Margarita Felices with a picture post

Hello, Margarita,

Welcome to my blog today.
When I read your post, I laughed.
Oh my, I bet many enjoyed the holidays a little too much. Let's hear your story.

When I sat down and thought about what I should write, I began to realise why I never started a blog.   I just couldn’t think of anything to say – and who would want to listen(read) any of my ramblings?

I could tell you all about my strict plans over the Christmas holidays to knuckle down and get on with the second part of my trilogy – and I did intend to do just that – but have you ever stuck to a plan over the holidays?  I loved that I had 12 days off work; I planned what I would do on each day.  But lay-ins are just too tempting and before you know it, it’s already afternoon and you hadn’t even switched the laptop on! 

And then there’s the realisation that it was now the weekend before you are due back at work, and all you’ve managed to do is watch rubbish TV and eat far too much! 

So in a huge panic, I started back on the novel and increased the volume by 2000 words in a

little over 8 days.  

                                                   Result!

                                     

But now I’m stuck.  You see, my last novel had a certain number of words and I was aiming for the same, my horror is realising it’s a lot less and that something is missing from it and I can’t put my finger on it.  So my only course of action is to distance myself from it - for perhaps a week - and then go back and read what I have and hope that inspiration comes and and that the guilt of not having found this out sooner doesn’t drive me completely insane! 

                                                                   
About Me? 

 Well let’s see…

J  firstly, a lady never reveals her age so let’s just say in my head I’m still very young at heart.                                                              

I live in a beautiful part of the UK known as Wales.  For those who don’t know where that is, if you look at a map of the UK, Wales is on the left.   It’s a green and lush country, with forests and gardens, waterfalls and mountains.  (It really is like this outside of the city, I’m only 10 miles from the mountains and all of this). 

But it does tend to rain a lot in the winter.  We do have a nice summer that lasts for a few weeks and sometimes it stays around for a bit longer.  

I love September in Wales; it’s still warm enough to walk around in t-shirts and in October we see the trees change colour, it’s a month that fills me with such awe. 

(This is Cardiff Castle in the Autumn).

The wonderful changes that happen are something poets have tried to capture in their work, but can never get it quite right.  We have great castles in Wales.  If you need inspiration, just look them up on the computer and you can conjure up a magical story of Knights and naughty wenches.

  

Our coastline is incredibly old and if you’re a fossil hunter, you won’t have to walk around for too long before you come across something of interest. It does go on for miles though, and so sometimes a nice stroll along the shoreline, may end up being a few miles away from your car!

When I started to write I knew straight away that I wasn’t going to be able to write anything normal - nothing romantic or about real life as it is today (although I did have a stab at a short romance, but the urge to turn them into something supernatural was overwhelming at times!J).   I began my writing journey by sending in short stories for inclusion in women’s magazines. I managed to sell over a dozen stories and it paid my way through college. I was always interested in history and the supernatural, I’m a horror film fan, and I love anything that messes about with your head. I do avoid slasher type films and stories - there’s nothing clever in that type of thing.  But I love love love Vampires! 
 

   
         Rockstar Vampire – oh yes)

I’ve always had a weird sort of fascination with them, but I find the women in the films or stories to be so pathetic.  And that is why one day I sat down and began to write my own vampire story.

JUDGEMENT OF SOULS 3: Kiss at Dawn 

I love to write paranormal stories.  I started to write Judgement of Souls because I was already tired of the same old vampire stories that produced weak female leads and I wanted to read something that hadn’t been done before.   My novel is a different kind of vampire story; it’s not about vampires attacking humans for blood. In a way, it’s the history of two families eventually connected to each other through the centuries, one mortal and one vampire.  The story begins in the time of the Crusades and ends in modern times.  I decided to make this trilogy slightly different. Instead of starting at the beginning, I started on the third part and I’m working my way back.  My aim is to have three books that can be read in any order and still make sense, so it’s quite a task.

Rachel de Grosnez.   

Is the main character in my trilogy of books called, Judgement of Souls. 

When we meet Rachel in this third story, she is already a strong vampire, but she has her vulnerable side.  She is 300 years old and over the centuries has taken lots of lovers, but she’s never been in love, and with everything else that’s happened to her, she’s still looking for that one person who will make her forget her troubles and be willing to share his life with hers - forever. 

When Rachel was 16 years old, a dashing vampire called Max
arrived to the Elysium, (that’s the vampire colony on the island of Santorini that is hidden from the mortal world).  He pays a lot of attention to the young and naïve 16 year old and soon he has her head filled with all the adventures he’s had and all the places he’s seen around the world, and Rachel is hooked.  But Max is at the Elysium for a reason, he wants to steal the vampires’ most sacred book, the Book of Cain.

The book is the most important item to the vampire community.  It’s their bible and it was used when Rachel’s parents wanted a child - their reward for being its guardians and the teachers of the chants and verses contained inside – and so Rachel was born to them, two pureblood vampires.  It also protects the Elysium from the outside world.  Sixteen is an important age for a vampire; it is the age when they will be made into a vampire and Rachel has to go through a ceremony that will take her away from everyone for a whole month. This is when Max takes the opportunity to steal the book, he causing chaos at the Elysium - and then he’s gone.  When Rachel returns, she witnesses her parents’ punishment and then their banishment from the community, and she swears revenge on Max and promises that she will return her parents to their proper status within the Elysium. 

 

 But now 300 years have passed and Rachel is thinking that she will never accomplish what she promised her parents she’d do.  And then on one Halloween night, she meets Daniel, a nightclub owner. 

And it’s almost as if it was meant to be, the pull between them is so strong.  Rachel and Daniel feel a deep connection with each other, but it goes further, something they can’t explain is pulling them together.

Writing this story has been so much fun.  I never thought I’d be involved in such an adventure and the research I’ve had to do has proved to be very interesting. 

 One of the characters I haven’t mentioned is Arun, he’s Rachel’s best friend and in book two, he teaches her everything she needs to know about being a vampire after she leaves the Elysium – and she needs the help! 

I have had a lot of feedback, mainly about him. 

He features quite a bit in JOS2 – he even falls in love with a mortal!

     

But it’s not been all plain sailing for my human and vampire characters. Judgement of Souls is not just a story about love and the search for the Book of Cain - there’s the Righteous too.

                                                         

If you’ve heard of the Knights Templar, then get ready for the Righteous. They’ve been around since the times of the Crusades and when the Templars became just a little too hard to handle, the Righteous were sanctioned by the Pope to do his bidding.  The honour of membership passes to the eldest son of each member of the Righteous, once the place had been surrendered because of death or old age, so the Knights have always remained active over the centuries.  The Knights became notorious for hunting down every mortal and immortal associated with vampires, witches and anything else they deemed supernatural.  Watch out for more on them in the second book, Judgement of Souls 2: The Call of the Righteous.  This is where the connection between Daniel and his family are revealed.

HERE ARE THE LINKS FOR JUDGMENT OF SOULS, AS WELL AS THE LINKS TO MY TWO SHORT STORIES.

http://www.amazon.com/Judgement-of-Souls-ebook/dp/B006QFPHJC/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Judgement-of-Souls-ebook/dp/B006QFPHJC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328965289&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Margarita-Felices/e/B007BHDIVS/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

JOIN the JOS Facebook page.

Come on by and join the fangs...   V””V

http://www.facebook.com/JudgementOfSouls3TheKissAtDawn 

Follow me on Twitter:  @felicm60

WATCH the short promo that accompanies the novel.

http://youtu.be/h-Zb8x9bSho

What a lovely picture show and great post, Margarita. Thanks so much for sharing with us.   Please leave a comment below. We'd love to hear your thoughts.