Do you Believe in Big Foot? Nessie? Chupacabra? Yeti?

Since I was a kid, I've been fascinated by cryptozoology. I think I've seen every documentary there is on Big Foot and have studied the famous video of the Sasquatch walking. Do I believe in Big Foot? I do! And yeah, I've heard all the debate against the existence of the hairy creatures. We'd have found a dead one by now, or bones or we'd have captured more on video or in the wild. Or we'd have found their poop. Heard it all. I don't care. I still believe in them. I think they are a highly evolved ape and that's it. An elusive, private creature. Just an undiscovered ape that doesn't drag his knuckles.

I also believe in the Loch Ness Monster.

And the Chupacabra.

Seriously! I think the Loch Ness Monster is a prehistoric water dinosaur. Heck, the alligator is pretty dang prehistoric!

And the Chupacabra? I think it's some kind of hairless wolf.

So, do you believe in any of these creatures? Have you seen any of them? I'd love to hear!

I'm so in love with the Bigfoot Legend that I included it in my latest release, Canyon Wolf Bride. Find out how cryptozoologists discover a species of wolves thought to be extinct at the bottom of The Grand Canyon.



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And the Yeti, Big Foot's Snowy cousin have a very important role in the ending to Circle City: Lord of the Wolfen!
Check out this cool article on the Yeti HERE!

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CHECK OUT THIS COOL LINK OF CRYPTIDS!

Let me know if anyone runs into one of these mysterious guys!

~Happy Reading,
Alisha

(Photos courtesy of Photobucket.com and Mysticinvestigations.com and Inquisir.com)

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Tierney O'Malley

Dust off that old manuscript!

Back in 2007, I finally became a published author after a boat load of rejections from publishing houses all over the world. My second novel, Canyon Wolf Bride was finally released after waiting three long years. I'd written it in 2004 after the birth of my second daughter. For some weird reason, after having a baby, I like to write books. Well, not really weird reasons but I have to quit my job to stay home with the baby and every time I have a kid, my brain says...psssst...."Hey, Mommy! Yeah, you over there. The one breastfeeding your offspring like there's no tomorrow, get your butt in gear and write that novel you keep telling yourself you'll write. You know it is your dream before you die to get published. You tried this back in 1996, remember? And that crusty, old, dried up, curled on the edges ancient manuscript is still in your freaking attic!!!"

It was true. I'd written a full length romantic suspense back in 1996 when my first daughter was born. My very first attempt at writing a novel. And I tried to put as many twists and turns into that baby and boy..was I fond of secondary characters! Well, I never submitted that baby. I did take a very cool screenplay class at a community college and had the coolest old gay screenplay writer/instructor dude in all the land. We'd even go to his house on Friday evenings and read our screenplays out loud. He loved to embarrass the shit out of students. If your work sucked, he told you to your face. And let everyone else know too. Cruel old bastard but I liked him. And he LOVED my work. Wonder if he still meets with students in his home. Lord, he was like 90 back then and that was like 12 years ago! Wow! Well, he was a mean old fucker...excuse my French but he was...but he was honest and I really did respect his opinion. He was a horror writer in the 50's and a published romance author. He wrote many screenplays for silver screen horror movies. Now no one knows who he is but back then, he was huge. Well, he loved my first novel and urged me to try my best to get the damn thing published. He even loved my romantic screenplay which still collects dust to this day. Hate to say it but I haven't done a damn thing with the screenplay but I finally had my old ass manuscript totally edited after a total revamping and indie pubbed the sucker!

I have to say I really loved revisiting the old characters and it was cool to see how much I'd grown as a writer. My writing style has totally changed. My voice is different and even my former voice is heard loud and clear in this book. I didn't want to alter the book totally. I was a little interested to see how well the book would do with my old voice in a genre I rarely write today. Romantic Suspense. Mostly now I write paranormal books.

And damn, it sure felt good to dust off that baby and send it out into the world. So dust off your old manuscripts, revisit your old characters and send your old friends out into the world. Just make sure you have a very good editor and be prepared to cringe...A LOT! I only recommend revamping one old manuscript per lifetime.

Here she is! Tada!!! My first manuscript: Deadly R&R by Ruby Vines


And this old bird will be on sale for .99 because back in 1996, you could buy two cokes for that price, not one.


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New Blog!

Dear Readers:

I have my personal blog up now. Stop by. I'd love to see you over there :) http://wendyely.blogspot.com/2012/02/feeling-free.html

Talk to you soon,

Wendy Ely

How a Hermit Left her Cabin for a Life in the WILD!

ON SALE AT AMAZON FOR A LIMITED TIME ~ .99!

Discover the Wild! Escape Today...

One reader reviewer said, "The perfect blend of erotica and horror for readers who crave darker stories with a sexy storyline!"

Happy Tuesday!
~Alisha Paige

My Top Ten Favorite Christmas CD's of all Time

Whether you enjoy more serious, standard inspirational holiday music or the fun more contemporary end of the music spectrum, I'm sure there is something on this list everyone will enjoy.

10. Handel's Messiah by the Bulgarian National Choir - Love this. If you've ever stood inside a choir while belting out the Hallelujah Chorus, you'd understand my love for this song. We preformed it when I was in high school and let me tell you, for a HS choir, we brought the goods. I've loved it ever since. Just brings me to tears every time.

9. Twisted Christmas by The Bob Rivers Group - I know, most of the songs are offensive, but all so freakin' funny. Come on, The Twelve Pains of Christmas is a classic.

8. More Twisted Christmas by The Bob Rivers Group - more of the same, but still on his game.

7. Christmas Island by Jimmy Buffet - It's Jimmy Buffet, enough said.

6. Christmas with the Rat Pack - That ultra cool trio of Frankie, Dino and Sammy. Come on, it doesn't get any smoother or better than that.

5. CBS Radio Christmas by Various Artists - These are just some really solid renditions of some holiday favorites along with some standard Christmas carols by some of the most beloved artists of the 50's and 60's. There are several CD's or downloads in the CBS collection. Check them out, you won't be sorry you did.

4. Boogie Woogie Christmas by The Brian Setzer Orchestra - The man is just so damn cool and talented beyond belief. The arrangements in this collection (there are two different CD's by the orchestra to choose from) are snappy, spirited and just plain fun.

3. Soundtrack from The Muppets Christmas Carol - Music and lyrics by Paul Williams - So clever and sweet and just all things muppety good.

2. Soundtrack from Nightmare Before Christmas by Danny Elfman - Anytime you put Danny Elfman on a project it's going to be awesome. Pair him with Tim Burton and it's a classic.

1. We Wish You a Merry Christmas by The Ray Coniff Singers - all right I went back a long way for this one. Back to my childhood. This was one of the few Christmas albums we had (yes, on vinyl - cause we really had nothing else back then) growing up. To me, this is Christmas. The arrangements are amazing. There is something very dire in recording on such songs as Ring Christmas Bells, O Holy Night and We Three Kings.

* bonus*

Anything by Sinatra. We have several of his Christmas CDs. Anything with his rendition of Jingle Bells is happening. I swear he was the first man to "scratch" on a record. When you hear the song, you'll understand why I say that. Also, The Christmas Waltz is one of my most favorite songs for the holiday season.

So may your season be filled with love, laughter and most of all music.

'Til next week!

-Kate

Dec-or-ation Time-- Come on!!

All right, so I borrowed the music from Cool & the Gang and changed the words. 'Tis the season and all that jazz.

This is going to be a pretty short-short posting today since I have several I want to get done on my other blogs before I clean the kitchen and we go out to find our tree. Yes, folks this year the hubster and I decided to get a live tree - or well, chop our own down. (I know, sounds horrible doesn't it?) Now, I'm thinking about it, I'm not sure I really like the idea. I love trees and don't like the thought of hurting them. (all right, sad moment now.)

So, it's always been a tradition in my house to put up the tree on the 11th. Two weeks out from Christmas it a good time. Not too early, not too late. We generally keep it up until New Years, so three weeks total is enough. I know when I first moved to NJ and did a lot of home care, I noticed people leaving their trees up until mid-Jan or so. I was like..."Really, people...what are you going to do, take off the Christmas decorations and hang hearts on it for Valentine's Day? Lazy asses." -- Then I was told that up here there is a large Greek Orthodox population and they leave their decorations up until the Greek New Year. (I think it was the New Year anyhow, but don't quote me on that.) - Then the Seventh Day Adventists leave theirs up until Three Kings Day. (Not sure the date of that either.) Living in the small town I did in Florida, I wasn't really exposed to much more than Southern Baptists and the occasional Catholic. So, what did I know from Greek Orthodox? Then it made sense to me. Oh, all right so all these lights on the houses and stuff isn't because they just decided to extend the season well past its best by date, they haven't finished their celebrating yet. Got it.

So, we lost a lot of our outdoor decorations in the Great Flood of 2011. Those will have to be replaced in order to deck the outside of the house, but luckily the inside is set, all we have to do is drag the decorations down from the crawl space in the loft and sort through them. Now, here is where I insert a bit of a story from last year...

Dave went up into the crawl space to get our decorations. We had this huge St. Nicholas - very old world looking. Gorgeous deep red coat and fur trim (not real fur) and looked very Victorian. It was made out of a resin and molded. Anyhoo, the face had been eaten off by mice, so he had to get thrown away. I was pretty upset because I loved that version of Santa. So, Dave goes to unpack the Nativity scene and noticed the mice had been into the wise men. Yes, folks the mice had eaten the wise men. Not a smart move on their parts. I'm at work and talking to him on the phone as he's going through piece by piece and he says..."If the baby Jesus is eaten, it's war." - I got to laughing so hard I thought I'd rupture a gut.

Moral of the story - apparently wise men are fair game, but the gloves come off if you mess with the baby Jesus.

Wishing you and yours a joyous and blessed holiday season,

-Kate