Showing posts with label unfurl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label unfurl. Show all posts

YA Indie Carnival ~ Friday the 13th ~ Or Not...

Friday, April 13, 2012



Actually, I forgot it was Friday the 13th! It’s not something I think about much, mainly because I’m not a fan of horror. At all... So if you came here for horror, then you came to the wrong place! :D
I write YA Paranormal Romance without much in way of horror... Of course my villains are scary, but my stories are not the kind of stuff that will disturb your dreams. At least I don’t think so. Well, I suppose many people did find the spiders in Forever a bit horrifying...what did you expect from witches?
Anyway! Besides the spiders, probably the scariest I get is in my villains. So maybe you’ll enjoy this interview of Lucas that Max did for me. (Note: If you want an excerpt of Max’s story, which I’m working on at the moment, simply scroll down.)

Here is an interview of a vampire, oh wait, I mean an interview of a villain, oh wait, I mean an interview of a werewolf... ENJOY! (told from max's point of view)

“Welcome to Cheri’s blog, my lovely ladies...and dashing gents, whatever the case may be.” Max winks as he sketches a bow, his waves of brown hair tumbling down over his forehead. The knight shoves fingers through his hair to push it back into place as he settles into his chair. “Today, I have Lucas from the Fateful Trilogy here for an interview.” Max twists in his seat to face Lucas who is sitting in a comfortable chair in Beon’s drawing room at Order headquarters. “Welcome, villain.”

Lucas stares, or rather, scowls at Max before he says with a heavy note of annoyance in his tone, “Were you expecting me to cackle evilly, or something? Because it’s just not going to happen.”

Max shrugs his big shoulders and props one booted foot on his opposite knee, the picture of ease. Apparently the knight isn’t intimidated by murdering rogues. Although, it might have something to with the burly vampire body guards posted at the doors during this interview, but only a little bit.  Max is dangerous in his own right. “Shall we begin?” Max drops his gaze for a moment to peek at his notes.

“If you would get on with it, I’d appreciate it. I do have better things to do than sit here with you answering stupid questions.”

“Like what, exactly?” asks Max.

Muscles jump along Lucas’ jaw. His dark eyes narrow on the knight. His nostrils flare. “Are you talking about stupid questions you’d like to ask me, or what I’d rather be doing?”

“The latter, obviously,” mentions Max.

“Mischief and mayhem...obviously,” answers Lucas smugly.

“What sort of mischief and mayhem? Be specific. Our audience is curious to know,” Max queries with an annoyed lift of one eyebrow.

Smirking evilly, Lucas locks his dark gaze onto Max’s in a threatening way. “I could be seeking time alone with Nadia so that I may get to know her better. She and I haven’t...chatted much.” The smirk turns to a leer as it seems Lucas imagines what he’d like to be doing to Nadia.

Max comes back with a threat of his own. His lips thin, his fingers slip into his boot, and in the blink of any eye, he sends a knife at Lucas. The six-inch blade sinks into the back cushion of the chair Lucas is seated in.

The villain didn't even flinch. “No bad for an old rusty knight,” Lucas says in a silky voice.

“I’ve spent most of my life dispatching miscreants like you.”

“We've digressed,” comments Lucas.

Max draws a measured breath and releases it slowly, apparently in agreement. “Do you have any hobbies the readers might not know about?”

“Crossword puzzles,” says Lucas.

A mocking laugh blasts from Max. “Do you also knit?”

Lucas frowns. “You insult me.”

“Every chance I can get.”

“You’re digressing again,” Lucas says. “Did you have any other questions for me? Perhaps something more relevant than what I do with my spare time, like what I do with my victims instead? I can promise you, the readers would be much more interested in what I could be, or rather, will be doing to Nadia.”

“Threaten my wife again, and next time I won’t intentionally miss.” Lucas didn’t seem to have an answer to that, so Max went on, “What made you like this, Lucas? What event in your life darkened your soul so much?”

“I think I was always like this, to be honest,” Lucas says with a note of pride.

“Always evil? Surely as a child—”

“I don’t remember much from my childhood. But what I do recall, it wasn't exactly pleasant.”

“Your father—”

“Wasn't the nicest chap there ever was.”

“So you’re blaming your evilness on him, then?”

Lucas shrugs his shoulders. “I wouldn't be the first.”

“Now you’ve made me curious. Tell me more about your father, would you? What was it about him that turned you to a life of disruptive and violent behavior?”

“This is an insipid line of questioning. Next please,” Lucas says with an air of superiority.

Max rolls his jaw in an apparent effort to keep his anger tamped down. “Fine. Let’s just cut to the chase, hmm? What is it about being a monster that appeals to you so much?”

“It’s a bit cliché, but there is power in fear.”

“So this is all about power?”

Lucas sighs. “Actually, no. It’s all about revenge.”

“Against Ethan,” says Max.

“Precisely.”

“Did I just hear my name?” Ethan asks as he enters with service for tea.

Max draws in a breath of air, and his eyes land on the hot scones on a plate next to the teapot. Despite the fact that he was hungry, he eyes Ethan with unmasked curiosity. “What are you doing?”

“Helping you.”

“I don’t need help.”

“Then I’m simply here to offer refreshment.” Ethan’s gaze touches on Lucas and it was easy for Max to mark the lie.

“Really?” Max asks doubtfully.

“Of course.” Ethan starts pouring out. He has three teacups so Max knows he intends to serve Lucas as well. Intrigued, Max leans back into the cushion and watches to see how this is going to play out. “Would you like a spot of tea?” Ethan asks Lucas.

Lucas eyes the cup wearily. “Is it poisoned?”

A chuckle rumbles out of Ethan. “Would I poison you?”

“Yes. I believe you would.”

“What reason exactly would I have to poison you?” When Lucas doesn’t answer right away, Ethan asks, “One lump or two?”

Lucas folds his arms. The corners of his mouth slid downward. “Where’s Danielle? Isn’t she going to join our quaint little tea party too?”

“No,” Ethan practically growls, straightening, the food forgotten...apparently. Ethan removes his glasses and sets them carefully on the coffee table next to the tea tray.

The action was clearly not lost on Lucas as he also rises to his feet and pushes up his sleeves.

“Ethan, what are you doing now?” Max asks.

“Nothing,” Ethan shoves up his sleeves as well.

“Why did you take off your glasses then?”

“No reason.”

Max rolls his eyes when Ethan throws the first punch, and the two men brawl, spilling the tea, smashing the teacups, and breaking the table.

Max hadn’t noticed at first, but Ethan had ropes and a gag in his back pocket.  As a bruise develops around Ethan’s left eye, and a trickle of blood oozes from his bottom lip, Ethan tightens the knot on the ropes now securing Lucas to the floral-patterned wingback chair.

Clearing his throat, Max folds his arms over his chest and shoots a curious gaze at Ethan. “Exactly how am I supposed to interview the villain with him bound and gagged like that?”

Ethan shrugs his shoulders. “Scone?”

Casting his gaze to the ruined food on the floor he lifts an eyebrow.

Ethan’s face splits into a smile. “I’ve got fresh ones in the kitchen, this was poisoned.”

“And you need a new pair of spectacles,” Max points out.

“Oops,” says Ethan spying his crunched eyewear in the mess littering the decorative rug.

PS: For perhaps some good Friday the 13th reading, check out the Vampire Diaries. A series my daughter loves! It was written long before Twilight was out, and, even though we love the show at our house, the books are nothing like it. They're better, in a different sort of way...

~0R~
Some of my fellow carnis can better take care of you in terms of horror than me, so please take a minute to check out their blogs too. (But before you leave, view the post before this one, leave a comment about what recipes you’d like to see in Sophia’s cookbook, and be entered into a giveaway for a signed book!)

YA Indie Carnival:
New!!! Liz Long, Just another writer on the loose.
1.Laura A. H. Elliott author of Winnemucca & 13 on Halloween
2.Bryna Butler, author Midnight Guardian series
3.Heather Self
4.T. R. Graves, Author of The Warrior Series
5.Suzy Turner, author of The Raven Saga
6.Cheri Schmidt, author of the Fateful Trilogy
7.Rachel Coles, author of Into The Ruins, geek mom blog
8.K. C. Blake, author of Vampires Rule and Crushed
9.Patti Larsen, The Hunted series and The Hayle Coven series
10.Amy Maurer Jones, Author of The Soul Quest Trilogy
11.Dani Snell's Refracted Light Reviews
12. Fisher Amelie, author of The Understorey
13.M. Leighton, Blood Like Poison Series, Madly, The Reaping
14.Kimberly Kinrade, Bits of You & Pieces of Me, Forbidden Mind
15.Madeline Smoot, Missing, Summer Shorts, and The Girls
16.Cidney Swanson, author of Rippler
17.Gwenn Wright, author of Filter
18.TG Ayer
19.Melissa Pearl, Author of The Time Spirit Trilogy
20.Heather M. White, author of The Destiny Saga
21.Roots in Myth, PJ Hoover
22.Courtney Cole Writes

Guest Post ~ Unfurl by Cidney Swanson Release Tour and Giveaway!

Friday, February 3, 2012




Hi Cheri! I’m so excited to be here today as part of my Unfurl Release Tour. I thought I’d share something today about how I got started writing full time. I hope you will enjoy!

It took two fifteen-year-old boys to convince me to follow my heart and start writing full time. Fifteen’s this great age. You’ve survived the battle arena of middle school and probably made it through your first year of high school. And in some part of you that maybe doesn’t hover on the surface, you know—absolutely know—that you can do something great.

Yeah, maybe a person or circumstance in your life has shoved that knowledge down to the deep end of the pool and tied it there with a big rock, but you still know it’s there, it’s true, and it really doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks because you know it.

Look around at the adults in your life: how many of them still know this, carry it around in their pockets? One? Two? Zero? We get old and we get tired and we forget that we ever felt this way once. I mean, adults write sentences like “It’s never too old to be what you might have been” precisely because we have to see it spelled out in black and white to even remember what we knew at fifteen.

Four years ago I found Eragon by Christopher Paolini. I was standing in my Costco, looking at the books table (the coolest part of Costco.) As I browsed, I overheard these grandmas talking.

“Wrote it when he was a teenager, and he’s a real nice kid. He home-schooled with one of my grandchildren.”

Well, you can bet that caught my attention. This gorgeous book was written by a teen? Whaaat? Anyway, I bought the book and loved it. And I thought to myself, Wow. This kid: he’s like, fifteen, and he didn’t have any issues with writing a freaking long book. He just did it. And then did it again.

That same year, I noticed another fifteen-year-old (my son) knocking out a couple of novels every couple of months. And I thought to myself: Wow. Where do you get that kind of belief in yourself and your abilities that lets you just do what you want to do?

And it’s like this light popped on, blinding me: when you’re a teenager, you know that you can do anything. Seriously, Teens. Can. Do. Anything. As a late-bloomer, I’m probably not the best person in the world to convince you of this fact, but look: someone else said it too! (Better than I did.)

So on March 20, 2009, I told myself: “No more ‘I’m-going-to-write-a-novel-someday;’ I need to just write. Like those fearless fifteen-year-olds. Forget ‘someday.’ This is someday.”

You know how adults or teachers say that their kids teach them so much? (Yeah, we do say that, and if you’re a teen and the adults in your own life aren’t saying it, that sucks—they should, because it’s true!) So anyway, it took a pair of undaunted teenage boys to teach me that if I wanted to do something bad enough, I needed to just start. Today.

No matter what your age is: be that fifteen-year-old version of yourself. And if you are fifteen? Do what you know you can do. Do it now before you get old and forgetful and busy doing things that don’t really matter to you anyway. Take it from a late-bloomer. Nuff said.

Thank you, Chris Paolini, for showing me that it’s okay to do what you dream of doing and that if you weren’t too young to do it, then maybe I wasn’t too old. And thanks to my son, the ‘JWS’ to whom I dedicated my first book. Because if it weren’t for him and Paolini and their teenager-ability to just do stuff, I wouldn’t be writing novels today.

And that would just be sad.

Thanks so much, everyone, for the chance to stop by and visit today! Come say hi anytime!

Linkies:
cidneyswanson at gmail dot com
http://cidneyswanson.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/cidneyswanson
http://twitter.com/#!/cidneyswanson
Books for sale: http://amzn.to/x8grXl
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/search?query=cidney+swanson
Librarything: http://www.librarything.com/author/swansoncidney