Personal Demons

A new book, Personal Demons, is coming out on April 1, 2008 by my friend, December Quinn/Stacia Kane. You can go to her blog, which is listed on the sidebar, but you can also go here. She writes paranormal romance under the name December Quinn, and urban fantasy under the name Stacia Kane.

I am sooo looking forward to reading this book. You can pre-order Personal Demons from Amazon or buy it when it comes out on April 1, 2008. You can also read Chapter One.

Trust me, it's an amazing read, so go buy it already! :*)

P.S. I am really going to do a lot better when it comes to my writer friends and their book debuts. I promise to have more posts and reviews about my fellow writers in the near future.

Alice Paul (January 11, 1885-July 9, 1977)

You guys didn't actually think I'd forget Women's History Month, did you? No, I didn't think so! :*)


Alice Paul was the architect of some of the most outstanding political achievements on behalf of women in the 20th century. Born on January 11, 1885 to Quaker parents in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey, Alice Paul dedicated her life to the single cause of securing equal rights for all women.

Alice's father was a successful businessman and acted as the president of the Burlington County Trust Company in Moorestown, NJ. As Hicksite Quakers, Alice's parents raised her with a belief in gender equality, and the need to work for the betterment of society. Hicksite Quakers stressed separation from the burgeoning materialistic society and advocated the benefits of staying close to nature.

Alice was an excellent student, a voracious reader, and played several extracurricular sports in school including basketball, baseball and field hockey. She graduated from Swarthmore college in 1905.

In 1907 Alice left home for Birmingham, England to study social work, and it is there that she became a militant suffragist.

In 1912, Alice Paul and two friends, Lucy Burns and Crystal Eastman, headed to Washington, D.C. to organize for suffrage. Paul and Burns organized a publicity event to gain maximum national attention; an elaborate and massive parade by women to march up Pennsylvania Avenue and coincide with Woodrow Wilson's presidential inauguration. The parade began on March 3, 1913, with the lawyer, activist, and socialite Inez Milholland, leading the procession, dressed in Greek robes and astride a white horse. The scene turned ugly, however, when scores of male onlookers attacked the suffragists, first with insults and obscenities, and then with physical violence, while the police stood by and watched.

In 1917, Paul and several other well known suffragists picketed President Wilson at the onset of World War I and were sent to Occoquan Workhouse, a prison in Virginia. Paul and her compatriots followed the English suffragette model and demanded to be treated as political prisoners and staged hunger strikes. For staging hunger strikes, Paul and several other suffragists were forcibly fed in a tortuous method. Prison officials removed Paul to a sanitarium in hopes of getting her declared insane. When news of the prison conditions and hunger strikes became known, the press, some politicians, and the public began demanding the women’s release; sympathy for the prisoners brought many to support the cause of women's suffrage.

In 1917, in response to public outcry about the prison abuse of suffragists, President Wilson reversed his position and announced his support for a suffrage amendment, calling it a "war measure." In 1919, both the House and Senate passed the 19th Amendment and the battle for state ratification commenced. Three-fourths of the states were needed to ratify the amendment. The battle for ratification came down to the state of Tennessee in the summer of 1920; if a majority of the state legislature voted for the amendment, it would become law. The deciding vote was cast by twenty-four year-old Harry Burn, the youngest member of the Tennessee assembly. Originally intending to vote “no,” Burn changed his vote after receiving a telegram from his mother asking him to support women’s suffrage. On August 18, 1920, Tennessee ratified the 19th Amendment. Six days later, Secretary of State Colby certified the ratification, and, with the stroke of his pen, American women gained the right to vote after a seventy-two year battle. August 26th is now celebrated as Women's Equality Day in the United States.

Few individuals have had as much impact on American history as has Alice Paul. Her life symbolizes the long struggle for justice in the United States and around the world. Her vision was the ordinary notion that women and men should be equal partners in society.

P.S. There is a great movie about Alice Paul's struggles, starring Hillary Swank. It's called IRON JAWED ANGELS. Loved it! :*)

NIGHT LIFE

Luna Wilder (love that name!) is a smart, tough, police officer. She's also a Insoli werewolf who travels without a pack and has to rely on instinct alone. And she's just been assigned to find the ruthless killer behind a string of ritualistic murders-a killer with ties to an escaped demon found only in legend...until now.

This is the first book in Caitlin's Nocturne City series. It is full of werewolves, black magicians, and witches.

Doesn't all this sound wonderful?


I remember when Caitlin first snagged Rachel Vater as her agent, and I've watched her journey from query letter to published novel since August 2006. This is my interview with the author of Night Life:
1.) Demon Hunter: What first sparked your interest in writing?

Caitlin Kittredge: My mother was a librarian, and I was homeschooled, so I spent a lot of time reading fiction, especially fantasy fiction, and I decided at about age 13 that was what I wanted to do with my life. Storytelling always came naturally to me--I would make up elaborate roleplays for my friends and I when I was a kid, and they'd go on for days--so novel-writing was a natural extension of that early instinct.
2.) DH: Why do you write urban fantasy?
CK: I like fantastic fiction, but I also like stories that are grounded in reality, so urban fantasy was the niche for me. I think it's fascinating to look down a dark alley or around a corner and see things that may or may not be real, or to read graffiti as an incantation to an old god, or to wonder what those iron bars on someone's windows are REALLY keeping out.
3.) DH: Who are some of your writing influences?
CK: I'm very heavily influenced by noir fiction, from the school of Chandler and Hammet--bad people, mean streets, gorgeous dames, the hero who doesn't know she's a hero, to paraphrase Frank Miller. I'm also a big fan of Neil Gaiman, both his prose work and his /Sandman/ comics. He has a way of injecting both the sublimely fantastic and the terrifying unknown into everyday events that I really love.
4.) DH: How did you come to create Luna's character?
CK: I wrote the sort of character that I wanted to read about, but wasn't finding in urban fantasy at the time. I've always enjoyed reading about real women with real problems, and romances, and lives, and I endeavored to write Luna as someone very flawed, very relatable and real but ultimately with the smarts and strength to come out on top.
5.) DH: Why did you choose to write about werewolves?
CK: I love shapeshifters, their mythology and their history is really fascinating and full of great tidbits that I used in my worldbuilding. I'm also fascinated by the theme of duality, which you can really dig into with a shapeshifter character, and the line between human and monster, and how sometimes the worst monsters are the ones who don't have a beast under their skin at all.
Thanks so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule for the interview, Caitlin! Night Life officially went on sale March 4, 2008, so if you haven't bought it yet, go forth and purchase it! You won't be disappointed! :*)

Villains!

There have been a multitude of villains in the history of horror novels and movies. Some were obvious monsters, while others were not.



I used to love Freddy Krueger because he talked a lot of trash to his intended victims, which at times, was quite amusing. On the other hand, Jason Vorhees was creepy because he never uttered a word.

I like different villains for various reasons. The best villain is sometimes the least obvious evil-doer, (note picture above) which makes the story all the more satisfying. Don't get me wrong, I love strong heroines/heroes, but if the villain is more interesting, my attention will be more focused on what they're doing.

These are just a few of my favorite movie villains in no particular order:

1.) Angela Franklin (Night of the Demons)
2.) Pinhead (Hellraiser 1&2)
3.) Chucky (Child's Play)
4.) Hannibal Lector (Silence of the Lambs & Hannibal)
5.) Mary Brady (Sleepwalkers)

Who are some of your favorite villains? From either books or movies?