In celebration of the launch of War of Nytefall, I invited Charles to take over the Top Ten duties for today. Also, it is Charles’ birthday so today is very special. Without delay, I give you Charles E. Yallowitz.
A big thanks to John, especially for letting me do one of his famous ‘Top 10’ lists in order to promote my new book. Since my latest fantasy adventure series, War of Nytefall: Loyalty, revolves around vampires, we’re going to go over some warnings to keep in mind. (For fun, check out the opposing list on My Train of Thoughts On . . .)
If you are hanging out with a vampire, do not try to invite them to brunch. If you do, at best they’ll be a Dawn Fang and say they aren’t hungry. At worst, you will end up eating across from…
Main character description (short): Clyde was a vampiric thief, but the Great Cataclysm and fifty years of being buried alive has changed him. He has returned with more strength, speed, and ferocity than has ever been seen among the vampires. While fuelled by arrogance and confidence, he is aware that Windemere is not the same world he previously thrived in. Even worse, Clyde must contend with a savage bloodlust that even his old friends might be unable to help him keep under control.
Synopsis:
In the wake of the Great Cataclysm, a new predator will emerge from within Windemere’s shadow.
For fifty years, Clyde has been trapped beneath the earth while the vampire kingdom has been gradually losing its war against the Sun God’s followers. Only Mab believes that her partner survived his holy…
In the wake of the Great Cataclysm, a new predator will emerge within Windemere’s shadow.
For fifty years, Clyde has been trapped beneath the earth while the vampire kingdom has been gradually losing its war against the Sun God’s followers. Only Mab believes that her partner survived his holy execution and is determined to bring him back to the city of Nyte. Retrieving the vampiric thief is only the beginning as he comes out of the ground stronger, faster, and possessing abilities that their kind have never witnessed throughout their ancient history. Thrown into the war, Clyde must be careful to hide his true nature while fighting alongside his old friends. Too bad he is having so much fun being free that keeping his secret might be the furthest thing from his mind.
Will anyone be ready for the inevitable rise of the Dawn Fangs?
Book Excerpt: Execution Interrupted
“Feels like the earth is shaking,” Titus whispers more to himself than his friends. The ground abruptly lurches to the side as if the hill is having a violent spasm. “What in all of Windemere was that? Is this part of the execution? Maybe Clyde is using his illusions to . . . That’s not Clyde. Tell me you two see this.”
Decker and Mab begrudgingly stop their argument to follow Titus’s gaze, which is locked on the horizon. Ripples of magic run through colorful clouds that are billowing across the sky like they are being pursued by a terrifying predator. Constant explosions shake the land and the wind carries the sound of distant screaming, but nobody can discern any of the words. Cracks of lightning rain down on the landscape, the purple streaks pulverizing whatever they hit. In response, blasts of lava erupt from the earth and punch holes in the rushing storm. People cower as the molten rock returns in a hardened state and crushes those who are not quick enough to get out of the way. Animals run and fly in every direction, the threat so enormous that none of the creatures can figure out where they would be safe. Throughout it all, the executioners continue pulling Clyde apart while the other priests work to put up a barrier that shimmers and sputters around the temple and village. Sensing danger, the three vampires drop to the ground an instant before the holy shield explodes and sends a razor-sharp circle of sunlight across the land. All those too slow to react are sliced in half, but they continue to scream as the twisted magic keeps them alive.
Getting to their feet, the trio cautiously moves closer to the edge of the hill, which is now a sheer cliff devoid of plant life. They watch in horror as the region turns into a rocky landscape with a few patches of trees that grow to twice their natural size. A quake knocks the vampires down and they cling to the earth as an ear-wrenching shriek fills the air. The Duragian temple quivers before the valley floor collapses and every building falls into the ravenous pit. Mab heals her injuries by using most of the blood in her body and scrambles ahead of her friends. She can barely hear Clyde screaming and laughing as the execution circle slides into the water-like dirt along with everyone around it. The surviving mortals struggle to escape, but they are unable to find any handholds that do not break away and send them tumbling into the chaos. With a startling jerk, all of the surrounding hills sink until they are nothing more than small bumps in the earth. By the time the Great Cataclysm has ended, the three vampires are the only ones left in the area and the greatest stronghold of their enemies has been consumed down to the smallest of structures. The only sign that anything once stood in the former valley is a faint glow coming out of a single crack in the dry ground. As the silent minutes pass, the light steadily grows dimmer until it to is nothing more than a memory.
Charles Yallowitz was born and raised on Long Island, NY, but he has spent most of his life wandering his own imagination in a blissful haze. Occasionally, he would return from this world for the necessities such as food, showers, and Saturday morning cartoons. One day he returned from his imagination and decided he would share his stories with the world. After his wife decided that she was tired of hearing the same stories repeatedly, she convinced him that it would make more sense to follow his dream of being a fantasy author. So, locked within the house under orders to shut up and get to work, Charles brings you Legends of Windemere. He looks forward to sharing all of his stories with you, and his wife is happy he finally has someone else to play with.
(Apparently, this was the top of the charts the day I was born.)
A few minutes ago, I hit publish on War of Nytefall: Loyalty. The sale site should be up by the time I finish the morning appointments and errands. That means I’ll be sitting down this afternoon to get all the promos sent out and started. For those who volunteered to help, I’ll be sending files that have Word and HTML versions inside as well as the cover art and author photo. My priorities for the set up is going to be:
Guest posts (Never too late to ask for the ‘Book is Live’ post or a personalized topic)
Weekly tweet set up
Run through scheduled posts to add the Amazon link
The ‘Book is Live’ post won’t be up until tomorrow though and I’ll be scrambling to reply to things. The reason is because Monday is my birthday, so Sunday is the only day I have to see a movie (Ready Player One) and go out for dinner with the family. I don’t like throwing up the post and walking away, but timing is iffy. Part of the issue was the timing of my son’s Spring Break. Releasing at the beginning of that would have meant I’d spend the first week away from my computer. This means only the first day of the release is chaotic.
Speaking of the Spring Break, it was rather exhausting and didn’t do my nerves any wonder. The whole thing started with Passover and I didn’t finish the final edits before the whole thing started. It took a few nights of to get that done since I refused to edit while exhausted and I lost last Thursday through Saturday. Think I managed to finish it on Wednesday night? Things became a blur because of the weather and my son’s 3 hour martial arts camp didn’t give me enough time to comfortably edit a chapter. We watched ‘Justice League’ after that. Had a play date with friends and the rain destroyed the other days’ outdoor activities.
Frustration did set in a lot of times. Bought my son a new Lego set with four characters (Flash, Reverse Flash, Cyborg, and Killer Frost), but found that NONE of the characters were in the sealed bags. Even the decals were missing, so we had to rush back to the store and do an exchange. At first, I was told that they couldn’t exchange Legos, which got a ‘OH, MAN!’ from my son. They found out they could since I was switching it for the only other one in the store. That had the pieces and he’s been happy.
The other frustrating thing was playing Lego Indiana Jones with my son. We were playing Lego Batman for a while, which is apparently a lot easier. He also had gotten used to being invulnerable, which we haven’t unlocked yet. The thing with Lego Indie is that you have to build, dig, and solve puzzles while getting charged by an endless wave of bad guys as well as deal with booby traps. An 8-year-old doesn’t understand the traps and the puzzles weren’t as straightforward as the Batman ones. So, the times he took a level, I was yelling directions and ending each ‘adventure’ with him patting me on the head and saying that I tried. Keep in mind that he’s thanking me for trying to direct him. The most common phrases:
“Go left! That’s the right! Left! Not up! Left! Cliff!”
“Stop switching to Marion and jumping around!”
“Why are you literally running in a circle?”
“Break and points!”
“Bad guy . . . Bad guy . . . BAD GUY!”
“Please stop making the llama poop.”
He had a blast, but I was drained because we were trying to save up points for an expensive extra. I’d learned on the first run that he didn’t like ending a level with less than 10,000 points and you lose 2-4 grand every time you die. Hence, me yelling like a maniac and trying to do it animated enough that he found it funny. I really can’t figure out how Batman came out easier than this one, but the bad guys with grenades and rocket launchers definitely make a difference. After all, he never seems to notice those characters are around.
Next week is going to be low key for me. I need a week to recover my energy, especially with these panic attacks getting worse. It’s only really at night too. Actual birthday is Monday and Tuesday is a parent/teacher conference, so I wouldn’t be in the mood to dive into a new book or editing run anyway. I’ll probably set up posts for June, outlining some other stories, and look for more sites to help push War of Nytefall. Really hoping this series comes out strong. Haven’t decided what the background noise will be since being cooped up in my room might not be that appealing. Can’t watch anime downstairs where everyone is hanging out either. I might give a look around Netflix and Amazon Prime to see if there’s anything that my wife isn’t interested in.
Plans for the week?
Release and promote War of Nytefall: Loyalty
Birthday movie, dinner, and possible outing for a drink or two.
June posts
Look over War of Nytefall: Tempetation outline.
Outline more of the Sin stories
Watch an anime
Finish reading the Dragonball Z manga
Possible pizza reward depending on bday dinner
Sleep a bit more
As stated, feel free to request the HTML ‘Book is Live’ post that will be up tomorrow. Help is always appreciated.
My real name is Mônica Mastrantonio and Margareth Stewart is my pen name, but I like it so much that I ask to people to call me Margareth. I was born in Brazil in a little town called Londrina which stands for Little London as it was colonized by the British, and I also have Italian citizenship because of my great-grand-parents that immigrated there. Now I live in Sao Paolo, few months in Miami and at writer´s residencies around the world. Besides, I´m a PhD professor and tutor in Social and Organizational Psychology at University, a busy-mom of three kids, and so many other projects around.
What inspired your book “Open/Pierre´s journey after war”?
Can you believe it was a Facebook group? Nano Writing Month! Awesome, I know. It was November, and this group ran a contest for the person who would reach 50.000 word-counts first…
Welcome to . . . Oh, one of your kind. Sorry, but things always get complicated when vampires come looking. Humans get the standard things like pillows, colorful decorations, fancy woods, televisions on the inside of the lid, and minibars in the sides. Those I can do without raising any questions, but vampires require that we go into the basement and you pay extra. Follow me through this casket, which never sells because nobody liked this band in the first place. Not that one, but another one that we don’t have the rights to mention here.
First, I’m obligated to tell you that we don’t make crypts and mausoleums. Nothing more than the caskets and coffins here. Materials range from various types of wood to stone to glass. We have more unique types like gold and steel. We actually try to steer your kind away from wood because of a common tactic with hunters. They’ll take part of the lid and use it as a stake, which is fairly ingenious. Hey, you can admire the creative style of your opponent while undoing it. Cardboard is an option for some reason. So, you want cardboard with metal inside to give the illusion of a regular box. That sounds like it could backfire, but I see no reason why we can’t do it. Just know that we are not responsible for it being mistaken for garbage.
Considering you don’t want this to look like a casket, we’ll skip the outside additions. Yes, we have decals that you can add to make it more authentic. Now, are you a vampire that requires dirt inside or can we do a nice lining? Both is possible. Give us a sample of what you need and we can have rune-covered containers built into the corners. You don’t get dirty, but still has the same effect. Let me get some measurements to know how stuffed the lining can be without making it too cramped. Since you’re not actually dead, you still toss and turn a bit, so you need wiggle room. We do have an addition where you can add a scent to the lining by adding perfume infused beads. Our most popular smells are lavender, new car, summer bog, pizza, and cedar wood chips. For some reason, vampires don’t like chocolate because it reminds them of what they can’t have. All you have to do is come back once every three months for a batch of oil to pour into a hidden port.
Now for the fun additions that will make this almost like a home. After all, vampires don’t fall asleep right away, so it pays to have some entertainment. As I said, we have televisions for the dead, which have small batteries. For you, we can add a bigger battery that you can recharge during your travels. Other options are video game systems, computers . . . Well, I guess the noise would attract people to the box. That’s why we can put in some soundproofing if you really want this. Another idea is a variation on the mini-bar, which is a small library. You can’t fit more than ten books in there, but you can always switch out the ones you’ve already read. Sure, eBook readers are an option, but the lighting might be bad for your eyes in there.
Those are the main parts and we can go over the nuances later. Please note that we carry warranties by the decade instead of single years. Vampires are practically immortal and you guys tend to lose all concept of time as you age. Any other questions? No, I’m not Timmy. My name is Tommy, but there was a typo in the sign and stationary, so I went with it.
Don Massenzio It’s time for the next subject for my 2018 author interview series. Author interviews are posted every Friday throughout the year. I am honored to continue this series with author, artist, musician and blogger Nicholas T. Davis Nick … Continue reading →
Titus Winthrop is Mab’s younger brother who stands at about 7 feet tall and wields twin claymores because he can. Might seem rather blunt, but that actually works for the character to some extent. He’s also part of a trio that stems from the Vampire game I played prior to going to college. These are my high school friends who introduced me to the game and we didn’t take it seriously at all. Mayhem and acting like monstrous vampires was the point, which is why my vampirized author didn’t really fit. I’ll get to him later in the post. Titus is definitely not the guy he was back then though. In fact, he doesn’t even have the same name.
Way back when, his name was Lurch because he was huge. He carried big guns and never shied away from a fight. There was also a session where he freaked out at the sight of fire and went berserk in a CVS. It still fit the mood of the game because it was all about having fun and being vampires. Combat was a constant activity and I think Lurch might have been the instigator a lot of the times. Definitely wasn’t boring when he was around even when he was revived for a summer game where I used Clyde. Talk about a pair that shouldn’t be in the same zip code much less the same room. Both of them enjoyed fighting so much that you’d never know what would happen. This is also where Lurch was introduced to the ‘Merit/Flaw’ system that allowed you to customize characters. So, he was reborn after a quick explanation of Large Size and Ambidexterity followed by everyone turning pale at him requested two giant swords. Man, was he a force of destruction after that one.
While I kept his physical stature, I couldn’t keep the rest. The name had to change and I thought of Titus because it was close to Titan. He actually had the surname of Winthrop first and then I thought it would be fun to make him Mab’s brother. He was turned by one of her enemies in the hopes of using him against her, but it backfired and the siblings teamed up. I’m actually thinking that Titus was the one who joined Mab and Clyde to turn their partnership into the begins of the gang. This also meant he couldn’t be a battle-crazed monster, so I made him intelligent and insightful. At the very least, he’s more cool-headed and has no problem voicing his opinion. That doesn’t say much in some instances because I had to honor the original by giving him a temper. It’s not as easy to trigger, but it’s there and rather specific.
Oddly enough, Titus brings in a big sense of family to the series. The rage triggers I gave him revolve entirely around threats to the gang, which he sees as his brothers and sisters. Mab gets special preference, but he’d rip a person’s head off for making a move on anyone, including Clyde who is more powerful. In this way, Titus became a protector and leader within the ranks, which helped out a lot in terms of the group dynamic. While Clyde and Mab are more adept at solo and duo jobs, Titus is the one who works with larger groups and that’s why I designed the Vengeance Hounds. They’re not thieves, so much as mercenaries and bandits. Seriously, a giant of a man can’t pickpocket if his hands are too big to get into the pocket. This also helped the transition for Titus and his companions in the wake of Clyde’s disappearance. Since they were more warrior than thief, it wasn’t too difficult to become Xavier’s special ops team. This does pose a problem though since it has led to their ranks being reduced to 3 by the time the series begins. It’s another factor in Titus’s protective nature and will be a deciding factor in his Dawn Fang powers if he decides to accept the change.
The funny story deals with the one time Titus, when he was Lurch, couldn’t do anything in a fight. It was hilarious because he missed with every roll and it was against mortals in a bar fight he started. On the other hand, my artist vampire was destroying everyone as he tried to get out in one piece. I was putting people through tables and shattering chairs over heads with my piddly strength. The giant was doing more damage to his pride and ended up having to get dragged out by me. This led to us being hunted too, which ended with my guy getting his head blown off by an Ithaca Shotgun (I asked the gunman before death) and Titus/Lurch getting away. Eh, it was the last game we’d get to play before we all went off to college and I still chuckle about it. How could I not use Titus after such a fun time?
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Cover Art by Alison Hunt 
