A Simple Technique for Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse...

Look like a zombie. Groan whenever spoken too. Refrain from reading awesome smut when shambling about.

Weight loss since last check-in: 2kgs.

Yay for the threat of zombies!!!

So, how is everyone else going? Are we all getting fit? And writing smut? Feel free to share your success with both or either in the comments :)

How to avoid an Apocalyse

HOW TO AVOID AN APOCALYPSE

Okay, we’ve had a lot of conversations about how to survive the Apocalypse. We’ve shared lots of interesting and creative ways to get rid of zombies etc, but what about how to avoid one?

Good point you say? Makes sense to me. Prevention is always better than cure, or so they say. It can even be scarier than surviving when you really think about it. Before we have this said Apocalypse, we live in fear. Fear of the unknown. How is life as we know it going to be changed forever? What evil creatures or incarnations will be have to fight? It’s scary not knowing!  It takes up a lot of energy too.

So what’s the answer you say? Keep your ears to the ground for the signs of an impending world shattering disaster and take steps to prevent it from coming to fruition of course!

That’s the basis of my Action/Adventure story - THE RELIC. It all started when I wanted to write about an exotic setting. I figured I’d use a place I’d actually been, and since I’d been to Penang a few years ago, I started researching its history. Imagine my surprise when I found that the Sultanate of Penang could trace their ancestors all the way back to Alexander the Great. From there I turned my research to Alexander, and became fascinated by the story surrounding his burial. The story goes that the Crystal Sarcophagus, which was specially made for Alexander, was lost on the way back to Damascus, where it was meant to be interred. It never arrived.  Legend says that whichever land the Crystal Sarcophagus rests will have the power of world domination.

So what if a chunk of the sarcophagus broke off and was kept hidden for centuries in order to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands? And what if someone finally talks about it, sending treasure hunters into a frenzy?

That’s the story behind THE RELIC. See – I was all about preventing the Apocalypse before I even got here!

Oh, and it’s pretty hot too, so heat rating warnings peoples!


BLURB

Finding herself in the wilds of a Penang rainforest wasn't something Magda was exactly happy about. Being there on a mission to recover an ancient relic that threatened world peace certainly had its appeal, but the heat, the bugs and wild animals quickly cancelled out any of the excitement of the chase. Adding to her misery was the arrival on the scene of the last person she ever wanted to cross paths with. Vincent Stone, her rival in the search for the relic, and her ex-lover. The man who'd ripped out her heart and trampled on it had no business being in the same country as her, let alone the same town.

Vincent isn't doing much better as he tries to remember why he'd broken it off with her. She made him feel more than anyone else but in his line of work, and with his past history, he didn't have room for a relationship. But damn, she made him want one.

Fate has a way of playing with realities though and as they teamed up they both came to realise that sometimes it was better to just go with the flow. They used to be a great team, but could they forget the past long enough to save their lives?

 CLICK HERE To read an excerpt and buy the book

You can find me at:
www.maggienash.com
www.maggienash.blogspot.com
@maggienash on Twitter
www.facebook.com/maggienash

Battlestar Galactica Apocalypse

It’s a closely guarded secret that I’m a huge fan of Battlestar Galactica (the new one. You can keep the original!) Now there’s a frightening apocalyptic nightmare. Machines that humans created in order to make their lives easier become sentient and turn on their maker. While this premise is basically the same as Terminator (which incidentally I love with a passion—Kyle is the ultimate romantic hero) when it comes to BSG I just love the entire, complex universe building around it.

Twelve planets are wiped out, the human race decimated. Their only hope for a future rests with a few thousand survivors in orbit. They take off across the galaxy, searching for a new home and pursued by the relentless Cylons.

But BSG isn’t just an action fuelled chase with space fights and sparkly special effects. One of the Cylons, Leoben, has a favourite quote:

All this has happened before and all of it will happen again.

I almost went into raptures the first time he said this. It completely hooked my warped writer’s soul and at the same time terrified the shit out of me.

As the series progresses we learn that this devastation has, indeed, happened before in the distant past. Even writing that gives me the shivers. Because I find that such a powerful image and yet it’s also ultimately horrific.

Can humans ever learn from the mistakes of their past?

Or are we destined to reach a certain point and then, no matter what, everything falls?

One of my favourite theories on a recurring apocalypse is we’re locked into a celestial cycle of birth and rebirth. I’m convinced that thousands of years ago there was a highly advanced civilization on Earth that was wiped out, leaving only the bare traces of its existence behind. Really, what does it matter how big our guns are or how deadly our biological weapons when we’re pitched against the furious might of Mother Nature?

Of course following this I should believe one hundred percent that come December and according to the prophecies of the Mayans, the poles are going to shift and we’re all going to perish in fire and flood. But despite my love of weaving apocalyptic elements into the backstory of my books I also have a wildly optimistic side. And that’s why I’m perfectly happy to reinterpret prophecies of doom to suit myself and come December the Earth will not shift on its crust but will welcome, once again, the return of the goddess.

Which come to think of it might amount to the same thing :-)

Writing as Christina Phillips  I have a short erotic romance, Touch of the Demon, that has a few of my favourite things. A madly vindictive goddess, a hot as hell dark angel, an assassin heroine and the threat of universal devastation—which may or may not have happened before and will happen again.

Christina Ashcroft writes about sinfully wicked Archangels who survived an apocalypse, long long ago…

Friday 13th Winners...

Thanks to everyone who joined us for the Friday the 13^th Launch Party and here at long last are the list of winners. Please contact us at kylie@kylie-scott.com so we can organize delivery for you, you lucky ducks…

 Lexxie Couper 'Death, the Vamp & his Brother' ebook - 10 - Jo-Anne

Cathleen Ross 'Her Prisoner' ebook - flchen1 

Christina Ashcroft's 'Touch of the Demon' ebook - 17- Dianne

 
$10 Amazon Gift Cards care of Debra Smith & Maggie Nash & Me - darkangel851 – Eleni Konstantine - Leilani

Mel Teshco's 'Alien Hunger' series ebooks - Sharon Stogner

Kim Knox's 'Bitter Harvest' - kelly ethan

Shona Husk's 'Enchanting Absinthe' ebook & “The Goblin King” - karen y bunam

Here's Tracey & Erica at a signing a few years back. Yay!

 
Cari Silverwood's 'Lust Plague' - 14 - Keziah Hill 

Tracey O'Hara's 'Dark Brethren' series in ebook -  mrs z

& a signed copy of 'Sins Dark Caress' - Melita Prince 

& a pre-order of the fantabulous Erica Haye's next release. - Samantha Laurence

 
 

Checking out the Apocalypse with Cathleen Ross...

Why is the concept of the apocalypse so enticing for authors? For many it's the chance to start again and create their own world with their own creative rules. For romance writers, it pushes the hero and the heroine together. Danger is paramount, invaders whether they be in the form of zombies, aliens, robots or a terrible disease, serve to test characters to their limits. It's also a chance to get the heroine and hero together, even if they don't want to be.

In order to survive the hero and heroine have to work together, drawing on their alpha characteristics. Bringing the alpha out in a character is exciting. It makes the hero tough. He has to give orders that would be out of line with today's norms.  Could you see a metrosexual playing the part of an apocalypse hero?

But what about the heroine? The evolution of the heroine over time is even more interesting.  In past apocalypse scenarios, the heroine could go one of two ways. She could be like the Terminator's Sarah Connor, prepared to fight to the death to protect the ones she loves or as a woman clinging to the hero like Ava Gardner in On the Beach.

Authors, these days, prefer a strong heroine who has weapons training and is both fit and beautiful, a Lara Croft type character. This reflects the changing women's role in society where a Western woman is supposed to do it all in order to have it all. While in real life the reality doesn't fit the fantasy, the change in the gender role makes for an interesting powerful heroine. 

The apocalypse concept allows authors to develop exciting settings for erotic romance. While women can be powerful, most are still not as strong as men. In Her Prisoner, I created an environment where the fall out from the apocalypse morphed the characteristics of the few remaining men so that they had super strength and mind-influencing abilities. I made women scarce in order to make them a valuable commodity, important as food and water. My hero, Jake is forced to kidnap one of the few remaining women from a shifter colony. The female shifters in this colony have snake-like qualities. They're fierce, dangerous and hate men unless, like the heroine, Samia , they have too much human in them. 

Here's an excerpt from Her Prisoner:

The man stopped and focused his dark, knowing eyes on her. Instead of fear, he gave her a slow sweeping appraisal. "The reports don't do you justice. You're far more beautiful than the images we caught on the spy cameras."

     The ground seemed to shift at his words. A beauty? She’d never thought of herself in that way. Something wondrous and uncertain rose within, a fragile belief that perhaps he spoke the truth. She'd always been told her looks were an insult to her race. Anger stamped on the emotion before it had a chance to nurture and grow. "Silence! You will speak when I allow it."

     "You want to keep me quiet, Beauty? Kiss me."

He smiled and she noticed he had white, blunt teeth like she did, not fangs. The urge to press her lips to his and kiss like she'd heard people did, overwhelmed her.

     In the background, the audience of warriors had grown silent, no doubt they wished to hear and see how she would tease an erection out of this prized captured male.

     "Kissing is unnecessary. You have been chosen for mating."

     "Make me yours," he growled.

http://www.amazon.com/Her-Prisoner-Forbidden-Fantasy-ebook/dp/B007FQEFB2

Meet BOB (Not the battery one) *wink*

Bug Out Bag

Hi there fellow survivors,

So I wanted to touch base on few things that have me biting my nails when faced with the ever popular apocalypse. There are three things that are extremely important when wanting to survive the hordes of undead, virally infected, or alien scout parties.

Rule One: You can live for three hours without shelter.
(Extreme Conditions)

Rule Two: You can live for three days without water.

Rule Three: You can live for three weeks without food.

If you're like me and at the first sign of any undead, oozing neighbors, or slimy tentacle wielding visitors from outer space run for the hills then you need to be prepared.

Who knows what state the world will be in you may be able to scrounge for food in barren shops or hold up in an old jail, but what if your only option is to go deep into the woods and keep your loved ones safe.

So following the list of rules you are gonna want to make a shelter. For those of you that cringe at the thought of sleeping with the creepy crawlies get over it. Better that than having your brains served up as a main course.

You need to know your environment. Do some research and find out what works best in your area. I chose a tarp as one of the things I would grab. It has several uses and is light weight. You can use it as a rain catch, makeshift tent, and when you travel you can turn it into its own pack. The last thing you want to do is die from exposure when you survived the world's final days.

Fire is essential and man has quested for it since the beginning of time. I include this in the well duh section. It keeps you warm, cooks your food, and sanitizes your water. So can you build one? Hopefully you will be one of the blessed with a lighter but knowing my luck I probably wouldn't have one. *Sigh* So how else can you start a fire without a lighter? Rub two sticks together? *Cough Cough* Not me that could take hours and burn calories you need for something else like living. Okay so here it goes steel wool. It's amazing the smallest spark will ignite it and it burns at very high temperature catching dry grass or even abandoned birds' nests. Keep that baby going don't let it go out and you won't have to worry about starting it again.*Dances for joy*

Tip A huge part of surviving is mental and nothing gives you hope like the sight of the reds, oranges, and golds dancing in the flames.

Water. Nuf said, but how do you know it's safe? Well most would say boil it, but what if you don't have a pot to place over the fire and the few plastic bottles you scrounged could melt. Well the truth is if you fill the bottle with water and hang it over the fire it will not melt. Amazing right? It may only last through three or so uses but hey you won't be wishing to be one of the undead from being horribly ill. Also if you leave water in the sun for the day and the little beasties will die and it will become safe to drink.

Food. The one thing I managed to grab while running out the door was chocolate but hey despite my best efforts you can't live on that alone. *Grins* My husband is the big bad hunter, me not so much, Bambi ruined me for life. (My lip still quivers when I think about it.) So that leaves me to the gathering. You might be surprised at what you can eat and survive on. Insects, neutral colors nothing bright or flashy, 90% of blue/purple berries are safe to eat but only 50% of red, and of course plants. Research your area and become familiar with the plant life you never know when it may be the only thing holding off starvation while waiting for your husband's big catch.

There are so many things to consider while preparing for survival and I've touched on a scant few but hopefully I've sparked some ideas. The thing that often bothers me in apocalyptic movies is people not only lose their lives but lose their humanity. Good luck fellow survivors and I hope to see you there waving our arms in victory.

Best Wishes

Debra Smith

Apocalyptic Cataclysmic Abominable Disasters

                                          (image - creative commons - http://www.fotopedia.com/items/flickr-6086341900)

What is it about stories featuring world-flattening disasters that fascinates us?

Is it that ‘I’m all alone and anything could happen’ thing?

I stretch and yawn, rolling over on my side to squint through the light lace curtains. Sunlight blinds me, blurring my vision and I wonder at the grittiness under my arm. Specks of some fine grey material coarsen my sheets and quilt. There’s a pile of screwed up tissues under my elbow. I cough and sit up, spitting more of the grey specks into my hand.

What the hell? With my head thumping like a drum from the Howling Hyenas – a rock band I last saw at the local pub being pelted with beer cans – I vaguely recall a dreadful bout of the flu. Did I crash on the bed?

My pristine white curtains are tattered and stained. The room smells of smoke and there’s a distant crackling and snapping. Somewhere out there is a fire.

Panic seizes me, tightening my chest. I rip back the curtain and peer out. The world is gone. My neighborhood is gone, flattened. Houses are on fire or collapsed and the street is littered with crushed and burning cars, and one dead dog. The cute Labrador from next door.

Shit. Shit.

“Oh, fer chrissakes.” I’m whispering as if someone might hear me and run in screaming with an axe held high, or an AK47 or something – like in the movies. Only where is Schwarzenegger or a Man in Black when you need them?

The smoke thickens. Little grey wisps puff around the edges of my bedroom door, tickling the air, politely asking to come in.

Leaving seems a good option. I kneel on the bed and shove open the window. And that is when I see it. The…

                                                                        *****

Yes, one may well ask, what do you see?

Aliens? Zombies? A military convoy ferrying survivors of a nuclear war?

Whatever it is, it’s bad. Real bad, and your mother isn’t coming to wake you up and rock you back to sleep.

I recall my first post-apocalyptic book and marveling at the feeling of empowerment from being the one person who might stumble through this mess and come out alive. But also there was this feeling of freedom. 

The hero could rummage through all the abandoned houses and shops in the world, and take whatever they wanted. I loved that.

Plus the underdog had that ultimate chance of being raised up and of rescuing themselves. We do love underdogs and how more ‘under’ can you get than having the world in ruins, with you left to scramble from the wreckage? I always identified with that main character.

The other element was often some freakily hard to defeat enemy, like a zombie horde, or those pesky aliens, or a super-infectious plague. Sometimes it was just the weather – an ice age or a spate of lava-spurting volcanoes. Whatever it was, these stories riveted me to the page.

This is what the authors of this blog aim to do to you – grab you and fasten your eyes to that page. Beware of rivets when you read our stories.

Here’s a wee snippet from my book Lust Plague. This is a book with a post-apocalyptic feel, zombies and steampunk. Though my coming PNR post-apocalyptic, Cataclysm Blues, will be all action, alpha male and kick-ass women, if you aren’t into kink and BDSM, this already published book won’t be for you.

Behind Sten towered the snowman. An automaton of greater complexity than any he’d seen or heard of. A collar of spikes stuck out from the stubby legs like misplaced spines on an upright porcupine.

“Now,” he muttered, “where’s the bloody door to this Hell Machine?” When he found it in the left leg beside the half-buried tread, the door wheel had to be kicked to get it to budge. He swung it open and stepped in, leaving the door ajar. Even so, without internal lighting, the stairs spiraled up into darkness. “Going up. And up and up.” He hauled out the revolver.

Somewhere at the top was the control cabin. He just needed to be brave and forget whatever unimaginable horrors might be lurking, though it was more the imaginable horrors that bothered him—he recalled exactly what a zombie looked like.

The steps rang under his boot like some off-key xylophone. Revolver in hand, he took the last step, glimpsed a seat with a man still in it, his head swaying, and past that a half snowed-in glass screen. Found the cockpit or whatever they call this.

A thin blue hose ran to the back of the driver’s seat. A heating system? The cabin was cold enough to have ice on the inside of the glass and on the timber floor. It cracked under his weight. He shifted, made sure the trigger was under his gloved finger.

“You okay?” Another step closer. “Hoy. Are you the pilot?” Another step.

The jiggling of the pilot’s head stopped. The chair swiveled slowly, creaking.

The goggles on his face were dislodged and lopsided, the inside of the lenses coated with blood and strips of thin flesh. No eyes. The zombie moaned, stretching his arms toward Sten. He struggled against the cross chest harness that fastened him to the leather seat.

Sten looked down.

The pilot’s fingers curled and uncurled. The nails were chipped and torn. Bone showed in the raw flesh. Some of the fingers had been chewed off.

“Fuck. Hope I never get hungry enough to eat my own fingers and eyes.” He drew a deep breath, held the pistol steady, and put a shot through the thing’s skull. It convulsed once and went still.
                                                                        *****

Welcome to my worlds. Have fun and make sure you close the door on the way in. We wouldn’t want you to have an exit, would we?

If you'd like to read the first chapter to Lust Plague, here's the link

http://www.carisilverwood.net/lust-plague-sample.html

The Alien Apocalypse

Okay, so we’re all worried about the approaching army of zombies, with their gnashing teeth and skin oozing with goddess only knows what—and let’s not think about what manner of grossness lies under their peeling black nails.

But who’s looking into the heavens for the inevitable alien invasion? Aliens with their near invincible weapons and superior minds…

First things first.

Survival.

Forget the zombies, who seem almost harmless in comparison. Let’s talk outwitting a race of terrifying beings whose reputation exceeds anal probes (ouch!) and mental telepathy. They’ve lost their womenfolk to the same virus that has felled much of humankind (oh yes, not just an alien invasion but a viral one too. Nothing us humans like more than a two-for-one deal, right?)

So what’s a girl (or man?) to do? Surely surrendering to the inevitable encounter is better than eking out an existence in caves and cellars? Better than running from house-to-house like a shadow trying not to be noticed by anything human-like but not human.

Conjures up all sorts of images, most of which come from movies. Here’s some that come to mind:

Signs. War of the Worlds. Night Sky. Fire in the Sky. The Fourth Kind.

Some of those are the scariest movies (to my mind) – but what about real alien sightings?

Got any to tell us? We’d LOVE to hear!!

And now for some scary footage – only play if you dare!

Remember to comment for you chance to win the prize party pack for this Friday the 13^th all weekend party!

Oh and if you love the alien apocalypse - try my latest erotic alien story Galactic Inferno

Apocalypse of the Living Dead

Mindless lumbering humanoids to the left of you, drooling brain dead mutants to right. So what’s different to now you ask? These ones want to have you for dinner and I don’t mean the three course kind with wine and cheese to follow.

Be it brains, entrails or just the warm flesh off your body, Zombies want to eat you alive. They are strong hardy bastards too since they’re already dead and the only way to destroy them is smashing their brains. One bite you and it’s sayonara baby. You’ll soon be join the ranks for the shuffling dead.

 Signs and symptoms

There are a couple of schools of thought zombie behaviour. Most are pretty much of the mind that they are mindless, can’t open doors, climb, or use thought (except in George A Romero’s Land of the Dead). They all want to eat living human flesh – though some may have a quite a hankering for fresh brains. But the main difference in thinking is that zombies are only slow and shambling or will came at you at a run, fast and hungry. Either way us surviving humans are pretty much f****d unless we can stay ahead of them and not get bit.

Survival Pack

So what do we need in our zombie surviving pack?

• Water – humans cannot survive water.
• Food – well duh.
• Weapons – lots of weapons.

We can forage for these things as we go. There will be plenty of houses, stores and public amenities that will have stocks – and since zombies don’t need them.

Weapons

But the weapons are something we need to look over.

Guns

Guns are good, but they also make loud boom boom noises that can attract more of our flesh nomming friends. If you are going to go the guns, the bigger the better. You want to make sure that a shot will obliterate the brain. Automatic weapons can totally blow away multiple targets. But guns need bullets too. And when you run out then you are screwed.

Hand weapons

So what are we left with. Axes, knives, swords, clubs, pick axes. But these need a close proximity to your target though should be definites in your arsenal.

Projectile

Bow and arrows are good too but take a lot of skill. One my favourite is the cross bow – silent, packs a punch and requires less skill than a bow, but it’s slow to reload and when you run out of bolts you are just as frelled.

So the best way would be to have a selection of weapons. The more the merrier. Stock up.

Shelter of Flee

Now you could use a bolt hole or well fortified place to keep those mother chomping meatheads at bay. But you have to be careful you don’t trap yourself in without food and water. Keep moving and you risk the chance of getting caught out in the open.

And fitness. If you get the running kind of zombies you want to keep ahead of them, so get the cardio up and get training.

Educational Films

Some so the educational films you can watch to teach you they ways of the zombie fighting warrior or just plain survivor are:

1. Shaun of the Dead – Shaun is a hapless loser who manages to find his stride in the Zombie invasion.
2. Zombieland – Colombo has a great list of rules we can learn from us and Tallahassee has some kick arse moves. Wichita and Little Rock – well they just rock.
3. 28 Days Later – Shows how there are always opportunistic bastards out there.
4. The Walking Dead – Sheriff Rick and co, can show you some of the things you don’t want to find yourself doing.
5. Any George A Romero living dead film. Awesome.

So brush up on your skills. Get training. Just in case the Zombie Apocalypse is around the corner.

Any suggestions for educational material or skills gladly welcome – please suggest away.

And remember – comments will go into the draw for our Friday the 13th Launch party prize packs.

Bi-Brides of the Apocalypse...

Welcome to Friday the 13th! Our offical launch party! Let the End Begin!!!

So I gave some serious thought to what to discuss today. What would get all you psycho kitties out there frothing at the mouth to comment and win stuff. And do we have sh*t for you to win. Awesome! First let's do roll call on stuff cause that'll be cool...

Lexxie Couper  'Death, the Vamp & his Brother' ebook
Cathleen Ross 'Her Prisoner' ebook
Christina Ashcroft's 'Touch of the Demon' ebook

Multiple Amazon Gift Cards care of Debra Smith & Maggie Nash & Me

Mel Teshco's 'Alien Hunger' series ebooks

Kim Knox's 'Bitter Harvest'

Shona Husk's 'Enchanting Absinthe' ebook & 'The Goblin King'

Cari Silverwood's 'Lust Plague'

Tracey O'Hara's 'Dark Brethren' series in ebook & a signed copy of 'Sins Dark Caress'

& a pre-order of the fantabulous Erica Haye's next release.

There will probably be more stuff coming. I dunno. But back to the topic of conversation. 

The classic woman with it all under control. Sarah Connor.

Today, I thought we should discuss alternative relationship plans for future times. Because what, just what, if the melt down of civilisation is some funky bug that kills off all the boys. I know, the idea wounds me as much as it does you, but we must be prepared for every situation. It’s our duty. Be calm my friend and process your options with me. (Of course you get that in the case of you being a boy then all the girls are gone. And in the case of you being gay then all of the whatever sex you’re after is gone, okay? All bases covered? If not I don’t want to hear about it. Excellent. Let’s move on.) And let's hope the sperm banks don't sink or re-production wise we could be screwed.

So there you are hanging about in the post-apocalyptic wastelands thinking... 

Hmm, I could really do with some naughty fun and goodness but what am I to do? Huh? What? Who will hold my hand through these troubled zombie/alien/plague/robot/whatever ridden times? Who? See, that’s where today’s planning comes into play. Care of this super helpful blog post you already have your options sorted. Sure, vagina on vagina (and that wording is all Mel Teshco’s fault, not mine) wasn’t your first option but it’s okay. You can adjust. Us modern women are like that. Now let's check out some possibilities for your dance card...

Emma Stone! Yay! She's so cute and capable.

When the going gets rough, River Song.

I really respect Milla for her guns.

Or Barbarella. Umm, sure. Okay...

Okay, our party time craziness is going on all weekend. Comment any time Friday 13 - Saunday 15 to be in it.