Lynne’s Monster of the Month – The Basilisk

The basilisk was a grey monster that could turn anyone it stared at into stone. Honestly, I’m surprised there aren’t more of them in modern paranormals. I have one, and I plan to do something about here, and maybe do another one soon. It has deadly venom, and according to some sources leaves a trail of venom in its wake. Cool, eh?

It’s supposed to come from Cyrene in Africa, and is the king of the serpents, with all other snakes fleeing from it. Later legends have it killing by the sound of its voice, and being able to breath fire. In medieval times, it was known as a cockatrice, and it’s related to the cockerel, either it can be killed by the sound of a cockerel, or it’s related to one. It can be killed by someone bearing mirrors, and in some legends, can be killed by a weasel. And it can fly. In medieval art, it’s sometimes used as the symbol of the antichrist, and it features in the medieval bestiaries, the fabulous collection of beasts that feature in heraldry and coats-of-arms. It’s either a boring grey or a sickly yellow, with a white dot on its forehead, which according to some, is the third eye you must not look at.

My basilisk appeared from nowhere. Candy is a geek who works at Dept 57. She appeared in some books that are not currently available, and she came from nowhere. She loves bright clothes, has her nails manicured in outrageous ways and yet can still type up a storm. She’s worked as an admin assistant but is now one of the Department’s most highly prized computer technicians. This is the series where Talents are underground, they live among us without anyone outside the community knowing about them. So Candy to all intents is a girl who likes bright colours and clothes. But of course there’s more to her than that. And I’m not sure what it is. She won’t talk about her background or her family, and she uses many pseudonyms, so nobody knows for sure who she is—except Cristos, her boss at the New York Dept 57, and he’s not telling.

And she turns into a dull grey creature that’s main attribute is the horrible way in which it can kill. I really know little about Candy, and I suspect I won’t find out much more until I begin to write about her, and talk to her directly. Learning your characters is a bit like that.

Oh God and Goddess – Revisit

“In paranormals you can work an insurmountable obstacle into a fantastic story. A story that will leave you not only rooting for the end that is satisfying but leaves you breathless and brings down the barriers of your mind letting your imagination take flight.” – Taige Crenshaw

Above is what I’ve said many times before and will always believe. Now lets explore another wondrous paranormal being.

I’m revisiting a previous blog. Starting next month I will be talking more about God and Goddesses.

Let’s us being with mythology of Gods and Goddesses. This is more of an overview of the variety of gods and goddesses. At later dates I will explore each type of god and goddesses more in depth.

There are so many varieties of God and Goddesses. The most common known are the Greek. Zeus, Aphrodite, Apollo, Ares Artemis, Athena and Hades to name a few have been portrayed in various stories. Their power, weakness and loves have been seen and explored.

Another type are the Roman’s. Bacchus, Ceres, Cupid, and Hercules are just a few.

Norse have so many fascinating beings. Odin, Thor, Loki, and Freya to name a few.

Celtic’s have Abhean, Brigid, Camulus, and Danu.

The Native American’s have Pana, Glispa, and Chiowotamahke are just a few of the beings in the mythology.

Egyptian’s have Ra, Sakhmet, Osiris and Amun.

There are so many types of gods and goddesses in each culture I can go on and on. In most cultures the powers they are know for correlate with those of gods or goddesses in other cultures. Lots of the powers these beings wield are based in magic and nature.

I have read so many wonderful books based on gods and goddesses. They have ranged from funny, sweet, dark, sexy and mysterious. They all captured the essence of gods and goddesses. The power of them and all their foibles. I could give you a long list of books depicting various gods and goddesses but since I am always on the look out for some great books, instead you come and shares books you have read. Include from which culture the god and goddesses are from.

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Taige Crenshaw has been enthralled with the written word from time she picked up her first book. It wasn’t long before she started to make up her own tales of romance. With novels set in today, in alternate dimensions, or in the future she writes with adventure, fun sassy heroine’s, and sexy hero’s. Always hard at work creating new and exciting places Taige can be found curled up with a hot novel with exciting characters when she is not creating her own. Join her in the fun, frolic, interesting people and far reaches of the world in her novels. You can find out more about Taige at her website: http://www.taigecrenshaw.com or blog: http://www.taigecrenshaw.com/blog.

A Girl’s Guide to Adult Films by Elle Erotique

Are you gasping? Running the other way? Feeling a hollow pit in the bottom of your stomach? Relax, I’m not here to twist your arm and force you to watch adult films. I’m here to help you understand the variety of films out there so you can decide if it’s something you want to give a try.

There was a point in my life that I firmly believed the only type of films of this nature that were out there involved a horny housewife getting shagged by the air conditioner repair man while dear ole hubby was away at work. I had visions of seventies porn stars dancing in my head with excessively hairy chests, gold chains that could tip a normal person over and names like Dick DoMe. I avoided the films like the plague, positive I couldn’t view them and not want to laugh or retch—or both.

Thankfully, I became curious, wondering what the big deal was and why the adult film industry sells as much as it does. I figured that many people couldn’t be hooked on the repairman and his body carpet, erm, I mean chest hair. I began my journey by renting a few movies from a local video store. Sadly, the first ones I selected were exactly what I assumed they’d be. Never one to give up or admit defeat, I dug a little deeper and found there are many genres and styles of adult films available. It took a while to narrow down how to find something that I felt comfortable with and, when all was said and done, I realized there may be other women out there who are curious, who want to give it a go but who either don’t know where to start or started and didn’t like what they found.

I’m not a psychologist. I’m not here to discuss the reasons why a person does or does not view adult films. To be honest, I don’t care. I’m simply here to better explain what I’ve learned in my quest to find adult films that don’t make me go “ick”.

Adult films are like snowflakes. No two are alike. Okay, maybe not but they certainly do come in a variety pack. If you can dream it, someone has probably made a movie about it.

Adult films narrow down things such as body shape and size, race, age, hair color, ejaculation (internal, external, and location on body), body alterations, sexual acts, number of partners and sexual preferences. These are the more obvious ones so going in depth on them seems redundant. The ones that tend to get a bit confusing are the styles. I’ll take a moment to hit the highlights with you, hopefully giving you a base point to jump in from.

Amateur films have come a long way within the industry. The name comes from the fact they were indeed done by amateurs at one point. More and more they’re being made by larger houses to look as if an amateur did them.

Another film style is gonzo. It’s done in a way that makes the viewer feel they are more a part of the scene. These also focus less on plot and more on sex. If you’re uncomfortable with the idea of plot based porn, or find you can’t sit through the “acting” portions and want to get to the “meat” of it all, this style might be good to give a try.

The classic style tends to be a little more like the repairman scene so if you’re into that, start there. There are also feature length films that are totally adult based. These have plot, acting and lots of sex. I’m pleased to see special effects being incorporated into them as well. Though, some of the effects aren’t always the greatest, some aren’t bad. It just shows that time and money are being invested in them.

I’ll admit one of my favorite styles of adult films are independent ones. I’ve come across some incredibly artistic, beautiful, mind bending, erotic movies this way. Like with “normal” movies you find the boundaries being stretched in this style more than others.

Additional levels of subgenres exist and there are types/styles that I didn’t even begin to cover. I hit the high points in hopes of giving you a basis to start from. I firmly believe if there is something you enjoy, regardless how left of center you believe it to be, there are most likely films involving it out there for your viewing pleasure. With a little time and research, you should be able to find what fits your needs.

Elle Erotique is the alter ego of an established, bestselling author. Elle wanted the freedom to write whatever she wanted without pre-established notions getting in the way.

Her newest releases: They Call Me Trixie: Encounter One and Two can be found at TheRavenBooks.com

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Club Fetish

Enchantress

They Call Me Trixie: Encounter One

Raven Romps: Short Erotic Fiction From Raven

They Call Me Trixie: Encounter One

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Being an escort is easy…if you know the Trix of the trade.

They call me Trixie. I’m whatever you need me to be. Some like me to bend to their whim. Some like me to take charge. Others just like to take me, any way they can. I’m not ashamed of my job. It pays the bills and sometimes—I get off on it. I don’t have those puritanical hangups most Americans do. I like men. I like women. Mostly, I like to make money. Peek inside my world. I dare you. Be warned, my story is short and it is not a romance. It does not have a happily ever after.

They Call Me Trixie: Encounter Two (coming soon)

They Call Me Trixie: Encounter Three (coming soon)

Club Fetish (coming soon)

Ghost Hunting: Photo Matrixing

Nope, I’m not talking about the Matrix. No Neo here.

Though there could be…

Photo Matrixing is basically when you look at an image, and letting the shadows play tricks on your eye, and you draw a conclusion that you have a figure, a face, a person standing in a snapshot.

I’ve stared at pattered wallpaper before, half-asleep, and suddenly saw a face or an eye jump out at me, and it’s scared the crud out of me–I’ve thought, oh no, a ghost… something’s watching me!

But what it is is Photo Matrixing.

Grant Wilson from TAPS has a great post about it on the Taps website.

When you glance at a photo, it’s our nature, our human nature, to make connections of the shadows and the light patterns, to find something that is familiar. Similar to seeing a shape in the clouds, or a face in the wood grains of a wall. Even the Catholic church deals with similar issues when examining faces of saints that appear in windows–many times, it’s simply oxidation or other natural occurring phenomenon, and it all boils down to us.

We see what we want to see.

We want to believe that any kind of phenomenon is paranormal, but many times, it just isn’t. It’s important to remember that when you examine photos for unusual images.  Ruling out any kind of possible physical explanation is very important when deciding if something is paranormal.

The rule of thumb with most ghost hunters is “when in doubt, throw it out.” And if a picture of a house reveals a face in the windows, but the house is surrounded by trees, and shadows are all over the house, then it’s very likely the face in the window really is just a shadow.

Candice Gilmer writes paranormal and contemporary romances, and thinks she’s figured out word press. Maybe. Visit her website at http://candicegilmer.com