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?
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 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.
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.
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.
... 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.
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.
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.
CONGRATULATIONS go to CheriS33 who has WON the random draw (done by Nicole) from last weeks contest, for an e-copy of Nicole Hadaway's Release!
Please send your email address to me, so I can forward to Nicole, @ VampirePhile@Gmail.com
And THANK YOU ALL who participated.
It was great to read all the comments about Henry and to know that he is a vampire who still (and always will) hold(s) a special place in all our hearts!
Today VampirePhile welcomes and has the pleasure of hosting author Nicole Hadaway as guest, along with a contest (from Nicole).
Nicole is the author of Release, which recently got four fangs via Fang-tastic Books blog review. And today, Nicole's post relates to one of the subjects which (to quote Nicole) was: " one of the the catalysts that spurred me on to write my own vampire novel."
Of course, Nicole was referring to one of her/my/our favourite vampire Tv shows: Blood Ties, which is still missed to this day by many (if not all) fans of the series.
So it is in that vein, (pardon the obvious pun), in which she writes today, one of the quintessential fave vampires of our time - as perfectly embodied by Kyle Schmid - none other, than, Henry Fitzroy.
Why I Love Henry Fitzroy
by Nicole Hadaway
I lived in Europe for a year and therefore missed out on an entire season of American television. (This wasn’t always a bad thing ;-), but I did miss out on Moonlight. However, our cable system was wise enough to show Blood Ties, and that was when I fell in love.
I didn’t really read paranormal mysteries, preferring instead the more human kind, like Agatha Christie, P.D. James and Ruth Rendell. Yet I always enjoyed watching vampires on TV or in the movies – Fright Night, The Lost Boys, Angel and Buffy are among my faves, and my two all-time favorite television shows, Charmed and Xena:Warrior Princess certainly don’t skimp on the paranormal fantasy!
Now look, I’m a little old here – I actually saw The Lost Boys in the movie theater when it played back in 1987! I also saw Fright Night the year before, and the vampire in that movie was everything I thought a vampire should be: smooth, suave, handsome, cultured, well-mannered and confident.
Very much like Henry Fitzroy. I was so happy to see Henry as a well-mannered, cultured vampire who had a conscience but didn’t overdo it – he still played with his food, and made no apologies about preferring female humans (like -- where can I sign up to be on his dinner guest list? ;-). He didn’t abuse his feeding, though, and he was a great mix of a nice bad-boy.
Plus, Kyle Schmid did an amazing, just awesomely wonderful job as Henry. He is a really great actor and should really be in more movies.
I know Soni is a member of Kyle Schmid Central so I can confess here that I rented and watched Joy Ride 2 and The Thaw just to see Kyle!
In recent years I’ve been a fan of historical fiction, so I really liked the idea that Henry was tied to the actual illegitimate son of Henry VIII, who supposedly died of tuberculosis. Very, very clever of Tanya Huff to have taken the tuberculosis symptoms (paleness, tiredness, shortness of breath and death) and put a vampiric spin on them!
After Blood Ties was mercilessly canceled, I had to get my Henry fix by reading the books (though admittedly I only read two of the Blood Seriesbut all three of the Smoke Serieswhich are really good and I highly recommend them). The books gave more details about Henry’s history, which got me thinking about my own vampire, Miranda.
Miranda had been in my mind for nearly 20 years at that point, but I never could come up with an original story for her. Not until I started thinking about her own history, and where she was during important historical events such as World War II. The more I thought about her during that time period, well, that was how Release was born.
So that’s why I love Henry: because he’s a great incarnation of the cultured, civilized vampire who’s got a bit of a bad-boy edge. Thinking about his own history was one of the catalysts that spurred me on to write my own vampire story, and I hope he would approve of Miranda as much as she admires him ;-)
* * *
About the Author:
Nicole Hadaway used to work as a lawyer, but now she only writes about such things as bloodsuckers and deals with the devil (sorry! she couldn't resist a lawyer joke there!). After having lived in such varied places as Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., Louisiana and even Monaco, she now makes her home in Texas. Her first novel, Release, was published in September 2009 and features vampires in a World War II setting. She’s currently working on the sequel, Return, which takes place during September 2001. If you'd like to read more about her, you can go to her blog here: http://nicole-hadaway@blogspot.com.
!!!Contest Time!!!
Nicole has offered to give a free e-copy of her book Release (sorry, it's not out in paper-back as yet) to one lucky person who names what theylike most about Henry. Contest is open until Monday, January 25th, 10am eastern. So leave your comment replies below to enter!
Names will be drawn at random and Winner announced later in the week, so be sure to check back to see if you've won or you can be sure to provide an email address to which Nicole can contact you to send the e-copy of Release.
And here's an added special treat, by request from Nicole, and which may help in reminding you all what is liked most about Henry. It's a fan made Blood Ties vid set to Kelly Clarkson's Beautiful Disaster. Enjoy!
This coming Thursday January 21st,VampirePhilewill have the pleasure of hosting Nicole Hadaway author and blog owner ofAll Things Smart and Scaryas Guest. Nicole will be guest blogging on a specific subject (that will be of particular interest to youBlood Tiesfans) and there will also be a contest involved (the 1st ever forVampirePhile).
Reminder 1:HBO's True Blood season 2 returns this weekend, Sunday June 14th @9pm. This season is set to take up where last season ended: Who is the body in the back seat? How would the relationship between Bill and Sookie change, with Bill's fledging in the mix? And (from the preview) what was that creature chasing Sookie through the woods? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=An3f6S0CFMI
Reminders 2 :Last Tues. 2nd June was the release of Blood Ties season 1, the first 13 episodes, pricesamazon.ca @ $26.99 and amazon.com @ $17.99.
Over at Suburban Vampire, she is still running the raffle contest to win a copy of Blood Ties season 1 DVD and 2 copies of Tanya Huff's novels on which BT was based. Deadline to enter, is Monday June 15th. See link for more dets: http://suburbanvampire.blogspot.com/2009/06/blood-ties-contest.html
So over at Suburban Vampire blog, there is a new poll and contest titled: Who should be the winner of the Best Vampire Crossover Music Video Contest: http://suburbanvampire.blogspot.com/
Then over at the Fang-tastic blog there is an interview/blog by author Lynda Hilburn talking about: Sexy Vamps: http://fang-tasticbooks.blogspot.com/2009/05/guest-author-lynda-hilburn-talking.html With a contest: a description of your ideal, gorgeous vampire. She'll give away a copy of one of her books (your choice, either The Vampire Shrink or Dark Harvest) to the winner.
And when asked by Amber - "Who are the main characters in A Kiss of Ashen Twilight? Are they based on anyone you know?"
Rae Lori replies: " The main characters are Jace Archane, a vampire Scot, and Ariya, the Aziza fairy. I don’t think their temperaments are based on anyone I know but I was inspired by Kyle Schmid’s Henry Fitzroy from Tanya Huff’s Blood series (which became the Blood Ties television show) for Jace and Megalyn Echikunwoke from 4400 for Ariya. I loved how Kyle played Henry in a way where he was confident in who and what he was. When he was called a monster, he agreed but he said he was one who could control his needs. He knew what he was and what he did to survive and somewhat reveled in it when feeding. That was highly sexy to me and I loved that kind of vampire rather than the brooding one moping about his existence. We don’t see enough of the former I think. He reminded me of a New Age Lestat."
Goodbye and Thank You!
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On Friday this blog will be deleted. Recently Blogger has decided to start
censoring content and we have received numerous notifications of posts
being ...
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EDGE Announces Editors for Tesseracts 20
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*Compostela*(*Tesseracts Twenty*)
Spider Robinson
and
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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? 
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