Hey
everyone! Thank you to The Creatively Green Write at Home Mom for hosting me
today.
I’ve
been asked to compile a top ten list for your reading pleasure. No pressure,
right?
Instead
of telling you my top ten movies or books because – I can never decide and there are just too many choices, so please don’t
make me – I came up with something a bit different.
There is
no rhyme or reason to the information below. It’s just for fun. And, yes, I did
include a shameless plug for my novel – Dead
Girls Don’t Cry.
Casey’s Top Ten List of Odds and Ends!
1.
Balled up newspaper works great for drying out the inside of drenched sneakers.
Next time you get your sneaks soaking wet, try it. If they are super soaked, you
will need to periodically pull out the wet paper and replace it with dry, but
it will get the wetness out faster than air drying or using the dryer. Credit
for this tip goes to the Boy Scouts!
2. Vampires
don’t actually live on Mars. But if you’d like to believe they could, then look
no further than Dead Girls Don’t Cry.
Cherry Cordial, a vampire stripper, finds herself falsely accused of murder and
has to flee for her undead life where she joins a colony on Mars comprised of
other undead races. Also, Google Mars is a real thing, check it at: www.google.com/mars/
3. When
smelling scented candles, sniff the lid, not the actual candle. By doing this
you will get a better idea of what the candle will smell like and how strong
the scent will be when it's lit. Yes, I have a loads of practice candle
sniffing at the Yankee Candle Flagship Store (in Deerfield, MA) and at various
malls. And speaking of Yankee Candle, my new favorite scent is Maple Sugar
(exclusively found at the flagship store)!
4.
According to my bestest buddy Lisa - food has no calories when you are standing
up. Or if you are at a party. Or if it's your birthday. Did I miss any? I'm
pretty sure that is a load of crap, but it's fun to believe while snacking. Also,
walking around with your phone playing Pokemon Go! totally counts as exercise.
5. I
have never left the continent of North America. I tell my hubby that I must
travel to places, like Australia, to prove to myself that other parts of the
world are real. I know that they actually exist but I'm just hoping he will buy
my rationale. Some day. Someday soon, I will explore other places. Does anyone
else feel that way?
6. Movie
theater chains make their money from the concession stand and not the actual
films. This is why a bottle of water costs $4.00 and popcorn $7.00 (although
our local chain gives free re-fills on the large size, probably because popcorn
is dirt cheap to make). I only know this because I worked in a movie theater,
where I met hubby.
7. When
making grilled cheese, instead of buttering the bread, melt the butter in the
pan. This will give it that crunchy, buttery sheen like you get when you eat
grilled cheese in a restaurant. What? You’ve never ordered grilled cheese . . .
okay then.
8. Owning
six cats does not make someone a crazy cat lady. How do I know that? Because I
have six cats and madness hasn’t set in yet. And because I’m married with two
sons. We just happened to have adopted and/or rescued six cats from shelters and/or
my porch step. Nope. Not crazy. Not yet.
9. T.S.
Elliot called April the cruelest month. Need proof?
·
April
4, 1968 - assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
·
April
12, 1861 - Start of US Civil War
·
April
14, 1865 - the assassination of Abraham Lincoln (he died early morning on the
15th)
·
April
15, 1912 - sinking of RMS Titanic
·
April
15th - in the United States - Tax day
·
April
18, 1906 - San Francisco earthquake
·
April
19, 1775 - the shot heard 'round the world. Battle of Lexington & Concord
starts the American Revolution. Okay, that was pretty good for us Americans.
·
April
26, 1986 - Chernobyl disaster
·
April
27, 1865, SS Sultana (riverboat) boiler explodes. Still considered to be the
greatest maritime disaster in US history.
Also
in April of years past - Columbine shootings, Oklahoma bombing, Waco, Virginia
Tech shootings, BP oil spill, and Apollo 13. There were so many disasters, I
had difficulty choosing what to include. Kinda scary, definitely tragic.
10. January
4th is National Trivia Day. Mental Floss Magazine has this holiday
well-covered. If you go to mentalfloss.com, you can learn all kinds of cool
things like Oscar the Grouch was originally orange and that Google’s original
name was “backrub.” Yup, you read that correctly.
Let’s make this list even longer.
What other fun or helpful hints can you share? Remember, no pressure.
Dead Girls Don’t Cry
The Undead Space Initiative
Book 1
Casey Wyatt
Genre: Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
Date of Publication: August 18, 2016
ISBN-13: 978-1534902718
ISBN-10: 1534902716
ISBN13: 2940153402147
ASIN: B01HUFDDT2
Number of pages: 410
Word Count: 83,000
Cover Artist: Kim Killion, Inc.
Book Description:
Cherry Cordial, vampire stripper extraordinaire, spectacularly messes up her life with a single act of kindness. How could she have known when she rescued gorgeous rogue Ian McDevitt that she would be implicated in the vampire queen’s murder?
Soon, she faces the wrath of the entire vampire community. To escape retribution, she joins a settlement program to colonize Mars. Her choices are grim: hurtle through space to the red planet to face the unknown and possible death, or stay on Earth and face certain annihilation.
To make things even more complicated, a certain gorgeous rogue seems to be shadowing her every move...
Excerpt:
Suddenly, I
wasn’t the biggest, baddest thing on the block.
Revenants.
They always
traveled in packs. Enough of them could take me down. Revenants were cousins to
vampires, undead beings with too much spirit. Essentially ghosts with physical
reality.
I picked up the
pace, steering toward the middle of the street and well away from dark corners.
If I had a heart rate, it would have been pounding. My blood was rare and
prized. One sip and the revenants would keep me alive to serve as a drink
dispenser.
I fished through
my bag. Where was my cell? Jonathan would come. Provided I could find the damn
phone.
Meaty thwacks
rang out in the alley as I passed by.
Do not look.
A soft oomph,
followed by a clipped English accent, “Try that again, bastards.”
I looked.
Shit.
A lone and
gorgeous male vampire had been captured. Three revenants had him pinned against
the wall. Two held his arms and one pinned his legs. Three more surrounded him
like a pack of knife-wielding hyenas.
The vampire
snarled. Long fangs bared, presumably pissed off at his capture. With his
sculptured physique, he could handle the situation. Right?
None of the
baddies had noticed me yet. I could leave.
Another punch
landed, connecting with the vamp’s mouth. The crack echoed in the alley. Liquid
splattered, followed by cruel laughter.
The vampire
hottie spat, his lip broken. Blood trickled down his jaw, seeping into the
stark white collar of his button down shirt. “Think twice before you cut me, mate.
I’ll smash all of your fucking heads in.”
“Shut up, meat.”
One added, “I’m
so scared,” before swinging his knife and tearing a gash in the vampire’s
chest. The pack laughed. A revenant approached the vampire with IV bags.
Crap-a-roni, now
I had to get involved. They planned to bleed him out. That’s what revenants
did. They took a vampire’s blood and drained him or her dry. The blood was then
sold to the highest revenant bidder. They believed our blood could remove the
excess spirit from their bodies, returning them to their true vampire form.
Problem is—it’s
a myth. There’s no way for a revenant to become a vampire, any more than I
could become a zebra if I wanted to. These guys were zealots. Deranged
lunatics.
“This is your last warning, blokes,” Mr. Sexy
English accent said. I tried not to shiver at the sound of his rich voice.
Heady whiffs of his sweet scented blood drifted my way. Like a fine wine, the
smell promised a delicious and satisfying taste. Saliva pooled in my mouth. My
fangs dug into my bottom lip.
“Well lookee
here!”
Damn. I should
have run when I had the chance. The pack turned in my direction, their faces
eager for more blood. I cringed under the gaze of the hollow-eyed, pale-skinned
nightmares who all wanted a piece of me.
The nearest one
licked his gray, rubbery lips. “Yum. Dessert.”
I was too stupid
to live. Why didn’t I run? My feet were frozen to the spot. I did the lamest,
girliest thing possible. I swung my purse. And connected. A solid hit to the
nuts.
The revenant
shrieked, clutching his junk. “Bitch!”
The male vampire
bucked, tossing the revenant off his left arm. Partially free, he ripped the
arm off the other revenant before the thing could even react. With balled
fists, Mr. Hottie crushed the skull of the captor holding his feet.
“Don’t stand
there like a daft pony!” the vampire scolded. He snapped the neck of the
nearest revenant, then motioned. “Get out of my way!”
“What? Without
my help, you’d still be trapped against a wall!” I ducked and stepped aside,
narrowly avoiding the gray-lipped revenant who had thought I was dessert.
“The rubbish bin
would be more help than you!” Mr. English silenced two more revenants with
brutal, neck-twisting efficiency.
“Oh really?”
What a prick.
The revenant
recovered from the nut bash and charged me again. His fingertips knocked off my
ball cap. I kicked him in the stomach, grabbed the garbage barrel and slammed
it over the revenant’s head as he honed in on me. The plastic bin wouldn’t kill
the thing, but he couldn’t see either.
“Pathetic,” the
vampire said.
Mr. English and
I watched as the last revenant bounced against a brick wall before falling
over, his legs scissoring.
“Time for this
one to bugger off as well.” Mr. English yanked off the barrel and snuffed out
the revenant with a bone-shattering blow to its head.
One by one the
corpses disintegrated into dusty husks. A breeze blew through the alley and
scattered the remains. Gray vaporous clouds floated around before dissipating
into the air. To a passerby, the revenants’ final passage would look like dirty
car exhaust.
“Well, I’m off
then. Have good evening.” He brushed dirt off his tailored trousers. “Sod it,
they scuffed my shoes. And this shirt is ruined.”
“Yeah. What a
tragedy. You’re lucky. You could have been a revenant Slurpee.”
He sniffed at
the suggestion. “I was never in any real danger.”
“You could have
fooled me,” I retrieved my ball cap from the grimy sidewalk.
A late afternoon
sunbeam penetrated the alley, illuminating the vampire’s blue-green eyes and
highlighting the fine bone structure of his face. I tried not to gawk.
I gathered my
tangled hair and mashed it under the hat. “Looks to me like they had you pinned
against the ropes.” Did I mention he was gorgeous? Like a cover model. An
underwear cover model. I cleared my throat. He was a total stranger, and while
I bet he looked divine in only underwear, I needed to stop ogling him.
When he stared
at me and didn’t reply, I lamely added, “You know? Down for the count.”
“I understood
the reference, luv,” he said in his damn fine accent.
A man-shaped
shadow shifted from across the street, forming a dark blot in the alley’s
entrance. We weren’t alone.
About the Author:
Casey Wyatt grew up in a mid-size Connecticut town where nothing exciting ever happened. To stem the boredom, she spent plenty of time reading fantasy and sci-fi novels and imagining her own adventures in her head. Not much has changed since she’s grown up, only now she shares those made up stories with her readers and earns a coin or two.
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