Vampires and Robots

Why indeed? Isn't this craze over with? ...funny story, that... Back in 2005 I noticed that the vampire genre was once again on its way out. Sure, we had Blade, who was a bad ass, but then they had to go and make the 113 minute iPod commercial known as Blade Trinity. I won't even acknowledge most of the other vampire flicks from that era and outside of Harlequin Nocturne, vampire literature was scant. So I decided that I would single-handedly revive the genre with a fresh take on the myth and set it in the original vampire capital of New Orleans. Now, by a fresh take, I meant a scientifically plausible take, because I am, after all, a lover of sci-fi. Armed with nothing more than the knowledge of DNA that I retained from reading Crichton's Jurassic Park a decade earlier, I began writing a miserable tale that I called Vampire Fan Club. Note that this was 2005. I began writing in January and had 20 chapters written by August. I don't think I need to tell you what happ...

From time to time, I give away The Eyes of The Sun for free. I will be doing this again this weekend, Saturday June 1 and Sunday June 2. The promotion begins at approximately midnight Pacific time Saturday morning and will end at midnight Pacific time on Monday morning. A description and link to the book's page is located under the My Books tab at the top of the page.

What do you think of when you hear the word robot? Chances are you aren't thinking about precision machinery used on assembly lines or advanced medical equipment. If you're anything like me, and you poor dear, I'm so sorry if you are, you are imagining a life-sized, metal humanoid with arthritic movements and an electronic monotone voice. For me, robots symbolize the mid-twentieth century's ideal image of the futuristic world of the twenty first century. In my last post I tipped my hat to Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles. There's a reason for that. This is the book that firmly solidified my lifelong love-terror relationship with science fiction. Specifically, There Will Come Soft Rains, the story of the automated house that carries on its daily routine despite the fact that the family it serves has perished in a nuclear holocaust. My middle-school brain was at once fascinated by the idea of total automation and terrified of the idea that machines may outli...

Being both a nerd and a girl in the 1980s was tough. There was a delicate balance between Sweet Valley High and Star Wars, Madonna and The Martian Chronicles, and Star Trek's Holodeck vs Jem and the Holograms. Whether I was sitting in bed, flashlight in hand, reading about spaceships or first dates, I remember thinking that I could not wait to be old enough to do either. Well, fast forward a few decades and no, I haven't made it to space yet, but I've had enough first dates to know that Francine Pascal and her ilk lied to me about how awesome teenage romance is. But the future? The future I'm living in is pretty awesome. Which brings us to the title of this blog. Three decades later, I'm still an awkward nerd girl, obsessed with, well duh, vampires and robots. But I'm owning it, awkwardness and all. In this future, I'm broadcasting my nerd ramblings from my backyard, using a magical five inch long box that I keep in my pocket. I'm the proud author of t...