Daniel M. Kimmel, a Featured Spotlight

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a deal with the devil, alien invasion, fantasy, good reads, horror, movie director, sci fi, time travellers, vampire, writing motivation

If you haven’t heard of my new project, the On Fire anthology over at Transmundane Press, this mini-interview and excerpt series will showcase the amazing authors I get to work with and their writing. Meet Daniel M. Kimmel.

What motivates you to write?

It’s innate. I can’t imagine not writing. Of course I’m looking to communicate and get a reaction of some sort (usually laughs for my fiction), as opposed to those who write strictly for themselves and don’t care about their audience.

What audience are your stories intended for?

Fans of science fiction with some shading over into horror and fantasy. What the stories have in common is humor. So one story is about a vampire who reacts to a spice other than garlic, and the next one might be about an alien invasion who no one on Earth really cares.  If I can make you laugh out loud, I’ve done my job.

Who is your favorite character in your current story and why?

While I tend towards likeable or, at least, somewhat sympathetic protagonists, I often find the secondary characters just as interesting if not more so. In my recent novel Time on My Hands, I came to like Cort, a guide to time travellers to the far future because of his childlike enthusiasm. When he meets the narrator, the inventor of time travel, he blurts out that he once played him in a school pageant.  He was only supposed to be in one scene but I liked him so much I brought him back for an encore later in the story.

 

From “The Burning of Atlanta” by Daniel M. Kimmel

This movie was going to be his claim to fame. Frank O’Leary was no Scorsese or Tarantino, no Spielberg or Nolan. He wasn’t exactly a hack. His films got good reviews as often as not, and while he hadn’t won any Oscars, he had several nominations to show for it as well as nominations for the Golden Globes, the Director’s Guild, and the People’s Choice Awards. His mantelpiece might be bare, but it wasn’t for lack of trying.

His problem was that he had no personal vision. He would be brought into projects developed by a studio or some actor’s production company, and they knew he would turn out a solid film on time and on budget. Several of his films had been big hits, although it had been a while since the last one. Audiences didn’t have a clue who he was, and the announcement that he was attached to a project wouldn’t go beyond the trades. Who cared about “A Film by Frank O’Leary?” Even the film buffs would be hard pressed to name his last big hit, even though it had topped $200,000,000 worldwide. Unfortunately, most of that came from overseas as the film had tanked in its U.S. release. It was his bad luck to have it released the weekend the President of the United States was removed from the White House in a straitjacket. He couldn’t blame the public. Even he was glued to his television set. It was the biggest spectacle since O. J. Simpson went for a spin on the highway.

Still, you’re only as good as your last picture, and his last picture had been a box office disaster domestically. The young pups running the studios understood what the problem was and didn’t blame him for the film’s failure. The fact that it had more than earned back its production costs overseas didn’t hurt. He now had the chance to get back on track.

Firebug was a thriller that would mark the film debut of Jon Petroni, a pop star whose last three albums had gone platinum and had a fan base in the millions. He was the so-called bad boy of the tweens and teens, which meant he did the same insipid love songs that popular singers had done for generations, but he had a few tats and a ring through a pierced nipple that got prominently displayed in every video he did. Fourteen-year-old girls thought he was hot, and those of both sexes over the age of eighteen had more elaborate fantasies of what they would do if they had some alone time with him.

He had an exclusive recording deal with Galaxy Entertainment, and their film division looked for a project that would take him to the next level. In Firebug, he played a disturbed young man who sets fires, leading to a massive manhunt for the arsonist. However, the script made him a sympathetic figure in that it showed his actions were due to his being abused as a child and that he tried to avoid anyone being hurt: his goal to destroy property, not people. As far as O’Leary was concerned, it was all claptrap. If he had developed the script, Dante, the character Petroni played, would be a psychopath, and the hero would be the investigator who brought him to justice. There would be a fiery climax all right. It would be Dante burning in the electric chair.

However, when they brought O’Leary onto film, the script had already been developed. Dante turns himself in after setting a fire of such force that it shocks him into the realization that what he’s been doing is wrong. O’Leary never heard of such a thing. Arsonists did not suddenly have dramatic changes of heart. But it would let Petroni not only repent but sing the title song over the closing credits. Galaxy execs thought it had a real possibility for an Oscar…for best song. No one thought that O’Leary would do anything other than his usual competent job.

And that’s where he fooled them. He may not have had a great personal vision, but he did have an encyclopedic knowledge of the movies, and he knew all the great movie fires and how they were created. Before filming began, he called his production team together and told them he wanted to go beyond anything that had ever been done.

“I don’t simply want to see a building in flames. I want to see a conflagration. I want the audience to feel the heat of the fire coming off the screen. I want to create an inferno so destructive that they’ll have nightmares for weeks and months to come. Remember the way people freaked out over demonic possession when The Exorcist came out? That’s what I want for us. A fiery furnace so intense that people will jump at the lighting of a match.”

One thing to ask for it. Another thing to get it.

 

Daniel M. Kimmel is the author of Jar Jar Binks Must Die… and other observations about science fiction movies, Shh! It’s a Secret: a novel about aliens, Hollywood, and the Bartender’s Guide, and Time on My Hands: My Misadventures in Time Travel.

ON FIRE is available now: Amazon, Nook, Kobo, and the Transmundane Press store.

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Fucking finally, it’s here!

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author, cover reveal, Dark Fantasy, free, giveaway, goodreads, humor, novel, truth, vampire

I keep hearing people talking about strong female characters, which I am ALL for. I have plenty of them myself. But lately, the focus has been on their flaws. Well, here’s something I don’t quite understand…why doesn’t EVERY character have flaws? They should. I mean seriously, who wants to read about a perfect person being perfect? Boring.

I’d rather have my powerful girl be a loud mouth, righteous, know-it-all with serious insecurities than have her simply kicking ass all the time. I mean she still kicks ass all the time, but she’s never sure if she’s going to survive. What fun would it be if we KNEW she would survive? Even if we’re pretty sure of it, the battle better fuck her the hell up. And she’d better change from it. Because my god, who wants to see people make the same mistakes for the same reasons and have the same conversations again and again in a story.

I’ve seen it. Two books, same exact conversation repeated ten times. TEN. What the fuck, people. WTF.

All right, reeling in the rant.

Reeling it in.

And breathe.

So, want a fucked up, neurotic, half-cocked heroine to follow as she pinballs around an oppressive paranormal world? Then buy your ass some Blood Phoenix novels, because Ria trudges through a shit storm of death, blood, and trials that causes her to lose her hair. Literally.

Boom, the cover! I hope you like it because I sure the fuck do.

I have a bit of story for you. Let me give you some context. Ria and her battle buddy, Tahe, just completed their first mission scouting out some wolves in a Syracuse BBQ joint. Tahe stole a car for Ria to drive…for her first time, resulting in a nasty crash and a bit of PTSD from Ria’s renegade fight.

Enter Chapter Eleven:

Tahe whimpered beside me as I came awake with the hot fumes of barbequed meat and blood clogging my sense of smell. Her breath fast and shallow, her nails dipped into my forearm. “You awake, red.”

“Yeah.” A mallet pounded on my temples in a steady staccato, and I rubbed them as the cracked windshield came into view.

“Good.” Her breath caught. “Need some help.”

Terror strangled me when I turned to her. A piece of metal pinned her to the seat through her abdomen. I jumped back, hitting the door handle with my shoulder blades.

“Oh shit.”

Harris blinked at me from the passenger seat, dagger handle jutting out of his chest and blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. “You bitch.”

“Red.”

I jerked back to reality and the blood spreading through her top. I peered around quick, looking for the phantoms of Harris. Nothing but woods.

“Ain’t nothing to go off the deep end about. At least it ain’t wood.” Tahe took another shaky breath. “How far out the back is it?”

The metal came out clean on the other side. “A few inches.”

“Doable.” Wetness garbled her words.

“Okay. You need to stop talking unless it’s necessary. Let me see if I can pull it out the front.” A single hole of a few inches in diameter punctured the windshield on her side, and the metal looked like one of the posts off the guardrail. The end still had a flat wire where it connected to rail and left Tahe enough room to grab hold of it with one hand. I hoped there were no jagged pieces inside that would tear her further when I pulled it out, but if it did, I’d need something to stop the bleeding.

My door was crushed shut. “I’m going to see if there’s anything in the trunk to tend the wound once you’re free, but I have to break my window. Turn away so I don’t spray you.”

Pulling my sleeve taut against my elbow, I hit the glass three times before it shattered. A small chunk fell inside, but the rest remained intact with spider-line fractures that I pushed out.

The trunk didn’t have a whole lot of useful junk: just fluids, a jack, and a spare tire. Crap. I needed to call for help. My phone proved useless with its smashed screen. Double crap.

My giant savior it was then.

Also check out the Transmundane Press Blog for an excerpt from Chapter Ten.

Like what you read? Enter the giveaway to win the complete Broken World Collection.

 

 

Writing Tip: How to write a strong-female protagonist.

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Arya Stark, blood phoenix, bossy, Broken World, character, complex, contradiction, fantasy, feminine, Game of Thrones, gender roles, Gwendoline, horror, kaia, Katniss, kick ass, love-triangle, Loving Red, Maleficent, mocking jay, motherly, nurture, paranormal, Peeta, protagonist, rebellion, renegade, Ria, strong, strong-female, The Hunger Games, trend, urban fantasy, vampire, warrior, water boarding, writing, writing tips

Writing Tip: How to write a strong-female protagonist.

First, I am not advocating that there is a single, right way to write a strong-female lead; however, I have noticed a rather disturbing trend in the practice, and that’s to make the female strong by inhabiting male characteristics, as deemed by society: i.e. to be physically strong, good with weapons, and to be a good leader (otherwise known as bossy), and the list continues.

However, you might imagine a male as strong, yes, a female can be strong in these ways as well. But why can’t a female character be strong and still be feminine—a woman who uses her emotions to carry her through a taxing adventure, who has mercy, who is smart and resourceful, who can nurture at the same time she kicks ass. Why not? Why do these gender roles have to be mutually exclusive?

Granted, we are starting to see these types of characters. The ever-popular Katniss from The Hunger Games series embodies a nice mixture of so-called male and female traits. She’s motherly. Her strong moments come when she is a woman, emotional, compassionate, bossy, resourceful. They even highlight these in the last installment when a group of leaders try to decide how to transform her into the mocking jay for the rebellion.

She even lacks a certain silliness that many female characters have (especially when a love-triangle is present, although some of my friends disagree with my interpretation). She doesn’t seem focused on her love life, rather she seems at a loss of why who she chooses matters when the world has larger problems.

For heaven’s sake, why can’t we all just get along! I imagine her screaming as the boys compete for and try to woo her. She seems disinterested in being some boy’s prize, rather using her public romance with Peeta as a political move. (This one is strangely genderless).

Okay, I like examples, let me give some of my own.

In my first series, based on a renegade vampire’s introduction to the paranormal world, my main character is a brat. She’s strong-headed, strong-willed, and she can fight (having a background in kick-boxing/martial arts). She can take care of herself and has for years, with the help of her bestie. She’s also emotional, breaking down several times as the monstrosity of her new world rains down on her. She feels compassion for the people she kills, worries over the others she leaves alive, and cares for a child meant to be her dinner. Is all of this strictly male or female? No. Ria’s complex, like a character should be, because people are complex.

In another novel, my female character is strong in other ways. Although she goes through some physical trials, like being water boarded, she isn’t physically strong. She’s got the mental fortitude of a warrior, however. She’s brave, she stands up for what’s right, she uses what she knows to survive. She’s allowed to be both smart and beautiful, allowed to cry and joke, allowed to be stern and unsure of herself. Kaia is allowed to be a contradiction.

Again, we’re all complex. We’re all contradictions of ourselves given the different situations we’re challenged with.

So, what I’m saying is that not all strong women need to be warriors, like that blonde Amazon in Game of Thrones, Gwendoline; they don’t all need to be wicked like Maleficent or out for revenge like Arya Stark. They don’t all need to be Katniss.

We need variation because we all have the propensity to be strong in our own ways if we have strength in our character and our beliefs (even if that makes us the bad guy). And we need to showcase these differences for the same reasons we need different personalities for different story plots.

Oh, and the same goes for men. But that’s a different post.

 

Want to meet my strong-female protagonists? Click here.

#MermaidCock, UNDERWATER release day!

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#mermaidcock, anthology, Aquarian, backyard pool, beneath the surface, Broken World, brutal, collection, cruel, Death, depths, drowning, editing, fantasy, fascination, fish, folklore, hedonism, honeymoon, horror, humor, immortal, irrational fear, love, manifestation, mermaids, military, military training, mysteries, myth, ocean, paralyzing, paranormal, pervert, pinocchio, pleasure sphere, radioactive crocodiles, romance, sadistic, seaweed, secret, sharks, Sister Ursula, swallows, terror, Underwater, vampire, vicious, water, whale

Pinocchio really did a number on me when I was young. You know, the part where the whale swallows him, his father, and their cat. I didn’t know it at the time, but my irrational fear of water points back to this scene.

I’m completely terrified of drowning. Never mind that I had a pool in my backyard from a young age and swam for the high school swim team in eight grade.

Swimming alone scared me the most. I thought that if I dipped into the water by myself that a whale would magically materialize in the deep end and swallow me whole. Or that I might drown for the mere reason that no one was present to save me.

Natural bodies of water are worse because of fish and seaweed. Now, maybe the fish thing seems a little odd to you, but I assure you, the thought of fish nibbling the toes off my feet can be completely paralyzing. (And now people pay for fishies to eat the dead skin off of their feet. I can’t fathom it).

The worse instance of my fear’s manifestation was on the nine-plus-hour trip to the UK for my honeymoon. For weeks and possibly months, I annoyed the hell out of my loved ones, colleagues, and students with how afraid I was to crash into the ocean, drown, and have a whale eat my body. Are you noticing that whales seem to frighten me more than sharks.

I mean, am I the only one?

Yet, my husband has reassured me that drowning is not as bad as I’ve grown believing. He should know. He’s drowned twice—once by accident and once on purpose.

You heard me right. I said, “on purpose.”

Military training is sadistic.

Speaking of sadistic…nice segue, right? UNDERWATER excites the shit out of me, and the poor authors within had to deal with my form of editing, which is…you guessed it…brutal, cruel, and vicious. I do it out of love, guys. I promise.

These sixteen stories are full of humor, horror, and hedonism, and they build a revealing illustration of our fascination with what lies beneath the surface.

Beyond the fear, I’ve always loved the mysteries the Aquarian depths hold, especially mermaids, which we have a nice variety of in this anthology. And I need to tell you a secret about them…are you in close? Ready for it?

Eating mermaids will make you immortal.

What?

I know. Mind blown.

And don’t be perverted about this. We have enough of that in the stories. In fact, us editors have an inside joke.

#MermaidCock

Yup. You read that correctly.

We keep seeing it in hidden between the lines—in Sister Ursula’s habit, tattooed on the inside of a vampire’s thigh, among the others in the Pleasure Sphere, swimming along side the radioactive crocodiles—and of course, there is plenty of explicit mermaid cock in these stories, too.

And I challenge you not to let it slip into each of the others as you read through this collection.

Check out UNDERWATER! You won’t be disappointed.

And DISTORTED is on sale for $1.99 this week in celebration!

 

Writer’s Chatroom Interview, Part I

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alisha costanzo, anthology, author, blood phoenix, Boden, bosex, Broken World, Celampresians, character development, Dev, editing, editor, faeries, fantasy, folklore, horror, inspiration, interview, kaia, kiss, leprachaun, leprechaun, life, lore, love, Loving Red, magick, mermaids, myth, mythical race, mythology, myths, NaNoWriMo, new release, novel, paranormal, paranormal romance, published, publishing, queen, Recipe, Roleplay, roleplaying, romance, satire, Sev, Shapeshifter, shapeshifters, shifters, students, teaching, Transmundane Press, Untamed, urban fantasy, vampire, vampires, vampyr, war, Watertown NY, were-creatures, werebears, weres, Werewolf, werewolves, wolves, writing, writing tips

Chatroom: Welcome, Alisha! Let’s start with your latest project, the urban fantasy novel in your Broken World Series, LOVING RED. How did Facebook play into the creation of this novel?

Alisha: Well, I am a former role-player addict with over 30 active profiles on facebook for a time. Severins Bouvier was literally made for Kaia, and he was based off of a Sherrilyn Kenyon character, Dev Peltier.

See, Kaia and Dev fell in love off screen, and that wasn’t allowed. So to fix it, I made Sev, hence the similar names, personas, and physical appearance.

The book doesn’t follow the post on facebook yet. Most of them are love-posts or snuggle-scenes. (I’ve been watching too much Simpsons).

But playing them on facebook first allowed me to dig deeper into their personalities before I wrote the novel. And well, it was fun.

 

Chatroom: So they both had profiles, run by you, and you played them like real people? Sorry, but I want to make sure I’m understanding this. 🙂

Alisha: Yes and no. I played Sev like he was a real person, and my friend, who I actually call Kaia even though her name is Laura, played Kaia in the same fashion.

It was interesting when time to write the novel.

Chatroom: Please introduce us to your heroine, Kaia.

Alisha: Kaia is a spunky red head that’s had her share of male attention, but she’s wanted none of it. Instead, Kaia craves adventure, bored sick of her accounting job and repeated conversations with her father about marriage and children.

Essentially, she perpetuates my ideals for strength: smart, resourceful, witty, and sensitive. She’s not afraid to cry, and she won’t break easy. Finally, her faith powers her through torture, a violent chase, and control over her own mind.

I envy her that, but she’s also a bit naive, sheltered by her Swedish heritage, customs, and wealth. Yet, exposure to Severins and his world (as a wolf)–his past–improves her keen awareness and clever mind.

Chatroom: Thank you. I probably should have started with this question, but better late than never! Please give us some background on your Broken World Series. What is it about, and what can we expect to find in your books?

Alisha: Well, the first two in the series are Urban Fantasy novels, and this third is a Paranormal Romance (different characters in the same world). Their world is one run by a vampire queen.

Her army is called the Celampresians. But there is another group, the Assetato, who oppose her. The first two novel follow a newborn’s entrance into this world with her human best friend and her maker.

I love playing the mythology and pop culture, so I make a lot of internal references to Buffy, Twilight, Dark Hunters, and others.

So there are a lot of laughs, but also, a lot of snark, dark times, and sex.

For LOVING RED, Sev is a member of the Assetato, so they drop into an on-going war at the start of the novel.

 

Chatroom: How did you research for your characters? Your descriptions are pretty detailed. You must have been thinking about them for a while before applying a pen to paper, so to speak.

Alisha: For Kaia and Sev, I had facebook for. (And I may have used facebook a bit for my other characters). However, I’ve been playing in this world for the past fifteen years before I put serious effort into their stories.

This was after graduate school as there were no vamps allowed in writing classes.

For Kaia, I asked a lot questions of my friend before I finally felt comfortable writing her on my own.

And Sev is partially based off of my husband, an Army Sgt.

He even makes a cameo in the novel.

Chatroom: Did you say Sev was a wolf? I almost missed that earlier. 🙂

Alisha: Yes, he is.

I call them bosex instead of weres or shifters.

Kaia is human.

 

Chatroom: Lines you will not cross as a writer?

Alisha: At this moment, I’m not sure that I have a clearly defined line. I can say I don’t like rape for titillation, although it has been a major part of one of my storylines. I enjoy writing death, torture, and sex with varying detail.

But my characters have done some heinous things in my novels—both on screen and off.

 

Chatroom: You have a lot of fun with character interviews – is it fair to say you have a LOT of voices bouncing around your head? 😀 How do you keep all your various character details straight?

Alisha: I have SOO many voices. Sometimes, they can be overwhelming and keep me from grading papers. But I’m often able to satisfy them all by giving them a few minutes during my week to show me things they feel the need to before I get back the grind.

Also, a character book helps.

Chatroom: On your blog, you’ve published a recipe related to the novel – do you actually have recipes listed in the book?

Alisha: I do not, which is why I posted it on my blog to share. My editor did suggest creating a cookbook for Sev, who is a trained cook.

I’m meddling with the idea.

 

Chatroom: Do your English students realize that their teacher has a dark side?

Alisha: Usually. I’m very open with them, some say I might share too much, but I enjoy connecting with them as people and adults rather than keeping that barrier between teacher and pupil.

So, I’ve mentioned my books and some of the material I’ve written, but I’m sure they don’t know just how dark it is inside my head.

 

Chatroom: Must be an interesting class.

Alisha: I try.

 

Chatroom: Do you think your interest in roleplay helps in creating characters? How so?

Alisha: I t does. That’s why I have so many. Kaia would often send me pictures of models that would spark a character’s voice for me. So, we’d set them up, give them lives, and explore them via interaction with each other on the page.

Most of them have ended as romances because that’s the type of writing chemistry we have.

But when we introduce new characters, they have secondary characters, and thus, we create more and more.

Since my character has to respond to hers, I find that I learn more about them than if I pushed them myself.

It’s strange, but a fun way to develop, and then I don’t have to make them all up myself. (It kind of feels like cheating).

 

Chatroom: So half the profiles on Facebook are really your fictional characters?

Alisha: Yes, they are! And my friends. I’ve made a lot of real life friends that way. By the way, I’m trying hard not to be a tangent queen, but sometimes I can’t help it.

And I can show you guys some profiles if you’re interested. They’re all inactive at the moment.

Severins.   Kaia.   Ria.

Alexandria (Ria) is my newbie vamp in the first two novels, but there are Sev’s and Kaia’s. And there are spoilers, so beware. 🙂

 

Chatroom: Do all the FB friends know that they are “friending” a fictional character?

Alisha: That I can’t be too sure about, but when I was in a big group, ran by a moderator with a heck of a lot more people, the majority of them knew because they’d read the books.

I wound up creating my own because I’m a control freak.

So, I’d say most of them knew.

I wish I could keep up with them as much as I’d like.

 

Come back for Part II in January 2016!

The Release of LOVING RED & the first Broken World Recipe!

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alisha costanzo, author, Broken World, fantasy, folklore, giveaway, horror, humor, Loving Red, magick, myth, novel, paranormal, paranormal romance, Recipe, release day, romance, Shapeshifter, Transmundane Press, urban fantasy, vampire, vampires, werebears, weres, writing

LOVING RED is finally here! I’ve got some great reviews so far, and they keep trickling in. Thank you to everyone who’s supported and reviewed and promoted me. I appreciate you.

And now for a bit of a release day twist. In the novel, Severins shows his skills in the kitchen and pulls together a meal in the backwoods of Alabama while visiting his wild cousins. And here’s his recipe so that you can try it at home. I know I love it.

Severins’ Hodge-podge Pasta with Creamy Garlic Sauce

Ingredients

½ stick of butter, divided

2 lb boneless and skinless chicken breast, halved

½ sweet onion, diced

1 8 ounce package of mushrooms (portabella or button), chopped

1 eggplant, diced

6-8 ounces pasta of your choice, cooked (I used shells)

¼ cup chicken broth

2/3 cup heavy cream

garlic salt & parmesan cheese to taste

Directions

Heat skillet on medium-high heat.

Trim chicken into four pieces, sprinkle with garlic salt on each side.

Spread butter over the hot skillet and cook chicken until a golden brown crust forms (about 4 minutes). Flip and repeat.

Once chicken forms a crust on both sides, reduce heat and cover until fully cooked (about 5 minutes).

Set chicken to the side to rest.

Increase heat back to medium-high and add an additional tablespoon of butter.

Add onions, stir to soak up the bits and flavor left over from the chicken.

After the onions are coated, toss in the eggplant and mushrooms.

Stirring occasionally, add cook until eggplant grows soft (about 8-10 minutes, which makes this a good time to cook your pasta).

Add chicken broth and cover immediately so that the moisture doesn’t evaporate. Leave covered for 2-3 minutes.

Chop or shred the chicken.

Once eggplant is cooked all the way through, add the chicken, remaining butter, cream, and drained pasta.

Stir to coat each piece.

Here you can add more garlic salt to taste or salt and pepper if you prefer.

Plate and garnish with parmesan cheese.

And enjoy your pasta as you read the book!

UNTAMED excerpt – Living and Loving Ari

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alisha costanzo, Ari, awkward, blood phoenix, bosex, excerpt, fantasy, horror, humor, hunk, itch, love, Loving Red, Mark, naked, novel, paranormal, paranormal romance, romance, Shapeshifter, shifters, sneak peek, Transmundane Press, Untamed, urban fantasy, vampire, vampires, weres, Werewolf, werewolves

I’m gearing up for release day! And although I’ve been pushing LOVING RED pretty hard on social media, reviewers, and blog posts, I thought it was time to give you a glimpse into the other story coming out with the novel, “Untamed.”

If you’re familiar with Ria’s story from the BLOOD PHOENIX novels, you know her best friend, Ari is a sassy, kick-ass human sidekick who totally deserves her own story. And she’s got one…sort of.

Well, she’s got the first part of one.

“Untamed” is part one of her full journey into the manic world of vampires and shifters.

So, without further ado, let’s the awkwardness commence!

Excerpt from Chapter Four:

The apartment got smaller the more times Ari paced through it. She’d never spent much time at home—any home. Boredom bounced her off the walls, even with her daily excursions to Chris and Ollie’s for dinner or a group hangout at Brad and Mark’s—sans Mark most of the time.

He was far too awkward for such a gorgeous pack of hunk meat.

Turned out to be plenty of those roaming around this compound, or maybe the itch had started, and everyone merely looked good to her.

But Mark switched on her inelegance. Flimsy and faulty, she needed to get that shit checked out by a professional. It screamed eighth grade all over again, and she refused to cope with that.

Banging around the place a few more times sent Ari out the door. Maybe she could borrow a few books from Brad or something. God, she despised the boredom. And the longer she stayed in the apartment, the more likely Felix would appear.

She knocked and waited, twisting the longest pieces of her hair around her finger. Unable to keep still, her pacing reborn in smaller circles until the door swung open to a bare wolf with a towel snug around his hips. His skin damp and pink, making her flush.

“Oh.”

“H-hey,” he said, his voice deep but sweet.

“Hey.” Discomfort bloomed silence between them. What had she come for? “Ooh, I mean hi. Um. Is…is this a bad time?”

“No.” Mark smiled at his feet and shook his head. “I’ll get dressed if you want to come in.”

Did he have to?

They seemed stuck until he backed out of the way.

Right.

Everything’s normal here.

Following, she closed the door, taking her time to keep from ogling him so hard. “Are you home alone?”

In the middle of the living room, his hand gripped the front of his towel, seemingly at a loss for what to do next. Had he never had company himself?

“Brad’s on an errand with Legend. He should be back in a few hours.” He looked around the empty room before he seemed to remember how naked he was.

Ari bit her lip, hanging onto the chair by the door and anchoring herself to the spot. She might tear off that towel and take him through a Brooklyn rodeo if she let go.

“Right. I’ll go grab some…clothes.”

Enjoy this? Buy the book!

The Scarlet Queen interviewed by Kaia Skarin

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alisha costanzo, Assetato, blood, book, Broken World, Celampresians, character sketch, Death, eilon, evil, faeries, fantasy, fear, folklore, horror, humor, interview, Loving Red, magick, monster, myth, novel, paranormal, phea, power, romance, russian, scarlet queen, Transmundane Press, Travelers, urban fantasy, vampire, victims, writing

Kaia sits patiently at an interview table, a recorder prepped and ready. She twists the Cat’s Eye ring around her pinky. Anxiety hotwires her pulse when Scarlet enters, hair pinned in a sleek bun atop of her head, adorned with a small tiara. Pearls decorate her throat, giving more class to her simple, black dress. White gloves cinch her arms mid-bicep. She truly channeled Audrey Hepburn, only with a darker, more exotic face.

Kaia presses record as Scarlet sits across from her.

Scarlet: I see your lovers put too much faith in either your courage or my restraint, leaving you alone here to question me. Maybe that is because you are a human, and I have little interest in them.

Kaia: They’re around. And I’m not scared of you.

Scarlet: You should be, but good for you.

Kaia: Can you state your full name for the record?

Scarlet: Marusya Negreev. It means bitter.

Kaia: And you’re commonly called the Scarlet Queen?

S: Among other names, yes. You are correct.

K: What was your childhood like?

S: What boring questions you have for me. My parents were ignorant and inattentive, so I sat idle too often in my room and with my servants’ children like some improper babe. I had an education like any normal child, and I came into my abilities late. Scarlet tugs on her white gloves, adjusting the fingertips before smoothing her skirt against her tan legs.

Kaia remembers Eilon telling her how this fae ceremoniously slaughtered her own parents with those abilities.

K: Would you unleash sparkly death ponies on the world?

S: Amusement brightens her dark eyes. No. Even if such creatures did exist. I would rather keep and cherish them. Although I admit, I would use them on my subjects if need be.

K: What do you require of your subjects?

S: Loyalty, of the unwavering variety.

K: What makes you angry?

S: Idleness. Everyone should have a purpose for himself or herself. Always.

K: Who is your greatest hero?

S: Hero? I have no heroes. I do admire the vampire queen; however, I would not call her my hero. An ally perhaps.

K: Not knowing much about the vampire queen, Sev tells her that his agency, the Assetato, fight against her. How did you meet your lover?

S: Her sigh is hard to decipher—frustration or longing. I met him on my first trip to the Americas back in the twenties. Daniel was a relatively young vampire, but he had an amazing ability that I hoped to exploit. She shook her head, showing a fracture in her decorum. He could project stories into others’ minds, replace their memories, and make them believe whatever he liked.

The first time he showed me, he escorted me as an agent for the vampire queen, and I watched as Daniel convinced a woman her baby had died while it sat sleeping in her arms. Stirred into hysteria, she shook what she believed to be her dead baby in attempts to wake it, only killing it in the process, snapping its poor neck.

He showed me a fantastic time, and I let him kiss me when he dropped me home.

K: Kaia covers her mouth to keep from retching. Surely, the story means to frighten or disgust her. Scarlet accomplished her goal. What a fairy tale romance.

S: The best a girl can ask for. Her sweet smile might be convincing if not for the evil twinkle.

K: Taking a deep breath, she pushes forward. What is a ritual you engage in daily?

S: Smile slanting, she nods. I bathe in the blood of virgins.

K: Now, Scarlet is messing with her. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

S: I would develop a more prolific sense of humor. Obviously.

K: Tea or coffee?

S: Tea with milk and one sugar. One must always have sweets and cakes at tea time.

K: Odd that they have that in common. She doesn’t like it. What’s your favorite sweet?

S: Пряники or spice cakes with honey. But I will take Орешки or dough balls filled with condensed milk and jam.

K: Great. I’ll have to try those.

S: Is that all?

K: Yup. You can have an escort if you want.

S: How sweet. She stands, smoothing her dress and gloves before she leaves. 

Kaia relaxes, shuts off the recorder, and looks around. Anxiety taps into her chest. Waiting until her breath calms, she leaves the room to rejoin her new lover and wolf, Sev.

Excerpt from Chapter Nine of LOVING RED

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alisha costanzo, andre, audrey hepburn, author, blood, book, bosex, breakfast at tiffany's, Broken World, character development, circus, Death, Dev, fae, faerie, fantasy, gypsies, horror, kaia, kidnapping, love, Loving Red, monsters, novel, paranormal, paranormal romance, power, revenge, romance, scarlet, Sev, Shapeshifter, shifters, sneak peek, torture, Transmundane Press, Travelers, urban fantasy, vampire, werebears, weres, Werewolf, werewolves

Kaia sat on the side of a bed as a small, dark-featured female sat in a chair across from her, her knees held together, reminding Kaia of Audrey Hepburn from Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Her round eyes condescending yet patient as she looked Kaia over. She took her time, carefully picking every bit of Kaia apart in silence. Fidgeting against her cuffs, adrenaline fought the post-anxiety-attack exhaustion.

The room glowed a gentle yellow, and the springs of the cheap bed creaked under she minute shifting. Finally, their gazes met.

“Two years ago, I watched my mate get his head torn off by a bear. His teeth…” Suppressed rage hastened her breath, “sliced right into his throat…and snapped his body in two. I didn’t believe it possible until that beast spit my lover’s head out and it rolled towards me.” Unfettered lust for revenge brightened her eyes, making them grow impossibly wider.

Kaia couldn’t create the image this woman painted. “I’m sorry. Who are you? If you want my family’s money, they’ll give it, but we’re not excessively rich.”

“I do not want your silly money. The male who killed my lover is what I want.” Rigid, gloved fingers squeezed together in her lap, shaking as if she held a snarling beast on a chain. She took a breath and layered on composure. “And you may call me Scarlet. Fitting, I would think.”

Quite. But not her real name. Dev called her Little Red from the moment they’d met, charming her with his flirtatious humor—the same humor the man captured with her had. They both seemed like such good men, in their presence and actions. Kaia had been wrong enough about the bear, and certainly, she needed no more proof that she was wrong about Sev.

“I can’t give you what you want.” Just the same, Dev didn’t deserve to die because he couldn’t love her enough. Not that she had much information for them, other than broken bits she kept sweeping away, left over from their relationship.

“You can and will by the time we’re through with you. Hopefully, before I lose my patience. I’d hate to mar that perfect skin of yours.” Scarlet straightened her gloves, up around her elbows like the thought of dirtying them with violence set her further on edge. “Why don’t I tell you the whole story? It might give you a smidgen of perspective.

“Two-and-a-half years ago, the bear made contact with Travelers, a mix of Irish and Asian decent, roaming the European and Asian landmass since long before they were called such, as they made their first pass through the Midwest. They’d formed a traveling circus when bartering fell out of favor. The bear weaseled his way into the group, coercing younger members to reform, like those Jehovah’s Witnesses.

“Half of the Travelers pledged to work with humans, to mean them no harm, to hide themselves in passivity. Unrest nestled its way into the pack, splitting families apart and breaking traditions.”

Scarlet pressed her hands into her knees, thumbing away invisible dirt. An ache started in Kaia’s shoulders, making her stretch in the break. This woman had real issues with change it seemed, something raised in Kaia that she had embraced whole-heartedly.

“When trust breaks down, peace becomes a scarce commodity and violence takes its place. Six months after that bear befriended the Travelers, the first death to their people occurred. A young feline murdered his father. Both sides were at each other’s throats, screaming and reaching for blood.

“Daniel, my lover, was called to come placate both sides, but we were not the only ones summoned. And neither side could compromise, especially not with that bear preaching about ethical treatment and ultimate elimination. He killed so many of us. And so many children died.” Scarlet shook her head, bringing her gloved finger to catch a tear before it smeared her mascara. Blinking it away, she took a breath and settled her gaze to her lap. After a few silent moments, she worked at peeling her right glove down her arm, pulling it from her fingertips to reveal dipped and discolored flesh, red and raw looking, mangled like a horse’s leg after a cougar attack. Her arm healed, although unlike the rest of her dark, creamy skin. “When he was done with my Daniel, he tried to take my arm, too. Your bear did this to me.”

The glove wrinkled in her hand, and she slammed her fist into her thigh, her voice soft and scary, whispering a curse. Her outburst subdued, and Scarlet slid the glove back in place. “So, tell me, Little Red, when is the last time you talked to your sweet Devere?”

“I haven’t talked to him since he broke my heart. Why would I want to?” Did they expect her to merely give up the man she loved? This woman needed to do more than tell her a story skewed by the hatred of equality and cooperation with humans. Dev didn’t tell her a lot about what he was and what he did, but Kaia learned enough by observation. And this Scarlet, as the bear would put it, wouldn’t be alive if he wanted her dead. He had a strict no women or children rule unless he had no other choice.

“Andre.” Scarlet rose a hand, signaling Ponytail forward to grab Kaia by the arm and pull her off the small bed to a corner of the room where a tub sat, filled with water.

Andre grabbed the mass of her hair and forced her to her knees in front of it. “We don’t take kindly to lies, Little Red.”

Fear grabbed Kaia’s heart as he forced her face into the water, making her struggle to hold her breath, her body jerking against the side of the tub, unable to lift herself. Burning lungs threatened to pull in the water as she came free to breathe. Andre dropped his sour face beside hers. She ate the air.

“You called him after I attacked you. Predictable.” He gave her a deviant grin before pushing her face back into the cold water.

Pre-order the book here!

Learn more about the gypsies/travelers in my Did You Know… post.

Authoring & Editing, July Edition

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So, I’ve been absent from my social media outlets more than I would have liked this month, which means you get an odd post about the busy life of an author and editor.

July is NaNoWriMo Camp, or Writing Boot Camp as I like to call it. I’ve written 32,000 words thus far this month, and I’m still going. I won’t reach my 75,000 word goal by the end of July, but I’m still pushing, which means I’m still absent – mostly.

July also means marketing footwork for my up-coming novel, LOVING RED, which will be published on September 9th.  And after 100 or so review/promo request, I’ve received close to thirty confirmations for my release day efforts. Whoo! Who knew I could be such a marketing fool?

It also means editing. I’ve been hard at work editing the submissions for my new anthology with Transmundane Press, UNDERWATER, co-edited by Anthony S. Buoni. I’m struggling to get through the last three stories – not because they’re bad, but because I’m working so hard at writing 2,000 words a day, self-promotion, and having the kids here for the summer.

But I’m also finalizing my edits for LOVING RED. I’m on my last leg, the proof for my final read through after my editor gets his hands on it. And, well, he makes me laugh my way through it, which makes it such a better experience.

So, I wanted to highlight some of my favorite comments he left me. All highlighted in GREEN! (That’s not a book title; I just like green that much.)

Fun with torture! My poor characters get their fair share of violent treatment when they’re captured by the Celampresians. Apparently, I do some good work with evil dialogue. Woot!

Sexual Tension… This isn’t the first time the two throw pheromones at each other, but I love when a scene ramps up the heat without any actual sex.

Heavy Petting Award! What better way to distract characters from their impending doom? Besides, as Sev points out, better to feed the heart than feed the body in dire circumstances.

Getting Down & Dirty! Finally, the characters get into some nasty business with each other, and not the violent kind. He mentions softening the language because the rest of the novel has a softer tone, but we can have an easy-going perspective and still get real in the bedroom, can’t we?

BONUS ROUND, the “Penis Size Notes: Chart A.” Do I really need to explain this one? I have a penchant for the word, “cock.”

Odd Character Alert! My dryad is too likable! I suppose something evil must happen to him. We can’t have him getting away scott free. No. No, we can’t.

FINSIH LINE! Yes, this is a new series, but it’s also intertwined with Ria’s story line, and I plan to have the two merge at some point. I’m glad he saw the connections I made.

I hope you can see those connections, too!

Add LOVING RED to your goodreads bookshelves, and check out the other Broken World stories so you don’t miss out on all of those links I’ve made, and you’ll be ready for Ari’s short story, “Untamed,” a fun bonus story at the back of the book.

BLOOD PHOENIX: REBIRTH (Book One)

BLOOD PHOENIX: CLAIMED (Book Two)

DISTORTED (Contains Phea’s Novella, “Maiden of the Underworld”)

Time to hit the keys again. 2,000 words, here I come. Much love, y’all.