Changelings

Changelings are the young of faery folk who have replaced the young of humans. It's a very basic definition but I think it covers it. My question was why? Why would you give up your child and take a human child instead. Well some faery tales do have an explanation for this. The answer is in the faery tales where the faeries aren't nice and cute and happy. It is in the ones that paint another picture of faeries. It is said that faeries love having a human servant. If a child is taken they will never remember their families. They wont remember better times or happier moments. It's harder to rebel when as far as you know this is it. I haven't seen any other explanation that makes any sense to me. Most of the stories focus on how the children and parents adapt to the switch.

Dead Man Rising by Lilith Saintcrow. + Movie review

Dead Man Rising by Lilith Saintcrow. Scifi. Pages 270. Donte Valentine novel second book in series. I love this series. I think Dante otherwise known as Danny is a really good character. She's a half demon necromancer bounty hunter rich chick. She has no clue what she's doing as a half demon cause her demon lover died before he could tell her anything and she's just fumbling through things. It's a good thing she's nearly impossible to kill. Unfortunately one of those close to her isn't so lucky and she does manage to lose someone along the way. Sometimes even those well versed in death can't stop the fated from happening.

Move review: Eragon was an OK movie. I don't feel bad for having seen it but the book was just so much better. The props were kind of second rate. We're pretty sure they spent all their money on the dragon and then didn't have any for anything else. The scenes seemed a bit choppy to me but that is mostly because they had to take so much out to make it a movie from the book. I actually think they could have made it a bit longer. After all it wasn't even 2 hrs long. Well I'll give you a bit of an over view of the movie here. Eragon is a teenage boy who lives in a world where dragons used to exist but the king has killed all but his own. It's a sad time in the empire and everyone is thrust into darkness. Few have hope until Eragon finds a dragons egg and learns to ride. He may just save the empire.

Necromancers

Necromancers are always kind of creepy. I mean they do play with dead things. Not to many people are comfortable with the dead like necromancers are. Although I do think the idea of a necromancer that didn't deal well with cemeteries and dead things would be hilarious. Something like this.

OMG no not the cemetery again. Can't I do this job somewhere else? Why do we have to keep coming here? There are all these creepy crawly things all over and stuff. I mean so eww. I mean I know I help these people allowing them to hear their deceased last wishes and all but come on. Can't we do this in like the mall. Or a lawyers office I so meant to say lawyers office. I wouldn't want the dead in the mall. Gross. Ok whatever I know you're so not letting me out of this so lets just get this done. I have to get my nails done tomorrow and go shopping with the girls. Don't give me that look. I'm doing the job aren't I. Yeah whatever.

Yeah so necromancers have different jobs depending on the books you're reading. The book I'm reading right now has so many jobs I can't even began to put them all down. But one of the things she does is let the ghost of the person say last words. I thought that had to be the nicest thing I'd ever heard about necromancy. Usually people raise the dead to do their bidding. Which is just well cruel. I mean retail really sucks. It can't be any better to be a minion. Really they're the same job. Minions probably get better benefits.

Day after Xmas

I'm sorry this is a lame post. I over did things this holiday season and boy is my brain fried. I'll try to come up with something while I'm at work and post it when I come home. Hugs to everyone.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Happy Paranormal Night.

Happy Holidays to all.

Ok so we all know that names have power. Well apparently so do names of holidays. It apparently really matters if you say merry Christmas or happy holidays. In fact I find that saying Happy Holidays has the power to make some groups of people freaking crazy mad. You'd be surprised the reaction. It's so strong that I have to believe it magical. They say that in not saying Merry Christmas we are taking away from their holiday. Well in a way we are. In fact for those that know me they know that I call it present day. Present day is one of my favorite holidays. I love to give presents even more then get them. But present day means nothing. Christmas means something. However what these people fail to comprehend is that by saying Merry Christmas we diminish all the other holidays. So in the name of fair play we diminish all of them. We don't say Happy Yule or Happy Hanuka. We just say Happy Holidays. Gah can you imagine what it would be like if every retail assistant had to acknowledge all of the holidays. I mean I didn't even acknowledge them all. There are even more holidays in the month of december. Well everyoneo I hope you have a wonderful day and a great holiday.

Elves: just toy makers? I think not

If Santa just wanted elves for making toys I'm very sure the position wouldn't be limited to elves. After all the good people at Mattel make a perfectly good product and while I'm sure there are some little people on their payroll I don't think it's limited to them. No there must be something special about elves. But what?

I highly doubt that it's a cold resistance sort of thing. I mean usually you hold your heat better if you're a bit chunky. Small just isn't right for it.

Oh I just thought of it. Spies. They'd make great spy's. I know most people think of James Bond when they think of the spy business. But truthfully he would make a wonderful decoy but not a great spy. Everyone knew who he was. Hello how are you getting covert info if everyone knows you. But an elf is small and can go places unseen by the average person. Plus they can fit places that not everyone can go. It's fits even more when you think of Santa's special powers of knowing what you've done.

Assassins, well why not. Santa could use a special elite group of black op elves to keep his secrets. We don't know what he's doing the rest of the year when he's not delivering the goods. For all we know he's explores of the north pole at bay with his special forces. Forget that it's freaking cold and no one wants to go there.

Thief would be a good one too. Of course it might be that the little elves don't make the toys at all. Maybe they steal them and then redistribute them to all the kids the next year.

Well I'm sure there are plenty of jobs elves would be good at that are perfectly respectable. But these are more amusing to think about. I'm off to two parties today so you all have fun.

Singer of Souls by Adam Stemple

Here is your guest blogger once again to bring you something to pass the time.

Finding new authors to read is a never ending quest of mine. Recently I managed to spot a small paperback from a new author nestled in the shelves and decided to give it a go. Singer of Souls is all about a junkie musician getting clean. Over the years he has burned all his bridges, except one... a grandmother who lives in Scotland. Once there he plays on the street to earn his money. As payment for a song he is given the power to see the fairy kingdom in our own world.

How he survives this, and the everyday challenges of life is the majority of the story. However the real reason to read this book is not for the story (which is excellent), but for the quality of his writing. He extensively researched the myths on which he is treading. At no point does the reader become bored due to the endless humor and vividly described scenes.

So run out and buy his book. With some luck we will see a second book from him.

-Bill

Sleeping with the Fishes by Mary Janice Davidson

Sleeping with the Fishes by Mary Janice Davidson. Pages 268. Romance. OMG this is a good book. I came home from work Tuesdays and started reading it. I finished it before I went to bed at a reasonable time. So Fred (girl) is a marine biologist who's allergic to sea food, gets nauseous on boats, oh and happens to be a mermaid. She hasn't had a date in forever and suddenly there are two new people out there that want her. One of them just happens to also be a merman. I happen to think the other one is a merman as well but shrugs only time will tell. I'm sure that this is going to be a series. Check it out.

A Charmed Death by Madelyn Alt

A Charmed Death by Madelyn Alt. Mystery. Pages 289. Maggie is still trying to get used to the idea of magic. She grew up Catholic and while she hasn't been to church in forever and believes more strongly in science she clings to the faith. Good thing none of her witchie friends are trying to convince her to do anything else. They believe you can have your cake and eat it too. Which turns out to save Maggies life when she stumbles blindly into another murder case. Find out if she ends up a victim or saves the day in this fun book.

Letters to Santa

I know that the post office doesn't believe in Santa. I mean it's obvious by their inability to deliver letters to Santa. But that's ok cause they don't need to get then in the mail box. I think just the act of writing Dear Santa on a piece of paper gets the letter to him. I mean he knows when you're naughty and nice, when you're sleeping or awake, surely the man knows what you want for a present. So when you write Dear Santa on a piece of paper it gets his psychic talents zoomed in on the list. You don't need to mail it to him. It's just something nice you do for kids. But it's very important to write it down or type it. Santa's psychic powers are somewhat limited to action. He doesn't know what you are thinking just what you are actually doing. It's nice to know that the big man in red has some limitations. I mean so far he can go anywhere and knows everything. Well not everything just what you've done and are doing. He doesn't know what you are thinking about or thinking about doing. So write out those lists. Have a happy holidays.

Holiday Presents / Santa's magic suit

Presents have their very own magic. Think about when you walk into a room and you see a tree just piled with presents. It makes you feel all happy and makes you smile. You just don't get that feeling from much else. Even just the site of a lone present sitting waiting for someone can give you that feeling. It's just great. Unfortunately wrapping them has the opposite effect.


Santa's red suit. Ok the suit has to have magic powers. Otherwise who would wear a big red suit. I think one of the magical powers is making him small enough to fit down any chimney or under any door (that's how he gets in when there is no chimney). The suit has one heck of a corset attached and in goes the gut and down the chimney he goes. It's a wonderful little trick.

Imps + Chaos theory = Xmas problems

ok Imps are little creatures that create problems with things. Usually they are annoying but harmless. Breaking chairs so when you sit on them they fall apart. They are like the upholders of Murphy's law. They usually aren't a problem. Now they can be an issue if a large amount of them band together. Then they can take down much bigger things.

Now Chaos theory. You hear about it every time someone refers to that darned butterfly causing a hurricane and if I can find the butterfly I'm going to do something. Basically it's a math and physics way of trying to make sense of things that make no sense.

Ok how does this make Christmas a mass of crap that drives us all nuts. Ok Imps are already in it to make trouble. So they are running around making problems for us all that we blame on Murphy. We look at the malls and the roadways before Xmas and we blame it on chaos. But I'm sure it's just a large plot mixed up by the imps to make things complicated this holiday season. First they attack cars and give them flat tires and make all the little things break that we didn't expect to break. We say it's the cold but again it's the imps. Then you look at the problems at the registers. You have computers freezing, running out of paper, and slow credit card/check readers. That's all the imps too. It's not an overloaded server somewhere trying it's best to keep up with the thousands of last minute shoppers running around. It's all the imps.

I wanted to say I'm sorry for not getting something out yesterday. I woke up 15 min before I was supposed to leave for work and it just didn't happen.

Light My Fire by Katie MacAlister

Light My Fire by Katie MacAlister. Pages 329. Romance. OMG I love MacAlister she makes me laugh a lot. Ash is getting new powers faster they she can understand them or really figure out how to use them. On top of that drake is in the picture again. Rene keeps popping in and out. Nora is in trouble. Her demon Jim is up to his usual silliness. To add to it all imps want her dead, red dragons want her dead, and a prince of hell is after her. What else could go wrong.

Cookies and milk / food necessities

Well continuing the theme of Christmas since I'm desperately trying to stay in the holiday spirit. Santa relays on us to leave him cookies and milk. Without them he can not do his job. I think it's the secret he guards from Mrs Claus. I mean it's obvious that his Dr probably put him on a diet about 100 yrs ago. If I'd been on a diet that long someone would be dead. I also figure that if he got things like tofu cookies you wouldn't be on the nice list for long. You'd get crap for Christmas. You just can't think right on salad constantly.

Thinking about cookies made me think about what we all need to eat to live. I tried the veggie thing for a while and for me it just didn't work out. So I've got to believe that different people just have different make ups. What about other paranormals.

Vampires - well duh they need blood. Can they eat other things though. In the Christopher Moore book coming out they could drink coffee if they put a bit of blood in it. Other books have had them eat full meals. I know if I could eat and I was a vampire I would. I mean food is nummy.

Were Creatures - Well the predator were's would definitely needs lots of meat. Protein is very important in a good predators diet. I'm not exactly sure what none predators would eat. Maybe peanuts. I mean you are remaking your body over and over and protean is a very important component in muscle formation. I mean everything else is too but I'm always hearing about the protean. Basically you would just eat a bunch.

Magic Users - There is no way to know what each individual magic user is going to eat but I know chocolate would be high on my list. That and coffee I miss coffee.

Well everyone have a nice day. Wish I could have been more coherent but I've been dreaming of food all night. No clue as to why I haven't been dieting.

For a Few Demons More by Kim Harrison

For a Few Demons More by Kim Harrison. Pre-release (this book comes out in march). Science Fiction. Great book. Rachel, Jenks, and Ivy are up to it again. Rachel still can't figure out her relationship with Ivy. Ivy still can't escape the master vampire who makes her nuts. Jenks is still running around mixed up and in the middle of it. With new demons and more jobs to run how will Rachel barely manages to get through it all with her sanity intact. On top of everything someone they all love doesn't make it through. I think I may read this one again when it comes out. Yep that really says how good it is since I almost never read things twice.

Flying reindeer!?!

Ok now for the flying reindeer. Many parents will get questions about flying reindeer for x-mas. Some of them will be does Santa have to register a flight path with the airports? How do reindeer fly? Do they have flying school for reindeer? So I'm going to try to answer some of those questions.

Flight paths - No Santa doesn't have to register his flight path. Reindeer fly so fast that they can avoid any planes. They have a really high dodge and can get out of the way of even the fastest and stealthiest of jets.

How do reindeer fly - It's magic. We average people can't possibly understand. However I like to think it's much like tinkerbell. They have faery dust.

Flying school - Yes they have to go to flying school. Flying school is very challenging and it's nearly impossible to pass. That's one of the reasons that we've had the same reindeer for all these years. No one else has managed to join their elite ranks among those who have passed Santa's reindeer flying school.

:) If you look hard enough you can find the paranormal in anything.

Sorry I was unable to post yesterday I had a life crisis that demanded my attention.

Thoughts on Santas bag of holding

I was thinking about all the different Santa myths the other day and I started a list of myths that involved paranormal components.

One of those items was Santa's bag. He carries a large black sac. Now Santa's sac looks like it would probably be big enough for one families gifts but he never has to refill it.

Now those of you who have played Dungeons and Dragons before should know about bags of holding. Basically they are bags that look to be normal but can hold way more then the normal capacity of the bag.

I have talked to a few guys before about how the bag of holding works. One idea is that there is a space/time rift in the bag. When you put things in they get sucked into the rift. However this makes me curious as to how you get your stuff out. In D&D you just think about it and it comes to the top of the bag.

I began to think about how Santa just thinks about a person a thing and it comes to the top of the bag.

Some people say that the bag creates the gifts. I don't agree. I think he needs the elves to make the gifts and load his bag of holding. I really wish I could get my hands on his bag of holding. It also made me wonder if Mrs Claus has a purse of holding. Wouldn't that be nice.

My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding edited by P.N. Elrod

My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding edited by P.N. Elrod. Multiple genre anthology. Pages 310. This book contains nine short stories. I was pleased that Elrod was able to keep it to a theme and keep the plot moving. There were only two stories I just didn't love. One was the banks and I am just not a fan of her work. The other was a historical. I am generally not a fan of historical stories. I highly recommend reading this book. For an anthology two stories you don't like out of 9 you love is amazing. I would normally write up a bit about each story but honestly 9 is a bit much so I'll just touch base a bit. The list of authors is L.A. Banks, Jim Butcher, Rachel Caine, P.N. Elrod, Esther M. Friesner, Lori Handeland, Charlaine Harris, Sherrilyn Kenyon, and Susan Krinard. The Jim Butcher made me wanna pick up one of his books. I've been waiting for the first one to come into the used books section but maybe I'll just give in. Same with the Caine, Friesner, and Elrod. I've read a bit of Elrod before but found him kind of cheesy. Well to the heart of the matter. All of these stories contain elements of weddings. It's not a sappy love story. I would more put this into science fiction then I would romance. Even with a few of the authors being primarily romance authors. You really should check it out. I really wish I could get away with having the cake from the cover for my wedding cake when I get around to getting hitched. I don't think my mom would go for it though and even though I'm above the age of 18 by a bit she'll probably be paying lol.

Santa's Elves

I'm probably going to sprinkle the next few weeks with fun little bits about Christmas. I enjoy it the holiday but have trouble staying in the spirit working retail. I hope you envoy.

Wanted: Industrious folk to turn out treasures for little boys and girls. Long hours may be required to be finished before our Christmas deadline. Must be used to cold weather in a snowy wonderland of fun. Must not be allergic to reindeer. Because of uniform demands you must be under four feet tall. The check is small but the joy you bring to others is large. Please send resumes to Chris Cringle at the North poll. We eagerly await your correspondence. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Theme anthologies

I've been reading a lot of anthologies lately. It's actually kept the number of books I've read down because a lot of times there are just to many stores I just can't read cause they are bad. I'm reading an anthology right now that I really like. I haven't finished it yet but it has all the big names in it. Each story is only a few pages long so if one is bad it's over quickly. The biggest thing I like about it is that there is a theme. I like it when an editor picks a theme and sticks with it. I hate it when they're like well these authors work well together normally I'll just take four random pieces they've sent me and call it a book. Ick just no continuity whatsoever.

Ok on a side note. It's the holiday season and I'm going to try to keep up with my blog and reading. But please give me a bit of wiggle room when it comes to content. I've been super busy with work and stuff. Have a happy holiday season. :)

xmas shopping

Xmas shopping holds a magic of it's own. Buying things for the people you care about. It makes me feel happy inside. Plus I can help out those in need by donating all the caned food I'm not going to eat anyway. It's a great feeling and makes everything seem a bit brighter. So if you don't let the grumpy icky people get you down you can let them magic wash over you too. Try it. :)

Guest Commentary: Vamped by Sosnowski

Guest commentary to once again brighten your day.

Vamped by David Sosnowski
When it comes to some of the best written and least known novels ever to hit the shelves at your local bookstore, Vamped is one of the top. It has had only 1 short run of printing so don't go to the stores expecting to find it. That is not to say that it can not be found online. You can get it here at Amazon.com.

To be honest this is one of the best books I have ever read. The premise is that almost the entire world has been turned into vampires. There is synthetic blood so they will not starve. The main character Martin Kowalski is a vampire who finds a small girl whom he decides to take care of. She is fleeing the vampires who killed her parents and for some reason he decides to take her in.

This posses more of a problem than one might think. After all when was the last time anyone has used a toilet, or had to shop for real food? How he manages to keep her safe and alive is only half the battle. There are plenty of tangents to keep you interested.

Even if it has gotten some mediocre reviews by people like publisher's weekly, give it a chance. You will not be disappointed.

Happy Hunting
-Bill