Guest Blogger- Bella Street :Symbolism In Writing—A Cleverly Disguised Excuse For Book Promotion

Thanks, Marie, for having me on your rockin' blog!


What do zombies, time-travel, and pink velour have in common?


Zip, zero, nada...unless you're named after Persephone and get blasted through time and space because your friend breaks a long-held agreement to keep the past, well, in the past.


Then, yeah.


All Seffy Carter wants is a comfortable Juicy Couture tracksuit, a good tan, and the perpetual adoration of her lifetime crush, Gareth. But her carefully constructed life comes unraveled faster than cheap velour when she swaps spit with a zombie in a moment of alcohol-induced weakness.


Now before we get all judgy, let's talk symbolism. What is it with zombies anyway? They're everywhere in film and in books these days.


Vampires are hot and usually represent sexual temptation and/or repression. Werewolves—also hot—reflect the untamed side of human nature trying to claw past our societally imposed civilities. What about zombies? Aside from the rotting flesh, a taste for brains, and probable haliotosis, they're most often portrayed as being mindless, shambolic, and only wanting one thing.


I don't know about you, but that about sums it up for me.


And for Seffy, too. She and her besties share a past dark and dysfunctional enough to keep them all bound together under do-over identities. Along with a factory-fresh persona, Seffy's list of Things We Don't Speak Of is meant to keep the contrived status quo among her and her friends. And that always ends well, doesn't it?


Which brings me to my next point. Another key representation of zombies is that you can't outrun them. They will eventually get you, no matter how slow they are, how many limbs they're missing, or what obstacles you put in their way. And just as you kill off the last one and breathe that final haggard sigh of relief? Another one comes out of nowhere and takes you down. Nom, nom, nom.



Seffy finds out the hard way that despite her best intentions, she's been living a meaningless existence (trying to find success as an actress when she's not really interested in movies, and eschewing other men for the one she'll probably never get). Add to that the truths she's tried to long ignore. Well, they come back with a bite and then some. Especially when rends develop in their relationships from the flesh-eating pressures of ending up nearly thirty years in the past, in a Montana desert, surrounded by zombies wearing dated disco duds.


Denial is bad in real life and when pursued by reanimated killers.


And for the record? Zombies—not such great kissers.


Bella Street is the author of the series Apocalypse Babes. The Z Word is the first installment and is free at Smashwords. She's also having an awesome contest called Help Spread The Z Word where you can enter for a chance to win cool prizes like a Juicy Couture tracksuit, Victoria's Secret perfume, and an Amazon gift card, among other bookish things. Check out the details at ApocalyseBabes.com.

It'll get you in the End

Happy Wednesday!

Today's blog came about due to some horrific channel surfing over the week-end. My tech free week slowed me down on it- but alas I'm still doing it too much.

I watched the last 15 minutes of Star Wars. The last 15 minutes of Return of the Jedi. The last 20 minutes of Return of the King (LOTR). It wasn't planned, and to be honest I own all of those movies so I could have just plopped in a DVD and watched the entire thing. But no- I just sat there enjoying the endings.

I'm a serious, hard core geek. So those movies have been watched over and over and over. I could have probably said the lines along with them. Yet I stopped channel surfing to gaze at the last bits like a child with a new shiny toy.

I often do that, watch the very end of shows or movies that I've seen before. The endings for all my favorite shows are happy, so I get the happiness fix. I know the story, so I can get the nostalgia fix.

This made me think about movie endings. How many times have you walked away from a great movie, only to realize (upon reflection and sharing the story with friends) that it really wasn’t all that great really? But those last 15 minutes were amazing and changed your entire view.

This made me think about book endings. I know for myself a bad ending can ruin a book for me. There is one author I won’t really read anymore because she got to the point of “sudden stop” endings. I also call them “the author got bored and wanted to stop NOW” endings. Annoying and they started giving me whiplash.

Another problem can be a wonderful ending, but then upon reflection (see my note above about movies doing this) you realize they didn’t resolve a lot of the plot points. Then you get annoyed anew (or at least I do).

I’ve found that I have a tendency to rush my endings on the first draft. I get the bones in there, but they have no meat. I think it might be a side-effect of my Seat of The Pants style of writing. I’m as excited as a reader would be to see what happens next. But I can’t flip ahead in pages- so I just make it fast and dirty. Then do some serious restructuring afterwards.

I think many writers forget about the endings. We worry about that beginning hook and the middle that needs a girdle. But we don’t always focus on the finale, the piece de resistance that can make or break the 300 + pages of blood, sweat, and tears that came before. I now have a new appreciation for endings that I didn’t have before. The hook draws folks in, the middle keeps them there, but the ending has the power to stick with a reader long after the book has been read- and more importantly- makes them anxious for your next book ;).

Monday Motivation!

Happy Fourth of July!!! It would have been to easy to pick a photo prompt with flags or fireworks today- so I went for this instead. Have a safe and wonderful holiday.
(This is one of my own photos- please don't re-post without permission :))

Stuff Ya Didn't Know-Tengu

Today our guest you may never have heard of before is the tengu.

These half-man, half bird creatures were found in the Shinto religion of Japan. Their appearance varies, sometimes they have both the body of a man and the face of a bird; in others they are men with wings, claws for feet, and beak-like noses.

These mischievous creatures are blamed for teaching humans the art of war and how to use weapons. There are tales of a tengu possessing a human during battle, endowing him with great skill. When the tengu leaves, the warrior has no memory of what happened.

During the Middle Ages the Shinto based tengu were at odds with the Buddhists, they would often try to tempt, fool, or carry off Buddhist priests and often were blamed for setting fire to Buddhist temples.

In response, the Buddhists forbade the worship of tengu and even had a special place in their spiritual world- "tengu road" that was reserved for hypocritical priests who had forsaken their vows.

Sources: Writer's Complete Fantasy Reference, Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures

Guest Blogger: Gabriella Hewitt

Please welcome today's guest blogger: Gabriella Hewitt as she shares with us a bit on lore near and dear to her heart- and books ;).


I love Aztec lore. Why? Simple. Aztec stories are fascinating tales that are riddled with vengeance, blood thirsty deities, beautiful alluring gods and goddesses who scheme against each other in deadly family squabbles. The Aztec gods were some of the first daytime soap operas!

It was only natural I built stories of heroes and heroines pitted against larger than life immortals, thrust into the throws of peril and passion, fighting for humanity and love.

While I could talk about gods and goddesses all day, I have to admit I am most intrigued by the small roles played by a cast of strange and cunning characters that stay in the background but play a major role in the tales –the tzitzimime. Also known as TZITZIMIMI, TZITZIMIMEH, TZITZIMITL

The what? The who?
The word tzitzimime is not a typical word—and don’t’ ask me how to pronounce it—but the term is universal. Never heard of them? Well, maybe you have but they go by many names: demons, diablos, devils, evil creatures, hags, skin walkers, dark angels, etc. You get the point.

According to Wikipedia.com, the tzitzimime were female deities, and as such related to fertility, they were associated with the Goddess Itzpapalotl, better known as the Obsidian Butterfly, a goddess with a wicked temper, considered lustful and beyond beautiful. She was the ruler of Tamoanchan - the paradise where the Tzitzimime resided. The tzitzimime were worshipped by midwives and parturient women.

The best description and one that puts smile on my face comes from GodsLaidBare.com;
Tzitzimime were the protectors of females, especially during pregnancy and childbirth, but became unpredictable and dangerous around solar eclipses and other cosmic instabilities. Women, on the other hand, become unstable, dangerous and unpredictable around pregnancy. Yup, I know I was a tzitzimime during childbirth, no one was spared from my vile tongue and thrashing. I scared them all from the nurse to the doctor to the dude with the big needle. Seriously, no one was safe from my wrath but I digress…

In the Shadow Warrior series, I took liberties and made them men as well as women. Why? Well, for starters it’s not as common for women to die in childbirth today, and honestly, I am not sure how well it would go down in today’s society if I made a woman who suffered an unfortunate death a harbinger of evil. So, I took a more liberal approach and made tzitzimime, both male and female. The modern version is of people who were evil in life and are now evil in death, their blackened souls devoured by the tzitzimime and made into ghouls who walk the earth doling out pain and torture for their goddess and the gods in her camp who seek to destroy humanity.
Tzitzimime can be anywhere and they are always on the outlook for new victims to feed the darkness inside them. Now that the battle lines have been drawn, the world will never be the same, and it’s humanity who will pay the ultimate price.

For a tale filled with intrigue, passion, and rich Aztec lore, including those tzitzimime, check out the first book in my shadow warrior series OUT OF THE SHADOWS, coming August 16th from Samhain Publishing.



Aztec word: huitzilin (hummingbird)
In celebration of the 1st book in the SHADOW WARRIOR series, I am putting together a contest. Become a Shadow Warrior and hunt down tzitzimime, celestial demons and nemesis to Shadow Warriors. Follow me on the blog tour and keep track of where a dreaded tzitzimime has popped up. Contact me (www.gabriellahewitt.com/contact/)with the location you have spotted a tzitzimime and the secret Aztec word. One entry per day, please. The more tzitzimime you spot the better your chances of winning. One winner will be chosen at random, the prize a $25 Samhain Publishing gift certificate. All entries must be in by August 18th. The winner will be declared on the blog August 19th. Contest starts June 5th and ends midnight August 18th (EST).

Gabriella Hewitt is the pen name of creative writing talents Sasha Tomaszycki and Patrizia M.J. Hayashi. Together they weave tales of romantic suspense and dangerously sensual paranormals. Check out their website www.GabriellaHewitt.com to find out about upcoming releases and events on their blog.

The Week Off Tech

The week off...is over

Ok, since I still work with technology (pretty much on a computer all day for my day job) and I was allowing myself 15 minutes a day of email access, I wasn’t completely tech free this week.

But I was dang close for someone in our society not living under a rock or in a small abandoned cabin in the woods.

For those of you who missed it, the last seven days have been without tv, facebook, twitter, internet, or blog (except the aforementioned 15 minutes for personal emails). Today I’m back!

Now first some clarification on why I did this. I realized that I needed more time in my life, and more life in my time ;). I was letting technology work me instead of the other way around (“Oh, maybe just check once more in case something really cool is on tv, facebook, twitter, my email account or a blog”.) I was becoming obsessed! Now maybe if I didn’t lose 40 hours a week to my day job I could be more generous with my brain dead channel/internet surfing. Alas, the fact of the matter is that I’ve got a day job and I need said day job. Thusly, me trying to see how I could modify my time and my diversions, and deciding to step away for a bit.

I survived! LOL- now, yes a longer period of time would have made a bigger impact in my behavior, but the week got me to thinking. And it got my relaxing more. Weird, but the “gotta see if there is something cool/vital/earthshattering” mindset was stressing me out! I actually relaxed in the evenings! I got way more editing done, did way more reading…and found, contrary to my long held belief, I could actually function if I didn’t sit in front of the tv to “decompress” the moment I got home from work!

I know many folks will disagree, but I do think our society is becoming too tech dependent for social and emotional stimulation. I think we’re forgetting real world contacts. I know I’m viewing how I deal with tv and the internet very differently now. Oh, I’ll be back using both- but a lot less and with a different, hopefully more thoughtful, view.

What about you folks? Any of you step away from things for a bit? Did it change the way you view things? (And I don't mean on vacation- I mean day to day step away ;))

OH and for people who saw my blogs while I was away, and my alerts on Twitter and Facebook about said blogs while I was away- it was all automatic. Blogs can be posted waaaaaaaaay in advance, and told the exact minute they should post. Through HootSuite, any updates to my blog are checked once a day and alerts are sent to my social media outlets. Scary huh? Four blog posts, lots of alerts, and I wasn’t here at all. Makes you think ;).

Monday Motivation!

Yup- yet another Photo writing prompt to get the brain a kicking for the week! What does this one say to you?


This is a domain free photo obtained from a free website.