Snippets – T.S. Eliot

This is more an excerpt from a poem with some wonderful imagery. I try to read poetry often to help my writing. The obvious, reading the wonderful use of words and imagery, but the cadence, reading the beats, helps with inserting that in your writing to make it flow and bounce in the right spots.

Who hesitates towards you in the light of the door

Which opens on her like a grin.

You see the border of her dress

Is torn and stained with sand,

And you see the corner of her eye

Twists like a crooked pin.

 

A twisted branch upon the beach

Eaten smooth, and polished

As if the world gave up

The secret of its skeleton,

Stiff and white.

(From Rhapsody on a Windy Night)

I love the corner of her eye twists like a crooked pin and the entire second verse, twisted branch, the world gave up its skeleton. Fabulous!

Zombies…who knew?

When I wrote the first draft of my first novel…in my head, it was definitely about Vampires. I love Vampires, but the bad ass kind. The first actual written words involved a werewolf. This was going to be the hero. I always had a necromancer in mind as the heroine because I wanted to explore an urban fantasy heroine that had a “bad” power. I mean control of the dead is not glamorous like casting spells or drinking blood or exceptionally powerful in the traditional sense. She can’t slam people against walls and can’t really walk in stilettos. But she has this crazy, rather gruesome power and I was very into exploring how a supernatural character dealt with such a power. Does it twist her? Yes! Yes, I say. It’s how she transcends the badness or will she???

But zombies.

I’ve always enjoyed, well not enjoyed because the Romero movies are way too disturbing, but appreciated the Romero zombie movies and really, yes, I enjoyed Zombieland, Shaun of the Dead, 28 Days Later, but never thought I’d write a book that dealt with zombies. Wasn’t my first choice for Urban Fantasy. But it’s been great delving into the horror aspects with my writing because zombies are horrifying. I’m waiting for that perfect horror story to pop into my head so I can write it! But there’s a lot of fun mythology you can write about zombies from the legends of necromancers, revenants, Haitian voodoo, etc.

So yes, zombies. Bring ’em on.

Cool Places to Visit

My Necromancer’s Seduction book features a scene in the Musee Mecanique in San Francisco. I’ve never visited a place quite like it and it provided a fabulous backdrop for one of my scenes, giving the scene a gothic quality. I mention some of the antique arcade games they house at the museum. It’s truly hard to explain the vibe. It’s both fascinating, disturbing, and fun at the same time. Here are a couple of pictures of two of the antique exhibits. What’s also really cool is the games all work. Next time you’re at the San Francisco Wharf, check it out.

Fortuneteller  Vaudeville Dancers