Guest Post: 6 Purr-fect Cat Movies Based on Books by Vanessa Morgan

Do you think cats rule the internet? Wait until you see how they dominate the silver screen—especially when their movies are inspired by books. 

To celebrate the release of my book Meow! Cats in Horror, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy Movies, I'm diving into six unforgettable feline flicks that started as books.

Meow! dives much further into these six films and many others, with many behind-the-scenes insights, fun facts, and plenty of feline flair. It's the ultimate guide to all things cat cinema.

6 Purr-fect Cat Movies Based on Books

By Vanessa Morgan

1) Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)

Based on the novel by Eiko Kadono, Kiki's Delivery Service is a charming coming-of-age tale about a young witch navigating independence. Kiki’s black cat, Jiji, is her constant companion, offering sarcastic quips, loyal support, and comic relief throughout her delivery adventures. Jiji isn’t just a sidekick; he represents Kiki’s inner voice, grappling with doubts and confidence as she grows. Studio Ghibli’s adaptation perfectly captures the heart of this story, with Jiji stealing the spotlight as one of cinema’s most lovable feline characters.

 2) Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End (2024)

This recent horror film, adapted from the novel by Manel Loureiro, takes the zombie apocalypse genre to a chilling new level—and a cat plays a surprisingly pivotal role. In a world overrun by the undead, the protagonist’s tabby is a loyal companion that offers comfort and a sense of normalcy in a world descending into chaos. The cat’s presence in Apocalypse Z highlights the human need for connection and hope, even in the darkest times.

 3) The Three Lives of Thomasina (1963)

Based on Paul Gallico’s heartwarming novel, this Disney classic tells the story of a little girl, her veterinarian father, and their beloved cat, Thomasina. Narrated by the cat herself, the film explores her three “lives” as she connects the fractured family and helps them rediscover love and compassion. Thomasina’s role is both magical and deeply emotional, embodying themes of forgiveness and healing.

 

4) Morgiana (1972)

Adapted from Alexander Grin’s gothic novel Jessie and Morgiana, this Czech psychological thriller is a tale of envy and deception, where a mysterious feline plays a hauntingly symbolic role. The feline is a representation of guilt and justice (much like in Edgar Allan Poe's short story “The Black Cat”), mirroring the sinister undertones of a sibling rivalry that spirals into murder.

5) Felidae (1994)

Based on Akif Pirinçci’s novel, this German animated neo-noir film is anything but your typical cartoon. Francis, the feline protagonist, is a detective who uncovers a sinister conspiracy while investigating gruesome cat murders. Intelligent, gritty, and surprisingly philosophical, Felidae explores themes of morality, power, and survival, all through the eyes of its feline characters. 

6) The Cat (1992)

This Hong Kong cult classic, adapted from Ni Kuang’s book series, blends sci-fi, horror, and martial arts into a bizarre yet entertaining cinematic experience. The story centers on an alien cat and its human allies as they fight a malevolent extraterrestrial force. The Cat is without a doubt the craziest cat movie ever made.

Final Thoughts

Cats have captured our hearts in books, movies, and just about everything else! Luckily, these six cat movies based on books are just the beginning of what’s out there. Whether you’re a fan of spooky stories, sci-fi escapades, or charming magical journeys, there’s no shortage of feline-inspired entertainment. Plus, you’ll find all of these films—and over 200 other cat-centric tales—in Meow! Cats in Horror, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy Movies, your ultimate guide to the world of feline cinema.

Now it’s your turn—what’s your favorite cat movie or book? Is there a feline hero or literary kitty with a special place in your heart? Share your pick in the comments!

About Vanessa Morgan

VANESSA MORGAN is the editor of When Animals Attack: The 70 Best Horror Movies with Killer Animals, Strange Blood: 71 Essays on Offbeat and Underrated Vampires Movies, Evil Seeds: The Ultimate Movie Guide to Villainous Children, and Meow! Cats in Horror, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy Movies. She also published one cat memoir (Avalon) and four supernatural thrillers (Drowned Sorrow, The Strangers Outside, A Good Man, and Clowders). Three of her stories became movies. She also introduces movie screenings at several European cinemas and film festivals and is a programmer for the Offscreen Film Festival in Brussels. When she is not writing, you will probably find her eating out or taking photos of felines for her website, Traveling Cats.

 

Guest Post: Five embarrassing mistakes authors make on social media (and how to avoid them) by Tallulah Lucy

Tallulah Lucy has shared five tips for authors who're not hundreds about the pitfalls in social media these days. Tallulah has taken over my blog today to share the top five mistakes authors can avoid when navigating social media.

You hear it over and over again: you should be on social media, you should be marketing yourself, you won’t sell a single book if you don’t put yourself out there. All of this is true, but the social media world is full of pitfalls just lying in wait for the unsuspecting author.

To make matters even worse, there’s a whole clamouring mass of Millennials (that’s me) and Gen-Zers (that’s the teenagers, please stop mixing us up) who use this newfangled marketing tech as if they were born with a finger on the like button and a selfie stick in the hand. And we’re all competing for space on people’s feeds and interactions on our posts.

So what’s an author to do?

First of all, take a deep breath.

If you can avoid these mistakes, you’ll already be doing this whole social media thing way better than most people!

Mistake one: Typos and bad grammar

It should go without saying, but unfortunately it cannot. I’ve seen way too many authors who repeatedly publish posts to social media with typos, errors and clunky sentences. Every single post you write is a sample of your writing. Before you publish a novel, you have an editor who will catch these things for you. You know that. I know that.

But your average social media user will not immediately think, “Oh this update is a load of poopoo, but I bet her books are actually well written because she has editors.”

No, the average social media user will think, “Wow if a sentence is so bad, I don’t even want to see a whole book of sentences.” Put a lot of care into your posts, and then read them and re-read them and then read them again after you’ve posted them just to be sure.

Typos are a fact of life, but so is mould and you wouldn’t purchase a new kind of bread if the free sample at the store came with mould on it. Don’t post mouldy statuses on social media.

Mistake two: Cross-posting without tailoring per platform

This has to be the most common mistake I see. I get it. You’re busy. You want to type a status once, set it and forget it. Let some program like Hootsuite or Buffer share it for you and share it everywhere.

The problem is, the platforms all have different specifications for posts. On Instagram you’re supposed to use loads of hashtags, on Twitter it’s gross if you use more than three. On Facebook you can post links in your captions, on Instagram you can’t. Facebook loves square images, LinkedIn shows them really badly. Instagram encourages you to post jpegs, Facebook pretty much garbles them (you should always post pngs on Facebook). And this is just a few of the clashing specs.

Aside from the formatting problems, there’s different terminology. You can’t ask for a “retweet” on Facebook, or tell people to “check the link in bio” – what bio?

Now, if any of the above is confusing to you, it’s because you haven’t spent enough time on the platform you’re trying to post to. If you spend time on each platform, you’ll learn the lingo and the etiquette. You’ll also learn the best times of day to post and the best kinds of posts for each type of audience.

There’s no rule that says you have to be everywhere right now. Try them all out. See what works for you and, most importantly, what works for your particular audience.

There’s nothing wrong with scheduling posts ahead of time – in fact, I always encourage this. But try to make sure that the posts don’t all go out at the same time in the exact same words, in the exact same format. Rewording and formatting only takes a couple of extra minutes. Make your followers on each platform feel special. Chat to them, respond to their comments and try to tailor the content for them. If you don’t invest a little time in them, how can they be expected to invest money in you?

Mistake three: Too much self promo

You joined social media to promote yourself, so that’s what you’re going to do, right? You’re just going to tell everyone about your book. Boom. Done.

How dull.

Cold, hard, truth time: no one cares about your book as much as you do. Strangers won’t care about it at all if you don’t give them reason to. No one is going to follow you on social media just to hear that you have a book out. Not unless they’re already a fan (and that fan would buy your book anyway).

In order to get sales from social media, you have to show your audience that you care about things other than yourself. Show them you have depth. That’s not to say you mustn’t promote yourself at all. There’s a handy ratio!

Originally this ratio was 70/20/10: 70% curating (sharing other people’s content), 20% sharing stuff you’ve created yourself (your content), and 10% sales. Nowadays just sharing other people’s content for 70% of the time is going to get old quickly.

So here’s my ratio: 50/20/20/10: 50% – yes, half of the time you’re on social media – you should be interacting with and supporting other people. It’s not just about you, even if that’s the reason you’re there. Social media platforms are communities and if you’ve got a one-track mind that’s always thinking “what can I get out of this”, people will sense that and avoid letting you into that community. Be a productive member of society, not Sheryl who keeps stealing from the supply closet and uses up all the company milk.

Then 20% of the time you share interesting things you’ve found, 20% of the time you make things to share: write articles, paint pictures, design quizzes, sing songs, record YouTube videos, whatever floats your personal boat. The remaining time – only 10% of the time or 1 out of every 10 posts – is for marketing.

When you do market, don’t just tell people that you “have a thing” or “did a thing” or, really, anything involving the word thing. Tell them why they should care about, or will enjoy, what you’ve made. Offer them value. It’s the difference between saying, “I have a book out today, buy it here.” (So what? I have lots of books) and saying, “I can’t believe I can finally share this book with you. I’m sorry if it makes you cry. The main character is based on my great aunt and her story about surviving the Holocaust.” Which version sounds more worth your time as a reader?

In summary: be interesting. Interact a lot, share your interests, participate in the social media community and when you do promote your work, do it in an enticing way.

Mistake four: Being unpleasant

Have you ever met someone who works in public relations? In my previous life as a journalist I met quite a few. It was their job to represent a company, which on a good day could mean answering our questions and scheduling interviews, and on a bad day could mean standing outside a hotel in the rain calling a hungover member of the press to try coax him down from his room for said scheduled interview.

A good PR person, whether she’s chatting to you in an air-conditioned office or standing dripping on a doorstep in a strange city, is always polite and friendly. She understands that whatever she does, people see her actions as those of her company.

If you’re wondering where I’m going with this, here’s the point: When you’re an author on social media you’re your own PR person.

Sometimes people might judge the content of your books from what you do and say, but more often people will judge whether or not they want to give you money based on what you do and say. Your product – your wordy baby that you’ve spent years of your life on – may be spectacular, may be award-winning, may be the best piece of literature ever to grace their Kindle. But they will not know that if you put them off buying by being an annoying, moany, asshole.

Before you post anything publicly, always ask: How will this make me look to a complete stranger? If your disagreement with a person or company is serious, take it offline. You know that feeling when you’ve walked into a room when a couple’s in the middle of a fight? Not a great experience. Don’t force that on your readers. And whatever you do, do not get defensive over reviews.

Be the brave, smiling, PR person standing in the rain with her cold hair dripping down her neck, not the bleary-eyed journalist who smells of stale cigarettes and booze and rants all the way down the street.

By all means, be eccentric and interesting, show them what you’re passionate about, but try to make it enjoyable for all involved rather than awkward as hell and a little terrifying.

Mistake five: Bad Design

You know that saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover”? Noble sentiment. Completely false. Everyone judges books based on their covers, or we wouldn’t bother with covers at all. But what if I told you it’s not just about covers? [Insert wiggly eyebrows.]

Every single visual you share to do with your book represents your book, just like a cover. People will connect the quality of these visuals with the quality of your book. If your social media cover images are a riot of shape and colour, they’ll assume that your book is a riot of mismatched sentences. If your author picture is a dull, poorly-lit, pixelated mess, they’ll assume that your writing is just as amateur.

Professional companies set aside budget for professional designers. So we’re conditioned to associate good design with high-quality products. The people who have terrible design are usually the scammers trying to cut corners or the hobbyists who don’t know better.

Luckily, you don’t have to hire a designer in order to get professional graphics. You can use a site like Canva that has loads of free templates or... you can learn. That’s right. You, dear author, can learn about graphic design. Just because you’re a word person, doesn’t mean you have to remain ignorant. There are tons and tons of free resources on YouTube, many podcasts and a plethora of websites and newsletters. If you’re willing to invest even a little bit of cash, you can take comprehensive online courses in design on sites like Udemy and Skillshare. Respect your writing enough to invest the time in learning how to showcase it. Because if you don’t respect it, no one else will.

Bonus: context is KEY.

Remember that every post you make on social media can be shared out of context. It’s a good idea to avoid saying anything that you wouldn’t put on a billboard over the highway all on its own. If your point requires a long story, save it for a blog post. And if you don’t have anything nice to say? Just don’t say it.

When you first start out on social media, your problem will be that no one is watching. But eventually, the world will be watching, and you should make sure that you’re happy about that when it happens.

Dane Cobain has No Rest for the Wicked #guest

Today I hand over my blog to Dane Cobain, who's chatting about the books on his radar. Who knows, maybe you'll find a little something here to pique your interest – I've always maintained you can tell a lot about people looking at the books they read.

Hi, folks! My name’s Dane Cobain, and I’m the author of a supernatural thriller called No Rest for the Wicked and a book of poetry called Eyes Like Lighthouses When the Boats Come Home. Today, I’m stopping by to talk about something we can all enjoy – books!

I pick up books from an eclectic collection of sources, from charity shops, book exchanges, friends and birthdays to PR agencies, publishers and authors. The only thing that they have in common is that they’re all physical copies – I collect books, and I have around a thousand of them in my house, spread out across a couple of rooms.

So, without further ado – here are a few highlights from my ‘To Be Read’ (TBR) list!

Ray Bradbury
Here, I’m talking specifically about Fahrenheit 451, although I’ll probably move on to some of his other work afterwards. Despite this being a classic, I’ve never got round to reading it, which is a shame – it’s one of the more modern classics, but it somehow passed me by. Now that I’ve got a copy, I can’t wait to get started!

Stephen King
I have about twenty Stephen King books in my collection, and all of them have come from charity shops – I’m thinking about trying to pick up his complete bibliography without looking anywhere else. I’ve read four or five of his books, but I have at least a dozen more of them to get started on – I also have the first five books of the Dark Tower series, and so I should probably get started on that, at some point.

Hugh Laurie
You’ve probably heard of Hugh Laurie as either one half of Fry and Laurie or as the actor who played House in the series of the same name. He’s a talented man – he also makes music, and he’s published a couple of books. I’ve got The Gun Seller, and I can’t wait to get started.

Stieg Larsson
I recently read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and I thought it was pretty good – good enough for me to pick up the other two books in his Millennium trilogy. Again, these ones are from charity shops – you see them everywhere.

R. L. Stone
When I moved out of my old place, my housemate was getting rid of a load of their old books, including their Goosebumps collection. I rescued them before they made it into the bin, and so now I have a collection of forty or so Goosebumps books to work through.

Oli Jacobs
Oli is a local author, and he performed at the spoken word night party that I held for the launch of Eyes Like Lighthouses When the Boats Come Home, my book of poetry. When we were there, he gave me a copy of one of his collections of short stories, which I’ll be reading and reviewing in due course.

George R. R. Martin
It took me a while to get round to reading the books that Game of Thrones is based on, and I didn’t watch the show because I wanted to read the books first. Now I’m powering through both – I’m just coming to the end of A Clash of Kings, the second book, and I’ve been waiting until I’ve finished reading it to start the second season.

Colin Dexter
Recently, I’ve been working my way through the Inspector Morse books, although not in any particular order. This is another author who’s all over the charity shops – I’ve read a couple of his books, but I want to finish the rest of them off.

Claire Riley
I picked up Odium, Riley’s zombie novel, at a book-signing event in the summer of last year. Somehow, I still haven’t got round to reading it, but I’m looking forward to getting started!

Gary Vaynerchuk
Vaynerchuk is a social media thought leader and an industry influencer. I went along to the launch event for his most recent book, #AskGaryVee, and my ticket came with a couple of free copies. I can’t wait to get started!

So now that you know which books I’ll be reading this year, I want to hear from you. Leave a comment to let me know what books you’re looking forward to reading, or tweet me (@DaneCobain) with your thoughts. I’ll see you soon!

About No Rest for the Wicked

When the Angels attack, there’s NO REST FOR THE WICKED.
Father Montgomery, an elderly priest with a secret past, begins to investigate after his parishioners come under attack, and with the help of Jones, a young businessman with an estranged child, Montgomery begins to track down the origin of the Angels.
The Angels are naked and androgynous. They speak in a dreadful harmony with no clear leader. These aren’t biblical cherubs tasked with the protection of the righteous – these are deadly creatures of light that have the power to completely eradicate.
When Jones himself is attacked, Father Montgomery knows he has to act fast. He speaks to the Angels and organises a final showdown where he’s asked to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Dane Cobain is a writer, poet and musician from a place you've probably never heard of, somewhere in England. When he's not writing books, he's reading and reviewing them on his book blog - SocialBookshelves.com - or working at his day job in social media marketing. Find him at Facebook.com/DaneCobainMusic or follow @DaneCobain on Twitter.

Ashley Franz Holzmann talks horror... #guest

Today I hand over my blog to yet another guest. This time it's author Ashley Franz Holzmann, author of The Laws of Nature, who's here to shed a little light on horror... Wait, can I even say that? Ah well, without further ado... Welcome, Ashley!

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Horror is always shifting to fit the times and the masses. Stephen King wrote about this in his book Dance Macabre, where he discussed how the scariest movies are often the most topical. Horror feeds into the current fears of the populace. Invasion of the Body Snatchers came out at a crucial time. Communism! Get it?!

Sorry, that's not really supposed to be sarcastic. I really love that movie.

My point is that horror evolves. There are always trends that shift this way or that. What makes horror good is risk. Taking risk and being honest. Night of The Living Dead had a black protagonist and used the ending of the film to really say something about race. That was a risk. Carrie was written by a man (our friend, Stephen) and has a scene where a girl gets her period in public. Now that is taboo; that was a risk!

These days, the genre is a little stuck in the cinema. Sequels are are big thing right now. There are some cool ideas, but the goal of a sequel is to build a franchise, so there's only so much risk involved when marketing is just as important as storytelling. The real risks are happening online.

Forums like /r/nosleep and creepypasta.com are leading the way in horror for the masses. Stories are told and voted against. If a story isn't scary enough, the comments section is open and the writer is told that the story was too generic, or has been told before, or just wasn't scary. The stories with the most votes and likes are the original ideas. Incentive is becoming a part of the game. The number of 5-star reviews on Amazon matters more than the sequel (though many writers love taking the road of forming their own book series these days), and upvotes are gold to the ego of the modern horror writer on the internet.

There's a shift in the genre that's happening underneath our noses. Sure, Hollywood is doing their thing and the big players of the horror community are still writing and filming and creating; but under the mainstream is the small horror communities that are growing and transforming the genre into a battle over originality. The more creative a story is, the more is gets praised. The more original it is, the more the internet loves the change of pace. Over-saturation has created a modern horror reader that doesn't have time for a story they've read 20 times before. They want new twists, or new ways to receive that twist. Readers want to be impressed.

Being a writer, I'm given the puzzle. It can be very fulfilling to feel like I've cracked the code on a story idea. Writing to make the reader feel a certain way, or to give them a moment in the story where I think I can really connect with them. That's the goal now. The goal is to create real emotions, real stories, to take risks and let the reader see something and think "wow." Horror can be beautiful. Horror can be depressing. Horror can be what we want it to be--because it's a raw genre, and in this era the successful writers are the writers who understand that risk and originality are the way to get people to care about what you have to say.

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Ashley Franz Holzmann was born in Okinawa, Japan and raised in a variety of countries while his parents served in the Air Force. He considered attending art school, but is instead a graduate of West Point, where he enjoyed intramural grappling and studying systems engineering and military history. He majored in sociology and is currently a captain in the Army. Ashley speaks Korean, enjoys backpacking, and is the cook in his family. He currently lives in North Carolina with his wife, two sons, and their two dogs. His first book, The Laws of Nature is available on Amazon and all other major digital platforms.

Writing action into erotic stories by Cari Silverwood

Today I hand over my blog to my wonderfully wicked author Cari Silverwood with whom I've walked a long path indeed. Welcome, Cari, and play nicely with my readers, okay?

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Writing action into erotic stories.

Or should that be, writing sex into action stories? Whichever it is, the two of them need to be essential for the story or they shouldn’t be there.

The best scenes are ones that drive the story onward, ramp up the tension, the conflict, the mystery, or whichever collection of words you like to use to describe what you do to haul the reader through the story by their eyeballs, making them frantically flip the pages so fast their fingers risk decapitation from paper cuts or strange electronic zappification, thence leaving a blood trail across the landscape of their kindle. Kindles are blood proof, aren’t they?

Gore is good.

If it’s an erotic story at heart, the sexual relationship is the main drive, and should therefore be the final part of the plot that is wrapped up in a nice neat bow. If it’s an action story when you strip it back to its core, the action plot should be resolved last. Those are rules, but I guess rules can always be broken, just know what you’re doing or your readers may feel unfulfilled.

Sex gets a bad rap from some fantasy or scifi readers and writers. Though happy to arouse voyeuristic thrills by murdering an entire kingdom of warriors, and wizards, with blood and brains spurting to the heavens or perhaps repainting the hull of Spaceforger 309 a motley purple (alien blood, see), some writers think the emotions associated with arousal are lesser in some way. It’s as if describing an axe whistling through the air and cleaving skulls is so much more technical than a cock plunging into whatever it plunges into. Keeping it clean here.

Not so, I would argue. To me, writing action scenes is very akin to writing sex scenes. If you’re reading this you possibly agree with me anyway.

If you don’t agree with me? I probably can’t convince you. It all depends on individual taste, and many people dislike gory violence in stories. Others dislike sex in books. Not I. Adding battle scenes and action to my erotic books is what keeps me writing.

Here’s an excerpt that segues from one to the other. For me, it’s best when the sex directly affects the action and, in this story, mating with their alien lover enhances the magic the women possess, and so it affects how well they can fight the enemy.

This is a practice fight scene from DEFILER, Preyfinders #3.

Her flight was a rapid parabola curving to wall and back in, with a somersault and a spin to confuse Brask’s aim. The force when she hit him surprised even her and he thunked backward with her on top of him and the sword point diving toward his neck with her full weight behind it.

At the last microsecond, Brask batted it away. The sword flew sideways and stuck into the upholstery of a chair, yards away to the side.

A second later, it was back in her hand. Gaping, still straddling Brask’s stomach, she stared at the blade. How?

Then he hauled her down and kissed her.

The impact went through her like a flight of slow-motion doves. Bliss. Everything shut down except an awareness of him beneath her and his lips on hers. His hand was at the back of her head and he threaded his fingers through her hair, gathering more in his fist to pull her even closer. To keep her still.

But she wasn’t going anywhere.

The kiss lasted forever, or it seemed so. While they kissed she lived only that moment, the press on her skin, the heat, the parting to allow his tongue inside her. When his lips left hers she was struck by the loss. She kept her eyes shut, reliving what had happened even though his breathing was still so close, inches away, warming her face.

And as he breathed, she rose and fell. Her thighs were spread. She was vulnerable, despite her position above.

She opened her eyes.

He looked up at her, smiling, with his fingers still tight in her hair, pulling on her scalp.

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To join Cari Silverwood's MAILING LIST and keep up to date with her upcoming books go to:
www.carisilverwood.net

Website: www.carisilverwood.net

Facebook: www.facebook.com/cari.silverwood

Fb author page: https://www.facebook.com/CariSilverwoodAuthor

Twitter: @CariSilverwood

Goodreads

Cari Silverwood is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling writer of kinky darkness or sometimes of dark kinkiness, depending on her moods and the amount of time she's spent staring into the night. She has an ornery nature as well as a lethal curiosity that makes her want to upend plots and see what falls out when you shake them. When others are writing bad men doing bad things, you may find her writing good men who accidentally on purpose fall into the abyss and come out with their morals twisted in knots.

This might be because she comes from the land down under, Australia, or it could be her excessive consumption of wine.

Her favorite hobby is convincing people she has a basement...though she really doesn’t. Promise. If it existed it would be a terrifying place where you would find all the dangerous things that you never knew you craved.

Wading through time by Sai Vadhan

Today I've handed over my blog to an old friend of mine, Sai Vadhan, whom I've know for simply ages. He's busy celebrating the release of the first of his Kronikles, so I reckon I'm going to let him say what needs to be said, because it's quite clear that he's got oodles of drive and passion for what he does.

India. 29 States. 1 600 languages. Each language has a culture. Each culture has a lore. I was four when my maternal great grandmother started with the most famous of them all. The story of Prince Rama and his wife Sita and the ten-headed king, Ravana, who kidnapped Sita.

Halfway through the story, she’d dose off. Her story would become slurred and her facts would be all wrong. I would correct her, much to the amusement of my mother and grandparents.
I loved my other grandparent, my paternal grandmother. I would sleep on her soft arm and she would tell me stories of my forefathers and how they were great rulers of their lands, how they hunted in the forest and chased after robbers, how fairly they treated their farmers and how everyone in the village used to eat in our castle.

I was a great conqueror in my mind. The swivel chair of my study desk was my chariot drawn by flaming horses. The old family sword with the beautiful hilt was my scimitar and my towel magically turned into a cape.

As I grew older, I started poetry. First it was love, then pathos and finally philosophy. I was all of twelve. That’s what happens when you do too much mythology. Poetry was just not enough. I started my first book. Needless to say, it was fantasy fiction. I finished it just a couple of years ago, much after Kronikles.

I forgot all of this as a young man pursuing law. Thereafter, life took me away from my fantasy world. My children’s demands for bed time stories reminded me of the stories I so loved. Memories flooded in. Stories abounded. Bed time rocked with both my children laughing away to glory or getting so scared by Raakshas and Bhoot that they’d fight over each other to snuggle up to me. I loved it.

That was when I created the character that would finally become the protagonist of my book. I did not have to worry about lab experiments going awry, getting bitten by toxic insects or wearing clothes of metal. All that was already figured out.

All I had to do was wade through the timeless waters of myth, explode through the colours of legend, freefall into thousands of years of stories which had time travel, flying machines, Demi-Gods and monsters.

So, while my children busied themselves with their academic pursuit, I figured it was time I pursued the one thing that gave me limitless bliss. Writing stories. I don’t know why I had not done it thus far. From that point onwards Kronikles took me nine years from concept to publishing.

Moral of it all: follow your passion! Without it we are mere automatons doing time to earn money. Sure, the home hearth has to be warm but…is that it?

Purpose comes to life when you pursue your passion. Doing drugs, taking selfies with celebrities, clubbing and drinking-mundane, empty, boring. Do whatever makes you tick (unless one is a mass murderer or a serial rapist or some such sicko, in which case I suggest jumping off a cliff without further delay!)

Go find a multiverse, see whether you like a curvature or non-curvature black hole (both exist), figure out what the universe is before you even attempt to find out why it’s there, stare at a blade of grass because who knows, may be its not you seeing the blade, maybe you’re helping the blade see itself!

Whatever else you don’t do, read.

Music and movies are good too! Writing books is more fun though!

Bio:

Vadhan writes novels, sometimes with poems in them and can sketch reasonably well. His first published book is Shatru, Kronikles Book-1. 

Vadhan loves cricket, tennis, shuttle badminton, table tennis…and golf. He is proficient with four of the games. There is a golf course he recently visited which is now officially a crater! They had to call in the fire service to pull him out. The golf ball is still in there, somewhere. He is a movie buff. He loves fantasy, comedy, action and adventure movies and maybe prefers one of those funny love stories once in a while. 

Transactional law practice, advising Indian MNCs on compliance frameworks for their business in India and ten other countries in North America, China, Asia Pacific and Europe takes up a chunk of Vadhan’s time. 

His company, Sand Legal Services Private Limited, is ranked amongst the top 20 compliance service providers in India and has won the best corporate governance and administrative law practice awards in 2014 as titled as the company of the year award in 2014 for best legal compliance services by the international magazine, CIO review.

Vadhan is busy these days researching on the third instalment of Kronikles and for a legal thriller he is writing. A question often asked, how does he manage between practice of a niche segment of law and writing books? 

When there is passion, anything is possible. Things will fall into place. Always. 

Important: do it because you love it. Nothing else matters.  

Warning: Golf is the exception to this rule!

ABOUT SHATRU

Shatru was half Asura. 

That was not the reason why he was the best Hunter for the most powerful peace keeping force in all fourteen worlds. If he did not do their bidding, they would kill the one person he loved. That was just the way it was. 

The Devas and Asuras, the most powerful of the Primordial Tribes shadow-controlled the financial, political and cultural lives of all of humanity just for one reason, domination over each other through control of terrestrials. 

When the brittle line between adversity and aggression was broken they were set on a collision course. Shatru was the only one standing between them. 

To stop the Primordials from destroying each other, Shatru had to go after an ancient sentinel of Chaos ready to do what it takes just to destroy.

Vengeance will rise. 

Worlds will fall.

Evil will ascend.

Shatru is in the way.

If he doesn’t stop the war, ours will be the first world to wear away!

Kronikles Book-1

www.authorvadhan.com

www.facebook.com/bscvadhan 

Who Are You Going To Get Rid Of? by Benjamin Dancer

Today I hand over my blog to Benjamin Dancer, author of Patriarch Run. So, a big welcome to Benjamin...

There are too many people. But who are you going to get rid of? I bet you have someone in mind. But you can’t do it, can you? Most of us wouldn’t even try.

It’s not an easy topic to discuss, getting rid of people. Which is why it’s hard to talk about overpopulation. That...and the ever-present issue of denial.

So let’s start in a safe place–with math. It doesn’t matter how low the growth rate of the human population is, if it’s growing, the population will eventually double. Ask yourself this: how many times can the number of people, 7 billion, double before it becomes a problem?

No matter what your answer to that question is there is a coming crisis.

Let’s say you pick a really small number for the growth rate of the human population: 1.14% per year. How long do you suspect it will take to double the number of people on the planet?

Answer: about sixty-one years.

And, yep, you guessed it: 1.14% is the estimated growth rate of the human population today. At the current growth rate, you’ll have 14 billion people in sixty one years.

Does anyone think 14 billion is a good number of people to have? What would it take to feed that many people? And what would be the consequence of that population be to the non-human members of the ecosystem?

Right now, there are 1 million new people added to the ecosystem every five days.

I’m a high school teacher, and as a graduation requirement each of my students conducts a long-term research project on a global issue of their choice. I’ve been teaching for seventeen years, and I’ve never seen a version of this project that didn’t have the issue we’re now discussing hidden at its root. As a matter of fact, I’d be hard pressed to think of an environmental or social issue that wasn’t a symptom of the same root problem: there are too many people.

And it’s getting worse.

It’s true that the growth rate is going down in some parts of Europe. Some people cite that fact as a dismissal of the overall problem. But it’s the overall problem that we have to face. In other words, it’s the planet-wide growth rate that matters–not a localized subset. Right now, the planet-wide growth rate is pretty low: 1.14%. And that, by any scientific measure, is a crisis for just about every species on the planet, including our own.

So that brings us back to the question: who are you going to get rid of?

Dan Brown, an author you might have heard of, tackled that problem in his novel Inferno. Another author, one you just now learned about (me), tackled the issue in a different way in his novel Patriarch Run. It’s a thriller with a soul. Characters you care about. Issues that matter. It’s a coming-of-age story. A story about fathers. A story about the lengths a mother would go to for her child. In the end, it’s a story about humankind and the fate of our species.

Find out who Jack would get rid of. I promise you this: it’ll be downright entertaining.

Contact me on Facebook, and I’ll send you a copy for free. You can also buy the book at Amazon, Smashwords or Barnes and Noble.

About Benjamin Dancer:
Benjamin is an Advisor at Jefferson Patriarch Run, a coming-of-age story. He also writes about parenting and education.

County Open School where he has made a career out of mentoring young people as they come of age. He wrote the novel

BenjaminDancer.com
Twitter: @BenjaminDancer1

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Guest blog: Benjamin Knox

Good Things Come in Small Packages

by Benjamin Knox

Short stories are where most authors begin. The starting point in the craft of weaving a tale. For the early author it is a standard goal.

However they have been heavily marginalised by publishing trends, which I find weird, as there are thousands of magazines out there (both print and online) that publish short fiction. But such magazines are out of the public eye. Gone are the days of Weird Tales and the such pulp magazines, where Asimov, Clark and even Lovecraft cut their teeth.

Many established and famous authors talk openly about their love of short fiction. Stephen King in his foreword to his collection Just After Dark talks about the massive amount of time that went by without writing a short and how much he loved doing them once he started up again.

Similarly the late great Richard Laymon wrote many short stories (such as the fantastically creepy Dreadful Tales) and also professed to love write short fiction, yet still acknowledging the lack of a medium for them.

I think people like short stories just fine. It is publishers, back in the day, that didn’t see the potential. Even with big names like Clive Barker making a career for himself with his eight volumes of short fiction Books of Blood.

Reading habits are changing and changing quickly. I don’t just mean with the advent and popularity of ereaders, I mean in what and how we choose to read. We are quite lucky in the fact that we have such a wide selection of work available to us, and the internet and ebooks are making that easier every day.

We’re spoiled for choice.

Be it vampire-erotica to the surreal and often disturbing depths of Bizarro, chances are that no matter what you’re into, someone is writing it and it’s available. Even filth-master extraordinaire Edward Lee has a respectable publisher and a cult fan base.

It seems, to me at least, that people are reading more frequently yet in shorter bursts. In London where I live, people read whilst commuting or on a lunch break. Fewer and fewer people are settling down at night for a good couple of hours to really sink their teeth into a story.

Hence shorter, faster paced work is on the rise.

I feel it might even lead to a rise in short story reading (something that has always supposedly had a relatively minor audience). There are anthologies and collections from authors people know and trust, but it is becoming more acceptable and common place to read a single short story. A bite sized piece of easily digestible fiction.

Joe R Lansdale is re-releasing his benchmark short stories individually online. The very stories that catapulted his career into action.

There is a wonderful challenge in this for writers as well. Short stories are often harder to write than longer work. Less time to develop characters, theme and plot. Therein lies the skill; creating something shorter that still has a lingering impact. After all, that is what an author wants, to have you thinking about a story or an idea long after you’ve finished.

A peculiar form of haunting.

The same seems to be happening with novels as well. Which always struck me as odd in the first place as there are many classics that are quite short. Look at Hemmingway, Hunter S Thompson, Roald Dahl and Joe R Lansdale, as well as the truly awesome Jack Ketchum (who often included a novella or long short to make up pages). In the 1970s and 1980s there were many popular series of novels (like the McBain’s 87th Presinct police procedurals) that clocked in around the lower limit of what is considered a novel: 45 000 words, sometimes less.

This doesn’t mean that the standard length of the novel is going anywhere. Not at all. As an avid reader and author I like to get a book I can really chew on. But I also like ideas, and some ideas are just fun to share, quickly and in a manner that does them justice. Not all stories lend themselves to novel length.

I also predict a rise in novellas as well.

I certainly hope so too, as at the moment those are primarily what I write. They are a length I find very comfortable (25 to 50k words) to work with. Big enough to have substance and complex ideas, yet small enough to keep things succinct.

Such stories are like candy for me. I love them. I love reading them and I love writing them. Sure I have my longer work, purebred beasts of novels, but I prefer the fun-size package that is short fiction.

If you need any proof, just look at flash fiction! It’s taken off like crazy and the good ones stick with you, leave you thinking. You’ll be just about to fall asleep or on your way to meet friends and suddenly it’ll pop in your head.

Short doesn’t mean bad, or less adept. It just means short.

Ideas are like fairies captured in a jar, to be carefully examined and then released. Each marvellous in its own way.

What is really important, the MOST important thing in fact, is that the story, indeed that the writing, is good.

After that, size does not matter.

Just make sure your content is smoking hot.

I believe this trend in reading habits will lead to a mutation of the television style format. You’ll get a serialised tale, short stories coming out regularly that are in the same setting or have the same characters. Much like TV you’ll be able to jump in and enjoy the story on its own, but you’ll have much deeper insight if you’ve read the previous entries.

A series of episodic adventures that lead on from one another; like watching House MD: A new case each week with the slow push of the season’s main plot.

After all even Charles Dickens’s work was originally released in serial format.

Anyway, that’s what I think. Whether it happens or not, only time will tell. I’m interested in it enough to throw my own hat into the ring. Until then you can read my other short stories (such as A Keeper of Secrets which is already available), read my web-comics, pick my brain etc at my website or blog.

Thanks for reading.

(Finally, to quote Tigger)

Ta-ta for now

B

A Keeper of Secrets: a short story

by Benjamin Knox

she’s waiting for you...

Amidst the clutter and gloom of the attic little Anna has the strange feeling that she is not alone...

A Dark Fairy-tale for grown-ups.

* * * *

Benjamin Knox wanted to be a super-villain when he was little. Instead he grew up to warp minds with his creepy fiction.

For further strangeness visit www.benjaminknox.net or his blog benjaminknox.tumblr.com

Guest blog: Tony-Paul de Vissage: Vampires are Forever

This week I welcome Tony-Paul de Vissage to my blog, who drops by to share a little about my favourite fanged creature of the night. Welcome, Tony-Paul!

* * * *

Romania—specifically that section of it called Transylvania—isn’t the only place having vampires. It’s just the main place people think of, thanks to Bram Stoker’s little epic. In point of fact, the first vampire novel to gain attention in the literary world was set in England.

Now for the Pop Quiz section of my blog. All those knowing the name of that novel, raise your hands? Hmm…more than I expected. How about the author? Non? Would you believe Lord Byron? If not, good for you. Byron didn’t write The Vampyre though he was blamed for it for many years. John Polidori, Byron’s physician wrote the story, patterning his villain after his employer. Generally that’s not such a good concept but I have a feeling Byron loved the idea.

After all, the man lived for scandal and it probably didn’t hurt book sales a bit. Good PR. Nevertheless, today, except for we vamp-aficionados, the name of the world’s “first” literary (as well as how to pronounce it) is fairly forgotten. Who knows Lord Ruthven? Dracula wins that title, fangs down!

When I wrote Vampires are Forever, I decided to ignore Transylvania in lieu of Ireland, which has its own special vampire. Oh, my hero/villain hails from Hungary but that’s only mentioned briefly. And the city he says he comes from actually does exist. It’s called Lugos (pronounced Loo-Gowsh), and is the town from which Bela Lugosi took his stage name. Appropriate, non?

The Irish town—Balleywalegh—is a place knowing what you do with vampires and it doesn’t involve giving them the key to the city, unless it’s presented on the end of a well-sharpened stake.

I also chose to set my story in a slightly inappropriate era…the Twenties. 1929 to be exact, when the movies were just becoming the rage, automobiles were still fairly rare, and any woman showing more than an ankle was considered “fast”…or worse…a flapper. My vampire drives a Stutz Bearcat. He dances the Charleston, smokes “coffin nails”—appropriate, don’t you think?

And he takes the lass he’s pursuing to the flicks to see Richard Barthelmess and Lillian Gish in Broken Blossoms.

The time is just enough of a blend of the old century and the new to make it different.

Now, as to that vampire…

Like a thousand other countries, Ireland has its own home-grown version. The dearg-due (pronounced drag-dul). Though the vampire in Vampires are Forever is male, the true dearg-due is female, a cross between the succubus and the vampire. Her story is typical legend-material…romantic and tragic. A young woman forced into a cruel marriage, she kills herself, then rises to exact revenge upon men, enticing and draining them of blood…and life. The only way to prevent a dearg-due from rising and creating its special havoc is to pile the grave high with stones. Their weight holds the evil spirit inside. I imagine that hold-over is one reason most graves today have slabs over them. (Ce qui? You never wondered about that?)

Don’t think my tale of a vampire descending on a little Irish village is a tragic one, though. Nor is it bloody. It’s more whimsical…uh…fang-in-cheek, if you will, filled with Irish lilts and brash Gaelic characters…though it does have its shivery moments. And I think the ending will give everyone a bit of a laugh as well as leaving them satisfied.

EXCERPT:

There was a rattle of keys, a click of a lock. Slowly, the door swung open. Everyone prepared to run. Even Seamus tensed, though he would never have admitted it.

“Yes sir?” A man stood there. A very dignified man, dressed in dark, conservative livery. He blinked slightly as the sunlight struck him directly in the eyes. “May I help you?”

“Oh…uh… Right.” That brought Seamus out of his trance. “We—that is, th’ others an’ I—” He gestured behind him at his mates. “We’re from Balleywalegh an’ we saw th’ light last night, an’—”

He stopped, uncertain of what to say.

“Yes, sir, you’re from the village, and—?”

By now, Seamus had gotten a good gander at him and decided he didn’t look as he thought a vampire should, especially a dearg-due. Hadn’t they always been described as extremely ugly, having fiery eyes and the palest of skin and rows and rows of sharp teeth like those piranha-fish he’d read about as lived in South American rivers? This fella… Why, he looked to be about as old as Seamus himself, and certainly neither pale nor fiery- eyed. And definitely not ugly. Pleasant-looking, as a matter of fact. Blond and fair, with blue eyes squinted in the sunlight. And his teeth? They might be a trifle large—what Seamus considered English teeth—but there were no more than the usual number. And they certainly didn’t look sharp.

“—an’ we saw th’ light an’ thought we’d stop by an’ offer a welcome to th’ village.” Conor had finally come out of his daze and managed to speak up, if a trifle weakly.

“Oh. I see.” The man smiled and that transformed his face to something totally human and completely harmless.

“So if your master’s around,” Seamus picked up the thread again. “We’d like to extend an invitation—”

“I’m afraid that’s impossible at the moment, sir,” the man interrupted.

“But—”

“The master is unavailable. He’s out for the day.”

“Out?” Conor spoke up again. “We haven’t heard any motors passin’ by, an’ anyway, his car’s still here, so how did he travel? Did he fly?”

Conor, you idjit! was all Seamus could think.

The butler—for that’s what Seamus had decided the man was—didn’t appear insulted however. In fact, he smiled again, though his answer was a trifle frosty, this time. “Master Novotny has several motor cars. He occasionally drives himself, Mr—?”

“—Leary. Conor Leary.” It was a moment before Conor spoke, reluctantly supplying his name, then adding, “Mayor o’ Balleywalegh.”

“Mr. Leary.” The butler acknowledged this with a nod. “If you’d care to come back this evening, I’m certain the Master will—”

“We wouldn’t mind waitin’,” Seamus put in quickly, knowing it would take a team of horses and a blast of gunpowder to get Conor or any of the others back here again. Even in daylight. “Until he returns.”

“I’m afraid that wouldn’t be proper,” came the answer, as he expected. “I’ve no authority to allow anyone in without the Master’s permission.” He was pushing the door shut as he spoke. “Just come back this evening.”

The door was closing fast. Seamus attempted to insert one of his Size 13 brogans into the still-open space. “Wait—”

“Good day, sir.” It was said with finality. The door was nearly shut.

“What’s the problem, Steven?” The question came from behind the man, somewhere far inside the house. Asked with a slight accent.

“Sir? W-when did you get back?” There was bewilderment in the question.

“I never went out.” Footsteps came down stairs. The door was pulled open again, the butler looking back. Once again, those on the stoop braced themselves.

The man standing beside Steven couldn’t have been more different. Seamus felt his heart sink as he looked at him. Now here’s what a vampire should look like, was all he could think. Tall, longish dark hair, very much out of style—more like what one of them stage actors would sport, Seamus thought—framing a pallid, narrow face contrasting with the lightest of blue eyes, so pale they appeared nearly colorless… Handsome, yes, the Master of the house truly could’ve graced the screen of any cinema.

As a creature of the night.

“Karel Novotny.” It was an introduction as he peered out at Seamus, blinked as Steven had done, then took a step backward out of the doorway and into the shadows inside. Seamus nodded an acknowledgement and offered a hand.

After a moment, it was accepted, Novotny stepping forward and clasping it in his own. Seamus was surprised at how warm it felt.

“You must excuse Steven,” Master Novotny said, releasing Seamus’ hand. Not much of an accent, Seamus decided, but enough to give his speech an odd melody. His voice was well-modulated, carrying all the way to the men standing on the steps though he wasn’t speaking loudly. “So…you’re a welcoming committee from Balleywalegh,” he summed it up with a smile revealing another set of white teeth. But no pointed ones, as far as Seamus could see. He’d like to get a closer look at those eye-teeth, however. Master Novotny glanced out at the others, as if assessing whether they might be carrying flaming torches, pitchforks, or crucifixes. “And you’ve come to…?”

“—to invite you to th’ Fall Fellowship Festival. To be held this Sunday at th’ town hall.”

“A festival? How interesting. At what time?” That was asked a little quickly.

“Starts at six in th’ afternoon,” Conor spoke up. “So’s we all have time to finish our chores aforehand.”

“Six in the afternoon…” He appeared to consider that. A bit of a scowl appeared on the smooth forehead. Caused by the sun slowly creeping over the threshold?

He’s going to decline. Seamus could tell. He felt his heart sink a little. He was startled to find himself actually believing that nonsense Conor and the others were spouting the night before. He’s goin’ to give us some song-an’-jig about bein’ too busy when in reality, he can’t come out in daylight. ’Tis just a fluke he’s awake now at all.

He was surprised, therefore, when Novotny asked, “And what does one do at a Fall Festival? Will there be food?” Did he imagine it or was there a quick flick of a tongue across a pale lower lip? “And drink?”

“Anything you could want,” Seamus forced joviality into his reply. Aye, the treacherous thought wiggled through his mind, an’ which o’ us will you be wantin’ to sip from? “’Tis to celebrate all th’ good Lord has given us in th’ way o’ bounty this past year.” Was there a slight cringe at the mention of God? If so, it was so brief, he wasn’t certain. Perhaps Novotny’d simply shifted his weight a bit. “There’s be plenty o’ good cookin’ an’ beer an’ even some home-brew…” He let his voice trail away because Novotny was speaking again.

“I’m certain I can make it, Mr…?”

“Flannery. Seamus Flannery.” Now why did I give him my full name?

“…Mr. Flannery. I definitely wish to meet everyone, though I hadn’t expected to quite so early.” Did this second smile hide a secret meaning, some darkness?

“Sir? Y-you’re going?” The butler turned to stare at his master, looking astonished at his acceptance of the invitation.

“Of course!” Novotny looked almost gleeful as he answered.

But sir. What about…?” Steven looked from him to the interior of the house, nodding slightly.

“Any tasks here can wait, I imagine.” Steven’s concern was dismissed with a shrug and a third smile, this one slightly wolfish. “Have you ever known me to turn down a chance for a good dinner…or liquid refreshment? Home brew, you say, Mr. Flannery? I’ve found homemade drink the best kind.”

Now Seamus was certain of it. There was a hidden meaning there. Without meaning to, he shivered. It didn’t go unnoticed. The smile eclipsed a moment, then was back in place.

“I’ll see you all there. On Sunday. Around six.” The door was closing again. Seamus turned away. The door reopened. “Ah…Mr. Flannery…?”

“Yes?” He looked back.

“I was wondering. Could you possibly refer me to a good carpenter? There’s been some damage to one of the rooms. Looks like a fire. Vandals no doubt.” He paused slightly.

“Aye,” Seamus replied. “Vacant houses do invite such.”

“So I supposed. But it will need to be repaired. So…?”

“Ah…well…Sean Sweeney does most o’ th’ carpentry work around here. You might ask after him. If ’tis not too big a job…”

“Sean Sweeney. Excellent.” The dark gaze swept past Seamus to the men on the stoop. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, gentlemen, I’ve some things to attend to.”

With a click of finality, the door shut.

Vampires are Forever has been available since May 15 from Class Act Books, www.classactbooks.com.