'll have to send over a questionnaire, etc. to find out all about you!)

I already know which character you'll be and without giving away too much, this character is:

* integral to the storyline
* mentioned in Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble
* will play a part in all future books in the Jolie Wilkins series

The winner will get:

* A written part in Toil and Trouble and future Jolie Wilkins books
* The ability to read Toil and Trouble before it's released to the public
* Added to the Acknowledgments page of Toil and Trouble
* Interviewed on my blog
* A signed (with dedication) paperback copy of Toil and Trouble
* A signed paperback copy of Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble and To Kill A Warlock

To learn more and to enter, please visit my blog: http://urbanfantasyauthor.blogspot.com/2010/10/contest-become-character-in-my-next.html

Good Luck!

My Blood Approves

Sorry for this being so late in the day. Been pretty busy, and to be honest I forgot it was Wednesday. So here I am. Better late than never, right? =) Today I want to talk about a book I didn't write. Unless you have been living under a log somewhere, by now you should have heard of Amanda Hocking's book series My Blood Approves. If you haven't, then it's my pleasure to introduce you to it. I'm not going to do a review here, just a recommendation. If you look on Amazon, you will see my full review of her book.

To be honest, I wasn't into vampire romance as whole. It just didn't seem my cup of tea. After all, I grew up reading Lord of the Rings. I moved onto the Shannara series, Conan, and eventually Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series and Song of Ice and Fire by George Martin. So when it came to vampire romance... I didn't think it was in the cards.

Yet. I have always had an open mind. After all, reading is all about experiencing new things isn’t it? So when I started to hear about Amanda's books, I couldn't help but think, maybe I should see what's all the hoopla about. So with just a little trepidation, I went and bought her first book, My Blood Approves. I wasn't really expecting much. I am such a picky reader. You know the people that are so picky about the food they will eat? I have a couple of friends that wont try anything. They eat like five different kinds of food, and that’s it. Really crazy stuff.

Well, I'm like that when it comes to reading. It's hard as hell to get me to read anything. I just can't do it. I get bored and fall asleep to almost anything. So I figured what the heck, lets give her a try. Now for the record, I didn't expect to like it at all. I went in biased against it. In fact, a friend had just loaned me the entire Twilight series, and I was just a few chapters into it. Anyways I opened her book and started reading. Somewhere near the ending, I remembered I was not supposed to like this book. I found myself reading it with every free moment I had. I wasn't writing or doing anything else. I'm a slow reader, I mean really slow. I'm all about relishing the story, and watching it play out in my mind. Yet I read her entire book in two days.

To say I liked it was an understatement. I had gone into this expecting to hate it, and not to ever finish the first book. Instead, I found myself buying all the rest of the series at that time, and reading it in less than two weeks, and then re-reading them. They hooked me so bad, that being a creative person, I had to start writing them. I had to, I was just lost in the possibilities. So, if you haven't looked at Amanda's series yet, I highly recommend them. They just might be the best vampire paranormal romance series ever written, I kid you not.

The Plot Thickens II - Premise

I just returned from a short getaway with my two critique partners. We decided to spend a night away from our husbands and concentrate on plotting our next books.

What was really interesting is how our processes differ from each other. Now, I'm a total plotter with scene cards and the like and I start each book with the premise. My critique partner who writes historical romance always starts from the characters and their conflicts. And my third critique partner does something in between: she looks at the characters' backstory, at motivation and conflict and then at the overriding premise.

So, back to premise. What is a premise? Basically it's a sentence about what happens in your book. If you can describe your book in one sentence, you often have a big concept book. Here are some books/movies described in one sentence. See if you can guess what they are:

1. Archeology professor tries to find the Holy Grail while battling the Nazis
2. Introvert high school girl in the Pacific Northwest falls in love with a Vampire
3. Archer steals from the rich and gives to the poor
4. Vampire with an erection problem finds human female to cure him
5. Man with amnesia discovers he's an assassin and has to battle against his former employer

Did you get all of them?

1. Indiana Jones (movie)
2. Twilight (Stephenie Meyer)
3. Robin Hood (movie)
4. Samson's Lovely Mortal (Tina Folsom)
5. Bourne Identity (movie)

Premise is often how you first hear about a book or a movie, so it's important to make sure there's some hook that makes readers want to know more. I generally start my books from this point. I try to find an interesting concept and then I build everything else around it. Sometimes it's merely a scene in my mind that I think might be interesting, and it morphs into a concept and then a book.

Our plotting getaway was a great success for all three of us. I finished plotting the second book in my new Out of Olympus series (about Greek Gods). I knew I had a few issues in the third act about the motivation of the heroine. I knew what scenes I wanted, but something wasn't working with the motivation behind it. That's where my two critique partners helped. We dissected the heroine and figured out what makes her tick. Suddenly everything fell into place, I changed some of the scenes in Act III around and bada bing bada bang - the plot now works and the actions of the heroine are believable.

On a board with approximately forty scenes over three acts I now have my road map. In December, once I've released Book #3 in my Scanguards Vampires series, I'll start writing.

See you next month,

Tina Folsom
Author of the Scanguards Vampires series and the Out of Olympus series

Whats been going on with me.

So what you think? Story seem to be off to a good start? There's more to chapter one, but I don't want to bore all of you! =) Vampires can be so fun to write about. They're like the modern Superman, you can almost do anything with them. Raymond, my current vampire hero, he will have a leading lady as well. It won't be all mean ol' vampire series.

I know readers are torn these days between the two types of vampires. The Count Dracula type, evil I'm going to eat you, or the Superman and Louis type. I tend to like the hero/lover type over the killing machine. If I wrote the killing machines, I think I would have to include my own Winchester brothers to hunt and kill the bastards. It would be hard to let the injustice of a murdering fiend get away with what he was doing.

For those who don't get the Winchester name, it's in reference to the Supernatural TV series, which is one of my all-time favorite shows. Don't think I've missed an episode since it came into existence. Hopefully, I will get this book done as soon as possible. Writing has been as hard as possible these days. Not sure why that is, but it's been like trying to pull teeth. Scratch that, more like trying to pull a vampire's teeth.

I'm getting there it's just taking time. Funny thing is, I can usually pump out a first draft of at least a chapter a day when it's just feeling normal. A good day I can pump out two or three chapters. I'm not sure how other authors do it, but that’s my speed. Because I'm an impatient brat, I cant wait till the first draft is done, so I send each chapter to my editor as soon as it's finished. Once they're done with it, it then goes to my proofreaders to see what they think, and to catch any errors my editor missed. After that it comes back with their suggestions, and any rewrites that need to be done, or errors that need to be fixed. Then back to the editor to make sure it's written up nicely.

She's my real hero! Without her I'm not too sure I would ever get anything actually written. So while I'm writing, all these things are going on, and with any luck the final product is close to finishing by the time I actually finish the first draft. Works for me. I sometimes think I can put out a book in a month or less, but that’s never been the truth yet. Usually I take several months. I know, it's sad. I recently got the chance to go to Forks, Washington, and actually sign up for a tour to see the places of Twilight. It was a birthday present for myself.

Sadly, things didn't go as planned. My son decided to bring home the plague a few days before, then the trip took longer then we thought to get there. I was sick as a dog, but no refunds. In the end we got there late, but they held the bus for us. I got on and thankfully got my own seat, (didn't want to get anyone else sick.) The music started up and the tour guide began to ask who was team Jacob etc and the heater came on. Unfortunately for me, I had the seat that the floor heater blew right smack into. Why was that bad? Well I was dehydrated and didn't know it. My body went into an instant fit, and I thought I was dying. I had to immediately jump off the bus, and not thinking too clearly at the time, I wasn't going back on.

The Forks air outside made me feel a lot better, at least temporarily. I started to shake not long after I got out, but a bottle of water fixed that. My daughter was the only one to go on the trip. She got some nice pictures, but it was a bit disappointing to miss out on the tour as it was my birthday treat! Oh well, maybe another time.

Ask the readers: why urban fantasy?

My second favourite blog has an Ask the Readers post once a month. As I only post twice a month this isn't going to be anywhere near so regular. However, today is a great day to start an ask the reader discussion (mostly because I forgot it was my blog posting day - where has the past fortnight gone?)

So, I figured I'd start with: why urban fantasy?

Why do you like urban fantasy, and if you prefer it to other types of fantasy, what in your mind makes it seem better?

In My Opinion:

I enjoy epic fantasy (I like the Wheel of Time, for example) and I enjoy comic fantasy (big Terry Pratchett fan) but I do seem to set urban fantasy above them. I love the Dresden Files, for example.

It could be that because not everything is made up, it becomes somewhat easier to relate to, and I can connect to it on more levels. It could be because the hero can often be any Jack or Jim (or Jane) off the street, (I think part of the Harry Potter appeal was that any of the readers could have been Hermione, the greatest witch of her generation) I can more easily picture myself as the hero (you do that, right? Please, if you do, admit to doing it in the comments, or I'm going to look really, really weird).

Most likely, it is a combination of both.

Over to you:

My last post had 12 comments. So today's challenge is to beat that. Come on, let's get a real discussion going. Is urban fantasy your favourite? Why is it /not your favourite?

Tell us all...