I just woke up from a horrible nightmare. I haven’t had one so horribly disturbing in a very long time.
Now it’s 5:30am on a Sunday and I can’t sleep.
Hmm. This might be great fodder for a horror website’s new short fiction contest….
Isn’t it great to be a writer?
The Raven
By Sylvain Reynard
Publication Date: February 3, 2015
Review by Sarabeth Pollock
When the sun goes down in Florence, the Prince of Florence awakens.
In Sylvain Reynard’s novella The Prince, we met the mysterious Prince of Florence. Now in The Raven we learn more about the mysterious Prince and we also meet a woman who captivates him in a most unexpected way.
It’s May of 2013 and the Prince of Florence has just retrieved his prized collection of illustrations from the Uffizi Gallery. They’re not copies, as Professor Gabriel Emerson believes. They’re original drawings by Sandro Botticelli, and they had been stolen over a century prior. But just as the Prince is about to celebrate, he hears a woman’s screams and he smells blood. The vampyre rushes off to make sure he’s the first one to find her.
Raven Wood is an art restorer at the Uffizi Gallery. On this night she’s walking home from a party when everything changes. A week goes by that she can’t remember. Raven wakes up and is literally a completely different person on the outside. She also discovers that the Uffizi has been robbed, and she’s at the top of the suspect list. It isn’t helping things that her disability no longer exists and she looks like a completely different person.
In the meantime, the Emerson Family-Professor Gabriel Emerson, wife Julianne, and daughter Clare-have arrived in Florence as the police search for clues in the robbery. Little do they know, they’re being watched by a dark presence who presides over Florence when the sun goes down.
The Raven is a departure from the paranormal romance genre in that while the love story between Raven and the Prince (whose true identity is revealed in the book) is a large part of the plot, there are many other elements that come to the fore. Salvation, hope, redemption, faith…these all play a central role in the story. There’s also the political system at work in the vampyre world; the Prince of Florence reigns over the Consilium, a council of vampyre elders who serve their Prince much like a presidential cabinet. There are rumors of hostility from neighboring provinces that keep the Prince in a state of constant vigilance, and when he finds himself falling for Raven, he knows that she will always be a target among his kind. However, the Prince finds that his Cassita is worth fighting for.
The best thing about having my own blog is that when I write a review, I can say whatever I like. Normally I try to stay as objective as possible. But not today. I love this book. This book appeals to me on so many levels. I love the characters, I love the story, and I love how the story is woven within the history of Florence to such an extent that Florence herself has become a central character. Sylvain Reynard’s writing is magical that way. I’m not even sure that paranormal romance is a suitable descriptor for this new series. It’s literary fiction, with a splash of paranormal romance, intermingled with historical fiction. The lush prose and vivid imagery are utterly captivating. The only real comparisons I can draw to other authors in the genre who write with such attention to detail are Anne Rice and Deborah Harkness. I have spent the past weeks imagining the Prince and Raven and wondering what will happen next. It isn’t often that characters capture my imagination so thoroughly, but Raven and the Prince have.
I am eager to see what Sylvain Reynard has in store for his Florentine Series.
Click here to read Part One of my interview with Sylvain Reynard
Click here to read Part Two of my interview with Sylvain Reynard
Click here to buy The Raven
Click here to buy The Prince
I’ve written about my friend AJ Linn before. He’s a guy who had a blog, then he started writing a book. Three books later and now he’s working on his fourth novel. Four books. The guy is a machine.
I’m shamelessly plugging the fact that Mr. Linn put his books on sale over at Smashwords (here is a direct link) and if you haven’t checked out his Gentleman’s Series yet, you should give it a shot.
It isn’t often that we get a romance series written by a man from the male perspective. AJ Linn has done just that, and he brings a fresh voice to the genre with his hero and protagonist, Donovan Hart. Throughout the three novels (A Gentleman’s Affair, A Gentleman’s Secret and A Gentleman’s Memoir) Donovan tells the story of his very personal quest to find true love, including all of the hits and misses he suffers along the way.
Not only is it fun to check out a new series, but it feels great supporting a self-published writer who is doing everything on his own.
I highly recommend the Gentleman’s Series. But hurry over to Smashwords–this sale won’t last forever!!
I love writing. I love all kinds of writing, from quick blog posts to short descriptions for an ad, to novel and short stories, poems, reflections, reviews and recaps.
Writing recaps is a fun challenge. If I don’t have an advance screener of a show, I try to challenge myself to write the recap as quickly as possible, while the show is airing. It’s tricky, but possible. This is when you really notice dialogue versus action scenes. The Walking Dead is much easier than Doctor Who because there is more action and less talking.
With reviews, the challenge comes in not giving away too much of the plot while also giving the reader enough of an idea about the plot to lead him to buy a copy himself. Spoiler-free reviews are tricky, but coveted. (Though I do see requests for spoilers every now and then from people who know they won’t read the book but want to know what happens)
Writing reviews is like doing book reports over and over again, except now I’m doing it for the joy of it, and not because I’m in school.
I do recall a time in 5th grade when writing a book report on a book we got to choose on our own. I chose a novelization of Back to the Future II. It took me a long time to write, and eventually I realized I was doing way too much summary. In retrospect, this was my first recap. It only goes to show that I was born to be a writer!
Life has a funny way of sorting itself out. It really does. Call it fate, cosmic coincidence, or divine intervention. Whatever you call it, it works.
I needed more time to write, and suddenly the sea parted and the time appeared. (So, too, did several new clients, which is both fantastic and time consuming–but no complaints here!) With my new time and schedule, I have spent every morning this week working with clients and then writing during a three hours gap. This schedule will change next week, as I’m sure it will do for the remainder of the semester, but the great thing is that I’ve had a chance to enjoy the time and to see how helpful it is to have it.
There will always be interruptions. Last night I was being called upon to run a late-night errand, and as I was leaving I was also frantically trying to capture an idea in my notebook. But in the end both tasks were accomplished. I ran the errand and I finished the thought. (Of course, I still need to finish said thought in the article I’m currently working on today, but…c’est la vie)
So…I’m writing. I’m writing. There is nothing else I’d rather be doing right now. And it feels great.
Have you ever been asked to wrote something for someone else? I’m not talking about writing fiction and moving between different characters. I’m talking about producing a piece of writing with someone else’s voice and tone.
I’ve written letters of recommendation for bosses before. Those are relatively easy because generally they follow a pattern.
I’m trying to come up with content for a friend’s website. It needs to include information about events and recaps of shows. She’s a comedian. And since she’s a comedian she wants everything to sound like her.
I’m not a comedian. I dropped out of comedy school because as Freud would say, I’m too anal retentive. (Ironically, I was a valedictorian and I’ve never dropped out of anything) So writing content in her voice is an interesting challenge.
However, I feel like it’s a good experience and it will broaden my horizons and all that jazz.
So…(insert humor here)
One of my resolutions for 2015 is to write more. This is a huge goal because I have to do a ton of writing. A ton. No, seriously, a ton.
In addition to working on my nonfiction education book (for my business), I need to write more for my professional blog, my personal blog, a blog I write for a friend’s comedy show, various articles I publish, recaps and articles for DarkMediaOnline.com, and personal writing (including the novels I’ve been writing for years now). Some of it overlaps, but most of it is 100% fresh and unique.
In sum, it’s a ton of writing on a regular basis.
To get it all done, I need discipline. I need to focus on whatever I’m working on and not let myself become distracted by other things.
Of course, it’s easier said than done…but it’s still early in 2015. I have high hopes 🙂
I have always been obsessed with New Orleans. When I read Interview with the Vampire when I was 14, my love affair truly began. With every Anne Rice book I read, the city came to life in my imagination. I read everything I could about the city.
In 2011 I was fortunate enough to travel to New Orleans over Thanksgiving weekend. It was a work trip, but it allowed me a chance to visit the city I already knew I loved.
New Orleans was everything I imagined it would be, and more. I fell in love with the city in earnest. The world of Anne Rice’s vampires came to life. I could imagine Lestat and Louis walking down one of the narrow streets in the French Quarter. I strolled along the streets of the Garden District and saw the house on First Street that had been Anne Rice’s home for so many years.
It’s rare these days to have a book series generate such a love affair with a particular location. We saw it with Twilight and Forks, Washington, I suppose, and we’re seeing it now with Fifty Shades of Grey fans flocking to Seattle.
For me, though, the visit wasn’t important because I’m a fan of the books and the characters; rather it was that I wanted to see for myself that such a magical place could exist. And it was true. New Orleans has its own magic, its own charm, and no other city in the world can recreate that charm. New Orleans was as central a character in Anne Rice’s books as Lestat himself. The city was more than a setting. It came to life in the books. I saw the banana tress and the wrought-iron railings. They appeared exactly as described.
With the release of Anne Rice’s new novel, Prince Lestat, I find myself fondly reminiscing about my trip to New Orleans, even though New Orleans really isn’t featured in the book.
If you haven’t been there, you must visit. You simply must. I cannot wait to walk the cobbled streets and smell the beignets from the Cafe du Monde.
Ah, New Orleans.
I buy my books at Bookstar, which is a Barnes and Noble in a snazzy locale: the old Loma Theater.
The Loma Theater is an icon in Point Loma. It used to be a single movie screen-theater. I saw E.T. The Extraterrestrial there in 1982 when I was 2 years old. The damn seat folded up on me and my mom couldn’t stop laughing. I don’t know what was the more traumatic: the seat incident or the movie itself.
In the late 1980s the theater closed up and became a book store in the 90s. The movie screen is still in place, along with the ornate painting on the ceiling that was so common in theaters of the era.
One day I will research the building, because the historian in me is dying to do some historical research, especially on the early days of such an iconic theater.
Prince Lestat: The Vampire Chronicles
By Anne Rice
Release Date: October 28, 2014
Review by Sarabeth Pollock
Review Date: November 1, 2014
The Vampire Lestat is back.
After eleven years, Anne Rice has returned to The Vampire Chronicles in a purely brilliant tour de force that’s sure to delight fans young and old. Rice is a master at creating vibrant mythologies. From her vampires to her witches and everything in between, she cultivates worlds that are rich with history and character. It’s clear that everything in the book has been meticulously researched, and every detail cross referenced for accuracy. Prince Lestat is no exception; this is an epic story that spans 8,000 years and brings together the familiar faces fans know and love as well as exciting newcomers who make a welcome addition to the mythos.
The story begins with a mysterious Voice that has been causing a stir among the world’s vampire population, speaking to the elders and telling them to exterminate the hordes of fledglings that have amassed over the years. There’s a bit of an overpopulation problem facing the vampire world since The Burning that took place during Akasha’s reign of terror in Queen of the Damned. Now, scores of vampires are dying around the world and there’s no telling who will be next. That leaves the million dollar question: Who is behind this Voice and what does it want?
Lestat returns as our fearless narrator. Lestat is as puzzled by the Voice as everyone else, and he’s determined (albeit reluctantly) to get to the bottom of it. He weaves through time like a warm knife cuts through butter. We move from present day to the time just after the events of The Tale of the Body Thief, and all parts in between. Along the way we meet up with old friends who are equally concerned about this Voice and its motivations, and this quest for answers unearths many shocking truths that will impact the vampire world for years to come.
It’s not difficult to understand Lestat’s magnetism and how it has continued to grow over the years. Lestat, as an archetype, is appealing to many people in the same way that Tom Hiddleston’s Loki appealed to so many in Thor and The Avengers. They’re dark heroes, anti-heroes, and their charismatic personalities make them irresistible, even when they’re at their most exasperating. Lestat has been on a quest for redemption for a long while, dating back to well-before 2003’s Blood Canticle. Prince Lestat takes Lestat full circle on his quest, though he never stops being the Brat Prince his fans know and love.
Anne Rice books are like beautiful symphonies, and Prince Lestat is no different: It starts out slowly, allowing the drama and anticipation to build, until the story reaches a feverish crescendo. The only issue I had with Prince Lestat is that it wasn’t long enough! At 460 pages, the story felt a bit rushed toward the end, but this might be due to the numerous characters that show up to move the story along. The book could have been a thousand pages and still felt rushed. I wanted to hear more from the other characters to learn about where they have been over the years, but hopefully this will happen with future novels. The world of Anne Rice’s vampires is ripe with possibility.
In an age where authors are granted movie rights before their novels hit bookstores, it’s refreshing that in spite of the eleven year gap since the last installment of The Vampire Chronicles, Lestat and his companions are back in even finer form, sporting their “flashing” silk ties, fine lace and velvet frock coats. These details make Anne Rice novels what they are: modern literature at its finest. I’m keenly aware that I’m reading an author whose writing will be considered a classic for generations to come. Prince Lestat is a delightful read and will satisfy die-hard fans of The Vampire Chronicles and entice new blood to the fold.
Random Readings 