Can't take the heat

I know now…

I have figured out one important thing about myself. You know when you were younger. You always wanted to have a dream house in the Bahamas or Florida? I didn’t, and I know why.

I can’t take the heat!

Recently, I have been plagued with a little bad luck. One, summer has struck, two raccoons love my organic garden, three the air conditioner is busted, four, I don’t like going to bed sticky! In all honesty, I much rather be freezing cold than even be slightly warm or uncomfortably warm. It must be the Canadian in me, Cold good, heat, not so much.

I have tried to take my mind off of it, a cool slurpie for one did the trick… if only for an hour, but even then, it didn’t last as long as it use to. Heck, I think half of it melted once it got into the house. My backyard is colder right now than inside my own home!

Move over squirrels or at least make a guesthouse for me!

Anywho…

So, that’s been me in a nut shell for a while. I’ve been getting quite a few shifts at work recently. Great huh? Now if only they could fix the air conditioner in the lobby…

I am starting to think I am not meant to have an air conditioner this summer

-.-

Stay thirsty… because I know I will be.

My muse, my friend

My Muse my friend…

I don’t I had really taken the time to talk about my friends, those who inspire me to do great things with myself, and to bring my creatures to life. One of my dearest friends has to be Alexandre Tuis.

We met many years ago on a Hellboy message board. I was admiring a piece he did that would be more than worthy enough for the piece to be a movie poster. He had the entire Hellboy cast and characters featured in his work, and the detail made me feel it could have passed as a photograph more than anything.

I sent him a message and told him how moved I was by his artistic talents and could only wish that he would be the one to draw my vampires.

He wrote back.

Thanking me for my kind words and asked me what the vampire would look like, a description of sorts. So, I sent him the idea I had brewing in my head for over a year. Heaven help me should I had been to one to draw out a vampire, I can’t even do stick figures without giving them a wang by accident!

Back to the story at hand.

I sent him the concept idea and he explained he would do what he can, but I had to wait. He was busy with other projects.

Waiting wasn’t an issue, but I must admit. I felt like a kid on Christmas morning!

The three months passed when he wrote me back, asking for the description again. When it was sent, I waited a week before he gave me a rough draft… I had mistaken it as the actual artwork!

Three days passed when he sent me the completed piece. Dante was created, and he is in full view dear reader as you look to your right near the top of the page. Yes, he is a little under dressed. Yet, I wouldn’t want him any other way.

Since then, we have become good friends. I have promoted Alexandre’s artwork since I am not only a fan of it, but I feel there are more people out there who had to know of him. They had to see what he was capable of!

Alex, my friend, Mon ami.

I will repay your kindness, someday, some how.

Alexandre is one of many friends who have inspired me along the way of writing, shockingly enough. One came to find me…

Stay thirsty

Monsters...

I don’t know why it took me so long to figure this out.

Why write a horror story with fictitious creatures, when there have been true monsters in our history books? In high school, I was fascinated with history, mainly the World Wars struck a cord since I had been made aware of family members who fought and died in it.

In fact, my grandfather fought in World War 2. He nearly lost his legs while running a leaking propane tank out of a medical tent, I never knew much more after that, how many lives he may have saved, but all I knew was that he nearly lost his legs, and was one of the many people who tested a new medical procedure that is used for burn victims today. Skin graphs.

He was part of medical history and war history, but now I am getting off topic.

Monsters, that was the original idea I was trying to talk about.

In our history books more than in our minds, it saddened me greatly to learn that there are students who don’t fully understand the idea of what had happened over 60 years ago, since it didn’t concern them. Some just don’t plain care. It’s not ‘interesting’ enough for them. I have been watching war specials in the month of April and May. Just learning about the brave men and women who had gone over seas only to never return. As I look at it now, those who died were teenage boys and men who were my age. In the prime of their lives, taken down by fighting for a cause.

It’s one of the many reasons that got me to write my books, I wanted them to be as historically accurate as possible so for those who don’t really get into history.

You don't need Jason or a Freddy Kruger to make your skin crawl, just look back 50 years and read what happened in Europe. Go back farther to read about Hannibal and even Cleopatra! Heck, watch a show called ancients behaving badly, and you'll see what I mean about the 'Queen of the Nile' (she murdered her own family, just to gain power. Her two brothers and sister were killed since she saw them as competition!)

Who needs vampires and other fictitious creatures when you could read about real life monsters?

Or perhaps, that's just it...

We all know the truth about vampires and other creatures of the night, perhaps that is why we attach ourselves to the monsters of fiction

It's because we know they didn't exist...

Stay thirsty.

New to the world of Blogging

Hello!

A small introduction first. My name is Shannon Lee. I am a writer and I have been working on a new concept for the past 7 years now.

It started before I graduated high school, it started off as fan fiction. However, the concept of it was so fun the right, I attempted to expand on it. As many have begun to write, my idea was about vampires... But I've been writing this before they were cool.... and started to sparkle.

Strange thing was, I wrote out chapter 6 before I created a concept of a beginning. A villian popped into my head and she needed to be written out first. Since then, she had remained in the story, an evil Vixen by the name of Lylith. Not too original, I know, but it's a name that worked for her and continues to do so.

By the time I graduated, I had two villains and the main characters. Twin brothers separated at birth during the time of the black plague. It then struck me then. I began to do my research and later kicked myself that I never took the course of ancient civilizations in high school and decided to take a chance.

Make the story historically accurate as possible.

granted, there were no vampires in history. But still, the idea was there and the scene was set by the events of the time.

Mythic Blood was born in a matter of years, and has recently been reborn again. I had rewritten my novel at least 4 times already. I still have a little ways to go, yet have learned I am on the right path. Currently I have it posted on a site called Authonomy, and have 63 comments written about it, all positive with some constructive suggestions.

I have attended the World Horror Convention in 2007 and am hopeful to go to the next one in 2011.

Mythic Blood is currently submitted to a publisher, and I hope to hear word on whether or not the book will be published.

I hope to blog often and look forward to hearing from those interested in my work. Until the next time, this is just a taste of hopefully what is to come. I will post small samples of my novel here and there, hopefully to get some feedback.

Oh, I should mention.

My vampires don't sparkle.

They shimmer when covered in blood.

Stay thirsty