Her lovely face was transformed in her rage.  How could he have been with her for so long and not noticed these inhuman qualities?  She had fucking wings!  Nikolas had been sleeping with a monster of some kind and hadn’t realized it.  He’d even thought he loved her at one point.  Her left wing was badly injured and she couldn’t lift off the ground any longer.  It gave her opponent, a true thing of nightmares, the advantage.

There really was no contest.  The nephilim was larger, stronger and as fierce as Sanya could be, it was more.  What made the difference for Nikolas was the cold dead eyes.  The black depths held no passion of any kind.  It hadn’t shown fear when Sanya managed to wound it, nor anger.  A black liquid oozed from it’s wound thick like molasses, it had been the same color as the eyes.  The battle didn’t last long, but it was enough time for the rest of them to escape without being pursued. 

As the nephilim dealt the killing strike to his former lover, Nikolas couldn’t help but feel a pain in his chest.  Her misery was felt across the dimensions and the image of her desperate final attack seared into his brain.  It was the cause for his current unrest.  He couldn’t close his eyes without replaying the horrible scene, good thing he didn’t require much rest these days. 

And there was also his reluctant companion to think of.  He wondered if she were part psychic.  Every time Nikolas caught himself thinking of Sanya and her death, he found Eris intently staring at him. He could feel the weight of her eyes on him and the temperature in the room would always seem a bit warmer.  She had good reason to hate Sanya, her own death at the succubus’ hands being just as horrific.  Even after what she’d done to Eris, Nikolas still felt sorry for her.  He felt sorry for the human life she’d lost and it’s miserable abrupt end.

I’m currently occupied with hunting.  I tracked down two of those devil spawn and was able to dispose of them in their sleep.  They went to bed nestled inside their newly acquired host bodies, but they never awoke.  I snapped their necks with little effort.  Nikolas cringed as I did it, even though he could see the true form of the creature hiding inside the human child.  He’d tried to find some way of separating the two so that the child could be saved.  It was a very sweet, human-like sentiment.  But Nikolas isn’t exactly human, and I assured him that those kind of impulses would fade in time.

It would seem that fate or bad luck, has brought us together once again.  I died and went to hell.  He followed me there and helped me escape.  Nikolas was so inventive with his rescue.  It did take him two years to attempt the rescue, but I didn’t hold that against him.  He did witness my death after all.  He knew he couldn’t do it alone so he enlisted the help of his former lover, who incidentally murdered me, a powerful demon lord, and a drug addicted witch.  Together they were able to severe my bonds to the jinn Asmodean, the one who made me.  Of course everyone died in the process except for Nikolas and myself.

Oh and Asmodean, he is very much alive, just not here.  He is more than likely licking his wounds and planning his next move in the safety of the 9th Dimension.  I’m sure he has thought of a special kind of torment for me, the killer of his children.

My latest effort was a pan full of peanut butter brownies.  What better way to make your current romance novel a little sweeter?

For a limited time only, purchase a printed copy of my book or the ebook and I’ll mail you a free peanut butter chocolate brownie!  ”The 9th Dimension” a story of passion, betrayal and domination that is just as sinfully delicious as this decadent dessert.

Okay, well I guess I’m not actually able to do that.  I’m sure they’d get ruined in the mail anyway.  They were absolutely as good as they look.  Just ask my boyfriend who is incidentally 5 lbs heavier this week than last week. haha.  The secret ingredient was kosher salt, just a pinch in the brownie mix and the peanut butter swirl.  The peanut butter swirl mix consister of peanut butter, kosher salt and confectioner’s sugar.

Now please enjoy pictures from my Jacksonville Zoo trip.  Okay I’ve only been to the zoo a couple of times so I was easily impressed.   It took twenty minutes to drag my friend away from this monkey.  He was a bully and pestered the poor ant eater. We saw several more monkeys and apes but this one was by far the prettiest and his ass isn’t bald.

Next we saw the majestic Zebraffe!  Okay he’s actually called an Okapi and I have no idea why he has zebra legs and a giraffe head. What I do know is that he has an extremely long gray tongue that he uses to lick his own ears. And I did see him do it!

I missed an entire section that included bears, wolves alligators etc.  But I didn’t miss the white rhino.  I was a little disappointed that he wasn’t actually white.  It’s ridiculous when you think about how old a rhino is and how long they’ve lived on this earth.  I read that the white rhino is thought to be descended from a species of rhino that lived 7 million years ago.

White rhinos chillin

I saw other things too but the African loop was by far my favorite.  There were also an Asian loop which consisted of a tiny hedge maze and a lame garden.  I was very disappointed that Asia was only represented by a komodo dragon which I did take a picture of but do not find worth showing here.

I wouldn’t have had the skills to do this myself and I can’t believe how much his illustrations enriched the story. I almost dropped the novel idea altogether to start working on scripting for comics. That was when I realized there is a very strict format for comic script writing and I had no clue how to do it properly. So I guess I’ll stick with the novel writing thing for now but I thought this would still be a fun thing to share.

http://clancarrow.com/comicpages.html

Apparently John Billington and his entire family were troublemakers, at least that is the way recorded history colors them.  Unlike the other passengers, Billington wasn’t seeking  escape from religious oppression, but rather escape from creditors.  According to wikipedia one of his sons also set fire to a powder keg aboard the Mayflower but luckily nothing was damaged.

 Before the murder charge, Billington was also charged with other minor crimes.  He was convicted of “contempt” for insulting Captain Myles Standish in 1621 and was nearly convicted of being an “accomplice” to Reverend John Lynford who was banished for being a danger to the community.   From what I’ve read it seems that Reverend Lynford, Billington and some others were unhappy with current leadership at Plymouth Colony and held secret meetings where they discussed their discontent.  That’s worth a banishing I guess!

At any rate, on Sept 1630 Billington got into an argument with a long time rival of his John Newcomen and shot the other man in the shoulder.  The man later died from his wound and Billington was hanged on the orders of Governor William Bradford.

A little more than a week ago, my world changed for the better. “The 9^th Dimension” became available for sale on Amazon on 12/10 as an ebook, and is also now available in print.  I don’t know if I will ever tire of the thrill I get when I look up my own name on the site and see my published work there.  I couldn’t have received a better Christmas present this year than to see a year and a half of work come to fruition.  When I held the finished product in my hand for the first time, I cried.  And then when I went home for Christmas and showed it to my mother she cried and then I cried again because I thought I had finally done something that justified her faith in me.

As the end of the year approaches my resolution will be to continue to follow my dream of becoming an accomplished writer.  I now feel that my lifelong dream may not be just a dream anymore.  I’m looking forward to a long enjoyable writing career.  I want to say thank you to everyone who has helped me make this monumental accomplishment possible.  First of all thank you to my publisher Icasm Press for having faith in an unpublished unknown author.  Also, thank you to the members of my former critique group who helped point out my strengths and weaknesses.  To Suza Kates, my friend and colleague, I’d like to say thank you for your advice, and basically helping me to finally complete something I started.  Thank you to Tadd Trueb for designing an amazing cover that I’m sure will get the attention of people who don’t know me.  Last but not least a BIG thank you to anyone who has purchased the ebook or print copy of “The 9^th Dimension.”  Tell your friends!

This sense of instant gratification does have a scientific explanation.  Studies have shown that feel good brain chemicals such as seratonin and dopamine are released when we engage in activities that involve working with our hands. Some theories suggest that this sense of accomplishment was necessary to survival back when everything we made was done by hand. It definitely makes the case for dragging my sewing machine out of the closet and finally learning to use it.  

I also read about a man named Mathew Crawford who had a PhD in Political Philosophy but works in a mechanic shop repairing motorcycles in Richmond, VA.  Mr. Crawford authored a book called “The Case For Working With Your Hands:Or Why Office Work is Bad For Us and Fixing Things Feels Good.”  In this book Crawford makes an argument against the devaluing of the skilled trades and explains how that type of work is actually more rewarding than office work.  Work such as car repair, plumbing, carpentry, electrical work and stonemasonry offer a way of thinking about life and relating to the world.  When speaking of the repair work he does now Mr. Crawford had this to say, “It’s physical and concrete with clear criteria of success and failure: the overall effect is energizing.”  

With most office jobs the completion of daily responsibilities doesn’t result in something tangible.  At the end of my day I can’t sit there with a stack of something and say, “I made this.”  The lack of having clear goals is what causes a feeling of uselessness and dispiriting according to Dr. Crawford.

So today I will work on making something with my hands that I can be proud of, I think I’ll start with an amazing french onion soup!

Lil boys learning to be Buddhas

While looking at different Japanese names and aspects of the culture yesterday, I stumbled onto some interesting articles about Buddhism.  I read Siddhartha many years ago, and I’m sure that we covered Buddhism during my Religion 101 class at GSU but I really didn’t remember much about it.  Then I started to read the basic tenets yesterday and they are not only really interesting but most of them make a lot of sense.

Like Christianity Buddhism focuses on good works in this life so that when you are “reincarnated” you will come back as something good.  The goal is to eventually do enough good works and meditate so that you become “enlightened.”  I’m not sure what it takes to become sufficiently “enlightened,” but when you do, you are taken from the cycle and eventually awarded Nirvana, which sounds a lot like Heaven.  But unlike Christianity, Buddhism seems to say that you are only responsible for yourself.  In fact one of the tenets I read stated that “we are responsible for our own suffering.  Good works and meditation are what keeps a person from suffering.  I also like the way that Buddhism doesn’t make it’s practitioners responsible for everyone else in the world.  It seems like individuals are forced to take ownership of themselves and are not charged with saving the world like in Christianity.  In Buddhism you are not responsible for someone elses soul.  The goal is for the individual to become awakened through leading a moral life, and developing wisdom.

There is no deity in Buddhism only the example of Buddha and his life.  It is more like a philosophy or guide on how to live your life than it is a religion.  Just reading about the tenets makes me feel more relaxed and I’m even thinking about checking out the local Zen Center here in Savannah.  Maybe I can find out if the 300 million Buddhist practitioners around the world are onto something.

I’m usually not one for haunted houses and I am very easily startled.  Most of the time I have to sleep with my lamp on for a week after watching a scary movie.  No, being terrified is not my idea of “fun.”  However, this is one haunted house that just has to be seen.  So, with my mouth dry as a desert and heart nearly pounding out of my chest I went through the doorway to the first attraction entitled “Raw Meat.”

It was very dark in most places with the only light being insane flashes of strobe. You couldn’t see the severed body parts hanging from the ceiling until your face was smacking into them and at one point the floor was so coated in fake blood I could barely pick my feet up.  Charming.  :)  There were several tight spaces to squeeze through and a swamp area with a grated floor that shook so bad I could barely stand up straight.  My favorite part was the chainsaw weilding asshole who I knew was waiting to chase me out the door.  We’d seen him earlier while waiting in line for tickets and I actually saw one girl hit the ground tripping over herself trying to get away from him.  But they aren’t allowed to touch you at least.

The bigger attraction was much more detailed but somehow less scary to me.  It was more impressive and amazing than scary.  Although the creepy man that popped out of the wall and whispered weird devil words in my ear was a  little scary.  Mechanical monsters and giant aliens with snapping jaws were among the more elaborate attractions.  I got up close and personal with one of these attractions as my boyfriend lovingly tried to push me into it’s mouth!  He was rewarded with a swift elbow to the ribs.