Signed Cover Art

If you'd like to receive a signed cover art postcard, email me at isobael at gmail dot com. Include your name and mailing address and I'll get them in the mail to you.

January 31, 2010

Blessed Be!

Wishing all of my Pagan friends glorious Là Fhèill Brìghde and a Blessed Imbolc!

May the fires of Bride burn through the cold and the renewal of Spring heal the ills of your heart.

Time to sweep out the old and bring in the new!

My Fight Scene Blogfest Entry...

As predicted, the police were still very much a presence at the scene. The alley had been taped off and anyone who got too close to the tape was chased off with a stern warning. Those who braved another try were threatened with arrests.

Crime scene investigators still worked to collect blood samples and other evidence, or potential evidence, but from what Sable could see, most of it was blood and tissue matter. The body had been removed already and so Sable wasn’t able to tell if this was the crime made by a human or something else.

“Has to be human,” she said in a whisper.

“Why do you say that?” Falcon asked.

“Too much blood,” she replied.

“Not a vampire then, huh?” he asked with an amused tone.

She glared at him then. “Don’t mess with me.”

Falcon shrugged, “I just don’t believe in that stuff, babe. You know that.”

“But I do.”

They both looked back towards the scene.

“I want in there,” she said.

Falcon sighed.

It took a few more hours before the police and CSI finally left. By then, it was close to midnight. They waited a few more minutes before they made their way into the alley to do some investigating of their own.

Sable pulled out a small penlight to use as she looked around.

“Be careful, Sable,” Falcon whispered.

Sable hmphed under her breath. It was yet another instance of Falcon being over protective of her. She sighed and continued to look around.

It looked like a lot of blood, but the more she looked around, she noticed it wasn’t all that much. The thickness of it didn’t make sense. The wide area of spray made it seem like there'd been a lot of blood. If it had been a lot of blood, there would have been darker staining.

Which meant…

“Damn,” she whispered.

“What?”

“We got ourselves a vampire.”

“You’re shitting me, right?”

She heard the disbelief in his tone.

“Let’s go to the morgue and see if we can take a look at the body.”

“Fuck me,” he groaned.

Sable smiled.

Getting in hadn't been easy. They had no identification and no business there. The security guards made sure Sable and Falcon were aware they kept an eye on them. Sable had given some hogwash story of her sister being a prostitute named Katey and having just heard someone by that name was murdered. She wanted to make sure it wasn’t her sister. They were told to wait in the lobby and someone would be out to talk to her.
They’d been sitting in the lobby for twenty minutes when Sable began to get the tingling feeling starting at the base of her spine and crept upwards until she was sitting up straight, tense, and scanning the area around her.

“What is it, babe?” he whispered.

“Something’s up,” she whispered back.

They both startled as an alarm blared and Sable watched as the security guards ran toward a set of double doors. She thought the doors led to the autopsy room and the cold chamber. She glanced at Falcon, who shrugged, and looked back at the doors.

Another minute passed before a guard came through the doors, covered in blood, pale, with eyes as wide as saucers. Sable and Falcon jumped to their feet in shock.

“Run!” the guard yelled at them. “Get out of here!”

Before he made it a third of the way from the door to the front desk, a man burst through the doors, almost tearing them off their hinges, and was on the guard, snarling.

The two men fought with one another but it was quite clear the attacker had the upper hand and both Sable and Falcon watched in horror as the attacker lunged in with his mouth and bit the guard in the throat. The guard screamed in pain until the attacker jerked his head and ripped a chunk of flesh from the hapless guard’s throat. Blood sprayed as the jugular was opened and with a growl, the attacker latched his mouth over the geyser and drank from the scarlet fountain.

“Fuck!”

Falcon's horror of the sight would have been amusing to her if the situation hadn't been so serious. Sable said nothing as she leaned down and pulled out a knife from each boot, arming herself. She saw out of the corner of her eye Falcon giving her a shocked look, but shook her head at him, straightened up, and headed toward the monster.

“Sable, no!”

Shit! The monster heard Falcon and jerked up to look in their direction.

What had been brown haired with a passable, handsome face was now blood soaked and ghastly. His eyes caught the light and flashed as the monster stood up and snarled at them, baring fangs.

Vampire.

Sable didn’t have the time to yell, “I told you so!” at Falcon because the monster was launching itself at her. She dropped into a defensive posture, bringing up her knives.

Sable was very much aware of the razor sharp claws tipping the monster’s fingers, as well as pointed fangs in his mouth. She intended to avoid those, but it was his speed, which took her by surprise.

She was able to avoid most of the clawing, although a couple did reach her when she failed to move fast enough. She was quick to retaliate with her knives and drive him back before the thing could penetrate through her clothes to her skin beneath. He might have speed and cunning but she had skill and agility on her side.

Sable retaliated with her own set of "claws". Holding a knife in each hand, sharp blade toward her opponent and parallel to the ground, she struck at the monster with a quick swipe of either blade. Sable drove the monster back as she followed through with a twist of her wrist and sliced at the monster with one knife and a punch with the other. The hilts of her knives were solid metal and gave her better punching power by reinforcing her knuckles.

The monster looked unsure at first, but it renewed his attack with greater fury.

Sable felt herself being shoved by an unseen force, away from the monster. She skittered a bit before she managed to come to a stop and look around. Even the monster looked confused.

Without waiting to see who or what it was, Sable darted off toward Falcon. “Run!”

Falcon wasn’t going to argue, it seemed.

Thank God for small favors!

He bolted for the exit, Sable on his tail. The monster snarled and lunged after them, but when Sable looked back over her shoulder, she saw a dark mass collide with the monster and both went tumbling to the tile floor. With one last glance to make sure Falcon made it out, she turned and headed back toward the combatants.
Sable wasn’t the type to let someone else fight her battles and she wasn’t about to let a monster go free, not when she had the chance to destroy one.

She waited until there was an opening and she jumped into the fray, slicing at the monster from behind. She managed to cut open his flesh and he roared in anger before he turned on her. Sable wasn’t paying any attention to the second combatant, as she concentrated on the monster in front of her. She danced back, moving on the balls of her feet, drawing the monster back before she went in with a feigned slash up high. At the last moment, Sable ducked down, slashed low and behind, catching the monster behind his thighs, and hamstringing him.

The monster shrieked in pain and went down, but twisted and raked his claws across her back, cutting through her hoodie and t-shirt to the skin and flesh below.

Pain exploded through her back and Sable sucked in a harsh breath as she staggered forward from the momentum. She turned back to face her opponent in time to watch the second man finish the monster. With a swing of a black sword, he decapitated the monster.

Sword? Where the hell did a sword come from?

Sable watched as the head flopped onto the floor and rolled forward. Memories surfaced and long buried images came crashing to mind. She could see her father’s head as it rolled from the roof of the car, down the windshield, leaving a trail of dark crimson.

“Are you all right?” a male voice asked.

It broke through her mental flashback. She shuddered and winced with pain as the movement jostled her wounds. Sable looked up at the man and her heart jolted in recognition.

Alyx.


Excerpt from "Dead of Night" - Paranormal Romance

Copyright 2009 - Isobael Liu

Newsletter available...

A day early, but I got excited.

I posted it on my webpage. http://isobael.webs.com/newsletter.htm

It's in PDF form so you can see how pretty it is. With only two people who subscribed via the Google Friends connect (and it won't tell me who signed up), I thought it might be better to just put it on the webpage.

Check it out!

=)

January 30, 2010

Valentine's Day Treat...

Here's a quick and easy recipe for making your own chocolate truffles for Valentine's Day as a treat for someone special, or even yourself!

8 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, fine chopped. (I like dark chocolate!)
1/2 cup heavy cream

Chop the chocolate and put into a heat resistant bowl.
Bring the cream to a boil and pour over chocolate.
Let it sit for 30 seconds before slowly whisking to melt the chocolate.
When it's combined and silky, add in any of the following flavorings:

1 tsp flavored extract (vanilla, almond, peppermint, coconut, banana...)

or

2 TB alcohol (amaretto, Irish cream, rum, brandy, Grand Marnier, Kahlua...) (This is my fave type of flavoring!)

or

4 TB creamy peanut butter

Mix well.
Let mixture cool and put in fridge for at least 4 hours.
Scoop out using a teaspoon or melon baller.
Portion balls and place on wax paper lined cookie sheet.
Keep chilled until ready to garnish.

When ready to garnish, roll ball in your hand to warm slightly, just enough to melt the surface so the garnish can adhere.

Roll in any of the following:

Cocoa powder
Ground roasted nuts
Toasted coconut

Store truffles in fridge, but bring to room temp before enjoying.

January 27, 2010

This morning...

It's a foggy morning, where I live. Had to take the dog out for his morning business and decided to take my camera along to snap some pictures of the view from my front porch.

It's mornings like this that make me take a deep breath and let it out in a slow, drawn out sigh. I love these type of days, where my imagination flies away with me. If I let my mind loose, I can see ghosts floating in the mist, hear the whispers of other beings. Perhaps the Sidhe as they travel between the world?

These are the days I'm glad to be a writer. I'm refilled with ideas, my Muse is recharged, and I'm raring to create new stories, new worlds, new peoples.

What recharges you, gives you ideas?

January 23, 2010

BUAHAHAHA....

Painfully horrendous...a first attempt at making a book trailer. LOL.

Visit my Youtube site to view it as it's too big to post here...

January 21, 2010

Tea time...

I love tea. I've written about it before and I'll probably always mention it somewhere until someone yells at me to knock it off.

Anyway...

I remember the days when I would get home from school, starving (ok, anyone who knows me or knows what I look like knows I have never starved, nor will ever starve!), but it was too early for dinner. we would get an after school snack before hitting the books to do homework.

I do the same thing with my daughter. When she gets home, she gets a snack and then it's home work time before I start the dinner process.

I have instigated "tea time" instead of after school snack.

I know what time the bus drops her off, so I have a pot of tea ready for when she walks in the door. I'll have snacks either made or store bought, set out on the nice china dishes. The china tea cups and saucers are set out as well.

Normally, I use my Asian tea pot, it's just easier, but today I changed it up and used the silver as instead of tea, I made mint tisane and added hot cocoa mix to it to make a mint cocoa.


We sit down and have tea and snacks, talk about her day in school, relax and chat. When tea time is done, I clean up and she gets cracking on that homework, and I get some writing done before I start dinner.

It's a nice little tradition and it gives us time to connect with one another, where we can act like ladies and she can practice the fine art of handling delicate china, and I can practice pouring and use my silver!


January 20, 2010

YAY!

Round three of edits done.

Website created. http://isobael.webs.com/

Wrote about creating a press kit. You can find it here: http://the-troubling-trio.blogspot.com/2010/01/i-need-what.html

Now, on to chapter two of "Mist and Moonlight"...

January 16, 2010

I haz cover art!

And it is BEAUTIFUL!

Lyrical Press did an awesome job for it...

Wanna see? *GRIN*

I am so excited! My hands are shaking and I'm grinning like a mad fool! I haven't even had my tea yet!

I'm working on putting together a press/media/PR kit. I have a FAQ and a Bio but am waiting for the other info such as release date, and blurb, before I can finish it up. I did put together a beginning website. It's just a starter until I'm able to get a domain name registered and web space for a nicely designed one. You can find it here: http://isobael-liu.weebly.com/

All right! I got permission to go ahead and share the cover. Without further ado...


Click for larger size...

Isn't it beautiful?

No release date as of yet, but I'll post it as soon as I hear when.

January 13, 2010

Edits...edits...edits...

So, after sending off my work to my assigned editor, I wait.

And wait...

and wait some more.

Of course, it wasn't all that long, but when you're a new writer and this is your first accepted piece, a few hours seems like forever!

I got the edits back and am going through everything with a fine toothed comb. Now, some people might feel dejected at the marks on their manuscript. Me? Not so much. To tell you the truth, I expected a heck of a lot more than I got. I fully expected to buy out the stock of TV dinners to fill the freezers of my house so my family wouldn't starve while I locked myself away in order to get through the next month of editing and rewrites.

My family is happy to report they still see me and know I'm alive.

I'm on Day 3 of edits. I had a couple of spots so far that needed to be rewritten, and a lot of little punctuation mistakes, as well as correcting what I had learned versus what the house wants in way of formatting or punctuating...some clarifications of what was written and what I meant versus what it was suppose to mean.

I am loving it all. Why? Because it means I'm learning how to be a better writer. Every constructive criticism, every mark, every correction on my manuscript means someone took the time to care about helping me better myself as a writer.

Do I agree with everything? Nope. There were a couple of things so far that I didn't agree with, one I did do as suggested, the other I asked for clarification on. Am I willing to compromise? You betcha. Especially if it means it strengthens my writing and didn't lessen the integrity of the story.

Ok, back to editing. I have to have this back to my editor on Friday. Ahhhh...deadlines. Another topic for another time. =)

Happy writing!

January 7, 2010

Little project...

Victorian styled calling card.

Historically accurate? Probably not, but who cares? I like it. LOL

I was bored today. I had planned to go to Meeker Mansion today. Good thing I called to find out if they allowed photography because they're closed all month of January. PHOOEY.

Anyway...

There went that idea. I was even going to get dressed up to go. BLEH.

So I made a calling card instead. I'm probably going to figure out how to crochet a hat/bonnet...and a shawl or three. Maybe. I'm not crafty like that, so it'll be an adventure, to say the least.


January 5, 2010

Hot Soup for Cold Days...

It's been wet and cold here in the wintery Pacific Northwest. Holiday feasts are over and if you're anything like me when it comes to the turkey carcass or the ham bone left over from the big meal, you've boiled it down to make soup stock. Why, yes, I come by it naturally. We've always been thrifty like that. (I think it comes from my Scottish ancestors!)

It's been in the freezer, ready for when I need to make soup or want to clean out the freezer of stock.

Here's a handy recipe for using that stock.

2 carrots, peeled and diced
2 leeks (the white part) cleaned well and diced
1 TB minced garlic
2 celery stalks, diced
1 baking potato, peeled and diced or diced fingerling potatoes.
1/4 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup frozen corn
2 qts soup stock (or chicken or vegetable broth, if you have that)

Saute leeks, carrots, garlic, and celery until softened. Add potatoes and soup stock, simmering until potatoes are tender. Add peas and corn and simmer another few minutes (10 or 15 min should do it).

You can add cooked rice or cooked pasta to the soup (2 cups).

Omit the leeks, and use shallots or a Maui Sweet Onion, or just omit entirely.

Ham stock makes a good minestrone style. Omit peas and carrots, add a can of crushed tomatoes instead. Heck, throw the corn in anyway. It's still good!

Want it creamy? Whisk 3 TB of corn starch with a cup of cream, then add to hot soup, cooking until thickened.

Enjoy! I know I will!

January 3, 2010

Victorian Era, recipes, holidays, and...who what what?


Oh, the ideas. LOL.  So, I've been doing some research on Victorian mansions and whatnot for my new novel I'll be writing this year. I came across a PDF of some New Year's Recipes from the Victorian era and saved it to my HD. You can find it here: http://payloadz.com/d1/freeproducts.asp?id=1181966

So, I'm perusing the recipes and giggling at how simplistic recipes are back in the day. Some of them, I'm wondering how it even worked. as there are no directions, in the way of measurements. More along the lines of a little of this and a little of that.

So, now I'm on a Victorian kick again. Especially since the story I'm working on deals with Victorian references. No, not a historical novel. TOO much research for me there. LOL.

Can we say, "Thank goodness the holidays are over"?!? I thought it would never end! For some reason, I think a lot of people forget the holidays is suppose to mean good cheer, good wishes, joy. It's become too commercial, the malls are crowded, no one can remember one iota of good manners. We have people shoving and pushing, grabbing and yanking, swearing at others, knocking people over, in a rush to save money when shopping, or buying that perfect gift, or what have you.

When it gets to the point where it's dreaded to leave your house to go anywhere because of the holidays, something's wrong.

It was nice to have family here though. We hosted Christmas dinner and had the gang here. We had post dinner entertainment when my daughter and my eldest niece sing "I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas" for the family. We have it videotaped for potential blackmail fodder. LOL.

I'll be getting back the edits from my editor soon. I'm looking forward to seeing where I need to improve my writing. It's one step closer to my publishing goal. Yes, yes, I know. I can hear the "You just wait until you have to DO the edits, then you won't look toward doing them..." coming at me. Actually, I still look forward to it. I don't see it as the dreaded edits. I see it as the chance to improve myself and my skills to better my writing so that one day, if I'm lucky, I'll be able to hold a book in my hand, with my name as the author.

Ahhh...tomorrow, the kid and the husband go back to school. =)

I might be looking into going back to school as well. Not sure yet. Not sure what I'd go in for, either. I have so many interests but none would make a good career choice and a lot offered I have no interest in. Story of my life. =)

I'd love to be able to own an old Victorian Mansion and fix it up, make it into a Bed and Breakfast, or a small inn, or a tea house.

We almost had the chance once. A three story house, not quite Victorian, but it was on a little piece of property with a view of the Sound. It needed work.  We would have lived on the third floor and ran it as a B&B...

Didn't pan out though. Mostly because of a certain person whom we will not name nor go into detail about.

ANYWAY...

Just went to an antique mall down in Fife. LOTS of stuff from the 50's through the 60's with a few things from Victorian to the 30's. I was in heaven. Good thing I'm broke. LOL.

I have a few Victorian craft projects I have plans for. We'll see.