I’m excited and depressed at the same time. Bitter Blood, Rachel Caine’s latest offering in the Morganville Vampires series has just been published - yay! But I can’t justify buying another book at the moment - boo! So I’m re-reading the whole series, hoping that by the time I get to the end I’ll either have the wherewithal to justify buying Bitter Blood, or I’ll be so obsessed that I won’t care and I’ll just buy it anyway!

If you haven’t come across the Morganville Vampires, you’re in for a treat! I came across the series at the height of my love affair with Twilight, and it made me see that vampire books don’t have to be all about the tragic romance. Rachel Caine’s series is like an antidote to the emo vibe that reading Twilight brings on. Full of sassy, scary and hot characters, each book is a rollercoaster ride adventure that keeps you turning the pages until you reach the end. I was in seventh heaven when I had the first six books sitting on my shelf waiting to be read for the first time. The action just kept on coming, and I couldn’t stop reading! I got practically nothing done for a few days, as I submerged myself into Caine’s world where vampires are like a scary neighbourhood watch - they’re living in your street, watching your every move, and if you cross them they will take you down!

In Glass Houses, the first book of the series, we meet Claire – a bookish young student who’s having a hard time with the ‘it’ girls in her dorm. This goes beyond the usual hazing though – these girls really want to hurt Claire, so she takes matters into her own hands and moves off campus – finding a place in a big old mansion of a house with Michael (the hot house owner who’s only ever around at night), Eve (the goth girl with attitude and a heart of gold), and Shane (sexy slacker extraordinaire). From there on in, everything takes off when Claire discovers that vampires are real, and they’re running the town.

In Morganville if you don’t have the protection of a vamp, you’re fair game. None of Claire’s new housemates have protection, for various reasons of their own, so they do their best to teach Claire how to survive without becoming a vampire’s lackey. It’s not easy to remain independent and alive in Morganville though, as Claire soon finds out.

There are no bad books in the Morganville series – some continue a storyline, while others are more self-contained. You need to read them in order though, and you need to read them all – otherwise you’ll be left with cliff-hangers that will make you scream! You’d think with thirteen books in the series Rachel Caine would be running out of ideas by now, but she just keeps on coming up with the goods, putting Claire and her friends through a terrifying series of adventures. I just hope Caine keeps writing, because I can’t get enough of them and I know I’m not the only one!

Firstly, sorry - it’s been ages since I posted anything here. I’ve been suffering big-time with chronic migraine so I’ve done hardly any work and not even been particularly creative. Sad, I know. I aim to fix this very soon. I have done a spot of sewing, which is quite a big thing for me - me and the sewing machine don’t exactly see eye to eye, but I’ve beaten it into submission and managed to create a pair of curtains, and a pretty impressive (if I say so myself) Princess Leia costume for Hallowe’en. Here’s a pic of my motley group of friends, myself far right as a vampire Leia (vampire lair - get it?). Photo courtesy of Lisa Buchan and Dan Frost. Also, check out the hair buns - ear muffs! My cunning plan to protect my sensitive migraine beleagured ears from the noisy party, and it worked!

My contribution to the party was my famous ginger cake - no picture I’m afraid, just take my word for it that it’s delicious! And mega - it’s huge! I do double the mixture and sandwich the two cakes together with lemon butter icing - the lemon flavour sets off the ginger beautifully. I used to keep the secret of my cake closely guarded, but I decided that was just selfish. So I’m now spreading the ginger cake love. If anyone wants to make the best ginger cake in the world, here’s what you do - take Nigella’s recipe, as seen here, then you make a few tweaks. Firstly, you need more ground ginger than it says - I use 3 good, big teaspoons when I’m doubling up quantities. Then, I replace the grated ginger with candied ginger, and plenty of it. I’ll put a whole tub in when doubling up. I also tend to skip the ground cloves, simply because I can never find it in the shops!

So, go ahead and make the cake(s) as instructed, but don’t do it on the same day you want to eat it - the real trick with ginger cake is to let it get good and sticky by making it at least a couple of days ahead. You can also help it along with this handy hint - when you take the cake out of the oven, let it cool a little, then, still in the tin, put it inside a plastic bag. Fold the bag over loosely, making sure it doesn’t touch the top of the cake, and allow a bit of air to get in so you don’t get too much condensation in the bag. Let it sit in the bag until you’re ready to ice/serve it.

It’s already a good cake at this stage, but to make it really great, make up a quantity of butter icing, replacing the water with lemon juice, and sandwich the cake with lashings of it. Now serve and see how fast it disappears!

You’re welcome.

Okay, so I was posting a few book review on here, but I’ve decided to create a new blog devoted entirely to books, so I’ve moved the reviews over there. This blog is more about the work I’m doing and things I’m creating, so book reviews don’t really fit in. So get yourself over to Escape Into Words and check it out!

Faeries

I’ve upgraded my faerie drawing to a painting. I’ve called it Faerie Dancer, and I’m thinking I’m going to do a series of these as and when I can find time. I’ve finally gotten around to registering on Deviant Art so I can get my work seen by more people and get some comments too. You can see my profile here, but there’s not much to see yet!

Faeries

I’m getting back into drawing again, a bit at least - when I feel up to concentrating that much anyway. There’s a space on the wall in the studio that’s waiting to be filled, and I’m planning to paint a woodland faerie scene in it. So I’ve started preliminary drawings, including this dancer and pipe player. I’ve also decided to use my drawings to create another piece of art - i want to paint them using watercolours, then make a sort of collage on a piece of board, piecing together all the different elements. It works in my head but it’s hard to explain so just watch this space and wait til I can show you!

So here’s something of a movie review for a change. You may or may not know that I’ve not been very well lately, and today’s been a bad day, so I was reduced to lounging in my reclining chair, watching a DVD. I’ve been wanting to do more writing lately, and I was quite taken with the film so here goes -  it’s been a while so bear with me…

Full of Gothic, Steam Punk and fantasy imagery, Sucker Punch is a wonderful amalgamation of themes and genres. Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen) is a master of detail - his gritty yet beautiful world is full of little things that you may not consciously notice, but which add to the whole, creating a dream-like state that intrigues and captivates the mind.

At first glance, the story is a simple one - a young woman is locked away in a mental institute, that location of dreams for scriptwriters and directors everywhere. However, that disturbed young ingénue’s imagination comes in to play and we are drawn into a multi-layered world, a fantasy state into which the questionably-named Baby Doll retreats. Baby Doll (played by a wonderful innocent yet kick-ass Emily Browning) drags us, along with her cohorts, through a series of increasingly challenging quests, in a series of dark and fanciful realities.

Released from the constraints of reality, of course our intrepid band know how to use all manner of weapons. Of course they can dodge bullets, leaping, twisting and turning in a matrixesque way, and of course they do it all wearing a series of asset-enhancing outfits.

It’s definitely one to watch in high definition if you have the opportunity - the video game-style fights and grimy shabby-chic style are part of the charm and should be seen at their best. Turn the volume up while you’re at it - the soundtrack is integral and essential, each tune hand-picked to enhance the scene.

You can get intellectual and read all sorts of twists and parallels into it, or you can simply sit back and enjoy the eye-catching action - it’s the kind of film that lots of people can enjoy, for all sorts of reasons. It is truly refreshing to see a properly original film - not a remake of an old film, a movie of a book or a feature-length TV show. The fact that it comes from an original script shows through - there are no odd holes where a few chapters have been cut to save time, no assumptions that you know the characters, and co-writer Snyder’s vision shines out as a big screen spectacle.

Buy Sucker Punch from Amazon

Dragonflies

Firstly, sorry for the big gap between posts. I will endeavor to be a bit more consistent in the future. One thing that’s taken up my time has been creating little wire dragonflies.They’re made from copper wire, beads and tissue paper for the wings.

I’ve made quite a few now, and anyone who lives near me can find them for sale in Drayton Nurseries. They’re mounted on wooden sticks, and are designed to be stuck into a plant pot to add interest and decoration to your houseplants. They come in a variety of colours. If anyone is interested in buying one online, let me know and I’ll see about setting something up.

Nevermore

With Hallowe’en coming up I thought I’d create a card for it. I’ve always been fascinated by Edgar Allan Poe’s poem, The Raven, and thought it would be a good subject for a gothic style card.

If you like this, you can buy it from my Zazzle shop.

Like this? Get it from my Zazzle store…

Drawing Challenge: Anything!

When asked to draw anything, I will most often draw a dragon. I love drawing dragons, I think because they can be anything I want them to be. This dragon is a character from the book I’m currently writing. He’s a Himlalayan Mountain Dragon, his name is Tenzin and he can see the future.