Breaking News: Clarissa Yip at ROMANCE AUTHOR HOTSPOT features SOS Aloha in today's blog. Clarissa will be my guest here at SOS Aloha on December 9. I met Clarissa through RWA's Aloha Chapter and she is a enterprising author!
It's dawn. Creatures emerge from the shadows. They pound on the door, demanding to come in ...
... they are holiday shoppers on Black Friday! I can't think of anything scarier.
Let's consider what could be scarier. A long time ago, when I lived in Germany, I joined my friends for a ski trip to Austria over Thanksgiving Weekend. The hotel offered us local entertainment, including tales of Perchta, the pagan goddess in the Alpine countries. From Wikipedia, Perchta is
"guardian of the beasts and comes during the Twelve Days of Christmas to check on the spinning. Today the Perchten are still a traditional part of Salzburg and Austrian holidays and festivals (such as the Carnival). The wooden animal masks made for the festivals are today called Perchten."
I asked paranormal authors what scares them .....
Laura Bickle: Sparky the fire salamander is Anya Kalinczyk's familiar in SPARKS. Anya's an arson investigator in her day job, so it was natural for me to give her a familiar associated with fire. Salamanders haven't gotten much press since Paracelsus' time. They are the elemental avatars of fire. Our ancestors assumed that they were the spirit of fire, as they were often seen crawling out of logs tossed into hearth blazes. The salamander was probably annoyed to have his peaceful woodland home turned to tinder, and was making a fleet-footed escape. But alchemists and sorcerers made the link between salamanders and flames, and the association has endured.
Laura also writes urban fantasy as Alayna Williams. To learn more about Laura and Alayna, check out their website. Alayna will return to SOS Aloha on March 14 to celebrate her next book, ROGUE ORACLE.
Tara Nina: I hate spiders so the scariest creature to me would have to be Aragog from the Harry Potter books. A giant king of spiders who controlled a whole army of spiders. Yikes. Gives me chills just thinking about it. I have to leave the room when the part of the movie where Harry and Ron face Aragog in the forest comes on. I had nightmares about giant spiders after the first time I saw that movie.
To learn more about Tara, check out her website. Tara will visit us again on Monday, November 29, as part of our St. Andrew's Week celebrations.
Linda Robertson: The scariest, creepiest kinds of creatures, to me, are things I see in video games--not that I play. I am sooo not a gamer, but I know plenty of gamers and I see what they play. Creatures that are similar to human in form yet have been mutated are teh creepiest to me. Like the Trogs from Fallout, the Hanged Scratchers or Mumblers from Silent Hill. Or things with wormy-tentacles like the Uroboros from Resident Evil. Creatures like that are gross and squigg me out.
To learn more about Linda, check out her website. I think she is my twin "rocking" sister. I hope she will join us again in January 2011 to celebrate her new book, ARCANE CIRLCE.
Susan Squires: I'm a vampire fan. I wrote 6 vampire books for ST. Martin's Press called The Companion Series, after the parasite in their blood that causes their vampirism. Now, my vampires were the hero (or heroine) as well as the baddies. They make great tortured heroes when they try to maintain some semblance of humanity through the trials of eternal life and having to drink blood. But they also have an element of danger and sensuality about them. So, for those of us who like the thrill of living dangerously, and have a penchant for bad boys, what could be better? And for those that didn't try to maintain a semblance of humanity, but were drawn to the dark side--their formidable senses, strength and supernatural powers make powerful adversaries....
To learn more about Susan, check out her website. Susan lives in Southern California, so I hope she can join us at the RT Booklovers' Convention in LA in April 2011!
To celebrate scary creatures on Black Friday, I am giving away the paranormal books listed at the bottom of this blog.
(1) Leave a comment about scary creatures.
(2) Send your top three preferences and mailing address to sos.america@yahoo.com. I will fulfill requests on a first come, first serve basis.
(3) This book giveaway is only open to US and Canadian residents.
Scary creatures can be defeated by a hero - a hero like St. Andrew. Join us on Sunday, November 28 as we kick off St. Andrew's Week with authors who write Scottish historicals.
Mahalo,
Kim in Hawaii
Black Friday Paranormal Giveaway.
From our guests:
Laura Bickle, Embers, Sparks
Tara Nina, Blue Moon Rising, Night Ranger's Moon
Linda Robertson, Fatal Circle, Hallowed Circle
Susan Squires, A Twist in Time
Alayna Williams, Dark Oracle
And from other SOS supporters,
Jenna Black, The Devil Inside
Lori Devoti, Amazon Ink, Amazon Queen
Jeaniene Frost, Destined for an Early Grave
Nancy Gideon, Masked by Moonlight
Seressia Glass, Shadow Chase
Heather Graham, Ghost Shadow
Molly Harper, Nice Girls Don't Have Fangs
Jen Hollings, My Immortal Protector
Linda Howard with Linda Jones, Blood Born
Sharie Kohler, To Crave a Blood Moon
Marjorie Liu, The Wild Road
Karen Marie Moning, Dark Fever
Michelle Rowan, Tall, Dark, and Fangsome; Stakes and Stilettos
Christine Warren, Big Bad Wolf
Alayna Williams, Dark Oracle
My favorite "paranormal" story is THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This Victorian tale is based on local lore that a beast roamed Dartmoor. To research the story, Sir Arthur stayed at the Royal Duchy Hotel in Princeton, Devon. Princeton is home to the Dartmoor Prison, adding to the grim atmosphere atop the bleak moor. Dartmoor Prison and other notable sights are featured in the book.
My grandmother lived in Torquay, Devon - a 20 minute drive to Dartmoor. My fondest memories with her are exploring Dartmoor - walking down to Widecombe, climbing up to Haytor, skipping stones at Dartmeet, and looking for pixies in the hills. Separate from the legend is the rock formation called Hound Tor - do you think it looks like a hound?
I can take the scary creatures in books. I just can not watch them on T.V. or at the movie theatre. I have not seen a scary movie since the Texas Chainsaw Massacre in the early 70's.
ReplyDeleteJodiT
Snakes scare the crap out of me! Just thinking about them gives me shivers. One time I was watching The Walking Dead (a tv show about zombies) and during one of the commerical breaks was some ad that had a snake in it. Let me tell you, I screamed louder over that snake then when the zombies were attacking!
ReplyDeleteAs for the books, they all sound so good and picking three was hard! But my top three choies are:
1. Masked By Moonlight
2. Big Bad Wolf
3. Shawdow Chase
Thanksk for such a big giveaway!
Texas Chainsaw Massacre... that brings back memories but funny ones, because my dad used to always say we were going to watch it and my sisters and I would all groan and say, "NO!"
ReplyDelete:D I've always had a hard time with demons and spirits. Coming from a spiritual background and believing them real makes it harder to swallow the story. LOL They really are out to get us!!! hahaha.
...and I'm scared of Black Friday. Totally avoid it like the plague. :D
Meth dealers are at the top of my list of scary creatures!
ReplyDeleteMy top three picks are:
1. To Crave a Blood Moon
2. Embers
3. Stakes and Stilettos
Thanks for the giveaway!
Justine
Justine.Rychlik(at)gmail(dot)com
In real life? Snakes followed closely by Black Friday shoppers. In books? Ghouls and rotting vampires, as opposed to those that look good.
ReplyDeleteNo kidding...the idea of Black Friday crowds is pretty darn scary. I'm going to avoid that with all my might! ;-)
ReplyDeleteI love paranormal and scary creatures in books. makes it more interesting!
ReplyDeletegreat blog and thanks for the giveaway!
Some of my favorite scary characters in books include ghosts, werewolves, demons, and vampires. They're all dangerous, but fascinating to read about!
ReplyDeleteSoo many great books featured. It's going to be hard choosing three!
Stephanie :)
Shapeshifters totally freak me out, you never know what they are going to be. Followed closly by giant spiders and Black Friday early morning shoppers. It was 25 degrees out this morning and lines were down the block at some stores. Umm no.
ReplyDeleteThere was no way that I was going to be out in the insanity today. I'm really scared of snakes and spiders. I love reading about vamps, weres and other shifters ( as long as their not snakes) ghosts and demons.
ReplyDeleteClowns are scary creatures if that counts...lol
ReplyDeleteEmily
I love reading about scary creatures, but I'm not sure if I can handle "meeting" them. Pinhead from "Hellraiser" still haunts me to this day.
ReplyDeleteGhosts and demons freak me out but I like shapeshifters and half-human creatures like werewolves and mermaids.
ReplyDeleteThe scariest creature I can think of is Freddy from Nightmare on Elm Street. He totally freaked me out.
ReplyDeleteEmily, you reminded me of clowns...shudder...
ReplyDeleteWhen I was little, my grandmother got me a pair of slippers with plastic clown faces on them. I was terrified of those clown slippers. I'd peer out of my bed at them, where they sat, leering at me.
My mother decided to put them out of sight. Out of sight, out of mind...but she put them UNDER the bed. All that accomplished was making me imagine the terrible things the dreaded clown slippers were up to in the darkness under the bed.
Still gives me the willies.
I don't mind reading about scary creatures they just really freak me out if I watch them in moveis....especially ghosts!
ReplyDeleteOooo...the scariest 'creatures' are those girls from movies like the grudge and the ring. I hate anything that moves slow and creepy...and having their faces covered by black hair doesn't help either! Yikes!
ReplyDeleteLisa
The scariest creatures are humans, Like Pinhead.
ReplyDeleteloretta
lbcanton@verizon.net
I'm not a huge sci-fi or paranormal fan, but I do like time travel (like a Time Traveler's Wife) and Romantic Ghost Stories. I guess ghosts can be considered scary to some. :) Being raised in a very Irish home, I grew up believing in ghosts - but they are not here to harm us. Just to keep us company and to watch out for us. :)
ReplyDeleteWow, Kim, that is some contest a wonderful list of books. Big spiders can chase me for a room screaming & doing a shiver dance. DH usually does a catch & release bless his heart I guess they are good for the Garden I just dont want them coming in for Tea.
ReplyDeleteAnn