Good Vampires Save Doomed Boy from Evil Vampires

Please, Don't Run Away

from the Cliche

   Maybe I should have said: former hell-raiser must save her little brother from evil vampires...and not add 'with the help of the good vampires'. Whatever.  Add in a few Gullahs plus a spooky Savannah, a goth underground--and Elle Jaspar delivers a fascinating story in Afterlight.

   Picked up Afterlight in a used book store so the book has been around for a while. In fact it's the start of a series. Still, it's a rousing story with lots of novel twists on the vampire motif that makes its so-so plot interesting. In fact, Jaspar provides enough twists throughout her story line to shatter the cliche of Savannah dripping in Spanish moss and Southern gentility.

   Most of the fun comes from the Jaspar's reformed hell-raiser main character, Riley Poe. Her first person viewpoint limits the depth of the story, but the Goth ink-master [like tattoo parlor operator] makes up for it. Her snappy narrative adds sparkle to the dark story line.

   Want colorful characters with clear motivations? Jaspar delivers.  First, she gives us Riley, a kick-ass female who dumped her dark past to care for her little brother after her mother's death. Ho-Hum? Not quite. Jaspar knows the goth lingo and scene enough to make it breathe [at least enough to fool me].

   Her vampires jump way beyond the usual hunkie, blood-sucking motif. Like, did you know that vampires have pissing contests when they drink too much beer? Well, her vampires do all sorts of unexpected things...including the hot one that Riley lusts for but refuses to tumble for for most of the book.

   Yeah, there is romantic sizzling with semi-hot sex scenes that fall far short of erotica. The book falls squarely in the paranormal romance thriller genre. But, to tell the truth, I'm somewhat saddened by flamboyant sex scenes with hot hunks. Can't dumpy guys have enough imagination to give creative sex? At least, most authors I've read haven't had the imagination to create that twist.

   Afterlight's fast paced, good vs evil plot will keep its images galloping across your mind. Jaspar has a knack for giving just enough detail to create a comprehensive picture without belaboring its elements. The book is tightly written in the sense that the plot doesn't wander or tread water either. The plot felt a little simplistic to me, but it's speed more than made up for it. This is a thriller, not a who-dun-it.

Afterlight turned out to be the first in a series called The Dark Ink Chronicles, detailing inker extraordinaire Riley Poe's adventures with vampire-kind and other preternaturals. I'll recommend the series for vampire fans. But this book stands alone. I think most paranormal readers of many genres will like the elegance of the world Jaspar created. You can read excerpts and more reviews on

Amazon      and     Barnes & Noble.

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My Writing Rut

Hallelujah.

   The beginning of my novel is finally taking shape. Pillar has made On the Run her own with a different, more complete take on my Andor world. Only one problem. It's a novel. While I've some 35,000 words drafted, I've still a long ways to go. About half of the draft needs a strong revisions which include added chapters, from different viewpoints...including the viewpoint of the demons who lusts for Pillar.

   We'll see what happens. I'm going back and rewriting all the beginning chapters to lay the new platform now that I know what I think I need to do. Next on the docket, writing a new chapter from the viewpoint of Thelma, Pillar's kin who drove Pillar's mother away from the Bittermount mages. Gotta get back my Southern twang.

   No. I'm not from the south. I grew up in northern California in a blue collar neighborhood with a lot of transplanted "Arkies".

My Worst Writing Fear: Failure

 

My Biggest Writing Fear:

 It’s failure…Kind of...

 by
 Jason Helford
 

   I spent the first decade of my writing career immersed in learning and coming up with ideas.  The book ideas came easily for me, but I knew that I could and would not do them justice if I didn’t learn my craft first.  Many people think writing only involves an idea, a computer, and a bunch of time, but having been around writers for my whole life, I knew there was a lot more to it.  I found myself feeling very daunted—how the heck does someone just become a novelist?—so I tried to come up with a series of steps.

After thinking on it for some time, I came up with a list of the concepts I felt it was important to know and understand.  The next step required a classroom, so I signed up for a class.  I read, I studied, I took tons of notes and read examples from great authors, and then came another more advanced class where I was introduced to more advanced concepts.  I immersed myself in learning how to write by learning how other people wrote.  Then, my wife and I had a wonderful little girl, so I had to continue my studies at home.

In a drawer in my Grandfather’s old writing desk, I have a notebook in which I write down all my ideas, and that book was nearly filled a few years into my studies; however, I didn’t think I was ready yet, so I kept learning.  Grammar, syntax, themes, subtext, the subtleties of character.  The question persisted: “How do I do justice to these odd ideas floating around in my head?”

Months turned into years, which drew out to a decade.  Honestly, I had plenty of valid excuses available to me: I was a stay at home dad; I had to understand how to appropriately mix genres utilizing layered themes; I simply had more to learn.  “I’m just not ready,” I said to everyone.  Well, it wasn’t enough, and the pressure began to build, both internally and externally, as more and more people asked, “Where is the book?”  Everything I learned led to more things to learn, and I feared that I would never be good enough to start writing.  I was in a semi-comfortable feedback loop of learning, explaining and making excuses about why not yet.

Finally, the best writer in my life, my Dad, took me aside to talk.  We had been playing poker together on a weekend visit, something we always do, and it was 2 AM.  We were driving back home, laughing about all the odd characters at the table.  He got quiet, kept his eyes on the road, and asked me, “Jai, why aren’t you writing yet?”  I gave him the same pat excuses I gave everyone, but he brushed that aside, and told me possibly the best bit of advice I have ever gotten.  He told me, “Jai, look, everyone is afraid to put themselves out there.  But you have to, or you’ll never know.  Jai, you have to allow yourself to fail.”  Allow myself to fail.  He hit the nail on the head with that one, and I had nothing to say back.  I was not allowing myself to fail.  We just listened to the radio for the rest of the drive.

Fear of failure had kept me from trying.  It had kept me in a comfortable, embryonic stage, where the water is warm and no one is judging yet.  I think he may have won the dad advice pool with that one.  Once we pulled up to the house, I said, “You’re right, Dad.”  He smiled and nodded, and I found the drive to finish my first book and get it out into the marketplace.  That conversation was three years ago next April.  Since then, I have published two books, and I’m working on the third as I type, and I have the next bunch of books already planned.  I am allowing myself to fail…but I sure hope I don’t.

         

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Author Bio:

Jason Helford

   Jason Helford is a first time author, having recently published his debut novel, From a Killer’s Mind, in July of 2013.  He’s a devoted husband and father, an avid comic book collector and an enthusiastic craft beer drinker.  Prizing originality and creativity more than anything else, his favorite authors are Hunter S. Thompson, Chuck Palahniuk, Ray Bradbury, Terry Brooks, Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman, Robert Asprin and Albert Camus.  Please don’t be offended if you are an author and your name wasn’t mentioned, he probably likes you, too.  He lives in Maryland with his wife, Bella, his daughter, Maddie, and his goofy dog, Sunset.

More information about Helford's writing can be found at his Website. 

Book Blurb:

From a Killer's Mind 

   The prologue is a vignette that brings the reader into the tone and setting of the novel, giving a foreshadowing of the events that will unfold.  It starts with newlyweds on a happy day, looking at a prospective home, but ends in tragedy due to an evil resonance attached to the house.  This leads the reader to the beginning of John's story.

John has been a successful serial killer for his entire adult life, committed to his craft without detection or disruption.  He's spent years refining his process and meticulously planning out each kill, honing his abilities to horrible heights.  At the start of the novel, the reader is introduced to John going about the routine of his particular method of selection and abduction.  The plans are well-rehearsed, but his dark life is abruptly disrupted as something even darker wells out from deep within him.  What starts out as one dissociative lapse--a blackout on the road--turns into a series of uncontrollable blackouts, unraveling his carefully wrought control.  John tries to re-center his mind through meditation--a technique he taught himself as a young man, to quiet his chaotic thoughts--but while John is deep within himself, he finds unfamiliar dark voices, voices not his own.  They claw past his defenses and force themselves into John's reality, manifesting from out of the depths of his subconscious.  John's scarred psyche had manifested as grotesque physical representations, torturing his fragile mind and bringing his buried past terrors back to life.

Through a series of unbidden flashbacks to the abuses and defining moments of John's past, and through his interactions with these manifestations representing his weaknesses and fears, the reader glimpses what set him on the path to being such a prolific killer.

The book is written with an emotional honesty that lays bare the killer's soul for all readers to see, while also delivering a good scare.

Buy Links for 

From a Killer's Mind.

Amazon           Nook            Smashwords          KOBO

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Do Your Stories Still Need Action Even If You Don't Write Paranormal Thrillers?

To me, nothing is more boring than a book that plods along with extraneous information about characters, setting, and anything else. Lack of action's sure not one of Jim Butcher's faults, and his book, Skin Game,A Novel of the Dresden Files, he lives up to his reputation. What else can be expected from a first sentence that says Dresden has a "ticking time bomb" in his head?

Before you run away -- because you don't want to read another 5***** review -- have you ever considered why Butcher enjoys such a tremendous success? Let me count a few ways why.

His Chapters? First, they're always short and to the point. More important, something always happens in Butcher's chapters ... and he's not afraid to break up his chapters in the middle of the action scene, like when one enemy goes down. Success! Then, either the enemy comes up with a sneaky trick to clobber Dresden again ... or something new comes out of the woodwork to attack or complicate things.

His Characters? After 16 books, Butcher has a thick Rolodex of things paranormal he hasn't yet killed off in Dresden's world. In all the action in this book, it's surprising how few named characters Butcher kills, even if redemption is a sub-plot in the story. Yeah, it's no secret Harry's fighting for his soul now that he's The Winter Knight, trying to physically survive among the Fae. To me that makes his character more than a standard-bearer for the plot. Harry's still growing as a person. [I say this without even mentioning how Dresden got pregnant. Such inventiveness is what makes Butcher so great.]

Oh, got sidetracked. I was going to make a point about the Rolodex of characters--the primary people through to the walk-ons. Look at his descriptive tags and how Butcher handles back story when he introduces a new preternatural. That's a master at work.

His Settings. All well-described? Check? But my, the variety. Skin Game starts on Dresden's Demon Island and leaps feet first into his old stomping grounds, Chicago, which is changing without his shepherding. The the adventure part in this book has a mis-matched crew trying to break into the vault of Hades to steal a religious object and untold wealth ... with the potential of a big double-double-cross.

The structuring of the double-crosses and how Dresden wins is worth the price of the book -- in hard back. No I don't think it's a spoiler to say Harry Dresden wins on several fronts ... with plenty of potential danger lurking in his future.

Oh, did I mention Parkour? ... Read the book and find out for yourself. This review is long enough, already.

After all this adulation, you might be happy to know that Skin Game isn't in the top 100 Kindle books; it's 104 as I write. Butcher still gets 5***** for Skin Game

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PS On Amazon Rankings.

I'm always amazed by how few sales it takes to jump in the ratings --

down at the bottom, that is.Frankly, I'd be happy to sell a 100 epubs in a month. I give away more than that,but sales are slow in coming .... and reviews even slower.

Grumble. Grumble.

My Writing?

Do you really want to hear me whine? I've doubled up on projects .. or at least, I'm trying to work on two projects at once while still doing the social marketing.

First, I've decided to grit my teeth and query a publisher for Dark Solstice Turning Point. Now, I'm reading through the rest of the chapters in addition to the first three I reworked. One surprise. I'm deleted very little ... though I have been editing passive sentences.

Crossings? Continues to progress. I'm doing paper edits. My critique group hasn't seen the ending yet. It got cancelled due to unexpected circumstances, Maybe next time, or I'll just send it off to my beta-readers.