Do we have the right?

If someone came about with awesome powers that could save the world 20 times over does humanity have the right to use them and their powers to keep us safe? I'm reading a book that deals with groups of people who are given to the government as soon as they are recognized to have certain powers. They raise them and treat them well and society is very good to them but still they have to do but one job all their lives. I'm pretty sure it's wrong of people to force groups of people to do something just because it saves lives. That would be like us saying well it looks to me like you're really good at being a Dr so you have to do that for forever. I do like the book though. I'll tell you more about it when I'm done reading it.

Over the Moon - anthology

Over the Moon - anthology. Pages 329. Romance. There are 4 stories in this book One I loved two that were good and one that was so so. I'm going to review them in that order.

Moon Dance by Angela Knight - I like that the main character is doing her thing to drag her race out of the stone ages and bring them into the current century. It's what I wish I could do with people now. Of course I'm lazy and always seem to miss things. OK the story. The female lead is a chosen werewolf. The male lead is a bitten werewolf. They are from the same world and yet different worlds. She needs help to escape her father and the man he's arranged for her to marry. It's a good story.

Driftwood by Mary Janice Davidson - This story was ok it wasn't one of her best but I did enjoy it. I like when she flushes out the worlds she's created with characters you wouldn't otherwise meet. The main male character is a werewolf. The main female character is a vampire. Basically she's stuck in a hole when he meets her and he kind of gets her out. Good thing she was already dead.

Mona Lisa Three by Sunny - This one started a bit slow but really picked up. The characters are from a race that is similar to vampires. But at the same time really different. The main character is half human. She's not liked by a lot but loved by those in her group. She is however very useful to have around. I hope to see more work by this author.

Between the Mountain and the Moon by Virginia Kantra. - This story was so so. It was about faeries and the evil faery queen. Usually I like stories that say that faeries aren't the beautiful things we write in Disney movies. I don't know what turned me off about this story. Maybe it was because the main female character seemed whinny to me. I hate it when the gals are whinny unless they end up dead. Shrugs.

Do vampires workout?

Do vampires workout? In some books vampires don't sleep all the way through the day but they still can't go outside in the sunlight without getting burned. Do they keep exercise equipment in their underground lairs in order to work out in those hours before darkness descends upon the earth? You could keep a track down there and run off frustrations when your fledglings are bothering you. Or lift weights until even the fat you had when you died was gone. Plus you could go all out. You so can't go all out in a gym cause everyone would be able to figure out you were like super strong and you didn't look it. Lol I was just thinking of vampires doing dance dance revolution. Have fun everyone.

Immortality and changing fashion

One of the things immortals tend to have issues with is change. I mean you can only go so long without learning about new things. Think about how many people still have troubles operating there vcr and those aren't even in production anymore (well at least in the US). So then you think about fashion. Things in fashion change before the stuff that's out can go on sale. What happens to those who are used to doing up corsets and having hand maids to dress them. Suddenly they blink their eyes and girls are wearing jeans. Well frequently what happens is they fail to adjust and they pass into obscurity and pass on. Walking into the sun is frequently easier then to learn how to wear pants. However the well adjusted immortal learns. They learn that they can blend in with the eccentric if they have enough money or that jeans really are comfortable. Now if I can only find the clothes I want to wear for a non immortal I'll be happy.

Skin Walkers

OK now the walker in Briggs books are not the same as skin walkers. Skin walkers are evil creatures. They use the skin of animals to become that animal. They can become pretty much any animal they wish. It's a magical sort of spell usually cast by a witch. They are even more dangerous then a were creature except you wont become the animal the next full moon if you are bitten or scratched. You don't see them often in books cause it's hard to find them and they are very very rare. I mean how would you know that the panther in front of you was indeed a skin walker unless you look for the zipper.

Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs

Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs. Pages 292. Science fiction. This is the second in the series. The first was moon called. Both books are very good. Mercy grew up with werewolves has fae friends and knows a few vampires but she's never met a demon. Now she knows why. A sorcerer vampire is wreaking havoc with her people plus a bunch of humans and even though she's just a coyote it seems like she is the best person for the job. Check it out.

Getting Furry

Now first I wanna say I'm not talking about the cause of lacanthropcey (sorry if this is misspelled). I'm talking about the change from human to werewolf.

Most leave it pretty vague. I think that's generally a good idea. I mean most werewolf's aren't going to want to talk about it and most outside viewers aren't likely to live through seeing it.

Basically from my view there are really three ways.
One is it's magic, two is it's physical and boy does it hurt, three is a combination of the first two.

It's magic is just that. Basically one second you have a human then poof you have a werewolf. I usually find this one a bit to convenient.

It's physical usually means that one moment you have a human then over a series of painful moments to like an hour you have a werewolf. Usually it's gross and messy. Also not my most favorite.

It's a combination of the first two is my favorite. Basically through magic (and usually some bit of acceptance) the change is neither horribly messy nor horribly painful but still takes more then just it's magic.

I know these are horribly simplified to contain most of the ways but I like things simple. Things get to complex and you have trouble keeping up with them. I think that's important to remember while writing. At least if you don't want fans going but didn't you say that blah.

Motor Mouth by Janet Evanovich

*Yes I do realize that this isn't truely a paranormal book but I liked it a lot so I'm going to post about it.

Motor Mouth by Janet Evanovich. Pages 312. Mystery. This is the second book in the Barnaby series. Barnaby, otherwise known as Barney (this is a female character), has gotten all wrapped up in yet another of someone else's problem. She is however way to nice for her own good. Before she knows it she and Hooker (male lead) are neck deep in dead bodies and sinking fast. How are they ever going to convince the police that they didn't kill any of these people. On top of that their large dog, Beans, keeps putting large bite marks in the dead bodies. Fortunately people seem to think they may belong to either a werewolf or a swamp monster. Check out the fast pace on and off the nascar track with these two on the run.

Sorry this was so late I was enjoying resting and relaxing on my day off.

Blood rayne (movie)

OK so the movie Blood Rayne gets a if you can watch it for free go for it otherwise don't bother. I tivo'd it and watched it for free. It was not good. The acting was flat and left a little to be desired (like emotions). Everyone in the movie had clotting issues and high blood pressure. I wouldn't have been surprised if someone had gotten a paper cut ad bleed out. OK so you probably wanna know a bit about the plot. The main character Rayne is a dhamphyr (half human half vampire). She's been held by a traveling circus for a very long time as a side show freak. One day she discovers who she is and starts hunting vampires. Then she finds out who her father is and wants to kill him. Of course he is the most powerful vampire out there. So this other group, Brimstone, is going to help her out. They train her and when they are just about ready one of the head people betrays them all. Rayne and the two other main good guys are not there at the time and get away unharmed. Well you probably can get the end from here but I'll leave it off anyway. I would hate to ruin it if you actually do decide to rent this cheesy movie.

Why people prefer vampires over werewolves.

I wanted to write up a bit about why people prefer vampires over werewolves. To do so I'm going to write a bit of pros and cons up.

Pros Vampire:
Immortal
Usually sexy
Usually rich
Numerous magical powers : Reading minds, Controlling people, Summoning animals, Turning into bats (or other animals), Pausing time (OK this one is rare), Turning into mist, etc...

Cons Vampire:
Can't go out in sunlight
Don't like silver (sometimes)
have issues with religious symbols
Extremely flammable
Have to drink blood
Sleep in coffins (sometimes)

Pros Werewolf:
Very powerful physically
Three different physical forms
Regenerate quickly
High metabolism so they don't get fat
Fuzzy

Cons Werewolf:
Must change at least once a month (usually full moon)
Hunted
Hard to hide
No real magical powers
Usually evil.
Fuzzy

Well that is why I believe there are more vampire books out there then werewolf books.

Common animals weres?

Why aren't there more books with were creatures that are common animal types. Like ever full moon I turn into a house cat dude. Or a common mutt. That would be interesting. I mean think about all the people that just feed the strays. You could live the good life once a month. Or at least the good life for an animal.

Lots of gals living together?

A lot of different types of paranormals seem to think it's a great idea to live with lots of gals in one place. What they fail to remember is that women cycle together when they live together long enough. On top of that women tend to cycle at the full moon. So you take a big group of were creatures and you give them the same cycle and you put them together on the full moon. Ouch seems like lots of pain to me. Also seems like broken stuff. Vampires get a bit of luck since most vampires don't cycle anymore. Not so much crankiness to go with life. So just a hint to dudes writing stories with lots of gals in one place. They need to beat up on the guys more often. ;)

Were chinchilla's

I am always curious why you don't see a lot of were creatures that are fairly useless. Think about things like the were hamster. It is possible that they are extinct. I mean if you think about it the instincts of a hamster are just worthless. Hide under the wood chips and stuff food in your checks. And the were chinchilla would probably be hunted to extinction. I mean you make them get mad an big and then kill them for a fur coat with no seams. So my guess isn't that there small furry helpless creatures have in the past been were animals but they were all killed off. Just a thought. Someone should write a book about it.

The Rest Falls Away by Colleen Gleason

The Rest Falls Away by Colleen Gleason. Pages 360. Romance maybe Science Fiction. I want to say wow. I really liked this book and you gotta know that's something since it's a historical and normally I hate historicals. It's something that usually will prevent me from picking up a book. But the author was in signing them and my manager thought I'd like it so he put it aside for me. So I kind of felt I should read it. I'm going to e-mail the author later and tell her to visit the site. But to the book the Gardella family keeps the world safe (well safer) from vampires. Victoria is the newest vampire hunter. However her mother did not take on the fight and does not recall vampires so Victoria not only has the burden of fighting for man kind but attending balls and events to get herself a husband. She has absolutely no intention of trying to do so yet maybe some young man might catch her attention. Is it so bad to attempt the balance of job and love?

Thirsty by Anderson

Thirsty by M.T. Anderson. Pages 237. Teen Fiction. I give them one an ok rating. Honestly while the plot was ok and the ideas behind the paranormal beings were different there wasn't a single lovable character amongst them. Everyone is self centered and annoying. None of them are truly interested in helping others. Even when the main character thinks he is doing good he truly only wants to keep himself from trouble and out of harms way. Even the good guys are Borg like in nature. The reason the vampires in this book were different then most. First even if you were turned before puberty you didn't become a vampire til puberty. Secondly there was a vampire god that they had all locked up. Plus they seem to be able to have children but that isn't so clear. It really reminds me of a B movie made in the 80's.

BTW my power is back and everything is right with the world once more.

Blackout-Guest Commentary

Laura is currently without power, as soon as it comes back on, she will post today's blog. Sorry for the inconvenience.
~Jessica~

RPG's

OK there are a lot of role playing games that deal with the paranormal. I'm just going to hit a few.

Well whitewolf has:
Vampire, werewolf, mage, faery, and witches. I used to larp (live action role playing) vampire and werewolf. They were fun games. I don't know what changes have been made since second addition though.
Then if you wanna get a bit more obscure you have D&D an Guurps.
In those two you have all kinds of different races but elves, gnomes, and dwarfs are just a few of them.

So if you ever want to get a bit geeky with it I'm highly suggest looking into the systems and seeing if you can get a group together. I find it a lot of fun to wallow in my geekiness from time to time.

Parents

OK, so most of us have parents and of those that do most of them dread the lunch date. I know of one author that does this well. Sands is great at portraying the meddling parents. How many supernatural peoples get stuck dealing with parents or in-laws. By reading the books I'd say very few. But I'd have to say if they were reality there would be way more of them. You know they don't even really have to be meddling. They could just say save the day when the kids are in trouble. I don't know send their minions to rescue vampire kids from the brink of daylight. Or go get their kids out from the vets when they get caught by the dog catcher. Or maybe they cause the trouble. Sending over girls they think would be a good match just to be caught with someone else. Or have their secret revealed to the wrong person. Heck even just passing the doomed object they must protect to the wrong kid. He ends up destroying the universe or something. Parents are known for their bad judgement when it comes to their kids. They almost always think they have a good one. Even when they are rotten to the core. Well everyone I'm off to lunch with my rents so I'll see you all later.

Grey?

Everyone always recognizes good and evil. You have good usually represented by pretty things in white. You have evil which is usually represented by ugly things in black. But what about neutral. There are many shades of grey out there. People or things that aren't so much evil as self absorbed. You know the ones that don't think beyond themselves. We need to stop this from happening. Well why? Well because it's bad for me. But it's good for this group. No you don't understand it's bad for me. Or even better is neutral good. But if it's good for that group we have to stop it cause it'd be bad for good. Good is at complete opposition to that group so it must be stopped. Well how do you plan on doing that? Well by using these absolutely evil plans but it's OK cause the group that good doesn't like will be stopped. Or neutral evil. Why'd you do that? Cause it's bad. But it hurt evil. And I care because? Oh yeah I don't. I'm not quite evil cause evil is usually out for a general purpose and I'm just doing whatever I find fun and ignoring everything else. But I'm really close to evil I just can't stand to join their club. I find the color black dull and need a bit or red and blue in there.

I really like it when authors use grey. It makes stories so much more interesting. Keeps us from figuring out which way the story will end before we finish the first chapter.

Castle for sale?

Vlad the impaler is possibly the most famous vampire of all time. However that hasn't stopped Romania from putting his castle up for sale. Yep that's right you can own Vlad the Impaler's castle for a meer 40 million pounds. If I had 40 million pounds I would so buy Vlad's castle. It would rock. Of course then I would proceed to have it moved brick by crumbly little brick to the US. This is why I think it's so wrong for them to sell it. Someones going to move that sucker to another place. I mean maybe the don't love the idea of Romania being forever tied to Vlad the most disgusting cruel leader they've ever had. However it's got to be a big money maker in tourism. Why lose that?

The Scot, the Witch and the Wardrobe by Annette Blair.

The Scot, the Witch and the Wardrobe by Annette Blair. Pages 269. Romance. I had fun reading this book. The title is where the tolken resemblence stops. One very lonely maybe witch inherites her many greats grandmothers wardrobe and inside it is a unicorn. Not a real unicorn. One from a carosal. When Rory sees the unicorn on tv he just knows it's his many greats grandfathers. Why does this women from the USA have it? Well he just has to go and get it back. It'll restore his family name and bring prosperaty back to his village. Plus then he wont have to be a hermit anymore (ok so he's a very rich hermit but a hermit non the less). Check it out.

You Inherited What !?! Part 2

People do not just inherit powers in stories. Another thing they seem to inherit are magical objects.

This takes two different forms...

1. The object changes their lives for the better.In these stories not only does the hero manage to figure out how the object works, they also manage to improve their lives. This can be seen in the disney form of Aladdin. He finds the lanp, rubs it, and fortunately the genie decides not to be a complete pain. Somehow this seems a little unlikely.

2. The object changes their lives for the worse.This seems the most probable outcome. They could obsses for years over how to make it work. They could never know it is magical at all... Or maybe the intelligence that controls it is malign. If the last case happens to be true it is entirely likely that there is no way any wish can go right. The best known case of this is the monkey paw. No wishes it would grant would happen without some negative effect.

-Bill

You Inherited What!?!

I can't even began to count the number of times that someone inherits something important in books. Now before you think, wow that's vague, I'm going to go into examples. I'm talking about inheriting life long job positions that don't usually pay. Take buff the vampire slayer. She inherited the slayers position. She was born for it. Boy that really sucks. I know you might have wanted to go to college and have a life. Perhaps have kids and a nice white picket fence but you have to slay the monsters and save the world. If you choice not to do this well the world will end. Have a nice day. OK that so sucks. Talk about guilt trip. Then there is Anita Blake from Hamilton. Apparently in that universe you're born with the gift to raise zombies and that pretty much makes you stuck doing it. No ability to say not thank you I think I'll knit. Then the Dante Valentine novels were you are born with your powers and that sticks you into a specific job. There isn't any wiggle room like there is for Anita. She could have chosen from a few jobs but not Dante. It's oh here's your birth certificate and you job. Now Anita and Dante have it up on Buffy a bit. Buffy can't tell anyone what she does. She doesn't make any money. And half the time the people she saves are jerks. So I say Buffy wins the pity party on that one. So is it worth it to have amazing super powers if you have little free will? I'm not really sure I'd have to find out what my super power was first and then let you know.

Snoring

I think snoring would be a major problem in a lot of paranormals. Think about it.

Vampires - As a vampire you sleep during the day. Most of the time you need that sleep spot to be secure. You also need that sleep spot to be secret. Otherwise the mob of mad villagers are going to find you. So snoring is a major problem because if you snore like a chainsaw someone is going to hear you and hunt you down. It might have nothing at all to do with being a vampire either. They just might want you to shut up.

Werewolves - Now it's less of a problem for werewolves. Where you sleep isn't such a big deal. But werewolves tend to congregate in packs. You have a pack of aggressive individuals and you involve a heavy snorer into the group. Well I hope the snorer can fight.

Magic Users - Now it should be even less of an issue with magic users. I mean they behave like normal humans most of the time. I would actually think that having someone who was a snorer live with you would be more the issue. Many the magic system say you need to meditate or sleep through the night without interruption to have your powers at full. So the two problems with that are if you sleep with someone who's a snorer you're likely to get woken up. Second problem is if you are a snorer you're like to a - wake yourself up snoring b - not feel well rested cause you aren't getting enough air. (yes for those who don't know about snoring that is a problem. You don't get enough air and it makes your sleep time worth less.)

Others - Well I don't know how snoring would effect a demon. I mean do they even breath. I can't imagine an ogre that doesn't snore. And I really have no clue about orcs or goblins.

I hope everyone has a nice day and many a snorless nights.

Paranormals and body image

One thing I don't often see in books about the paranormal are body image issues. I haven't heard the story of the anorexic werewolf. I haven't heard of the witch that wouldn't put on her ceremonial clothing cause they look fat. I have seen a story about a fat vampire. I haven't read it but it does exist. These are issues that hit the spot light in the first month of the year. We think about and visit the idea of new bodies over and over again. Why don't these stories exist? Well probably cause this is our fun free time stuff and we don't wanna remember the 20 or 80 extra pounds we wanna shed. I however think we could have fun with this topic. Especially the witch that wont put on her ceremonial garb cause her butt's to big. Lol think about the spells she could botch trying to "fix" her problem. I only the other hand think I need to find an activity and just get off my butt. Move more policy since I know the eat less policy just doesn't work for me. I get cranky. Oh the cranky sugar deprived werewolf on the full moon. That might be a good topic for writing. Hum, I think I might give them a try hehe.

In the Company of Ogres by A. Lee Martinez

In the Company of Ogres by A. Lee Martinez. Pages 352. Science Fiction. This is a funny book. Join never dead Ned when he loses his nice safe accounting job and gets promoted to leader of ogre company. It's the least profitable company in this for higher army. You tend to get demoted to ogre company when you're to good to be kicked out but to bad to actually work. Ned has 6 months to turn this company into a profitable unit or he'll be transferred to berserkers company. And while Ned is very good at living he's also very good at dieing. Problem is he's not very good at staying dead. The Red woman just wont let him stay in the grave. Check this funny book out and we all need a good laugh now and then.

Ogre couple on Dr. Phil

"Dr. Phil all he ever thinks about is smashing. Me smash this and me smash that. Is it to much to ask for a little attention?" female ogre looks at her husband.
"No, everyone deserves attention." Dr. Phil looks at the female ogre wondering how he got to this point. Isn't this a Jerry Springer side show kind of thing.
"Honey, I thought you liked smashing. We used to go smashing together all the time. What happened?" The male ogre scratches his head. He was so confused. His brain wasn't set up to handle this kind of thing. His wife liked to smash didn't she?
Now this probably would have worked itself out from here if only Dr. Phil could have stayed out of it. However being his usual self he had to butt in. "Now what we seem to have here is a failure to communicate. Now, um male ogre, you have to be better to your wife. She needs more then just, um, smashing. Maybe once in a while bring her flowers. Take her out to dinner."
"I know say anything bout dinner. I eat just fine. My cooking good." Female ogre beat at her chest.
"I'm sure your cooking is just fine. I was just saying he should pamper you once in a while."
"My wife does not need pampers. She can use potty just like anyone." male ogre was confused as to why Dr. Phil was insulting his wife in such a manner but it wouldn't go on much longer. He loved his wife and no one would insinuate she needed diapers.
"sniffle," Female ogre starts crying. "Why Dr. Phil so mean?"
"Oh no that's not what I meant. I meant he should treat you well."
"Now you say mean things about my man. You go to far." Female ogre stood up putting a small hole in the ceiling where her hair went through the drywall.
The male ogre was impressed by his wife standing up for herself against the mean human.
The female ogre grabbed her club from under her chair.
Dr. Phil never saw it coming.
"Me smash." Suddenly He was no more. "You gotta let me smash from time to time too."
"I love you honey." The male ogre rushed to his wives side as all the human audience members ran screaming from the room.
"I love you too."

Immortal hobbies

what hobbies would you do as an immortal? I mean people got bored now and in the great scheme of things we don't live that long. Even with lots of crafty things to do I get bored. I knit, cross stitch, and bead. Yet I find myself always thinking of doing things like drawing and painting. In many different books vampires paint and draw. I think that's because you can be very very anal about it and spend a lot of time on it. Other then Lestate I can't think of many vampires who play musical instruments. I know that in many different werewolf books were's tend to lean toward the musical arts. Magic users tend to spend most of there time working on their herbs and such. So they get so busy they don't have time for hobbies.

Racal traits of orc, goblins, and orges

Ok now orcs goblins and ogres all seem very different and yet very similar.

Ok first orcs are basically greenish in color. They are a mid sized humanoid. They like fighting and aren't very smart. However this isn't a downfall since they are pretty tough. They are usually found in mercenary armies. The pretty people tend to avoid them but that seems to be basically because they find them ugly and kind of stinky.

Ogres are also usually greenish in color. They are however very very large. They also like fighting but are usually incredibly stupid. They tend to say things like ug me smash. Also usually found in mercenary armies. They are also smelly and kind of ugly.

Goblins are also usually greenish in color. (I know there seems to be a theme here). These guys are however very very small. They are also very very squishable and tend to die a lot. I do mean a lot however they come in large groups and breed like crazy. Goblins to tend to be smarter then their counter parts. However they seem to lack some self preservation. The less intelligent ones are found in mercenary armies as fodder. However the smarter of them tend to work in sales. Goblins don't usually smell like the others possibly due to their short lives. However they aren't pretty either.

So basically the bigger the green things get the stupider they get and the smellier they get. However they also leave longer and hit harder the bigger they get.

Happy New Years

Ok first I wanna say sorry for not posting for two days. Life has been crazy.

Ok so I'm curious about what kind of New Years resolutions paranormals might make.

vampires - I resolve to live on a low blood sugar diet. To feed exclusively off of criminals.

Werewolves - I resolve to leave new clothing where I might get to it. I resolve not to go furry at the slightest sign of a challenge. I will talk things out and not resort to physical violence first.

Magic users - I will tend my herb garden with more love. I will remember to celebrate all the holidays. I will not use magic to smite those I don't like. I will reserve it for those who deserve it.

Demons - I will stop good in it's tracks and use my powers for evil. I will practise burning my burning skills. I will add to the legions of hell.

I hope you enjoy. I'm really tired of the holidays. Have fun