happy Vladurday!

Welcome SJ Wright author of The Vampire's Curse! AND giveaways!!

Steph has graciously agreed to giveaway an e copy of The Vampire's Curse. Just comment at the end and leave your info and you're entered. I'll draw a lucky winner Friday. Without further ado though...Welcome back and congratulations on The Vampire’s Curse! It’s amazing!

Was it easier to write the sequel than the first book?

There was a lot more pressure to get the second book done, but it wasn’t necessarily harder.  And I had a lot of fun exploring Michael’s past and bringing him more fully into the series than I had in the first book.

What difficulties did you find in writing it?

Again, it was really just the push to get it done that was difficult.  My husband probably put more pressure on me than my readers did!  As you might know, I have a young son with a disability who takes up a lot of time and energy (he’s totally worth it!)  There were many interruptions during the writing process.  There were times when I lost my focus and got discouraged by a temporary lack of response to The Vampire’s Warden.  But many readers pushed me on, encouraged me to keep going.  I don’t know what I would have done without that support.

Your characters are young, like on the border of young adult. Would you consider writing young adult?

I have considered writing for the young adult genre.  I have one particular idea for a series that would be perfect for the young adult market, but until Undead in Brown County is pretty much wrapped up, I don’t intend to pursue that project.

You were able to write and release TVC quickly. How did you find the time to do it?

The only full-time job I have is taking care of the kiddos and the house.  Cameron (the youngest) was in school for several hours a day during the spring, so I had some time to dedicate to the project as long as both the boys were in school.  Of course, that all changed once summer rolled around.  With Cameron, there are a lot of extra things that I need to help him with that most four-year-old boys don’t needs help with.  It’s hard to balance everything.  He’ll be starting kindergarten in just two weeks, so I’ll be able to dedicate a lot of my time to getting The Vampire’s Redemption finished.

You have quite a large fan base. Tell us about them.

I wish I knew more about them!  There are a lot of moms among my readers, lots of teenagers.  I’m just thrilled by the responses I’ve gotten on my blog from the readers.  They’re so great!


How many more Undead in Brown County books do you plan on writing?

I would like to write at least two more books for the series, but if things don’t get wrapped up quite well enough in Book 4, I will write a fifth book.  I love working in Sarah’s world and exploring Michael’s hidden vulnerabilities.

When you finish with this series, will you stick with paranormal or try more mainstream fiction?

If I have a chance, I’d like to write some nonfiction about what’s it’s like to grow up in the way that I did.  There are a lot of kids out there who have been abandoned by one parent or another.  It’s important for them to realize that it’s not their fault.  I want to do what I can to help kids realize that they don’t need to base their own self-esteem on what kind of treatment they get from their parents, especially if their parents were not there for them when they were small children.

When is the next installment due out?

I have set a release date for January 1, 2012.  That will give people enough time to get used to their new ereaders (Thanks, Santa!) before they get back online and start checking out what the coolest new things are to read.

Thanks for stopping by and good luck with The Vampire’s Curse!!

Thank you for having me!  It’s been a pleasure!

 Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, at a time when children were still not required to use seatbelts in a vehicle, S.J. Wright grew up as the sixth of seven sisters.  She moved around a lot as a child, spent a good deal of her time reading books about horses, roller-skating (in an attempt to find Xanadu), and daydreaming about becoming a novelist.
She now lives in Little Elm, Texas with her husband, two sons, and one Jack Russell terrier that follows her around the house like a shadow.  She is the prime caregiver to her youngest son, who has spina bifida.  She loves horses (and swears one day she’ll actually get the guts to ride one again).
In February of 2011, she released her first paranormal suspense/romance novel called The Vampire’s Warden.  She plans to release a total of four books for the series.  S.J. (Stephanie) also loves hearing from her readers!  Be sure to check out her website at www.sjwrightbooks.com.

you can find The Vampire's Curse at:
Amazon-http://www.amazon.com/Vampires-Paranormal-Romance-Undead-ebook/dp/B005964RQI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313789347&sr=8-1
Barnes and Noble- http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-vampires-curse-a-paranormal-romance-sj-wright/1104312708?ean=2940012812544&itm=2&usri=the%2bvampire%2bs%2bcurse%2ba%2bparanormal%2bromance

But here's the AWESOME part! She is having a super giveaway at her next blog stop tomorrow!!! She will be at Supernatural Bookworm http://angelgonemad.blogspot.com/ and she's giving away...

visit for you shot at this EPIC PRIZE!!

Welcome Bertena Varney, author of Lure of the Vampire! And a GIVEAWAY!

hey everyone! Today I am super excited to have Bertena Varney, MA with us to discuss one of my FAVORITE topics...vampires!

Thank you for having me guest blog today.

What’s your favorite type of vampire?

Hi I am Bertena Varney and I am the author of Lure of the Vampire. It’s a pop culture vampire reference book of lists, websites, essays, and interviews. It is my first book and was an interesting research project.

As, you may know Lure of the Vampire started out as my master’s paper but developed into a pop culture study. The sections that I chose to include in the book were: mythology, history, literature, movies, television, children, website, recreation, education, and lifestyles.

Each section took months to research and during that time I found out what vampires were my favorite vampires to study were. There are the mythological vampires like Lilith as well as the other soulless revenants that each culture seemed to have to explain ideas of disease and death. There is the beautiful Kali from Indian religion.

Historically there is of course Vlad Tepes and his narcissistic cousin Elizabeth Bathory who loved blood baths. They are both just the beginning of the murderers throughout history.

What about literature? Wow is there a multitude of vampire there! Everyone from Dracula and Varney to Eric and Bill of the famous Sookie novels are included here. They range from the romantic to the monstrous and even the ridiculous and fun.

And we can’t even begin to touch all the vampires in films, video games, role playing games, television, and children’s books and even in real life.

Many of my friends with whom I shared the list were just amazed at that there were that many varieties of vampires to study.

So, think about the thousands of vampires that you have come across in your life- the ones you’ve read about? Role played as? Watched on television? Or even met in real life?

Well, I did and that is how I came up with Lure of the Vampire. It is a reference book with websites, lists and essays that provide the reader with information on each of their favorite or even their most hated vampire. It provides the reader with information that may be used for their new book, their school papers, or even just because they want to know more about the vampire.

I know that nonfiction books are not the typical books that are on blog tours and I greatly appreciate you allowing me to host here.

So, readers please tell me below who are your favorite vampires and why?

Lure of the Vampire: A Pop Culture Reference Book of Lists, Websites and Very Personal Essays
By Bertena Varney, M.A.
Paperback: 176 pages
Also available as an ebook
Publisher: Search for the Lure
Published: June 22, 2011
ISBN-10: 0615501567
ISBN-13: 978-0615501567

Lure of the Vampire is a pop culture reference book that begins with history and mythology and ends with modern living vampires. The author has provided "fun" lists like the Powers of Dracula, Real Live Vampire Murders, Television Shows and African Americans who have Played Vampires. There are also websites in each section that show the most popular vampire books and even children's shows and books. But, there is a personal twist when it comes to Lure of the Vampire. The author has provided personal essays from national and international vampire authors as well as her own. They range from a personal look at vampires in mythology to the romantic lust filled vampire. There are also interviews with various groups and individuals involved in the vampire community. Lure of the Vampire: A Pop Culture Refence Book of Lists, Websites, and "Very Telling" Personal Essays is a perfect quick to grab reference book for the vampire fan or author. It is concise enough to assist you in finding links to what you are looking for without our being too cumbersome and confusing.
Lure of the Vampire contains essays from authors: Denise Verrico - David MacDowell Blue - Charles E. Butler - C.J. Ellisson – BittenTwice – Elizabeth Loraine

Interviews with: Vampiric Council of New England, Vlad the Gothic Vampire Magician , Audrey Koogler, Vampire Priestess , and Hugo Pecos, creator of The Federal Vampire and Zombie Agency 



Lure of the Vampire is great for any writer who would like to find fun facts to give their vampires in their story. For example, what powers have vampires in mythology possessed or the first literary vampires? There’s a section for that. 

What if you are a vampire fan who is looking for new YA or adult authors-  there is a section with titles, authors and their websites.
What about vampire games? There’s a section for that too.
Sections include: Mythology, History, Literature, Movies, Television, Recreation, Children’s Vampires, On the Web, Education, and Real Life Vampires. There are lists, websites, essays, and interviews included in throughout the book.

Lure of the Vampire: A Pop Culture Reference Book of Lists, Websites, and "Very Telling" Personal Essays is a perfect quick to grab reference book for the vampire fan or author. It's concise enough to assist you in finding links to what you are looking for without our being too cumbersome and confusing.

You can buy Lure of the Vampire at Amazon.com in print here-http://amzn.to/nwifDw
Ebooks will be coming to Kindle, Nook and Smashwords soon.

Ms. Varney has graciously agreed to give away an e copy of her brilliant book here. Just leave a comment below and I will randomly select one this Saturday. EASY!