Character Blog: Bobby's Hobby by Bobby from The Sounds of Sirens

This past summer and fall I had the pleasure of hosting authors and their hobbies. Today I'm excited to host Bobby who is featured in The Sound of Sirens by former hobby guests, the brother-sister writing team of Heather Fraser Brainerd and David Fraser. 

Bobby, thanks so much for taking time to tell us about your hobby.

Second book in the Jose Picada, P.I. series

Bobby’s Hobby by Heather Fraser Brainerd and David Fraser

As part of our blog tour for The Sound of Sirens, we thought it would be fun to let one of our characters write a guest post. Without further ado, meet Bobby Newman.

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Cosplay by Bobby Newman

This is the place where people talk about their hobbies, right? That’s what Heather and Dave told me. Well, I have a hobby I'd like to talk about. Let me tell you how it all began.

So much of what I am today began in a movie theater. I wish I knew the date, as it was a day that changed me forever. February of 1997 is as close as I can narrow it down. My brother Maks took me to see the Special Edition release of Star Wars: A New Hope. I'd seen the movie countless times on VHS. Seeing it on the big screen with all the new effects just blew me away. Ever since then, I've been a proud and devoted resident of a town called Nerdville. As a kid, my citizenship was limited to reading books, watching movies, and playing games. When it was time to go to college, I looked for someplace with a top art program. I wanted to be the one creating the books, movies, and games. My dad, however, would only pay for my school if I went to his alma mater. Luckily, they had a pretty good program.

Now here we are, a few years later. I have yet to create the great fantasy game, or make the great science fiction movie, or, thankfully, write the great teen paranormal romance novel. I'm okay with all that. You see, I'm part of a small community here in Rochester that engages in what's called Cosplay. To the uninitiated, this is a portmanteau of "costume" and "play." It's exactly what it sounds like. Playing in costume. The general concept is that you make (or buy if you have to, but making your own is way cooler) costumes of your favorite characters from movies, television, video games, or comic books. Common sense says that you should only wear this costume in the privacy of your own home with the shades drawn. I mean, who wants to be seen in public dressed as Mr. Spock or Zombie George Washington? It turns out that there are a lot of people who want exactly that. The typical gathering place is at sci-fi/fantasy conventions, such as Rochester's annual RocCon. Not everyone dresses in costume, but many do. Nowhere else on Earth (or any other planet, for that matter) can you find The Doctor walking around with Pinkie Pie Pony. You can usually get a picture with them if you want. Most people are pretty cool about that. There's almost always a contest, where you can win prizes and awards in a number of different categories.

So where do I fit in? Well, I use my art school education to custom make my costumes. It's part sculpture and part engineering. I've even picked up manly skills like how to use a sewing machine. Sometimes, if you need a hat that looks half watermelon and half cat, you're going to have to make it yourself. There's no way you'll find that in a store.

I normally just wear a costume once. There are just too many cool characters to wear the same things over and over. My very first Cosplay was of an original character. I play Swordz N Spellz. This is an online computer fantasy game. To those who haven't heard of it, it's a MMORG. That's a Massive Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game. SNS takes place in the fictional realm of Flowerpox, whose citizens include elves, dwarves, humans, and sentient fungi. My character, a level 55 druid named Grimdavore Habberman the Exceedingly Superlative, is member of the guild Raymetheus's Rockers. Sorry, I seem to be getting sidetracked. I could talk about SNS all day. What I'm trying to say is that my first Cosplay was Grimdavore, complete with his journeyman druid's robe, which was made by modifying a store-bought bathrobe by adding the hood from an old sweatshirt, weathering it to look all beat up, dying it just the right shade of brown, and finally attaching his enchanting runes, which were cut from aluminum foil. It looked okay, but not perfect. I've learned to sew since then. Maybe someday I'll make another one from scratch.

Over the years, I've done Dr. Harkner from Red Sun Setting, Big Bertie from John Patrick, Cintius Pullus from Rome in a Day, John-John from The Toe Jammers, Gravy Boat from Puff Puff Pony, Judicious B.B. from What Would Frosty Do?, Connor from When Kai Was Sick, the Grim Sleeper from Alpacalypse, and Carl Remington from 20,000 Feet and Climbing. Each costume presents its own unique set of challenges and I make sure to try some new technique each time so that I'm constantly growing, constantly learning.

I'm currently in the early stages of assembling the pieces for Sergeant Horace "The Horse" Van Winkle from the comic book My Kingdom. Much of the clothing is off-the-rack, which I usually try to avoid. But if you can hit the thrift shops and find just the right stuff you need, it can save a lot of time and effort, and I'm going to need all the time I can spare for this one. I plan on making all of Horace's cybernetic augmentations, complete with flickering electronic lights. And if I can figure out a way to make his potato-throwing bazooka really throw potatoes, I might have a shot at winning a prize.

So, yeah. That’s me. Dungeon-raiding, cosplaying King of Nerdville. Or at least the mayor.

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Find out more about Bobby in The Sound of Sirens.

Thanksgiving dinner with the family can be murder.
Especially when someone is actually trying to kill you.

Available at:

MuseItUp Publishing

Amazon

Connect with Heather and David:

Blog

Facebook

Twitter: https://twitter.com/HFBrainerd and https://twitter.com/NotDaveFraser

Hobby Hoedown: Author Margaret Mendel's Photography

Welcome author Margaret Mendel to the Hobby Hoedown!  Margaret shares her hobby of photography and stories about the photos she captured with her camera.  Please enjoy taking a break in your day with this delightful guest post. 

Photography As A Hobby by Margaret Mendel

Writing is my first love though photography comes in a close second.

I discovered photography after graduating high school when a friend told me I could order a Pentax camera directly from the factory in Japan.

I saved my hard earned dollars working as a power sewing machine operator, sent a money order to Japan and waited. When the camera arrived I thought it was the most exotic thing I had ever seen. It was a heavy, black 35mm film camera. There was no digital back then.

This is a photo I took of my mother many years ago with my Pentax. And here is an excerpt from a memoir I wrote some time later:

  

            “From this hiding place, my sister and I spied on Mom as she hung the wash or picked the dead leaves from her dahlias. A thin woman, Mom always looked as though she carried a load equal to her own weight in her arms, either the laundry, one of our two younger sisters, or the bushels of vegetables she dragged in from the garden for canning. She worked like an ant, always dragging, lifting or pushing something. 
            The dahlias were a different matter. To tend them she would actually tiptoe into her garden. My sister thought she did this to be quiet, but Mom said she did it to keep from packing down the soil. I saw Mom lift a blossom slowly once, cupping the giant flower in both hands, as though she was looking into a face.  She smiled, and I thought she intended to kiss the bloom. A couple of times I saw her talking to her flowers. My sister didn’t see this, and said that Mom wouldn’t talk to flowers. My sister may have been right Mom did not have time to spend talking to flowers. She hardly had time to talk to us girls.”

Some years later my Pentax was stolen. I was heart broken. There were not enough funds to replace it. Life took some interesting turns around that time with a marriage that fell apart, raising my son on my own, going back to college, and photography became a low priority.

Eventually I scrapped together enough money and got a new camera, a Minolta. Once again, I was off and running, clicking the shutter every chance I got.

Over the years I’ve upgraded my camera. Now I use a Nikon 7000, and like my laptop, it goes with me just about everywhere. Photography has taught me a great deal, but unlike writing, where a story builds scene by scene, a camera captures with one click of the shutter an image that capsulizes an emotion, a moment in time, or a dramatic scene that tells volumes without the use of words.

   

Here is a photograph of Devon, my grandson. He and I take walks exploring NYC. This is an excerpt from a blog post on my website about one of our adventures:

“It was a windy day and several blocks before reaching the bookstore we encountered a huge dragonfly. The poor thing was having a terrible time in the wind and was being banged into the window of a drugstore. Then when it tried again to fly, the wind thrust it down to the ground where its wings and tail shimmied in what must have felt like a gale-force-wind to this fragile creature. Devon reached down, offered the bedraggled insect a finger. The dragonfly climbed on board and held on for dear life. “Do they bite?” Devon asked after the dragonfly was fully attached to his finger.”

I live in NYC and there is no end to photographic opportunities in this city. I don’t have to go far, because even sitting on my terrace; either looking down at the activity on the street or gazing out onto the water towers across the way, the view presents an unlimited chance to click the shutter and grab a photograph.   

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Coming in March 2014 from MuseItUp Publishing, Fish Kicker by Margaret Mendel

Back of the book:

Against the unforgiving landscape of Alaska, Sharon Wolf struggles to reclaim her life from alcohol abuse and regain the custody of her daughter. Winter is fast approaching and Sharon has nowhere to live, and no money. To make matters worse, she’s the only witness to a murder, and the murderer knows she saw him.

Luck finally seems to be on Sharon’s side when she secures a job as a fry cook in a back country bar, aptly named The Nowhere. Sharon’s life seems to be coming together, including weekend visits with her daughter.

But Herb, the murderer, finds her. If Sharon can’t resist the bottle and turn to others for help, something she never has done, both she and her daughter are in danger. Herb has no qualms killing again.

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About Margaret:

Margaret Mendel lives in New York City and is a past board member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime, NYC. She has an MFA in creative writing from Sarah Lawrence. Many of her short stories have appeared in literary journals and anthologies. For more than twenty years, she worked in the mental health field, though now she devotes herself to writing full time. She is an avid photographer and not only drags a laptop, but a Nikon D7000 camera wherever she goes. 

Read more about Margaret on her blog at Pushing Time

Take some time to peruse Margaret's photos on her Flickr site

Hobby Hoedown Features Paranormal Author Kelly Whitley's Watercolor Painting Hobbby with Giveaway

Howdy, Folks. Paranormal author Kelly Whitley shares her hobby of watercolor painting. I must be honest. I love watercolor pictures and even took a class. The project was a success, with lots of help from my teacher. I would love to try another class again. Kelly's post has stirred up the creative juices. 

Kelly is offering a giveaway of her vampire story, Into the Red. The back of the book information follows her article.  Please leave a comment to win an e-copy. Winner will be announced Friday evening!

Kelly tells us about this creative hobby in her article below. 

Water Color Painting by Kelly Whitley

Ever wish there were more hours in a day? The older I get, the more I find time to be at a premium. Sometimes I think I’ve got too many hobbies. Aside from writing, it’s reading and watercolor painting.

Art has been a big part of my life ever since I was a kid. Drawing was great, but I wanted to conquer a bigger challenge—painting. And not just painting—watercolor, which is a more difficult medium. I start with a pencil line drawing on watercolor paper, and then begin to layer color. Sometimes the color is too heavy, and some of the color has to be removed with blotting. Applying sea salt to wet paint gives a stippled look to the paint. Watercolor painting groups can be a source of critique, as can workshops. I’ve done both to improve my painting.

I have entered shows as another challenge to myself.

In the end, watercolor is time consuming; enjoyable and sometimes relaxing, but it often comes down to one hobby at a time. The thing about painting (and drawing or any other media) is practice is crucial. I should draw and/or paint every day, but I don’t.

Someday I’ll hopefully leave the dreaded day job behind and have more time for what I want to do.

Giveaway: an ecopy of Into the Red

Paranormal, romantic suspense

Back of the book:

Human blood is an illicit and highly addictive drug--if you're a vampire. Known as Red, its side effects are insanity, and eventual death. A group of Red-addicted vampires known as Poisoners are killing women as part of an extortion plot involving a lost ancient vampiric tome, and they’re leaving a trail of bodies in their wake. The discovery of each new victim risks exposure of the entire vampire race to humans. Then one victim survives…

Dr. Evan Nichols, oncologist and vampire, lives a monk-like existence, by his own choice, focusing on patient care and research to benefit his vampire brethren. It’s been twenty-five years since his world turned upside down—the night he lost his fiancee and discovered his hidden vampire heritage. Now his government has ordered him to take a mate—or they’ll choose one for him. It’s a horrible prospect, and one that might push him over the edge—until Fate throws him together with a human female.

Wary of relationships, Tara West has poured her energies into work and inventing cutting edge climbing equipment. She doesn’t like the gorgeous Dr. Nichols, yet finds herself unaccountably drawn to him.

When a crazed vampire attacks and poisons Tara, Evan rescues her. With time running out, he has to create an antidote to the poison before he loses his chance at love.

In order to make the vaccine which might cure her, he has to find the bastards who poisoned her and take their venom—before they die of their addiction. If he doesn’t reach them in time, saving her will be impossible.

Thus the journey begins—into the Red!

BUYLINKS:  Amazon   MuseIt Up Publishing

Contact:   Kelly's website     Amazon Author Page   Facebook

Author Roseanne Dowell Shares Her Embroidery and Quilting Handiwork at Hobby Hoedown

 

Welcome multi-published author Roseanne Dowell to Hobby Hoedown. She certainly has a creative outlet along with her writing skills. She combines embroidery with quilting to produce lovely works of art and functional pieces. First let me tell you about Roseanne.

Roseanne grew up reading first Nancy Drew mysteries and soon moved on to Victoria Holt and Phyllis Whitney. She’s a big fan of Agatha Christie and always loved writing even as a teen, often making up different endings to books, and writing poems.

While working as a school secretary, she decided to take a correspondence course, writing for children. It didn’t take long to realize that even though she had six children, it took someone special to write books for them. So, she tried her hand at nonfiction, but didn’t care for that either.  That’s when she moved on to romance novels. But they sat in the attic along with her poems and journals.

In 2002 at a Book Club meeting, she confessed regret about not pursuing a career in writing. That’s all it took.  Her friends convinced her it wasn’t too late. After giving it some thought, she decided they were right and took another writing course. Within a few months, her first article was published in Good Old Days Magazine. Since then, she’s had several articles published.

In 2006, Roseanne’s first book, Satin Sheets, was published and sold over 35,000 copies. Since then, she’s decided to go the way of the future – E-books.  She writes various types of romance – paranormal, contemporary, mystery and women’s fiction. Her heroines range from their early twenties to late seventies. Yes, seniors need love, too.

Roseanne lives with her husband of fifty years, has six grown children, fourteen grandchildren and two great grandchildren. She spends her time between writing, quilting, and embroidering. She also enjoys blogging, tweeting, facebooking and posting on various writers’ groups and spending time with her family.

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If you’d like to know more about Roseanne and her books, 

check out Roseanne Dowell's website   

and Roseanne's blog 

You can find her books at Amazon

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Now take a look at Roseanne Dowell's handiwork.

Contributed by Roseanne Dowell. Photos courtesy of Roseanne Dowell.

Although my first love is writing, one of my favorite things to do in my spare time is embroidery. Another is quilting and I’ve found a way to combine the two. I discovered red-work during a quilting shop-hop at one of the shops. I immediately fell in love with it. For those who don’t know what red-work is – it’s embroidery done in all red floss. Just the outline of the picture, not filled in like other embroidery patterns.

 

A Christmas Wall Hanging

Every year I make something for my six children (usually a Santa) and give it to them on Thanksgiving. Sometimes it’s ceramic, sometimes wood. I found this Santa pattern and made one for each of them. It took a while to do six of them, but it was a fun project.

 A cow quilt I made for another niece

After making quilts for each of my children, grandchilden and other relatives, I decided to make a baby quilt for each of my grandchildren – not for them, but for their first born. But, where to find patterns? I started out searching coloring books for designs. I traced the images onto 12x12 squares of muslin. No easy feat.  After I finished embroidering the squares, I put the quilt together. For the backing I used various fabrics, generally not nursery prints. None of the quilts have nursery fabric in them at all. That way, they’re not limited to use only as a baby quilt.  I’ve used patterns from animals to Winnie the Pooh.

Eventually, I found transfer books and started using them for designs, which made it much easier. As of right now, thirteen quilts are finished, the last one is embroidered and the blocks stitched, but I still need to be put the batting and backing on and quilt it. Some of the quilts are done in red work, but several are done with various colors, also.

It did take several years to embroider all those squares, but most of them have been done for a while now.

Since then, I’ve also made quilts for my niece’s twins. One of the patterns is kittens and the other is bunnies. She had a girl and boy, so I thought the bunnies would be good for him.

One of the quilts I made for my niece’s twins. Kittens

 

The other quilt for my niece’s twins – Bunnies

Three years ago I gave the first quilt to my oldest granddaughter, who had a baby boy, my first great grandchild.  

Each quilt is marked with the name of the grandchild it’s supposed to go to. I hope I’m still around to give each child their quilt, but if not my daughters have been instructed to pass them out. I hope they treasure them. I put them in one of those quilt bags you get from the store to store them.

Yes, I bought a quilt for my bed. But I did make one too, I embroidered wild flowers in each square – and yes, I filled them in, not just outlined. It took over a year to do it, but it was worth it.

People ask where I find the time to do all this. The answer is simple, I have nothing better to do in the evening while I’m watching TV. That’s the nice thing about embroidery; you can sit in front of the TV and still work on it.

My latest book, All in the Family, has just been released by Books We Love.

Back of the Book:

Taking over the police chief’s job in her hometown should have been easy for Callie Johnson. After working in a big city, small town crime would be a breeze.  What a surprise when she arrives to find her grandmother, the judge, accused of murder. As if that wasn’t enough she’s attacked while walking to her car. Between criminal investigations, her nutty family’s antics and her Aunt Beatrice Lulu picking up men for Callie to meet, she has her work cut out for her. Will her grandmother be exonerated?  Can Callie ward off her aunt’s unsuitable suitors? More importantly, can she find the person who attacked her?

Available at: Amazon

Hobby Hoedown Features Fantasy Author Karina Fabian's Circuit Training

Please welcome, fantasy author Karina Fabian to Hobby Hoedown...again. Well, actually, she sent her character, Vern, the dragon previously. He IS quite a dragon, a PI, in fact. Check out Vern's hobby if you get a minute. It's a most unusual one to be sure.
Karina has taken up Circuit Training to get herself fit. I think you'll get a kick out of it or perhaps exhausted from just reading about this hobby.

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Circuit Torture…er Training

By Karina Fabian

Here’s a simple fact about me:  I am a sedentary creature.  Inertia and I are best buds, and as a writer, I’ve got more push to keep my fingers moving and my butt stationary in the chair.  I’ve kept meaning to get in shape, and I even took haidong gumbdo lessons (Korean sword martial arts), but a couple of hours swinging the sword each week just didn’t do the trick.  Even worse, I am an indifferent cook who does not much care to give up her sweets or go on a diet of any kind, no matter how popular. So it’s no surprise that at 45, I weighed 169 pounds and had the muscular consistency of a bag of pudding. 

That’s why, in January 2013, I took up a new hobby—circuit torture.  The premise is easy:  you put your body through unnatural movements bearing as much weight as you can for as many repetitions as you can until you make noises similar to those of childbirth…but only for a limited time, after which you move on to some other new and unusual punishment.  In order to make your Experience of Pain complete, you alternate exercises with aerobics activity.  Since running gives me shin splints, my cardio pain device is the Jacob’s Ladder.  Imagine, if you will, a treadmill made of  rungs and set at a 45 degree angle.  The faster you climb, the faster the rungs move out from under you.  Kind of an analogy to my life, come to think of it.  It doesn’t kill my shins—after all, circuit torture is supposed to hurt, not damage—but my muscles feel every session!

The owner of this demonic health club is Ryion Butcher, who recently won not one but three awards at his first bodybuilding event.  He’s got the perfect personality for a personal torturer:  upbeat, competent, and always glad to push you further.  He’s even got the perfect laugh: encouraging, without belittling.  You can barely hear the Bwa-hahaha undertones.  I think there must be a school for it.  (Seriously, though, he’s a terrific guy, willing to work with you to modify the workout if needed, and he doesn’t push me nearly as hard as I push myself.)

Why would I choose such a diabolical establishment?  Inertia.  I’m a lazy person.  If I’m sitting, I’ll stay sitting, so if I want to work out, I need to do it when I’m already up and about.  The gym is in my neighborhood, on the way home from dropping the kids at school.  I drive by it every morning, so why not just stop in and get the torture done?  I’ve gone 5 days a week every week since I joined.

I still don’t eat the best, though I’ve cut down on sweets and sodas, but as of the 3-month point, I’d lost 14 pounds and 23 inches.  Plus, I’ve got muscles again.  I won’t be participating in any competitions, but I don’t completely wobble like a Jell-O mold anymore.

Plus, it’s fodder for stories.  Someday, I’ll have a villainous personal trainer with a gym of EVIL.  The Jacob’s Ladder will be suspended over the piranha tank.  Of course, you can stop any time you like…

Looking Good!  Bwahahaha!

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About Karina

Winner of the 2010 INDIE for best Fantasy (Magic, Mensa and Mayhem), Karina Fabian has imagination that takes quirky twists that keep her--and her fans--amused. Nuns working in space, a down-and-out Faerie dragon working off a geas from St. George, zombie

exterminators—there’s always a surprise in Fabian’s worlds. Mrs. Fabian teaches writing and book marketing seminars, but mostly is 
concerned with supporting her husband, Rob Fabian as he makes the exciting leap from military officer to civilian executive, getting her kids through high school and college, and surviving daily circuit torture…er, circuit training.  Read about her adventures at http://fabianspace.com.  

Find Karina at:

Website

Blog

Facebook

Twitter

Google +

When Grace’s life is in danger, Vern will do just about anything to find a cure—
but will he sacrifice the fate of two worlds for her life? #dragoneye 

Blurb:  Being a private detective in the border town of the Faerie and Mundane worlds isn’t easy, even for a dragon like Vern.   Still, finding the wayward brother of a teary damsel in distress shouldn’t have gotten so dangerous.  When his partner, Sister Grace, gets poisoned by a dart meant for him, Vern offers to find an artifact in exchange for a cure.  However, this is no ordinary trinket—with a little magic power, it could control all of mankind.  Can Vern find the artifact, and will he sacrifice the fate of two worlds for the life of his best friend?

Greater Treasures BUY LINKS:

Amazon Kindle link

                                                                                                 Print link

Hobby Hoedown: Stuart West's Passion for Bad Movies

Welcome YA author Stuart West to Hobby Hoedown. His hobby is finding and actually watching over-the-top bad movies. Have you ever met anyone else with this hobby? Me either. 

Howdy-do, JQ, and thanks for having me on your hobby hoedown!

Yee-haw, Stuart. Happy to have you as my guest. Congratulations on your new release in your series, Tex and the Gangs of Suburbia, available July 26. I have to admit this is one of the most unusual hobbies, so far, that has graced the pages of the J.Q. Rose blog! Tell us all about it!

I’m author Stuart R. West and I have a confession to make. Several weeks ago, Erin Albert shared her passion for running. I aim to take you back inside, plant you firmly on the couch, and draw the shades tight. Things are about to get lazy. And ugly. For you see, my passion (my wife calls it a sickness) is a true love for bad genre movies.

Wait! Before you go back outdoors running, let me explain! I’ve always loved films, dating back to when I was a child. While my friends were playing outside every Sunday, I’d hunker inside, searching the three channels available (I know, right?) for that rare piece of cinematic oddity. It was a tough life, but someone had to do it.

When the advent of videotape happened, celestial chords opened above. Now I could see the elusive treasures I’d read about for years. Finally! But it wasn’t enough. Like the worst sort of addict, I needed more. I needed films that would truly expand my mind, full of hidden treasures and strange context.

Then something terrible happened. Two words: Adam Sandler. Most of my peers found his comedies riotous. I couldn’t stand his films, never saw anything funny about them or any of the comedies made in the past thirty years or so. Film comedies were dead to me.

I mourned until one Sunday afternoon in 1993. Looking through the dusty racks of the local Mom and Pop video store (anyone remember those?), I came across a ginormous, oversized video box with the alluring title, “The Rats Are Coming! The Werewolves Are Here!” With shaking hands, I brought this strange, enticing video grail to the counter. The woman eyeballed me, grimaced, and rang me up.

Placing the videotape into the player, I settled back, not knowing what to expect. I hadn’t laughed so hard since the days of watching the Marx Brothers as a child. Pitched at a level of hysteria higher than the worst sixties soap opera, the sordid horror tale unfolded before my unbelieving eyes. A werewolf family curse! Cruel mother figures! Hunchbacks with pet rats! Family betrayals! Cheap cardboard sets! Dialogue to make you cringe! Comedic Nirvana!

I soon sought out the other works of “auteur” Andy Milligan. And trust me. For the novice bad movie buff, Milligan makes Ed Wood look like Orson Welles. Themes developed. There were always hateful mother figures and hunchbacks. And even though Milligan’s budgets never soared past a couple hundred bucks, he insisted on making costume melodrama/horror films. But it was his universe. A true vision from a warped mind. Are his movies good? No, not in the least. Are they funnier than modern day comedies? Believe it.

Next, I discovered other crazy low-budget directors. I couldn’t believe the outlandish plots or foot fetishes of Doris Wishman (who’d plant a camera on a lamp while actors spewed dire dialogue). How about the cheap, ridiculous tales of the “Godfather of Gore,” H.G. Lewis?  The surprisingly psychologically-sound films of low budget erotica king, Joe Sarno. Then there’s the small, but much valued output of filmmaker/star Renee Harmon, whose accent was nearly as strange and indecipherable as her outlandish horror plots. So many treasures to discover.

The golden age for these films is roughly the sixties through the early ‘80’s. There’s no pleasure to be had in the Sy-Fy Channel’s newest piece of dreck of the week, “Shocktopus Versus Croconado.”  Nope, stick to the “classics.” Otherwise, how would I have ever discovered the world’s most hilarious film, “Winterbeast (wherein the hero’s facial hair actually changes within the same scene!).” Trust me, seek it out. I give it “five amazeballs.”

There you have it. My obsession, hobby, sickness, what have you. Have I gained anything valuable by watching so many bad films? Yes. I’ve learned how not to write bad dialogue (although some may disagree). But more importantly, laughter’s good medicine for the soul.

ABOUT STUART WEST:  

After working as a graphic and production artist for the last 23 years, the company for which I labored shuttered its doors in July of 2010, finally allowing me the time and mental energy to tackle something I'm passionate about.   Um, that would be writing.

I'm married to a professor of pharmacy (who greatly appreciates that I now prepare dinner for her). And my daughter just turned twenty-one! (Uh-oh.)

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I’ve written a YA paranormal, suspense, murder mystery, comedic romance series all dealing with topical teen issues. Tex,The Witch Boy was released in January, 2013. 

The second, Tex And The Gangs Of Suburbia is out on July 26^th. 

Tex And The God Squad , the final book is due in December, 2013. Many more books to come.

BLOG: 

FACEBOOK: 

TWITTER: @StuartRWest

TEX, THE WITCH BOY Trailer

Hobby Hoedown Features Viola Ryan's Paintings

Big Yee-haw welcome to Author Viola Ryan. My eyes were bedazzled when Viola sent her photos of the paintings she is sharing with us today, as well as two paintings her daughters created. There's a lot of talent in that family! Viola explains how she became interested in painting. If you're a writer, I think you'll completely understand her reasoning.

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Thanks for having me again, JQ. I love getting a chance to chat with new people.

I used to write Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan fiction. That’s how I learned to write and how I realized I was a writer. One of the cardinal sins in fan fiction, the one people will blast you most for isn’t grammar mistakes. It’s creating what is known as a Mary Sue. That is basically the author inserting herself into the story. It warps the story because the canon characters around her often act out of character in order to elevate the Mary Sue. The author can’t let anything bad happen to the Mary Sue and conflict is key to any story.

When I started writing The Mark of Abel, I wanted to avoid this, so I made my character an artist. I can’t draw a straight line with a ruler, so I figured she was different from me and I wouldn’t turn her into a Mary Sue. I love art, so I could handle her talking about art. Then came the scenes where she actually painted. Painting is a key plot point in the book. I needed to learn how to describe the act of painting.

I decided I needed to take a painting class. It didn’t matter if I was horrible at it. I just needed to learn the language, so I could write the scene. I found a class on acrylic landscape painting. The class was a lot of fun. All I needed to do was bring a blank canvas. The instructor provided the rest and walked us step-by-step through each painting.

Not only did I love it, but I was pretty good at it. I have an eye for color and there are few straight lines in nature. My favorite part was mixing the colors on the canvas to paint the sky. I took the class for over a year before I attempted doing a painting outside of class. I had learned various techniques and applied them to my own original creation.

My husband is in the Coast Guard and we travel around a lot. Finding a friend I feel truly close to is difficult. When we lived in Delaware, I found such a remarkable woman. I call her Super Mom. She had previously only lived in California and Texas. She’d never seen a real fall before and the colors amazed her. Her husband is in the Air Force and I wanted her to be able to take fall wherever she went. That painting was the first one I did outside of class. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of it before I gave it to her.

My daughters have inherited my love of art. I took my oldest daughter (at age 13) to the painting class with me. I taught my youngest the way I learned, by going step by step. Their paintings proudly hang in their rooms.

The two photos above were painted by her talented daughters, Jessie and Meghan

When I finally wrote the scene, people ask me how long I’ve been painting. Recently I made another friend a New England fall scene to take with her to Washington State.

You can find all of my other paintings at http://www.violaryan.com/my-paintings.html

If you want to read the scenes I wrote thanks to my hobby, check out The Mark of Abel.

Is a frustrated artist Lucifer’s ticket back to heaven or will falling for her reawaken the compassion that got him expelled?

Lucifer is fed up with humanity. He created hell to deter evil, but man’s inhumanity is only escalating. He just wants to return home to heaven, but ever since that little problem in the Garden of Eden, the Pearly Gates remain firmly shut to him. It doesn’t help that he’s the first vampire, an abomination in God’s sight.

Fortunately, two thousand years ago Lucifer’s estranged brother, Jesus, gave him a prophecy. To fulfill it, all Lucifer has to do is find the right artist, study her artwork and the path back to heaven will be revealed. The artist even bears a symbol so he knows who she is. Too bad she is murdered every time he finds her.

Janie’s a frustrated artist and college art teacher who wants two things—a guy she can show her paintings to and a night without nightmares. Each nightmare plagues her until she paints it. She doesn’t realize these paintings are key to unlocking her destiny, one that could redeem the original fallen angel.

Buy Links:

MuseItUp Publishing:  

Amazon: 

Trailer

About Viola Ryan:

A very good friend of Viola Ryan in high school said, “You don’t think outside the box. You blow the thing up.” Sometimes boxes need exploding. That’s why she’s here. She has a whole bag of C4 and isn’t afraid to use it. She’s blessed with people who treasure her eccentricities or at least put up with them.

Sometimes the box can be a cozy place. Without some sort of stability, her two daughters’ and her life would be unmanageable. That stability comes from her husband. He’s the rock holding her family together.

On the flip side, his career is anything but stable. He’s a Chief Marine Safety Technician in the US Coast Guard. They’ve lived from Kittery, Maine to Yorktown, Virginia. Fortunately, the moves have all been on the east coast. Then again, the Coast Guard tends to guard the coast.

Her oldest daughter (16) was born on Cape Cod, not far from Plymouth. Massachusetts. Her youngest (12) was born in Yorktown, Virginia, down the road from Williamsburg. Viola jokes they’re doing the colonial America tour.

Social Media Links:

Website: http://www.violaryan.com

Blog: http://violaryanauthor.blogspot.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jeanie.ryan.9

pinterest: http://pinterest.com/violaryan/

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6922260.Viola_Ryan

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/author/violaryan