Family Legends - Lynn Lorenz

So, has anyone else got any family legends?

Mine is et up with 'em. Most of them revolve around my grandmother, an incredible woman, born in 1900, in rural Mississippi. One of seven daughters and seven sons. She married at seventeen because she was getting old, and feared she'd be an old maid. My grandfather came to call in a buggy with a nice horse, and well, she was hooked.

At about twelve, she saw Haley's comet, and until a discussion around the dinner table in the seventies, had no idea what it was. I did say they were rural, didn't I? Farm rural. Farm in Mississippi rural. She and her sister had been to milk the cows and on the way back from the barn they saw this huge thing in the sky. Both girls were so terrified, they fell on the ground, crying, and spilled the milk. When they returned, milkless, and told their incredible story, they got a switchin' for lying. My grandma admitted she'd always thought she'd seen a UFO and was greatly relieved to learn she had been in no danger of an abduction or being experimented on.

But Grandma had powers. The kind of powers that bordered on creepy. She had dreams, and they foretold the future. I'd always sat around at family gatherings, hearing tales of her antics, but had never experienced them until one summer.

Being from New Orleans, during the summer we (mom, dad, brother, me and grandma) took trips to the beach, which meant the Gulf Coast. This summer, we headed to Waveland, Ms. to a tiny fishing camp on the marshland bordering the gulf. It was a collection of shacks with screened porches (which we kids slept on) two bedrooms, a living area, kitchen and bath. No air conditioning. Fans and the gulf breezes only. No TV, no radio. Just us, a deck of cards, our boat, fishing gear, crab nets and each other.

We were scheduled to be there for two weeks of fun 'n the sun. After about the first week, my grandma woke up and came to breakfast, a strange look on her face, and announced she'd had a dream and we needed to leave.

Right now. Today.

My dad groaned. My mom fluttered. My grandma insisted. We kids whined.

But grandma won and we packed up the station wagon, pulled the boat out of the water and onto the trailer, and left.

The next day, Hurricane Camille hit the gulf coast. The fishing camp was destroyed, everyone there lost in the 20+ foot flood surge. My dad went back a few days later, to find his friends who owned the camp, but had to walk in due to the massive damage, trees over the road, etc.

Nothing was left. No one had survived.

My grandma had saved our lives. We asked her did she know a hurricane was coming, and she said, "All I knew was we needed to get out of there. That's all." She never described her dream or why it foretold danger and death.

I never doubted her again. And through the rest of my life, I saw more examples of her power. In fact, it was my belief in these small, but potent, powers that lead to my Common Powers paranormal series, about men who have one power, and how it affects their lives.

I've already spread the legend of my grandma to my kids, another generation amazed by what she could do and see in her dreams and although she's gone, they are just as taken with her powers as I was all those years ago. Hopefully, her legend will continue with my kids.

So, I'm asking....

How about your family? Any legends? Tall tales? Strange events?

Lynn Lorenz
www.lynnlorenz.com
Find me at Loose Id, www.loose-id.com
Amber Quill Press, www.amberquillpress.com
and Liquid Silver Books www.liquidsilverbooks.com

Missing Halloween

And hopefully no one minds me having a little fun.

If you haven't guessed by now - I'm a You Tube video freak. The first thing I do after signing a contract is head over to Dreamstime or iStock photo and pick out pictures that represent my characters (at least in my mind they do!) From there I go to Windows Movie Maker and get everything set up. I must mention that I usually pick music for the story and the hero and heroine while I'm writing it. It gives me a clear vision and feeling for who they are. On the Interesting Stuff page of my website, I've got a whole list of my stories, the hero and heroine, and what song inspired me for each. Drop by and take a look if you get a chance. You'll note my music tastes runs the gambit from Country to New Age and Tango. Enjoy!

But, in the meantime, all of the above was to say I'm posting a couple of vampy videos that I found while surfing You Tube over Halloween and I hope you'll enjoy them as much as I did.

Oooh! Tell us: did YOU dress up and what fun costume did you pick to represent who you REALLY are?





Since I write about bloodsucking cat shifters, this is MY favorite!



Thanks for visiting and remember: Growl and roar-it's okay to let the beast out.-J. Hali Steele

My Love Affair With Vampires, Con't.

Today I want to talk a pet peeve of mine -- Wimpy Vampires.

As a writer, I understand the need to be creative, the desire to be unique. To create a character or tell a story in such a way that's never been done before and stand out from the crowd. Christine Feehan did it with her Carpathians. Although I've been reading and watching movies about vampires most of my life, never had a read anything like her Dark series. I came in on book two, was hooked and immediately looked for book one. I've read everyone since then.

Vampires are...powerful. Top of the food chain. I don't care if they are lost souls damned for all eternity, another species or from an alien planet, daywalkers, creatures of the night, male or female, the one thing they all have in common is immense power. It doesn't matter if they feed of blood, emotions, sex, sunlight or moonlight.

The one thing I hate is to pick up a vampire romance, ready to be awed and entertained, only to find that the author has reduced their vampire, their creation, to little more than a human with a few extra perks.

To me, there's a checklist of things every GOOD vampire is required to have:

psychic powers,
the ability to change forms,
super strength,
and near immortality.

Everything else is negotiable. You take these away from your creation and what remains is a creature not worth reading about. That's my two cents. What's yours?


If you like shifter stories, my newest release, True Mates 4: Tameka's Smile, is just for you. Available now from Phaze (www.phaze.com)

The War on Piracy

Internet pirates.
After the success of movies like Pirates of the Caribbean, the name sounds a whole lot more glamorous than the reality.
As a debut author in the digital realm, I’ve recently had a rude awakening to the magnitude of the problem we’re facing. The illegal distribution of our work is out of control. The moment you address one site another pops up to take its place. I had no idea of the level at which anything you want is available for free on the internet.
I can only imagine the battle that our multi-published authors are fighting out there. With only one book out so far, I still feel like I’m fighting a losing war. The time and energy one spends creating takedown notices and jumping through the hoops the sites require, make you want to scream. Of the sites offering my work for download, only one has even responded to my request and removed the link.
Authors Against E-book Theft is an online peer group I recently discovered. They offer a site where writers can find information and share with others how they’ve handled the problem. Unfortunately, it seems like the war has only begun, and we’re taking heavy losses.
What has been your experience with these pirates? Have any of you had good results with takedown requests? I’m not getting very far. I would appreciate hearing your story.

The Misfits

My latest in my Trueblood - well I hate to call it a series because it's not but not sure what else to call it! - set of books- Oh well that's so much better - NOT - is out today with Loose-Id.

The Misfits is a vampire, werewolf and faerie menage. Hopefully funny at times!! Blurb below.

THE MISFITS

It’s not easy being a faerie. Holly would know. She’s the laughing stock of Fae, useless at magic and has wings that never cooperate. She can’t understand why a high-born faerie she hardly knows would want to marry her because she certainly doesn’t want to marry him. The mortal world looks far more enticing.

Being a vampire bites. Crippled with guilt over his part in the death of his twin, Dominic is estranged from his family. When he rescues an injured werewolf on the run from his pack, he sees a kindred spirit in the damaged outcast.

What use is a werewolf who can’t scent or track? Victim of his conniving brother, Jay is viciously attacked by his pack. The wolves might not want him but once he’s living with Dominic, they won’t leave him alone.

After a night of passion with Dominic and Jay, Holly’s ready to move in with them. But their enemies are intent on keeping them apart and the trio of misfits find themselves in a fight for survival. If they can’t figure a way through the web of lies and deceit that bind them, they’ll lose more than their families. They’ll lose each other.

The cover is another fabulous creation by Croco Designs. I just adore every one of the ones they've done for me. I only wish that I could have them as paperbacks on my bookshelf but they are apparently too long. Sob.