I just finished the revision of Astrid Maxxim and will start the editing process tomorrow. This usually doesn’t take too long, especially with such a short book. You should expect to see it out in less than two weeks. I’ll keep you informed. I’ve also got to start thinking about a summary or blurb as I like to call it.
I spent the day playing with my new iPhone 4S instead of working on my story. I’ve pretty much got it all set up now, and I so I’m revising right now.
Israel is the last of the major characters in Blood Trade, and he’s my least favorite. This is because he’s similar to other vampire characters. I didn’t want to write a vampire like other vampire stories, but I had to have this one. Israel is a 200+ year old vampire who is at the center of a network of vampires. He thinks of himself as invincible and sort of a rock star, and he thinks of human beings as big thermos bottles. Israel has big plans that go beyond the stuff that vampires are usually into– but I can’t give away much more than that without ruining the plot.
I hope you enjoyed the look into the characters of Blood Trade over the past few days. Next up, I’ll be looking at the characters of Women of Power.
Lance Rizzello is a character in Blood Trade. I loved writing Lance because in a book filled with evil vampires, he’s completely human and more evil than any of them. Lance is a dirty cop, working part time as an enforcer for the mob, and working all the time for himself. Everything is about power and obligation with Lance. Who owes him a favor? Who does he owe? Everybody is afraid of him, from the baddest pimps and drug dealers to Xochitl, and with good reason.
I almost never change a character name after I start writing, but Lance went through a series of first and last names. First I changed his name because it was the same as a character in a movie (that I hadn’t seen), and then I changed because it was too close to a character in a story a friend was writing. Then I changed it because it wasn’t right. In the end though, I don’t think Lance’s name is that important. He’s a strong enough character no matter what his name is.
Sid Case is one of the characters in my book Blood Trade. Sid is a tattoo artist and the owner of Robot Slut Tattoo. He has a deal worked out with Xochitl that she will serve as his tattoo model and canvas, and in return he helps her dispose of the bodies of the vampires she terminates. Sid is a large guy, overweight, with lots of tattoos. He loves 70s music, including disco, and he (not-so-secretly) loves Xochitl. They met back when she was a stripper and he frequented her club, staring at the skull tattooed on her lower stomach and stuffing more than a few singles into her g-string, but they didn’t become closer until she saved him from vampire attack.
Seems like about once every two months, I’m saying that I’m putting The Young Sorceress on hold as I do something else. It really seems to be a hard book to finish. I’ve actually considered scrapping it entirely and just making Senta and the Steel Dragon a 4 1/2 book series. But now that I’ve got almost seven chapters done, I wouldn’t do that. I am however, setting it aside as I do something else….
I need to get the revision and editing done for Astrid Maxxim. I want it to be out and available for Christmas, for all those young people who get Kindles, Nooks, and iPads under their trees. This book is aimed at 10-14 year olds, but hopefully others will like it as well. It shouldn’t take too long to revise and edit, as it is a relatively short book. I’ll let you know.
Novelyne Cavendish is a two hundred year old vampire who works as a secretary in Sin City Detective Agency. I really didn’t want this book to have a “good” vampire. The whole basis of the book is that vampires are bad. However, Novelyne is at least trying to be good– to go “vegetarian.”
Novelyne’s last name is Cavendish because I wanted her to be distantly related to Xochitl, so an Irish surname seemed the best way to express that. Her first name I have been saving for a long time to use on a character. I originally heard the name from the friend of Conan creator Robert E. Howard– Novalyne Price Ellis. I changed the spelling as an in-joke… because she’s a character in a novel.
Novelyne is short and blond, both because I wanted to play against the usual vampire type, but also because I was thinking about how people two hundred years ago were for the most part smaller. I also gave her a little catch phrase of her own– “He’s really, really nice. I really, really like him.”
Xochitl McKenna is the main character of Blood Trade. She is a private eye and Goth tattoo model in a very dark version of Las Vegas. She is a former army ranger, and as such is an excellent hand-to-hand fighter and marksman, and she has a very personal hatred of vampires.
Xochitl’s first name is Nahuatl (Aztec) for flower. Her last name is Irish. This reflects the family heritage that she barely remembers of a half Mexican, half African American mother and a blond, blue eyed father.
As a tattoo model, Xochitl is the canvas for her friend, tattoo artist Sid Case. She has a variety of tattoos including a very fuctional tattoo of a cross on her neck, but Sid’s masterwork is her right sleeve which features a pastiche of the macabre including the images of Stephen King, Batman, Betty Page, and Marilyn Monroe.
One little quirk that Xochitl has is that she can’t leave cash laying around. If she sees money, she has to pick it up. This sometimes includes money in someone else’s wallet. Originally I did this because I wanted all the characters in this book to have some bizarre quirt, but it became something important for the plot.
Blood Trade is available wherever fine ebooks are sold for $2.99. It is recommended only for adults.
“No. I’m not sure.”
Behind every moderately successful man is a woman who wishes he was more successful, and did his fair share of housework (and didn’t think that when he did it, he was “helping her out”), exercised more, and wasn’t nearly as sarcastic.
Happy Birthday Dear.
City of Amathar 