Hi. I’m back :)

Hello everyone. Gosh I can’t believe it’s been over five years since I’ve done a post. Well, where to start. I had another child. His name is Ashton and he’s three, the most beautiful boy in the world, and a little poop head most of the time 🙂 We’ve moved several times, which is dull but I hate moving so I thought I’d mention it 🙂

I have also been diagnosed with stage three breast cancer. I’ve had a single mastectomy and chemo so I think I’ve beaten it, but I am on five years of hormone therapy just to make sure 🙂 It’s been hard, I’m not going to lie, but I fight to remain the positive, cheerful person I’ve always tried to be.

Oh, and I’ve self published my novel Incarnate. I know, a lot of you may ask why I didn’t go down the traditional route of finding an agent, finding publishers etc. Well, it comes down to family. My nanny, Mary, has always wanted a signed copy of my first novel. She now has failing health and it is generally believed that she may not be around for much longer. My life goal was achieved by getting her my book by which I went the self publishing route and you know, I don’t regret it 🙂 It is more work but I can do it, I’m determined. The cancer is a wake up call that no one can ignore.

So the link to my book is below. There’s no forceful pushing for sales from me. If you’re curious and want a look, I hope you enjoy. If you don’t, please look after yourselves and stay safe 🙂

Life is a lie, an outcast’s on the run. A fate I was born to but refuse to accept. I am Anahlia, angel of death incarnate, and I’m pissed. The apocalypse best fear me!

My beautiful and awe-inspiring nanny, Mary.

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WIP Blog Tour – Bound, Incarnate, Teasers and More

Hello lovely readers 🙂

So, straight to it. My lovely friend and utmost writing hero J.S Collyer has proceeded to nominate me for the WIP blog tour. I am honoured she has done such a thing as I am a relative unknown in the literary World still. J.S herself has had her debut novel Zero published just this last year and she is already working on the sequel Haven which has a release date of October 2015.

Now I’m getting ahead of myself, let me back track. J.S’s debut novel Zero is a wonderful slice of literary sci fi goodness wrapped in sparkly lasers. Hugo is the reluctant Captain of the Zero after a space manoeuvre during a battle went wrong. He doesn’t expect much from this motley crew but he never expected the type of loyalty, trust and sense of family that he finds. How can he carry on with his orders now? For my full review of this fabulous novel please click here. Haven will be just as epic as the first book so please make sure to check her work out.

Now back to the blog hop. The rules (yes there are rules) basically are:

1. Link back to the post of the person who nominated you.
2. Write a little about and give the first sentence of the first three chapters of your current work-in-progress.
3. Nominate some other writers to do the same.

And follow with interest as I break a good few of the rules 🙂

My First Novel – Incarnate

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Incarnate is the first novel in my Angel of Death series. It is currently with the editor getting shined and be-sparkled ready for my searching for a publisher (I’m a little nervous about that but we’ll see how it goes.) You always have the hope that your work will be good enough for a publisher to be interested in but I also believe that I write for myself and I can be proud of what I do.

Alyssia Morgan has dreams of terror and darkness, falling and endless agony. She discovers all she knew was tainted by her mortal stance and everything around her is a lie. She is the last reincarnation of the Angel of Death and her lover… well… who knew he was magical royalty? She finds herself realm hopping, Angel avoiding and battling for her life while the Second Coming begins. Can she find the strength she needs to fight against fate? What will she do now that she knows she may lose this battle? And what stalks her in her dreams?

Incarnate Extracts

Chapter One:

Darkness surrounded her. Cold slivers of wintry hot fire were caressing along her back, making her gasp. Lovingly aggressive hands held her in place, only holding her arms, but she felt shackled by a million chains in a million places. She heard a laugh, close to her ear, from miles away.

Chapter Two:

The darkness surrounded her once more. She was dressed once again in the shining silver armour, her large ebony wings resplendent in the darkness. Aly turned and turned but couldn’t see where to go. She was lost and she would never be found.

Chapter Three:

She stood in the archway of the overtly extravagant Roman home. She was from Gaul and never quite cared for the luxuries these Romans indulged in, however, it made her enforced Roman husband happy; and when he was happy, she was not beaten.

Hopefully that will intrigue enough people to want to read more 🙂

My WIP – Bound

 My WIP is the second novel to the above, entitled Bound and continues the trials that Alyssia Morgan and Alethea, the Angel of Death, face.

No longer does Alyssia house the soul of the Angel of Death but the roles are quite reversed. Alethea is now in control and although sworn to stay out of the business of celestial beings she finds that she’s drawn once again into their pathetic power plays. Hell has quite literally frozen over. The once burning halls of Pandemonium are frosty with the cold and Lucifer is bound by impenetrable crystal. Alethea has to deal with Angels demanding her presence (again, sigh), demons, paranormal beings and her own nagging doubt that she shouldn’t be the one in control given her dark nature. Oh, and lets not forget the mortal housed in her head (a disconcerting feeling to be sure), what more did she need? She’s sworn that she will never be held again but doesn’t her duty govern how she acts? Will she ever gain the peace she so desperately longs for?

Bound Extracts

Chapter One:

She stood with her eyes closed, unwilling to open them. She could smell burning all around her and refused to look at the source. She knew what she would see should she open her eyes anyway; a burned battleground, bodies fallen where they had stood and blood seeping into the Earth. This wasn’t a mortal battle, this was of the divine and utterly… completely… fucking pointless.

Chapter Two:

She was on the battleground once again, the eyes of the fallen staring up at her accusingly. She had failed them but it wasn’t her, not really. She watched as a copy of herself split off and readied her weapons. The armour was strange yet somehow comforting and familiar. Her copy was ready and Thea gasped at the blonde foe the other her faced. He was the absolute double of her boyfriend Lucas but how could that be? The armour and weaponry were alien but somehow, disturbingly, the evil glint in his eye was exactly the same.

Chapter Three:

Alethea groaned as she opened her eyes, her body aching and her wings felt knotted. How long had she been laying here in that Him forsaken spell? Gingerly she moved one leg over the side of the ice laden alter, not quite liking the sacrificial implications. After she found this a success she moved the other and mentally berated herself for going slowly.  Rise and shine sleeping beauty, came her voice from the back of her mind. You are not funny mortal, she replied already casting her senses out to see if danger were near. They appeared to be in an ice cave of some sort but why would Lucifer store her here away from his slimy grasp? I would look closer were I you, came the voice again.

Next on the WIP Blog-Hop I Nominate…

… some of the most brilliant authors I have had the honour to be in contact with. Check out their work now, you won’t be disappointed 🙂

Philippe Blenkiron is a British poet and the author of ‘The Pustoy’, a dystopian novella in verse. He holds a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from Keele University and enjoys writing poetry of varying styles, some of which can be found online at
Ink, Sweat and Tears: (http://www.inksweatandtears.co.uk/pages/?s=philippe+blenkiron)
Dagda Publishing: (http://dagdapublishing.co.uk/2014/08/22/faces-curtains/)
and The Screech Owl: (http://www.thescreechowl.com/page-2.html)
as well as in many other print publications.
Philippe’s current projects include adapting ‘The Pustoy’ for the stage/screen, fronting alt-metal band ‘Skybald’, and work of a more theological nature. He also has some ideas brewing for a second novella, but is keeping his cards close to his chest for the moment…

Order ‘The Pustoy’ at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Pustoy-Philippe-Blenkiron/dp/1499238665 

Eric Robert Nolan graduated from Mary Washington College in 1994 with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology.  He spent several years as a news reporter and editorial writer for the Culpeper Star Exponent in Culpeper, Virginia. Eric’s debut novel is the postapocalyptic science fiction story, “The Dogs Don’t Bark In Brooklyn Any More.”  It was published by Dagda Publishing on November 19th, 2013, and is available at Amazon.com both in paperback and for Kindle. Eric’s poetry and short stories have been featured by Dagda Publishing, Every Day Poets, Every Day Fiction, Illumen, Under The Bed, Dead Beats Literary Blog, Microfiction Monday Magazine, Dead Snakes, The Bright Light Cafe, Aphelion, Tales of the Zombie War, The International War Veterans’ Poetry Archive, and elsewhere.

Order ‘The Dogs Don’t Bark in Brooklyn Any More’ at Amazon UK here.

Find Eric’s fabulous work along side some of my own in Threads and All Hail the New Flesh.

“Dennis Villelmi was born in Norfolk, VA in December of 1976.  An only child, Dennis very early on developed an imagination that ran the gamut.  But it wasn’t until the age of thirteen, with the discovery of Clive Barker’s ” The Great and Secret Show,” that Dennis realized that he wanted to be a writer, and moreover, like Barker and H.P. Lovecraft before him, a traveler through realms surreal, macabre, and, to a measure, blasphemous.  But it wasn’t until Halloween of 2014 that Dennis Villelmi finally etched his name onto the roster of explorers, both well known and obscure, of those tenebrous avenues that many would choose to ignore with the publication of his book, “Fretensis.”  Dennis Villelmi continues to live and work in Virginia.

Order Fretensis at Amazon UK here.

Thank you 🙂

Inspiration In All Forms

My time at the moment is taken up with editing my novel. I find it an interesting process and I will admit that things do seem to be coming together. It flows with vivacity and fantastical nature. I just wish I had more to time to do it as an hour here and there stifles me quite a bit.

While editing I find myself thinking back about the different aspects of life which have inspired me to write. I have always been inspired by my wonderful mother; we share the same taste in literature and she has always spurred me to achieve my dreams in life. Another wonderful inspiration is my friend Jex, a fellow writer and again someone who spurs me on to achieve my dreams. It’s great to have someone to bounce ideas off and to experience our writers jaunts to Costa Coffee, or the Yummy Cupcake Company. I’m blessed to know people like these and happy to tell every one of their influence.

A main inspiration of mine I want to concentrate on today is the artist Luis Royo. I actually stumbled onto his work by accident. I was doing the typical student thing of trying to find posters for my Uni room when I found a gorgeous one of an Angel in a ball gown manacled at the neck.

I was entranced by it so took it home. Only after researching it did I realise that it was Luis Royo’s artwork. He puts so much life into his work and you realise that you will begin to fall in love with his art. I have had so many idea’s come to me from just looking at his art that I felt it was worth a blog post at least.

I cannot even begin to describe the effect his work has. Looked at with an indifferent eye you may see only that his work is intense erotica and be put off by this. My suggestion is that you look closer; look at the layers to his pieces, look at the colour he uses and the contrast featured so often in many of his works. I have seen soft pieces from water nymphs to the contrast of beauty and the beast. Every work will get you thinking and inspire you in different ways.

What inspires you to work? Who gives your projects life and meaning?

I intend my next post to be about my novel, I just don’t know what yet. Is there anything you’d like to know about it? 🙂