Fangs and Feathers. A Few Updates. Originally posted at Frogenyozurt.com

Sometimes it seems like everything that can happen, happens all at once.  Or in my case, a story pops in my head, followed by two or three others, all screaming “Look at me!”  I am in the process of working on quite a few stories.  One of which is the sequel to a YA title that I wrote called The Road To Was.  I posted a preview ofThe Land of Not, a few weeks ago.  It’s beginning to take shape.  Or rather, it was.   I got about five chapters into it before another story clawed its way to the forefront of my imagination.

The story that I’m focusing on now is titledFractured Souls.  I guess it’s appropriate that that particular story gets a little attention because it’s the sequel to my upcoming Copperhill Media release, UnBound: Battle of the Half-Angels.  Fractured Souls picks up a few months after the events of UnBound, and will find one of the characters dealing with the ramifications of their actions in Unbound.

This character will set off a chain of events that will have my nephillim scrambling to contain the war between heaven and hell, and keeping humans from finding out about it.  If the nephillim fail the outcome will result in a literal, hell on earth.

While UnBound introduces readers to the characters and sees them thrown into the middle of the endless-unseen battle between heaven and hell, for the souls of man, Fractured Souls, willbegin to give readers more insight into the teenage characters.  It will show their struggles to accept the fact that they are half-angels and I hope, will be more of a character driven story, than action one.  Mind you, there will still be plenty of action.  It will also explore the buddingromance between a son of heaven and a daughter of hell.  And you thought your hadrelationship issues.

UnBound: Battle of the Half-Angels, is slated for an April release, from Copperhill Media.  As a little bonus, I have included a preview of Chapter One, at the bottom of this post.  That covered the feathers part of the title, now for the fangs.

I am pleased to tell you guys that the sequel to Crimson Dawn, Black Moon Rising, will be making its way to the masses in the next few months.  The next chapter in Valeria and Irulan’s story is on its way and will find my vampire and faerie in fight for not only their lives, but the lives of the entire Trumaine family.

Unbeknown to her, Val made quite a few enemies in the Faelands as she and Irulan hunted for Tristan, Val’s ex-fiance turned psychotic rouge vampire.  And now the chickens are coming home to roost.   Something is hunting the members of Val’s family and no amount of power can help her, if she’s unable to control it.  Val might be faced with making the ultimate sacrifice if she wants to defeat the big nasty that’s gunning for her.

If you’re a regular visitor to Frogenyozurt.com, then you may have already read the first two chapters that I posted here.  If not, then be sure to go back and read them.  And if on the off chance that you have not read Crimson Dawn, the first book in my Darklife Saga…What are you waiting for?

Crimson Dawn is an awesome mix of paranormal romance and urban fantasy; equal partsvampy action and romance.  But you don’t have to take my word for it.  You can mosey on over to Feedbooks.com and download the first chapter.  Check it out for yourself. http://www.feedbooks.com/userbook/24801/crimson-dawn-darklife-saga.  You can also download the first chapter of UnBound, there also, if you’d rather take your time and read it on an e-reader.

As an added treat for my loyal and uber supportive fans from Wattpad.com, an online readingcommunity, I will be publishing my 2010 Watty Awards entry(and finalist story), Freak Among Freaks, and making it a free read for the first month of publication.  Freak Among Freaks, is a YA title that follows David Trumaine, the teenage adopted son of Valeria and Irulan.  Its storyline runs parallel with the events in Black Moon Rising.

These next few months are going to be really busy, but very rewarding for not only myself, but I hope my readers as well.  If you’re interested in any of the titles that I have mentioned, you can check them out via my post here at http://frogenyozurt.com/, or by heading over to my website, http://www.ronniemassey.com/ .

You can find Crimson Dawn: Darklife Saga BK 1, at Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, and wherever books are sold.  For ebooks you can look at amazon for kindle format, or here for all other formats, http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-crimsondawn-588569-139.html  .

Now here’s the first chapter of UnBound: Battle of the Half-Angels

From the Sons of God and the Daughters of Man – An Introduction to the Half-Angel, Nephilim.

Anyone that’s read my post, know that I love all things, weird, otherworldly, and paranormal.  Most of the topics of my post are vampires, werewolves, and faeries.  Well, today you’re in for a shocker-I’m not writing about any one of thee above (vampires, werewolves, and faeries, that is).  Yes people; this kid is no one trick pony.  Today, my subject of choice is of a divine nature.

And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them.  That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.  And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.  There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.  Genesis6:1-4

And such is the bible’s first description of the Nephilim; the giant, half-human offspring of angels.  While there is mention of the divine offspring in the Torah as well, no religious text speaks more of the doomed race, than The Book of Enoch.  While most Christian groups don’t consider the text religious canon, The Book of Enoch, is composed of five sections.  The first two sections, The Book of the Watchers and The Book of Parables of Enoch, speak of the Angels, Fallen Angels, and the Nephilim.

I first became interested in nephilim after watching an episode of the X-Files, entitled All Souls.  In the episode, Mulder and Skully are tasked with finding the cause of death of a young girl, by Skully’s priest.  The girl’s body is found with her eyes burned out of her head, and herhands upturned towards the heavens.

She turns out to be a one of a set of quadruplets, and Skully finds herself racing against time, to find the other sisters and prevent their deaths at the hands of a Dark Figure.  This figure is shown to have wings and the faces of a lion, satyr, and a fierce bird.  I won’t give an entire synopsis for the episode, but it sparked my fascination with the subject.

My fascination with angels and the nephilim, grew by leaps and bounds with the each new release of the Prophecy film series.  If you haven’t seen the first three movies, with the wonderful Christopher Walkens, do yourself a favor and check them out today.  Walkens plays the Archangel, Gabriel, and his mission goes from trying to destroy mankind, in the first movie, to trying to prevent the birth of a nephilim, in the second movie, and helping prevent said nephilim’s death, in the third installment.

The icing on the cake was the Fox Family adaption of The Fallen, series of novels by, Thomas E. Sniegoski.  In the mini-series, Paul Wesley, plays Aaron Corbett, a young man that learnshe’s a nephilim, and fated to redeem fallen angels so that they can return to heaven.

After Fallen aired, I began researching the subject in earnest.  My research and captivation with angels and nephilim, has manifested itself into my first young adult title, UnBound: Battle of the Half-Angels.

Here’s a small synopsis:

In the days of old, nephillim walked the earth. Half-human and half-angel, their existence is forbidden; a crime so severe that it caused angels to fall from the heavens. After the Great Flood, any remaining nephillim were ordered bound, stripped of their powers.

But Lucifer and his Fallen have broken divine rules, one too many times. Now heaven’s misfits, the nephillim, may be mankind’s only hope at surviving the coming battle between the Light and the Dark.

UnBound: Battle of the Half Angels, will be released soon from Copperhill Media.  But until then, be sure to check back regularly for new post on the fascinating subject.  And check out the trailer below.  As always, you can read more about my work from my post here or at http://frogenyozurt.com/, or by checking out my website, http://www.ronniemassey.com/.

Faeries…fairy’s…faery…fae. No matter how you spell it, or what you call ‘em, I’ve got ‘em for you. (originally posted at Frogenyozurt.com)

Alright, I know I’m jumping the gun a little, as the first book in my Triad series, The Road To Was, has not been released; but I’m going to post the prologue to The Land of Not.  The Land of Not is the sequel to The Road To Was, and, seeing as how I’m still waiting to get Black Moon Rising back from the editor,  I’m ready to throw myself into writing something new.  The Land of Not began screaming at me, “Pick Me!”  So, I’m rolling with it.

The Road To Was and The Land of Not are both YA DarkWorld titles, and like other DarkWorld stories, are spin-offs of Crimson Dawn: Darklife Saga Bk I.  Once I got done with Crimson Dawn and read over it, the time that the two main characters, Valeria and Irulan, spent in the FaeLands, began to stand out.  I am in love with mythology and folklore, and because of Laurell K Hamilton, became aware of the Sidhe of Irish and Scottish mythology.  I’ve read more books dealing with the Fae since then, and it’s only increased my fascination with the subject.  The Sidhe aren’t your run of the mill, sprite sized, butterfly winged faeries, and I totally dig that.  Val and Ire’s jaunt into Fae territory was the perfect starting point for me to began building my own version of the Fae.

After finishing the first draft of Ascension, my werewolf novel, I wanted to do another young adult title.  It just so happened to be November; time for NANOWRIMO (NationalNovel Writing Month), and I wanted to challenge myself to write a complete novel in a month.  The timing was perfect.  Everything came together and The Road To Was, was birthed in 29 days.

With The Road To Was, I was able to delve into the FaeLands, Irulan’s birthplace, and begin building the magical, steampunk, world of my imagination.  It’s sitting on the shelf now, waiting for me to come back to it and finish up the re-writes and editing.  Until I get ready to bring those characters to the masses, I’m going to begin working on the sequel.

The Land of Not is a YA DarkWorld title.  While none of the Darkworld characters that readers are familiar with, make an appearance in The Road To Was, Valeria, my smart-mouthed vampire from Crimson Dawn, is making one in the second book of my Triad Series.  She’s got a pretty important role to play when it comes to aiding the heroine of the story.

I’m posting the prologue because I’m looking for a little feedback.  Let me know what you think before I get too far into the story.  Would you want to continue reading after finishing the prologue?  Tell me what I need to change.

So without further ado, here it is people.  Remember to let me know what you think.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Sometimes you don't realize something is happening until someone points it out to you.  As a writer, you may not realize how much you use a particular word or phrase, until someone sit's you down and points it out.  Who might that someone be?  Why an editor of course.  Why am I mentioning editors?  Because my grammar leaves a lot to be desired. 

As a writer, it almost leaves a bad taste in my mouth to admit that, but I am.  I never suffer from a lack of ideas.  My imagination is wonderful.  New ideas pop into my head all the time.  Sometimes new ideas and story lines  railroad whatever story I'm working on at the moment; forcing me to pay attention to them.  I often have to put aside my work and jot down a line or two, or maybe an outline.  Nope, no problems in the idea department.  But my grammar...yeah, my grammar is horrible and I own that fact.  

Where my imagination, I feel, is my biggest strength, self editing is my biggest weakness as a writer.  While I personally would rather read a great story with a few mistakes in it, rather than one with perfect punctuation, but a weak story line; not all readers feel the same.  Believe me, this is a fact that I have learned.  Faerie Wishes and Jaguar Kisses got reamed by an amazon reader for poor editing.  Aside from a lot of readers,most publishers and agents, don't share my sentiments either.  If you're going to query your work, you'd best put your best foot forward, because most publishers and agents will turn away a manuscript that is poorly edited. And guess what, the spell/ grammar checker does not qualify as an editor.  (I was told this, so I'm passing it along)  If you're a writer that is either querying or self-publishing, and remember nothing else as you research the publishing industry, remember to always have your work edited.  Even if you're grammatical skills are Jedi-Master level, always have a fresh set of eyes go over your work.

For many of my stories, I'd get one of my sisters to edit them for me.  But now that two of them have graduated college and entered the workforce, they don't have the time to dedicate to editing my work anymore.  For a long time I put off finding someone to edit.  Part of it was hesitation with trusting an outsider with my work and part of it was finding someone that I could afford.

Lucky for me I found Bev Harrison, or rather she found me.  Bev took on the task of editing Faerie Wishes and Jaguar Kisses, and has pointed out issues that never would have stood out me, had not she pointed them out.  If you're a writer in need of an editor, Bev is exactly what you're looking for.  But in the words of LeVar Burton, you don't have to take my word for it.  Head over to her newly launched website and check out the glowing recommendations from other authors.


http://bevharrosproofreading.weebly.com/index.html 

Until next post.

Black Moon Rising: DarkLife Saga Book II: Chapter 2 Sneak Peek

Hi everyone. A few weeks ago I posted the first chapter of Black Moon Rising, the sequel to Crimson Dawn. If you are unfamiliar with Crimson Dawn, it is the first book in my DarkLife Saga and revolves around a pureblood vampire named Valeria Trumaine. The first book introduces readers to not only Val, but her best friend Irulan, and a host of other supernatural beings. It follows the two women as they try to apprehend Val’s ex-fianceturned rogue. I must admit that I take the ladies on a wild ride as they race top stop Tristan from killing and turning innocent people.

Black Moon Rising picks up three months after the events in Crimson Dawn and it’s a new ballgame for Val and Irulan. Val goes through many changes in Crimson Dawn and has to dealwith some of the ramifications of those changes in B.M.R. Readers will also get to know some other members of Valeria’s family such as her twin brother Valerian and her adopted son David, whom readers were introduced to in Crimson Dawn.

Black Moon Rising, I hope, will prove to be just as thrilling a ride as Crimson Dawn is. I am deep into re-writes, but decided to post a few sneak peeks anyway.

If you missed the first chapter of Black Moon Rising, you can read it here: http://frogenyozurt.com/2011/12/dark-life-saga-book-2-black-moon-rising-sneak-peak/

You can read more about Crimson Dawn here: http://crimsondawn.copperhillmedia.com/

Crimson Dawn: Darklife Saga Bk 1, is available now from Copperhill Media in paperback and ebook format at Amazon, All Romance EBooks.com, Barnes and Nobles.com, and other places books are sold.

Never Again: An Irulan Short, UnSpoken: A Val and Irulan Short, and Faerie Wishes andJaguar Kisses: A DarkWorld Novella, are available on Amazon, Smashwords, and Barnes and Nobles.com

You can read more about all my DarkLife/DarkWorld titles and my other works at my website http://www.ronniemassey.com/.

Or by checking out my post at http://frogenyozurt.com/.

To read the second chapter of Black Moon Rising, please go here:

Black Moon Rising: DarkLife Saga Book II: Chapter 2 Sneak Peek

Darklife Saga Book II: Black Moon Rising Sneak Peek

I’m dropping by to give everyone a sneak peek at the next book in the DarkLife Saga, Black Moon Rising. While I still have a good bit of rewriting and editing to do, the first draft is finished. So what you are about to read is subject to change a little before it finally makes it to publication. But it will give readers an idea as to what direction I am taking with the second story.

Black Moon Rising picks up a few months after the events in Crimson Dawn and will find not only Valeria, but the entire Trumaine family coming under fire because of Val and her actions in the Faelands. Not only are the Trumaine’s facing the toughest challenge they’ve ever had to face, Valerian, Val’s twin brother, has tasked Val and Irulan with finding a killer, or the innocent man he’s been asked to defend is going to die.

One of the challenges I’ve had with writing Black Moon Rising, is coming up with an antagonist strong enough to give Valeria a run for her money. She gets a huge power boost in Crimson Dawn, so I couldn’t have her going up against just anyone and expect it to fly. I think I’ve done a pretty good job with coming up with a suitable villain, but I’ll let the readers be the judge of that in time.

Black Moon Rising also marks the return of someone from Irulan’s past. I won’t say who, but I will give you a hint that will make it really easy to guess… read my DarkLife Short, Never Again: An Irulan Short. The past is coming back to bite everyone in the behind in the second installment and it won’t be pretty.

Crimson Dawn: Darklife Saga Bk 1, is available now from Copperhill Media in paperback and ebook format at Amazon, All Romance EBooks.com, Barnes and Nobles.com, and other places books are sold.

Never Again: An Irulan Short, UnSpoken: A Val and Irulan Short, and Faerie Wishes and Jaguar Kisses: A DarkWorld Novella, are all available on Amazon, Smashwords, and Barnes and Nobles.com

You can read more about all my DarkLife/DarkWorld titles and my other works at my website http://www.ronniemassey.com/, or by checking out my post here at http://frogenyozurt.com/.

So without further ado, here is the first chapter of Black Moon Rising: Darklife Saga Book 2

To read the first chapter please head here:

Darklife Saga Book II: Black Moon Rising Sneak Peek