In 1847 the novel The Lady of the Camellias was published and became a sensation. It was written by Alexandre Dumas fils the son of the celebrated author of The Three Musketeers, but that wasn’t the only thing that made it a bestseller.
The younger Dumas had had an affair with Marie Duplessis – a recently deceased courtesan known for her delicate beauty and her love of a camellias. (Click the “read more” button to see the rest.)
As long as their have been storytellers, artists and musicians, there have been muses to fire up their imaginations. The ancient Greek muses were goddesses, daughters of Zeus (the most powerful of the Greek pantheon) and Mnemosyne (memory personified). Artists of all kinds would pray for their guidance and blessings. (To read the rest of this post and see please click the green “read more” button on your right.)
May I confess now that I’ve never seen any of the Underworld movies, and don’t care about Selene? Sure, from what I can see, she looks pretty cool in the black trench coat, but she seems way too much like a vampire version of The Matrix character, Trinity, who is awesome enough without even being a vampire. (To read more and see my “top ten,” click the “read more” button on your right.)
The Hunger is probably best remembered for the sex scene between a smoking hot Catherine Denueve and radiant Susan Sarandan. Sarandan explained in an interview that they wanted her character to be drunk when seduced by Deneuve. Sarandan thought that was silly. Why would anyone need to be drunk to go to bed with Catherine Deneuve? (To read the rest of this vampy review, click the “read more” button on your right. Warning: Thar be spoilers ahead.)
I keep reading very confusing blogs about what “works” in the selling of the books. Call me an idiot, but I’d think writing books people want to read should be good enough. Apparently not. Nope, this will not be another whiney post about how nobody is buying my books. Whining is apparently very bad for booksales, as is begging. Judging from book covers, cleavage and soulful eyes are good. Perhaps I should rethink my cover, and go with a “French postcard” theme?
So what does the great hive-mind say works? Word-of-mouth apparently, but it has to be on some humongous scale. Ads are good for exposure but the effective schemes are not only expensive, they require you already have a requisite number of positive reviews. So FIRST I’ve got to get those reviews. Doing the best I can on that front. Blood Diva is still available to “professional readers” on NetGalley. I don’t directly control who gets those copies, but if you want to review and are turned down by NetGalley or don’t think you “qualify,” write me. I’ll happily send an e-copy to anyone with a track record of fair reviews on Amazon and/or Goodreads, as long as they have read the sample and description and know what they are getting into. (To find out more about getting your free ebook or paperback, click the “read more” button on right.)