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Raven Romps: Short Erotic Fiction From Raven
They Call Me Trixie: Encounter One
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
Canada Haunts!
Hey there! I know I missed last month, d’oh, but the house was full of sick kids and a sick DH. It was a horrible flu which seemed to plague us the month of June.
As for this month, well I’ll have some treats coming up for you. Next week I’m going on a bit of a vacation, and I’m going to be hitting some haunted spots and ghost towns. Through research I found out my SIL’s home was actually part of a ghost town. Tres cool. August I’ll have a some great Canadian Haunts to share with you.
So stay tuned for August 16th, and some great haunted places. Maybe I’ll even catch a photo of a ghost during one of my night jaunts.
Happy Hunting! :)
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Plus, check out the newest releases on Raven Books!
I Dream of Dragons
“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.
Powerful, deadly and oh so sexy. Dragons have it all. They are majestic, mythical and make you go hmmm. Dragons hero and heroine are a complex and interesting story to write and read. In my opinion there is fierceness yet vulnerability about them. Weather they are out to save the world while looking for their mate, just trying to find where they belong or any numerous scenarios it makes you think. They can be real dragons that shifts to an alternate human form or human that can be dragons.
I’ve read so many forms of dragon stories and often come away with a smile and a sense of satisfaction. When a story is done well it draws you into this mythical race of being. Large, deadly, and powerful are only a few of the words that describe them. There is so much you can explore and create about them.
All those stories I had read made me want to write my own story of dragons. I remember when I wrote my own story of dragons. I was flooded with so many ideas of what I could do. The history, myths and worlds I could build. It was so much fodder for many books I plan to write.
The sleek grace, awesome power and mythology of dragons in a story brings so much more than a story of a shifter. It brings life, fire and magic all wrapped up in flight. Flight to the stars and beyond.
I’m always on searching for more dragon books so come and share some of your fav’s.
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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.
What Would Happen If YOU Were The Alien?
My husband and I watched the delightful animated cartoon Planet 51 recently. It’s about an astronaut from Earth who lands on an inhabited planet.
The planet is a 1950s-type world. Families have cook-outs and movies are popular, especially monster movies about aliens attacking the planet. Panic ensues when the earth astronaut lands on the planet. The authorities are hunting him and he seeks refuge with a young local before trying to find his space ship so he can leave the planet.
The plot is fairly simple, but I enjoyed the cartoon none the less. As with lots of cartoons there are jokes that only adults will get. I enjoyed the characters, especially the secondary character Rover (an advance probe sent from Earth). He’s very cute.
This is a fun cartoon, suitable for both children and adults, and it does a good job of showing us what would happen is we were the aliens.
Here’s the trailer for Planet 51.
Shelley Munro lives in New Zealand and writes contemporary and paranoraml romance for Ellora’s Cave and Samhain Publishing and historical romance for Carina Press. When she’s not writing, she loves to watch movies. You can visit Shelley at www.shelleymunro.com
An Age-ist Eclipse Review
Eclipse made me feel old.
I love reading Young Adult and have been known to indulge in the odd teeny-bopper flick with uncalled-for enthusiasm. A good YA book or movie aligns me with the teenage protagonist (sometimes even against the adults) and makes me feel seventeen again (in a good way).
Eclipse just had me thinking the age of consent should be raised to twenty-five for all teenage girls who plan on getting married at eighteen and spending a blissful (delusional) eternity with their vampire lovers (who aren’t at all stalkerish, nooooo, not even a little).
I’ve read the whole series, but I didn’t remember many details about this particular book except the fact that it came after the Jacob one and before the Reneesme one. It all came back as I watched the movie – which was a largely faithful adaptation of the book. I think fans of the series will be satisfied by the latest installment.
In spite of the filmmakers’ apparent need to show flashbacks every fifteen minutes, the movie was pretty darn entertaining. The drama was suitably dramatic and the fight scenes suitably epic (though it bugged the hell out of me that the newborn vampires didn’t bleed when they were killed when the supposed reason for their super-powered strength was the residual human blood remaining in their tissue).
But honestly, the thing that got in the way of me falling in love with the vampirey-werewolfy, paranormal battle royale the way I wanted to was the distance I felt from the main characters. They just felt so young to me – and not in a good, I’m-seventeen-again way.
Edward and Bella haven’t exactly had the healthiest relationship thus far and whenever someone was warning them away from one another, I found myself firmly on the side of the warn-er. Listen to your father! Listen to your mother when she talks about how creepy his over-protective attitude is! Listen to all the other vamps who tell you to look before you leap! Listen to The Shirtless Wonder! (FYI: There is much shirtlessness if you are hoping for some Lautner eye-candy. His abs are even legal now, so indulge with a clear conscience.)
But does Bella listen? Of course not! She and Edward are Meant To Be. Because people always love the person they thought was the center of their universe when they were eighteen for the rest of their immortal lives. (Though arguably, to grow apart you have to grow as a person and Bella doesn’t seem to be strong on personal growth.)
Am I the only one who snorted, “Yeah, cuz that never ends badly” when Edward got down on one knee? I love romance! So why am I so inclined with the Twilight books/movies to think the heroine should be locked up for her own good rather than marry the guy of her dreams? Why do these movies make me feel like a grandmother talking about “kids these days!” when I’m really closer to Bella’s age than her father’s?
I don’t know, but the fact is this happily-ever-after makes me want to shout, “No, stop!” rather than sigh with delight. Maybe I’m just a latent Team-Jacob girl.
My verdict on Eclipse: It was a very Twilight movie. Good, bad or otherwise – what that means to you depends entirely on how you felt about the books.
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Vivi Andrews is a movie junkie who writes ghostly romantic comedies and steamy shapeshifter stories for Samhain Publishing. For more about her or her books, please visit www.viviandrews.com.
Children and Ghosts
As you know, my husband is a ghost hunter with Wichita Paranormal Research Society. As a result, there’s a lot of talk of ghosts, ghost hunting, and such in my house.
I found it interesting, the other day, that when my daughter was playing Barbies with her friends that they wound up playing “Ghost Hunters.” I listened to them a bit, and of course, they got very squirrelly, running around, (one of the girl’s dolls was the ghosts) playing chase, and generally squealing in giddy childhood delight.
Which made me giggle, because all I could think to myself was the way children are–they react to what they see and hear around them. If you talk about, say racing and Nascar, they’ll get excited about those things as a child, and as an adult. I grew up in a sports oriented home (I was not an athlete, but everyone else was), and there’s a lot of talk about sports, stats and general television yelling when football games are on.
And my daughter plays ghost hunting with her friends, because that’s what she sees.
It makes me wonder if when she grows up, if she’ll be the scientist, or the spiritualist. To believe in ghosts, you have to have a certain amount of faith that they’re there. But the scientist part of it, you have to be able to prove, beyond any doubt that what your evidence shows is real, and not some kind of manipulation.
Are ghost hunters there yet? That they can prove, without the shadow of a doubt that images on film, voices on recorders, and general experiences are real? Not even close. They work very hard to prove their evidence is real.
One of my husband’s favorite sayings is “When in doubt, throw it out.” For him, it has to be clear cut and unable to be ripped apart by a skeptic. When putting together presentations for the general public, and playing audio clips, for example, he sits across the room from the computer and listens to the audio. It may sound great in headphones, but if he can’t hear it from six feet away, then what’s the point? Because you can’t plug a room full of people into headphones.
(Okay, well, you can, but that takes a lot of equipment…
And with children, it’s especially difficult, because in certain phases of their lives they’re more prone to having paranormal experiences. Young children, (under, say five,) are more open to the idea of ghosts, and usually aren’t afraid. They will say things like “Grandma’s standing in the corner, smiling.” When Grandma’s been passed away for fifteen years.
I remember a particular case with my daughter, where she started screaming in the car that we had to wave goodbye to “the invisible guy” on the porch. We couldn’t leave until we waved goodbye to him. And this happened a few months after my grandfather had passed away.
As children age, when their hormones start running amuck, girls especially, are more prone to having paranormal activities happen to them. Even things like telekinesis–things moving on their own, flying off walls, etc–is a somewhat common occurrence with teenage girls. And many psychics got started doing medium work when they were teens, they just didn’t learn how to ignore it.
Most of us do learn to ignore it. I’ve even had experiences as a child and teen. I used to see shadow people all the time. They’d scare the crap out of me, and I’d go running down the hall and slam my bedroom door shut, just to get by them. (And why were they always hanging out in the bathroom doorway? A question for another time). To this day, I can’t see them, or hear them, most of the time, anyway. But I can feel the energy, it tingles on my skin.
So it makes me curious who my daughter will be–will she be one able to see and hear dead people, or will she remain the scientist who wants to capture the evidence. Currently, I have no idea–she flip flops. I’m really interested to see who she turns out to be.
Candice Gilmer writes paranormal romance and contemporary romance for Lyrical Press and Samhain. Her website contains lots of excerpts including from her Immortal Knights Templar Series, Moonlight and Shadows, now available from Lyrical Press. And she’s just starting to figure out Word Press, so bare with her…
Conjunction Junction, what’s your function?
Hi all,
So what happens when you have two (or more planets) all bunched together in your chart? If two or more planets are at the same degree, or within 8-10 degrees of one another, those planets are said to be in conjunction with one another. This configuration is incredibly powerful. Planets that are in conjunction operate in unison. They work together and their power is blended to influence your life so pay attention to them.
Conjunctions are even more powerful if the sun and moon are involved. And if the sun and moon are conjunct with one another – boy howdy, look out. There’s an awesome post on the topic at a site called Suite 101. The important thing when you are trying to figure out how a conjunction influences your chart is to see what planets are involved, what house they’re in and what sign.
For example, my Moon and Mars are conjunct one another in Leo in my twelfth house. The Moon and Mars getting together shows an increase in emotion (thanks Miss Moon) with a certain volatility to it (courtesy of Mars). Combine that with fiery Leo and let’s just say don’t get around me when I’m mad. When I was young I actually threw a hairbrush at a window…a cut glass fancy window. The brush flew in slow motion and I was praying to every god out there. The window did not break and you’ll all be happy to know I was cured of throwing things. At least throwing them horizontally or in any sort of upward trajectory.
As I grew older, my temper was moderated by Libra but when I do get mad I can still be fierce. But temper isn’t the only emotion that is influence by that configuration.
There are times I just need to be alone with the moon located in my twelfth house and Mars makes it hard for me to unburden myself of problems so I can be a bit secretive. Basically this means that I need to guard against isolating myself from others because I really do need people too.
My Moon being located in the twelfth house increases my intuitiveness. Mars and the Moon together make me more passionate and emotional about that passion.
So remember, review your birth chart to see if you have any planets in conjunction (within ten degrees) of one another. Note what they are, what sign and what house they’re in and then pay attention to them. Pay special attention if those planets are the sun and/or the moon. Conjunctions wor
k together to increase the influence of both.
Do you have any conjunctions in your chart? I’d love to hear about it! Writers, you might consider whether your characters are influenced by any strong conjunction. It will add depth to your characterizations!
Francesca Hawley writes erotic romance for Ellora’s Cave. Find out more about her on her web page or at her blog. You can also connect with her on Twitter, Facebook – username francescahawley.
