Bite Bits: The Trial And Tribulations of Miss Tilney - A Penny Dreadful in comic form with Contest:

David Doub author of the Dusk Comics and Mystery Masque Comics present - The Trial And Tribulations of Miss Tilney - A Penny Dreadful in comic form, inspired by writers of the era. A love letter to Gothic, but more than original enough to stand on its own.

- The Trial And Tribulations of Miss Tilney -

Cub Reporter Henrietta Tilney is sent on her first assignment, to interview accused mass murderer Lord Beowulf Harwood. But young Henrietta quickly finds out there is much more to this story and its subject Lord Harwood. Will this plucky young reporter get her story and survive with her life in tact?

A Penny Dreadful in 3 parts!

Written by Duke David Doub

Art by Marchioness Jolene Houser

Colors by Countess Danielle Alexis

Everything Else by Vizcondesa Joamette Gil

www.duskcomics.com

Preview Coming to Phoenix Comicon!

Issue 1 – Fall, 2011

The Miss Tilney Victorian Costume Contest

To show support for the book - The Trial And Tribulations of Miss Tilney - and celebrate the fashions and styles of the Victorian era, Dusk Comics is running a year long Victorian Costume Contest.

At each convention Dusk Comics attends, we will hold a Victorian Costume Contest with a cash prize. Then the winner of each convention costume contest will be entered into a Grand Prize Costume Contest online at Duskcomics.com. 

Also for folks who can’t visit us at shows, we will have an Online Costume Contest winner as well that will be entered into the Grand Prize Costume Contest. The Grand Prize winner will be announced on Dec 2nd.

Dusk Comics 2011 Convention Season

May 26th - 29^th
Phoenix Comicon
http://www.phoenixcomicon.com/


June 3rd - 5^th
SoonerCon
http://www.soonercon.com/

June 10th - 12^th
A-Kon
http://www.a-kon.com

September 2nd - 5^th
Animefest
http://animefest.org/

September 30th - Oct 2^nd
SabotenCon
http://sabotencon.conmagick.com/

October 8th - 9^th
Geek Girl Con
http://www.geekgirlcon.com/

Dusk Comics is an independent publisher based in Sanger, TX. We host a wide variety of comics and graphic novels, including superhero pulps, supernatural thrillers, fantasy manga and much more to come.

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Vampire Poetry: Of Angels and Demons

 

Of Angels and Demons

They met in the deppths of Dark Shadows.
The loner vampire and the maiden hallow
Soon their energies swayed as they did the dance
Unaware observers looked on, entranced.

An angel for a demon
(one the yin to the others' yang)
each giving in, within reason.
Angels’ soft flesh willing
To receive her devils’ firm fang.

And with bite
He entices
And tastes
Her innocent vices.

At night they convened under clandestine cloud
seeking each other via virtual shroud
(No alarms and no surprises)
As his dear angel gave in, to her demon’s devices.

But Alas! Alack! When day comes dawning
The sun rises and then dear demon seeks hiding
And Angel waits by the gates (of heaven? or hell?)
Only in due time will tell.

(Only at night, do Angels dance with Demons, by the pale moonlight.)

©2011 (ad infinitum) 

Bite Bits: And the Winners are...

... Michael Brittin and MaggieMay! 

Congrats, you are both the lucky winners of last weeks contest for a copy each of Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's latest in the vampire Count Saint-Germain series: An Embarrassment of Riches . 
Please send your mailing address information to VampirePhile@gmail.com and the book will be sent to you, asap.

And here's a little extra added treat (which I didn't get a chance to include last week), Doug Knipe (aka SciFiGuy's) Tribute to Chelsea Quinn Yarbro and her books (Thanks Doug): 

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Giveaway: "An Embarrasment of Riches".

Today, once again VampirePhile has the pleasure of hosting author Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, this time in a contest for a giveaway of 2 copies of her latest in the vampire Count Saint-Germain Chronicles: An Embarrassment of Riches. In past guest post and interview Chelsea has introduced us to Count Saint-Germain, and now:

More than two decades strong, the Saint-Germain cycle is one of the most compelling works of dark fantasy and horror of our age. Historically accurate, often involving key events or figures from throughout world history, these deeply emotional novels have a devoted readership. Each novel is written as a stand-alone and they are not chronologically consecutive, so readers may enter the saga with any book and move backward or forward in time as they choose, from Pharaonic Egypt to Paris in the 1700s, from the fall of the Roman Empire to World War II Europe.

In An Embarrassment of Riches, the vampire Count finds himself a virtual prisoner in the Court of Kunigunde in Bohemia in the 1200s. Rakoczy Ferncsi, as Saint-Germain is known, passes his days making jewels to delight Queen Kunigunde and trying not to become involved in the Court's intrigues. In this, the vampire fails. Handsome, apparently wealthy, and obviously unmarried, he soon finds himself being sexually blackmailed by Rozsa, an ambitious lady-in-waiting. If he does not satisfy her, she will denounce him to the priests and he'll be burned at the stake, resulting in his True Death. Despite his care, the vampire makes more than one enemy at the Bohemian Court, and by the end of An Embarrassment of Riches, the Count can see only one road to freedom...through death.

!!!CONTEST TIME!!!  

Two lucky winners, selected at random, will each receive a copy of An Embarrassment of Riches. 

To enter and qualify for a chance to win, leave a comment in response to: Who is your favourite vampire and why?

Contest open until this Friday, 18th March, to US and Canada entries only. If commenting anonymously please remember to include a name and an email address to qualify. 

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Bite Bits: And the Winner is...

... Efhi Balafoutis! Congrats Efhi, you are the lucky winner of last weeks contest for the copy of Melissa de la Cruz's Bloody Valentine. Please send your mailing address information to VampirePhile@gmail.com and the book will be sent to you, asap.

And coming up next week, there will be another contest / book giveaway. This time for copies of Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's latest in the vampire Count Saint-Germain series: An Embarrassment of Riches.

In other fang-tastic news, Underworld 4: New Dawn
begins filming in Vancouver this month (by next week to be exact) and there may/will be a Lost Girl, connection. It's not as yet "officially" announced, but said LG cast member mentioned on their official page that they'll "be playing a werewolf" in the upcoming film. Those of you who follow this Lost Girl actor/actress will already know of whom I speak...Anyone else, well, you can give your guesses ;)

      

Here's a bit more to 'bite' into, check out this site for the Internet Distributed Comedy series Vampirism Bites. The entire first season of this comedy web series is available on the website: http://www.vampirismbites.com/ Thanks to creator James Fernandez for bringing it to this fang fille's attention.

 

And a bit more bite before bidding you all adieu. Anyone with an Amazon.com or Amazon.Uk account and who may be interested in contributing reviews, Nathyn Brendan Masters, author of Blackrayne would like to send you a PDF copy of the book for review. Thereafter, all you would have to do is add your review of it on Amazon.

Interested readers who wish to review, please email me at VampirePhile@gmail.com no later than this coming Sunday March 6th (reference "Amazon Book Review" in the subject line) and I will forward your email address on to Nathyn, who will get in touch with you thereafter with the PDF copy for review.

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NEW KEY ART FOR "MIDNIGHT SON" RELEASED.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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Contact: Matt Compton                                      

Producer, "Midnight Son"

info@midnightsonmovie.com

NEW KEY ART FOR "MIDNIGHT SON" RELEASED 

February 23, 2011 -- Midday Moon, LLC, the producer of the motion picture "Midnight Son," has just released new key art for the film.  To download it, click this link:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4971913/MidnightSon_KeyArt_2011.jpg

The filmmakers released this new key art to celebrate the upcoming festival screenings the film will have.

"Midnight Son" will make it's World Premiere at the Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose , California on March 4 @ 9:30 PM.  Writer/Director Scott Leberecht, Producer Matt Compton, and several cast members will be in attendance, and will participate in a Q&A after the screening.

The film will have two additional screenings at Cinequest: March 6 @ 6:45 PM and March 11 @ 12:30 PM.  It will also screen at the Omaha Film Festival on March 5 @ 8:30 PM.

"We're really excited about the festival screenings we have coming up.  So many people have worked so hard on the film, and it's very rewarding to finally be able to show it to an audience," says Scott Leberecht.  "Cinequest is a wonderful celebration of independent cinema, so we're really thrilled to be having the World Premiere there," adds Matt Compton.

"Midnight Son" is a dark, character-driven drama that plays on horror themes in an understated, subtle way. The story centers on Jacob, a young man grappling with a dramatic physical transformation. No matter how much he eats, he suffers from malnutrition. To his disgust, he finds the blood in his steak packaging more satisfying than the steak itself. Something is changing inside him. When romance sparks with a young woman named Mary, he wrestles with the monster he's becoming while desperately trying to keep his new craving a secret.

To download the press kit for the film, click here:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4971913/MidnightSon_PressKit.pdf

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Author Melissa De La Cruz guest post w/ contest.

Today VampirePhile has the pleasure of hosting Blue Bloods author Melissa de la Cruz with a guest post in conjunction with the release of her: Bloody Valentine. In her post Melissa touches on the Blue Blood transformation process and some of the complexities involved in finding a mate.

Also, be sure to see the end of the post for details on how to enter for a chance to win a copy of Bloody Valentine.   

Breaking Bonds by Melissa de la Cruz

Blue Blood vampires live as humans until about fifteen years of age. At around this time, they begin to transform into their true immortal selves—a patchwork of blue veins appears on their arms, they crave raw meat, they begin to feel their fangs protrude, and memories of their past lives return. Since Blue Bloods reincarnate – in that they live a human lifespan and then are brought back through a new cycle of expression, they don’t live in the same physical shell forever as traditional vampires do. They are also fallen angels, who were cast out of heaven with Lucifer.

Finding a mate, or their ‘soul mate’ since Blue Bloods pledge their love in heaven, is a process of finding your vampire twin—the twinned soul who is missing. Once a vampire recognizes his or her mate, they renew your bond in the cycle (aka current lifetime) and the bond’s strength strengthens the vampires’ powers. This is their way. Blue Bloods have lived according to the Code of the Vampires since the beginning, although cracks are starting to appear in their culture. The two most powerful vampires of all time, Gabrielle and Michael, broke their bond when Gabrielle bonded with her human conduit and gave birth to a half-human, half-vampire daughter, Schuyler Van Alen. Now Schuyler herself has caused another rift, as her true love, Jack Force, or Abbadon, the Angel of Destruction broke his bond with his twin, Mimi Force (Azrael, Angel of Death), to be with Schuyler.

When I was writing Blue Bloods, I wanted to create a world where breaking a bond had shattering consequences, it wasn’t something to be taken lightly. I wanted to write about unbreakable commitments and also what it means to have these bonds renewed every year, for the rest of your life, and what part new love can play in these situations. Bonds are consecrated in heaven, but Jack reveals in Bloody Valentine, that he was never able to choose his bondmate, that she was chosen for him.

So then the bond is also a curse. It was fun to play with all the angles of this mythology and I love writing about characters whose backs are to the wall, and who have no choice but to break out of the corners immortal life has created for them.

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You can find more information about Melissa de la Cruz, the Blue Bloods series and her other work on her website: http://www.melissa-delacruz.com, as well as her publisher’s website: http://bluebloodsbooks.com. You can also follow Melissa de la Cruz on Twitter: http://twitter.com/MelissadelaCruz.

!!!CONTEST TIME!!!  

One lucky winner will receive a copy of Bloody Valentine. 

To enter and qualify for a chance to win, leave a comment to: What qualities do you look for in a potential mate? or What qualities do you love about your mate? 
If commenting anonymously, please include an email address where you can be reached in the event of a win. Or email your name & email address with comment to: VampirePhile@gmail.com 

Contest is open until 9am eastern on Monday, February 28th (winners will be announced later on that day). Contest is open to US and Canada only.

Jolene Houser Support Book and Dusk (Vol. 2) by David Doub

 

 

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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CONTACT: David Doub
1023 Porter Place, Sanger TX 76266
940-735-1546; david@duskcomics.com

JOLENE HOUSER SUPPORT BOOK AND DUSK (VOL. 2) BY DAVID DOUB.

PROCEEDS TO BENEFIT ARIZONA ARTIST JOLENE HOUSER

"On her way to the convention Saboten-Con, artist Jolene Houser was in a car accident. She had a fractured skull, 17 stitches in her forehead, 6 staples on her elbow from a large laceration, and a fractured #1 vertebrae. During the show, all the fans and staff were very supportive and sent their well wishes the best they knew how, but that got some of us thinking. Why stop there? To show our support for Jolene and her amazing talent, we've put together this sketchbook. All profits will be given to Jolene to help with various bills stemming from the accident and her medical care."
~ David Doub, author and publisher, Dusk Comics  

Comic book artists are a special breed, and Arizona native Jolene Houser, who has been a comic book fan ever since she got her first taste of Witchblade and Sailor Moon , is no exception. This serious student was studying all forms of art in order to advance her skills and further her work in her Arizona studio when she was in a serious car accident she is still struggling to recover from.
 

To help with the inevitable medical bills, co-artist and friend David Doub, author and publisher of Dusk Comics, organized their fellow artists to put together the Jolene Houser Support Book. The book's goal is clear. As the title page says, "We can rebuild her. Better. Faster. Stronger. Starring Jolene Houser as the Bionic Artist." 

This outpouring of love and respect contains 32 pages of sketches drawn by 17 different artists, and all proceeds from net sales go directly to Jolene. Doub notes that the book, available online through Amazon and Barnes and Noble, is POD and will not run out of stock. 

Also, since Jolene drew one-third of the illustrations for volume 2 of Doub's vampire comic creation Dusk, Doub is donating these proceeds (from online sales or orders through Ingrams) to her as well through May 31, 2011, though he notes that the support book will continue to be sold, with all proceeds going to Jolene, for as long as needed. "Artists have to pull together and help each other," he says.

In Dusk (Vol. 2), Doub's protagonist, Eve, is still in a trap of her own devising, trying to find her place in a horrid supernatural world that doesn't want her. She thinks she loves a vampire, but maybe she's just addicted to the power of his blood?
Notes Doub, "Eve encounters everything from zombies to demons, and the morality of her life is always murky at best."

For more information on the Jolene Houser Support Book or Dusk (Vol. 2), contact david@duskcomics.com.
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♫ Mr. Mojo Risin'♫ - In a 'Morrison' State-of-Mind

So for a few days last week, I was in a (Jim) Morrison state of mind. From posting pics of Jim on this blog's affiliate FaceBook page to reflecting on some of Jim's well known words of wisdom, which are still relevant today.

Although I was born some 7 or 8 years after Morrison had passed in 1971, he has no doubt influenced and continues to influence generations, and I can count myself among them.

Growing up, and even as recently as a few years ago, I had a poster or two of Jim and The Doors  on my bedroom walls, I own a couple albums and even T-shirts and a key chain or two. I've read of Jim's poetry and recently, back in April 2010, I went, even though slightly under the weather, to one of the selected screenings of 'When You're Strange'

Ultimately though, the biggest thing for me and an experience I will never forget (as it was one of the things on my list of "to do before I die") was when I got to visit Jim's grave in the Père Lachaise Cemetery back in the early 2000's. 

It was there after and then after that I was inspired to make an attempt at writing my first novel. Began in 2004, and then re-vamped (no pun intended) in 2009. With currently three chapters in, it's a Work In Progress.

Below is an excerpt from the WIP, which already has a title, but of which I'll not be disclosing until the work is finished. And here is a poem that I was inspired to create using the titles of some of The Doors most known songs: Mr. Mojo Risin.

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Excerpt from WIP which was originally titled 'Pursuit in Paris'

                          

Taking a chance, she quickly ducked down a short path, and hurried to huddle herself between two tall grave stones. Slowly and quietly she inched her way as low as possible and waited. She waited for what seemed like an eternity. All was deathly calm and quiet around her. All she could really hear was her own heart beating loudly in her ears.

Suddenly, she felt herself being grabbed from behind and before she could muster a scream, a hand covered her mouth. She was brought up to a standing position, her back pressed solidly against what felt like a man’s chest. She breathed in deeply, her nostrils flaring above the hand that covered her mouth, and she smelled the scent of blood and aftershave.

Immediately she thought to struggle and try to break free, but her body was rendered immobile, as if in a straight jacket, held as it was, in a vise grip, by the arm across her torso. Unexpectedly her head was tilted firmly yet gently to one side and she felt his lips as they brushed against her ear as he murmured: “You’re not going to get away from me this time, Cherie.”

And then she felt it, the piercing pain as teeth met flesh, and he sunk his own into her neck.

What the fuck! He bit me!  - Then the realization sunk in, as sharp as his fangs. -  Bloody Hell …he really is a vampire!

For Josanne the sensation in the moment was intense. Fear and panic began to rise from deep within her, yet no sooner had she felt the penetrating pain than it was accompanied by an unfathomable wave of pleasure, instantly reminiscent of the fistt ime she had had sex.

To Josanne’s embarrassment an unwarranted moan escaped her lips. As she was about to drift into unconsciousness, succumbing to the incubus that fed on her, her eyes glanced over the gravestone that was just within range.

There it stood, that which she had been looking for. That which had brought her into the cemetery in the first place. In the pale glow of the pathway lights, the grey brown, tombstone marked James Douglas Morrison. 1943 – 1971.

And below, the words written in Greek, which she thought loosely translated to mean: 

                                      The Devil Himself!

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