Category: Vampires

Selina Kray on the Historical Background for ‘Stoker & Bash: The Fangs of Scavo’ (author guest blog and giveaway)

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to host Selina Kray on her Stoker & Bash: The Fangs of Scavo tour. Welcome, Selina!

Hi, romance lovers! I’m Selina Kray, and this is the latest stop on the Stoker & Bash blog tour. A huge thank you to the lovely people at Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words for hosting me today. I thought I’d talk a little bit about some of the historical details in Stoker & Bash: The Fangs of Scavo, in which burlesque isn’t really burlesque.

Say the word “burlesque” nowadays, and your mind conjures images of Dita von Teese in a giant champagne glass; sparkly, barely there outfits capped by a giant feather boa; or the camp-tastic film with Cher and Christina Aguilera. Erotic dance as reclaimed by fierce feminists unafraid of expressing their sexuality.

But back in the Victorian era, burlesque titillated both your body and your mind. It started as a way for working class audiences to poke some fun at the classics of theatre, opera, and ballet. The plays of Shakespeare, for instance, would be:

“…adapted into a broad comic play, usually a musical play, usually risqué in style, mocking the theatrical and musical conventions and styles of the original work, and often quoting or pastiching text or music from the original work.” (source: Wikipedia: Victorian Burlesque)

The actors would sing or speak in rhyming couplets, rife with bad puns, and the action of these parodies would often be set to the popular music of the time. Gender-swapping some of the characters was the norm. One of the most popular burlesque performers, Nellie Farren, starred as The Gaiety Theatre’s “principal boy” for over 20 years.

Eventually, theatres combined burlesques with more standard music hall fare, such as singers, comics, skits, dramatic monologues, and dances, into evening-long extravaganzas. The idea was not only to mock the haughty airs and impenetrable verses of classic plays and operas, but to dull some of the sharp-edged plot points of the tragedies. With names like The Bohemian G-yurl & the Unapproachable Pole and Cinder Ellen Up Too Late, you get the sense that audiences and performers alike had a wild, bawdy good time.

In Stoker & Bash: The Fangs of Scavo, one of my characters is a burlesque performer at The Gaiety Theatre, which specialized in burlesque for 30 years. While I did research what parody was playing in that theatre in October 1873—only to be disappointed when I found out it was based on an opera—I decided to make up my own.

A performance of Robbing Hood and his Mercenary Men sets the stage for one of the most important encounters between the novel’s two leads, Tim and Hiero, and is the background for a lot of the action. So in addition to transporting you back to the Victorian era, Stoker & Bash: The Fangs of Scavo will also take you to the punny wilds of “Sure Would” Forest.

 
Length: 100,000 words
 
 
Blurb
 

At Scotland Yard, DI Timothy Stoker is no better than a ghost. A master of arcane documents and niggling details who, unlike his celebrity-chasing colleagues, prefers hard work to headlines. But an invisible man is needed to unmask the city’s newest amateur detective, Hieronymus Bash. A bon vivant long on flash and style but short on personal history, Bash just may be a Cheapside rogue in Savile Row finery.


When the four fangs of the Demon Cats of Scavo—trophies that protect the hunters who killed the two vicious beasts—disappear one by one, Stoker’s forced to team with the very man he was sent to investigate to maintain his cover. He finds himself thrust into a world of wailing mediums, spiritualist societies, man-eating lions, and a consulting detective with more ambition than sense. Will this case be the end of his career, or the start of an unexpected liaison? Or will the mysterious forces at play be the death of them both?


And just who is Hieronymus Bash?

 

 

Author Bio
 

Selina Kray is the nom de plume of an author and English editor. Professionally she has covered all the artsy-fartsy bases, having worked in a bookstore, at a cinema, in children’s television, and in television distribution, up to her latest incarnation as a subtitle editor and grammar nerd (though she may have always been a grammar nerd). A self-proclaimed geek and pop culture junkie who sometimes manages to pry herself away from the review sites and gossip blogs to write fiction of her own, she is a voracious consumer of art with both a capital and lowercase A.


Selina’s aim is to write genre-spanning romances with intricate plots, complex characters, and lots of heart. Whether she has achieved this goal is for you, gentle readers, to decide. At present she is hard at work on future novels at home in Montreal, Quebec, with her wee corgi serving as both foot warmer and in-house critic.


If you’re interested in receiving Selina’s newsletter and being the first to know when new books are released, plus getting sneak peeks at upcoming novels, please sign up at her website: www.selinakray.net

 

 

Giveaway

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An Alisa Review: To Touch You (Mates #4) by Cardeno C.

Rating:  4.5 stars out of 5

 

“His name is Salvatore Rossi. He’s a vampire. And he’s my true mate.”

 

By not relying on anyone except himself, Salvatore Rossi escaped a dead-end existence and reached the height of corporate success. But just when he has everything he always wanted, fate throws Salvatore a challenge he can’t solve alone and a young wolf shifter comes to his rescue.

 

Since childhood, Yoram Smith’s family was certain he would grow to become Alpha and save their beloved pack from its slow demise. When the time comes for a new leader, Yoram is forced to juggle his duty to care for a splintering pack with his duty to care for an absent mate, and his own strength suffers.

 

Being turned into a vampire didn’t alter Salvatore’s life philosophy: if you don’t rely on anyone, nobody can let you down. But when the boy who saved his life becomes a man who needs his help, the icy vampire must find his humanity.

 

I enjoyed this book just as much as I have the others in the series.  Yoram is a very strong shifter and when he recognizes his true mate at the age of 7 and is then able to convince his family to help Sal when he is very sick.  As he gets older he will do anything to protect his mate even if than man doesn’t want him.

 

I loved Yoram’s unending love for his mate no matter what his mate wants he will take care of him.  Salvatore has always known that he has to protect himself and doesn’t rely on anyone else; when he realizes that he actually is relying on Yoram he just lets it happen and doesn’t actively acknowledge it.  For the longest time Yoram does all the bending but I loved Sal’s determination to help his mate and his pack once he fully understands and accepts his place at Yoram’s side.

 

For the first half of this book we see most of the story through Yoram’s eyes and see how accepting he is of his life and his determination to do what is right for his mate and also for his pack.  We begin to see more of Sal’s thoughts and in that we can see his confusion when it comes to what he was told originally and how he begins to feel as Yoram gets older.  We got to see the other characters in this series in the book more frequently than we have in others and I loved seeing how Yoram was able to finally bring Ethan back into his home pack after such a long time.

 

Cover art is wonderful and I love the visual of these two characters together.

 

Sales Links: Amazon | PayHip

 

Book Details:

ebook, 260 pages

Published: May 4, 2017
ISBN: 9781942184690

Edition Language: English

Series: Mates Collection

An Alisa Review: Hybrid (A Darker Hollow #1) by Shannon West & T.S. McKinney

Rating:  3 stars out of 5

 

Jax’s little brother Mason is all grown up and finds himself longing for a life of adventure. He finds it in a way he never planned late one night while walking home to the lodge beneath a full moon, when he is attacked, bitten and left for dead by a huge black werewolf. As he’s dying and all hope is fading, he is discovered on the trail and believes he’s being saved. Instead, he’s bitten a second time, and this time by a vampire.

 

Mason finds himself in the middle of an ancient war between the vampires and the Dire werewolves, and during a raid, he’s captured by the wolf who first bit him, a strong alpha named Finn. Finn is powerfully attracted to him, but Mason is changing, becoming something not quite wolf and not quite vampire—a new creature with powers of his own.

 

A hybrid is an interesting idea, made me think of Underworld, but I had some issues with how the characters acted throughout the story.  Mason has been feeling like something big was going to happen but he never expected it to be for him become something that has never existed before.  Valeran and Finn have been trying to destroy each other for as long as they can remember.

 

Valeran saves Mason after Finn’s attack and takes him as a lover and teaching him to hate werewolves.  When they finally go after Finn’s pack Mason is captured and Finn takes him as a mate and causes Mason to second guess his feelings for Valeran.  It takes a lot for Mason to start using his brain to examine his thoughts and actions.

 

We get to see all the characters’ points of view which should help to understand them better but most of the time I couldn’t help but think why is he doing that?  I didn’t like that Valeran and Finn tried to use Mason against each other for most of the book and Mason doesn’t even realize it until close to the end.  His seemingly acceptance that the essentially is suffering from Stockholm Syndrom but is determined to make everything work with both lovers is a bit wacky to me.  It takes until the very end of the story for Valeran and Finn to kind of accept their attraction to each other.  I am hoping that the series will continue with these three actually having a relationship and getting Finn’s pack back.

 

The cover art by E Keith is nice and gives good visuals of the Mason.

 

Sales Links: Painted Hearts Publishing | Amazon | B&N

 

Book Details:

ebook, 200 pages

Published: March 29, 2017 by Painted Hearts Publishing

Edition Language: English

Series: A Darker Hollow #1

A Barb the Zany Old Lady Review: Surrender the Dark (The Dark #1) by Tibby Armstrong

Rating: 2 stars out of 5

This story appears to be the beginning of a new series, and as such, the author spends much of the time world-building. Unfortunately, I found this incredibly boring and after a while it became difficult to focus on the pages. From the blurb, I thought this would be a paranormal romance with the protagonists, Benjamin, the hunter, and Tzadkiel, the vampire king, immediately attracted to one another and eventually becoming lovers and going against the bad guy. In this case, the bad guy is The Morgan, the head of the witch coven and father of Benjamin’s BFF, Nix.

But the blurb doesn’t begin to describe the scope of this story. The book starts out with gruesome details of torture and then segues into deep animosity between the two chief protagonists and then—lo and behold—zombies enter the picture! To be honest, if I wasn’t reading this for review, I would have DNFed it at 33%. But I decided to persevere to the halfway mark before making a decision. And then I kept going since there was a hint of sexual attraction and it looked like there might be some deep emotional attraction between Benjamin and Tzadkiel in the future. Maybe there’d be a romance after all. And there was—though it was one of those push-and-pull romances where the characters continued to disappoint each other nearly to the end of the story.

The biggest issue for me was that I didn’t feel connected to either of the MCs, and quite frankly, I really didn’t care if they got together, or even if they won the battle and lived to see another day (or a sequel in this case.) I just didn’t feel the love between the two, and what’s more important to me—I didn’t get hooked by either character, so this one fell flat.

I did admire the writer’s craft and imagination in building this world, and the complexity of the hierarchy of paranormal beings and their powers. For that reason, I gave this two stars. It was okay. But overall, from the perspective that I would have enjoyed some bonding, especially after there was some blood exchanged, and I surely would have enjoyed caring about one or both characters—no. This story just didn’t do it for me.

~~~~

Cover design by Lynn Andreozzi and photo by Ingram Publising/Agefotostock depicts a naked male torso—back view—with his arms out and head tipped back—against a dark background. I didn’t find it attention-getting, but it can be applied to any vampire or dark story, though not necessarily specific to this one.

Sales Links:  Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 1st edition, 251 pages
Expected publication: May 23rd 2017 by Loveswept
ASINB01D7CJ3Z0
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesThe Dark #1

An Alisa Review: Threshold by Vivien Dean

Rating:  4 stars out of 5

 

Finding a gorgeous, unconscious vampire gives ex-Marine Max a new purpose in life.

 

Sutter is a vampire on the run. After barely escaping the hunter sent after him, he makes it all the way to Oregon before the approaching sunrise forces him to stop. He only intends to rest until dusk, but that plan falls apart when he’s found passed out on the bathroom floor.

 

Ex-Marine Max Rowell hasn’t had a purpose in life since coming home from the Gulf. Drifting through the days, he discovers an unconscious guy who looks like an angel but has clearly been through hell and finds new purpose.

 

Max isn’t letting Sutter go anywhere until he’s healed, but Sutter needs more than a warm bedside manner to get stronger. Though they strike a deal, the clock is ticking. Sooner or later, Sutter will need to run again, or risk putting Max’s life on the line when Sutter’s past catches up to him…

 

I really enjoyed this story.  Sutter is on the run and hoping that he can heal enough over night to keep going but Max patches him up and won’t let him go until he is better.  Both of the characters have to work together to move past their current existence to something more.

 

Max is just buying time trying to figure out what he wants to do now that he is out of the marines and not really getting anywhere, meeting Sutter begins to give him a reason to do something different.  He is shocked when Sutter explains to him that he is a vampire but still refuses to leave his side while he is healing.  Sutter doesn’t want to get an innocent person hurt because of his past but Max won’t let him push him away so easily.

 

This story is told from both characters’ points of view and we can see their struggles and how they seem to understand the other easily.  Max refused to give in to his desire for Sutter until he knows the man is healed, he has seen too much evil in the world and refuses to be that way.  Sutter is trying to be the bigger man but knows he can’t take care of himself quite yet.  These two characters are as different as they are alike and they played well off of each other.  I liked seeing them actually begin to build a relationship and get to know each other seeing them essentially ride off together in the end.

 

I love the cover art and how it depicts both of the characters.

 

Sales Links: MLR Press | Amazon | B&N

 

Book Details:

ebook, 113 pages

Published: April 14, 2017 by MLR Press

Edition Language: English

Cardeno C on the Mates series + Giveaway

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to host Cardeno C. today, celebrating the author’s Mate series and a new release in May!

The author is  happy to offer a giveaway for your blog readers –  three randomly chosen winners with each getting one of the books. To be entered to win, leave a comment with an email address where you can be reached if chosen.

Until Forever Comes (Mates, #2) by Cardeno C.


Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25926739-until-forever-comes

Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/Until-Forever-Comes-Mates–Collection-ebook/dp/B011STPHA4/

A sensitive wolf shifter and a vicious vampire challenge history, greed, and the very fabric of their beings in order to stay together until forever comes.


Plagued by pain and weakness all his life, Ethan Abbatt is a wolf shifter who can’t shift. Hoping to find an honorable death by joining his pack mates in a vampire attack, Ethan instead

learns two things: draining his blood releases his pain and his wolf, and he has a true mate – a vampire named Miguel.


Over four centuries old, strong, powerful, and vicious, Miguel Rodriguez walks through life as a shadow, without happiness or affection. When a young shifter tells Miguel they’re true mates, destined to be together, Miguel sends him away. But Ethan is persistent and being together comes so naturally that Miguel can’t resist for long. The challenge is keeping themselves alive so they can stay by each other’s side until forever comes.


Word Count: 60,702

 

Wake Me Up Inside (Mates #1) by Cardeno C.


Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25967103-wake-me-up-inside

Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/Wake-Me-Inside-Mates–Collection-ebook/dp/B0137I04VQ/


A powerful Alpha wolf shifter and a strong-willed human overcome traditions ingrained over generations and uncover long-buried secrets to fulfill their destiny as true mates.


Regarded as the strongest wolf shifter in generations, Alpha Zev Hassick is surprised and confused by his attraction to his best friend. His very human, very male best friend. A male shifter has to mate with a female shifter to keep his humanity, so shifters can’t be gay. Yet, everything inside Zev tells him Jonah is his true mate.


Maintaining a relationship with the man he has loved since childhood isn’t easy for Jonah Marvel, but he won’t let distance or Zev’s odd family get in their way. When unexplained ailments begin to plague Jonah, he needs to save his own life and sanity in order to have a future with Zev.


Zev and Jonah know they’re destined for each other, but they must overcome traditions ingrained over generations and long-buried secrets to fulfill their destiny.


Word Count: 74,755


In Your Eyes (Mates, #3) by Cardeno C.

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25927403-in-your-eyes

Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/In-Your-Eyes-Mates–Collection-ebook/dp/B011STPGGO/


Two very different men with a tumultuous history must overcome challenges from all sides and see past their society’s rules to realize they are destined for one another.


Raised to become Alpha of the Yafenack pack, Samuel Goodwin dedicates his life to studying shifter laws, strengthening his body, and learning from his father. But despite his best efforts, Samuel can’t relate to people, including those he’s supposed to lead.


When Samuel meets Korban Keller, the son of a neighboring pack’s Alpha, he reacts with emotion instead of intellect for the first time in his life. Resenting the other shifter for throwing him off-balance, Samuel first tries to intimidate Korban and then desperately avoids him. What he can’t do is forget Korban’s warm eyes, easy smile, and happy personality.


When a battle between their fathers ends tragically, Samuel struggles to lead his pack while Korban works to break through Samuel’s emotional barriers. Two very different men with a tumultuous history must overcome challenges from all sides and see past their society’s rules to realize they are destined for one another.


Word Count: 60,875


COMING MAY 4, 2017

To Touch You


“His name is Salvatore Rossi. He’s a vampire. And he’s my true mate.”


By not relying on anyone except himself, Salvatore Rossi escaped a dead-end existence and reached the height of corporate success. But just when he has everything he always wanted, fate throws Salvatore a challenge he can’t solve alone and a young wolf shifter comes to his rescue.

Since childhood, Yoram Smith’s family was certain he would grow to become Alpha and save their beloved pack from its slow demise. When the time comes for a new leader, Yoram is forced to juggle his duty to care for a splintering pack with his duty to care for an absent mate, and his own strength suffers.

Being turned into a vampire didn’t alter Salvatore’s life philosophy: if you don’t rely on anyone, nobody can let you down. But when the boy who saved his life becomes a man who needs his help, the icy vampire must find his humanity.

 

CC

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heartwarming Stories. Strong Relationships. Forever Love.