Hooooooowwwwwwl....
The folks over at Love, Romance, Passion are asking the eternal paranormal question: Which is better, the vampire or the werewolf? if you could be turned by one of the classic bad boys, which would you pick? The vampire with his (usually) tortured past and loner lifestyle? Or the intense wolf with his pack loyalties and tendency to get naked (a lot!)? Which one would you rather be?
Head over to the Love, Romance, Passion blog and vote in the poll!
(Sorry, no zombies here!)
Posted by Joleene Naylor on May 15, 2011
https://joleenenaylor.wordpress.com/2011/05/15/necrophilia-or-bestiality/
it’s time again for Six Sentence Sunday, the awesome blog event where writer’s share six sentences from something they’ve written.
This week I am taking a break from Ties of Blood to share a snippet from Adam, a short story available for Free on smashwords
He’d heard something, but he didn’t know what, only that it had been something; something that shouldn’t be there. The tiny hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and a sudden, unexplained chill danced down his spine.
He walked towards the end of the alley where he instinctively felt the noise had come from. A row of weather stained garbage cans shone dully under a flickering light. The effect was eerie, but there was nothing there.
And then the light went out.
Thanks for stopping by, and be sure to check out the other great participants! Also of note, if you missed the announcement, sign ups will now start Tuesday instead of Wednesday because of the number of participants! That means lots of good reading!
Posted by Joleene Naylor on March 27, 2011
https://joleenenaylor.wordpress.com/2011/03/27/six-sentence-sunday-14/
In the last couple of days I’ve done some blog spring cleaning (yes, it’s the only spring cleaning I plan to do, so if you’re looking for a house to clean I have one for you. 😉 ). Anyway, I thought I’d take a moment and share my efforts.
*tour guide voice*
If you will look at the top of the page you will see a handy little row of links. Some of those links have always been there, such as the About Joleene Naylor , More Indie Authors and the All My Projects , though they got a bit of a dusting off.
A couple of the links up there are new, however. The Free & Cheap Resources is exactly that; a list of places to get free or cheap stock photos, illustrations, video clips, sound clips, music and more. Why would you want that stuff? For book covers, book illustrations, book trailers, websites, etc.
For Links You Should Know I took that long, long list of links that was cluttering the sidebar to the right and moved them all to a page instead. If I don’t have your link and you’d like me to add it drop me a line (email address is on my About page) or leave a comment.
And now if you will divert your attention to the right you will see some more tidying has occurred. You might notice the super spiffy little heading graphics? I think they’re much easier to see than the font that comes with this theme (and though I did consider swapping themes, I rejected it because I like this one!) The links are still pretty much the same, though; there’s my books, the Vampire Morsels that have made it to Smashwords (Hopefully I will get it in gear and get the rest there!) , tags-n- banners, about me, the cool post calendar and a truncated list of links.
As for my other blogs, the most exiting thing is that I’ve added a feedburner subscription box to my From the Shadows blogspot blog. This lets you sign up for email notifications of the blog. Though some people swear by RSS, I like the mail subscriptions better because the last thing i need is another place I have to check! I also added my books to the sidebar and tidied links and such.
And on the Ramblings from the Darkness I took out the “about this blog” and replaced it with “13 Questions” that I get asked regularly.
You might remember that I ran a poll about what pen name to use on my children’s books. They were originally written and illustrated several years ago (like ten maybe?) but I thought I’d share them on smashwords as freebies. It was close, but when all was said and done Roey Harris won. I finally got the Smashwords account set up and the first book, Moving Day, uploaded. I need to transfer The Do-Nothing Day over, still (though it got a brand new cover).
That’s the Question, isn’t it? I’m going to continue to do Six Sentence Sunday and we have a few more Tuesdays with Terry (five I believe), and I am going to get back to the vampire morsels I hope. (I have Claudius started as I type this!). Other than that, I have some random thoughts, but I want to know what you guys are interested in seeing. More articles on self publishing topics? How to topics? A weekly fun video? Interviews with characters from other books? Interviews with other indy authors? More random vampire coverage? Or is there something else you’d like to see? Drop a comment and let me know!
Posted by Joleene Naylor on March 23, 2011
https://joleenenaylor.wordpress.com/2011/03/23/spring-cleaning/
This is from Cattitude the Paranormal Romance by Edie Ramer available at: Amazon Barnes & Noble, Smashwords
“You’re reading Harry Potter?”
Belle started, Max’s voice shocking her head up, her jaw open, her heart hammering. The only other time she’d been surprised by a human was the day Caroline grabbed her. Caroline had snuck in, but Max didn’t sneak anywhere. He always strode in boldly.
“Harry Potter is wonderful,” she said. “He had a bedroom in a room beneath the stairs. The Dursleys are mean to him.”
“You learned how to read that well already?” He frowned, and she wondered if he thought she was faking, like Annette on The Love Chronicles.
“I’m not faking anything.” She scowled at him. Yes, she was lying, but he should still believe her. He should believe everything she told him.
He remained standing over her, his expression hard instead of soft. She liked soft much better than hard. “Your memory could be coming back.”
“Or it could be that I’m very smart.” Or brilliant. She’d always suspected she was brilliant. Or perhaps she was tapping into the body’s brain cells. Though Sorcha had vacated the body, maybe some of her knowledge remained. Maybe that was why she was catching on so quickly.
She shifted in her chair, then shifted back. She wanted her own knowledge, not Sorcha’s.
He grinned and she sucked in her breath, feeling as if she’d been kicked in the heart.
His smile never made her feel this way when she’d been a cat.
Bending down, he grabbed one of the books she’d set apart. “Did you read this?” He showed her the cover, a cartoon cat in a hat, tall with stripes.
She made a face, though she was glad to talk instead of think. “It’s a silly book, the worst ever.”
His eyebrows climbed up his forehead and his body relaxed, an odd look on his face that she couldn’t place. A good one, not bad. “Sure it’s silly, but everyone loves The Cat in the Hat.”
She waved her hand in the air. She didn’t care what everyone liked. Everyone was human and didn’t know better. “Cats don’t wear hats,” she said.
He laughed harder than she’d ever heard him in all the years she’d lived with him. Looking at him, she felt the kick in her heart again. She swallowed a scream that said, No, no, no! I should not feel this way about him.
“What about a book about a dog?” he asked.
The horror made it easy for her to ignore the kick and remind her that Max was not perfect, though this stupid body seemed to disagree.
“I don’t like dogs.”
“You remember that too?”
She glared at him. She supposed it wouldn’t be appropriate to give him a warning nip. “I don’t remember anything.”
One corner of his mouth quirked up. “You look so offended.”
She wasn’t sure what he meant but she nodded. From his face, offended was a good thing to look like.
“If you change your mind, I saved one of my favorite dog books.” His mouth straightened, and his mood changed. “I wish I could forget I’d read it, so I could read it all over again.”
His eyes darkened, touching a spot within her heart, making her ache for him and want to say something that would warm his eyes and curl up his mouth again.
“Why?” Her voice sounded funny to her own ears, and she couldn’t think of one thing to say that would make him smile. “Why does it make you sad?”
He shook his head and backed up, his face closing. “Just thinking. It was a favorite of my dad’s. I’d better get back to work. I have a lot to do.” He gave a sharp nod and left.
She watched him turn into the hall, the ache still heavy in her chest. Frowning, she sat and returned back to reading Harry. It stopped her from thinking about what had just happened. It stopped her feeling sad because Max was sad. It stopped her from thinking of the kick in the heart because he laughed.
Most of all, it stopped her from thinking how un-catlike she felt when Max was around.
This was not good, not good at all.
***********
Bio:
I live in southeastern Wisconsin with my husband, two dogs, and the original Belle the cat. I started writing in the 1990’s, selling short stories in the mystery genre to National magazines and two Women Sleuth books. In addition to non-fiction articles, I wrote verses for greeting cards, and I possess a drawer filled with cards for any occasion. I’m co-founder of Write Attitude, an inspirational website for writers. I’ve won RWA writing contests with four different books (including CATTITUDE and her upcoming book, DEAD PEOPLE), and I was an American Title V finalist. You can read about my journey as an independent author on my blog. I also blog at Magical Musings, along with 8 amazing and brilliant writers.
you can find more of Edie at:
Posted by Joleene Naylor on February 11, 2011
https://joleenenaylor.wordpress.com/2011/02/11/cattitude-by-edie-ramer/
Happy 2011! You may have noticed there was no December Newsletter, so this one is going to pull double duty, I’m afraid. Aren’t you excited?
December was a good month on a lot of levels. In the Amaranthine world, I have joined with a group of fellow authors at Indie Authors Unite. Links will be forthcoming when things are finalized. Also, participating in a Holiday sale and doing a Promotional two-day book giveaway shot Shades of Gray sales to the highest they have ever been (not counting the free downloads on smashwords!). I owe a lot of that credit to my fellow authors who have all been chipping in and helping to promote one another.
Another cool thing in December was my author interview at Sinister Echoes. Alannah asked some great questions and we had a lot of fun. If you missed it, check it out.
So what does January have in store? I will be working on the third installment of the series Ties of Blood, as well as a short story project. because of this, I am going to be very slow where book covers are concerned, and in fact I may have to turn some down. I hate the idea of doing that, but I really need to take a month and focus on my writing. I may change my inbox to send a form mail saying something to this effect.
Also, january may well bring about the first book of my friend Jonathan Harvey, aka Jissilly. He has slaved long and hard over Shades of Plaid: A Very Unconventional Weekly Journey Into Christian Living. More details when I have them!
Another exciting thing is the new Daily Samples I will be hosting on my blog. This will be samples from other authors, so that you can get to know their work, too, and maybe find something you like. The first one is already been posted, and if you’re interested in sending me a sample, then please see my blog post with all the instructions.
In return, samples of Shades of Gray have been posted on other author’s blogs. So far it has been featured by Ashlynn Monroe, Linda Prather, and Valerie Maarten. Each one has a different excerpt, so be sure to stop by them all!
All this talk about the third book makes me feel like I should mention the second book. Yes, if you missed it, Legacy of Ghosts, the second installment in the Amaranthine series, is available for purchase! You can pick up your digital copy at Smashwords or Amazon Kindle, or grab a paper back. If you’re interested in an autographed copy then drop me a line at Joleene@JoleeneNaylor.com.
After the events of Shades of Gray, Katelina seeks peace with Jorick, but it’s hard to come by in a world shrouded in secrets and threatened by a brewing storm. Though Kateesha plans to fight the same battle as Jorick’s fledgling, a common enemy isn’t enough to overcome past betrayals, and the tempest explodes into a violent frenzy. Drawn into a deathly conflict, Jorick and Katelina must learn to overcome old regrets, or risk losing their future to the ghosts of their past.
Legacy of Ghosts, the second installment of the Amaranthine series, plunges back into a world of blood and cruelty where the darkness hold dominion and vampires don’t sparkle.
You can read sample chapters at https://joleenenaylor.wordpress.com/ in either whole chapter format or in tiny, blog sized nuggets. Yeah, I’m all about choice.
And why should DVD’s have all the fun? Check out “The Lost Chapters” – aka the “deleted” scenes from Legacy of Ghosts. Stop by and enjoy a snippet of pointless vampire fun!
Now, let’s get on to the
Random Fun
The Interesting link: Don’t Click It Why? because there is nothing to click on this site. An experiment by the institute of interactive research, the interface is designed to give the user several example scenarios and determine whether they miss – or don’t miss – the click. Think your smart phone touch screen, only with a mouse and no tapping. The Explore section is especially cool. See if you can not click for your whole visit.
The Lots-O-Fun link: Free Rice So there’s a good chance that your playing does not feed the hungry, however, the game is addictive anyway. What is it? Basically it’s multiple choice vocabulary questions that go something like:”Basic means” 1-happy 2-friendly 3-flat 4- no frills. sound easy? Oh, it is – then they throw out words like verisimilitude. I made it to level 39 of 60. No good at English? there is also Art, Math, Chemistry, Geometry and Language learning to choose from. A fun time killer!
The Read of the month: Halloween’s Perfect Storm by LC Cooper Halloween is never out of season, especially with this amusing short story about a surprise Halloween haunting. A free read.
The Music of the month: It Doesn’t feel Like Christmas by Toad the Wet SprocketOkay, so it’s one song, and okay, Christmas is over, but come on! It’s free Toad, people! Toad! who doesn’t love them some Toad? Huh? Huh? No sign ups or user names, just click the download button, enter your email address and follow the link they send you.
The Video of the month: Cruel, Cruel Moon song by Paul & Storm, video by Mike Spiff Booth. Sent to me by Jonathan – aka Jissilly – this is a fun, lighthearted and funny song about a big, shiny moon that transforms the singer’s significant into a werewolf so that he fears she may kill him. Fun for the whole family!
(if you have suggestions for the links of the month please email them to me at joleene@joleenenaylor.com – you will be credited by whatever name you choose.)
My Updates
WANTED
I am currently looking for some Affiliates to trade links with. If you have a website and would be interested please let me know!
Looking for Reader Reviews! Have you read the book? Did you like it? Did you hate it? Well write a blurb and let the world know what you think! Please send all reviews to joleene@joleenenaylor.com and I’ll post them on the site!
The Terrible Turtle Conspiracy:
The Terrible Turtle Conspiracy is a weekly manga/comic written by Jonathan Harvey and illustrated by Joleene Naylor that tells the story of the giant turtle attack in Tuttlesville and the interconnected aftermath.
THE BIG NEWS: http://TerribleTurtles.com is LIVE!
Due to changes in Myspace blogging, the Terrible Turtle Conspiracy has moved to a new home at http://TerribleTurtles.com. You can subscribe via email to have the latest comic page sent straight to your inbox, or you can read through older comics including the first four chapters, the holiday specials and the ever amazing “I am a Part of the TTTC” special one page promo comics! Come join the fun at http://TerribleTurtles.com!
In October we continued Chapter 5: Missing, in which Harold’s friend Rich hires a detective to find his missing friends, but the investigation gets weirder by the minute…
The comic will still be posted on Blogspot as well – Chapter Five – but the official website is certainly superior!
Website Updates
I have finally managed to updated the Cover Art Frequently Asked Questions in an effort to better serve authors seeking book cover art. I have also updated my website at www.JoleeneNaylor.com.
Check the Links Page for several new links to writers blogs and/or websites. There are some great authors to discover!
I added two flash fiction stories to the Flash Fiction section. The Junior Warlock of Mapleleaf Drive pits a teenage warlock against his neighbor’s evil dog, meanwhile in Attic Treasure Alex finds an old purple quill in the family attic, but harmless fun turns tragic when he and his sister try to use it.
I also added two poems to the Poetry section. Raven Darkness and Something Golden.
The Book Cover Gallery saw the addition of twenty-four new covers including some thrillers, romance, historical, and even sci-fi.
I’ve also added 16 new photos. Here’s a sneak peek at a couple of them:
Flickr Updates
In the last two months I added the following albums to my Flickr account. All of my photography is licensed under Creative Commons license unless otherwise noted. You do not need a Flickr account to view these. Clicking on the links will take you to a photo album with thumbnails.
Misc November 2010
10 photos of rain drops, the moon and my new book.
Branson, Missouri
80 photos of Branson including Christmas lights, landmarks , bridges, and rock faces
Frost
13 close up photos of frost.
Autumn
52 photos of leaves, weeds, trees and a pumpkin
December Snow
29 photos of snow and frost
December Misc
5 photos of the eclipse
Blue Christmas
18 photos of our blue and silver Christmas Tree
Blog Updates:
AMARANTHINE NIGHT (AUTHOR BLOG)
Lost Chapters: The Black Clique
Jorick explains to Katelina why Vampires prefer black.
Lost Chapters 3: Ask and You Shall Receive
Katelina and Jorick discuss Loren’s history
Just in Case
You never know when you might need to defend yourself against a vampire…
In an Alternate Universe Part 1
Fan fiction written by Jonathan Harvey
Lost Chapters 4: Jorick of Oz
Who knew Jorick wouldn’t find a snowball amusing?
In an Alternate Universe Part 2
A second fan fiction written by Jonathan Harvey
In an Alternate Universe Part 3
After two rounds of Jonathan Harvey fan fiction, Jorick revolts.
Lost Chapters 5: They Say
The story of where the coffins come from
Smashwords explained
Smashwords eBook publishing explained for Readers and Authors
Lost Chapters 6: That Would be Cheating
The finer points of mind control in battle.
Seven Author Principles
Written off of the article Seven Principles to Build a Great social Network
Six Sentence Sunday
Six sentences from Shades of Gray for the weekly blog event
Vampires Get Depressed, Too
A fun YouTube video
The New Google eBooks program
Google eBooks explained.
Holiday Sale
Multi Author, Multi Genre event
Six Sentence Sunday
Six more sentences from Shades of Gray for the weekly blog event
Join Me
For an awesome author interview on Alannah’s blog, Sinister Echoes!
Lost Beginning
The original beginning for book 3: Ties of Blood
New Beginning
The new, unedited version of Ties of Blood
Vampire Paper Dolls
A very cool set of vampire paper dolls from Dover.
Author Excerpts
Now accepting samples of authors work to post on my blog through the month of January
Eternal Gift by Ashlynn Monroe
An excerpt of Ashlynn’s paranormal erotica, Eternal Gift
FROM THE SHADOWS – BLOGSPOT (WRITING, ART AND PHOTOGRAPHY)
Legacy of Revolt
Short Story. After I loan my characters to Jonathan, they revolt!
More Book Covers
Book Covers for The Gypsy, You’re Next, Adaire Park, & Before You
The Party
A silly short story about a costume party that goes horribly wrong
Book Covers Round 2
Book Covers for Monster Story, The Shoestring Greeting Card Company, Uncommon Bond & Here Begin the Lessons.
Even More Book Covers
Covers for Photographing Love, The Blooms Between Death and Reincarnation, Owner’s Manual for Injury Prevention, Insatiable Love, The Cry of the Morning Glory, Siddhartha Gautama, The Pleasure of Rustics & An Anthology of Deady Mysteries.
A Couple More Book Covers
Covers for The Hill and Alien Challenge
Internet Ramblings
Fun things I’ve found online and a poem about the color red
Anatomy of a Book Cover
The Book cover for The Voices of Cellar’s Bridge: Katherine’s Hop from sketch to finish. Also featuring a poem about the color orange.
A Question of Evil
A silly short story about a vacuum salesman’s bad day
Another Batch of Book Covers
Book covers for Bramdean, Shades of Plaid, Advertising for Love, You and None Other, and Don’t Murder Maria.
MYSPACE (PERSONAL BLOG)
Legacy of Ghosts – Chapter 1
Chapter 1 of the new novel
Legacy of Ghosts – Chapter 2
Chapter 2 of the new novel
Legacy of Ghosts – Chapter 3
Chapter 3 of the new novel
Legacy of Revolt
After I let Jonathan Harvey write a story with Jorick and Katelina, my characters revolt.
The Party
A short silly story about a costume party that ends in unforeseen disaster
Where’s the Respect?
After comments from MySpace’s marketing department that bloggers don’t make up a high enough percentage to count, some of us are understandably upset…
War
The MySpace battles rage on.
Poets Round Table: Openings
A roundtable poem about the rescued miners that I contributed a stanza to
Blogophilia 3.0
Testing the new platform and photos of fun with hats
Supplier Shortage
A silly short story. The Vampires’ King is dead and, worse, they are out of kittens!
Internet Randomness
Some interesting things I ran into online and a poem for the CPC Simple Sunday
Anatomy of a Book Cover
While other people wrote books for NaNoWriMo, I did a cover…
Random and Boring
Exactly what it says. featuring three videos of our trip to Branson
Blogophilia 43.3
More boring yack. featuring book covers.
RAMBLINGS FROM THE DARKNESS 2.0 (PERSONAL BLOG ON WORDPRESS)
Testing This Out
I am making an effort to move my personal blog from Myspace to wordpress – one post at a time.
Bubble Wrap
A rant about over protecting children
Destiny and Rice Crispies
The story of how Rice Crispies changed my life….
Blogophilia 43.3
Random holiday yacking. Featuring Random Book Covers
The Scanner Saga
After a computer upgrade my scanner suddenly doesn’t work…
A Visit from the Relatives
There’s nothing like family…
Demon’s Freedom
Flash Fiction. A demon gets his freedom from the family line that commands him.
TTTC Special message
A special Merry Christmas from Jo and Jonathan
Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Yahoo Groups
A take off of the famous Kindergarten list
Ranting
A rant about people’s need to slam one another down
Laundry Theft
A funny rant about a seriously aggravating incident: someone steals a load of my clothes from the laundromat
COMING NEXT MONTH:
Projects I hope to finish in January are
Legacy of Ghosts Trailer
Pick a personal blogging site
book covers for other people
The rough draft of Amaranthine Book 3: Ties of Blood
The special Bonus comic for the super secret TTTC Publishing Project
I wouldn’t mind finishing up some other misc artwork, but we’ll see about that
If you have ideas or suggestions on what could make this newsletter better, or just want to give me your opinion on something, drop me a line at Joleene@joleenenaylor.com.
If you would like to unsubscribe from this mailing, please send a mail to Joleene@joleenenaylor.com with the subject UNSUBSCRIBE.
Have a great month and a great year!
Jo 😀
Posted by Joleene Naylor on January 3, 2011
https://joleenenaylor.wordpress.com/2011/01/03/janurary-2011-newsletter/
at SinisterEchoes.com for a very fun author interview! Alannah Murphy, a fellow vampire writer and artist, did an amazing job on the post, and she had some great questions, so stop by and say hello!
Hope to see you all there!
Oh, and just for Jonathan, though you’re all welcome to some:
Cheeeeeeeese Friiiiiiiieeeeessssss
Posted by Joleene Naylor on December 13, 2010
https://joleenenaylor.wordpress.com/2010/12/13/join-me/
I’m really more of a let’s-all-love-our-vampires kind of gal, but as the boy scouts say, “be prepared”. After all, vampires are creatures of the night, and you never know when they might get a little out of hand. And even if your vampire friend is one of those sweet, sugary, I’d-rather-die-than-drink-from-a-human sort, their friends may not be. In that case, doesn’t it make sense to be ready?
And now, thanks to The Green Dragon you can do just that! Check it out:
(filched from thegreendragon.us )
http://www.thegreendragon.us/Vampire-Stakes.html
(Isn’t that fun? I got that link from a forum on GoodReads and had to share! They have some other really cool items, like wands, skystones and tankards, but the vampire stakes were too cool!)
Of course, if you’re on a tight budget and handy with power tools, you could always make them yourself:
stolen from pbcohen.com
http://www.pbcohen.com/item-42.html
(read all the way to the end to see what they were really for – it’s pretty funny)
Now I’m not advocating vampire slaying, but I’m just saying, you never know. Better to be safe than sorry.
Posted by Joleene Naylor on November 14, 2010
https://joleenenaylor.wordpress.com/2010/11/14/just-in-case/
When Kaden meets the beautiful but strong Johanna, he doesn't know he's entering a world of eternal night; a world of vampires. Is it worth the death, pain, and nightmares to stay by her side? Enjoy all the books in one long saga.
This is NOT the gender swap previously published on Patreon.
You asked for it, so here it is! Join me on Patreon to read Shades of Gray from Jorick's point of view! Peer into Jorick's mind and get all the behind the scenes events Katelina couldn't see.
Find the complete Amaranthine Saga, as well as Brothers of Darkness, the expanded Vampire Morsels, and the expanded Tales of the Executioners on Dreame, WebNovel, AnyStory, and more!
Check out Authorgraph.com to get your digital ebooks autographed!
Amaranthine by Joleene Naylor 