SIREN BOOK REVIEWS

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Dear Readers,

 
Please welcome Silver Publishing author, Lindsay Klug!

SBR: How old you were when you began to write?

LK: I first picked up a pen when I was six years old and wrote a creative writing piece for a teacher. Since then, I haven’t put it down.

SBR: What advice do you have for aspiring writers?


LK: Perseverance is the mark of a good writer. Have faith in your work; quite often we are our biggest critics.


SBR: What is your ideal hero?


LK: Ideal hero is one who makes his lover feel worthwhile, loved, and important. He is not afraid to help when needed, but isn’t overwhelming and controlling. Or needy. *shudder*

SBR: What is your ideal heroine?


LK: My heroines generally have one thing in common: They’re all neurotic. No, just kidding. Well, not really. They are quirky in their own way, strong and confident.


SBR: What do you do when you have writer’s block?

LK: I people watch! Their behaviors often inspire the next big thing in the story.

SBR:  How do you come up with and develop your characters?


LK: My characters come to me in daydreams, typically. Their voices pop into my head on a storyline and they develop naturally and beautifully.

SBR: Do you plot out your story before writing, or just go page to page, never knowing what will happen next?


LK: I write from the hip, such as it’s called. Personally, an outline stifles me. I can’t line up the plot points when the story starts and expect a story to develop between them. Outlines work for some people, and don’t for others.

SBR: Do you have any new releases? Tell us about them.


LK: Yes, I sure do! The Life And Times of Delila releases the 19th of March. Delila is a vampire telling her story, at least a small part of it. It involves fighting, love, a baby, and a new beginning.


SBR: Do you want to share an excerpt of your latest release?

LK:

 Please rate the excerpt: G


"What if…the world was infested with zombie vampires," asked my worst-case daily calendar, followed by a detailed account of the infestation and how to survive it. Apparently, shotguns loaded with garlic laced bullets and aimed at the head is the only way out. The more I thought of this, the more absurd it seemed.

I mean, a zombie vampire? Kind of a double entendre, isn't it? A vampire is already dead; how does one become doubly dead? The thought made me laugh out loud. Silly calendar, thinking we can be stopped with garlic laced bullets.

Everybody knows the only way to kill someone like me is with a silver bullet.

Oh, did I mention yet I am a vampire? My name is Epycidilla, which is ancient Roman, but I've adapted it through the years. Currently, I'm widely known as Delila. I was twenty-eight years old when I was changed in the year 410. Mind blowing, eh? I was married and had three children; the land was in upheaval when a neighboring horde invaded our small village and I was stolen. The men craved my pearly skin and were shocked by my blond hair and blue eyes. They dragged me off to the farthest- reaching fields, raped me repeatedly, beat me, and left me for dead.

But I didn't die. In my last breath, a young man appeared before me, his beautiful face framed by the sky. When he dipped low to my neck, I didn't object. His soft lips laid gently on me and I wondered if he would be the last to torture me, but instead his teeth pierced my skin and he led me into a whole new world of shadows and violence and revenge. I sought out my attackers and ripped their throats out. For quite a few years, I hovered near my family in the shadows, always protecting my children. When they died, I attended the funeral with their families and children as a nameless stranger who disappeared in the dusty winds.

Soon after the imminent collapse of the Roman Empire, I followed Alaric, my maker,  to Europe. We traveled through populated areas, catching whomever we pleased and making them our meals for the evening. Those were derelict times; our whimsical killing sprees reflected the sad state society as a whole had fallen into. 

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Changing times have meant changing customs. My maker may have been almost six hundred years older than me, but he passed as a teenager. As we entered the modern age and education became part of everyday life, he had no choice but to begin attending high school perpetually. I paraded as his mother to avoid unnecessary attention.

So had been my existence for hundreds of years. We made our way across the world, eventually landing in a city in the center of America. We traveled in the midst of the Civil War, and the destruction was intoxicating. I've learned over time to control my cravings so I no longer have to kill (not that I practice that control regularly), but back then my skills were not quite as refined. We would scour the battlefields for mortally wounded soldiers and help escort them to their imminent death. I made it pleasant for them, but Alaric didn't care.

In life, he had been a prince in an ancient Germanic tribe. He'd become gravely ill with a plague and to save his life the villagers brought in a magic man named Aedan to heal him. Aedan gave Alaric his blood, the only sure fire cure for the plague, but he was too close to death. When the reaper draped his soul with the black emptiness, Alaric took his last breath. The people mourned and buried him.

Three days later, they found the door to his tomb smashed and his remains "stolen". Alaric sought Aedan out, and the ancient man taught his new child how to survive. When Aedan met his final death at the hands of a bereaved mother, Alaric mourned him and created me to fill the void of companionship left by his maker.

If I'm being honest here, Alaric was kind of needy and relied on me to be his only true friend. Other vampires were no help to him, he claimed. He needed me, the only one who shared his blood, to be close by. I always just sighed and dropped it. He seemed to enjoy life in Tennessee, where he went by the name Eric, so whatever made him happy was fine with me.

I still think about my lost family sometimes. My children grew into such beautiful people and had such lovely grandchildren. I've followed the line all through time, to three boys and one girl who lived in a small town in Maine. Once, in a mood of regret, I asked Alaric why he chose me, and he replied: "In you lives a fire which is not ready to be extinguished. You haven't yet realized your purpose."

His cryptic words left me at a loss.


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SBR: Do you cook or bake? Tell us about some of your favorite things to make.

LK: I bake. Cakes are an awesome fail for me, so I stick to cookies, dessert bars, and pies. I also make awesome yeast rolls, if I do say so myself.

SBR: Do you have a recipe you want to share with our readers?

LK: Absolutely! Guaranteed to be a big hit – Hanky Pankies. You’ll need:

1 lb ground sausage, hot

1 lb ground beef

1 lb Velveeta Cheese

A dash of Worcestershire Sauce

(I usually add some spices: sage, basil, and/or rosemary)

1 bag of rye bread, party sliced (typically found near deli)

Brown sausage and beef in the same pan; add cheese, spices, Worcestershire sauce; stir until blended; spoon onto the bread; broil for 3-5 minutes. J

SBR: What is your favorite movie?

LK: 300 or Wanted. Maybe Tombstone. I’m not big on “chick flicks” or anything that makes me cry, except The Stoning of Soraya M. I do love a good psychological thriller.

SBR: If you could go on vacation and money wasn’t a concern, where would you travel to? What would you do?

LK: Tour by train across Europe, avoiding the hostels (O.o). I’d stay in luxury hotels, and tour every single castle I could come by.

SBR: If you were handed a million dollars right now, guilt-free, what would you do with it?

LK: I’d pay off all my debt, buy a house (nothing elaborate, though – I do have to clean it), and store the rest away for college money for my two kids.

SBR: Dog or cat person?

LK: Both. I have a 90 lb dog pitbull mix named Kali, and two cats: short haired one is Crackers, and the long haired one is Cheese.

SBR: What is your favorite candy?

LK: Caramello bars. *drool*

SBR: What do you daydream about?

LK:My stories, typically. I’ll spend my time walking to the school thinking about the best route for this and that character or how to better work the ending for this or that story.

SBR: Tell us the first five random things about you that come to mind.

LK:

1: I hate onions.

2: I hate heights even more.

3: My husband has been deployed to Iraq four times, and I am very thankful to have him home at last, and for good.

4: I have bipolar disorder.

5: I love to play video games, especially Black Ops.

SBR: What CD is in your stereo/track on your MP3 player right now?

LK: Audioslave – Revelations.

Where Can Our Readers Find You?

Facebook:

Lindsay K’s Author Page



Twitter:

@infidelqueen



Website:

http://lindsaysbooks.webs.com



Blog:

http://ichbineinteufel.blogspot.com/