Birth Story…

is up on Every Day Fiction.

Interview with A Vampire: Crooked Fang’s Xan

I recently interviewed Xan Marchelles, vampire and rock musician from Crooked Fang He’s one saavy vampire!

~*~

Here, have a Bloody Mary on me. Let’s talk about Crooked Fang.
Bloody Mary huh? Can’t take much of that food stuff, and there’s food stuff in those, but it’s all good. I think I can hold out ‘til we’re done. Go ahead with your questions there Joyce, and thanks for inviting me in.

What do you do in CF? Tell me more?
Crooked Fang the band, or the book? Well, in the band I play bass. I also make a lot of decisions since it’s fair to say it’s pretty much my band, but we’re a unit, kind of like a family, so that’s not always necessarily true either. Clear as mud, right?

In the book, well…that’s kind of why there’s a book. Let’s say I like to keep to myself, but trouble has a lucky way of finding me, no matter where I’m at. Lots of shit happens, and throughout it all, I find out a little bit about myself. Feelings and stuff. Don’t look at me like that. [laughs]

Now, vampirism and music. How similar/different are these two concepts?
Vampirism and music…never really thought of them being as similar, to tell the truth. One takes away and one gives, so I guess in the contrast they do kind of match in a weird opposites-attract kind of way.
Then there’s that enthrallment when you’re listening to your favorite band, real good shit, and you just kind of…zone out. I have that passive ability when I need to take blood, so there’s that. Oh, and I guess both music and vampires are immortal too. How else could you explain people still listening to Chopin today when it was written like forever ago? And we both evolve. Music changes through the ages, follows trends, yet stays restrained to that same old formula, which is the language of such, kind of like we do. There’s rules you don’t break, or you don’t make it to the next night.
Music’s just a hair more flexible.

Sparkly vampires?
Never met one in my life.

Describe the heat level in CF.
Heat level? Ha, funny you say that. Something catches on fire. Then maybe I also start a few of my own. Guess you’ll have to wait and see.

Thanks for the quick chat Joyce, enjoy your Bloody Marys. – X
But until you can check out Crooked Fang, (that’s coming out in August 2012) you can get the latest mess I’ve been in, and that’s Blood and Fire, co-written between Nerine Dorman and Carrie Clevenger. Here’s the official spill for that thing:

Bassist and all-round slacker Xan Marcelles spends his nights at a remote tavern in Pinecliffe, Colorado. But there’s something else, he’s also a vampire, and although he reckons he has a handle on this secret, he’s not prepared for the day when people he thinks are the FBI drug him and haul him away.

Ashton Kennedy isn’t human anymore and, as a member of a race of beings known simply as Inkarna, exists through the aeons by stealing bodies. At first his mission seems simple enough: break into the stronghold of a rival Inkarna House and liberate an artifact. He doesn’t bank on discovering a vampire, bound and tucked away neatly in a sarcophagus. 

The two unlikely allies are thrown together in a house of mysteries, and have to battle overwhelming odds against an implacable enemy. The question is, can they overcome their differences long enough to make it out alive, or undead? 

Links:
Blood and Fire on Amazon (currently only version available) – http://www.amazon.com/Blood-and-Fire-ebook/dp/B006SD3F2S/

Just My Blood Type, free teaser collab prior to Blood and Fire – http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/68457

Crooked Fang website – http://www.crookedfang.com/

Crooked Fang on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/CrookedFang

Nerine Dorman on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nerine-Dorman-author/173330419365374

Twitters:
Carrie Clevenger – @carrieclevenger
Nerine Dorman – @nerinedorman
Xan Marcelles – @crookedfang

Free Fiction on 28th January 2012

On SF Signal.

Questions to ruminate on.

The Rider offer is still on. It has passed the 600th download (though not sure if people will actually read it). Over two years, 600 downloads. Not too bad.

That brings me to ask questions:

1. Do people actually like FREE downloads?
2. Will people actually READ free novellas?
3. What does it say about people in general?

Enter the Water Dragon.

It’s now the evening of the first day of the Dragon Year. Ang paos have been collected, feasts consumed. Visited my grandmother and caught up with my cousin. Tomorrow will see me visiting my maternal side of the family.

I promised pictures. I took a few.

(The roses drooped after I had purchased them. I think I will hang up them tomorrow for drying).

(Me).

Cover reveal!

By the awesome Lady Symphonia (aka Nathalia Suellan)…

Now, onwards to the process of turning it into print…

Gong xi fa cai!

Rider: For a limited time only (up to Monday), I have uploaded the FULL novella on Smashwords:

here be dragons.

Happy Year of the Water Dragon. 🙂

Please note that the cover is a mock cover. I would be happy if someone could come up with a nice cover for it. So, if you like YA SFF with a different angle, download Rider before Monday.

Help My UF!

For a newly published author, the trick is to stay published and have her books sold all the time. How do I keep my UF novels flying (well, let’s be realistic, moving?) off the cyber-bookshelves? I asked that question on Twitter and got suggestions such as:

1. Publicity via Facebook.
2. Talks in schools.

For some strange reason, I do not have Facebook. So, for folks who have, please help me signal boost and talk about my books. I can do talks in schools – but Singaporean schools would rather see print books. If my plans go accordingly… you might just see Wolf At The Door in print version, by end of the year.

If you are on Twitter, use this hashtag #helpmyuf!

More stuff!

Local books you should read.

A good analysis of Jan Xu (urban fantasy protagonist and wolf).

Doing writerly stuff.

I am now a course developer for Monsters Under The Bed. At the same time, I will also teach. Right now, I am looking at… expository writing.

That reminds me. I need to work out …stuff for a workshop. 😉