Release Day! Accident Among Vampires (or what would Dracula do?)

I am happy to announce my next book, Accident Among Vampires or What Would Dracula Do?

It is a standalone novel n the Paper Flower Consortium! If you are a fan of Norma’s Cleaning Service or Immortal House this is the story of the first year of Norma’s existence as a vampire aka her origin story.

Issaquah, Washington, USA 1951

My name is Norma Mae Rollins. I’m fourteen and an illegal vampire. I miss my mom, but new ghoulish appetites force me to remain with my creator. 

Bill didn’t mean to transform me. At least, that’s what he claims. His frightening temper, relentless lies, and morbid scientific experiments makes it hard to know what to believe. However, someone snitched about Bill’s experiments to a nearby coven. Now both of our corpses will burn. 

Bill won’t run. He is curious what happens to a vampire after final death. I don’t want to die again. It hurt so much the first time. Bill thinks his vampire boyfriend might shelter me. I must brave an eternal existence with elder vampires and other monsters who don’t think I ought to exist. Oh and figure out who I am allowed to eat.  

A vampire’s reality is nothing like the movies.

This book is a found family story, clean of profanity and suitable for most. People do get eaten.

EBOOK is only 99 cents at Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Accident-Among-Vampires-would-Dracula-ebook/dp/B08ZFQRYQS/

SIGNED PAPERBACKS $15.00 on my website! https://www.elizabethguizzetti.com/product-page/accident-among-vampires-paperback

The Grove Blog Tour!

So in celebration of the release of The Grove, I’m going on a Blog Tour!

Between September 26th and October 21st, I will be doing interviews, guest posts, and other fun stuff. At different stops, you can win prizes such as a copy of my Official The Grove Coloring Book: Pacific Coast Oddities Museum Wildlife Coloring Book! I hope you check out some of the blog stops.

September 26 – Reading Addiction Virtual Book Tours – Kick Off

September 27 – Books, Dreams, Life – Excerpt

September 28 – A Life Through Books – Interview

September 29 – Steamy Side – Excerpt

September 30 – Novel News Network – Excerpt

October 1 – Chosen By You Book Club – Excerpt

October 2 – Satin’s Bookish Corner – Excerpt

October 3 – My Reading Addiction – Interview

October 4 – Mello and June – Guest Post

October 5 – Silver Dagger Scriptorium – Review

October 6 – Jazzy’s Book Reviews – Excerpt

October 7 – Evermore Books – Guest Post

October 8 – Mary’s Cup of Tea – Review

October 10 – On a Reading Bender – Excerpt

October 11 – Authors That Rock – Review

October 12 – Just Us Book Blog – Excerpt

October 13 – Texas Book Nook – Review

October 17 – J Bronder Book Reviews – Review

October 18 – The Indie Express – Review

October 21 – RABT Reviews – Wrap Up

The novel fairy visited last night and now The Grove is here!!!

Full of anticipation I went to bed last night…and lo and behold… my next dark fantasy novel, The Grove is now live. The novel is available at Amazon for the Kindle and Paperback, Barnes&Noble for the Nook, Kobo, and IBooks.

“Chaos, murder, sacrifice: it was a delicious read, and I devoured it all.” Dan Thompson, The Black Petal

“If you’re a fan of well-written, fast-paced, fantasy thrillers that trot into the neighborhood of horror, you’ll love it…” Fia Essen, Ariel

“Guizzetti’s delusional and magically gifted anti-hero is truly terrifying…” Janice Clark, Healer’s Apprentice Series

“I was blown away…” Madison Keller, The Dragon Tax Saga

 

About The Grove:
Sitka’s Quay appears to be like every other coastal tourist town on Highway 101, but lurking below its southern grove of ancient spruce are three sleeping primordial gods. For an eon, their bloodthirsty dreams have radiated into the ground and restore anyone who walks within the Grove. The Keeper, Dayla Fischer, must remain in control of her magical abilities or fall into sickening madness, but lives a relatively quiet life with her husband, Oliver, their cat and garden gnome roommates.

That is, until the delusional, but charming Jonah Leifson comes to town with a plan to awaken the Three. Soon, children begin disappearing. With powerful suggestion spells and mind reading abilities, Jonah wins over other sorcerers, meth users, the police, and eventually even her husband. Though no one believes her and she doubts her own sanity, she must stop Jonah, before he wakes the Three and brings about the end of the world.

340 Pages, Published by ZB Publications (September 13, 2016)

E-Book ISBN: 978-0-9801459-2-2
Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9801459-0-8

As I said above, the book is available at Amazon for the Kindle and Paperback, Barnes&Noble for the Nook, Kobo, and IBooks

Want to know more? Check out a preview at ZB Publications? Or watch this video of me reading the first scene!

A hiker creates a fake forest

On Friday, I talked about how I built a fake town called Sitka’s Quay for The Grove. Today, I’ll discuss how I created the Grove for The Grove. As I said, one of my first decisions, I make when writing a story is if I should make up the setting, or set it in a real place. But there are also a few different things to consider if one is building a place where no humans live than creating a town.

As many of my fans and friends know, I am an avid hiker so I’ve been to many trails near the Ocean, in the mountains and forests. I have lived in the Pacific Northwest my entire life and I have done some volunteer trail maintenance. Trails are designed both to work with the environment, is dependent upon who owns the land and how that landowner wants the land to be used and with the people who uses them. Since when I am writing I want it to feel real…

When I envisioned the Grove, I wanted most of the trails to be family strolls, not hard wilderness hiking. The reason? It’s logical.

The landscape was inspired by Hug’s Point State Park, CapeLookout State Park, Ecola State Park, OR and Kalaloch Beaches, WA (which I’ll go into more depth in an upcoming blog post about inspirations.)

Kalaloch Beach 4 Trail

Sitka’s Quay is two miles north, so its not going to be wilderness hiking. Like many places on the Oregon Coast its right off of Highway 101. Part of the Grove, is covered by the brackish Lake Elsie which would expand during the winter and contract during summer. This area would be covered in boardwalk.  The main trails basically circles the forest and then leads down to a beach. It would be fairly accessible. People would walk their dogs there or go fishing in the lake.

Tycho surrounded by ferns, salal and blackberries

Also though there is some hills and cliff faces off the beach, realistically this would only be a couple 100 feet over sea level even at the highest point

Trees would be Sitka Spruce, Douglas Fir, and Western Cedars. Smaller plants would include Oregon grape, thickets of salal, wild lilies, and ferns.

I describe it thus in Chapter 1, Scene 3:

That being said, not everything remained the same, I originally named the Grove, Sutter’s Grove for Sutter Kane the writer whose work opened doors to another dimension from In the Mouth of Madness. However in the dialogue everyone called it “the Grove” and I ended up removing the three times it was referred to Sutter’s Grove in narration by draft 3.

So that’s how I created the Grove within The Grove. Let’s talk worldbuilding! What are some of your favorite things to create? How often do you change things?
The Grove is available for Kindle at Amazon and it will be coming on September 13th in Paperback and everywhere else.

Limited Release for The Grove Ebook

I can’t believe it. How in the world is it already July 12th? It’s already time for my new cosmic horror novel, The Grove‘s ebook limited release.

Basically, people can buy the ebook on Amazon for 2.99 (and I still have review copies available to bloggers!) Otherwise, it won’t be available anywhere else until September 13, 2016.

Sitka’s Quay appears to be like every other coastal tourist town on Highway 101, but lurking below its southern grove of ancient spruce are three sleeping primordial gods. For an eon, their bloodthirsty dreams have radiated into the ground and restore anyone who walks within the Grove. The Keeper, Dayla Fischer, must remain in control of her magical abilities or fall into sickening madness, but lives a relatively quiet life with her husband, Oliver, their cat and garden gnome roommates. 
That is, until the delusional, but charming Jonah Leifson comes to town with a plan to awaken the Three. Soon, children begin disappearing. With powerful suggestion spells and mind reading abilities, Jonah wins over other sorcerers, meth users, the police, and eventually even her husband. Though no one believes her and she doubts her own sanity, she must stop Jonah, before he wakes the Three and brings about the end of the world. 

 

Happy New Year: Setting Goals that You Will Actually Achieve!

Many people write goals or resolutions during the new year, and one of the most important thing I have discovered in the past decade, is how important setting clear achievable goals are for my career. So I decided to write about my process. I create my author goals by using the SMART goals system conceived by a business psychologist, George Doran.  SMART stands for

S – Specific. Set goals with specific outcomes. 

M – Measurable. Set that you can track or measure. 

A – Achievable. Set realistic goals that you’re prepared to pursue. 

R – Relevant. Set goals that matter to you, that will have a positive effect in your life.

T – Time-bound. Give yourself a deadline or as I do, use an event as a deadline. I most often use a convention and work backwards.

BIGGEST MISTAKE: Don’t set goals which are out of your power to achieve. 

Don’t say: Write 5,000 word short story for [Awe-inspiring lit mag] and be published by [Awe-inspiring lit mag] by June 2016.

Why? Because [Awe Inspiring lit mag]’s Editors are not within your power. They may not need or want what you are selling.

So Step 1: Set Smart Goal

SMART GOAL:  Write, edit, and submit 5,000 word short story to [Awe-inspiring lit mag] by May 1, 2016.

Step 2: Figure out calendar. This will help you measure progress and break it down into manageable steps. For the goal above: this is how I’d do it.

Day 1: Brainstorm Short Story Ideas

Day 2: Decide upon idea

Day 3-15: First Draft Deadline (I don’t worry about my word count in my first draft, but if you do, then break it up into smaller segments.)

Day 20: Read Aloud, Make changes. Fill plot holes.

Day 21-60: Wait (Note: Work on another idea while you wait.)

Day 60-70: 1st Rewrite/Polish

Day 71ish: Send through Critique Group, Beta Readers ETC.

Day 100: Consider Critique and make changes

Day 101-120: Final Rewrite

Day 121-131: Rest manuscript. Research markets, and decide first market you are going to send it to. Write query letter. Whatever you need to do to prepare yourself)

Day 132-140: Final Grammar Edit

Day 141: Submit short story

Special Note: You may be a faster author than I am. You need to set the calendar for what you can do, not what anyone else can do. As you can see it takes me about 141 days to get a short story in marketable condition, but it takes me about a year for a novel. Why? Because the steps I need to take are nearly the same. Some people write short stories because they are fast, but they are not fast for me. So when I write a novel, this is how I create my timeline:

Day 1: Write out Big Idea, Themes, Basic Characters Bios, a few scenes and outline.

Day 2: Put each scene on a 3 x 5 cards

Day 3 – 45ish: First Draft Each day I write out the scenes from 2 or 3 cards. I go crazy fast in the beginning, because I need some words on the page to cement me to the project.

Day 46: Rest

Day 47-107ish: Second Draft I reread manuscript and go scene by scene. Rewriting. Researching. Adding details. Sometimes the characters tell me to change things here.

Day 108 – 137: Wait. Stories are like wine or cheese. They need to age. Work on another idea or consider publication options.

Day 138 – 199: 3rd Draft. Find plot holes and fill them.

Day 199 – 210: 4th Draft. First Grammar Edit and Polish

Day 211-270ish: Give manuscript to First Readers. Wait again! Work on another idea right now or begin considering publication options.

Day 271 -275: Consider Critiques. Look for common themes within suggestions.

Day 276 – 306: 5th Draft. Find more plot holes and fill them.

Day 307 – 321: 6th Draft. Second Grammar Edit and Polish

And I have a marketable novel! Woot. But I’m not done yet…

Day 325: Either send it out to markets
OR
Begin the road self publishing and I write a calendar for everything I need to do to for that.

So that’s how I do it, how do you set goals? Any goals you’d like to share?

 

The Light Side of the Moon is here!

It’s here! It’s here! If you want you can picture me jumping up and down with excitement. 

The Light Side of the Moon is the second novel in the Other Systems Universe, but it is not a sequel. Fans familiar with the series know that Other Systems followed immigrants to the utopian planet, Kipos. The Light Side of the Moon is the story of those who stayed behind on Earth.

Due to lack of natural resources, no public education, and a surplus of political bickering, Earth is an over-populated cesspool and our solar system’s colonies have failed. Encouraged by the conquest of Kipos, idealistic dreamers look beyond Earth to build a utopia from the abandoned Lunar Colony Serenitatis. Despite intense uncertainty and physical hardship, the impoverished Ella Sethdottier follows rumors of plentiful jobs on the moon. On roads fraught with danger, she discovers Earth is a bigger place than she ever imagined, but Serenitatis is little more than a prison colony. Ella forges unlikely friendships with corrupted androids and the quixotic prison doctor, Ian Whitlatch, who champions equality and rights for inmates. Amid
corruption and nobility, tragedy and victory, the fate of the colony hangs in the balance.

You can read an excerpt here!

And I am having a release party at Barnes & Noble Pacific Place August 1st, 2 – 4 pm. Hope to see you there.

Sales Links Below

Amazon

Paperbacks: http://www.amazon.com/Light-Side-Moon-Elizabeth-Guizzetti/dp/193754642X/

Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Light-Side-Moon-Elizabeth-Guizzetti-ebook/dp/B011EWJHTC 

Barnes&Noble http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-light-side-of-the-moon-elizabeth-guizzetti/1122388290?ean=2940150853218

iBooks https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-light-side-of-the-moon/id1018607604?ls=1&mt=11

48Fourteen: https://48fourteen.com/catalog/the-light-side-of-the-moon/

Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/the-light-side-of-the-moon-1

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25891512-the-light-side-of-the-moon

Why all the politics in The Light Side of the Moon? Because we can’t escape ourselves

FYI: this is the answer to an early reader question that I received for my FAQ so this is up at the Other Systems Website too.

The Light Side of the Moon deals with serious issues that the world must decide is right or wrong.  I feel as a species, we are on a precipice of change as our electronic creations become sentient. We can choose to evolve our morals with technology or not. I look at The Light Side of the Moon as a cautionary tale if humanity chooses not to evolve. If we continue to allow adolescent greed or anger rule how we interact with people.

As the internet grows and expands, we have discovered other inventive ways to hurt eachother: trolling, swatting, revenge porn.

The internet is not the problem: we are.

Okay back to The Light Side of the Moon: some of the events that happen in the novel actually occurred when Europe sent prisoners to Australia and the Americas. (For example: women and girls attaching themselves to Correctional Officers for protection.) One might think that these events still don’t occur, but sadly they do.

Some say the adult content in the book is the sex and vulgar language, but in my opinion, the true adult content is that the world in the novel allows children to starve, refuses to pay workers a living wage, and humans still have atrocities such as child betrothal and marriage, economic slavery, and an unjust correctional system. We can go to colonize the moon, we can go to other planets, but until we face the problems we have now, they will always be with us.

That being said, even in the darkest places, there is hope for humanity, because good people exist. In my opinion, that is the story I wrote in The Light Side of the Moon. 

The World of The Light Side of the Moon – the new ten commandments

On June 11, 3062  the Kiposians land on Earth, Other Systems is the story of those who immigrate to Kipos, The Light Side of the Moon is about those who were left behind. It is always been my goal to create worlds that the reader can feel they can step into. The dystopian world of The Light Side of the Moon is hopefully a complex one. There are no easy answers to the abject poverty that 40% of the 17 billon people on Earth.

Humans and their intelligent creations once stretched towards the stars. By the late twenty-second century, they colonized Luna, Mars, Europa and Ganymede and Triton. They explored deeper into the cosmos with interstellar colonist ships. However, when humans realized they’d squandered Earth’s resources, it became too expensive to send people into space. Fossil fuels ran out, icecaps melted, and oceans became cemeteries of dead organisms. In the twenty-fourth century, the colonies of Triton, Europa, and Ganymede collapsed as people flooded back to the inner solar system, fearing they would be without regular supply ships. Mars perished when the borosilicate domes failed. People abandoned Luna when the titanium ran dry.

In the twenty-seventh century, human intellegent androids were marooned with humans on Earth when the Evolved AI whose minds stretched beyond understanding—refused to remain on the overcrowded Earth with such limited creatures.

Humanity sought sanctuary and answers in the old religions. Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and The Children of Isaac and Ishmael delighted in this groundswell of interest and declared it a time of renewal. The religions were not about to make the same mistakes that made them almost extinct.  In a world of seventeen billion people, they elevated cleanliness to a virtue, and rewrote the sanitation laws. They changed unpopular social doctrine to fit the new world where all three genders were equal, and people weren’t defined by the composition of their skin—whether born of flesh or manufactured from silicone. They served sixty percent of the population well.

The Ten Commandments for a New Age

From the Testament of Pope Jon Francis, 2645

Canonized by The United Church in 2793

1. Love your God, above all others.

2. Remember your Sabbath and keep it holy.

3. Live with respect to your neighbor’s beliefs. I am infinite; they only worship another face of Me.

4. Show charity to your neighbor whether they be biological or silicone, man, pangender, or woman. All are equal in the eyes of God.

5. Keep a clean body and home to prevent the spread of disease.

6. Respect your parents, show kindness to your siblings and children.

7. Do not waste the resources I have given you, these are finite.

8. Do not let your thoughts be violent, lest they cause slander, strife, or murder.

9. Do not covet your neighbor’s life, your spouse and children were given to you to be your joy.

10. Do not mingle with those who sully themselves, lest they  be your downfall.

The Light Side of the Moon will be published by 48Fourteen this summer!

It is available in Paperback (ISBN: 978-1-937546-42-7)

and ebook (ISBN:

from Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Kobo, Ibooks and wherever else you like to buy books!

Meet Ellie Sethdottier: Protagonist of The Light Side of the Moon

Who wants to see the character dossier of Ellie Sethdottier: Protagonist of The Light Side of the Moon?

Ellie at age 11, Digital painting by me, Elizabeth Guizzetti. All Rights Reserved.

Ella (Ellie) Settdottier was four-years-old when the Kiposians came. While she and her brothers were too young to immigrate to Kipos and witnessed a violent argument between her parents, which ended with her mother battered. She never saw her father again. She does not know if he abandoned them for opportunities on Kipos or was possibly killed at the gates. She doesn’t want to know.

Parents: Jia Rao and Seth Keithson

Two Brothers: Daniel (+4 years) and James (+3 years)

Virtues: Though her life has been hard, she was protected from the worst of their poverty by her older brothers, thus she is strong-willed and hopeful things will get better. (Her brothers have long given up on life.) She loves to read and collect knowledge.

Vices: She has grown up so fast, she does not listen to reason. She is slow to trust.

Helpful Vice: She is a risktaker, but terrified of “getting in trouble” in an unforgivable way. She doesn’t really understand what is unforgivable, but has an idea that she needs to not get pregnant or catch an uncurable STI, so during her teen years she stays away from boys and drugs.

Age in novel: 4 – 18

Description excerpts

Age 4

More harshly than was wise, Alexander snapped, “She’s four and lost her father. Who said, ‘Suffer the little children…’ ”

With the hope Ella would settle down and Sister Diego might witness the vision of an innocent in pain, he pulled her onto his lap. After all, a four-year-old has no designs except to be loved, fed, safe, and warm. When she wasn’t screaming, Ella was as sweet looking as Jia had been at four: large round brown eyes, soft lengths of black hair escaping from two messy braids. Sister Diego could see her in her brothers’ hand-me-down green sweater and old patched trousers. No sign of sinful disease.

Both for his own comfort and hers, Alexander rocked her. Ella calmed as she snuggled into his shoulder, but Sister Diego’s face remained without compassion.

*

Age 11

[Alexander] considered as the afternoon sun bounced off Ella’s black hair how much she resembled Jia at that age, but her normally bronzed skin, looked grayish. Daniel and Jamie looked worse, covered in flour. The girl was on some invisible tether, bouncing with childish energy, but matching her brothers’ sluggish pace. Neither boy should be broken in adolescence.

 The Light Side of the Moon will be available on paperback and ebook for Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and IBooks.